A-TIER | BUILD WARRIOR THORNS WARCRY WARBRINGER (@Troy Tesko) | SEASON 4

Build Overview

This Thorns Warcry Warbringer build exploits a devastatingly effective mechanic: reflecting enemy damage back at them through thorns. By combining Scavenged Plating to stack armor and thorns charges, with the Warbringer ascendancy that explodes corpses via warcries, the result is a character capable of clearing entire T16 maps by pressing a single button.

The gameplay relies on only two skills: Infernal Cry for mass clear and Rapid Assault for Bosses. Infernal Cry triggers a triple explosion thanks to the synergy between Warhaller’s Bellow (corpse explosion based on monster life), Infernal Cry‘s combustion, and Battershout which returns 40% of shattered armor. Scaling is entirely automatic: the stronger the monsters, the more devastating the explosions.

The defensive layer relies on Cast on Block combined with Thunderstorm, which automatically applies shock and lightning exposure on every block. Add Blasphemy with Elemental Weakness and Enfeeble, and you get a character that massively reduces enemy resistances while tanking hits without flinching. Troy Tesko claims he can even AFK in the middle of a map and let the thorns do the work.

Build Strengths

• Screenwide T16 clear with one button: Infernal Cry clears the entire screen thanks to the triple explosion (Warhaller’s Bellow + combustion + Battershout). Scaling is automatic with monster level.
• Only 2 active skills: Infernal Cry for clear, Rapid Assault for Bosses. The gameplay is extremely simple and comfortable.
• AFK capability: Thanks to thorns and Cast on Block, the character keeps killing monsters even without player input.
• Tier 3 Ubers accessible: The build can tackle a selection of Tier 3 Uber content with a reasonable investment.
• Solid passive defenses: Cast on Block + Thunderstorm automatically applies shock and exposure, Blasphemy reduces enemy resistances and damage.

Build Weaknesses

• Relatively low armor: With around 12,500 armor in combat, the character compensates through life/mana leech via thorns, but remains vulnerable to large physical hits.
• Some expensive items: Sacred Flame can represent a significant investment. Brier Patch is essential to reach 100% thorns critical strike chance.
• Weapon swap dependency: The Boss setup (spear + Chernobog’s Pillar shield) loses access to certain spirit gems like Time of Need and Overwhelming Presence.

Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 1 progression step from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding gem setup.

Endgame

Endgame

15 skills • 44 gems

Pureté du feuPurity of Fire

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Déclenchement en BloquantCast on Block

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Présence accablanteOverwhelming Presence

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

BlasphèmeBlasphemy

Assaut rapideRapid Assault

Armure de récupérationScavenged Plating

Moment de détresseTime of Need

Pureté du feuPurity of Fire

Jet de lanceSpear Throw

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Déclenchement en BloquantCast on Block

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Recommended Equipment

• Weapon (Sceptre) : Sacred Flame to grant Purity of Fire and the bonus fire damage. Budget alternative: Guiding Palm of the Heart, much cheaper on the market.
• Helmet : Crown of the Pale King — mandatory for any thorns build. Allows retaliating with thorns on all hit types. Ideally socket Stag Idols to increase thorns critical strike chance.
• Shield : Sallallen’s Crucible Tower Shield — grants Cast on Block which triggers Thunderstorm automatically. Socket with Greater Rune of Tithe for more lightning thorns, or resistances as needed.
• Body Armour : A rare with spirit, thorns and resistances. Budget alternative: Brass Dome, very effective for survivability and contributes to thorns.
• Boots : Brier Patch — considered best in slot for thorns. The 25% base critical strike chance on thorns makes it easy to reach 100% with the passive tree.
• Gloves : Rares with defences, resistances, life and armour. Flexible slot to fill missing resistances.
• Belt : Look for the highest thorns damage roll possible. Use this slot to cover resistances and attributes.
• Amulet : Prioritise spirit. Anoint Master of Hexes to increase curse effect.
• Ring 1 : Doedre’s Damning — mandatory, allows applying an additional curse (Elemental Weakness + Enfeeble).
• Ring 2 : Rare with resistances and fire/lightning damage.
• Weapon Swap (Boss) : Rare spear with Perfect Essence of Abrasion (+20% damage as extra physical) + Chernobog’s Pillar (budget shield with +50% extra fire damage).

