He does trip you up if you don't see him coming but you should be able to wack him with a good frontline tank while taking out the backline and have another magic or archer to hit the front , so that is about 4 of them to take out backline with the front one and a second hitting the thorny fuck , frontline obviously needs a bit of health and if you can give fire speed then you hit first, try renting that plato summoner he is kinda cheap and only 5 manna and also the one with piercing is a good swap for when you face life and all those shields.