Join us to celebrate Diablo’s new season and new hero class during their livestream. Learn more about Spiritborn’s new abilities, backstory, and information straight from the developers who created it. Check out the livestream on July 18th at 11am PT to find out more about this never before seen class.
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00:10:42I'm going to do a little bit of a walk-through of what I've been up to over the last couple of days.
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00:26:09Byrton alone, I must get to Akarat's tomb.
00:26:14But look at you. You're killing yourself.
00:26:19I... I don't know how much longer I can...
00:26:24Shh. I'm here, little magpie.
00:26:32I missed you so much.
00:26:36I'm so proud of you.
00:26:40But now, I need you to give up.
00:26:46What? No, no, no!
00:26:50Of course it's you!
00:26:53You monster!
00:26:57Let go of me!
00:27:00Let go?
00:27:02No. You made a choice.
00:27:07And I warned you, little magpie.
00:27:12There would be consequences.
00:27:17No!
00:27:29Surrender.
00:27:32No! I control the stone!
00:27:35You hold the stone.
00:27:39You control nothing.
00:27:48No!
00:27:59Maybe you're right.
00:28:02Maybe I could use some help.
00:28:17Akarat, cheers to Chum.
00:28:22Mini, don't be silly.
00:28:27Mini, don't be silly.
00:28:32Hello, Diablo community. I'm Adam Fletcher, Community Director for Diablo.
00:28:37Welcome to our Spiritborne Showcase, where we're doing a deep dive for this year's Diablo release.
00:28:43Welcome to our Spiritborne Showcase, where we're doing a deep dive for this all-new class coming to Diablo 4,
00:28:49which will include a series of interviews, followed by Q&A from Twitch chat.
00:28:53I'm joined here today with Game Director, Brent Gibson.
00:28:56Thanks, Adam. We've been working hard to make something unique for Diablo, and we're finally here to actually talk about it.
00:29:02Brent, I can remember us at BlizzCon where we showed off our very first cinematic for Vessel of Hatred.
00:29:08Now we're actually here to showcase the Spiritborne for the first time.
00:29:11We're glad to have you back for the full reveal.
00:29:13Thanks. We've set out to make an all-new class that comes from the jungles of Nahantu,
00:29:18an apex predator with a deep connection to the Spirit Realm.
00:29:21So, without further ado, let's kick off this deep dive to the Spiritborne.
00:29:27Only a few among my people can become Spiritborne.
00:29:32As children, the most promising face judgment in the mist.
00:29:39Our trial begins and ends with pain.
00:29:44Those who are not called are culled.
00:29:50For the weak, all paths end here.
00:29:55For the worthy, that path leads to power beyond compare and a sacred charge to wield it well.
00:30:05Though the mortal world was designed to break us,
00:30:10our hearts, our minds, our bodies, there is another which makes us bold.
00:30:21We are without fear.
00:30:25We are without equal.
00:30:28We walk with the ancient guardians of the unformed lands.
00:30:32Their power is our power.
00:30:36Their cause is our cause.
00:30:40We forge unbreakable bonds in the Spirit Realm to defeat the horrors of this one.
00:30:49For we are Spiritborne.
00:31:02SPIRITBORNE
00:31:33SPIRITBORNE
00:31:48Wow, and there it is, the first look at the Spiritborne, the apex predator from the jungle.
00:31:53Awesome to finally show it off and what an incredible trailer.
00:31:57To talk more about the Spiritborne, we would like to introduce Eleni Rivera Colon,
00:32:01narrative designer on Diablo 4. Welcome, Eleni.
00:32:04Thank you. I'm really excited to be here to talk about the Spiritborne class.
00:32:08I'm also a little nervous.
00:32:10It's okay. We're live. We're doing this live here for everyone.
00:32:14But obviously, Eleni, we just saw here in the trailer with, you know, the Spiritborne
00:32:20and we saw a little bit about that Spirit Realm.
00:32:22Can you tell us a little bit more about what that Spirit Realm is?
00:32:25Yeah. So, I mean, to put it plainly, the Spirit Realm is a place where spirits go.
00:32:29It's this deeply spiritual place that's a byproduct of Sanctuary's creation.
00:32:34So, as you may know, the angels have the high heavens, the demons have the burning hells,
00:32:40and we have the Spirit Realm.
