Hero
Tier B
Tank
The Bulwark
B tier on patch 0.5.12
Player tier lists for Red Rift rate Skorn weak, but the few runs that keep him win in the upper half, on SSS difficulty too. He anchors Stall Tanks on The Haughty, and in Endless he carries the Defense strategy.
Picked at rank B and locked for the run. The order weighs what each one does for this hero in the comps that win, not the ability on its own.
The Haughty ActiveCome At Me! taunts every enemy, then turns his Shields into damage; Stall Tanks runs it, 0.5.5 buffed it, and an Endless guide builds its carry on it.
The Winter's Bite PassiveEvery Poison he inflicts also inflicts Frost and gives him Shields; players pick it often, but no published comp uses it and its runs win the least.
The Bristleguard PassiveA start-of-combat Poison and Defense burst per Tank that players call a trap; its handful of runs win the most of his three, too few to outweigh that.Tiers are reviewed by hand after each patch (latest: 0.5.12), weighing the runs players share, most of them in Red Rift, the comps that clear the high difficulties, current player tier lists and recent balance changes. All 25 heroes side by side are on the hero tier list.
Skorn punishes being attacked rather than attacking: past Stall (10), every auto attack against him answers with damage and Poison that scales on his own Defence. He has the highest Defence in the roster at 60, and stacking more of it raises his offence as well as his survival.
The Poison from Retribution, 1 plus 1 per 50 Defense, follows Skorn's 60 base Defense, but the damage is 2 plus 100% Magic, and he starts with 0 Magic. The flat Poison point is a 0.5.4 addition.
The Tank upgrade The Best Offense... turns each 2 Defense into a point of Attack and a point of Magic, so every Defense source also feeds the damage half. Tank's Enchanted Reflection gives 30 Defense and 25 Magic at once, and Tranquil Eye, part of his Stall Tanks kit on the tier list, carries 25 Magic and grows his basic stats by 33% after Stall (40).
Under The Haughty, Come At Me! Taunts every enemy and grants 100 plus 100 per rank Shields, plus 10 and 10% of Defense and Magic for each Stall triggered this game; the flat 100 plus 100 per rank was added in 0.5.5. After 5 seconds, enemies still targeting him take damage equal to 50% of his remaining Shields. Every auto attack forced onto Skorn past Stall (10) also triggers Retribution, and Tank's Intercession Prism gives Tanks 50 Defense per enemy targeting them.
He opens with 30 of 105 Mana. The Hourglass in the same build adds 25 Starting Mana, and once its quest of 5 Stall triggers is done it restores him to full health and gives 100 Mana after Stall (30).
With The Winter's Bite, every Poison Skorn inflicts comes with an equal amount of Frost, and each time he inflicts Frost he gains 10 Shields per rank. Retribution applies Poison on every hit he takes, so attackers end up holding both Debuffs, which both Tank Presence upgrades check for.
The Bristleguard fires when combat begins: for each Tank in combat it inflicts 10 plus 10 per rank Poison on all enemies and gives all heroes 10 plus 10 per rank Defense, values 0.5.3 raised from 5. Tank's Memento counts Tanks the same way for 25 Poison each, so Pimenta or Rowan in the lineup raises both.
A hero climbs C → B → A → S — 3 upgrades in all. Every stat rises at the same rate on every hero, with one exception: the primary stat of the class rises three to four times faster. For Skorn that stat is Defence.
| Stats | Per rank | C → S |
|---|---|---|
| Health | +12.5% | +37.5% |
| Defenceprimary | +30 | +90 |
| Attack | +6 | +18 |
| Magic | +6 | +18 |
| Attack speed | +5 | +15 |
| Crit | +4 | +12 |
| Mana regen | +1 | +3 |
Health rises as a percentage of base health; every other stat is a flat addition. The specialization is chosen at rank B, and the class modifier pools open at A and S.
When auto attacked after Stall (10), deal 2 (+100% Magic) damage and inflict 1 (+1 per 50 Defense) Poison on the attacker.
A hero unlocks one of these at rank B. The choice is locked for the run, and it decides which role the hero ends up playing.
Taunt all enemies. Gain 100 (+100 per Rank) Shields plus 10 (+10% Defense, +10% Magic) Shields per Stall triggered this game. After 5 seconds, deal damage to all enemies targeting Skorn equal to 50% of his remaining Shields.
Whenever Skorn inflicts Poison, he inflicts an equal amount of Frost. Whenever Skorn inflicts Frost, he gains 10 per Rank Shields.
At start of combat, for each Tank in combat inflict 10 (+10 per Rank) Poison on all enemies and give 10 (+10 per Rank) Defense to all Heroes. Backup.
Picked at rank A and again at rank S. Drawn from the shared pool for the hero class, so two heroes of the same class compete for the same upgrades.
After Stall (30), heal 100% Max HP, gain 100 Mana, and gain +25% Defense.
Stall abilities trigger 6 seconds faster. Backup.
On Stall trigger, gain 45 Defense.
When auto attacked, gain 2 Defense.
After Stall (10, Stall 20, Stall 30, Stall 40, and Stall 50): Taunt all enemies.
Tanks gain +33% Defense against damage from enemies with Frost. Backup.
When auto attacked, deal 50% Defense damage to adjacent enemies.
Tanks gain 1 Attack and 1 Magic per 2 Defense they have. Backup.
When auto attacked, inflict 1 (+1 per 100 Defense) Frost on the attacker (Max: 6).
When auto attacked by an enemy with Frost, gain 2 HP/S.
When auto attacked, inflict 1 (+1 per 100 Defense) Poison on the attacker (Max: 6).
When auto attacked by an enemy with Poison, gain 2 HP/S.
Tanks gain +33% Defense against damage from enemies with Poison. Backup.
This Hero gains +20% Defense for each enemy targeting it.
At start of combat, if this Hero is in the back row all Heroes gain +75% Defense.
