Bad Splinters

Bad Splinters is a neck armor item that applies CON -2 in exchange for the Thorns passive, which damages attackers whenever they land a melee hit on the wearer. It is a reactive damage item — every enemy strike against the wearer bounces a portion of damage back at the attacker.

Thorns scales in value with how many attacks the wearer receives — the more they're hit, the more damage the attacker takes in return. CON -2 reduces the wearer's maximum health, which cuts against a pure tank role but the neck slot rarely provides major offensive stats anyway. The trade is survivable on characters with high base CON and becomes increasingly punishing to enemies who spam melee attacks.

Pairs with Clam (ArmorBreakOnHit) and Face Shards (Thorns + StatusOnTookDamage) to create a layered punishment build where attackers take damage, have armor broken, and receive debuffs all from the same incoming hit. The CON -2 can be offset by other sources of Shield or healing. Avoid on characters with already low CON who can't afford the health reduction. Strong in boss encounters where a single enemy makes many attacks per turn.