00:32:42You know, we're hearing a little bit about the high heavens and, you know, the burning hells here.
00:32:48And players have actually seen both of those places specifically.
00:32:52What does the Spirit Realm actually look like for players?
00:32:55Yeah. You know, we really love this concept that the Spirit Realm is shaped by humanity.
00:33:01So, if that's the case, the foundation of that would actually be Sanctuary.
00:33:06So, you could imagine being in the middle of the jungle and you're surrounded by these tall trees
00:33:11and these ancient structures.
00:33:13And when you cross over the veil into the Spirit Realm,
00:33:17you're going to see a ghostly reflection of just that.
00:33:20The big key difference is that you're going to see all the spirits and the creatures that exist there.
00:33:25Yeah. There are these massive creatures that protect the Realm from spirits,
00:33:30or they protect the Realm and the spirits from corruption.
00:33:33So, the Spiritborn class have this harmonious bond and connection
00:33:37with these massive creatures that are called the Spirit Guardians.
00:33:41And they work together toward the land.
00:33:43You know, it's awesome to hear about the Spirit Guardians.
00:33:46And, you know, people saw them in the trailer a little bit there.
00:33:49Can you actually tell us a little bit more about, like, who these Spirit Guardians are?
00:33:53Yeah. So, if the Spirit Realm is shaped by humanity,
00:33:57we love the idea that the Guardians are formed from human belief.
00:34:03And so, if you're trying to survive in the jungle and protection is a thing
00:34:08that you are pouring all of your belief, your hope into,
00:34:12that belief, it's magical.
00:34:14It's got power in itself and it can actually create a creature that represents that.
00:34:19It could represent protection.
00:34:21Yeah. So, as Brent is saying, the Spirit Guardians are this complex creation of
00:34:26sanctuary's creation along with this powerful human belief.
00:34:31And Spiritborns devote their entire lives strengthening this incredible bond
00:34:36because these Spirit Guardians are powerful.
00:34:39It's this idea, right, of what these gods look like.
00:34:42And so, they can help protect both the Realm and the Hantu.
00:34:45You know, we saw in the trailer and some of the gameplay people were, you know,
00:34:49if you're playing the Spiritborn, you can actually summon one of these in there.
00:34:53Is that something you can do on demand? Like, how does that work?
00:34:56Yeah. You know, very early on in concepting,
00:35:00we saw this one piece of a simple warrior raising their staff above their head
00:35:06and this massive spirit creature forming behind them.
00:35:09And that really became the lightning rod to a lot of thought-provoking ideas.
00:35:14I mean, we knew what we wanted to do mechanically with the class,
00:35:18but that image really solidified that the idea of summoning a god into battle was really cool.
00:35:24And that actually became the cornerstone for a lot of our development from then on out.
00:35:28Yeah. So, talking about Spirit Guardians and summoning them,
00:35:32the Spiritborn class can summon four Spirit Guardians.
00:35:36The first one that I want to talk about is Razoka.
00:35:39And this Guardian manifests in the form of a jaguar.
00:35:42So, the belief of courage and ferocity.
00:35:45Striking on the hunt, attacking a kill with no fear or reservations.
00:35:49The second one is Balazan.
00:35:52Appearing as this massive centipede, the belief is balance and persistence.
00:35:57So, although some people might see it as fear,
00:36:00it represents harmony and balance, so the give and take of life.
00:36:03And then we have Kwatli. The manifestation of this is a majestic eagle, right?
00:36:08So, to represent awareness and finesse.
00:36:11Soaring above it all, having keen awareness of its surroundings and acting with intent.
00:36:15And then the last one is Wumba.
00:36:18This Guardian manifests in a powerful gorilla.
00:36:21So, this beacon of protection and strength.
00:36:24And a movable force that holds its ground and sustains under pressure.
00:36:28So, it's great, because that's what we wanted to do.
00:36:32So, it's great, because we've heard a little bit about the Spirit Realm.
00:36:35We've heard about these four awesome Guardians.
00:36:38Can you tell us a little bit more about the star of the show now?
00:36:41The Spiritborn itself.
00:36:43Yeah, so I think before we really dive in,
00:36:46I want to talk about Akarat, who's really important with the Spiritborn and the Spirit Realm.
