Thorns – Barbarian Build for Diablo 4

Build Introduction

Welcome to the guide for the Thorns Barbarian! If you like daring demons to touch you and watching them explode when they try, this is the build for you. With the revamp to the itemization system this build has returned with a vengeance. Let’s dive in!

Strengths and Weaknesses

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Build Requirements

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Aspect of Elements

Bold Chieftain’s Aspect

Earthquake Aspect

Recommended Uniques

Razorplate

Ancients’ Oath

Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Skill Bar Setup for the Thorns Build (Order does not matter)

Bash Steel Grasp Challenging Shout Rallying Cry Hammer of the Ancients War Cry

Follow the points allocated in the image above for the complete 59 point build. The additional 12 skill points are completed using the Renown system.

Arsenal System and Weapon Selection

For this thorns build, we will be using the Two-Handed Axe Technique for its increase to Vulnerable enemies.

Barbarians have a unique mechanic in Diablo 4 where you can assign a weapon type to certain skills. For the Thorns Barbarian, we must use a Bludgeoning Weapon for Bash and Hammer of the Ancients and we want to assign both skills to our Dual-Wield Weapons for faster attacks since for Thorns, these attacks don’t do our damage and only facilitate our real damage, thorns It is important to note that at least one of your dual-wield weapons be a one-handed mace to benefit from Concussion and Wallop and to be able to cast Bash and Hammer of the Ancients.

Paragon Board

We recommend using the following Legendary nodes and Rare Glyphs to truly take this build into the endgame. Note that each Rare Glyph’s information and radius listed below is for the Level 100 version. As a reminder, glyph’s reach their maximum radius at level 46, and unlock their Legendary bonus at level 45. Let’s take a look!

Mercenaries

As you play through the campaign in Vessel of Hatred, you will unlock various NPC Mercenaries who can join you on your quest to slay demons. Each Mercenary has their own small talent tree that will give them bonuses and skills to help you. Additionally, you can assign a Mercenary that you don’t take with you as a reinforcement to jump in when you activate certain skills. Let’s take a look at how we want to set this up for this build.

We hire Raheir, the Shieldbearer:

• Core Skill: Ground Slam
• Core Skill Passive: Raheir’s Aegis
• Iconic Skill: Bastion
• Iconic Skill Passive: Inspiration

Our Reinforcement Mercenary will be Varyana, The Berserker Crone:

• Opportunity Skill: War Cry
• Reinforcement Skill: Bloodthirst

Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats

The Season of Loot Reborn brought us an incredible shift in how gear and itemization are done. It is a major and will affect the game beyond Season 4’s confines. For further details, make sure to read our Tempering and Masterworking section below.

Legendary Aspects

Below you will find all of the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for this build. Remember that since Patch 1.4.0 all Legendary powers can be added into your Codex once you salvage or extract the item. You can still find some aspects through dungeons as you could in previous seasons but now you have the option to upgrade these affixes if you find a higher roll of that affix. Let us go over what aspects you will need.

