Mother Smolderweb

Mother Smolderweb is a giant crystal spider, the queen of the Skitterweb Tunnels in Lower Blackrock Spire. She has no part in the Dark Horde's plans; she was there before the orcs came, and her brood is so large that even Rend Blackhand's troops avoid her tunnels. Players visit her for her loot and for one of the odder quests in the game, which asks them to let her poison them.

Background

According to the later Adventure Guide, the Dark Iron dwarves who built the spire dug into her lair centuries ago and let her loose into the halls. Her brood has grown ever since. The Skitterweb Tunnels spread over two levels of ramps and rubble that climb from the lower reaches of Hordemar City toward the ledge where Urok Doomhowl is summoned, and they are full of webs, Spire Spiders and eggs she keeps laying.

Abilities

• Crystallize: stuns a player for three seconds.
• Mother's Milk: a poison on nearby players that lasts 30 seconds. While it lasts, it now and then roots the victim and anyone standing next to them in place.
• Summon Spire Spiderling: when she dies, three Spire Spiderlings burst from her body.

Strategy

The way to her runs through the spider tunnels, so groups clear the Spire Spiders and webs along the way. Her rare cousin Crystal Fang can also spawn in these tunnels.

Smolderweb herself is a simple fight. The tank holds her while the others stay out of reach of the poison cloud, and anyone with poison removal (druids, paladins and shamans) can clean it off. Area attacks are handy at the end, when the spiderlings spill out of her corpse.

Loot

Drop chances are from our database (patch 1.12).

Venomspitter is a one-handed mace with a poison effect, and Smolderweb's Eye a trinket. The [Wildheart Boots] belong to the druid's Dungeon Set 1. Her [Ironweb Spider Silk] is a tailoring material for frost-resistance gear used in Naxxramas, the reason she shows up in the Glacial gear quests.

Quests

• Mother's Milk: Ragged John, a dwarf in the Burning Steppes, asks players to get Smolderweb to poison them with her milk and come back while it lasts, so he can "milk" them. The reward is [Ragged John's Neverending Cup].
• En-Ay-Es-Tee-Why: Kibler at Flame Crest wants fifteen [Spire Spider Egg] from her tunnels. He pays with the [Smolderweb Carrier], a pet spider.

Trivia

• Patch 4.0.6 (Cataclysm) added the Smolderweb Egg to her loot, a companion pet that became her best-known drop.
• Her model was updated in Battle for Azeroth.

Sources

• Mother Smolderweb - Warcraft Wiki
• Skitterweb Tunnels - Warcraft Wiki