Invoker Thorns Crusader BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points

The build incorporates the full Thorns of the Invoker set bonus, taking 5 of the 6 available set pieces and completing their bonuses with a Ring of Royal Grandeur. Rolls-wise, this cooldown- and attack speed-centric build benefits from CDR on both Burden of the Invoker and Pride of the Invoker, along with an attack speed roll on the latter. Physical elemental damage is recommended on Shackles of the Invoker, as Thorns benefits from that element. The remaining pieces — Crown of the Invoker and Zeal of the Invoker — can be entirely dedicated to Toughness.

Armor set-wise, you will also be crafting and equipping two of the three pieces of the Captain Crimson set — the mandatory Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle and either Captain Crimson's Thrust or Captain Crimson's Waders (again, their bonuses completed via Ring of Royal Grandeur). The Captain Crimson set provides CDR as well as RCR bonuses, and then scales your damage dealt and damage reduced according to both stats — bringing a massive boon to the build. Note that you will not be rolling Resource Cost Reduction on gear, but will attain a considerable amount via your skill choices — namely, Laws of Valor Unstoppable Force.

Your jewelry will balance between damage and utility. Unlike most builds in the game, the Invoker Thorns Crusader can take great advantage of a worn Ring of Royal Grandeur due to its natural Attack Speed and Life on Hit rolls, both of which are desirable for the build — you will only have to watch for a socket and CDR to make the ring best-in-slot. (The ring is still interchangeable with Convention of Elements depending on your better rolled item, but CoE rolls with innate Crit Chance, which makes the odds unfavorable.) The Endless Walk set makes up the remainder of your jewelry; The Compass Rose ring and The Traveler's Pledge amulet — add a unique mechanic that slowly increases your damage by up to a 100% if you remain stationary, and drains it away and increases your damage reduction while moving. This balance mirrors the Thorns playstyle, which fights rooted in one spot for extended periods of time, with periodic bursts of movement to the next big brawl (see this build's skills page for more information).

Your best-in-slot chest piece is Aquila Cuirass, which cuts incoming damage in half if you maintain above 90% of your resource — effectively a permanent bonus in this no-spender build. Note that Aquilla is not a Thorns-related item by nature, so you will need to watch for Thorns damage in your secondary stats, or reroll for them if necessary. The unique damage reduction property of the item has a range of the roll that you need not take into consideration, so you can focus strictly on the relevant rolls for the build.

With the added emphasis on quick application of Thorns damage via your primary attack in Patch 2.7.3, Pig Sticker returns as the preferred weapon of the build. While lacking any flashy bonuses, this noisy knife more than makes up for it. First, it has the superior attack speed of the dagger weapon class (1.5 base); second, it rolls up to five primary stats, meaning it can have high Strength, Vitality, Cooldown Reduction and Increased Attack Speed, AND its base weapon damage roll can (and should, in a perfect scenario) be rerolled into Life per Hit. And third, its unique bonuses vs. human and beast enemies are multiplicative in nature and can lead to massive damage spikes in certain rift compositions. You should complete the setup with an Akarat's Awakening, which supplies this block-heavy build with a reliable source of the all too vital cooldown reduction.

The former favorite for the slot, the Norvald's Fervor set — Flail of the Charge and Shield of the Steed — are still very viable choices for high-end Paragon (5k+) pushing. However they enforce a very glassy playstyle and are no longer as overpowering as they used to be with their damage bonuses, so they do not come as the default recommendation anymore.

Strength still scales your Thorns damage and is recommended across the board. Any base Damage, Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage stats can be safely replaced by survivability and utility stats, as Thorns damage is not dependent on basic attack damage and cannot crit. Focus entirely on Cooldown Reduction, Attack Speed and Life per Hit rolls wherever possible. When it comes to specific breakpoints, it is a good rule of thumb to aim for the 7 frame attack speed breakpoint in your sheet, achievable with a maximum (7%) attack speed roll on your weapon, as well as three additional attack speed rolls on your gear — i.e. both rings and your gloves.

