The Spider Almanac. (A Guide For Webbers)

Webber seems simple. You either tame spiders, or farm them, right?
Well, you're not wrong, but there's a lot more that meets the eye when it comes to spiders.
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THIS GUIDE IS AIMED AT NEW PLAYERS (but maybe older players can still learn a thing or two off of it)
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In this guide, I'm going to try and explain to you all of the relevant information to do with: spider nests, individual spiders, usefulness, etc, along with how to use Webber with these spiders.

Enjoy. (Because if you don't, then that will be more than 2 hours of independant research and editing gone to waste).

The tools at your disposal...

Let's see what we're working with here...

So! Spiders are relatively savage in their behaviour, they act based on their insatiable bloodlust, but there is always a way to control the clutter. Before we begin, we'll need to know what we have at our disposal, and how to obtain them.

There are two basic concepts we need to understand to begin with. These are a spider's Obedience and a spider's Loyalty.

Obedience:
Any character can gain obedience. This is the thing that makes spiders follow your orders. Obedience is either on or off. If a spider is obedient towards you, it won't attack you, but if you lose the obedience and you're not playing Webber, you will become the spider's next meal.

Loyalty:
Only Webber can gain loyalty from spiders. This is basically permanent obedience. Ever since the update, loyalty is now indefinite. The only way to dismiss loyal spiders now is via the Shoo Box, or by murdering them all by picking up your followers and killing them in your inventory. Loyal spiders are now house-trained, too! They don't tank your teammate's sanity, and they won't eat walls or fences, either. They will still go for meat on the ground, though.

With that out of the way, let's take a peek at the tools! Most of these tools can be found in the Spider Care crafting tab, which we can split into two parts. For now, we'll only be focusing on the items within this tab (plus the razor), but don't worry! We'll cover the switcherdoodles shortly.

The items:

















Let's have a look, shall we?

The Razor
Crafting Recipe: 2 Twigs, 2 Flint




Wait wait wait, you're telling me a bloomin' razor is going to help me with controlling spiders? Well, yes actually! In terms of actually controlling the spiders for farming and combat, no, it won't help, but the razor received a slight change that actually makes it a really good tool for Webber to use!

Razors can now be used to downgrade nests, which will net you 1 silk for doing so. While this by itself isn't much, this change has made it much easier for Webber to control the population of spiders, as he can now both upgrade and downgrade nests at will. This change is also useful for preventing spider queens from spawning if you haven't been able to decorate your nests yet.

It's also an easy way to completely destroy tier 1 nests without any tedious nest-smacking, however do keep in mind that if you destroy a nest this way, all of the spiders inside will still hold a vendetta, and will be out for your blood.

Webber shaving a tier 2 nest, which will downgrade it to a tier 1 nest.




















The Den Decorating Kit
Crafting Recipe: 1 Silk, 1 Papyrus, 2 Boards




This is the second item found in the items section of the Spider Care tab. It allows Webber to add decorations to any tier of the basic spider nest, immediately halting its growth and causing any spiders within a certain radius to become passive to players, walls, and fences. It can be used up to 5 times.

The catch is: if any hostile action is taken towards spiders from a nest within-range, the decorations come off, and the truce is broken. Yes, ANY attack, such as attempting to start a spider-farm or retreating to your nests for a hound wave, even if you didn't hit the spiders yourself.

So, you may be wondering, why use this? Surely it's a waste of perfectly good boards and papyrus? Granted, the effective range is relatively small and its applications are limited, but it does boast some inventive uses:

The Insta-Army Spider Barracks™:
Whilst the decorating kit isn't an excuse to slap your brethren right in the centre of your team's base, there is a 'structure' of sorts that you can have nearby in a somewhat safe manner. The purpose of this build isn't for farming, but rather so you have easy-access to an army without having to go out of your way to your spider-farm.

This two-nest spider barrack will house 20 spiders. Plenty!













Off-server Farm Maintenance:
Going to leave the server for a little while but can't trust anyone else to maintain your nests in your stead? Provided your spider-farm doesn't have an absurd amount of nests, then decorating them all can be a good alternative to removing them entirely. They'll still be there when you get back, and due to the halted growth, there will be no queens, either!

A decorated tier 3 nest. Just look how comfy and cosy it is!














Spec-Ops Storage:
Found some rather rare spiders that you'd like to keep without fear of them dying in a chest? The decorating kit allows for a rather creative structure to be built which allows you to efficiently and effectively keep these spiders safe, without the fear of them wandering about in the open world. In order for this structure to work, ensure you pick up the spiders you want to keep before leaving them. This will "detach" them from their original nest, preventing them from despawning. Make sure to place a non-perishable meat in the centre of the fence - such as pigskin - to keep the spiders lured. The decorations will ensure the spiders nearby will not destroy the fence, provided they're kept out of harm's way. Simply drop 'em and dismiss 'em, and they'll remain there until you need 'em!

