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Invoker Thorns Crusader Guide

Last Updated:July 8, 2024|Change Log

Introduction

Invoker Solo Push
View all variants

Thorns of the Invoker Crusader build, as the name implies, utilizes Thorns to deal damage. However, the Thorns of the Invoker (6) Bonus makes sure that 99.7% of your damage comes from Punish, effectively turning this build into Generator Crusader with Thorns itemization.

Bombardment changes in Season 22 Patch made Akkhan/Invoker Bombardment build incredibly overpowered, so Thorns of the Invoker set was adjusted to move even more of its power into the (6) Bonus. Buffed at the same time Norvald's Fervor set was now strong enough to be included into the build and overall Invoker Crusader came out of the whole ordeal stronger than it was before.

Invoker Crusader is quite strong as a Rift Guardian Killer. It's also very consistent and brings a great buff Laws of Valor Critical for your Trash Killer.

In solo this build is also quite strong, but it has some major playstyle issues. The only thing you do in this build is stand still and hold down your attack button. All the other skills are just toughness buffs and you cast them as soon as they come off cooldown.


Tanky ✔
Great Sustain ✔
Very High Attack Speed ✔
Great Single Target Damage ✔

❌ Small AoE
❌ Extremely Boring
❌ Inconsistent Toughness
❌ Very Bad at Speedfarming

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Thorns of the Invoker set provides 50% damage reduction, 100% Punish attack speed, 900% increased Thorns, and also lets your Punish deal 675 times your Thorns as damage.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings set gives around 65% DPS and 65% damage reduction, as well as 20% Cooldown Reduction.
  • Ring of Royal Grandeur allows us to get full bonuses from all the sets.
  • Aquila Cuirass provides 50% damage reduction, that is always active in a Generator build.
  • Endless Walk provides another 100% damage boost.










Season 32 Ethereals

Ethereals are powerful rare weapons that can only be found during Season 32. They were initially the Season 24 Theme. They have incredible stats, a random Legendary power, and a free passive for your class. Read our Ethereal Mechanics Guide for full details on how they work and our Ethereal Farming Guide to learn how to acquire them. What you should prioritize on them is the following:

  1. The Legendary Power
    This build requires The Furnace to be functional. We need our Ethereal to roll exactly this power and we want a good roll on it.
  2. The Ethereal Itself
    There are 3 different weapons available to us, each with its own benefits:
    • Khalim's Will - This is the best Ethereal because of its high Attack Speed which is the only damage stat this build cares about. Life Per Hit roll is also very useful.
    • The Redeemer - This is another option. It has about 20% less DPS due to lower Attack Speed, but provides +50% Damage to Demons and Undead (about 60% of enemies you find in Greater Rift are one of these two types).
    • Astreon's Iron Ward - This option is the same as The Redeemer in terms of Attack Speed and has no other benefits whatsoever.
  3. The Ethereal Stat Rolls
    Each Ethereal comes with its own fixed set of powerful affixes. While some have a static value, many have a wide stat range. This means the difference between good and bad rolls is significant and something you should look for.
  4. A Useful Passive
    This is just icing on the cake because a fifth passive is not going to make or break your build. You're better off hunting for the things above. Check out the Passives section down below to see which ones you're looking for.

Global Stat Priorities

There are no Cooldown Reduction Breakpoints in this build, but you still stack as much CDR as possible for more uptime on defensive buffs, as well as more DPS from Captain Crimson's Trimmings. In terms of Attack Speed, you should aim towards a 7 frames Breakpoint (see here for more information), which is achievable with 7% roll on Pig Sticker and a total of 27% on Jewelry and Gloves. You should invest heavily into Life per Hit, as it is your only source of Recovery; try to get at least 40k of it. As usual, you stack DPS stats everywhere—Physical Damage, Elite Damage, Thorns Damage and Strength. Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and Area Damage do not work with Thorns and should be ignored.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Altar of Rites

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

GR Solo Push
GR Group RGK
Invoker Solo Push

Ethereals
If you don't have any Ethereal Item, use Pig Sticker.

Concept
The solo push version uses Endless Walk set, Convention of Elements and Echoing Fury to maximize damage. Akarat's Awakening helps us reset cooldowns on all our buffs.

Gameplay
With this build you want to fight lots of small melee trash monsters with some elites mixed in. Try to stand next to your Enchantress so that she doesn't lure the mobs away from you.

You deal pretty good damage to elites and can kill them on big enough maps but you still never want to fight just elites. You need some trash around to feed you Echoing Fury stacks, Oculus Rings and blocks for Akarat's Awakening.

During the bossfight, you won't block enough attacks to keep all your buffs constantly active so instead of spamming Iron Skin and Laws of Valor you can alternate them. This way you always have one of the 50% damage reduction buffs up, and that should be enough to save you from getting oneshot.

Setups
If you are lacking toughness (or playing Hardcore), you can swap Convention of Elements for Justice Lantern. For that, you need to cube Ring of Royal Grandeur and equip the Justice Lantern itself, otherwise you will be missing out on 16% extra Block Chance. This version is twice as tanky, and it also has more consistent uptime on defensive buffs; the downside, of course, is 40% less damage.

Invoker RGK

Ethereals
If you don't have any Ethereal Item, use Norvald's Fervor.

Concept
In RGK version of this build we use Lidless Wall instead of Akarat's Awakening for more Physical Damage. Instead of resetting our cooldowns with blocks, we now just stack as much CDR as possible. Leoric's Crown in the armor slot helps with that. Since we no longer need to block, we drop Provoke for Bombardment to activate Thorns of the Invoker (4) Bonus. We switch the rune on Laws of Valor from Unstoppable Force for Critical to buff the damage of our Trash Killer. We use Punish Celerity instead of Slash for extra Attack Speed. Finally, we put Akkhan's Addendum in the cube to use Hasteful Rune.

Gameplay
In the rift, use your Laws of Valor Critical on your Trash Killer's DPS rotation. You can also put some damage on the Elites, if you manage to get close to them.
On the boss, you just need hold down Punish and activate your buffs in sync with your Convention of Elements. Iron Skin and Laws of Valor at the start of every Physical and Akarat's Champion at the start of every other Physical.

Setups
If you are struggling to stay alive you have several options: you can give up the Attack Speed roll on the necklace to get Stone Gauntlets in the cube. You can change Finery to Long Arm of the Law and Critical to Unstoppable Force. Finally you can switch to Akarat's Champion Prophet. Each of these changes will cost you 12-25% DPS but hey, it's better than dying!

You can choose between Endurance and Draw and Quarter runes on your Steed Charge. The former lets you adjust your position inside the pull so that you can try DPSing Elites in the rift. The latter lets you pull the mobs, which can be very powerful in an open map, thanks to Norvald's Fervor.

Video Guide

Guide Video

Mechanics

Thorns

Thorns of The Invoker

Summary

  • Stack CDR, AS, LpH, Physical Damage, Elite Damage, and Thorns.
  • Ignore Area Damage and crit stats.
  • Never let go of your Slash!


Stab, stab, stab!

Credits

Written by Northwar.

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