In-Depth Thorn PvP Guide: Green is the Deadliest Color (Updated 5/30)

Battleborn Thorn
#11

Wow, I totally forgot to add Thorn matchup info. If the Thorn has mobility, it’s tough because she’ll get out of your Blight and try to dodge your shots. If she doesn’t have any mobility, then it’s easier, but it still takes a while for one to kill the other at low levels. If she’s good, you’ll both probably be dancing around trying to kill each other, and it’s kind of hilarious. If you have trouble dueling each other all game, it’ll end up coming down to who has WotW, and who can get the other person low enough to burst them.

Thorn duels last as long as either player lets it, and if it’s been a little bit and neither of you have really taken damage, then just leave and go do something productive.

#12

That’s what’s neat about Battleborn, is that you can build plenty of ways and combo your helix how you want and still be viable. That being said, I don’t think I really told you how to build, but laid out more the strong points of all of the skills, and when to take what.

1 Like
#13

Yup, good point. Thorn can roll as ranged assist or as I’ve been testing recently her melee is really amazing me.
So, I’ve been doing amazing knockback and Crowd Control with her.
Still my fav is well placed shots with cursed Dead Eye.

#14

How so?

#15

Those dark skinny mobs that come at you a lot…I jump right in there and keep smacking them.
Don’t take any damage and they die very fast, some even go off ledges.

#16

I’ve completely changed the way I make my Thorn since I initially argued with you on the helix options back in beta, I’m a lot more in line with your choices but that is mostly due to my old helix options having their effects tweaked.

#17

Haha, when game was released, I tried the Draw Strength Volley thing like 10 times, just wondering if it was actually working and I was dumb, or if it was patched out.

#18

Ya no… it’s gone :frowning: I shouldn’t have come to the forums talking about how awesome Draw Strength was :stuck_out_tongue:

#19

Hopefully I’ve settled the Hextension Vs. Hexsanguination debate. :slight_smile:

#20

Especially with the slow blight. Throw it down at your feet while being chased and make your Escape.

#21

Still prefer the extra 10% cuz people are dumb and blight is OP… plus 35% ultimate danage? Mmmmmmm

#22

Meh, I feel like most of the time, 35% on ult is wasted and overkill. I’m going to run numbers later on bleeding volley and 25% blight vs. regular volley and 35% blight, and then cursed volleys and blights.

#23

I made a chart for how much damage Weath of the Wild does at lvl 5 and 10 on the Wikia. Its pretty huge…

I kinda prefer overkill with Thorn because tanks dont die sometimes… had a Kelvin tank every skill while 35% cursed and crit volley… even a full duration max upgrade blight x.x I was like “wtf!!!”

#24

You say Thorn’s legendary piece is a must use but you don’t actually mention crit hit dmg as one of the gear stats you should be building…seems kind of contradictory. I’m a little confused on how the Thorn specific passive on it works also… The curse has levels of charge? So not only do you have to full draw you also have to wait even longer at full draw? Seems like a lot of wasted time and kind of an underwhelming legendary tbh. I heard she is better off being played as a mage-like skill based hero than a sniper, so using CDR, Skill power, and maybe Health Regen Primary gear stats.

#25

Ive built on crit damage for the heck of it and honestly I dont think it is worth it.

It may be a deduction of useful stats but you take her Lore Legendary for the effect more than the crit damage. Its useful for Volley crits at least.

Curse is a solid charge, there are different levels of arrow charge however. Even after the animation stops you arent at full draw. You will hear a shallow swooshing sound. The Lore Legendary makes it so you can consistently get full draw and everyone will always be cursed when you do.

Health regen is nice but I stopped taking it myself… I stack full damage boosting gear and make use of returns as needed. Just seems underwhelming if you have to wait around.

#26

Yep, I honestly don’t care for the crit damage on it, but the effect is the juicy part of the item. It really reduces the time needed to curse an enemy.

Taking health regen isn’t about waiting around to get health back. It’s about just running to get shards or other non-player combat objectives. It’s so you can still be productive instead if backing and not waste time. For example, if you’re playing incursion and are your teams main source of wave clear, you can throw a blight in lane, maybe a volley and then step back to get shards and what not and still be around if your team needs you, while also quickly regenerating your health.

#27

The legendary that heals you while sprinting used to be my favorite piece of gear on Thorn, but now I just go full damage and skill damage build with lore legendary… the faster I can blow people up the safer it is for me to use a return without losing a Sentry. Or if you have a healer then just hope they don’t leave you out to die by never getting healed despite following them for 5 minutes (it’s happened to me before… they were healing everyone else :3)

#28

Here’s a tip for @Graum and everyone else… hook up your mic and communicate with your team. It makes a HUGE difference. Even if they don’t speak odds are they can hear you…

#29

Uh where is this coming from? How does this havre anything to do with the discussion?

#30

Hey Twixled, I’m glad to stumble across your in depth guide for Thorn as it defintely made me a better PVP player. Thorn by far is my favourite badass and I’ve played her alot even in beta. As you know, with a PVE mindset, one does not normally take Fell Wind or Vaulting Hunter, or even at one point I thought Swampfoot was lousy but after reading your amazing guide with detailed explanation, tried it a few times in PVP, voila! I have been consistently having the most kills, shards and least death in my team!

Gear wise, I have Skill damage, Attack speed with Crit and Attack damage with max hp. I’m not sure if that’s the best gear for the but yeah I’m liking the damage output! Any recommendation is also appreciated.

Again thanks to you Twixled and the community!
Have a #badass day :v:t2:️