Though Diablo 4 launched less than a week ago, its players have already made several unorthodox builds such as a Barbarian character whose primary damage comes from Thorns. Despite the Barbarian nerfs in Diablo 4, the spin-to-win class of the Diablo franchise shines brightly in its latest entry. The first Hardcore character in Diablo 4 to reach Level 100 is a Barbarian, and though its lack of any ranged abilities outside Upheaval makes the Barbarian suffer in certain endgame content, players are finding creative ways to work around the limitations.
From a safe and steady Hammer of the Ancients build to the more single target-focused Bleed build, Barbarian players have plenty of options on how to tackle endgame content in Diablo 4 such as Helltides and Nightmare Dungeons. However, for the laziest players in the Diablo community, there exists a build that asks nothing of the Barbarian, and yet offers a screen full of monster corpses and good loot.
Created by WillyWanker_69, the Thorns Barbarian only has one directive for players who seek to perfectly execute its rotation: keep calm. In order to make the build viable, Diablo 4 players need to obtain the Razorplate, a Unique chest armor piece that provides up to 9734 Thorns to the wielder, and the Needleflare legendary aspect which causes 40% of Thorns damage as an additional Area of Effect. Though the build can further be improved with legendary aspects such as Death Wish, Razorplate and Needleflare are the pair that make the magic happen.
As seen in the video, the Thorns Barbarian lets players enjoy a casual stroll through the wastelands of Sanctuary, with event monsters hopelessly dying to their own attacks. Taking down Strongholds in Diablo 4 without moving a muscle may seem counter-intuitive to the class fantasy of the Barbarian, but it cannot be denied that Thorns is a very effective build to run in the early era of Diablo 4.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen if the Thorns Barbarian will continue to thrive in higher-level content, but paired with a Whirlwind loadout, it has the potential to be an insanely fun way to tackle the challenges of Diablo 4. The mitigation provided by Thorns could best be described as passive-aggressive, and given the constancy of Whirlwind, as well as the buffs gained through Wrath of the Berserker, it seems like a natural way to further expand the build.
Diablo 4 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.