Slot	Gems	Legendary Aspect / Unique	Aspect / Unique Power
Helm	Grand Ruby	Aspect of Might	– Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0-6.0] seconds.
Chest	Grand Ruby	Razorplate	– Thorns has a 10% chance to deal [100-200%] increased damage.
Gloves	N/A	Aspect of Inner Calm	– You deal x[5-13%] increased damage. Triple this bonus after standing still for 3 seconds.
Pants	Grand Ruby	Aspect of Bul-Kathos	– Leap creates an Earthquake that deals [X] Physical damage over 4 seconds. While standing in Earthquakes, you gain [10-30%] increased Damage Reduction
Boots	N/A	Exploiter’s Aspect	– You have 20% increased Crowd Control duration. While enemies are Unstoppable, you deal x[25-40%] increased damage to them
Amulet	Grand Diamond	Earthquake Aspect	– Ground Stomp creates an Earthquake that deals [X] Physical damage over 4 seconds. While standing Earthquakes you gain x[10-30%] increased damage
Ring 1	Grand Diamond	Bold Chieftain’s Aspect	– Whenever you cast a Shout Skill, its Cooldown is reduced by [1.0-2.0] seconds per nearby enemy up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
Ring 2	Grand Diamond	Aspect of Vocalized Empowerment	– Your Shout Skills generate [5-12] Primary Resource per second while active
2-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon	Yul and Xal Runes OR Grand Skull	Needleflare Aspect	– Thorns damage dealt has a [25-45%] chance to deal damage to all enemies around you and your minions.
2-Handed Slashing Weapon	Lith and Tec Runes OR Grand Skull	Death Wish Aspect	– Gain [X] Thorns while Berserking
Dual Wield Weapon 1	Grand Skull	Aspect of Elements	– Gain + [15-35%] increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets: Fire, Lightning, and Physical. Cold, Poison, and Shadow.
Dual Wield Weapon 2	Grand Skull	Aspect of Accursed Touch	– Lucky Hit: Up to a [20-35%] chance to inflict Vampiric Curse on enemies. Enemies with Vampiric Curse are also Vulnerable. Vampiric Curse’s stored souls deal [20-50%] increased damage.

Gems

Listed below are the best gems to socket into gear for each slot type.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Skull for increased Life on kill	Grand Ruby for increased Strength	Grand Diamond for increased All Resistances

For your jewelry it may be necessary to change the Grand Diamond for another gem for a specific type such as Grand Sapphire to ensure all of your resistances are capped at 70%.

Runes

Runewords return from Diablo 2 in Vessel of Hatred! You are limited to two Runewords across your gear and it requires two sockets in the same item. So this limits Runewords to either Helm, Chest, Pants, or Two-Handed Weapons. We generally recommend them in both of your Two-Handed Weapons for Barbarian. Let’s jump in.

Rune	Rune Effects
Yul	Gain 50 Offering: Cast a Skill with a Cooldown
Xal	Requires 200 Offering: Cooldown 1 second, Gain 20% Maximum Life for 4 seconds
Lith	Gain 25 Offering: Stand still while fighting for 0.3 seconds
Tec	Requires 100 Offering: Cooldown 1 second, Evoke the Barbarian’s Earthquake, dealing damage to enemies within

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats, and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world. Use Elixir of Iron Barbs at the highest level you can craft due to its increase in both armor and thorns to provide more survivability and damage

Return to the Alchemist again when you reach Level 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Below are the affixes to prioritize on gear. Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the second column, and the bolded yellow affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides for more details about these topics.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Thorns 3. Strength	1. Thorns Natural Schemes 2. Maximum Life Worldly Endurance
Chest	1. Strength 2. Maximum Life 3. Thorns	1. Thorns Natural Schemes 2. Maximum Life Worldly Endurance
Gloves	1. Attack Speed 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life	1. Damage While War Cry is Active Berserking Finesse 2. Thorns while Fortified Thorn Body
Pants	1. Resistance to All Elements 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life	1. Challenging Shout Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy 2. Thorns While Fortified Thorn Body
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. Strength 3. Ranks to War Cry	1. Movement Speed Natural Motion 2. Thorns While Fortified Thorn Body
Amulet	1. % Strength 2. Ranks to Counteroffensive 3. Ranks to Pit Fighter	1. Damage While War Cry is Active Berserking Finesse 2. Thorns While Fortified Thorn Body
Rings	1. Resistance to All Elements 2. Attack Speed 3. Strength	1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse 2. War Cry Cooldown Reduction Brawling Efficiency
2-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon	1. Vulnerable Damage 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life	1. Chance for Earthquakes to Cast Twice Wasteland Augments 2. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse
2-Handed Slashing Weapon	1. Strength. 2. Maximum Life 3. Vulnerable Damage	1. Chance for Earthquakes to Cast Twice Wasteland Augments 2. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse
Dual-Wield Weapons	1. Vulnerable Damage 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life	1. Earthquake Duration Wasteland Augments 2. Damage While War Cry is Active Berserking Finesse

Rotation and Playstyle

Thorns relies on getting hit to do damage. As such, we don’t have a Fury Spender, but we have several other skills to ensure our survival from getting hit and group mobs up and deal damage while our Thorns does the work. Let’s run through our buttons.

