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Giant spiders are a large variant of the spider species.

Background[]

Giant spiders tend to appear in old ruins and other places where the Veil has become thin because of magical disturbances or a great number of deaths. In such places, spirits and demons pass into the world of the living and attempt to take control over living beings, spiders among them. Not all scholars accept this explanation for the presence of these beasts, however. Some claim that the thinning Veil allows magic to "leak" from the Fade, tainting such creatures as these spiders to transform into larger and more potent creatures then they ever would become naturally. While such spiders are known to possess powerful poisons and the ability to fling their webs at opponents in combat, studies of them have been few and the full range of their abilities are unknown.

From Codex entry: Giant Spider

They typically appear in small numbers, but have been known to gather into larger groups for ambushes. Their primary ability allows them to throw their webbing, causing the victim to become encased and immobilized unless they pass a resistance check. Spiders can also use the Overwhelm ability, wherewith the spider tackles its victim, repeatedly inflicting physical damage and stunning the target for the remainder of the attack.

Nature of the Beast

Dragon Age: Origins[]

Quests[]

Dalish Elf Origin Dalish Elf Origin
Dwarf Noble Origin Dwarf Noble Origin
Infested Storerooms Infested Storerooms
A Poisonous Proposition A Poisonous Proposition
Nature of the Beast Nature of the Beast
A Paragon of Her Kind A Paragon of Her Kind
Quest icon Origins Encounters

Locations[]

Brecilian Forest Brecilian Forest
Deep Roads Outskirts Deep Roads Outskirts
Storage Caves Storage Caves
Lothering Lothering
Brecilian Ruins Brecilian Ruins
Deep Roads Deep Roads
Dark Forest Dark Forest

Dragon Age II[]

Quests[]

Altar of Dumat Altar of Dumat

Locations[]

Tower Base Tower Base (Vimmark Mountains)

Dragon Age: Inquisition[]

Quests[]

Templatetools This section is incomplete and requires expansion.

Locations[]

Emerald Graves Emerald Graves

Abilities & Skills[]

Overwhelm Overwhelm
Web Web

Strategy[]

The party members should support each other whenever spiders arrive. If you end up apart, a spider's web or Overwhelm attack can incapacitate a lone companion. When webbed, the companions who aren't trapped should defend their comrade. Against an Overwhelm attack, everyone else should immediately focus on the charging spider to kill it before it kills your companion.

Both their Web and Overwhelm abilities are quite hard to resist, particularly the latter which keeps the target knocked down and taking serious damage for a few seconds (while additionally vulnerable to damage from other sources). Although Spiders use their abilities relatively rarely and chaotically, they sometimes happen to spontaneously chain them in a nasty way. Two inconspicuous Spiders chaining two Overwhelms in a row with a Web in between can even kill a lower-level warrior in the lower levels, whilst not giving him a split second to do anything at all. It is recommend to quicksave prior to going up against these creepy-crawlies.

Notable loot[]

Dragon Age: Inquisition[]

Spider Fangs Spider Fangs

Variations[]

Spiderling
Thaig crawler
Giant spiderling
Venomous spider
Poison spider
Poisonous spider
Giant spider
Giant poisonous spider
Fade-Touched spider
Monstrous spider
Queen spider

Codex entries[]

Codex entry: Giant Spider Codex entry: Giant Spider
Codex entry: Giant Spider Codex entry: Giant Spider

Note texts[]

A Strange Letter From Lothering A Strange Letter From Lothering

Trivia[]

  • Dwarves who live underground have domesticated giant spiders and raise them as food animals, similar to how surface-dwellers farm goats and cows. In particular, the legs, which are not unlike crab legs, are eaten. However, procuring spider legs on the surface is quite difficult, and the export demand from Orzammar for this product is very low.[1]
  • Fried young giant spiders is a dwarven dish which involves frying the legs of young giant spiders and serving them alongside an alcohol-based sauce. The sauce and the specific alcohol used to cook it vary between every eating establishment. Their precise recipes are well-guarded secrets, as due to the fierce "Orzammar's Best Sauce" contest, rival contenders deviously scheme with the aim of obtaining them.[2]
BioWare canon
The following information is only mentioned in Dragon Age Tabletop. Certain portions of this media may no longer reflect currently established lore.

  • The dwarves also roast giant spider legs for consumption. Domesticated spiders are usually used for this.[3]
  • Some sources suggest that giant spiders were once raised by dwarves as a form of biological control for the many species of large bats that were endemic to the thaigs and Deep Roads. However, as the thaigs fell and the Deep Roads were abandoned, their populations exploded as a result of a plentiful new food source: darkspawn. Today they have spread throughout the Deep Roads and even spilled into caverns and forests on the surface.[4]

See also[]

Corrupted spiderling
Corrupted spider
Corrupted spider queen

Gallery[]

References[]

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