Bronze Scales

Bronze Scales
Description	Start each combat with 3 Thorns.
Flavor	The sharp scales of the Guardian. Rearranges itself to protect its user.
Rarity	Common
Class	Any

Bronze Scales is a common relic that gives your character 3 Thorns at the start of each combat. This means every time an enemy lands a hit on you, blocked or not, they will take 3 damage.

Strategy

Since it grants Thorns, enemies will take damage every time they land a hit on your character, whether it deals damage or not. This makes this relic especially effective against enemies that rely on multiple-hits attacks such as Book of Stabbing, Byrds, Snake Plant, and Corrupt Heart.

Also, since the enemy's Block fades at the start of their turn, it means that they have no way to prevent Thorns from directly damaging their HP.

Synergy

• Block: Protects yourself from damage while dealing damage against enemy hits.
• Stacks fully with Caltrops, increases the potency of Thorns even further.
• Complements nicely with Flame Barrier, which itself grants a hefty amount of Block to prevent damage and has an effect similar to Thorns tied to it, which increases the damage against enemy hits even further.
• Reducing enemy Strength or applying Weak allows you to take more hits without receiving much damage. Consider cards like Disarm, Malaise, Piercing Wail, Blind, or Dark Shackles.

Trivia

• The flavor text says that these scales belong to The Guardian. However, The Guardian's Sharp Hide buff works differently than Thorns, dealing damage to the player per attack card played instead of per hit landed.

Update History

• Weekly Patch 27: Hello World
  • Updated description on Bronze Scales to match Liquid Bronze and other similar relics.
• Weekly Patch 5: Happy Holidays!
  • Bronze Scales damage increased from 2 -> 3 to better match The Guardian.