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PoE 2 Build

Shatter Thorn Titan - Leveling & End Game Guide - KallTorak

0.2 DotH

Warrior

Titan

Creator

By KallTorak

Updated on Jun 28, 2025

Jun 28, 2025

Build Overview

Hey guys, KallTorak here! I'm an Off-Meta creator with an affinity for silly goose time builds! This is my Shatter Thorn Titan Titan build for Leveling & End Game.

Shatter Thorns Titan - Video Guide

For years now monsters in ARPGs have gotten too used to the idea of hitting us with no repercussion. Reflect builds are a really fun playstyle where you take damage to deal damage! Shattering Palm is the core of this build. It is an unarmed skill that dashes you to an enemy and coats them in shards of ice. Dealing damage to these shards of ice causes them to explode. By utilizing thorns reflect damage and Quill Burst we are able to negate a lot of the friction of Shattering Palm to cause instant screen clearing explosions!

Strengths and Weaknesses

Thorns is cool! Shattering Palm is a dash attack which makes us highly mobile. One of the major downsides to Thorns playstyles is its lack of mobility.
One of the most satisfying screen clearing effects in the game. The shatter explosion from Shattering Palm are quite enjoyable to watch.
If you enjoy the theme of unarmed we are running around only with a shield! Shattering Palm and Shield Charge are all our damage with this build.
Tier 16 maps confirmed. +2 Xecht confirmed.

Reflect builds take damage to deal damage. There are some attacks that will one shot you even on the tankiest of characters. There is a learning curve to reflect builds! Expect to die some as you figure this style out.
A build that's actually too powerful for Path of Exile 2. You crash fairly frequently in maps with juiced pack size rolls. Due to how violently the screen can explode this is a build that is very much in early access.
Expensive due to the state of the league. Greater Rune of Tithing and high armour shields are quite expensive.
Not Simulacrum viable. Will struggle at pushing the deepest end game pinnacle bosses without currency investment. Thorns in general is very unique heavy. Play this build for fun not to clear the game with ease.

Build Variants

Acts 1-2

Acts 3-6

End Game

Do not start your thorns leveling journey without Quill Burst and Barbs. Leveling without these support gems makes thorns horribly slow. They are unfortunately gated behind Uncut Level 3 Support Gems right now.

Trials For Ascendancy

There is a lot of misconception on Trials of Sehkimas and thorns. It is a lot easier than you would expect once you understand block and active block via raise shield. I have an entire video about it HERE!.

Blocking a hit in Path of Exile will fully negate its damage. However, you will still retaliate your thorns damage. This is key to clearing Sehkimas as thorns. Doesnt matter if its with passive block or active block from raise/resonating shield. Add on relics with % to honour resistance and % increased maximum honour. Honour resistance caps out at 75%. With a high enough block % you can walk through trials with ease, especially with honour resistance capped.

If you still find that you are struggling with Trial of Sehkimas do not fear! You can skip Sehkimas and get all your ascendancy points from Ultimatum. Do not feel forced into banging your heard against Sehkimas if you are struggling too much. Practice makes perfect though!

Equipment

Acts 1-2

Acts 3-6

End Game

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Helmet

Crown of the Pale King

Body

Cloak of Flame

Boots

Briarpatch

Gloves

Dreadfist

Belt

Rawhide Belt

Off Hand

Effigial Tower Shield

Gear You Use Through End Game

For every thorns build you will use Crown of the Pale King. You can't play thorns without it unless you hate yourself.
Cloak of Flame is what we are using as our primary defensive option. After testing lots of things like Sacrosanctum and Couture of Crimson this felt like the most consistent in end game for survival. Luckily enough its a fantastic leveling item as well.
Briarpatch is basically required in all thorns builds unless you are running a weird Trampletoe version. We use this forever.

Important Notes For Leveling

While Killing Palm and Shattering Palm can handle bosses to an extent during the campaign, it can be a bit slow at at times. This is where Shield Charge comes in. We are using Shield Charge for bossing. The higher the armour your shield the better so make sure you are finding higher armour shield that have thorns damage rolls on them.
On rings and amulet just focus on Resistances and Max Life. If you want to anoint something go with Way of the Wind or Heartstopping.

Thorns Rare Gear

You can find thorns damage rolls on the following item slots: Belt, Chest, and Shield. You will want to get items with thorns damage rolls at the following leveling brackets:

Level 1 - 1-4 Physical Thorns Damage
Level 8 - 5-10 Physical Thorns Damage
Level 16 - 11-23 Physical Thorns Damage
Level 28 - 24-53 Physical Thorns Damage
Level 38 - 40-92 Physical Thorns Damage
Level 48 - 64-145 Physical Thorns Damage
Level 60 - 101-220 Physical Thorns Damage

To make the leveling process as smooth as possible you will want to be upgrading your Belt, Chest, and Shield as often as possible. Each level bracket our thorns damage receives a MASSIVE spike. If you find your damage is lacking try upgrading your gear at these level brackets.

Important Stats For Leveling

Cap Elemental Resistances
Maximum Life
Block %
Strength
Thorns Damage
Thorns Damage %
High Armour Shield

Runes

Greater Rune of Tithing - Amazing for leveling and if you have them put them into every slot. Unfortunately as of the time of making this guide they have sky rocketed in price from 20 exalts each to 27 chaos each. That is almost 1600 exalt per so....yeah. If you visit this build during league start its probably way cheaper but right now there is just an insane inflation.

Skill Gems

Acts 1-2

Acts 3-6

End Game

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 60

Dex 10

Int 15

Expand all

Killing Palm

Shield Charge

Infernal Cry

Scavenged Plating

Resonating Shield

Gem Priority

+17

Skills

Scavenged Plating is your most important skill when playing thorns. It is very important you prioritize leveling this gem whenever you can. It is where a majority of our damage comes from. You must break armour to gain stacks of Scavenged Plating.

Splinter will be inconsistent with breaking armour at times. That's where Resonating Shield comes in. If you find your damage is lacking it means you aren't managing your Scavenged Plating stacks well enough.

On bossing if you find yourself needing to refresh Scavenged Plating you can use Exploit Weakness in Shield Charge. This will remove their broken armour and allow you to rebreak it with Resonating Shield for an easy refresh of Scavenged Plating.

Because I had Greater Rune of Tithing in all my gear I did not need to armour break at all during the campaign. However if you are struggling with thorns damage you will need to work in armour break.