# Giant spider

s giant spider 

Difficulty

7

Attacks

Bite 2d4 poison

s giant spider 

Difficulty

7

Attacks

Bite 2d4 poison

Base level

5

Base experience

64

Speed

15

Base AC

4

Base MR

0

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

1 (Very rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

100

Nutritional value

100

Size

Large

Resistances

poison

Resistances conveyed

poison (33%)

A giant spider:

 has no hands.

 is an animal.

 can lay eggs.

 is poisonous to eat.
 is carnivorous.

 is normally generated hostile.

 is strong.

Reference

monst.c#line858

A giant spider, s, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack.
Giant spiders are a large, oviparous type of spider with poison resistance and a poisonous bite attack. They do not hide under items like other spiders due to their size, instead residing on webs throughout the dungeon. The corpse of a giant spider is poisonous, but eating their corpse or tin has a 1⁄3 chance of conveying poison resistance.
A player polymorphed into the form of a giant spider can create a web on their square using the #monster extended command.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Giant spiders now weigh 200 aum, and will randomly spin webs as they move - this random chance is based on the number of surrounding walls, making a spider more likely to spin a web in enclosed spaces.
Contents

1 Generation
2 Strategy

2.1 Web spinning

3 History
4 Origin
5 Variants

5.1 SLASH'EM
5.2 dNethack
5.3 EvilHack

6 Encyclopedia entry
7 References

Generation
Giant spiders are always generated hostile. 
1⁄3 of giant spiders randomly generated on level creation (or all of them, if you have the Amulet of Yendor) are placed on a web, with the exception of bones levels, and will have a random item placed on their square as well.[1][2] Every web placed on level creation (independent of the aforementioned webs) will have a giant spider atop it.[3] Cave spiders can grow up into giant spiders, and giant spider eggs will hatch into cave spiders.[4]
Giant spiders are the first quest monster for the Tourist quest - they make up 55% of the monsters randomly generated there, and several are generated on creation of each of its levels: twelve are placed randomly on the home level, sixteen on the locate level, and sixteen on the goal level.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Spider nest themed rooms have a 3⁄10 of a web being on each square - if the level difficulty is at least 9, each web has a roughly 4⁄5 chance of a giant spider being generated atop it.
Strategy
Giant spiders move faster than an unhasted player character at 15 speed, and their poisonous bite can deal significant damage and put a premature end to an early character's game, especially without poison resistance.
Barbarians, Healers and orcish characters have much less to fear from giant spider bites, though a low-experience level character without much armor will still want to avoid letting them get too close. Ranged attacks are ideal to quickly bring down an approaching giant spider, with Elbereth and scaring tools being quite good for maintaining distance - most wands are effective against them due to their lack of MR score. Once you have poison resistance, some quality armor and levels under your belt, giant spiders are little trouble (though the webs they leave behind can still trip you up).
If you have an extrinsic source of poison resistance and are capable of reliably killing giant spiders, you can eat their corpses for a reasonable chance of obtaining the extrinsic.

Web spinning
Since you can remove most traps by digging on that trap's square, it is possible to permanently remove almost any trap by doing so, then polymorphing into a giant spider to cover up the pit with webs.
The ability to spin webs can also be useful in stealing from shops - by blocking the entrance square of the shop, the shopkeeper cannot step on that square to guard the entrance since they are unable to remove webs.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Shopkeepers will now remove webs as well.
History
The giant spider first appears in NetHack 1.3d. From this version to NetHack 2.3e, it only generates if SPIDER is set as a compile-time option, and is otherwise replaced by the scorpion. NetHack 3.0.0 includes both the giant spider and scorpion in its default monster lineup.

Origin
Depictions of oversized spiders are a common fixture in fiction - J.R.R. Tolkien features gigantic spiders of various size and scale in his Middle-Earth setting as early as The Hobbit in 1937 book. Giant spiders often roam Mirkwood, and throughout The Hobbit they attack and sometimes capture the main characters. Although described as giant spiders, Tolkien gave them additional, non-arachnid attributes such as compound eyes, beaks and the ability to spin of black webs.
The giant spider of NetHack is derived almost 1-for-1 from Dungeons &amp; Dragons, where it is an uncommon type of chaotic evil spider. Giant spiders are web builders with a poisonous spider that construct their webs horizontally or vertically in order to entrap prey - some will lurk above a path in order to drop onto victims. Characters can break out of giant spider webs more easily with higher strength.

Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, The Spider Caves generates 22 giant spiders on level creation, along with several giant spider eggs that will hatch into cave spiders. The "town" variant of the kobold level has a giant spider in the northeastern corner room, and the secret northwestern corner room in Grund's Stronghold has two giant spiders.

dNethack
In dNethack, drow Noblewomen will start the game with a tame saddled giant spider, and player drow can apply saddles to tamed giant spiders and similar monsters. Giant spiders can also grow up into mirkwood spiders.
Two giant spiders are generated on the Paradise Island map of the Sea at level creation. Several giant spiders appear in the upper filler levels of the Dwarf Noble quest, and the Gnomish Ranger Quest will also feature web traps with giant spiders. Giant spiders may also appear in the audience of a throne room ruled by a drow matron.

EvilHack
In EvilHack, giant spiders have an additional touch attack that entraps the target by creating a web on their square.
Drow are capable of taming giant spiders and other spiders as domestic animals, and non-Convict player drow will start the game with a tame large spider - to accomodate this, cave spiders now grow up into large spiders, which can then grow up into giant spiders. Giant spiders themselves can grow up into gargantuan spiders.

Encyclopedia entry
See the encyclopedia entry for spider.
References

↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 810

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1242

↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1392

↑ src/mondata.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 970