00:36:51For those who don't know, Akarat is this prophet
00:36:54that believed in the human experience and that it gives us this unique power.
00:36:58We have this light within us.
00:37:00And that light gives us the ability to question and to doubt and to challenge.
00:37:04When Akarat made his way to his mother's homeland in Nahantu,
00:37:08he felt this strong otherworldly presence.
00:37:11And he would spend a lot of time with one of his apostles, Isevete,
00:37:16trying to uncover what this mystery was.
00:37:18What was this feeling when he got to the realm, or when he got to the land of Nahantu?
00:37:22Until he eventually discovers this veil.
00:37:24And that's the veil between the Spirit Realm and Sanctuary.
00:37:28And he realized that this was this untouched place from neither angels or demons.
00:37:34They had never really had any sort of influence there.
00:37:37So Akarat and his dedicant, Isevete, would spend a lot of time studying.
00:37:43And he would be the first person and living being to cross this veil.
00:37:47And then after Akarat died, his apostle would then take on the mantle
00:37:52and then found the Spiritborn traditions that we know today.
00:37:56You know, hearing about the Spiritborn, and of course,
00:37:58I'm sure this is a burning question from the community,
00:38:01but Sanctuary has a long and storied history.
00:38:05Where have the Spiritborn been throughout all of this?
00:38:08Yeah, so for anybody who knows the lore of Diablo,
00:38:13this region is no stranger to Mephisto, right?
00:38:17So if you go back to Diablo 2 and you look at the story there,
00:38:22his original soul stone was imprisoned in this place.
00:38:27And its presence corrupted the Zacharim faith, it corrupted the region,
00:38:31and the Spiritborn remember this.
00:38:34And so over the course of what's been happening in D4,
00:38:37they've decided to stay at arm's length out of fear that history might repeat itself.
00:38:44Yeah, so like I said before, this is an untouched realm. It's pure.
00:38:49This is something so sacred.
00:38:51And with Nayrel coming back with the soul stone,
00:38:54this is a huge problem for the people of Nahanti,
00:38:58but specifically the Spiritborn that are trying to protect this land.
00:39:01Yeah, and at this point, with him back, they have no choice but to rejoin the fight.
00:39:06Yeah.
00:39:07Yeah, it's incredible to hear more about the Spiritborn and where they originated from.
00:39:11And of course, thank you, Eleni, for taking us into the spirit realm in itself.
00:39:15You know, we've talked about the new class and how that was created and what they've been up to.
00:39:20Next, we're actually going to take a look at how the art and concepts were designed.
00:39:50We are now joined by my blood brother, art director Nick Cholano,
00:40:13who is here to show us how the Spiritborn visually came to be.
00:40:16Nick, thank you for joining us today.
00:40:18Thanks, Adam. I'm really excited to talk about the Spiritborn, finally.
00:40:21I know. It's been a long time coming.
00:40:23Nick, will you tell us a little bit more about how this class came to be, especially from the art side?
00:40:29Yeah, you know, first of all, that trailer, what an origin story for a Diablo class.
00:40:35You got to go into the jungle, you answer the call, you're cold.
00:40:39It's pretty rock and roll.
00:40:41And on the art side, we love that stuff.
00:40:44So I think when you go back to what Eleni and Brent were talking about,
00:40:48we really want to capture everything they just mentioned from a visual standpoint.
00:40:52So for us, it's about trying to infuse the Hantu, the spirit realm, and a martial arts feel into the class.
00:41:02Brent mentioned that kind of lightning rod moment.
00:41:05That's something that the art team really focuses on.
00:41:08When those moments happen, we really lock into that and start to do a lot of iteration.
00:41:12So concept will start casting a really wide net.
00:41:15But when that happens, we really start to bring it in and we start to really do a lot of concepts around that
00:41:21so that we can kind of get that tagline that the team needs,
00:41:24which is creating the living, breathing embodiment of the spirit realm.
00:41:29Yeah, and it's really after we get past that initial inspirational piece,
00:41:33we want to drill down into finding that iconic piece.
00:41:37And so when you look at some of the imagery that we're showing today,
00:41:41you can see how we're taking that embodiment and we're bringing it into all of the iconic look of that character.
