You're likely already terrified of spiders. Now just imagine if they were half your size and exploded on contact.
In all likely-hood you, like everyone else, completed the Dragonborn DLC without even once considering adding these little guys to your arsenal. These seldom used scrolls have the potential to be the deadliest instruments of destruction this side of Tamriel, and I;m here to show you how. Below I go over the many advantages of each type of scroll.
Spider Scrolls are crafted just like items in the Atronach Forge underneath the College of Winterhold.
The Imbuing Chamber inside White Ridge Barrow gives the ability to craft a variety of spiders from Albino Spider Pods (either whole or damaged), assorted gems, and other ingredients. Damaged Spider Pods will produce a dead spider, which we will go over in more depth later.
In most cases, three spiders will be created from a successful combination; however, the amount is doubled if a gem of flawless quality is used instead of a standard gem.
Cloak Spiders emit a constant cloak of their respective element once deployed. Up to six of these things can be summoned at one time, they have no time limit and will fast travel and follow you anywhere (except into the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary for some reason).
Individually these spiders are weak. They have health and little to no damage resistance against anything outside of their respective element. Despite this they make great decoys, as an enemy will have to contend with 6 individual targets with a combined health total of +700 health spread out and coming at them from all directions.
What makes cloak spiders especially deadly is when they converge on a closely huddled group of enemies or a single enemy. Each cloak will stack with the next, so when an enemy stands next to multiple spiders their health will melt at an astonishing rate.
Jumping Spiders will follow you everywhere and last forever just like cloak spiders. When they sight an enemy they will jump at them and explode like little kamikaze bombers. These spiders are much hardier than their cloaked cousins and actually level with the player (to unknown extents). So there's little chance of these guys being killed before they've suicide bombed their target.
What these guys are in essence are rapidly deployable, set-it-and-forget-it homing bombs. Upon hearing that, youre thinking why not just do that with the flaming familiar. Well, unlike the flaming familiar these buggers dont cost any magicka and come in packs of 6. Their jump is surprisingly accurate. They almost always hit and enemy dead on even if the enemy is moving. 6 of these things bombarding a single enemy can cause some pretty high damage.
These can be made even deadlier by tagging an enemy with weakness to magic and/or weakness to <insert element here. Imagine shooting an enemy with a weakness to magic/element poison, and then sending 6 of these spiders to seek and destroy the enemy you tagged.
Even if you invest in spider scrolls you may be tempted to write these little guys off as useless. Nothing in their in game description really does them justice. When you toss these guys on the ground, their lifeless bodies will sit there lying in wait for an enemy to cross their path, at which time they will explode dealing 50 damage.
Like all other spider scrolls up to 6 at a time can be in play, so already these things are viable replacement for runes. If you're going to use these guys as land mines it is best to place them in narrow passage ways and choke points the enemy would be forced to traverse through to get to you.
But why stop at land mines? Did you know you can chuck these bastards like grenades? By adjusting your aiming cursor upward you can get a throwing arc and some distance when you chuck these spiders. Like runes these guys will do more damage the closer the enemy is to the center of the explosion. With this in consideration, one example of a viable tactic would be to huddle enemies together with Throw Voice, confuse them with a frenzy spell, and chuck a bunch of these spiders into the crowd and watch the fireworks.
These unique buggers latch onto and enemy, take control, and force the enemy to fight on your side for 30 seconds. These can be thrown exceptionally far, but only work if you hit your intended target, otherwise they'll explode uselessly like duds. Mind Control Spiders have no effective level cap, so they will work on any enemy vulnerable to its effects regardless of their level. Already you can see how these guys can potentially replace the frenzy line of illusion spells. Unlike other spiders only one of these can be in play at a time.
But wait theres more. By throwing another Mind Control Spider onto another enemy, the previous Mind Control Spider will die instantly along side with the enemy they had control of. This presents a potentially very effective means of taking the strongest enemy in any group out of the fight right away.
Im going to cut right to the chase as to why these guys are so dangerous - You can rig these things to explode with the fury of a thousand suns. When these things are in combat they secrete continuous pools of oil wherever theyre standing. Cast flames on the pool theyre standing on and once the flames react with the oil and engulf the spiders watch them explode with such ferocity that they literally erase anyone in range. That anyone can and will include you if you stand to close to stand clear of this.
The more oil thats spilled, and the more oil spiders that are standing on them, the more powerful the explosion will be. Basically more time + more spiders = bigger booms.
If high explosives arent your thing (whats wrong with you?) just know that Oil Spiders will level along your characters and have a little under 3 times the health of the cloak spiders. They dont deal much damage, but with so much health, they make sturdy decoys.
Dont believe me? Just watch this video by ponty.
- Duplication -
You're no doubt thinking "why the shit does any of this matter if spider scrolls are so rare?". Well it just so happens theres a way to duplicate spider scrolls, pods, and jewels. Watch this video below.
