Spike Thorn

Spike Thorn is an elite Blade Barrier shield that attempts to blend defensive and offensive properties through its thorns damage mechanic. While it offers some useful stats, this shield struggles to find a meaningful place in the endgame meta of Diablo 2 Resurrected.

Reflected Damage

The shield's primary feature is Attacker Takes Damage of 1-136 (scaling with character level), meant to punish melee attackers. Unfortunately, this damage is far too low to be meaningful in Hell difficulty where enemy health pools are massive. The 15-20% Damage Reduced and +30% Faster Hit Recovery provide some defensive benefit, but pale in comparison to shields like Stormshield.

When to Use

Spike Thorn can serve as a temporary shield while leveling through Nightmare or early Hell, particularly if you find one with high defense rolls. The single socket allows for customization with resistance gems or runes. However, most players will quickly replace it with superior options like Spirit for casters or Stormshield for physical builds.

Why It Falls Short

The reflected damage mechanic simply doesn't scale well enough to matter. By the time you can equip Spike Thorn at level 70, enemies in Hell difficulty have enough health that the thorns damage is negligible. The moderate blocking chance and lack of +skills or significant resistances make it inferior to both budget runewords and other unique shields.