In Diablo 4, you may have encountered an effect called Thorns.
This short guide will explain exactly what Thorns does in Diablo 4, and how you can go about getting the effect on your character if you should so wish.
What does Thorns do in Diablo 4?
Thorns is a special offensive stat you can have on your character that causes you to damage enemies who land attacks on you. However this will not apply to any Damage over Time effects placed on you by an enemy. There are two ways to increase the damage from your Thorns:
- Increase your Thorns stat
- Increase your Intelligence stat, which also increases Thorns damage
Now that we know what the Thorns stat actually does, we can look at how you can make use of this stat on your Diablo 4 character.
How to Get Thorns in Diablo 4
There are a few different ways to increase your Thorns stat in Diablo 4. Below we will outline all of the methods that we currently know about.
Iron Barb Elixir
One way to increase your Thorns stat is by using an Iron Barb Elixir. Elixirs are consumable items that provide various stat buffs for your character, lasting for 30 minutes. The Iron Barb Elixir increases your Armour and Thorns, as well as your XP generation.
You can get started by crafting the Weak Iron Barb Elixir at an Alchemist. This requires you to be at least level 5, and you will need to have 5 Gallowvines, 5 Biteberries and 1,000 Gold. The earliest Alchemist you’re likely to encounter in Diablo 4 can be found in Kyovashad.
Please check the map below to see the location of the Kyovashad Alchemist.
Barbarian Class
If you want to make a build focused around the Thorns stat, then the Barbarian Class is probably your best option. The Barbarian has four different skills/passives that increase your Thorns stat. These are:
- Combat Flay – When Flay deals direct damage to an enemy, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and 4 Thorns for 3 seconds. This stacks up to 4 times.
- Outburst – Gain 2 Thorns. Also gain 2 Thorns for each 2 bonus Maximum Life you have.
- Tough as Nails – Increase your Thorns by 20%. When enemies hit you, they take an additional 1% of your Thorns as Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
- Strategic Challenging Shout – While Challenging Shout is active, gain Thorns equal to 50% of your Maximum Life.
Necromancer Class
The Necromancer also has an ability to make use of the Thorns stat, but to a much lesser extent than the Barbarian. In the first cluster of the Necromancer skill tree, there is a passive called Spiked Armour, which will grant you 3 Thorns at all times.
Unfortunately that’s pretty much all the Necromancer can do in terms of increasing their Thorns stat, at least on a class level.
Codex of Power
Finally, there are a couple of options in the Codex of Power that allow you to buff your Thorns stat.
The first of these options is the Needleflare Aspect. This Codex is available for all classes, and this one actually changes how Thorns work a little bit. With this Codex of Power enabled, your Thorns will have a 20% chance to deal damage to all enemies around you, rather than just the enemy who is attacking you. You can unlock this Codex by progressing the campaign in Kehjistan.
The second option is the Death Wish Aspect. This Codex is only available for the Barbarian Class. It grants you 17 Thorns while you are berserking. You can unlock this Codex by progressing the campaign in Scosglen.
That’s pretty much all the information we have about the Thorns stat in Diablo 4. We hope you found this guide useful.
