Dear all.
I’ve already got a lot from reading the forum, however there is a debate regarding thorne - if the updated version of Thorne is worthy. My Tc gave me thorne and I have all the mats secured…but what if anything better will appear? Anyway - my doubts are fuelled with occasional encounters against thorne tanks and those seems to be quite painful if my green stacking meets zero green tiles.
Therefore I start to wonder - taking into account my c2p attitude, lack of other 5 blue heroes, maybe thorne is my guy 
although my plan would be to put him as a flank, so the def team would look like this:
Rigard - kadilen - ares - thorne - joon (seshat)
My rooster is rather shallow one when it comes to 5 stars - except for mentioned above I have another seshat 1/1, elk 3/70, thoth 3/70…
Please share your opinion about him.
I have an emblemed Thorne (+7) I use for war as we use blue tanks. Even before his recent buff, I found him him to be a serviceable tank, but since the buff especially so. If you don’t have many blue 5*s to choose from, I would definitely consider maxing Thorne. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Happy gaming and good luck to you
I’ve got Thorne maxxed too. He’s perfectly serviceable and a good partner for Grimm, in particular.
If you’re not buying lots of summons, you have to roll with what you’ve got.
I use a maxed Thorne, and he is the only blue 5 star I have. I believe that it is better to play with what I have than wait for a hero who I might never get, especially since I am a F2P. He is quite formidable and oart of my defens team. Kiril+Grimm+Thorne is a mean combo, and i use that combo a lot since I mainly play 3-2 style of colour stacking.
Unfortunately, I was not able to emblem him because Justice is my main tank, but if you do manage to give him emblems, as someone mentioned before, he would even more formidable. Here is defense team.
I have two 5* Blue heroes - Frida (who is maxed), and Thorne (who is at 2-1). Right now, I’m maxing Triton (currently 4-34 and rising), and skilling up Grimm #2.
I recently started trying to plan ahead and decide whether Thorne is worth the mats to ascend and max to 4-80, or if I should level him to 3-70 and wait for a better Blue 5* to come along. I ended up deciding to take the time to level him to 3-70 (after Triton is done, and Grimm #2 to 3-60), and then see how I feel about him… and see if I’ve gotten a better Blue 5* in that time.
I looked over the list, and found myself wondering: Who am I waiting for? From TC20 (I run two), it’d be Magni, Isarnia, or Richard. Magni does more single-target damage, and Isarnia hits all targets for good damage plus defense debuff (but I have Kunchen who debuffs all, anyway)… I just feel like my Frida+Grimm+Thorne combo would result in three dead enemy heroes - they all charge at the same time. 
Of the Blue 5* I could get that aren’t available from TC20… I feel like none of them are particularly easily attainable, but I always end up doing some Atlantis pulls, at least when there are heroes of particular interest to me.
But if nothing change by the time I get Thorne to 3-70… well, I think I will give him the mats and move forward, and it’ll be fine.
Good gaming!
Add me to the list of folks voting to level Thorne. Similar situation to you. F2P, Thorne is my only five-star blue, and I have more than enough mats. I didn’t start leveling him until I maxed Boril, then I took him to 2^60 and paused him to max Kiril. Almost done with Kiril, and then Thorne gets capes. And if I get him to 3^70 and still have no one who strikes me as better, he’s getting the scopes and taking over tanking from Boril. That also means he’s getting emblems. Not gonna wait on what might come. Legendaries are too rare. If I’ve got the hero and the mats, there are few, if any, I wouldn’t max. Using new heroes is fun. Waiting is not fun.
I’ve got Thorne at 3/70 and he’s useful in wars, he’s sturdy. I stopped leveling him because I got King Arthur and Aegir, which will be my next 5s blu to be ascended. But after Aegir (and as soon as I get more telescopes), I will have a long thought about who to ascend among Richard, Thorne and Rumplestiltkin,
Thorne’s problem is that his special doesn’t have any additional effects, he just do damage. But besides that, he’s surely a good hero to be ascend.
As if on command, I just fought a war battle against a team powered 4068. That’s almost 200 team power above any team I can assemble on my roster. I tried a 3-2 blue-yellow stack (opponent had an emblemed Kunchen tank and maxed Anzogh and Gravemaker flanks.) Thorne 2^60, Kiril 4^66, Valen +20, Poseidon +2, and Leonidas 2^60. (I have Grimm 4^70, but I had to save something for the rest of the war!) Total team power ~3300. And I one-shot the opponent! In a field aid war, no less! So yeah, Thorne in a blue stack has some potential.
Bring up Thorne to 3 70 to get a hands on experience on him and gauge his usability from there. If Magni pop up along the way, you know Thorne has to wait but at least, he add some depth to your war team.
Many times a hero deemed bad in the forum can be of good use to us. Anzogh is fine example. He is actually a mediocre hero even in my own opinion but I decided to go ahead and maxed him because he is my only red. And with the right support from heavily emblemmed 4 * heroes, he had been able to keep my team in 2500 cup range overnight ever since.
Thorne was my 1st Blue 5* on my alt I took him up and have no regrets.
REMEMBER THIS A bird in the hand is MUCH better than 2 in the bush. Or this 1 >>>> IF a frog had wings he would NOT wear out his REAR END hopping.
I have Thorne at 3.70 and he was my first 5*. I don’t have any other blue 5s. If I get a Richard or another questionable blue 5 I will bring them up to 3.70 and then compare to Thorne ((Magni as well). Granted at this tier they are not completely objectively comparable but it should give me some idea.
Thanks for sharing - seems that I’ve slightly underrated him. I’ll bring him to 3/70 and we will see if he is last ascention worthy although he will never see the emblems as those are dedicated to the God of War
On newer team thorne is a very nice hero
I really like this advice. You take any 4* or 5* hero up in levels to a reasonable point, and see if they fit with your play style and current team. Additionally, it gives you time to see if something you desire more comes along, which doesn’t even have to be a 5*, maybe you are leveling your first purple 5*, and pull Proteus. You swithc gears, and then return the 5* to the prioirty when you are done if no one else intrigues you more.
Exactly! It’s easier to make a decision once you get familiar with the certain heroes.
Nothing to lose but everything to gain.
Since his last buff Thorne is a good hero and while next to Ares he would hit even harder.
I would do him… even if I were in you I would give all of the paladin’s emblems to Ares.
Another vote for going with him if you don’t have better. It was over a year b4 I got a 2nd blue 5 (Lepus) so I’m glad I didn’t wait. I’m c2p and use him at +6 as my tank and stay around 24-2500 cups. I can’t wait to see him at +10 or 11 myself but even now I win about 40% of my defending raids. I run Viv- Lianna+7- Thorne+6- Marjana+7- Sartana+6. He fits in well so I’m happy. 
This thread is super helpful for me! My thorne is at 2/50 now. So pretty soon I will have to decide whether I wanna spend materials on him. In my mind, I am already like 90% positive I wanna max him (f2p; Thorne is my only 5* blue). I just wanted to do more research and get more input from others. Thanks!
Since the V20 buff there has been a definite shift on the posts about Thorne. Before he was pretty much universally panned. After the buff many still criticize him, but there are numerous knowledgeable posters who have said that he’s much improved and now viable, though still not amazing.
I recently tracked a ton of my raids and was surprised to find that Thorne was the 12th winningest defender against me. That put him above many stout defenders, including Delilah, Lianna, Magni, and Zimkitha.
Take him up.
That bis a great bit of work @IvyTheTerrible
Similar to when SG showed that Yunan and Bosswolf were excellent defenders.
Sometimes the consensus of experience isn’t born out in the statistics.