Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred | Spiritborn Guide

The Spiritborn is a unique class in Diablo 4 that harnesses the power of four elemental spirits: Gorilla, Eagle, Jaguar, and Centipede. Each spirit offers distinct abilities and playstyles, allowing for a wide range of build options. This versatility grants them access to a wide range of abilities, making them adaptable to various playstyles. 

Overview

The Spiritborn's gameplay requires careful planning and resource management. Players must balance their spirit meter, choose the right abilities for each situation, and coordinate their attacks with their allies. This strategic depth adds a layer of complexity and challenge to the class. 

The Spiritborn's ability to combine the powers of different spirits creates a synergistic playstyle. Players can mix and match abilities from different elements to create unique and powerful combinations. This flexibility allows for endless customization and experimentation. 

Strengths: 

• Versatile playstyle 
• Powerful abilities
• Good survivability
• High potential for damage and utility

Weaknesses: 

• Can be complex to master
• Requires careful resource management
• May struggle in certain contexts without proper build optimization

Skills

The Jaguar's skills include Thrash, Rake, Counterattack, Rushing Claw, and The Hunter. Thrash generates Vigor, while Rake spends it for increased damage. Counterattack increases dodge chance, and automatically counterattacks dodged attacks. Rushing Claw is great for managing groups of enemies. The Hunter is a powerful ultimate that deals damage and has a chance to reset its cooldown.

The Eagle focuses on speed and damage. Its core skills are Thrash, Razor Wings, and The Seeker. Thrash generates Vigor and resets Evade cooldown. Razor Wings is a boomerang attack that can be enhanced with Invasive Razor Wings. The Seeker is the ultimate tool for dealing with damage on arrival and departure.

The Gorilla's skills include Rock Splitter, Crushing Hand, Armored Hide, and The Protector. Rock Splitter rushes at enemies, dealing damage and increasing Block chance. Crushing Hand slams the ground, knocking down enemies. Armored Hide passively reduces damage and grants Unstoppable. The Protector creates a protective barrier and deals damage in an area.

The Centipede focuses on poison damage and crowd control. Core skills include Withering Fist, Scourge, and The Devourer. To build this character, focus on applying poison, controlling enemies, and staying alive. Use skills like Withering Fist to apply poison. Scourge and similar skills will help with control and survivability. The Devourer executes enemies with full poison stacks and shoots poison at enemies.

Spirit Hall

The Spiritborn comes equipped with the ability to choose two passives out of four. You can choose any combination of these passives, so you can have two Gorilla passives or two Centipede passives. The first passive you choose adds a tag to all of your other skills. These tags augment those skills. These tags are:

Jaguar – Every 4th time you deal direct damage to an enemy with a Jaguar Skill, unleash additional slashes, dealing 100% of the 4 hits. Essentially, it lets you dish out a lot of damage.

Eagle – Casting an Eagle Skill grants 2 Storm Feathers, to a maximum of 24. As soon as you evade, up to 8 of the Storm Feathers are fired, dealing 125% of the damage as lightning damage while also making them vulnerable. [On a side note, this works incredibly well when paired with a polearm]

Gorilla – Casting a Gorilla Skill deals 100% Thorns to enemies you hit and grants a Barrier for 5% of Maximum Life, up to 30% for 3 seconds. This prevents you from getting burst down as long as you use a skill and makes you incredibly tanky. 

Centipede – Hitting an enemy with a Centipede Skill reduces their damage by 2.5% and slows them by 10% for 3 seconds. This stacks for up to 8 seconds. This means you can reduce them down to 20% and slow them down by a whopping 80%.

Of course, if you pick the passives your second passive, you gain:

Jaguar – Increase Maximum Ferocity by 1, and you gain 1 stack of Ferocity whenever you kill an enemy or damage a boss.

Eagle – For every 4 meters you move, your crit chance goes up by 4%. This bonus resets 2% after you critically strike.

Gorilla – Increase Maximum Resolve by 2. You also gain unstoppable if you have at least 5 stacks of Resolve.

Centipede – Heal 1% of your Maximum Life for every nearby enemy you have poisoned in the last 3 seconds for up to 5%.

Weapon Choices

The three weapon choices you get are the Glaive, Quarterstaff, and Polearm. They offer similar damage output but synergize differently with the Spiritborn's skills and passives. The fastest weapon is the Quarterstaff, and the slowest one is the Polearm. The Glaive delas more damage to elites, the Quarterstaff has a block chance, and the Polearm does add Vulnerable damage.

The Spiritborn is by far one of the most versatile classes to play, and to add to it, it remains incredibly fun. Very similar to Diablo III's Witch Doctor and Monk. The Spiritborn lets you play in any way you want and destroy all of Mephisto's hopes and dreams.

Check out our review and other guides on Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred:
- Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Review
- Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred | Mercenary Guide