Barbed Paw

An uncommon melee weapon from the Barbed set that deals 1 damage, inflicts Bleed 1 on hit, and passively grants +1 Thorns while equipped — at the cost of -1 Constitution. Thorns deals damage to enemies that hit you, so the Barbed Paw functions both offensively (Bleed DoT) and defensively (retaliation). Part of the Barbed set, which has strong set synergies across its 10 items.

The +1 Thorns passive means every melee hit you receive deals 1 damage back to the attacker, independent of your action. Stack Thorns from multiple sources (Barbed Paw + Nail Gun + other Barbed set items) to create a meaningful passive damage layer that punishes enemies for attacking you. The -1 CON reduces HP, which makes the Thorns tradeoff more meaningful — you take slightly more risk for the retaliation damage.

Core to Barbed set builds that stack Thorns across multiple items to deal significant passive retaliation damage. The Bleed on hits adds DoT output on top, making the Barbed Paw contribute to both offensive and reactive damage simultaneously. Avoid on fragile builds where the -1 CON HP reduction is too costly; best on tankier builds that plan to absorb hits anyway.