Spiritborn Leveling Guide for Diablo 4 - Icy Veins (2024)

Leveling as a Spiritborn

We are currently creating several Spiritborn leveling guides. An introduction to a variety of different playstyles and a large range of fun builds, supported by the various Spirit Guardians, will be available soon.

Spiritborn Introduction

Spiritborn are jungle fighters who are bolstered by Spirit Guardians. They are a dexterity-focused class that has experience in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, as well as a strong connection to spirits. This is one of the fastest and most aggressive classes due to their many movement speed abilities. Using their Ultimate talents, you will be able to summon their attuned Spirit Guardians, allowing you to choose from various types of builds based on your preferred playstyle.

Vigor, Spiritborn Class Resource

Spiritborn’s primary resource is called Vigor. This resource does not recharge passively; Vigor will only recharge after performing basic attacks. This is what we call a builder/spender system.

Spirit Hall – Unique Spiritborn Class Mechanic

Spiritborn in Diablo 4 have a unique class mechanic known as the Spirit Hall, which includes evoking the power of four different Spirit Guardians. This system allows players to add additional effects to their skills, based on the guardian they choose within the Spirit Hall. The first, primary Spirit unlocks upon reaching Level 15, after completing the “Sacred Hunt” questline from Tarka inside Gea Kul. The secondary Spirit will automatically unlock once you hit Level 30.

Each Guardian combination will bring unique boosts to your build. It is important to find the best synergy that will complement your powers. You can also select the same Guardian twice if both the primary and secondary perks fit your build.

Spirit Guardians

Every Spirit Guardian has unique effects depending on whether their spirit is chosen as a Primary or Secondary spirit effect within the Spirit Hall. Furthermore, only one Primary and one Secondary Spirit can be chosen at a time. However, you do not have to pick the same Spirit for both, and can test out different combinations!

Gorilla (Wumba)

Wumba represents protection and defense. This guardian provides a very active defensive playstyle with the fundamental mechanic being damage reduction and blocking via the new status effect Resolve. The playstyle is more reminiscent of a tank build focused on dealing and taking damage.

Every skill associated with the Gorilla Guardian is considered a Physical Damage skill.

The following effects will unlock, depending on whether you choose the Gorilla as the first or second spirit within the Spirit Hall:

• Primary: Casting a Gorilla Skill deals 100% Thorns to enemies you hit and grants a Barrier for 10% of Maximum Life, up to 40%, for 3 seconds. All Skills are now also Gorilla Skills.
• Secondary: Maximum Resolve increased by 2. When you have at least 5 stacks of Resolve, you are Unstoppable.

Jaguar (Rezoka)

Rezoka is the symbol of a hunter, with an aggressive playstyle that is built around ramping mechanics, with a particular focus on Attack Speed and the new status effect Ferocity. The Jaguar gameplay features a highly sought-after mobility talent (Rushing Claws) and a powerful AoE damage Ultimate.

All skills linked with the Jaguar Guardian are classified as Fire Damage skills.

When selecting the Jaguar as the first or second spirit in the Spirit Hall, you will unlock the following perks:

• Primary: Every 4th time you deal direct damage to an enemy with a Jaguar Skill, unleash additional slashes dealing 100% of the damage of the 4 hits. All Skills are now also Jaguar Skills.
• Secondary: Maximum Ferocity is increased by 1. Gain 1 stack of Ferocity whenever you kill an enemy or damage a Boss.

Eagle (Kwalti)

Kwalti represents precision, accuracy, and finesse. With the Eagle on your side, you will have an easier time creating builds that feature a heavy movement-based playstyle and precision damage. Additionally, many Eagle skills offer ranged-type gameplay.

Skills from the Eagle Guardian are defined as Lightning Damage skills.

When you choose the Eagle as the first or second spirit in the Spirit Hall, you will gain the following benefits:

• Primary: Casting an Eagle Skill grants 2 Storm Feathers, up to a maximum of 8. When you Evade, all Storm Feathers are fired dealing 100% Lightning damage and making targets Vulnerable for 3 seconds. All Skills are now also Eagle Skills.
• Secondary: For every 4 meters you move, your Critical Strike Chance increases by 4%. This bonus is reset 2 seconds after you Critically Strike.

