What does thorns damage mean in Diablo 3? We will show you here what you can do with this attribute and which classes it is used on.
What does thorns damage mean? This type of damage in Diablo reflects onto attackers. If you are hit by an opponent and you have thorns damage yourself, then this thorns damage is automatically dealt to the opponent, without you having to hit them yourself.
You can think of it like your armor literally having thorns. Tiny sharp spikes. If an opponent hits, shoots, or kicks your armor, they damage themselves on the spikes of your armor. That’s how it works in Diablo 3. The exciting thing is that Crusader builds revolve completely around this type of damage.
How to use thorns damage – Builds
Thorns damage on rare items: On the regular blue and yellow items in Diablo 3, you can see thorns damage as an affix. But legendary items and set pieces also revolve around thorns damage.
Generally, thorns damage only really makes a noticeable impact when it is significantly amplified. Like with the Thorns set of the Crusader.
A popular build: Especially among Crusaders, thorns builds are popular. A set that fully utilizes this type of damage is the set “Thorns of the Invoker“.
You can already see from the set bonuses why these items are so strong.
- 2-piece bonus: Your thorns damage is dealt to all enemies within 15 meters. It is increased by 90% for 2 seconds when you hit an opponent with ‘Punish’ or ‘Slash’ or block an attack. This effect is stackable up to 10 times.
- 4-piece bonus: You take 50% less damage for 20 seconds after hitting an enemy with ‘Bombardment.’
- 6-piece bonus: Increases the attack speed of ‘Punish’ and ‘Slash’ by 100%. These skills deal 67,500% of your thorns damage to the first enemy hit.
Additionally, you wear items like the Belt of the Trove. It calls down a bombardment every few seconds, keeping your 4-piece bonus active. Other items provide more damage reduction in your build so that you can withstand as much as possible when engaging enemies.
There are also abilities that work well with the set.
- Iron Skin with the Rune Reflective Skin
- Reduces damage taken and increases thorns damage by 300%
- Provocation with the Rune Hit Me
- Taunt, gain wrath, and increase block chance by 50%
- Command of Valor with the Rune Unstoppable Force
- For more damage
- Akarat’s Champion with the Rune Prophet
- For more damage and reduced damage taken
- Punish with the Rune Speed
- For higher block chances and faster attacks
- Cavalry with the Rune Endurance
- For mobility and speed
- With the passive skills Heavenly Strength, Iron Maiden, Fanaticism, and Splendor, you distribute more damage and increase your thorns damage even further
A current build for the Thorns of the Invoker set can be found here on Maxroll.gg.
From the MeinMMO community: Our reader NewClearPower recommends here in the comments of the article two more builds.
The first is “a mix of ranged and melee, with basically only thick elite enemies coming into melee range.” You can find the build here on icy-veins.com.
The second build that NewClearPower recommends focuses on timing. It is a bit more difficult to play, but can “also wipe out multiple elite enemies at high rift levels in a single blow.” You can find this build here on icy-veins.com.
In the comments, you will also find more details about the play styles of these sets. Thank you, NewClearPower!
How strong is it? The thorns builds have various variants, as you can see on the Maxroll.gg website. Some of them are really strong. In our Tier List for Season 22 in Diablo 3, a thorns build lands in Tier A. So this is more than just “goofing around” and can become quite competitive.
This is how it’s played: Ultimately, you run through the hordes of enemies with the build (on the horse) and let them hit you. The reflected thorns damage ensures that opponents die. With the other skills, you temporarily increase your damage and ensure that you take less damage. The build is based on surviving as long as possible so that you can deal your thorns damage for a longer time and survive against elite enemies.
Your target, however, are the elite groups. With your buffed thorns damage and the 6-piece bonus that deals 67,500% thorns damage to enemies, you quickly take them out. You effectively run through the non-elite enemies and occasionally reflect damage while focusing on the elite packs with your skills.
You can see what this looks like in this YouTube video from Diablo expert Wudijo:
What are your experiences with thorns builds in Diablo 3? Have you tried any or is it a play style that you prefer to avoid? Share your opinions here on MeinMMO in the comments and discuss with other players.
Have you been away for a while? Starting from Season 23, Diablo 3 has finally become more attractive for solo players. Even outside the seasons.
