Auras, Thorns & Projectiles
Aura gear that lifts your whole party, thorns that bite back, Barrage bolts, and the monsters that fire volleys, grow spikes and carry auras of their own.
Auras on your gear
Some uniques and rune words carry an aura. Wear one and it radiates from you: a small ring of runes glows at your feet, and everyone it reaches gets its bonus.
- It reaches you and every party member within 8 tiles on the same map, and your party's summons too. Heroes who aren't in your party don't get it.
- An aura has a level, shown on the item ("Level 6 Might Aura"). Higher levels give more. Empowering the item raises the level like any other property (up to level 15).
- One aura per hero. If your gear carries more than one, only the highest level is active (on a tie, the first in the table below). Two items with the same aura never add up.
- Auras of different kinds stack. A party with a Might hero and a Sanctuary hero gets both. The same aura from two heroes counts once, at the higher level.
- What an aura gives shows on your stat sheet as its own line, "Auras", under every stat it touches. The Aura row on the sheet lists every aura you're standing in.
| Aura | What it gives | Level 1 | Level 5 | Level 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Might | Damage % | +6% | +14% | +24% |
| Fanaticism | Attack speed % | +5% | +11% | +18% |
| Vigor | Movement speed % | +7% | +13% | +20% |
| Sanctuary | Less damage taken % | 3% | 7% | 12% |
| Renewal | Life regenerated per second (% of maximum) | 0.5% | 0.9% | 1.4% |
| Thorns | Share of each hit returned to its attacker | 14% | 30% | 50% |
| Dominion | Summon damage % (and half that in summon attack speed), for summons only | +4% | +20% | +40% |
Where auras come from
Auras are rare on purpose: they come from uniques and rune words, mostly from bosses.
- A few turn up anywhere:
Vanguard's Standard (Might), 
Pathfinder's Treads (Vigor) and 
Brambleheart (Thorns). - The later lair bosses each guard one:
Bogmother's Blessing, 
Chorus of the Warren, 
Anvil of Resolve, 
Banner of Cinders, 
The Jarl's Warhorn, 
Thornmother's Crown and, from the Ashen King, 
Signet of the Ember Court. - Ember Rift guardians from tier 5 can drop
Riftwalker's Tread and 
Aegis of the Rift. - Summoners' gear that names the Dominion aura radiates it at level 5: see Summons.
- Some rune words carry an aura too. Like every rune word, they are secret until someone forges one: see Runes & Sockets.
Thorns
Thorns return damage to monsters that hit you. When a monster's own blow or missile lands on you, it takes back:
- your flat Thorns, from the Barbed prefix (body armour, shields, helms, gloves), plus
- a share of the hit (before your armour), from the of Spines suffix (body armour and shields) and the Thorns aura.
Thorns don't answer blasts, eruptions or burning auras, only a monster's own attacks. Your armour doesn't make them weaker, and a monster that dies to your thorns is your kill, loot and all. Thorns suit heroes who stand in the thick of it; a bow or staff that is never hit gets little from them.
Barrage
The of Barrage suffix (weapons and gloves) gives a chance, whenever you hit something, to fire a fan of 3 piercing bolts at it (arrows with a bow), each dealing 30% of a hit. It works with every weapon style and every attack, with at most one fan every 0.5 s. 
Quillstorm Grips carry a bigger version.
Monster modifiers
Champions, some pack leaders and bosses carry modifiers on top of a champion's affix. They show on the monster's name plate ("Projectiles · Might") and in its info card (press and hold, or right-click it).
| Modifier | What it does | How to handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Projectiles | Every few seconds it stops, winds up for 0.9s and fires a fan of 5 missiles (7 from a boss), each hitting for about half its blow. | A fan of lines on the ground marks the volley: step between them, out of the fan, or dodge through. |
| Thorns | 12% of the damage you deal to it comes back to you (at most 2% of your life a hit, 6% a second). Thorns never take you below 1 life. | Its spikes glow when you hurt it. Watch your life bar and let life on hit, rites or a party member carry the fight. |
| Might Aura | Monsters inside its ring (5 tiles), itself included, hit 25% harder. | Kill the carrier first, or pull its pack out of the red ring. |
| Frost Aura | Heroes inside its ring (5 tiles) move 30% slower. | Fight it from outside the pale blue ring if you can; inside, dodges still cover the same ground. |
| Holy Fire Aura | Every second, heroes inside its ring (5 tiles) burn for a quarter of its blow (a boss: a twelfth of its slam). | The ring burns everyone who stands in it: fight it from range, or kill it fast. |
| Conviction Aura | Heroes inside its ring (5 tiles) lose 30% of their armour, and armour spares them at most 35% of a blow instead of 50%. | Every hit inside the violet ring lands harder: keep out of it or finish the carrier first. |
A monster aura draws its ring on the ground in its colour, 5 tiles across from the carrier. A Thorns monster wears a crown of green spikes that flares when it bites. A Projectiles carrier stops, glows with gathering embers and marks its volley on the ground with a fan of lines: the missiles fly along those lines and don't turn to follow you.
Who carries them
- Champions from monster level 8 carry one about 50% of the time, and always from level 20. From level 45, 40% carry a second.
- Ordinary pack leaders from level 20 carry an aura 12% of the time (auras only).
- Bosses (lair bosses, Echoes of the Warden and rift guardians) carry one from level 20 and two from level 75. Nightmare bosses carry one more.
- No monster carries two auras. World bosses fight their own way and never carry modifiers.
- Ember Rift keys can force them on a whole rift: Volleys (every pack leader and the guardian fire volleys), Thorned (every monster has Thorns) and Warbanners (every pack leader carries an aura).