Basically...
1. Get a home and a follower.
2. Make your follower wait in your home.
3. Drop the items you wish to duplicate in your home one at a time.
4. have your follower pick up everything you drop
5. As soon as everything is picked up leave your home.
6. Some say fast traveling helps. I have found that that is not necessarily required.
7. Walk back into your home and talk to your follower. They should have additional copies of whatever you made them pick up.
Cautions and Warnings -
Spiders are incredibly potent tools but they should be used with caution....
- Be cautious of how many you summon in tight spaces as they will get in your way same as any follower or NPC.
- Don't attack them. It only takes one attack to tick off a spider and make it aggressive towards you.
- Whatever the hell you do, DO NOT be anywhere near oil spiders when they explode. You'll be dead before you even realize it if you do. Do not summon oil spiders against enemies with fire based attacks. Any fire based attack will cause them to explode.
Conclusion -
All in all spider scrolls are much more useful than you may have been led to believe. I write this in the hopes that this inspires new build ideas.
Replies
I overcame my fear of spiders and made a spider scroll build using a lot of the tips from here. Check it out sometime.
https://theskyforge.ning.com/groups/tes-character-building/forum/ch...
Ah yes, I know her. Going to cheat and save as a HTML for later. Bloody great strategies in there. (I know I say bloody alot)
Hey guys. I have done part 1 of the Spider Scrolls Test. It took about 5-6 hours last night. Just be warned. There is ALOT of notes. Here they are. There are some errors, so I apologise, I will be continuing testing tonight.
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Spider Scroll Test:
Hey guys. I have finally tested ALL of the Spider Scrolls, expect for the Exploding Spiders. However, I have done a little testing of the Exploding Spiders (ES) and will do more soon.
Here are my notes:
Spider Scrolls tested at Level 50, Skyrim version 1.9 (no Unofficial Patches), with DLCs. No mods were used during testing. Master of the Mind was NOT taken.
The Test was completed on PC.
CoA- Call of Arms
C-Courage
R-Rally
BP-Buffing Poison
Fr-Frost
F-Flame
Sh-Shock
P-Poison
ES-Exploding Spider
Buffing Poison:
Ingredients: Blue Mountain Flower, Nightshade, Wheat.
Effects:
-Decrease Magicka Regen by 100% for 75 seconds.
-Fortify Health 48 pts for 60 seconds
-Restore Health 75 pts for 60 seconds
BP was created with Alchemy at Level 100 with the following perks:
-Alchemist 5/5
-Physician 1/1
-Benefactor 1/1
-Poisoner (Had no effect, at all)
No Fortify Alchemy Enchantments or Blessings (such as Seeker of Shadows) active during the Test. The BP was applied using a untempered Steel Dagger, with One Handed at Level 15 (no Blessings or Enchantments active).
NOTE: No Fortify Skill Potions were used during the Test.
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F/Fr/S/P Cloaked Spiders (They all have the same HP)
HP: 111.00
C->HP: 144.00
R->HP: 144.00
C, R->HP: 177.00
CoA->HP: 144.00
C, CoA->HP: 177.00
R, CoA->HP: 177.00
C, R, CoA->HP: 210.00
BP->HP:
NOTE: Spider attacks once hit Dagger. Sheathe Dagger to stop Attacking. If Spider poisoned by the Player, cast Calm/Pacify). Once Calm/Pacify wears off Spider will continue attacking.
NOTE #2: All Spiders fully (100%)resist their Elements (Flame Cloaked resisted Fire etc.). The Poison Spider fully resists the Buffing Poison and will attack Player until hit with Calm (read above).
BP, C->HP:
BP, R->HP:
BP, C, R->HP:
BP, C, R, CoA->:
NOTE: Strangely after being Calmed (Calm/Pacify used), for both Courage and Rally, the Spider won't attack once CoA is casted.
Jumping Flame and Shock Spiders:
HP: 401.00
C->HP: 434.00
R->HP: Failed, Spider dies once Rally casted.
CoA->HP: Failed.
BP->HP: Failed, Spider dies upon being hit.
Jumping Frost and Shock Spiders
HP: 491.00
C->HP: 524.00
R->HP: Failed.
C, R->HP: Failed, Spider dies, once Rally is casted.
CoA->HP: Failed, Spider dies, once CoA is casted.
BP->HP: Failed, Spider dies upon being hit (regardless if power attacking or not). Even Poison Spider dies, which has 100% Poison Resistance.
Oil Spiders
HP: 491.00
C->HP: 524.00
R->HP: 524.00
C, R->HP: 524.00
CoA->HP: 524.00
C, R, CoA->HP: 555.00
BP->HP:
NOTE: Oil Spider attacks once hit Dagger. Sheathe Dagger to stop Attacking. If Spider poisoned by the Player, Dual Cast Calm (single Cast Pacify is not strong enough as Oil Spider is a higher level), to stop the Oil Spider from attacking. Once Dual Casted Calm wears off Oil Spider will continue attacking.
