Thorne...what is his purpose

Is there a viable strategy for this hero?

I have 12 telescopes no other blue 5 star. How can I use him?

The main issues are his defence stat is not enough against my emblem 4 stars. His attack is just not viable against other heros. He only has one special so no versatility.

With the paladin skill he could be tough but only with that up and using that emblem path… Expensive and a marginal decrease to my 4 star tank.

Is there an attack option I am missing?

He doesn’t do anything else…

As someone who maxed Thorne because of being in pretty much your same situation, I can tell you it can be tough to use him effectively. The most effective strategy seems to be to pair him with a defense down hero. Grimm is a popular choice, since they are both blue and both average mana, so they charge at the same time. In that case, his special is far more effective. After having run out of interesting paladins, I have started giving him emblems, but along the attack path. I have no plans to use him at tank - his special isn’t punishing enough for that - so I’m going to see if I can give his special some more punch. His survivability is already pretty good.

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Tough, heavy hitter.

If you have many legendary options then you probably will rarely use him. He was my only 5* for many months and was a useful part of my defence and attack. He is still one of only two 5* blues I have so I use him when I attack 3-2.

I tanked with him for a while as he was my beefiest defence hero. But now I am low diamond he isn’t on my defence team any more.

One day he will have a costume and be awesome again…!

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Here’s hoping, but it’s a shame it will take a costume to do it. I love his base art. I don’t want to have to turn him into a window washer or something to make him more usable!

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Thanks all. I crunched the numbers again…

If I replace Sonya he slots right in beside Buddy. I lose the debuff but he is a bit tougher. After second tier of emblems he’s stronger and if I like it I reset Sonya at which point he becomes goodish.

Wish he had a cleanse or a debuff, or anything. Heres hoping for a costume, might start this after Avalon- food cost is eye-watering.

Let me encourage you to think VERY hard about this before you do it. Sonya is not just a dispeller, she’s a fast dispeller. She’s also pretty survivable for a four-star, especially with emblems. So basically, she’s around to do what she does, and more often than not, she’s ready to do what she does (i.e. charged) when you need her.

What raid tier are you in? I’m assuming the setup you are talking about is for defense. Remember, once you get to diamond, there is nothing higher. A defense that holds you around 2400 cups is all you really need.

Do you have 30 heroes for war depth? I find myself always in need of more dispellers for war, and Sonya is a good one. I have two of her maxed, and one maxed on emblems.

Do you have her costume, or will you be pulling for costumes soon? Her costume is one of the best, imo. I have maxed the costume for both of my Sonyas. Fast cleanse is even better (and rarer) than fast dispel.

Do you summon regularly, or are you running one or more TC20s? Because all it would take is for me to draw Richard, and Thorne would lose the emblems I’ve given him. As you say, Thorne just needs a secondary effect to be pretty good; Richard already has that.

In short, I’m not sure what, exactly, it would take for me to reset my Sonya +c20. Honestly, I’m not sure I’d reset her for Telluria (if I had Telluria). Raid defense just isn’t all that important, as long as you can hang in or near diamond. Give Thorne emblems going forward? Sure, if you are like me and don’t have better options. But resetting a very versatile hero like Sonya to emblem Thorne is something I just wouldn’t do.

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One thing I’ve been waiting to see about Thorne is if Nordri changes his value. Yes, Thorne is a great follow-up to the much less accessible Frida - could Nordri be a much more accessible version of that strategy with a high percentage of the impact (since Nordri will die before firing much more than Frida will)?

One would need to emblem Nordri of course, but it’d provide an interesting alternative combination to the standard Kiril + Grimm + Thorne / Richard type situation. Could go Kiril, Nordri, Thorne or Nordri, Grimm, Thorne. And emblems for him should be relatively cheap.