Spiders can be sorted by type using fence. Get creative!

The tools at your disposal... Continued...

The Webby Whistle
Crafting Recipe: 3 Silk, 2 Twigs




Say goodbye to the days of relying on Glommer to get the spiders out for you in daytime, the new Webby Whistle now allows Webber to call upon his spider friends at all times of day! It has three main uses.

Wake up:
Spiders sleeping on the ground will be woken up. They will stay awake for around 15 seconds before going back to sleep, unless something else happens such as being fed, finding a tasty morsel to eat, or being attacked.

Nest call:
Spiders inside nests can now be called out of their nests. This will draw out all of the spiders, including any rarer types like warriors, spitters, etc. Yes, this even works for dangling depth dwellers! This gives you the perfect chance to spider-farm during the day, or to amass your daytime army.

Rally:
Also known as "defensive mode", you can blow the whistle to cause any loyal spiders to lose aggro on whatever they were fighting, instead opting to simply follow you. They won't start attacking again - even if attacked - for about 10 seconds unless ordered to, giving you ample time to re-group, heal, or re-command your spiders to attack a different target.

Do note that if you call your spiders to rally after slaying a giant foe, they will ignore the meat on the floor, too! Just don't dilly-dally, you only have a short window of time!

Webber using the Webby Whistle to wake up sleeping spiders, as their impending doom is approaching them.











The Shoo Box
Crafting Recipe: 2 Boards, 2 Gold, 1 Rope




The Shoo Box is rather costly to make, and for its limited number of 10 uses and the applications that it can be used in, it's not a necessity for you to haul it around wherever you go. However, it does still have some use, so keep it close by when spider-farming.

Pacify:
The Shoo Box will cause any attacking spiders nearby to stop attacking, causing them to turn passive. This will stop spiders from attacking any players or other monsters provided they don't get aggro'ed again by another source, so if you're using this to stop a spider-farm early, you may need to use it 2 or 3 times to pacify the stragglers that would re-start the war.

Dismiss:
Any loyal spiders will be dismissed. Does what it says on the tin. Do remember, since the update this is the only way to dismiss your army. Loyal spiders will follow you forever unless dismissed.

Webber dismissing loyal spiders, as he has realised they only love him for his food.











The Healing Glop
Crafting Recipe: 2 Honey, 2 Ash, 2 Silk




The Healing Glop will heal both Webber and any spiders in a small AoE around him. Any spiders within range will heal for 80hp, and Webber himself will only heal for 8. Ideally, you'll want to pair this with the rally function on the Webby Whistle, however in the midst of combat if you're bunched together with your spiders, you can effectively catch and heal every spider within the short range.

This is good for early-game spider armies if you haven't decided to rush unlocking nurse spiders, however it is quickly made redundant the moment you can introduce one or two nurses to your ranks.

The healing range of the healing glop.

Basic Spider Info:

So, for army or for fodder, what do we have to use?

In this section, I'll cover each individual spider type, their uses in war, as well as a few general tidbits that you should be aware about. As a rule of thumb, all spiders will deal 20 base damage upon attacking you unless specified otherwise. All spider types can wear hats as well! I will also be giving recommendations on what head-gear is suitable for each type, but do remember certain hats will have their effects cancelled while worn by a spider, such as the feather hat or the spider hat, despite their durability still being consumed.

It is always good to note that using spiders for war is often rather costly in terms of resources, and is not always the best choice. There are always other alternatives, and if the alternative options are cheaper and more practical then don't shy from using them instead. This is a team game after all, so Webber's solution may not always be the best solution, however it's always an option if the rest of your team is ill-prepared for combat. That, and killing a beast like dragonfly with an army of blood-hungry monsters is just the coolest! Just remember the spiders will eat the boss drops like Deerclops' eye, or the ancient guardian horn if you aren't savvy with your whistle.

If you are preparing for war, first you'll want to know your target. If they have an AoE attack like Deerclops, then consider bringing hardier spiders and putting some helmets on your nurse spiders. If your target is a mere clockwork bishop, then spiders that can close the gap or make up for the range such as spitters are better options. Each spider will have its ups and downs, so consider which spiders you want to bring!

One notable boss that spiders excel at brutally murdering is the Crab King. Often regarded as the worst boss in Don't Starve Together, the sea striders make this boss laughably easy. Simply set your striders to work and sail around him to dodge the geysers he summons. With enough striders, they'll be able to out-damage his absurd healing... Just make sure you chuck a few ice-staff shots at him if he attempts to freeze your water-based kin.