BP, C->HP: 572.00
BP, R->HP: 572.00
BP, C, R->HP: 605.00
BP, C, R, CoA->: 638.00
Mind Control Spiders (Host body was Bandit Outlaw)
Bandit HP (before using Mind Control Spider): 109.00
HP: 109.00
C->HP: Failed, kills Mind Control Spider, but Bandit survives and gets buffs.
R->HP: Failed
CoA->HP: Failed
BP->HP: Failed. Unsure, will retest.
NOTE: I had trouble testing the Mind Control Spider as at certain times, it was difficult to see if it was still active. Casting ANY Illusion spell or applying a BP, results in the Mind Control Spider Effect (yellow web covering host body), will disappear.
However, you can cast any Illusion Spell, and/or Buffing Poison onto the target (tested with Bandit) and THEN use a Mind Control Spider on the Target. The effects of any Illusion Spells/BP will NOT dispel.
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Additional Notes:
-The Damage from the Cloaked Spiders are, (found in Active Effects Menu);
-Flames, 60 pts per second (Flame Cloaked Spider)
-Frost, 60 pts per second to Health and Stamina (Frost Cloaked Spider)
-Sparks, 60 pts per second to Health and Magicka (Shock Cloaked Spider)
-Poison, 60 pts per second to Health (Poison Cloaked Spider)
Note: Each of the Cloaks are effected by Resist Fire/Frost/Shock/Poison, Resist Magicka and Absorb Magicka. The Damage Values (60 pts per second), were found on Expert at Level 50 during the Test of Spider Scrolls.
-Also worth noting is that the Cloaked and Albino Spiders can poison the Player/target, inflicting them with Albino Poison, which does 2 pts of Damage to Health and Stamina for 2 second. Albino Poison is affected by Resist Poison but not by Resist Magicka.
-If for some reason that a Spider (under your command) goes rogue/hostile, the other Summoned Spiders will remain neutral and not attack it.
-Strangely, I found out that the Oil Spider has Level 100 One Handed, Sneak and Archery. I don't know why, maybe for damage via the legs (???). But I believe this is for all Spiders.
-You can have multiple (I had over six at one point), ES, which act like Runes. HOWEVER, the ES can AND will damage you and can also be moved.
NOTE: You can have multiple ES, however when 'throwing' them, you must be careful not to hit any of the other ES. Doing so will result in a chain reaction of explosions from the ES.
NOTE #2: Strangely, once set, the ES can be moved around and even touching each other without detonating. Also, if you cast any spell (tested with Destruction Spells), onto the ES, they will explode.
NOTE #3: HOWEVER, you can cast any Wall Spells and THEN summon an ES and move it into the Wall, without the ES detonating. If you summon an ES, THEN cast a Wall Spell on top of it, it will set off the ES. ES will not set of Runes, no matter what Spell or Spider is casted first.
-All Spiders, do NOT set of ES or Runes (briefly tested when Flame Cloaked Spider went rogue). However, if you set a Rune off yourself (either via Shouting at it or casting a Spell such as Fear), with a Spider on top of it, the Spider (and you if you are close enough), will be damaged. (Tested with Flame Cloak Spider and Ash Rune)
-The Spider underneath the Rune will not become Hostile. (Needs to be retested, as well as checking if ES are the same).
-All Spiders do Fast Travel with you, however, they can only 'walk' meaning that they can lag behind, but won't disappear if you go into another cell (as they appear next to you when the cell is loaded (need to further test). However, they can't follow you into different 'worlds' such as Azuras' Star, and Apocrypha.
-Also Spiders do NOT affect the Summoning limit, from the Conjuration Tree. Meaning you can have six Spiders, and either an Atronach/Daedra/Undead (two if you have Twin Souls).
-All Spiders are NOT resistant to Paralysis or Ash Shell/Rune. Both Paralysis and Mass Paralysis do AFFECT Spiders, even when neutral. Once hit by Paralysis/Mass Paralysis, they will become hostile. Spiders can also be hit by Ash Shell/Rune and not become hostile.
-Strange Tung about Oil Spiders is if you cast a Cloak, next to one, it will kill the Spider instantly but not set off the Oil, even if neutral. Even stranger is that if you cast a Cloak spell, THEN stand next to the Oil Spider it isn't affected.
-Cloaked Spiders (needs further testing to check if all others as well) can be healed by Healing Hands OR Heal Other. I am unsure about Grand Healing and any other AoE Healing Spells (Waters of Life etc).
I just noticed some values are missing. That was an accident, I was in a hurry retrying that all up. I'll fix it up on Monday, when Part 2 should be done. If you have any questions, ASK. I might see what this Creation Kit is and see if it can help.
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