Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion has a lot of strange selling points: it’s a continuance of the main story surrounding Mephisto and Neyrelle, it takes players to the historied jungles of Nahantu, it adds a brand new class in the Spiritborn, and it expands the game with a plethora of new items, expanding mechanics, and more. Of course, a lot of eyes are on the Spiritborn because it is the first brand-new mainlineDiabloclass in a long time (discounting theTempest inDiablo Immortal).
Game Rant recently visited the Blizzard Entertainment campus in Irvine, California to check outDiablo 4’s Spiritborn class. While we were in Nahantu and completed a few dungeons there, we didn’t experience any of the story or enough of the new area to weigh in heavily there. The Spiritborn was our main focus, as we checked out builds with each Spirit Guardian. Lore-wise, Spiritborns are made from a coming-of-age ritual in the Jungle, where only the strong and capable survive the process. The ritual’s purpose is to open their “sight” and connect them with the Spirit Realm, shedding their past bodily existences for the belief that they will be reborn, one day, as one of these Spirit Guardians. This translates into a class where each Spirit Guardian is informed by a certain martial art, making the class feel a little like a Monk, but with the added strength of calling on the spirits.
What’s clear is how adaptable this class truly is. Whether we used the Jaguar, Gorilla, Centipede, or Eagle as our primary Spirit Guardian, each playstyle stood out from the next. Using the class’s Spirit Hall feature allows players to set one Guardian as their primary, which among other effects applies that Guardian’s tag to all skills in theDiablo 4Skill Tree. Then, later on, players will be able to select a second animal for their Spirit Hall for new effects. It’s an interesting class structure, and while we were locked at level 30 for the preview, the sheer possibilities were salivating.
Diablo 4’s Spiritborn Class: Adaptability is Survival
As a Spiritborn, players are able to call upon four Spirit Guardians to customize their class:
Other features coming withDiablo 4’s Spiritborn classinclude the following:
Diablo 4’s Spiritborn Impressions: Build Crafters Are Going to Have a Field Day
Our personal favorite of theDiablo 4Spirit Guardians was the Gorilla. While we faced hordes of new enemies and delved deep into dungeons, we were never faced with the threat of death. The Gorilla Spiritborn is a powerful tank and it fulfills that power fantasy perfectly. Meanwhile, it was the exact opposite with the Jaguar. We were killing enemies faster, but we were also dying faster (such is the nature of the game, after all). We relied more heavily on potions, but the combination of speed and damage felt well-developed. An Eagle Spiritborn is much more mobile than the others, utilizing skills in conjunction with evades, jumping around the battlefield to deal damage, and hitting multiple enemies at once. The Eagle Spiritborn seemed to operate on the notion that it can’t be touched if it doesn’t stand still, while the Centipede Spiritborn featured more traditionalDiablo 4-style crowd control, AoE abilities, and slow-death features. We played each build focused on one Spirit Guardian and had a lot of fun with it, but what’s clear is how adaptable it is with the ability to mix and match these abilities.
While players can only have one primary Spirit Guardian, they can mix and match abilities and amplify their builds with their second Spirit Hall. This is wherebuild crafting inDiablo 4is going to come in full force. We decided to use a mix of Jaguar and Gorilla abilities, and while it worked and seemed viable, it was definitely clunkier than a full Jaguar or full Gorilla build. Some key changes could have made it work, however, especially with Uniques, Legendaries, and more time to construct a build. Another example is combining the Eagle’s movement abilities with the Gorilla’s thorns through key builds. This adaptability is at the heart of the Spiritborn, and it’s clear there’s a lot of game-breaking potential in it (in a good way).
The Spiritborn’s animations also deserve a good shout. Not only does every move look impressive, but the small details really stand out. When playing as the Centipede Spiritborn, for example, we noticed the form of the centipede following us around at one point, and it really helped deliver on that power fantasy. Another strong element of that is when we called the Spirit Guardian to the field; each acts completely differently. The Gorilla drops down and begins beating the ground around the player, the Jaguar leads to enemies and performs a circular attack, the Eagle flies down on enemies and strikes them with lightning, and the Centipede attacks anything that comes close to it, blocking choke points if used correctly.
What’s more, eachDiablo 4Spiritborn ability and fantasyis distinct enough that it’ll clearly have a lot of possible builds. Not only are there ways to adjust a solo Spirit Guardian build, but then the various combinations add and complement each other in different ways. It seems like a safe bet that the Spiritborn class will be a build crafter’s dream.
Every time a game introduces a new class, there are always a lot of folks who want to try it out (although whether that class is strong enough to pull someone away from their main is always up in the air). Anyone who delves intoDiablo 4’s Spiritborn is going to find a strong contender for their new main, that much seems like a given, and it’ll be interesting to see how it operates at high levels and cements its own identity amongDiablo 4’s other classes.
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Diablo® IV is the ultimate action RPG experience with endless evil to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish dungeons, and legendary loot. Embark on the campaign solo or with friends, meeting memorable characters through beautifully dark settings and a gripping story, or explore an expansive end game and shared world where players can meet in towns to trade, team up to battle world bosses, or descend into PVP zones to test their skills against other players – no lobbies necessary – with cross-play, cross-progression, and couch co-op on Xbox.This is only the beginning for Diablo® IV, with new events, stories, seasons, rewards, and more looming on the horizon.
