I don't think it should be nerfed. How much damage does a Thorn headshot do compared to other, similar weapons? I usually do around 84 with a headshot, plus 35 or so over time. That comes to a total of 119. That is not that much for a headshot. I strongly believe there are guns who do more headshot damage and nobody is crying over them to be nerved. I think the Thorns problem is that people feel they get more damage when they really arent. The damage is just dealt over time instead of all at once. The strongest ability of the Thorn, in my opinion, is that the enemies shields will not regenerate as long as the effect is active, giving you more time to deal more damage before having to deal with shields again. Also you can sometimes see where the enemies are moving behind cover because the damage will pop up even behind walls etc. Honestly those are the only two really OP things about the Thorn. The thorn has a pretty low fire rate and it has a rather strong kickback. Yes you can activate a perk to reduce kickback, but you have to sacrifice range, which is usually not what you want. You do not want to get caught in close combat with a Thorn, you want to stay at mid-range. If you see a Thorn user, try to get close to him. He will have to pull out a shotgun or something similar, because the Thorn does not deal enough damage to quickly dispatch a close enemy. It is certainly a good weapon and it can feel rather OP, but it all comes down to how you deal with the situation. If you get a headshot from a sniper from across the map, there is no real counterplay. If you get one-shotted with a shotgun from around the corner, there is no real counterplay. (Besides, of course, not to get yourself into that situation) You have plenty of counterplay with Thorn. First of all it is pretty easy to figure out if somebody is using Thorn. The sound is unique and if you get hit you will know. I am a Thorn user and I will give you guys some advice. You should probably be able to figure this out on your own. If you get hit by a Thorn or hear a Thorn go off in your general area, do a quick retreat, locate the Thorn user, then get in his face before he can get a good angle at you. If he is experienced enough he will switch to secondary. tl;dr Thorn is not OP, you trade damage over time for slow fire rate and not to underestimate kickback. Edit: I am getting some replies here, and I would like to add that I respect all your opinions. This here post is my own opinion, not based on months of research. If you have other information please post it. I am not saying this is the ultimate truth. But I believe that I am right. Does not mean I might not be wrong so lets keep it civilized and talk about this. :) I appreciate the discussion!! Edit: I might add that I never had the feeling that I get killed more by thorn than other weapons. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L7FV9l4hXo2tHD3XlFUp854XvJIwTKFIPvASLduPPS4/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true If you take a look at this, the Thorn is Top tier but not OP tier. (By exxtrooper from Reddit)