Minecraft:Creeper

Template:For Template:Infobox entity A creeper is a common Minecraft:hostile mob that quietly approaches a Minecraft:player, hisses, and Minecraft:explodes if the player remains near. Creeper explosions can destroy Minecraft:blocks and deal massive amounts of Minecraft:damage, which can be completely blocked using a Minecraft:shield or blocks.

When struck by Minecraft:lightning, a creeper becomes a charged creeper, which amplifies its explosion power and enables mob Minecraft:heads to be obtained from Minecraft:piglins, Minecraft:zombies, Minecraft:skeletons and other creepers it kills. It also bumps up the chance for a Minecraft:wither skeleton skull to drop to 100% from a Minecraft:wither skeleton.

Due to its distinctive appearance and unique destructive method of attack, the creeper has become one of the most iconic mobs of Template:MC, being featured in promotional material and merchandise.

Spawning

Creepers naturally spawn in the Minecraft:Overworld on Minecraft:solid blocks with a Minecraft:light level of 0, except in Minecraft:mushroom fields and Minecraft:deep dark biomes. Template:IN, creepers also do not spawn in Minecraft:rivers, Minecraft:frozen rivers, and Minecraft:snowy plains. They spawn individually Template:In and in groups of four Template:In.

Template:IN, there is a density limit of five creepers on the surface of the Overworld.

Drops

On death

• Template:Xp Minecraft:experience points, if killed by the Minecraft:player or a tamed Minecraft:wolf.

Behavior

File:Creeper Chase.png

A creeper giving chase.

Creepers chase any Minecraft:player within a 16-block radius. They chase the player at a 14-block radius when they are crouching. They do not attack any other mob without provocation by being attacked first.

When within 3 blocks of a player, a creeper stops moving, hisses, flashes and expands, and Minecraft:explodes after 1.5 seconds (30 Minecraft:ticks), destroying (and dropping as Minecraft:items) 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. Assuming the player stays within line of sight, the distance that the player must move in order for a creeper to cancel its explosion is 7 blocks, regardless of difficulty. Normal creeper explosions have a power of 3.

Template:IN, if the Minecraft:game rule mobExplosionDropDecay is set to false, blocks have a 100% chance of dropping as items instead of being destroyed.

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 their own sounds. This makes the approach of a creeper difficult for an unwary player to notice until it starts hissing.

A creeper jumps down to a player if it can survive the fall. A creeper taking fall damage adds to its swell according to fallDistance * 1.5, up to a maximum of 5 less than the fuse of the creeper. The creeper explodes when the swell equals the fuse, so an explosion occurs soon after landing with higher falls. For example, a creeper falling from greater than 16 blocks can explode 5 ticks after it lands.

File:Falling Creeper Swell Values.png

The amount of swell added to creepers upon falling a certain distance.

Despite their lack of arms, creepers can climb up Minecraft:ladders, Minecraft:vines, and similar blocks like any other mob, but do not do so intentionally.

Template:Control a Minecraft:flint and steel or Minecraft:fire chargeTemplate:Only on a creeper forces an explosion.

Template:IN, the detection range of creepers is reduced by 50% when the player is wearing a Minecraft:creeper head.

Creepers flee from Minecraft:ocelots and Minecraft: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 Minecraft:wolves, Minecraft:iron golems or Minecraft:zoglins. However, they are still attacked by Minecraft:withers, Minecraft:snow golems,<ref>Template:Bug</ref> Minecraft:vindicators named "Johnny", Minecraft:wardens and Minecraft:goats. When hit by a stray projectile (like a Minecraft:drowned's trident), a creeper retaliates if not already chasing a player. If a creeper is attacked by any mob except a Minecraft:goat, the creeper moves toward the mob that attacked it and explodes.

When a creeper is inflicted with a Minecraft:status effect, its explosion creates an Minecraft:area effect cloud of the effect, like a lingering potion.Template:Only

Charged creeper

File:Charged Creeper.png

File:Charged and normal creeper explosion comparison.png

Two creepers' explosion damage radius in the dirt. Comparison between a charged creeper's (left) and a normal creeper's (right). Notice that the charged creeper's explosion is much bigger than the normal creeper's explosion.

