I was at Blizzard and have already played the Spiritborn for 2 hours – This is what the new class can do

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In a fairly large-scale event, Blizzard invited Diablo 4 experts from all over the world to its headquarters in Irvine, California. There they were supposed to test the new class from Vessel of Hatred for the first time before the official reveal: the Spiritborn. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus was there and is cautiously enthusiastic.

Today, July 18, 2024, Blizzard officially introduced the new class that will appear in Vessel of Hatred: the Spiritborn. There is finally new information about the glaive-wielding martial arts fighter, including a trailer.

A week earlier, however, some experts were able to see more of the Spiritborn and even play it themselves – including me. For two hours, we were able to more or less let off steam on a special build of the expansion:

  • The characters were fixed at level 30, leveling was not possible.
  • We were only allowed to travel to a certain area of ​​Nahantu.
  • Four characters with a pre-built build were available for testing, but we were also free to reskill them.
  • In Nahantu we were able to liberate a base, travel through several dungeons, or visit a permanently active helltide. The new capital city of Kurast was also already in the game.
  • There was loot, but you had to be lucky to find legendaries or uniques specifically for the Spiritborn.

    • From previous information, we all knew that the Spiritorn is supposed to be an “ultimate predator” and many people suspected that it would be a mixture of a monk, an Amazon and a witch doctor. And you’re pretty much right.

    Diablo 4: The trailer for the first new class, the Spiritborn from Vessel of Hatred

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    Like the monk from Diablo 3, but much more dangerous

    First of all: What can the Spiritborn actually do? In the presentation, the devs already explained that the goal of the class was to create a special mix: various fighting styles such as Muay Thai, Karate and Tae-Kwon-Do meet supernatural powers from the realm of spirits in the Spiritborn.

    The gameplay, however, is very similar to the monk from Diablo 3. Each basic attack is a combo that triggers a special effect on the third hit. You also sprint towards an enemy with the attacks if you are a little too far away.

    Even the mechanics are reminiscent of the agile pugilist: Depending on the build and design, your Spiritborn has the ability to control opponents or pull them together with vortexes. He foregoes armor in favor of his mobility – at least visually – and uses spiritual connections for combat.

    However, the monk is only the basic class that the Spiritborn is based on. Depending on the build, there are strong influences from classes from Diablo 4 in the play style. What makes the class so special is the ability to mix skills and effects to create something new.

    Together with the Spiritborn, two new weapon types come into play: quarter staffs and glaives, which, along with polearms, form the arsenal of the new class.

    The 4 spirits make up the Spiritborn and should be mixed.

    Four ghosts, many playing styles

    When playing, this is reflected in the fact that each attack manifests the power of one of the four available spirits, each of which has its own domain:

  • The gorilla represents sheer power and protection, so he is a kind of tank with big muscles. The play style is comparable to the barbarian.
  • The Eagle relies on precision and skill, can give his attacks more range and makes opponents vulnerable. The Ghost plays in a similar way to the Sorceress.
  • Jaguars use a high attack speed and combo attacks, and the following applies to them: attack is the best defense. They are hyper-aggressive and are roughly based on huntresses.
  • The centipede represents the cycle of life and death: it uses poisons and swarms of insects to decompose enemies in order to heal the spirit-born. The playing style is very similar to that of necromancers.

    • The spirits are also the special class mechanic. In the “Hall of Spirits” you choose which of the four spirits you will swear allegiance to. This gives you a special effect for the character as a whole, as well as for all abilities.

    All skills have one of the four spirits as a feature. By choosing a spirit, it also becomes the “tag” of all skills, which you will need later for synergies with legendaries. Later, you choose a second spirit (or the same one again) to get a slightly weaker, secondary effect.

    Here you can see my gameplay from the event including commentary and conclusion:

    How to play Spiritborn, the new class in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred

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    Blizzard learns from the mistakes of other classes

    Personally, I don’t think the Spiritborn playstyle is that interesting, as I didn’t really like the Monk. However, I’ll probably play the class because it does one thing much better than any other: Ultimates.

    Ultimate skills are almost useless at the moment, hardly anyone plays with them because most of them are not worth it. The Spiritborn is different. Every ultimate either has such a short cooldown or can be reset so easily that you can use it all the time.

    This not only makes the skill feel stronger, but you build a build around it explicitly. This is exactly what an ultimate should be. They also look really good: when a giant ghost gorilla stomps around on the ground or a centipede spits poison at enemies, it just looks really good. It feels well-rounded when you play.

    In an interview with the developers, Associate Class Designer Stephen Stewart explained to me that this exact problem with the ultimates had been observed for months and that the players’ feedback had been received. That’s why they are now so much better in Spiritborn. The expert Rob, who was with me at the event, sees it similarly. I spoke to him a bit and he said:

    Spiritborn is great fun, the jumping around, the 3-hit combos with the powerful attack at the very end. Fast, fluid gameplay with lots of combo possibilities. And the fact that the ultimates are useful is really cool.

    Rob2628

    My colleagues Pether Bathge from GameStar and Maurice Weber were also at Blizzard and were able to get a look at the Spiritborn. You can find their assessments here:

    Here are some impressions from the Blizzard campus in Irvine:

    Vessel of Hatred looks good – only one thing still annoys me

    Of course, in the two hours I spent on the rather limited build, I wasn’t able to see much of the expansion as a whole, especially since the focus of the entire event was primarily on the Spiritborn.

    Nevertheless, I was able to gather some impressions. Nahantu looks really wonderful, the jungle area is teeming with deadly life and the bright green together with Mesoamerican-inspired ruins is a nice change from the snowy Kyovashad and the swampy Hawezar.

    I didn’t see much variety in the dungeons, but I don’t think that’s really necessary. The one base was actually a lot of fun, but what bothers me are the enemies.

    There are a few new enemies, and some of them are actually the same enemies I would have preferred not to see again. But there are also others I didn’t expect, like the Corruptors with their plague arms from Diablo 3.

    The fears from the leak have actually come true in part. Two of the completely new enemies that have stuck in my mind are people who cling to me with grappling hooks and exploding beetles that attach themselves to my back.

    Yes, it’s as annoying as it sounds and fits perfectly into the setting. At least at level 30 the enemies were really annoying, but I’m sure that will change later with better builds. Although the enemies lack a little innovation, they still fit into the jungle and I didn’t get to see everything.

    However, I definitely like what I have seen of Vessel of Hatred so far and even the criticism I have is not very significant. That is more the point I would make if I really had to criticize something. However, I haven’t been able to see too much so far. Nevertheless, I think that Diablo 4 is on a really good path and continues the strong development of the last year: Diablo 4 after one year: This is how Blizzard’s latest hit has developed

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