For Defense stats, aim for a life pool between 700-900k; dropping as much as you can for offense as you grow accustomed to the build. The sustain in this build will come from Life per Hit rolls across gear, so try to obtain it on at least 2-3 items (i.e. bracer, helm, gloves), though you could go for more. Ideally, you will reach over 40,000 Life per Hit in total, as marked in your sheet.

Note that the stat suggestions below portray an ideally rolled item with stats listed in relative order of importance. The first four of them are main stats, and the latter two — secondary stats. If your item lacks and is unable to be rerolled into the primary stats outlined below, especially for a stat higher on the list, strongly consider its replacement. Perfecting Secondary stats is mostly a case of hyper-optimization and is not a case for discarding an item, except where noted.

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

In the Core section, max out Movement Speed to the 25% cap. Normally this is done by dumping the first 50 Core Paragon points into Movement Speed, but if your boots have an imperfect roll with Movement Speed as a stat that you cannot replace, adjust the necessary point investment accordingly by simply subtracting your roll from the 25% max. After that dump as much as you comfortably can into Strength, but feel free to invest into Vitality if you feel yourself lacking in toughness. Do not place any points into Maximum Wrath, they are wasted in a no-spender build.

In the Offense section, max out Cooldown Reduction and Attack Speed; you can fill out the remaining Crit stats, but they are useless in a Thorns build (Thorns does not crit). In Defense, prioritize All Resistance, then Life %, then Armor, and finish off with Life Regeneration. In Utility, build up Life on Hit and Resource Cost Reduction (for Cpt. Crimson's bonus) first, then finish off with Globe Radius. You can fill out Area Damage, but it serves no function in this build.

Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is its own multiplier in your total damage calculation. The gem procs itself with its level 25 property and matches the set Thorns radius perfectly.

Added in Patch 2.4, Boyarsky's Chip fulfills a simple and straightforward purpose: increasing your Thorns damage. Its level 25 property is useful in sticking enemies on top of you, right in the 2-piece set bonus radius.

Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and final jewelry socket. Building up your damage multiplicatively in prolonged fights and with a level 25 bonus specifically targeting Rift Guardians, this gem is designed to assist during the takedown of the biggest bottleneck in GRs, the scaling HP numbers.

When it comes to gear gems, you will start out progression by slotting the highest available level of Rubies in the chest and pants sockets. Ideally, these will all be Flawless Royal Ruby as soon as possible. As you grow in Paragon (bulking up Strength in the Core section) and aim for higher tier and more dangerous GRs, you will transition those gems into the defensive Flawless Royal Diamond. There is no specific breakpoint where you do that; the rule of thumb is to make the change as soon as you feel the lack of toughness impede your progress. Thorns Crusaders are highly Cooldown Reduction dependent, so a Flawless Royal Diamond should be socketed in your helm. In your weapon, use a Flawless Royal Topaz for the Thorns boost.

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

Echoing Fury will provide you with a stacking 15% Attack Speed and 5% Movement Speed buff, adding up to 5 times for a total maximum of 75% additive Attack Speed and 25% Movement Speed (going over the 25% movespeed cap from gear and Paragons). The stacks are refreshed upon enemy death, including kills by party members, resulting in an easy-to-keep, all around useful buff.

With the changes in Patch 2.7.3, the Invoker set now gains AoE capabilities that were previously absent from the set. To capitalize on those changes, you will be using the Omnislash belt, which will give Slash a 360 degrees effect around the character. Note that the removal of the former favorite for the slot, Belt of the Trove, necessitates that you use Bombardment on your bar.

The jewelry slot in the cube is best taken by Convention of Elements, squeezing some extra damage in a spec that already excels at survival. Maximize its benefits by keeping in mind the heavy burst during the Physical cycle of the rotation.

In your 4th Kanai's Cube slot in Season 33, you have space to introduce additional damage reduction via a Unity.

The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.

The recommended follower for this build during solo GR progression is the Enchantress, due to her cooldown reduction- and increased attack speed bonuses, both of which are helpful to the needs of a critless, Thorns-based build.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

The preferred potion for this build is Bottomless Potion of the Leech due to its Life per Hit bonuses, which synergize perfectly for the high attack speed and sustain-through-attacks playstyle of the build.