Alternatively, there are a select few number of bosses that are almost impossible to kill with spiders alone unless you're very very stubborn and have a LOT of resources and bodies to spare:
Bearger has far too much AoE regardless of how many nurses and helmets you have. He will eventually overpower your forces through brute force.
Klaus has far too many elemental attacks for the spiders to deal with, and as we all know, killing the deer first is a very bad idea.
If you are to fight the Shadow Pieces with spiders (not recommended, by the way) in order to get an atrium, kill them in the order of:
Rook -> Bishop -> Knight
The level 2 rook has a screech which will make your spiders useless for a large chunk of the fight, and the same is said for a level 3 bishop.

As redundant as it is, you can bundle spiders, too! If you want a bunch of nurse spiders to bring with you everywhere, maybe having a bundle of 4 of them isn't a bad shout.

Webber and his buddies preparing for the spider-dance tonight.

Normal Spiders:

As bare-bones as you can get.
100 HP
Stunlock?: Yes

Uses for War:
Normal spiders are your cannon fodder. For early-game adventures such as killing clockwork knights, they get the job done, however they are always bested by AoE enemies later on. Your other options of spiders are obviously more useful for war, however, with the new addition of Switcherdoodles, they are the perfect base to expand upon, turning those hordes of kinda-rubbish spiders into hordes of not-so-rubbish spiders!

Other Tidbits:
As all spiders drop the same loot, the normal spiders are perfect for your spider-farming needs! They die easily, and can kill each other with no problems. When they're too busy in their bloodlust killing their brethren, that's the perfect time to sneak in and steal all of the meat, silk, and glands! Couldn't be simpler... Provided you're Webber.

Recommended Hats:
Anything! These spiders are not geared for war, however with how easily they can be amassed, they're great for transporting items. Got a bunch of Wigfrid's helmets you want to move from point A to point B? A bunch of thule crowns that you don't have space for? Preparing some bee-keeper hats for Bee Queen? Place 'em on your spiders, job done!

Spider Warriors:

Mean, green, killing machines.
400 HP
Stunlock?: No
Can quickly leap at targets from a long range.

Uses for War:
Spider Warriors are the bread and butter of your army. They're interchangeable from the Dangling Depth Dweller, so you techincally have 2 Switcherdoodle crafting recipes to make them. Their leaping attack makes them formidable foes for faster-moving targets like pigmen, and when given a helmet they can become relatively tanky. Consider grabbing as many Warriors as you can for your army.

Other Tidbits:
When fighting against Warriors, consider moving in diagonal lines from a distance, this will often cause their leap to miss you, so you can get some free swings in. In shipwrecked the Warriors have venom, which can make spider farming a pain in the backside. Granted, they also only have 200 HP in normal Don't Starve.

Recommended Hats:
Armours are great for Warriors, especially due to their 400 HP. If you have a Wigfrid on your team who can produce helmets like nobody's business, your army will be well-prepared!











A Warrior spider leaping, as Webber has unshared snacks on his persons.

Nurse Spiders:

MEDIIIIIIIC!!!
400 HP
Stunlock?: Yes
Bite damage: 10
Can heal their allies.
Spider Heal: 150 HP
Webber Heal: 8 HP

Uses for War:
Nurse spiders are required if you wish to take down any foe bigger than a clockwork rook, and you will often need more than 1. They will occasionally heal your spiders and yourself during combat, allowing you to take on a more aggressive play-style, as you will often out-heal the damage most enemies can dish out, meaning you won't need to kite as often giving you more time to strike.

Other Tidbits:
Newly added with Webber's re-work, Nurse spiders will only spawn from a Spider Queen when she's in combat. They will always go for their AoE heal first if they're able to, so you can somewhat predict they'll waste their first attack on you.
In terms of fighting against them, always always ALWAYS kill them first, as killing other spiders while they're around is much harder.
A cheeky way to get them to heal you out-of-combat is to place down a wall and issue them to attack it. They'll perform their heal first, giving you and any spiders a boost in health. You will pretty much only get Nurse spiders in your ranks via Switcherdoodles, so it's often a wise idea to have those resources available to you.
If you want to rush unlocking Nurse spiders early, a rather counter-intuitive method to spawn a Queen is to purposefully die and then haunt a tier 3 nest. Each haunting has a 10% chance to spawn her... Just make sure you have a way back into the land of the living once you've done so.

Recommended Hats:
Armours are ideal for keeping your Nurses alive, and their 400 HP and healing factor will ensure the helmet breaks before they do. If you only have a limited number of helmets, prioritise giving them to your Nurses.












The Nurse spider's healing range, which is much larger than the Healing Glop.

Sea Striders:

Over the open waters, they seek for food...

By god these little fellas are adorable!
200 HP
Stunlock?: Yes
Can stride on the water at a much faster speed.
Significantly slower than a regular spider on land.

