Made by Monkeys

In a previous post, I incorrectly stated that a thorns-based Crusader build should have topazes in all slots — armor as well as weapon. The topaz is only needed in the weapon slot. Armor should have rubies or diamonds. I have tested both gem types and there doesn’t seem to be much difference because this build’s power is very unconventional. Damage doesn’t derive from strength and the all-resistance protection offered by five fully upgraded diamonds is negligible, so you could put whatever you want in armor slots.

Here is an updated profile:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/simmery-1600/hero/43998357

As you might guess, everything revolves around the Invoker set’s use of thorns damage. The profile is a bit misleading because you can’t see the real damage number generated by all the thorns synergy. I don’t know what the number is and am not sure how to calculate it. All I know is that it works pretty well in Torment 8. It’s helped along by complementary legendary items like the Heart of Iron cuirass and, of course, the indispensable Hack axe. The passive skill Iron Maiden is also very useful.

Additional damage is provided by Punish synergy. This is enabled by the Invoker set, the Angel Hair Braid belt, and the Towering Shield passive, all working in sync. Basically, I just step into a big mess of monsters, hit them with Punish and Blessed Shield, and then let them hit me. Their attacks and my proximity do the work for me — they contribute to their own deaths. Although I have various critical hit chance and critical damage augmentations, I don’t think they’re doing much. Maybe Punish and Blessed Shield are proccing criticals, but this is incidental. For “hard to clean” monsters, I can call on big offensive powers like Bombardment (note the Bombardment bonus in the Invoker set stats).

None of this would be possible without strong defense, mainly in the form of very high Block chance and health regeneration. You’ll observe how various items contribute to this. Unfortunately, you can’t see that the Hellfire Amulet is giving me a fifth passive — Hold Your Ground — which really helps.

This may be the weirdest D3 build I’ve played. The runner-up would be my insanely powerful Spectral Blade/Meteor/melee wizard.