Summary
Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion introduces a wealth of content to the base game, including an original story in which players follow Neyrelle through the new Nahantu region on her mission to destroy the Prime Evil Mephisto. Vessel of Hatred has also opened the door for countless updates to the overallDiablo 4experience, changing major aspects of the game from its progression system to its endgame content. However, while these additions are welcome, the debut of the new Spiritborn class might be the cherry on top of it all.
The Spiritborn class isn’t justanotherDiablo 4class, it has been intentionally designed not to behave like one. Instead, Vessel of Hatred’s new Spiritborn class breaks a major series tradition in its mechanics, offering players an unprecedented amount of freedom in their playstyle.
Vessel of Hatred’s Spiritborn Class Boasts Unprecedented Complexity
Vessel of Hatred’s Spiritborn Class Has Four Different Skill Types
What makes the Spiritborn class inDiablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansionsuch a powerhouse is its build-crafting potential, as it has four different skill types to choose from. These skill types are contextualized in four Spirit Guardians (the Jaguar, Gorilla, Eagle, and Centipede), each of which offers a unique approach to gameplay. Through the Spirit Guardian Rezoka, the Jaguar, players have access to more aggressive combat skills that prioritize things like raw damage, attack speed, critical hits, and minor survivability to support that aggression.
Wumba, the Gorilla Spirit Guardian, is quite the opposite of the Jaguar in that it provides more defensive skills like blocking, dodging, and barrier. Then there’s Kwatli, the Eagle, whose skills are performed from mid-range and fall somewhere between Jaguar skills and Gorilla skills. Specifically, Eagle skills use the element of Lightning to land critical hits but also grant players more survivability than Jaguar skills can offer. Furthermore, the Eagle’s Ultimate skill, The Seeker, is the first Ultimate skill that has multiple charges.
Finally, Balazan, the Centipede Spirit Guardian, offers Spiritborn players skills that apply damage over time, game-changing debuffs, and plenty of crowd control. Poison Spiritborn builds have already become some of the most popular builds forVessel of Hatred’s endgame content, especially given that Centipede skills also offer healing and support. That’s not to say the other Spirit Guardians are inferior, however, as Jaguar skills have proven to be among the best skills to use for leveling, Gorilla skills are perfect for cooperative play, and Eagle skills can quickly get players out of a pinch.
Most Diablo Class Builds Have Much Less to Work With in Terms of Skills
WhereVessel of Hatred’s Spiritborn classultimately separates itself from the rest of theDiablofranchise’s classes is in its complexity, and the number of different potential builds it offers. For the most part,Diablobuilds generally focus on utilizing one or two different skill categories. The Spiritborn class, on the other hand, was intentionally designed to encourage players to mix and match different skills from its four Spirit Guardian categories, which can potentially double the number of possible builds in comparison toDiablo’s other classes.
Spiritborn’s hybrid nature is a first of sorts forDiablo, and that’s likely due to how game-breaking such a design can be.
In a sense, the Spiritborn class takes elements of multiple differentDiabloclasses and rolls them into one to produce what is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most overpoweredclasses inDiablohistory. None of this is to say that anyone can just come in and benefit from the Spiritborn’s advantages without even trying, as it still takes a considerable amount of thought to make a cohesive build in which every unlocked skill synergizes with the rest. However, the possibilities are there, and they are seemingly endless at the moment.
Diablo 4
WHERE TO PLAY
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.