Uses for War:
Going on a sea adventure? Having a handful of Striders following behind will ensure you're never caught with your pants down. Additionally, Striders are your one-way ticket to an easy Crab King fight, as the king himself has no options available to attack the spiders provided you're nearby. However, Striders aren't quick enough to keep up with some submerged threats, such as the Rockjaw Sharks.

Other Tidbits:
Striders - when out on water - will not eat meat left on the ground, opting instead to devour any shoals of fish that are unfortunate enough to be swimming nearby. This behaviour trait is dropped when the Striders come into contact with land, however they move painfully slow, slower than an average spider, so racing them for loot drops isn't too difficult. Interestingly, they behave similarly to Dangling Depth Dwellers wherein they will only leave their nest if agitated rather than being based on the day/night cycle: fish swimming below, a survivor attacking the nest, picking figs, or bumping into the giant tree trunk are all ways of agitating the Striders.
Also I really like these guys like just look at 'em they're like my favourite lil' guys with their spindley lookin' green legs dawww

Recommended Hats:
Anything! As they're similar to normal spiders, they can somewhat fulfil the same purpose for over-seas travel. You most likely won't need to kit them all out with armour for the Crab King fight, as he will rarely damage the Striders - if at all.

Shattered Spiders:

Over the shores, onto the land of the moon...

Crystal teeth will make crystal corpses.
250 HP
Bite damage: 25
Can slam the ground, causing 3-7 crystal spikes to erupt from range and deal 10 damage each.

Uses for War:
Shattered Spiders are a welcome addition to any army, especially if the foe you're facing can summon smaller enemies. Their slam attack can deal up to 70 damage at once provided there are ample targets, and their base bite damage is slightly increased. Do note they are rather squishy compared to Warriors or Dwellers.

Other Tidbits:
Shattered Spiders have a much larger aggro range compared to the other variants, which pairs well with their slam attack. If you're not Webber, ensure you steer clear of them if you don't wish to deal with them.
Also, Shattered Spiders are rubbish for spider-farming. Please, don't even bother.

Recommended Hats:
Almost anything depending on your situation. Armours are a good choice, however because they will often attack from range, you could - when fighting against lighter foes - get away with sticking a miner hat on them instead.









A Shattered Spider showing off to Webber his new party trick.

Hiders:

Ooh boy, down into the caves we go...

Reckon' they have a TV in there?
225 HP
Stunlock?: Yes
Will hide inside its shell after taking moderate damage, granting +75% armour.

Uses for War:
Hiders are in theory only really good for prolonged fights where Nurses are involved, however even this isn't entirely true. They're a close second for uselessness compared to normal spiders, however one could argue they hardly even fight for the entire time they're in combat. Try to avoid them if you want an actual army to fight for you, but they can usually outlive the competition if they're in your ranks, albeit after a longer fight.

Other Tidbits:
The 75% armour they gain from hiding is essentially 75% damage reduction from all sources. They do not heal naturally during this period.

Recommended Hats:
To me, the miner hat will give you the most bang-for-your-buck. Light sources in the caves are scarce, and the durability of the Hider ensures that you will have a few light sources darted around the fighting area.














A Hider spider hiding, as he has been called a rude name.






And now introducing... The Hidey-Light™!

Spitters:

Do you spit your web at me, sir?
350 HP
Stunlock?: No
Can spit at targets from afar for 20 damage.

Uses in War:
Spitters are one of the best spiders you could recruit for war. They will spit at targets at a much faster rate compared to their default bite, as well as dealing this damage from a safer range - around the distance of 2 player characters stacked one on top of the other. While they still will die to most AoE enemies, pair them with Nurses and you will be unstoppable.

Other Tidbits:
Despite the intimidating nature of the caves in the early-game, I would highly recommend trying to find Spitters as soon as possible if you're able to. Their uses in war are by far the best in terms of damage dealing, and their Switcherdoodle is easily accessible in the early-game, too!

Recommended Hats:
Armours again are the best choice, however because of their natural methods of fighting from range, it is a good idea to put your helmets on close-quarter spiders first like Dwellers before protecting your Spitters. If you have some miner hats spare, they make for a good alternative!









Spitters will start spitting at you from this range.

Dangling Depth Dwellers:

From the ceiling, they roam...
400 HP
Stunlock?: No
Can quickly leap at targets from a long range.

Uses for War:
The Dwellers - as stated earlier - are simply substitutes for Warriors. They are just as strong, and your army will function with a fair amount of either, just keep in mind the recipe costs bunny tufts to craft, which may be rather costly early-game.

Other Tidbits:
Remember that despite their nest being on the ceiling, Webber can still call the Dwellers with the Webby Whistle. Their nest is often unmovable (asides from in regular Don't Starve, where you can remove it by burning an object in the middle of the webbing) so these areas are often always dangerous for your teammates.

Recommended Hats:
Armours are great for Dwellers for the same reasons as the Warriors.










