The Diablo 4 Development Team just had a livestream to reveal the Spiritborn - the new class getting released with the Vessel of Hatred expansion! The Spiritborn reveal was delivered by Brent Gibson (Game Director), Eleni Rivera-Colon (Associate Narrative Designer), Nick Chilano (Art Director), Bjorn Mikkelson (FGame Designer), and Adam Fletcher (Community Director).
A Message from the Maxroll Members at the Reveal!
As a reminder, some of your favorite Maxroll streamers were invited by Blizzard to play and livestream the new Spiritborn class!
The livestream starts with an amazing Spiritborn lore presentation and quick gameplay teaser:
Spiritborn Class Trailer
Spiritborn Concept & Art
Spiritborn Reveal Concept
Spiritborn Reveal Art
Spiritborn Reveal Portrait
The idea behind the Spiritborn class is being a kind of Shaman, calling Spirit Guardians to help them in combat.
As children, Spiritborn are chosen and train their whole lives to serve these Spirit Guardians and strengthen the bond between the Spirit Realm and Sanctuary. These Spirit Guardians originated through the power of human belief.
A challenge was to translate the Spirit Realm into a visual gameplay aspect. Spirit Guardians visuals focus on making them look like they're breaking through the veil.
Spiritborn Gameplay
Spiritborn is a Dexterity-focused class specialized in martial arts.
Vigor is their resource and it does not passively regenerate.
The Spiritborn uses 2-Handed Weapons only. Two new Weapon types are coming in with the expansion:
Glaives - Gives inherit bonuse damage to Elites.
Quarterstaff - Gives inherit bonus to Block Chance.
Spiritborn is a very dynamic class, with a lot of movement and speed based skills.
Spirit Guardians empower the Spiritborn and help in battle through both Ultimate skills and empowering the rest of a Spiritborn's skills.
The Jaguar is a manifestation of the Hunter, attacking repeatedly and quickly, with ramping and kill streak mechanics like the Ferocity mechanic.
The Gorilla brings a very defensive Protector playstyle, using Block and a new mechanic: Resolve, a stacking defensive buff.
The Eagle (Seeker) represents precision, bringing a lot of movement and speed capabilities, with a pseudo-ranged playstyle.
The Centipede represents the concept of Life and Death and Persistence. It uses damage over time, crowd control and leech mechanics to deal with its enemies.
As its class mechanic, you choose two Spirit Hauls tied to specific Guardians, providing boons based on their play style.
You can choose to go all-in into a single Spirit Guardian but Blizzard wants you to experiment. Try mixing and matching, or go all in on a single Guardian and choose what works for you!
Spiritborn Skills
Skill Tree for the Spiritborn
The skills of the Spiritborn follow in a similar vein as outlined above, following the footsteps of one of the four spirits.
Jaguar (Rezoka)
Jaguar (Rezoka)
The Jaguar is relentless and violent, attacking repeatedly with blinding speed and fury. Constantly ramping up in lethality and keeping its fire burning in between kills.
Rake: Conjure claws that rake through enemies in front of you, dealing [20%] damage before exploding for an additional [40%] damage.
Keywords: Core, Jaguar
Vigor Cost: 30
Lucky Hit Chance: 16%
Damage Type: Fire
Rake
Ravager: (Passive) Minimum Ferocity increased by 2. (Active) Unleash a savage roar, causing all your attacks to trigger additional strikes dealing [60%] damage for 6 seconds.
Keywords: Focus, Jaguar, Incarnate
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 30%
Damage Type: Fire
Ravager
Rushing Claw: Slash a short distance through an enemy, striking all enemies along the way twice for a total of [50%] total damage.
Keywords: Potency, Jaguar, Mobility
Charges: 4v
Charge Cooldown: 4 per 20 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 25%
Damage Type: Fire
Rushing Claw
The Hunter: Bound across the battlefield with the Jaguar Spirit, dealing [50%] damage upon landing and then rapidly slashing enemies in the area for [200%] total damage over 7 strikes.
Keywords: Ultimate, Jaguar
Cooldown 45 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 15%
Damage Type: Fire
The Hunter
Gorilla (Wumba)
Gorilla (Wumba)
The embodiment of resilience and retaliation, the Gorilla not only shrugs off incoming damage but ensures their reprisals are brutal, swift and final. This Guardian embodies pure dominance and efficient resolution to protect its own at all costs.
Rock Splitter: Rush at a target and clobber enemies in front of you, dealing [15%] damage. Your third attack strikes enemies around you, dealing [28%] damage.
Keywords: Basic, Gorilla, Mobility
Generate Vigor: 11
Lucky Hit Chance: 28%
Damage Type: Physical
Rock Splitter
Concussive Stomp: Stomp in front of you, releasing a shockwave that deals [15%] damage and Knocks Down enemies for 3 seconds.
Keywords: Defensive, Gorilla
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Damage Type: Physical
Concussive Stomp
Payback: Smash enemies in front of you, dealing [100%] damage. When attacked, you have a 35% chance to reduce Payback’s active Cooldown by 1 second.
Keywords: Potency, Gorilla
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 30%
Damage Type: Physical
Payback
The Protector: The Gorilla Spirit protects an area for 6 seconds, continuously smashing surrounding enemies for [80%] damage and granting you Barrier for 15% of your Maximum Life every 1.5 seconds.
