Spirit of Barbs

Summon spirit pet that reflects damage taken by you and your party back at your enemies.

Spirit of Barbs is the Druid's level 30 spirit (Summoning tree), requiring Heart of Wolverine; it unlocks nothing. It is the third of the three spirits that carry an aura, here a thorns effect: whatever hits you or your party in melee takes damage back. In the current game that is a flat Attacker Takes Damage number, 32 at level 1 and 347 at level 20, not the percentage the 1.10–1.13 game used.

The numbers

• Attacker Takes Damage is the row's MinDam column with the five brackets: 32 at level 1, then +9 a level to level 8, +18 to 16, +27 to 22, +36 to 28, +45 past that. The Basin's D2R table prints the same: 68 at level 5, 131 at 10, 221 at 15, 347 at 20, 707 at 30.
• Radius: the tooltip reads this row's Param7 + Param8 (2) a level, × ⅔ for yards. Param7 is empty in the bank's row, so the table above leaves the radius out rather than print a line that starts at 0. The Basin's page gives the aura's radius as (2 × slvl + 28) × ⅔ yards, 20 at level 1 and 45⅓ at level 20, the same growth from a baseline of 28; the aura itself is a separate "Barbs Aura" skill (sumskill1) cast at the Spirit of Barbs level, and the row's comment on Param8 says it must match that aura's Param2.
• Mana is 25 at level 1 and +1 a level (lvlmana): 44 at level 20.
• The spirit's life is calc1 = Param1 (25) × (lvl − 1) as a percentage over the base; the Basin's D2R table prints 213 at level 1 and 1,224 at level 20. Its level is your character level (calc2 = ulvl).

The lines read lvl, so +skills from items raise the return and the radius.

How it works

The aura puts Attacker Takes Damage on everyone inside it, including the spirit itself and your pets, but per the Basin not on Raven, the three vines or Returned reanimates. The Basin's rules for the return, written for the percentage version, still describe the flat one's limits: damage is returned only when a melee attack hits and applies damage; the return is physical, so it can be reduced by the attacker's physical resistance and an Immune to Physical monster takes nothing from it. The Basin gives the aura a 10-second duration, notes that other auras, buffs and debuffs apply to the spirit, that knockback does not, and that when several players each have a Spirit of Barbs out only the highest-level aura applies.

The spirit is a totem that follows you; the Basin lists its defense rating as 196 plus the monster-level value, 25% resistance to physical, magic, fire, lightning and cold, and poison immunity (the row's poisonresist and maxpoisonresist 100). It can be cast in town, and the aura lives only while the spirit does.

The return is flat, not a share of the hit: a level 20 aura gives back 347 to a monster that hit for 50 and the same 347 to one that hit for 2,000.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies: Spirit of Barbs neither gives nor receives one. The Basin notes that the aura's level is the skill level at the moment of casting, so Battle Command cast before summoning raises it by one, and cast on the spirit afterward raises it again. Levels past 20 come from +skills and count: 707 at level 30.

Against players

The return lands on whatever hits you in melee; the Basin's page adds nothing specific to players. A player's own hit on another player is cut to 17% (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player; the Basin does not say how that rule treats a flat return.

Build notes

• The brackets reward late levels: level 1 to 10 adds 99, level 10 to 20 adds 216 and level 20 to 30 adds 360, all of the last from +skills.
• The return is physical and does not scale with the hit, so it is strongest against many weak melee hits on a pack of pets, and does nothing against ranged or spell attackers.
• Only one spirit can be out: Barbs costs you Oak Sage's life or Heart of Wolverine's damage.