• Group mobs up with Steel Grasp.
• Rush into mobs and spam Bash to quickly get 4 stacks of Combat Bash.
• Cast Hammer of the Ancients to overpower and get the buffs from both Violent Hammer of the Ancients and Warpath.
• Use your Challenging Shout to make sure mobs attack you and trigger your thorns
• Use your other shouts for resources and unstoppable when in tight spots.
• Spend as much resource as you can to benefit from the new key passive Barbed Carapace.

Unique and Mythic Uniques

Below you will find information on Uniques and Mythic Uniques that are useful for this build. Moreover, if you are interested in target farming Mythic Uniques, check out our How to Farm Mythic Uniques guide.

Uniques

Below you will find the unique items useful to this build that provide specific utility.

• Razorplate – The must have item for the Thorns Barbarian. An update in Patch 1.4.0 is shifting the power level of this item to grant it normal affixes which are just large amounts of Thorns four times allowing it to be properly Masterworked. While you can play the Thorns Barbarian without this, we highly recommend acquiring this unique item first to get the most out of the build.
• Ancients’ Oath – While kind of a joke in the Diablo community for a long time, this weapon has a new time to shine in Vessel of Hatred. It causes all the mobs we pull in via Steel Grasp to take a ton more damage from our thorns and die much faster. A great addition to the build.

Mythic Uniques

Here you will find the Mythic unique items that are useful to this build. If a mythic unique is NOT listed here, it is not useful to this build and does not provide any meaningful increase or effect.

• Doombringer – A very powerful one-handed sword that provides a shadow damage proc, but for Thorns that isn’t the real reason we will want to use this powerhouse of an item if we’re lucky enough to find one. It comes with a massive amount of life gain on lucky hit and since we want enemies to hit us to proc our thorns, this healing shoots this build into the stars in terms of survivability and tankiness. An incredible boon to our build if we manage to snag one.
• Harlequin Crest – The infamous “Shako” remains powerful in Vessel of Hatred. If you’re lucky enough to acquire this helm, equip it. It grants a massive amount of armor, cooldown reduction, and nets a neat 20% damage reduction which couldn’t be more perfect for a thorns build where we want to be hit.
• Ring of Starless Skies – A new addition to this Thorns setup, this helps us spam through our hammers faster to benefit more from our new thorns based key passive. If you’re lucky enough to find one of these, replace the ring with Aspect of Vocalized Empowerment.

Season 6: Season of Hatred

Like previous seasons, Season 6 comes with a new faction to gain reputation with the Zakarum Remnants. Additionally, throughout the world you will find regions afflicted with Mephito’s hatred. Within these regions are massive demons called ‘Realmwalkers’ which after spawning and charging up begins to walk in search of sacred ground. While walking in this phase the Realmwalker’s are invulnerable but fearsome Bloodbound Guardians spawn to protect it. Slay them to remove chunks of the Realmwalker’s health. Once it reaches its destination it will spawn Hatred Spires which you can kill to finally attack the Realmwalker itself. Once slain it leaves behind a portal to a Seething Realm.

Within the Seething Realm you can offer up certain materials at Realm Gates to determine the reward once you complete the dungeon within the realm. These realms also offer a new currency, Seething Opals. A new type of Elixir that provides a 15% experience increase along with another bonus for 30 minutes. The experience bonus from a Seething Opal, stacks with the experience bonus of normal Elixirs allowing you to level even faster!

