Spider Staff



The Spider Staff is a ground melee Hardmode summon weapon that spawns a spider character that follows the player and performs melee attacks by latching on to enemies. If enough of them attack the same enemy, it can be stun-locked. The spiders inflict the Acid Venom debuff for 2-4 seconds, can climb background walls, and jump high. Like other minions, summoned spiders are invincible and follow the player for an unlimited amount of time, unless the player dies, summons a replacement minion, leaves the world, or cancels the buff.

Tips

 * The spider minion's ability to move freely on background walls makes it much more effective in areas with good wall coverage. It is otherwise limited to walking and jumping, it cannot fly (for the purposes of attacking), and it has no projectile attack, limiting its effectiveness against flying enemies.
 * The Spider Staff is easily acquired when first entering Hardmode, as most players will have already found a Spider Cave before it begins. Simply return there to kill the Black Recluses that begin spawning in Hardmode. Black Recluses hit hard and can take a while to defeat with pre-Hardmode equipment, but the effort is worth it.
 * The Spider Staff is the strongest summoning weapon before defeating Plantera. It has roughly triple the DPS of the Blade Staff and double the DPS of the Optic Staff. The Spider Staff however is very ineffective at fighting airborne enemies (i.e. can't hit Pixies without a wall) and fast-moving bosses, making it the inferior choice in certain situations, like fighting on a minecart.
 * Although the game does not allow the player to summon 4 spiders while having 3 whole minion slots available. If the player summons more than 3 spiders through other means. (e.g. Bewitching Table) and then has their maximum minion slot count reduced back to 3, the player will keep 4 of their spiders as originally deserved.
 * If several spiders latch onto a single target that can receive knock-back, the target will often be carried away from the player, but in some cases can carry the enemy towards the player faster than the enemy itself could normally approach.

Trivia

 * Each time the spider is summoned, it has a random one of three possible sprite graphics. The first resembles a black widow, the second is an unidentifiable purple spider, and the third resembles a Mexican red knee tarantula. They are all functionally identical.
 * The different types of spiders are summoned in order, rather than randomly.
 * This and the Queen Spider Staff are the only items that can inflict the Venom debuff before any Mechanical Bosses have been defeated.
 * The staff appears to be a four legged spider.
 * It is one of only four weapons in the game that can inflict Venom without any buffs or bonuses, the others being the Queen Spider Staff, the Pygmy Staff, and the Venom Staff.

History
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