Arachnophobia Mode

This article is about the setting. For other uses, see Arachnophobia.

An example of Arachnophobia Mode in use in Naxxramas' Arachnid Quarter. The pictured spider and crypt fiend mobs have had their models replaced with crabs and makrura.

Arachnophobia Mode is a World of Warcraft graphics setting, available under Options > Accessibility > General, which replaces most spider and spider-like models in the game with those of other arthropods. It does not affect gameplay or difficulty. It does not change any text in the game (spider mobs are still called spiders even if their models are changed to crabs), nor does it affect pre-rendered artwork (such as loading screens, item and spell icons) or cinematics.

A player riding a  [Royal Court Undercrawler] with Arachnophobia Mode enabled.

The setting was added in patch 11.0.0 in response to portions of the community who, following the announcement of the heavily nerubian-themed The War Within expansion, expressed concerns that they wouldn't be able to enjoy the expansion due to having a strong aversion to or fear of spiders in games. Members of the development team had previously internally voiced concerns about feeling uncomfortable while working on the expansion for the same reasons. Arachnophobia Mode is intended to be a solution that preserves the fidelity of the game while making it more approachable for everyone.

Affected models

Original model	Arachnophobia Mode
Spiders Bone spiders Crystal spiders Fire spiders Ice spiders Spider demons Tarachnids Threadlings	Crabs
Giant spiders Tarantulas Undercrawlers	Sand crabs
Mechanical spiders	Hermit crabs
[Bloodfang Cocoon]  [Vicious War Spider] Tarachnid mounts	[Crusty Crawler]  [Snapback Scuttler]
Nerubians Crypt fiends Humanoid fire spiders Humanoid Deathweb spiders and aranasi Male fal'dorei	Makrura
Nerubian flyers	Skitterflies

Unaffected models

The following spider-adjacent creatures are not affected:

• Queen Ansurek
• Female fal'dorei
• Nerubian spiderlords and crypt lords
• Nerubian viziers
• Sennarth
• Shale spiders
• Skitterlings

Notes

The test item  [Arachnophobia Goggles] appeared in the data for the Dragonflight beta test, suggesting the mode was already under development at that point.

Patch changes

• Patch 11.0.5 (2024-10-22):
  • Mounts will now dynamically swap if the mode is enabled while the mount is already visible.
  • Bloodswarmers are now supported by arachnophobia mode (including mount versions).
  • Fixed an issue where the setting would sometimes be temporarily disabled upon logging in or teleporting to a new area.
  • Fixed an issue that caused some swapped creatures to appear too large or too small.
    
• Patch 11.0.0 (2024-07-23): Added option to replace spiders with alternative creatures. This doesn't affect gameplay or difficulty. Option under Accessibility > General > Arachnophobia Mode.