Centipede (Balazan)

Balazan represents the cycle of life and death. Selecting the Centipede as your Spirit Guardian allows you to play a crowd control and damage over time (DoT) playstyle with some very powerful AoE abilities.

The Centipede Guardian skills are all considered Poison Damage talents.

In the Spirit Hall, when you choose the Centipede as your first or second spirit, you will unlock the following effects:

• Primary: Hitting an enemy with a Centipede Skill reduces their Damage by 2.5% and Slows them by 10% for 3 seconds, stacking up to a maximum of 8 times. All Skills are now also Centipede Skills.
• Secondary: Heal for 1% of your Maximum Life, for every Nearby enemy you’ve poisoned in the last 3 seconds, up to 5%.

Spiritborn Weapons and Restrictions

The Spiritborn can equip Quarterstaves, Glaives, as well as 2H weapons such as Polearms. This limits the amount of equipment a Spiritborn can wear, which weakens the build possibilities.

Quaterstaves are considered a good offense and defense combo weapon with their x% Blocked Damage Reduction and x% Block Chance affixes.

Glaives, however, are a heavy offensive weapon similar to the Polearm with a strong affix of x% Damage to Elites.

Ferocity and Resolve – New Status Effects

The Spiritborn introduces two new Status Effects that are used by specific Skills, Talents, and Items.

Ferocity boosts Attack Speed by 5% every stack. This effect stacks up to 4 times, with each one lasting 4 seconds.

Resolve boosts Damage Reduction by 20% when active. Taking direct damage consumes a stack. This effect can accumulate up to 8 stacks.

Spiritborn Skills and Talents

This section provides an overview of the main Skill categories for the Spiritborn class.

For a more detailed and in-depth list of all Spiritborn skills and passive talents, refer to the dedicated pages below.

Basic Skills

Basic Skills are spammable skills whose primary purpose is to generate Vigor. Since Basic Skills are free and have no cooldown, they are used to fill empty time while waiting for other, more powerful skills to become available.

The Basic Skills for the Spiritborn are:

• Withering Fist, Thrash, Thunderspike, and Rock Splitter.

Core Skills

Core Skills are among the most-used abilities to spend Vigor. However, while Core Skills have no cooldown, their biggest drawback is their Vigor cost.

The Core Skills for the Spiritborn are:

• Stinger, Rake, Quill Volley, and Crushing Hand.

Focus Skills

Spiritborn Focus skills provide a wide range of utility, such as pulling enemies together or applying various debuffs.

The Focus Skills for the Spiritborn are:

• Toxic Skin, Ravager, Soar, and Vortex.

Defensive Skills

Defensive Skills help to boost the defensive capabilities of the Spiritborn. Whether with a Barrier, Crowd Control skills or to escape incoming melee attacks as fast as possible.

The Defensive Skills for the Spiritborn are:

• Armored Hide, Concussive Stomp, Counterattack, and Scourge.

Potency Skills

Potency Skills provide various useful effects and mainly focus on AoE (area-of-effect) damage.

The Potency Skills for the Spiritborn are:

• Payback, Razor Wings, Rushing Claw, and Touch of Death.

Ultimate Skills

Ultimate Skills are powerful skills that have a particularly long cooldown. Ultimate Skills are often built around in order to be effective, and only one Ultimate Skill can be equipped at a time.

The Ultimate Skills for the Spiritborn are:

• The Protector, The Seeker, The Hunter, and The Devourer.

Dismount Skill

While mounted, the Spiritborn has access to a unique Dismount Skill that allows them to leap off the mount and slam down on enemies with a powerful lightning attack that is similar to other skills of the Eagle Guardian Spirit. Players that are struck by an enemy are automatically dismounted and are unable to use their Dismount Ability until they mount back.

Spiritborn Attributes

The four core attributes benefit each of the five classes in slightly different ways. Here are their effects on the Spiritborn:

*Dexterity is considered the primary attribute for Spiritborn, as it multiplies all damage.

This guide provides an overview for players who are new to the class. The Spiritborn is highly customizable and can be tailored to your preferred gaming style, including ranged attacks, damage over time, tanking, and more. We will update this page and add endgame builds as well as activities to help you progress and push your new Spiritborn to its full potential later on.

Changelog

• July 30, 2024: Leveling Guide created for Vessel of Hatred.