A Dweller leaping at Webber, as Webber called him smelly.

Snack time!

So, what's all this about those new-fangled doodlemajigs and switcheroos?

Switcherdoodles are the second half of Webber's new Spider Care crafting tab! They allow him to turn any spider type into another spider type. How neat is that?























There are six SEVEN total Switcherdoodles, one for every spider type asides from the normal spider, because why would you want to curse your army with mediocrity? Before we go into detail about these special foods, here's some general rules for feeding your spiders.

Webber - when feeding a single spider from within a group of untamed spiders - will tame both the spider he directly fed, and the two closest spiders that are nearby. Play your cards right, and you can tame 3 Warriors for the cost of 1 morsel, which is very nice indeed. Spiders will now also benefit from the healing properties of meats, so if you feed your spiders jerky, they'll get a hefty boost to their health!

You can now also feed spiders from your inventory! This will tame the spider you have in your inventory slot, as well as a nearby spider in the world if there is one. Dropping the now-tamed spider from your inventory will see him follow you around like normal.

You can feed Switcherdoodles to spiders both in the world and in your inventory, however the influence mechanic is not activated if done so. Only the one spider you fed will be morphed and tamed, and no more. The same goes for any spiders under the influence of a Spider Queen. You can only tame one at a time.

With all that out of the way, here are the recipes for the Switherdoodles. As a rule of thumb, you will always need silk and monster meat from spider-farming. I'm not going to cover spider-farming in detail in this guide, so please feel free to check out Canis' guide in the honourable mentions tab. He explains it ten times better than I ever could!

The Warrior Switcherdoodle's limiting ingredient is pig skin, which can be tricky to obtain as a Webber player as pigs will try to attack you on sight, and getting help from your spider-buddies puts you at risk of losing the pig skin to your hungry brethren. It's recommended to set up a pig farm somewhere away from your base if you're playing alone, or have your non-monster friends collect them for you if you're playing with them instead.

The Dangler Switcherdoodle's limiting ingredient is bunny tufts, which are even trickier to get compared to pig skin for the same reasons with the addition of Bunnymen being smarter in combat. Setting up a bunny farm can be tricky, and like pig farms, there are guides on youtube for how to do so. Keep in mind that doing so is more of a mid-to-late game endeavour, so don't stress if you don't have Bunnymen by day 5.

For this Switcherdoodle, all it asks for is an additional 2 cut stone which is easily renewable. The only problem is you're making Hiders with this, which are not very good. If you need basic spiders with a bit of a bump up in health then this Switcherdoodle isn't terrible, but for amassing an army? You're just wasting rocks in that case.


The Spitter Switcherdoodle only asks for 4 nitre which is perfect. You'll be battling with Winona (if your team has one) for it, but with how abundant nitre is in the overworld and underground, you'll easily be able to amass an army of Spitters. That's a good thing, too! Spitters are some of the best combatants you could have!



The only limiting problem with this is going to Lunar Island in the first place. Moon shards are easily abundant there, but by the time you've unlocked this Switcherdoodle, you've got the resources to make it, too. If you do have plenty of unused moon shards, then turning spiders into Shattered Spiders isn't a bad shout. It makes use of a usually unused resource, and the new recruits are formidable fighters.

Preparing beehives is now an important requirement when playing Webber. Catch some butterflies with a bug net and plant them next to a bee box to create flowers, and the bees will produce ample amounts of honey in no time! Probably the easiest source of healing you could get as Webber, so ensure you have plenty of beehives to take advantage of it!


Sea Striders themselves are not-very-good fighters for anything other than Crab King, however when the time comes to finally fight him, you will most likely have an abundance of these resources, as figs themselves aren't really used in many other recipes.

Spider Queens:

Still can't use her like a Beefalo in this update? Disappointing...

Generally, Spider Queens are a rather underwhelming mini-boss. She sports 2500 HP and will deal 80 damage a swing, with her only attack being a melee stab. Where things get difficult, however, is the minions she spawns whilst fighting her. She will spawn one spider follower every 12-20 seconds or so, which can be one of three spiders. While not in combat, she will mainly spawn normal spiders with a small chance to spawn a Warrior up to a maximum of 16 spiders. When in combat, however, she has approximately a 1/5 chance to spawn a Nurse instead, which is where the fun begins.

The ideal way to kill a Queen is to take out her spiders first, as soon as they're spawned in. This is to keep her as vulnerable as possible. The best moment to attack her is when she first spawns herself, as she'll have no minions to back her up, so half of the job has already been done for you. If she has a full cluster of 16 spiders, however, then engage with caution, if not at all.

