Fallout 76’s Thorn armor is a unique set that comes with two set bonuses over its standard Scout Armor variant. Although the armor may be attractive to players who want another option that isn’t Power Armor, the Thorn armor isn’t quite worth the grind anymore. At one point the Thorn armor was arguably overpowered, but balancing changes inFallout 76have nerfed the armor and severely weakened one of the armor’s full-set bonuses.
Fallout 76’s Thorn armor is one of the three armor sets that players can craft with Vault Steel, other than the Solar and Strangler Heart armor sets. These sets are considered endgame armor due to how far players must reach in order to get access to the armor sets. However, some of their performances don’t always hold up in the endgame ofFallout 76, especially the Thorn armor.
RELATED:Fallout 76 Should Give More Unstoppables the Mistress of Mystery Treatment
The Thorn Armor Doesn’t Compare to Other Endgame Armor Sets in Fallout 76 Anymore
The Thorn armor very much used to be worth the grind to get a proper legendary set, but not anymore. Nowadays, it’s much more reasonable to replicate Thorn’s effects with a couple ofFallout 76’s mutationsand wear a more durable armor set in the meantime. As for Thorn’s set bonuses, the armor deals 250 Bleed damage to enemies on incoming and outgoing melee attacks, and the armor also makes the user harder to detect. The Bleed damage is spread out across 10 seconds and players can refresh the duration of the Thorn’s Bleed effect with repeated applications.
While Thorn’s Bleed application is consistent, the Electrically Charged and Unstable Isotope Mutations can also occasionally retaliate against melee attackers. Most mutations have inherent negative effects, but these two Mutations at least allow players the choice of wearing whatever armor they desire, including Power Armor.
The Bleed effect from the Thorn armor used to accumulate stacks on each application, but unfortunately balancing changes put a stop to this. Players used to use melee weapons that were fast yet weak, and ultimately the thorn’s stacked bleed effects would output ridiculous damage in a short amount of time. Comparing Thorn’s Bleed damage to what an optimized melee attack can deal on average, it’s close to a third of an attack, depending on the enemy. Although players running amelee build inFallout 76can usually take down most enemies before 10 seconds pass, which undermines the armor’s primary purpose.
For tough enemies that live beyond 10 seconds, likeFallout 76’s raid bosses, the Thorn armor doesn’t have high enough resistances to consistently keep players alive while in melee range during these fights. The armor also doesn’t come with any radiation resistance, which makes it a hassle to use Bloodied weapons or Unyielding armor effects optimally. Not to mention, in the longer fights ofFallout 76’s endgame, melee and stealth don’t tend to blend well together, which contradicts both of Thorn’s full-set bonuses.
Normally, players can re-roll all of an item’slegendary effects inFallout 76without otherwise affecting the gear, but Thorn armor pieces can’t be re-rolled. In order to get different legendary rolls on Thorn armor, players need to craft duplicates of each particular piece. The plan to craft the Thorn armor is infinite, but it takes a large sum of Gold Bullion to initially obtain the full set of plans. In the long run, it ends up requiring a lot of Vault Steel and Legendary Scrip in the process of crafting duplicates, which is already an expensive and RNG-heavy process on normal armor sets.
For how expensive Thorn armor is to get, it ultimately doesn’t hold up against the other options forendgame armor inFallout 76that are much cheaper. The Thorn armor may have beneficial side effects, but it requires players to be in melee range and simultaneously use stealth, which isn’t always a sustainable strategy. Thorn armor should be considered more of a collector’s item than a universally good armor set.
Fallout 76is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
MORE:One Weapon from Fallout 4 Would Be Right at Home in Fallout 76
