Spider Splicer

Spider Splicers are a sure-fire way to ruin your day on the harder difficulty settings. Their agility, combination of close and long-range attacks and tendency to attack in groups of other Splicers makes them a threat to the unprepared. They prefer to drop fom the ceiling, or play dead until the last moment, making them masters of the ambush.

Cannon Fodder? - Considering that these suckers are still a bit of a challenge on the Easy setting, you can only imagine what they're like on Hard. Fast and ruthless, they'll force you to waste ammo just getting a bead on them. However, play clever and you can take them down without wasting too much ammo and EVE.

Weapon of Choice - Being agile little buggers, laying traps such as Proximity Mines and Cyclone Traps are fairly redundant unless you lure them into a cramped area. It's a better idea to immobilise them with Electrobolt or Winter Blast, then rail them with everything you've got. The Chemical Thrower can also be useful in this situation, tagging them with Napalm or any of the other Gels will light them up and make them a perfect target. With the Sonic Boom plasmid added by Patch 1.1 you can also knock them down from ceilings or hit them in midair, often damaging them to the point where you can kill them before they have a chance to get back up. The shotgun is also a great weapon against spider splicers, especially if it has been upgraded. The shotgun's wide field of fire makes it easier to hit the agile splicers, and its damage will kill them quickly. Shotguns are also useful when spider splicers charge you.

on easy level a single round from the crossbow will kill them even if it is a chest shot. not recommended unless you have upgraded your crossbow to reduce chance of breakage as bolts often miss when splicer is jumping around.

One more thing - the Spider Splicer's projectiles are fast, but can be thrown back at them for reasonable damage with the Telekinesis Plasmid if you're low on ammo.