There are 5 types of Seething Opals:

• Seething Opal of Equipment which causes enemies to drop additional equipment for 25 Murmuring Obols
• Seething Opal of Materials which causes enemies to drop extra herbs and crafting materials for 5 Murmuring Obols
• Seething Opal of Gold which causes enemies to drop extra gold for 1 Iron Chunk
• Seething Opal of Socketables which causes enemies to drop additional gem fragments and rarely, Runes, for 3 Angelbreath
• Seething Opal of Torment Challenges which causes enemies to drop extra Artificer’s Stones and occasionally Boss Summoning Materials or Infernal Compasses for 200 Sigil Powder

Note that the Torment Challenges Opal is only available beginning in Torment 1 difficulty and beyond and is not available in earlier difficulties. While this season does not offer any direct power increase to characters it provides extra loot and bonuses to find the most powerful items and materials to strengthen your character for their journey into Vessel of Hatred!

Advanced Information

Below, you will find every additional piece of information you need to know for a more in-depth look at this build.

Build Mechanics

We want to spam through Hammer of the Ancients as much as possible to spend fury and benefit from Barbed Carapace. So to fulfill that, spam Bash as much as possible and weave in hammers whenever you can. Group up large packs of enemies with Steel Grasp and taunt them to attack with Challenging Shout. A large part of Thorns is being hit, and we want to survive being attacked by rotating through our cooldowns as often as possible.

Thorns

Our main source of damage, Thorns triggers whenever an enemy hits you. For this reason we will want a high amount of defensiveness and maximum life as well as sustained healing if we can fit it in. The updated Razorplate also grants Thorns a chance to deal massively increased damage and we can force the Thorns to deal AoE damage through Needleflare Aspect. The build can feel a bit slow at times since you need things to hit you to make Thorns deal damage, but with a multitude of supporting defensive talents, paragon nodes, and items you should have a rather large amount of thorns and many multipliers to make them shockingly powerful.

Paragon

We recommend using these Legendary nodes and Glyphs to truly take this build into the endgame. Note that each Rare Glyph’s information listed below is for the Level 100 version.

Rare Glyphs and Legendary Nodes	Effect
Rumble	– For every 5 Strength purchased within range, your Earthquakes deal + [13.2%] increased damage. – Additional Bonus once 40 Strength has been purchased in the glyph’s range: You deal 10% increased damage to Bosses and Crowd Controlled enemies for each active Earthquake up to 50% – Legendary Bonus: Increases your Earthquake damage by [X%]
Ambidextrous	– Grants + [25%] bonus to all Magic Nodes within range – Additional Bonus once 40 Strength has been purchased in the glyph’s range: You deal x8% increased damage while wielding One-Handed Weapons – Legendary Bonus: Increases your damage by [X%]
Undaunted	– For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal + [2.0%] increased damage while Fortified – Additional Bonus once 25 Willpower has been purchased in the glyph’s range: You gain 10% damage reduction the more Fortify you have – Legendary Bonus: Increases your damage while Healthy by [X%]
Challenger	– Grants + [30%] bonus to all Normal Nodes within range – Additional Bonus after 40 Strength has been purchased in the glyph’s range: You deal 8% increased damage while wielding One-Handed Weapons – Legendary Bonus: Increases your damage to Elites by [X%]
Revenge	– Grants + [20%] bonus to all Rare Nodes within range – Additional Bonus once 25 Willpower has been purchased in the glyph’s range: Dealing Thorns damage to an enemy increases all damage it takes from you by x1%, up to x15%, for 10 seconds – Legendary Bonus: Increases your damage by [X%]
Carnage	– While Berserking, Critical Strikes increase your Attack Speed by x2%, up to x16%, for 6 seconds
Blood Rage	– Killing a Bleeding enemy has a 10% chance to grant Berserking for 5 seconds. Your damage is increased x10% of your Damage While Berserking bonus up to a maximum of x30%.
Decimator	– Each time you make an enemy Vulnerable, your damage is increased by 10% for 5 seconds. Overpowering a Vulnerable enemy grants an additional x10% bonus for 5 seconds.
Force of Nature	– Your Earthquakes have a 75% chance to spawn a Dust Devil every second that deals 200% damage. Earthquake damage is increased by 30% of your Damage VS Close Enemies, up to a maximum of 150%

Let’s break down each of these beneficial nodes and where our Paragon Points are positioned in each of the Paragon Boards we use. This part of the build is presented in order of importance. If you do not have enough Paragon Points for use in your Paragon Tree, just slowly work towards each step.

