Spider

Spider Base Stats (spoopy)

The Spider is an extremely popular Arthropod guild. Being part of the Arachnid guild, they are excellent hunters. Spider builds are mainly characterized by a Silk Spinning ability that is most often used to catch prey and protect spawns, but can also be modded to do other things. Apart from this, they also have specced into Venom and have one of the highest intimidation factors in the entire game. In addition, like most arthropods, they also have a strong wall climb ability by default. With that said, spider builds do have weaknesses that cannot be overlooked. One of the worst is extremely low Health stats that allows most players to one-hit spiders. Overall the Spider is one of the best lightweight rogue classes available.

## F Tier Spiders

In bottom tier, there are two Spiders that many players think are close to the top.

### Brown Recluse Spider

First is the Brown Recluse, a Spider notorious for its ability to cause its victim's flesh to rot. However, it is now known that the necrosis is NOT caused by the Spiders' bite but is actually the result of an MRSA infection caused by a particular clan of Staphylococcus aureus. This type of infection can be caused by any puncture wound, not just a Spider bite, but Spider bites are the most common misdiagnosis. However, these spiders do have a chemical that causes necrosis in their venom called sphingomyelinase D, but this venom does not always work. Recluse Spiders already have low stats, so take away this rumor that's been keeping them relevant, and it becomes apparent how bottom tier they are, as the necrosis does not always take place. If necrosis always happened, then this spider would be much higher tier.

### Black Widow Spider

Second from the bottom is the Black Widow, a build which, just like the brown recluse, relies far too heavily on its reputation and can't actually back it up. The Widow's bite is potent for sure, but not even close to the game-ending potency rumor says it has. Of the thousands of bites on Humans each year, less than 1% result in the target's demise, and they usually only do because the target already had low Health.

Both of these Spiders also employ camping as their main method of getting kills on other lightweight players. And while this is a legitimate strategy, Spiders have access to far more effective methods. However, if one really wants to camp, they might as well do it right. The key to optimizing one's camping game is to maximize the area they can control from safety. In short, the bigger a Spider's web is, the easier it is for them to score free kills.

## D Tier Spiders

### Bark Spider

The Bark Spider takes the camping strategy to the extreme and creates a web spanning an entire river. This allows it to capture targets that normally keep their distance from the typical trap locations like the elusive Dragonfly. While this is all impressive, it takes a huge time and resource investment to set up. It is also easily erased when noticed by other players. These two factors lock this Spider in D tier.

### Social Spiders

Along a similar vein, Social Spiders can also construct giant webs to control large sections of the map. Compared to the Bark Spider, Social Spiders expend less individual effort and construct a sturdier base. But the division of loot arguably outweighs this factor, and combined with the fact that they have to deal with thieves and freeloaders, they are on the same level as the solo builders. They don't function as a cohesive unit like eusocial Insects, nor do they function as team players that play off of each other's strengths, as pack hunters do. It's more of a mob strategy.

While it may not be quite as impressive, there are much safer and less tedious camping strategies in the next tier.

## C Tier Spiders

### Trapdoor Spider

The Trapdoor Spider maximizes safety by hiding completely out of sight and using an alarm system to indicate the opportune moment to strike. The safety comes at a cost though, as these players are much more vulnerable to environmental hazards such as flooding, frost, and whatever else the overworld throws at them.

### Ogre Spider

Another solid camping strategy was found by the Ogre Spider players. Instead of hoping targets walk into their trap, Ogre Spiders fashion their webs into nets which they cast directly onto anything that gets too close. They have an incredibly powerful Night Vision ability, but because Arachnids haven't specced into the Iris ability, they can't turn this ability off. And as a result, they actually take solar damage every single day destroying part of their retina. Luckily, they do have a passive regeneration ability that heals this in time to be ready again the next night. Even then, it is a huge drawback to go blind every morning.

All this balances out to stick these two Spiders in C tier. Most of the higher-tier Spiders rely less on camping and are bolder.

## B Tier Spiders

### Water Spider

It is hard to find a Spider bolder than the Water Spider. Instead of using its web as a trap, the spider uses it as an air canister and goes scuba diving. This is extremely risky because of house easy it can be for players in higher weight classes to take them out. But the spiders make it work. Their bravery rewards them with the chance to catch minnows which are worth a lot of XP for such a small hunter.

### Spitting Spider

Also in B tier, there is another Spider that uses its web in an interesting way, as a ranged Mobility debuff. The Spitting Spider can launch sticky webs at high speed. This is particularly useful for dealing with more mobile when one doesn't want to camp. This move is powerful if the opponent isn't expecting it. But since it has a long recharge time, if one's opponent evades it, they will be punished. This move is good, but there are other builds that use it more effectively, such as the Velvet Worm, which has much more range.

## A Tier Spiders

### Tarantula

At the bottom of A tier, there is a powerful all-rounder build with a solid offense and defense, the Tarantula. While it doesn't spec into the absurdly strong Venom some other spider players do, it gets by fine with brute force alone, instead opting for more damaging fangs and a larger size. This allows it to win some matchups that are normally unfavorable for Spiders, such as those with thick amour or fur that is difficult to bite through without longer fangs. It can also throw hundreds of little quills from its back which can blind aggressors and allow for an easy escape. However, it can only be used a few times before it has to recharge. All of this together gives the Tarantula players a great all-rounder build with only a few bad matchups, like the Tarantula Hawk Wasp.

### Jumping Spider

At the opposite end of the spectrum from the Tarantula is the most mobile spider in the game: the Jumping Spider. This build trades Power and Defense for extremely high Mobility and supreme accuracy. Obviously, this is one of the more skill-intensive Arthropods since timing jumps and landing pounce attacks is difficult. But with some practice, a player can outmaneuver almost any other lightweight build and score critical hits on enemies that are otherwise well defended. This makes the Jumping Spider a great anti-camper class.

Although there are no S tier spiders, there are two spiders that occupy high A tier.

### Sydney Funnel-Web Spider

One is the Sydney Funnel-Web Spider. This build is essentially a Tarantula optimized for the glass cannon archetype. It doesn't have the Defensive *Hairstorm* ability like the Tarantula does, but most Funnel-Web players tend to subscribe to the "best defense is an overwhelming offense" strategy. This is highlighted by the fact that they tend to deliver several bites when threatened instead of just biting once and trying to flee.

### Brazilian Wander Spider

The second is the Brazilian Wander Spider which has the most potent Venom of all Spiders. This Spider is even more aggressive than the Funnel-Web Spider and tends to inject more venom in a single bite than any other Spider. Those two traits combined let this Spider one-shot essentially anything, from mid-tiers like Lizards to top tiers like Apes.