One way that Webber can work around a Spider Queen to take her down is to kill her with her own troops. This requires a fair amount of monster meat, however you should have ample if you've been spider-farming properly. Here's how to do it:

Wait until she has spawned in the maximum number of minions she can have, and tame them all. Note that the influence mechanic is turned off for spiders under a Queen's influence, so you will need to feed each spider individually. Afterwards, command the spiders to kill their Queen, and they'll do most of the dirty work for you. You'll need to perform this loop a couple of times, and any additional spiders brought into the fray are ripe for taming. If she summons a Nurse it is in your best interest to immediately tame it and pick it up, both to unlock the Switcherdoodle for yourself, and so it cannot heal the Queen anymore.

Spider Queens can only spawn from a tier 3 spider nest. It takes 12.5-25 days for her to appear. Once she does this, she leaves a tier 1 nest behind in her place provided there are less than 4 nests nearby, which matures to tier 2 a lot faster than other nests do. This is great for duplicating nests if a Wickerbottom is using all of the reeds, as you can get 2 nests for the price of one. If you don't kill the Queen, don't worry! She'll eventually turn into a tier 1 nest elsewhere, so you can still upgrade it and remove it to collect the eggs, or destroy it as it is.

Remember, if you don't want to face a Spider Queen, you can always shave nests with a razor to downgrade them by 1 tier. Alternatively you could decorate the nest to halt its growth, preventing the Queen from spawning.














So, why kill her?
Good question! There are many reasons to commit matricide, however one of them is for the loot she drops. Asides from the extra egg sack, monster meat, and silk, she also drops an exclusive item called the Spiderhat, a piece of head-wear that can be worn by anyone.











The Spiderhat allows Webber (Or any other player for that matter) to quickly force up to 10 spiders to become obedient to them. They will follow the wearer's orders until they remove the hat, after which they will return to whatever they were doing before, be it eating, sleeping, or murdering you for not being an arachnid.

The quick-obedience gain of the Spiderhat can be extremely useful in some sticky situations. It allows you to amass an army just before a hound wave hits, it allows for every character to pass through the ruins unscathed, and it also helps Webber with taking down tier 3 nests, as he can call out the spiders with the Whistle, pop on the Spiderhat, and then order the spiders to destroy their own home with no resistance whatsoever.

If you want to get the most out of your Spiderhat, then ensure you take it off once you've issued an order to attack. Once a target has been selected they will continue to attack it, even if you do not wear the Spiderhat afterwards. Just don't forget to put it back on afterwards if you're not an arachnid.

Spider Nests & Leveling:

Well, at least they didn't hatch in your pocket...

Spider eggs are Webber's best ally, and it's always good to know exactly what kind of monstrosities you have available to you. For your entertainment, here's a list of stuff and things.

Every good Webber should know that you can upgrade regular nests early by using 5 silk per tier. Every tier it goes up will reset its HP back to its max value. Alternatively, you can downgrade a regular nest using a razor, which will give you 1 silk back and will also restore its HP to its max value.
Nests cannot regenerate health normally.
Remember, you can always use the Webby Whistle to evoke any and all spiders out of their nests, regardless of nest type, the time of day, or what star sign you are.

Some nest types are stone-formed. They do not have a set health value, and they can only be broken with a pickaxe.

EACH TIER TAKES UP TO 5-10 DAYS TO GROW, OR YOUR MONEY BACK:

Tier 1:
250 HP
Contains:
-3 Normal Spiders
Will reward you with 2 silk when broken (If destroyed using a razor, you'll get 3 instead).












Tier 2:
500 HP
Contains:
-2 Warriors
-5 Normal Spiders
Will reward you with 4 silk when broken
















Tier 3:
1000 HP
Contains:
-4 Warriors
-6 Normal Spiders
Will reward you with 6 silk when broken
Will also reward you 1 spider egg sack when broken, which can be re-planted elsewhere.
















For spider-farming, having a handful of undecorated tier 3 nests will net you the most resources. Just ensure when initiating a spider war that you don't hit any spiders!

Now, moving onto the other nests that cannot be re-located:

Stalagmites:
Stone-Formed (2 Swings)
Contains:
-2-3 Hiders (There is a 1/3 chance it will spawn a Spitter instead)
Will reward you with 2 rocks, 1-2 silk, 1-2 fossils, and a 1/4 chance to drop a spider gland when broken
The stalagmite can only be broken with a pickaxe. It will take 2 swings to disable the stalagmite's ability to house and spawn spiders, and 3 more swings afterwards to destroy the nest completely, reaping the rewards.















Sea Strider Nests:
200 HP
Contains:
-2-3 Sea Striders
Will reward you with 1 silk and 1 twig when broken
Surprisingly, it's the only nest that - when attacked by a Webber - will not cause the spiders to attack him.
Whilst technically they cannot be relocated, destroying a nest will cause more to spawn in 3-4 days in a random location around the giant treetrunk.
Striders will leave the nest if a shoal of fish swim beneath it.




