I’m not yet sure if this approach is viable, though I will say I’m seeing reports that an emblemed Nordri, with some careful management / item usage, can stand up to 10/11 star titans. To me, that suggests this approach may have some merit in Diamond raids against less powerful / slower / more passive teams and in late war flags.

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I am sitting at just below diamond. Its trying to find that little bit more.

I have 4 teams over 3k now and have enough 3 stars to make up some viable attacks for where our alliance sits.

I tend to agree Sonya is very handy especially when the paladin buff goes off. Specials tickle her and with Rigard the advantage on buffs tends to be mine.:slightly_smiling_face:

Might run TC20 on 2 camps and hold off. Thorne is so marginal - telescopes will come in handy i am sure :+1:

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As a stand alone hero in defence I have seen players use him as tank.
My view would be that in your position, he has very little use as a tank and is better used for attack in raids/war when you are colour stacking 3/2 or 2/2/1 and at that point you look for the right synergy in your blue team of say Thorne, Grimm, Kiril etc

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Blue stack.

Kiril + Grimm + Thorne

One dead enemy, plus two with 1/4 health left

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Personally, I am doubtful that Thorne will be enough of an upgrade over Sonya to put you over the top by himself. Since he needs an active defense down debuff to really be effective, and the AI is unlikely to use him that way, he isn’t much of a threat on defense, most of the time. I raid in low diamond, and I almost never stack against Thorne when I find him on defense. I stack against a more dangerous hero instead.

Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t reset Sonya, then.

I think that’s a good plan. Miracles do happen. After Thorne being my only blue legendary for a while, I pulled two Velas in January (almost unheard of for F2P) and just got Magni from a TC 20 recently. That’s the kind of hero that could get you to where you want to go.

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His purpose? To be a constant thorn at your side if already maxed and constantly used when you have other far better 3/70 blues (Firda, Athena, Lepus, Vela, Magni, Alice, Finley, Ariel, etc.) that should have gotten those scopes if you were just patient enough to wait.

I already have Frida, Ariel, Master Lepus, Vela, Athena and Snow White maxed. I have Thorne still unleveled, but I rather have any of my other blues (first Magni, second Magni, second Ariel, Miki, Richard, Aegir) to have the scopes than him. Only have 5 scopes though.

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To continue the punning. I have seen him be a thorn in the side of my teammates when we attack a team with him in it in war, and they ignore him too much.

I think he’s fine for war on offense, and also if you have no other options, but I’d wait. Isarnia & Magni are much more useful as TC20 5*

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You will regret losing Sonya unless you have some other awesome 4 star dispeller! Just imo.

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Your answer is pretty straightforward, very high damage for average mana. I’m in top50 and regularly use him against telluria tanks in war, so he isn’t useless. I pair him with costume kiril and richard

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I sort of feel if that was the purpose his attack would be higher. I have used him a bit and he’s not terrible but I have Triton and Grimm that give more versatile options in the team.

When I get one more Tabard I get Sheshat, I just can’t see a consistent role.

That said the costume bonus if I rolled it. This would give enough to Thorne that both defence and attack stand out. I can achieve similar results with emblems. Its the cost and the four stars actually look better food to utility.

I have TC20 on two camps now as the other blue 5 stars I can see no real regret on. Thorne looks cool and he is not terrible, in two months if I get a few compasses… yeah even then I think he’s on the list…

Great feedback everyone- happy rolls to you all :slightly_smiling_face:

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I maxed him a while back but didn’t care much for him. Then I pulled Arthur and suddenly he was a great one-two punch. He’d get even better if I leveled up Frida, but the elemental down just before he strikes can make him hit pretty hard.

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Thorne alone is maybe not that intimidating, but I have him paired up with Frida and Vela… and they’re deadly.

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Oh my green hero paradise!!

Just following up, @Rob2. See my post here about how brutal the Thorne-meister can be when paired with defense down:

As I said in the post there, this is the third trial in a row that has gone like this. So don’t get too discouraged about him. He can bring the pain if you use him correctly.

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