Creeper

Creepers are dangerous foes early in the game, best handled with Fire. They are silent killers who will sneak up behind you and explode, dealing significant damage even to Fighters, and have enough HP and Absorb to withstand several rounds of physical assault. Their weakness to Fire can and should be exploited. Whatever you do though, do not use Lightning on a Creeper. When struck with electricity, Creepers will become ‘charged’, buffing them significantly. Being a Plant type enemy, Creepers are weak to slashing weapons like Swords and Axes, and less affected by bludgeoning tools.

## Spawning

Creepers naturally spawn in the Overworld on solid blocks with a light level of 0, except in mushroom fields and deep dark biomes. They spawn in groups of up to four.

## Drops

When killed, creepers drop:

* 5 experience points, if killed by the player or a tamed wolf.
* 0–2 gunpowders. The maximum amount is increased by one per level of Looting, for a maximum of 5 with a Looting enchantment of level III.
* 1 music disc at random (excluding Pigstep, otherside, and 5), if killed by a skeleton or stray.
* 1 creeper head, if killed by a charged creeper.

## Behavior

Creepers chase any player within a 16-block radius. They do not voluntarily attack any other mob.

When within 3 blocks of a player, a creeper stops moving, hisses, flashes and expands, and explodes after 1.5 seconds, destroying blocks in the area as well as significantly damaging the player. A creeper's detonation can be halted if the player leaves the blast radius, including by knocking it back, going out of the creeper's sight, or if the creeper is killed before the explosion. The distance with the player at which a creeper cancels its explosion is greater at higher difficulties. Normal creeper explosions have a power of 3.

A creeper explodes only if it has an uninterrupted line of sight with the player throughout the entire 1.5-second countdown. As a result, if the creeper does not have line-of-sight with the player, it does not start hissing even at close range, even if the player is attacking it, and a detonation is canceled if it has started. The hissing sound plays in its entirety regardless of whether the explosion happens or not.

Unlike most mobs, the creeper does not have an idle sound, nor does it have unique step sounds. Although it does make normal stepping and swimming sounds, it is hard for players to distinguish those from sounds they make themselves. This makes the approach of a creeper hard for an unwary player to notice until it starts hissing. That aside, if a stationary player underground hears stepping and swimming noises nearby without additional noises, it is certain to be a creeper.

A creeper jumps down to a player if it can survive the fall. Creepers begin the 1.5-second countdown before falling, so an explosion occurs sooner after landing with higher falls.

Creepers can climb up ladders, vines, and similar blocks like any other mob, but do not do so intentionally.

Using a flint and steel on a creeper forces an explosion, but fire charges don't work.

The detection range of creepers is reduced by 50% when the player is wearing a creeper head.‌

If a player has the invisibility effect and isn't wearing any armor, the creeper does not approach the player, although attacking it or touching it (the player's hitbox must touch the creeper's) causes the creeper to explode.

Creepers flee from ocelots and cats within a 6-block radius, with faster movement than when pursuing a player. Cats and ocelots do not attack creepers. A creeper that has begun a detonation does not flee unless the player leaves its blast radius.

Creepers are not targeted by tamed wolves, iron golems or zoglins. However, they are still attacked by withers, snow golems, vindicators named "Johnny", and goats. For snow golems, this was reported as a bug and is listed as either "unresolved" or "works as intended". When hit by a stray projectile (like a drowned's trident), a creeper retaliates if not already chasing a player, unless said projectile is a skeleton's arrow. When attacked by a goat, or poisoned by a pufferfish, a creeper does not retaliate.

If a creeper is attacked by any other mob, the creeper moves toward the mob that attacked it and explodes.

Although a creeper floats in water, if its head is trapped underwater or inside any solid block, it suffocates and dies after 20 seconds without exploding.

When a creeper is inflicted with a status effect, its explosion creates an area effect cloud of the effect.‌

## Charged Creeper

### Encountered in

When a Creeper comes into contact with Lightning

### Spoils

Gunpowder

A charged creeper has a significantly increased explosion power.

As if Creepers weren’t difficult enough foes, if you foolishly use Lightning Magic on one, or if it is simply struck during a thunderstorm, it will receive a +20 buff to Magic Defense, +3 Evade, a +27 to Attack, and a Lightning Resistance. In fact, using Lightning on a Charged Creeper will actually heal it. The monstrous damage of its Explosion is enough to end games right then and there.

A charged creeper can be summoned with the following command: `/summon creeper ~ ~ ~ {powered:1}`

Their countdown timers are the same as normal creepers, both in terms of range and time. With a power of 6, an explosion caused by a charged creeper is twice as powerful as the explosion caused by a creeper. Charged creepers' explosions are 50% more powerful than an explosion of TNT. How close the creeper was to the lightning strike *does not* affect the size or power of the explosion.

Charged creepers have the same entity ID as normal creepers. The only difference is that the value of the boolean `powered` tag is set to `1` (true).

A charged creeper explosion that kills zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, or other creepers causes one of those mobs to drop its corresponding mob head. If multiple valid mobs are killed in the explosion, the one that drops a head is chosen at random. In Bedrock Edition, a charged creeper explosion that kills zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, or other creepers causes all the killed mobs to drop their corresponding heads.

A charged creeper does not drop its own head when it explodes, although any other charged creepers or creepers killed in the explosion drop a creeper head. Players and ender dragons do not drop their heads, nor do mobs without corresponding mob heads, such as livestock animals.