Diablo 4: I was at Blizzard and played the new class of Vessel of Hatred

In a rather large-scale event, Blizzard invited experts for Diablo 4 from all over the world to their 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, on July 18, 2024, Blizzard officially presented the new class that is set to appear in Vessel of Hatred: the Spiritborn. Finally, there is news about the glaive-swinging martial arts fighter, including a trailer.

However, a week earlier, some experts were allowed to see more of the Spiritborn and even play it themselves – including me. For two hours, we could unleash ourselves on a special build of the expansion:

The characters were set to level 30, leveling was not possible.
We were only allowed to travel in a specific area of Nahantu.
Four characters with a pre-made build were available for testing, but we could also freely reskill.
In Nahantu, we could liberate a stronghold, traverse several dungeons, or visit an permanently active hell flood. Additionally, the new capital Kurast was already in the game.
There was loot, but one had to be lucky to find Legendaries or Uniques specifically for the Spiritborn.

From previous information, we only knew so far that the Spiritborn is supposed to be an “ultimate predator” and many have speculated: This will be a mix of Monk, Amazon, and Witch Doctor. And you are quite right about that.

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: Different fighting styles such as Muay Thai, Karate, and Tae-Kwon-Do combine with supernatural powers from the realm of spirits.

The gameplay, however, is heavily oriented towards the Monk from Diablo 3. Every basic attack is a combo that triggers a special effect on the third hit. Additionally, you sprint towards an enemy with the attacks if you’re standing a bit too far away.

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

The Monk is only the foundational class that the Spiritborn is based on. Depending on build, there are strong influences from the classes in Diablo 4 in the playstyle. Because what makes the class so special is the ability to mix skills and effects so that something new emerges from it.

Along with the Spiritborn, two new weapon types come into play: quarterstaffs and glaives, forming the arsenal of the new class with pole weapons.

Four spirits, many playstyles

In play, this shows itself as every attack manifests the power of one of the four available spirits, each having its own domain:

The Gorilla represents sheer power and protection, thus being a kind of tank with thick muscles. The playstyle is comparable to that of the Barbarian.
The Eagle relies on precision and skill, can give its attacks more range, and makes enemies vulnerable. The spirit plays much like the Sorceress.
Jaguars utilize a high attack speed and combo attacks, particularly noting: attack is the best defense. They are hyper-aggressive and roughly resemble huntresses.
The Centipede stands for the cycle of life and death: with poisons and swarms of insects, it breaks down enemies to heal the Spiritborn. The playstyle is very similar to that of Necromancers.

The spirits are also the special class mechanic. You choose in the “Hall of Spirits” which of the four spirits you swear loyalty to. This grants 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 additionally becomes the “tag” for all skills, which you later need for synergies with Legendaries. Later, you choose a second spirit (or the same one again) to receive a slightly weaker secondary effect.

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

This is how the Spiritborn plays, the new class in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred

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Blizzard learns from the mistakes of the other classes

Personally, the playstyle of the Spiritborn is not terribly interesting to me, as I already found the Monk to be fairly dull. Nevertheless, I will probably play the class because it does one thing much better than all the others: ultimates.

Ultimate skills are currently nearly useless, hardly anyone plays with them because most of them are not worth it. With the Spiritborn, that is different. Each ultimate either has such a low cooldown or can be reset so easily that you can use them constantly.

This not only makes the skill feel stronger, but you build a build specifically around it. That is exactly what an ultimate should be. Plus, they look really good: when a huge spirit gorilla stomps on the ground or a centipede spits poison at enemies, it simply looks incredible. It feels smooth to play.

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

Spiritborn is super fun, the jumping around, the 3-hit combos with the heavy attack at the end. Fast, fluid gameplay with many 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 got a look at the Spiritborn. You can find their assessments here:

Peter primarily focuses on the expansion itself and says: Diablo 4 takes a big risk with Vessel of Hatred
In Maurice’s video, the passionate necro player is similarly enthusiastic, but with a hint of skepticism: The Diablo addon is love at first sight – but let’s wait for the second one first

Here are some impressions from the Blizzard campus in Irvine:

Vessel of Hatred looks great – just one thing still annoys me

In the two hours on the rather limited build, I could, of course, not 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 truly wonderful, the jungle area is teeming with deadly life, and the glowing green, together with Mesoamerican-inspired ruins, is a nice change from the snowy Kyovashad and the swampy Hawezar.

In terms of dungeons, I did not see much variety; however, I think that is not necessarily needed. One stronghold was indeed a lot of fun, but what bothers me are the enemies.

There are a few new foes, and part of them are indeed exactly the enemies I would have preferred not to see again. However, there are others that I did not expect, such as the corruptors with their plague arms from Diablo 3.