Gameplay Tips

• Map clearing : Stay on the sceptre swap and spam only Infernal Cry. Thorns and corpse explosions do all the work. You can literally AFK and monsters kill themselves by hitting you.
• Boss combat : Swap to the spear + Chernobog’s Pillar for the damage bonus. Use Rapid Assault (keep it low level to reduce mana cost). Quill Burst and Barbs convert thorns into damage after retaliation.
• Scavenged Plating management : When the buff expires, use Battershout via Infernal Cry to consume broken armour and restart Scavenged Plating charges.
• Anvil’s Weight : This crucial passive node allows thorns damage to break enemy armour, automatically feeding Scavenged Plating charges.
• Low-level Rapid Assault : Keep this gem intentionally at low level. Thorns scaling comes from Quill Burst and Barbs, not from the weapon’s base physical damage.

The Triple Explosion: Clear Engine

What makes Rend this build so devastating in clearing is the synergy between three simultaneous explosion sources triggered by a single Warcry. Warhaller’s Bellow explodes corpses for 25% of their life as physical damage. Infernal Cry adds its own ignite. And Battershout reflects 40% of the enemies’ broken armour as damage.

The elegance of this system lies in its natural scaling. Warhaller’s Bellow scales with monster life, Battershout scales with their armour. The harder the content, the more life and armour monsters have, and the more powerful the explosions. No additional modifiers are needed to increase this damage — it increases automatically with content level.

Cast on Block and Thunderstorm: Defence That Attacks

The Sallallen’s Crucible Tower Shield grants Cast on Block, which automatically triggers Thunderstorm on every block. Thunderstorm applies shock to all nearby enemies, which increases the damage they take. At the same time, lightning exposure reduces their elemental resistances.

Combined with Elemental Weakness via Blasphemy, the total reduction of enemy resistances is considerable. The build deals fire damage (thorns + Infernal Cry), lightning damage (Thunderstorm) and physical damage (explosions), fully benefiting from this multi-elemental reduction. It all triggers passively, without any player action.

Passive Tree: Key Nodes

Two ascendancy nodes are absolutely crucial. Anvil’s Weight allows hit damage to break 10% of enemy armour, meaning thorns themselves feed Scavenged Plating charges. Warhaller’s Bellow turns Warcries into explosion machines and ignores Warcry cooldowns.

In the rest of the passive tree, Lay Siege offers a significant damage bonus thanks to the 54% block chance. Life/mana leech via thorns nodes (Goring + Fast Metabolism) are essential for survivability — Fast Metabolism prevents life/mana leech from being removed when unreserved life is full. Armour-to-elemental-absorption nodes add an appreciated layer of elemental defence.

Weapon Swap: Optimised Boss Setup

For Boss fights, the build switches to a rare spear + Chernobog’s Pillar. This unique shield easily provides +50% extra fire damage, significantly boosting thorns. The ideal would be a well-rolled rare shield with thorns, armour and resistances, but Chernobog’s Pillar remains a very competitive budget option.

The ideal spear uses Perfect Essence of Abrasion for +20% damage as extra physical, which also applies to thorns. With three sockets, the optimal combination would be a Sackle’s Rune of the Sky (+5% extra elemental damage) and two Soul Cores of Ascappas to maximise available spirit on the Boss swap.

The trade-off is the temporary loss of Time of Need and Overwhelming Presence when the spear is equipped, but these gems are not critical in Boss combat where the focus is on DPS via Rapid Assault.

Passive Tree