Charged creepers are stronger versions of creepers. They are distinguished from normal creepers by their blue aura surrounding them, and their explosion power is significantly increased from 3 to 6, equal to that of an Minecraft:End crystal.

A charged creeper is created when Minecraft:lightning strikes within four blocks of a normal creeper. The lightning can be created in any way, including naturally, with the Template:Cmd command, by a Minecraft:trident with the Minecraft:Channeling enchantment, or attracted to a Minecraft:lightning rod. Due to this mechanic, creepers cannot be damaged by lightning but still can take damage from fire caused by it.

A charged creeper can also be summoned using the following commands:

• Template:IN: /summon creeper ~ ~ ~ {powered:1}
• Template:IN: /summon creeper ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ minecraft:become_charged

Their countdown timers are the same as normal creepers, both in terms of range and time. Charged creepers' explosions are 50% more powerful than an explosion of Minecraft:TNT and 100% more powerful than their normal counterparts. How close the creeper was to the lightning strike does not affect the size or power of the explosion.

Template:IN, a charged creeper explosion that kills Minecraft:zombies, Minecraft:skeletons, Minecraft:wither skeletons, Minecraft:piglins, or other creepers causes only one<ref>Template:Bug</ref> of those mobs to drop its corresponding Minecraft:mob head. If multiple valid mobs are killed in the explosion, the one that drops a head is chosen at random. Template:IN, a charged creeper explosion that kills zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, piglins, or other creepers causes all the killed mobs to drop their corresponding heads.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>

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 Minecraft:ender dragons do not drop their heads,<ref>Template:Bug</ref> nor do mobs without corresponding mob heads, such as livestock animals.

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).

The overlay of charged creepers is strongly emissive with Minecraft:Vibrant Visuals, and darkens the environment as a screen effect. Combined with the darkness of a thunderstorm, this makes the creeper behind it almost invisible.

Sounds

Template:JE: Template:SoundTable

Template:BE: Template:SoundTable

Data values

ID

Template:JE: Template:ID table

Template:BE: Template:ID table

Entity data

Creepers have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Template:JE: Template:Main

<section begin="entity data"/>

• Template:Nbt Entity data
  • Template:Nbt inherit/entity
  • Template:Nbt inherit/mob
  • Template:Nbt: The power of the explosion (default value is 3). Despite the name, this represents the explosion power value, so the true radius varies and its maximum is approximately 4/3 times this value.
  • Template:Nbt: States the initial value of the creeper's internal fuse timer (does not affect creepers that fall and explode upon impacting their victim). The internal fuse timer returns to this value if the creeper is no longer within attack range. Default 30.
  • Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - Whether the creeper has been ignited by Minecraft:flint and steel.
  • Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - May not exist. True if the creeper is charged from being struck by lightning.

<section end="entity data"/>

Template:BE:

See Minecraft:Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

Achievements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse

Advancements

Advancements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse

Development

Template:Expand section A mistake in creating the model for Minecraft:pigs lead to an upright body, which was then used for creepers.

"

The story of the Creeper – it was supposed to be the pig, but Notch mixed the height and the width values, or the rotation of it, so it's standing up instead of lain horizontally. But it did have the AI behaviour of looking at the player. So he just thought it was extremely creepy, with this weird thing walking around, looking at you. So he decided to keep it as a monster. He wrote that a friend said it would be cool if it exploded *laughs* and that brought us to the Creeper.

