Spiderdemon

The spiderdemon, called the spider mastermind in Doom II in reference to being the entity that masterminded the invasion of the moon bases, is the boss of the third episode of Doom ("Inferno") and of the fourth episode of The Ultimate Doom ("Thy Flesh Consumed"). It has 3000 hit points and is one of the toughest creatures in the game. The spiderdemon appears as a huge brain with facial features on it, mounted atop a cybernetic chassis with four mechanical legs and a chaingun, making it similar to a spider at first glance.

The Doom II game booklet humorously presents the spiderdemon as the mother of the arachnotrons: ''You guess the Arachnotrons had to come from somewhere. Hi, mom. She doesn't have a plasma gun, so thank heaven for small favors. Instead, she has a super-chaingun. Crap.''

The spiderdemon is not mentioned in the Doom game booklet, presumably to avoid a spoiler. Perhaps as a result of this, the game booklet for the Depths of Doom Trilogy erroneously states that it appears in Doom II only.

Combat characteristics
The spiderdemon is armed with a rotary gun that has the sound of the shotgun but with a spread similar to the player's chaingun; in fact, it is essentially an automatic version of the shotgun guy's shotgun, firing three pellets per shot at a rate of 425 shots per minute. The chaingun depicted on the monster's chassis is also much bigger than the player's chaingun. When a spiderdemon begins firing, it will not stop until its target moves out of view or dies, or if it is stunned (moving immediately after the pain state) or killed. Similar behavior can be observed in the heavy weapon dude and the arachnotron.

Cyberdemons and spiderdemons take only direct hit damage, and are immune to all blast damage. Therefore, a greater number of rockets is required to kill these bosses than might be expected.

Tactical analysis
When fighting a spiderdemon, it is essential to keep one's distance as much as possible; even at medium range, the monster's attack can be devastating. Using the more powerful weapons is recommended against it ,although since the spiderdemon has a low pain chance, rapid-fire weapons will not completely prevent it from attacking. Using melee attacks against it is extremely dangerous, except in the rare cases where the spiderdemon is pinned by another attacker. In E3M8: Dis, it is possible to stand up on the ledge above ground level and stay at great distance from the monster. At this range, the spiderdemon's attack will not aim toward the player, and therefore never hit its target. Also, the spiderdemon is large and tall enough that, even while standing on the ledge, projectile attacks will reach it.

Appearance statistics
In classic Doom, the spiderdemon is first encountered on these maps:

The IWADs contain the following number of spiderdemons:


 * 1) May be encountered earlier if the super secret level is played.