Dangling Depth Dweller Nests:
Untouchable
Contains:
-2-3 Dangling Depth Dwellers
Can't be broken
You'll know where the nest is because of the silken creep that is left on the floor. Unfortunately because they cannot be removed they will be a constant threat in the caves and ruins. If you want to avoid triggering the Dwellers, try to walk on the very edge of the creep. It will not cause them to fall down and attack you.














Shattered Spider Holes:
Stone-Formed (8 Swings)
Contains:
-4 Shattered Spiders
Will reward you with 1 rock, 1 moon shard, 1-2 silk, 1-2 moon rocks, and a 1/4 chance to drop a spider gland when broken
The hole can only be broken with a pickaxe. It will take 8 swings to destroy.
There is also an absurdly large amount of creep around the nest, which pairs well with the Shattered Spider's slam attack. Watch your step!

Webber's Job and Survival:

It's time we put the spotlight on Webber for a bit

Cool, so now that you know about the spiders, it's about time you learnt about Webber himself!

Our boy has 175 hunger, 100 sanity and 175 health. His perks allow him to:
Grow a full silky beard in 10 days, which will net you 2/4/6 silk when shaved depending on its growth state which increases by 1 every 3 days. It also gives you a small boost to your insulation, making winter just a tad easier!
And...
Befriend spiders, and to not be considered hostile to them in general. This also comes at the added bonus of allowing him to eat monster meat, monster foods, and raw meats with no penalties.

However, his downsides are that usually passive creatures, such as pigs, catcoons, and bunnymen will attack him on sight, as to them you're labelled as a monster. This isn't as bad as it sounds as you can still do pretty much everything the other players can do, albeit with a little more caution.

For a multiplayer team where everyone is playing different characters, Webber should be primarily focused on keeping the fridges stocked with monster meat, as well as keeping chests stocked with various creature-related loot, such as silk and glands from spider-farming, but also tentacle spots, gears, etc. He can achieve this quickly with his easily amassed spider armies, which can make short work of most overworld and underground enemies. Here's some tips to help you out in these fields of Webber's expertise:

Spider-farming: Try to keep your teammates away from your spider farm. They'll most likely take the spiders aggro or worse, get themselves killed, so ensure your farm is in a suitable location away from the main base, but not too far away to cut down on travel times. With the introduction of the Webby Whistle, you can farm at any time of day, however night is preferable as spiders won't wander back home mid-farming session. Do remember, if den decorating kits are available to you, it is recommended to decorate any nests you can before you leave a public server, as it will prevent Spider Queens from spawning, and your allies are often ill-equipped to deal with more than one. If you don't have enough kits, you can always remove your nests and re-plant them later.

Meat management: Webber is the king of meat products, and can make them in seconds. Whilst Wormwood or Wurt is busy working on the veggies, you can be collecting bundles worth of monster meat to then bring back to your base. A clever trick is to catch a bird early and to put it into a bird cage. You can feed it monster meat to turn them into eggs. If you then put 3 eggs and 1 more monster meat into a crock pot, you've made meatballs entirely from monster products. Happy days.

Collecting mob-based resources: if you have a Wickerbottom on your team, you're going to need tentacle spots. If you have a WX, you'll need gears. Webber is ideally the character you want to send to fetch them as he can simply rise an army of spiders (both in the world or in your inventory) to easily overwhelm the target. The only sacrifice is that you won't get any meat from your kills if you're not quick on your whistle, however you'll keep the tentacle spots, gears, etc from your kills, and you can make monster meat easily, so this isn't too bad.

Spelunking: In the caves there are way more spiders than compared to the surface, which is perfect news for Webbers. Going down there to collect resources, kill bunnymen, find guardians etc couldn't be easier. That, and you can even kill the ancient guardian by yourself with minimal effort provided you have a couple of nurses with you. The only issue you may have is keeping on top of your sanity, but green mushrooms are abundant down there, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Killing bosses: sure, Webber doesn't have extremely OP health leeches or healing exploits, but once he has been given time to gear up, that 175 HP can be pretty damn handy. Levelling bosses like the deerclops can easily be done alone provided you have had the time to prepare. Additionally, if you're savvy about amassing your army, you can kill these bosses with little effort. A mere 8 nurse spiders and grass armour is enough to floor a deerclops, provided you don't mind the risk of losing the eye.

Unless your playing solo, Webber should try to steer clear of doing these tasks:

Nightmare farming: Webber has the lowest sanity in the game, so keeping it high or low to fit your needs couldn't be easier, but since he should be collecting valuable food instead, staying sane to do so makes it a lot easier. Also, once you kill a nightmare creature, you will gain 15-30 sanity back which puts you over the "totally insane" threshold causing nightmares to avoid you. They won't attack you until you go completely insane again, often taking too much time or too many resources. Your teams Maxwell/Woodie/Wes should be handling the nightmare fuel situation.

