A lot of you may know, or not know. I have been running a thorns build since the release of RoS. I have since then been releasing guides on the build some of them nor so understandable.
After posting my new guide videos I have been bombarded with PMs asking about game play and how it does in anything higher then t1, well heres the chance to check it out and ask questions. I dont want you all to think this is a shameless stream plug. I have been extremely busy with school and other personal issues.
A lot of you may know, or not know. I have been running a thorns build since the release of RoS.
Since the release of RoS, Thorns was competitive for less then a day though? Why would you play it all this time? Seems surprisingly masochistic of you ;P
The skills I am currently using are, Iron skin(reflective skin). provoke (charged up). Akkarats Champion(rally). Phalanx (bowman) punish(retaliate) Blessed Hammer(thunderstruck)
Akkarats is very good now, I don't see why every crusader shouldn't run it. I wouldn't use shield bash, its nice and it does hit hard its just very small aoe and uses lots of wrath. Dont use roar, its just not as good as retaliate.
The sanguinary embraces are BIS now for the build. They scale by 25% of your main stat.
I do not like the 4 set bonus for invoker, its just good. on top of that you have to lose lots of GREAT gear just to get the 4 set. I will not give up andys or the vambraces just so my thorns will hit in an aoe. I have plenty of aoe so its just a waste.
Playing in groups is kinda rough, but it has its pros and cons like every other build. Think of yourself as a elite bomber, or slayer. What ever you prefer. I just focus on killing the tougher harder groups to help the groups. It takes practice to know when to jump into fights and when to stay back. Pay attention to the elites affixes and know which ones you can instantly kill will greatly improve your group play. This goes for Rift bosses as well. Some rift bosses I can burst for over 1-2bil damage and groups love it.
60% is fine. I tested a lot with block chance. I determined that 60% is not different then 70-80% block chance. The reason I say this is cause the sacrifice that you haft to make in order to get that high will hurt you in other areas such as damage or life, or even crit damage. Also I don't think the patch effected block chance at all. At least from what I know.
Streaming now feel free to stop by and ask questions. I only check this thread 1-2 times daily. It make take me a while to reply to comments.
Some slight changes from the 2.0.5 patch effected this build. Sanguinary Vambraces are now BIS for thorns build. they scale with 25% of main stat, before they didnt scale at all. Also which this is the biggest change. The 2 set bonus from the Demons Hide set DOESN'T scale with iron skin (reflective skin) anymore, since its considered fire damage. It still scaled regular thorns.
Feel free to ask any questions. I am constantly improving on this build and on my way to starting t5.Either comment here or stop by the stream and let me know what you all think.
Hey there fantasmagore, is your gear pretty much BiS for the build or are there items you are still looking for to improve it. Is the weapon which provides a percentage of your thorns damage per hit any good for this build?
I'd be a lot more interested in this if you'd actually write down the build and some guidelines for it. Not everyone wants to have to watch a bunch of videos and sit through a bunch of things they're not that interested in just to get to one or two pieces of information.
Im trying to hold out on writing for a full in depth guide at this point, to many changes to the crusader to keep it updated for everyone however, that doesnt mean im not going to do it. Im just holding off till the 2.1 patch before I do it. I am also trying to find a good site to write it on. I do not like the official blizzard forums format for threads. Its very limiting.
I get that, although I think it'd be a nice improvement even if you just did 'here's a link to the build, here are a few items you really want to look for, watch the videos for the rest.'
After I make a few more vids. Thats how I plan on doing threads. thanks for the feed back. What would make this more appealing to the every day diablo player?
After posting my new guide videos I have been bombarded with PMs asking about game play and how it does in anything higher then t1, well heres the chance to check it out and ask questions. I dont want you all to think this is a shameless stream plug. I have been extremely busy with school and other personal issues.
If you missed my old videos here they are.
Thorns Crusader Intro videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrld7JHr3W8
Thorns Crusader Gear guidehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vsj5HoBrGQ
Bursting for over 1bil dmg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuhiOchnWvs
Battle Tag Fantasmagore#1144
Twitch twitch.tv/fantasmagore
However I did just run some t4 rifts and they were a cake walk. Looking to try some t5 later tonight.
Thanks for the input. If you watch the stream please let me know so I can say hi and do some higher torments for ya.=]
Streaming now.
twitch.tv/fantasmagore
twitch.tv/fantasmagore
The skills I am currently using are, Iron skin(reflective skin). provoke (charged up). Akkarats Champion(rally). Phalanx (bowman) punish(retaliate) Blessed Hammer(thunderstruck)
Akkarats is very good now, I don't see why every crusader shouldn't run it. I wouldn't use shield bash, its nice and it does hit hard its just very small aoe and uses lots of wrath. Dont use roar, its just not as good as retaliate.
The sanguinary embraces are BIS now for the build. They scale by 25% of your main stat.
I do not like the 4 set bonus for invoker, its just good. on top of that you have to lose lots of GREAT gear just to get the 4 set. I will not give up andys or the vambraces just so my thorns will hit in an aoe. I have plenty of aoe so its just a waste.
Playing in groups is kinda rough, but it has its pros and cons like every other build. Think of yourself as a elite bomber, or slayer. What ever you prefer. I just focus on killing the tougher harder groups to help the groups. It takes practice to know when to jump into fights and when to stay back. Pay attention to the elites affixes and know which ones you can instantly kill will greatly improve your group play. This goes for Rift bosses as well. Some rift bosses I can burst for over 1-2bil damage and groups love it.
60% is fine. I tested a lot with block chance. I determined that 60% is not different then 70-80% block chance. The reason I say this is cause the sacrifice that you haft to make in order to get that high will hurt you in other areas such as damage or life, or even crit damage. Also I don't think the patch effected block chance at all. At least from what I know.
Streaming now feel free to stop by and ask questions. I only check this thread 1-2 times daily. It make take me a while to reply to comments.
Twitch.tv/fantasmagore
Feel free to ask any questions. I am constantly improving on this build and on my way to starting t5.Either comment here or stop by the stream and let me know what you all think.
Streaming now. twitch.tv/fantasmagore
twitch.tv/fantasmagore