The face was to clearly, with a limited number of pixels, make it look really dangerous. I think the green colour is supposed to be camouflage. But we're still debating – is it flesh? Or is it more like leaves? Or is it fur? You don't really know just by looking at the pixels. I know Minecraft:Junkboy debates that! *laughs*

History

Trivia

• Minecraft:Notch has stated on X that he imagined "creepers as being made out of leaves or similar" and that he is "not sure why they explode".<ref>Template:Tweet</ref> When asked to describe its physical texture, he said they would feel "crunchy, like dry leaves".<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>
• Creepers use the classic Minecraft:oak leaves texture to camouflage them from the same texture. As the oak leaves texture change, this camouflage is less effective.
• When asked how creepers trigger their explosive nature, Minecraft:Dinnerbone said "They're so nervous that they shake a lot, and then this sets them off the same way as how rubbing two sticks makes fire".<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>
• Template:In, the "aura" of a charged creeper with Minecraft:Invisibility is still visible.
• Template:IN, charged creeper explosion can inflict the greatest amount of damage any mob in the game can do at one time. In Template:BE, the Minecraft:wither's spawn explosion deals slightly more.
• The creeper hiss sound uses the same sound file as when a block of TNT is primed but played at a lower pitch.
• Throughout many pieces of media, the creeper's anatomy is consistently shown to possess a skeleton and a Minecraft:TNT block inside.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:YouTube link</ref> This is even present in the Template:MCD version of the Template:MCD, where a statue of their innards can be found at the Template:MCD. A statue of this design was also produced.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>
• Minecraft:Jeb has admitted that the creeper would probably not be added to Minecraft if the game's modern design principles were followed, since it would be controversial to have a mob that destroys the player's builds. However, it continues to exist in the game due to its iconic status.<ref>Template:YouTube link</ref> Minecraft:Notch agreed, stating that the creeper only explodes as the result of player (in-)action because random destructive events are "anti-fun."<ref> Template:Tweet</ref>
• The design of the creeper is considered a fundamental "iconic" aspect of the Minecraft franchise, and as such is not going to receive substantial changes to preserve its legacy.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref> Exceptions are made for spin-off material, where creepers are required to follow other art styles or practical functions, such as the camera position in Template:MCD.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>
  • However, further exceptions are also occasionally made for merchandise, often to represent in-game states.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Publicity

File:Creeper Danger.png

A sight that can scare even the most experienced Minecraft players.

Creepers have a formidable reputation in the community because of their potential to hurt or kill even veteran players and destroy structures. Their distinct appearance and destructive abilities have made them a widely recognizable Minecraft icon. Creepers are referenced in several of the items available at the Minecraft merchandise depot,<ref>Official Minecraft Store</ref> and have become an internet meme complete with fan art, webcomic references, and demotivational posters. A central part of the meme is the creeper's unofficial catchphrase derived from the mob's tendency to sneak up on the player and hiss before detonating:

Merchandise

Creepers have been portrayed in many Minecraft products including but not limited to:

• The letter "A" in the Minecraft Minecraft:logo after Minecraft:Java Edition Beta 1.4 (The previous logo was just "MINECRAFT" written with cobblestone blocks)
• Stuffed toys
• Minecraft:Action figures
• Bracelets
• T-shirts
  • The creeper anatomy T-shirt reveals the insides of a creeper, and also reveals its scientific name: Creepus explodus.
• Minecraft:LEGO Minecraft
• Papercraft
• Minecraft Facebook profile image
• In the goodie bags given out at Minecon 2011, creepers were given as a fold-able and tapable decoration for one's room or collection, along with Minecraft:diamond and Minecraft:grass block.

Appearances

File:PHYSOC OUTREACH Creeper and Chest.jpg

A creeper and a chest sent to the edge of space by the Physics Society Outreach Project

• On June 18, 2012, the University of Southampton Physics Society Outreach Project sent a creeper and Minecraft:chest to the edge of space in a balloon with a tracker and camera.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>F
• As part of an official collaboration, creepers are included as monsters in Minecraft:Monstrous Compendium Volume Three: Minecraft Creatures, a free add-on for the roleplaying game Minecraft:Dungeons & Dragons.<ref>https://www.dndbeyond.com/claim/source/minecraft-creatures-monstrous-compendium</ref> In the game, they are "Monstrosities" and have the alignment "Typically Neutral Evil."

Games

File:SRC Creeper.png

Creeper icon

In Minecraft:Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, a creeper is one of the playable characters. It can be unlocked by purchasing the Season Pass or Digital Deluxe Edition.

External links

• Template:Mcnet
• Template:Wikipedia on Wikipedia