Dealing with pigs: Webber should be nowhere near pigs unless he has either a machine gun, a one man band or something to effectively kill them with (army of spiders), since they want to kill him on sight. Your teammates should deal with things like hammering pig houses, trading with the pig king and so forth since they will have a much easier time at it compared to you. Once the houses near the pig king have been removed and relocated, feel free to barter with him.

Oh also, don't give a Webber the eyebone unless they're filling in someone else's job like gathering sticks. The reason for this is due to spiders killing Chester on sight, so even if a Webber is careful and builds a mini room for Chester a bit outside the farm, chances are one or two stray spiders will seek him out and eat him.

Epic Conclusion, Honourable Mentions and Q&A:

Yes, I main Webber.

So that's it for the Almanac, if you have any questions about spiders or Webber, feel free to post in the comments and I'll do all the maths/tell you the info. Thanks for reading, this took me much longer than it should've.

I didn't go over how to spider-farm though, which I assumed you already knew how to do, but if you don't then check out Canis' guide on that because I'm too lazy to write it all down. (Lotta good info and stuff, tell him I said hi)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1164565027

canis plz notice me

OH ALSO, one thing most people complain about in a server is they make more silk than they know what to do with. I've made this to pose as a simple solution, so hopefully your chests won't be cram packed with silk 24/7.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949408425
(Shameless plug ended I swear)

Q&A

So what are some useful tools you like to have when playing Webber?
Make sure you always have a Webby Whistle on hand, and a razor in your backpack isn't a bad idea either if you find some nests in the wild that need downgrading. I always keep a spiderhat on me and it's saved me more times than I can count with gathering nests quickly, clearing out hordes of spiders and much more. Killing the Bee Queen will give you the bundling wrap blueprint, try to get it as soon as possible as it will allow you to bundle up the resources you get from farming, causing bundled monster meat or spiders to never expire, saving you on 4 inventory slots. Late game when you have both gems and a large farm, Winona's GEMerator and spotlights are useful, as well as a lazy forager or two. Oh and as useless as they often are, an insulated backpack helps keep your monster meat fresh while you farm overnight, giving it more time until it rots if you aren't able to put it straight into a fridge.

How do you play Webber?
I tend to set up my own farm and base nearby the main one when playing with friends, I farm during the night and rally my resources to them in the morning, and in the remaining time in the day I do the other tasks like collecting resources or killing mobs, ensuring I'm back at the farm before dusk to get the most time to farm. I usually don't farm at summer since smouldering is a pain to deal with. If I'm playing solo and have to deal with bosses myself, I'll ensure I have the nurse spider Switcherdoodle before winter, as they allow me to take down pretty much every boss with some much needed spider help.

Do you feel like spiders are underrated?
Spiders are often misused. Granted, spiders by themselves aren't helpful, however when set up properly you can gather a limitless amount of resources, and floor giant bosses. They're not great in every situation and the over-reliance on them is probably what brings them down, but they are helpful in more situations now, especially since the re-work came out. Usually I'd tell you to kill any spiders that you don't need if they're just following you, but ever since the changes made, provided your army isn't absurdly big to the point it will annoy teammates, there's not much harm in having a couple of bodyguards with you.

THE BLOODY END.
UPDATES:

Good lord. The entire bloody guide's been re-worked to match the re-work. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments.

[Qwazzq]

Stumbled across this guide, as a Webber mein I can say this is the best guide I have found

[JairBear123]

SIck guide man still helpful to this day.

[Gubbins]

Cheers!

[BigHeadBozo]

jesus christ this must've taken SO LONG to write! Amazing guide!

[Gubbins]

Helpful info, cheers :) Hope you enjoyed the guide

[Joehsnsoen]

Webber tips

you can uses spitters/shatters - Winona catapults (auto farm gems/teeth)
2 nurses can attack chester at base - for passive healing
punch tier 3 dens (spawns 4 warriors) - use shoe box, then collect them

traps will make spiders (homeless) - good for multiplying spiders without cookies
trapping 2 queens - nurse spider farm
spider wars meat - turn into eggs, give to pig king, easy gold

when it comes to fighting - 10 - 15 nurse spiders can handle most bosses (no armor/hp food)
sanity controller - make a patch of flowers, haunt them, -sanity or w/ bee hat +sanity
cat-coons, hounds, beefalo, lava - all can auto farm butter/butterflies/rot

[Gubbins]

Cheers :)

[Chazzed]

i dont play webber, but this is pretty awesome

[Gubbins]

Hell yeah it's fuckin' awesome. This paired with the better behaviour of tamed spiders, and the fact that I'm preeeeeeeeeeetty sure they don't tank your teammate's sanity now, makes them excellent as longer-term bodyguards!

[kirb]

oh okay, awesome.