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Thorns is one of the most common as well as mysterious stats in Diablo 4 that you’ll find on skills, gear, weapons, and gems. Here’s what Thorns does in Diablo 4 and how you can use it to effortlessly beat tanky bosses.

Character-building in Diablo 4 is complex but it is also one of the most entertaining aspects of the game. There are so many stats that you must acquire from skills, weapons, gear, Renown, and other sources to make a character that can take on any boss and dungeon.

A stat that almost every player will come across while building their character is Thorns but the game doesn’t explain its purpose explicitly. Many builds that utilize Thorns have turned out to be quite powerful in the endgame and you might be making a mistake by ignoring it.

On that note, here’s everything you need to know about Thorns stat in Diablo 4 and the best builds based on it.

Barbarian near a campfire in Diablo 4
Blizzard

Barbarian is one of the best classes for Diablo 4 endgame

How Thorns stat works in Diablo 4

Thorns in Diablo 4 is an offensive stat that automatically deals damage to the enemy that attacks you directly. The only condition is that the damage you take must be direct and not over time implying that standing in a poison/acid trap won’t activate Thorns.

Diablo General Manager Rod Fergusson took to Twitter to explain how Thorns works in the game:

For those asking “what does thorns do?” With my Necro build – watch the boss’s health as he blows fire onto my Skeleton warriors. pic.twitter.com/19EuArNNDS

— Rod Fergusson (@RodFergusson) June 29, 2023

In the clip above, you can see how the boss instantly lost health upon damaging Rod’s Necromancer’s army. This is because the Necromancer must have a lot of Thorns and the class’ minions inherit a certain amount of these stats. Hence, every time the boss dealt direct damage to the minions, Thorns automatically dealt damage back.

It is important to repeat that Thorns is a purely offensive stat. It won’t boost your survivability and simply deal damage based on the damage you take, so you might not want to use it with classes like Rogue and Sorcerer.

How to increase Thorns damage in Diablo 4

Stats

Thorns damage in Diablo 4 depends on your stats and it is different for every class. To get the most Thorns damage, we recommend increasing the following stats of your character:

  • Rogue – Dexterity
  • Necromancer – Intelligence
  • Sorcerer – Intelligence
  • Barbarian – Strength
  • Druid – Willpower

Gear

You can find the Thorns stat on armor like any other stat in Diablo 4. Affixes on items are largely random so make sure to check out their stats carefully before you decide to sell or salvage.

A Unique item granting Thorns in Diablo 4
Blizzard

Unique items are extremely rare in Diablo 4.

Gems

Emerald is the only Gem in Diablo 4 that you can add to your Armor for gaining Thorns. The amount of Thorns you get depends on the quality of the Emerald (chipped, crude, flawless, etc.).

How to check Thorns in Diablo 4

To check the amount of Thorns your Diablo 4 character has, follow these steps:

  1. Open your Diablo 4 inventory by pressing I on the keyboard.
  2. Under character, select Material & Stats.
  3. Scroll down to find Thorns at the bottom of the Offensive stats list.

Best Thorns builds in Diablo 4

We recommend using the Necromancer, Druid, and Barbarian classes to make the strongest Thorns builds in Diablo 4. While the Barbarian and Druid and the classes with the highest HP, the Necromancer has a minion army that has its own Thorns stats.

You can add Thorns to any major build through the ways mentioned above, and for more guidance, make sure to check out our build guides for the Necromancer, Druid, and Barbarian.

Well, this was everything to know about Thorns in Diablo 4 and we hope this guide helps you make a truly unstoppable character. For similar content, check out:

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