Important Notes

• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the correct orientation to match the images shown above.
• Attach the boards in the order shown as bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order.
• Additional bonuses on Rare Glyphs may not be obtainable until they gain the increased radius at level 15.

Starting Board

1. We start off our journey by heading right to grab Brawn.
2. Then we head left and path to the glyph socket through Tenacity, once the socket is unlocked slot in Rumble.
3. Grab enough Strength nodes to activate the secondary effect and the two rare nodes Raw Power and Iron Strength.
4. We path north and unlock the northern gate and attach the Carnage board.

Carnage

1. Head up north and path through Fierce and unlock the socket, slot in Ambidextrous.
2. Next head east to the Legendary node and unlock Carnage.
3. Head further east and snag Brash and then unlock the eastern gate and attach the Blood Rage board here. Once Blood Rage is finished, head back to this board and continue north from the socket to pick up Enraged.
4. Unlock the northern gate and connect Decimator.

Blood Rage

1. Head east and rush to the socket slotting in Challenger and pick up the rare node north of it Revel.
2. Continue east through Wrath and then take a small detour to pick up Restorative.
3. Continue north from here and make your way to the Legendary node Blood Rage.
4. Head north east from the legendary node to grab Grit and some life increasing nodes nearby. and then make your way back to the Carnage board once this board is done.

Decimator

1. March north and rush the glyph socket, slot in Undaunted.
2. Grab both rare nodes nearby Destroyer and Demolish.
3. Head north to the legendary node Decimator and make a small detour east to pick up Brawn.
4. Another detour north east to pick up Arrogance and the surrounding magic nodes.
5. Finally we path through Restorative and unlock the north gate connecting Force of Nature.

Force of Nature

1. Start by going left and heading up through Raw Power and to the glyph socket, slot in Revenge.
2. Head right and grab Squall.
3. Make a small path from the north west of the socket and grab Denial and a few magic nodes nearby.
4. Continue north and grab the Legendary node Force of Nature.
5. Another detour east to grab Alloyed and the surrounding magic nodes.
6. We finish out this journey by going north of the Legendary node and picking up both Tenacity and Catalyst.
7. With that we’ve finished our journey! Sort of.

Concluding

You will be left with a significant amount of Paragon Points at this point in the journey. Grinding up to maximum paragon in Vessel of Hatred is an arduous journey that takes many many hours. This guide will serve to get you through each of your five boards and unlock the most potent versions of your Glyphs. For the remaining points, you’re free to spend them were you see fit if you’re one of the truly hardcore enough to grind out maximum paragon. We recommend spending them on main stat Strength nodes, and magic nodes and any rare nodes left that might help your build. Congratulations if you’ve made it to the highest levels of paragon!

Obol Gambling

A final point on acquiring gear in Season 6 and beyond is using your Obols to target farm specific slots instead of randomly spending them on random drops. Similar to Kadala in Diablo 3, you can use Obol vendors in town to try and get what you’re missing. With the expansion when a level 60 Character spends Obols, all gear from that vendor will be 750 item power, the highest non-ancestral power allowing you to fill out gear with the affixes or Legendary Aspects you need while also having a small chance to grant Ancestral item power 800 gear.

Check out our Obol Gambling Tool HERE

Changelog

• October 24th 2024: Updated Paragon section with post-launch boards
• October 3rd 2024: Build updated for Season 6 and Vessel of Hatred
• August 2nd 2024: Build updated for Season 5 and Patch 1.5.0
• May 7th 2024: Ownership of page transferred, guide restructured and updated for season 4
• March 5th 2024: Updates for Patch 1.3.3.
• January 30th 2024: Marshal Glyph changes.
• January 21st 2024: Season 3 speculative changes.
• October 23rd 2023: Build Revamped for Season 2.
• October 13th 2023: Build Adjusted to prepare for Season 2 launch.
• August 29th 2023: Build Creation Season 1.