Just to help ppl if they have trouble staying alive or don't know how to down a spider.

1. Spiders apparently have infinite mana. Therefore the hit-and-run tactic does not work. Getting one person to tank all the attacks doesn't work either. Note: Hit-and-run doesn't work on any spirit now.
2. When it is lying on the ground with it's legs swirling around, it deflects WCs back at you and heals. DON'T attack it. Use the time to heal yourself or other mages.
3. It drains your health if you are standing inside a glowing circle with red sparkles in it that it creates by casting a spell. If you are in one or if you see that you are getting drained WARP OUT of the circle.
4. Being banished via draining let's you respawn back where you died. So if you get drain-banished you can stay up there and regen health and mana before coming down again.
5. Don't cast catchers near it. It can control your catchers(the catchers will turn red) and the spirits may attack you (unconfirmed).
6. It summons lots of spirits(they sometimes spawn angry) of all sizes and strength so be careful. If you still have mana and are not being targeted by the spider take these down first, as they can crowd the screen and make targeting impossible, in addition to doing damage. Also good for spirit party after killing the spider.
7. It can destroy bcs so don't put too many around it. Some mages should ideally save some mana and cast bcs again once the original bcs are destroyed. You could also cast bcs out of sight of the spider and cast a ward in sight of the spider so you can warp to the ward to attack the spider, and your bc won't get destroyed.
8. It can destroy structures and that heals it.
9. It apparently loses health slowly if it is walking around and there are no red structures nearby (unconfirmed).
10. It can apparently destroy bcs while still in dormant state.
11. It will apparently do a "super attack" on you(1k+ dmg) if you cast a bc very close to it (unconfirmed).
12. It seems that it does not possess any HP regen ability (beside the ground draining, consuming beacons and other structures and the reflective mode heal). (unconfirmed)

All I know of for now...feel free to add extra information or confirm tips 5, 9, 10, 11 and 13. Thanks.

Edited by Tassidar4 (Oct. 6, 2011 08:06:22)

1. Hit and run will not work on any spirit. If you hit a spirit and run away, it goes docile and stops fighting.

Not since the update. They've changed how spirits react now. Seil and I did some extensive testing. You hit and warp out and the spirit goes dormant again, as if it had never been hit in the first place (aside from injury). You also get no energy from the kill that way.

What about a team hit-and-run attack? One hits, then bolts. The other hits, then bolts and the first returns. Continue this until the spirit is weak enough for 2 hits - you hit, stick around and take a hit while your team-mate comes back and finishes it off. Any chance that would work?

I don't have a research buddy, so I've got plenty of ideas that are completely untestable =/

I was debating this idea with a group of 5-10 mages on one of the spiders, but haven't gotten around to convincing someone to test it.

Team hit and run would work. It also works solo: I'm having fun picking off Koschei in my realm without getting hurt at all.

and spirits can hit fairly hard.... 1k+ >_<

I wonder if having 60 or so mages casting at the same time at the spider can down it in one volley?