Spikes (2)

Damage:	Instant Kill (Exact damage unknown)
Notes:	Spikes are only dangerous when quickly falling into them.

Spikes are a basic yet deadly trap commonly seen in many areas throughout the game. The only areas that do not contain spikes are Olmec's Lair, Temple of Anubis, Neo Babylon, and the Eggplant World.
They are a stationary hazard, and will kill anything that free-falls onto them from above, but it is possible to walk through them or slowly descend into them safely.

Mechanics

Spikes in the Spelunky series are less dangerous than video games have taught players to believe. Only the tips of the Spikes are deadly, meaning touching them from the side and walking through them is harmless.

The Spelunker can also gently lower themselves into Spikes without being killed by performing a ledge-flip onto the spikes from an adjacent tile, climbing down a rope, or floating down with a parachute, cape, or the slow fall on a cave turkey. Grabbing onto a ledge just adjacent to spikes will not kill the player, allowing a player to drop down onto a pit of spikes via ledge-hang.

Descending from a mount or jumping onto a mount while standing in spikes will not harm the player.

The killing potential of Spikes is based on speed. Because of this, an extremely careful player can very slowly lower down into them unharmed using Climbing Gloves or the Hoverpack. However, the Jetpack cannot control a player's downwards velocity well enough to prevent death by spikes.

Spikes can be destroyed by removing the block below them via any means. This is most easily done to spikes resting atop Bone Blocks, but can also be done with the help of explosives or a Mattock.