Keywords: Ultimate, Gorilla
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 15%
Damage Type: Physical
The Protector
Eagle (Kwatli)
Eagle (Kwatli)
The Eagle is lethal and attacks its prey with pinpoint precision. Its movement speed and amplified Evade, combined with extendable mid-ranged attacks, come together to deliver a concentrated burst of pain upon your foes.
Soar: Fly into the air, creating a cloud which makes enemies at your target location Vulnerable for 5 seconds before you crash down upon them dealing [50%] damage.
Keywords: Focus, Eagle, Mobility
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 66%
Damage Type: Lightning
Soar
Quill Volley: Hurl 5 feathers that pierce through enemies, each dealing [14%] damage.
Keywords: Core, Eagle
Vigor Cost: 35
Lucky Hit Chance: 13%
Damage Type: Lightning
Quill Volley
Razor Wings: Whirl out a cluster of razor-sharp feathers that rebound back, dealing [50%] damage each way.
Keywords: Potency, Eagle
Charges: 3
Charge Cooldown: 10 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 22%
Damage Type: Lightning
Razor Wings
The Seeker: The Eagle Spirit swoops down and deals [20%] damage. After a short delay it blasts off dealing [300%] damage.
Keywords: Ultimate, Eagle
Charges: 3
Charge Cooldown: 30 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 30%
Damage Type: Lightning
The Seeker
Centipede (Balazan)
Centipede (Balazan)
Draining the strength of foes to sustain itself, the Centipede is a manifestation of the inescapable cycle of death. Wield debilitating Poison damage and disruptive crowd control to reduce any opposition to a lifeless husk.
Withering Fist: Dart at and jab an enemy, dealing [5%] damage and applying [30%] Poisoning damage over 6 seconds. Your third attack bursts on your target, damaging surrounding enemies and Slowing them by 30% for 3 seconds.
Keywords: Basic, Centipede, Mobility
Generate Vigor: 9
Lucky Hit Chance: 25%
Damage Type: Poison
Withering Fist
Scourge: Call forth a wave of insects that bite enemies, Fearing and Slowing them for 3 seconds and applying [100%] Poisoning damage over 6 seconds.
Keywords: Defensive, Centipede
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Damage Type: Poison
Scourge
Stinger: Strike a small area, dealing [70%] damage to enemies within as well as all surrounding Poisoned enemies.
Keywords: Core, Centipede
Vigor Cost: 40
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Damage Type: Poison
Stinger
The Devourer: The Centipede Spirit emerges, blasting enemies in a line for [140%] damage and splitting at others for [40%] damage. Lasts for 15 seconds.
Keywords: Ultimate, Centipede
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 10%
Damage Type: Poison
The Devourer
Key Passives
The Diablo Team also previewed several of the Ky Passives that the Spiritborn can take advantage of.
Adaptive Stances: The Base Spirit of a Skill cast grants:
Eagle: 30% Movement Speed
Gorilla: 30% Damage Reduction
Jaguar: 30% Attack Speed
Centipede: 30% Life Steal
Casting a Skill of a different Base Spirit:
Swaps to the new bonus
Increases Core Stats by 50% for 5 seconds.
Noxious Resonance: Your Critical Strikes cause enemies to burst 100% of the Poisoning on them as Poison damage to those around them.
Prodigy’s Tempo: Every third consecutive cast of the same Basic Skill increases all Skill Ranks by 2 for 5 seconds. Every third consecutive cast of the same Core or Potency Skill reduces all Skills’ active Cooldowns by 10%, increased by 2% for each of their Skill Ranks.
Vital Strikes: You deal 100% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. After making an enemy Vulnerable, your next Direct damage dealt to them:
Heals you for 2% of your Maximum Life
Generates 5 Vigor
Removes the Vulnerable effect
Unique Class Mechanic - Spirit Hall
Spirit Hall Menu
Like the other classes in Diablo 4, when you reach level 15, you will be given a Priority Quest to head out into the world. Once you complete it, you gain access to your Spirit Hall. This is where you can gain buffs from one of the four Guardian Spirits. At level 30 you can choose another. You can pick two of the same to really focus on one over the others, or combine the synergies of two different Spirits for a more well rounded gameplay.
Jaguar
Eagle
Gorilla
Centipede
Spiritborn Itemization
The Spiritborn itemization is being designed around three core tenants of Hybrid, Power, and Subpower Augmentations.
Hybrid Augmentations - Hybrid Augmentations are aspects that enhance different parts of the Spirit Guardians' powers with the goal of making it easier to mix and match and use two Spirit Guardians together in a coordinated effort.
Power Augmentations - Power Augmentations are aspects that are tied to specific skills (e.g., Rake) and enhance the power and abilities of that specific skill.
Subpowers Example - Subpowers are utility skills that help enhance and bring further utility to the existing skills. Essentially, things that add new 'subpowers' (e.g., Stinger now generating a pestilent swarm) to existing skills.
Here are some early Unique items shown off as well.
The Spiritborn is Almost Here!
The Maxroll Diablo 4 Team hopes you enjoyed our Spiritborn Reveal post and can't wait to test out all the new things coming our way with the Vessel of Hatred expansion! Also don't forget that Season 5 is on its way and we're getting ready for it, too!
With that said, head over to our Discord and select the D4 role in #roles to stay up to date with our content development to make the most of your Season 5 experience! Also don't forget to check out our Youtube channel!
