I have a little more than 13,000 thorns and have not read very much about how useful they are. Is that number a good amount, do I need more or less? I don’t know.
I have not tried to go a thorny route. The reason I never has is that in these forums, in online articles, etc. I have repeatedly come across the notion that thorn builds are just not worth it in the long run. Just doesn’t do enough/scale up well in higher levels.
As stated, this is just from information I have encountered. No harm in giving it a good try if you want. Assuming you do want to have at it, pretty sure you need to keep your fingers crossed for looting Razorplate unique item.
Thorns are a nice bonus to have for melee chars, they can speed up leveling quite a bit in my epxerience and can still be a decent damage boost later in the game, but I wouldn’t invest much in them… get only the amount you can get with little investment.
One of the best uses for Thorns is in pvp areas, where people end up ganking themselves when they try to gank you. Nice little surprise for players who don’t examine the opponent before attacking.
What got me interested in thorns was I got a Razorplate chest piece that gave me 9200 thorns. Are there other Razorplate items? Plus I got a unique shield that gave me 2500 more thorns after upgrading it plus adding a gem to it gave me another 250. Plus a couple small items I have found gets me where I am now.
Thorns (on my Barb) was pretty fun up to around level 30 or so, but after that they don’t do a whole lot anymore compared to other things.
I tried that Razor piece that gave me 10,000 thorns, but quickly took it off after one run due to the fact my defenses actually got worse due to the loss of all the stats and aspect my other chest piece had. I just don’t see the value for using it.
Thorns is best on Barbarian or Necro.
I’ve enjoyed my Thorns Barb so far, you really have to spec into it though.
Thorn has a build for it. Thorn is just too specialize. Just need to be aware of high damaging hits, puddles on the floor, and damage over time effects. Oh and Protection shrines. Got to steer clear of Protection shrines.
They are going insane with some perk (berserk if I remember) and aspects that boost thorns, very useful when you are surrounded or when a boss grab you. But beware, it doesn’t replace a good armor and resistances (when we will have resistances).
I am leveling a thorn Barb (lvl 94) now. I have around 14,000 and once the abilities kick in it jumps to around 28,000. I have been able to do NM +20 to my level with no issues. The build won’t beat uber Lilith but it is fun watching the Butcher melt in seconds.
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Uh, no this is completely bogus advice. Immunity shrines are invaluable for Thorns. The game doesn’t care if you have invincibility or not, it only cares that the enemy hit you.
…yeah… when was the last time you use thorn build and pick up Protection shrine?
It is a route that’s entirely underdeveloped tbh
I think it’s decent at times but the mechanic itself has to be decoupled from the Razorplate (i.e. rework Razorplate at least a bit)
If that’s done then things can get a bit better by adding a couple affixes (Gain X% of thorns as armor, Gain X% of thorns as attack damage)
But right now ?, it’s more of a one-trick-pony based entirely on a single item in game
Are you sure? I’m certain that I remember thorns damage does not activate while you have protection shrine active. Hrm, now I’m gonna hop in game and check.
Back on eternal I ran thorns barb before season 1. It was fine but had a couple key problems in NM40+ dungeons.
First, it absolutely relied on every bit of vulnerable you could get. Thorns damage would go from 30K to 300K vs vulnerable.
Exploit puts on vulnerable, but the duration is short, so short in fact that some monsters won’t do their second attack before it wears off. Also, vul got nerfed season 1 so…
Secondly, razorplate sacrifices FOUR defensive affixes on a character that WANTS to be hit. Lemme just say that again.
FOUR defensive affixes are lost by using razorplate. On a character that WANTS to be hit. Not to mention you are trading a defense aspect slot for an offensive aspect. Its just…bad.
Still though, it was fun though level with. Maybe future seasonal gimmicks will lean into thorns.
False, invul shrines cut thorns DPS to zero.