Corrupted spider queen

The Corrupted spider queen is a Queen spider corrupted by darkspawn taint. The species is generally faster and stronger than their untainted cousins, a side-effect gained from feeding on darkspawn.
== Background ==
== Involvement ==
This creature appears near Branka's Journal in the Ortan Thaig during the later stages of A Paragon of Her Kind. The Warden triggers her appearance by nearing the spot marked with a green dot on the map. 
Before reaching the Corrupted spider queen, the Warden must fight through two Genlock emissaries and some normal corrupted spiders. Make sure to destroy both groups, or they will assist the Corrupted spider queen.
== Quests ==
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== Locations ==
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== Statistics ==
The Corrupted Spider Queen's level ranges from 12 to 16. The following statistics are for level 16.
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Health	Stamina	Attack	Defense	Armor
1247 	230 	97 	104 	21
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Physical Resistance	Mental Resistance	 	 	 	 	
59 	13 	-10%	0	0	75%	0
:+7.5 spell resistance, which is further adjusted by difficulty settings.
== Abilities & Skills ==
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=== Traits ===
* Spider Properties (, )
* Tank (, )
== Strategy ==
Outside the spider's lair, there are two Genlock emissaries who call normal corrupted spiders for backup. Make sure to kill these before engaging the Corrupted Spider Queen, or they will assist her in the boss battle.
Contrary to basic instinct, it is better to engage with the Queen in melee rather than at range. She is fond of using Poison Spit in quick succession against ranged characters, which deals tremendous amount of nature damage that can easily take down any character even with Shimmering Shield active. Her Overwhelm, on the other hand, is much less dangerous (for Arcane Warriors and sword-and-shield warriors at least) and can be easily interrupted. 
Every 20% of her health you damage, the Queen will shoot a long-lasting Web at your entire party and withdraw back into her lair. The third and fourth times (at 40% and 20% of her total health) she will also spawn 4 corrupted spiders. However, the Queen herself is not invincible during the transition: a mage with high spellpower could potentially kill the creature using damage-over-time spells (Blood Wound and Flame Blast) out of sight. Be cautious as if she does not have the opportunity to summon all 8 spiders during the fight, all remaining ones will spawn simultaneously upon her death.
Try to take out her minions first; they will use Overwhelm to interrupt your attacks on her, which can be distracting and dangerous.
=== Tips and alternate strategies ===
* Using two melee fighters, an archer and a spirit healer in hold mode: positioning the range fighters in the back of the cavern and using the tank to pull as few minions as possible, it is possible to get the Queen to disengage upon retreating, allowing you to save your game.
* Using two high-level mages: tactically use Force Field to hinder the Queen when she has her minions summoned. Kill the minions while she cannot move. Use Cone of Cold or Force Field to prevent members from being Overwhelmed.
* Taking advantage of the bridge as a choke point: position party members at the side of the bridge furthest from the Spider Queen area, and send one member to bait the minions. This is a time-consuming method, but saves supplies.
* Blood Magic can make this fight very easy, as Blood Wound can disable an arbitrary amount of Corrupted Spiders for a long time and Blood Control allows you to even the odds by taking over one of the minions. Ideally, you want to do this as a "last resort" option when a vital party member gets Overwhelmed.
* A solo rogue with expert Trap-Making can easily defeat the Queen by stealth-laying multiple firetraps near the corner.
==== Pulling the Queen ====
A rogue in stealth, or a sufficiently quick and lucky tank, can be used to selectively pull the queen - ensure your party is held out of sight and trigger the queen with the rogue and then run around a corner. 
The Queen will not web the rogue and will be dormant. Attack the Queen with the rogue from a distance with a flask then run back towards the party. The Queen will follow even if the rogue is still in stealth mode. 
Once the Queen is within spitting distance of a visible member it will stop moving; as long as it is out of sight from the spawn point, you should be all right. 
Simply Sleep, Horror, and Nightmare the Queen and go to melee town on it with your party. As soon as it comes to, it will web and go to the ceiling. Your party is out of sight of the spawn point so can rest/save and then the stealthed rogue can pull the Queen again. Rinse and repeat.
You will find that a lot of corrupted spiders are spawned using this method, but lots of fireballs and sleep/horror/nightmare with some selective pulling (they should pull in twos) makes short work of them.
== Notable loot ==
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== Variations ==
:Corrupted spiderling 
:Corrupted spider
== Codex entries ==
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== See also ==
:Spiders
== Gallery ==
Queenmap.jpg|Location of the creature
Corrupted spider queen - HoDA.png|Tier 1 Corrupted Spider Queen in Heroes of Dragon Age
HoDA Spider Queen.jpg|Tier 4 Corrupted Spider Queen in Heroes of Dragon Age
Category:Creatures
Category:Dragon Age: Origins creatures
Category:Heroes of Dragon Age creatures
Category:Ghouls
Category:Spiders