Thorns is a buff that deals damage to a character's attacker when hit.
For enemies, Thorns only applies for hits dealt by attacks. Thus, cards such as Fire Breathing and relics such as Letter Opener do not trigger thorns.
Thorns is particularly effective against enemies that hit many times in a single attack, such as Byrds or the Book of Stabbing.
Sources of Thorns
- Bronze Scales: Relic that grants the player 3 Thorns at the start of combat.
- Thorns Potion: Potion that grants the player 3 Thorns when consumed.
- Caltrops(+): Power card for the Silent that grants 3(5) Thorns for that combat.
- Flame Barrier(+): Skill card for the Ironclad that grants 12(16) block and adds 4(6) Flame Barrier for that turn. The Flame Barrier buff is functionally identical to Thorns, the only difference being that it only lasts one turn.
Enemies with Thorns
- The Guardian (Level 1 Boss), gains a Thorns-like buff in Defensive Mode. Its variant of Thorns triggers when an attack card is played rather than whenever it takes damage. In other words, playing a multi-hit attack only does the thorns damage once, but playing an X-cost card with 0 energy will still activate the buff.
- Spiker (Act 3 Monster): Starts with 3 Thorns, capable of buffing Thorns indefinitely.