00:41:48We wanted a class that wouldn't necessarily wear armor to protect themselves,
00:41:53but rather become the guardian that they're all about.
00:41:58And so if you're into the jaguar, you're wearing the jaguar helm.
00:42:02Your markings are the spots and patterns that you would see on that creature.
00:42:07The way that you move through the jungle would also be a big part of that package.
00:42:11And then once we have that iconic look, we can actually roll it out to the rest of the team.
00:42:16Yeah, that's really the DNA of where we start going.
00:42:20Those iconic images drive the entire art department at that point.
00:42:24And that's our North Star.
00:42:26So we can move into things like how do we get the spirit guardians on screen?
00:42:31How do they fit into the combat?
00:42:33If you think about the eagle, is the full eagle show up? Is it just feathers?
00:42:37How do we represent that? And how do we ramp that up through our visuals?
00:42:42So you can start with something a little more on a certain scale and get to this epic moment.
00:42:49We also want to explore visual iconography at the same time.
00:42:54So while we're doing all that iteration and stuff with the iconic looks and the skills,
00:42:58we're also starting to get into what is the identity of the class?
00:43:02Where do we want to put this iconography?
00:43:04And what is that visual footprint that they're going to take up on the screen?
00:43:08It's seeing all this badass concept art.
00:43:11Shout out to our concept artists on the art team.
00:43:14Our concept team is amazing.
00:43:15So, so good.
00:43:16How do you guys actually take this from concept now to actually building out the character from some of this concept art?
00:43:25Yeah, you know, once we have alignment between the design direction that we want to go,
00:43:32we understand kind of roughly mechanically and from a design perspective where we want it to be
00:43:38and where we want it from an art direction standpoint,
00:43:40we sit down with each department and we actually roll out the idea.
00:43:43We pitch them, you know, and we're like, hey, this is what we're thinking.
00:43:46And really get them to understand where we're trying to head
00:43:49so that when they go off in their crafts and make the best work that they possibly can make,
00:43:54the sum of all the parts end up with a killer class like the Spiritborn.
00:43:58Collaboration is a big thing.
00:43:59And, you know, it really starts with the character art department.
00:44:03They take these like 2D images and bring them to life in 3D.
00:44:06They will start to figure out materials, the fine details of how our armor is crafted to like big silhouette shapes.
00:44:14One of the interesting things about this class is we've started to recognize that like the helms,
00:44:19the gauntlets, the belts were really great places to like hone in on those like visual elements.
00:44:24And another nice thing is like the armor really started to kind of come into the space of being very functional and practical.
00:44:31You'll notice that like the legs are kind of open, the upper body's kind of open.
00:44:35It's because we're making a really fast agile class.
00:44:38So we want everything to kind of line up.
00:44:40And like Brent said, like they don't need to be fully armored.
00:44:43They are protected by the Spirit Guardians.
00:44:46Their offense is their defense.
00:44:48And it shows when you play it.
00:44:51Speaking of fast and agile, we move to tech art.
00:44:54Tech art really is the team that will kind of find what our limits are and kind of allow us to break them a little bit.
00:45:01So they do a lot of range of motion tests.
00:45:03They're trying to figure out how we can get really dynamic poses, really dynamic lines of actions.
00:45:10And we want to push that because this class really needs us to kind of be in the spot where we're like kind of pushing the boundaries of what we've done normally.
00:45:18Yeah, it's awesome because like you guys mentioned like super like hyper mobile class and the apex predator in the jungle itself.
00:45:25Like how do you put that towards something like animation now,
00:45:29like getting the character to move and kind of telegraphing that through that animation?
00:45:33Yeah, you know, like one of the key elements here is making sure that we have a combat archetype that's unique.
00:45:40So if you take a look at the original five classes, each one of them has a very distinct style.
00:45:45And so when we're thinking about the Spiritborn, we naturally went to martial arts.
00:45:49And what does that mean for the movement through the jungle?
00:45:52And actually, I feel like we found a really good pairing there.
00:45:55Yeah, like the animation team, like they went crazy with reference.
00:46:00Muay Thai, Taekwondo, kickboxing, boxing, karate.
00:46:04There was a stunt woman that did these amazing like reference materials that we saw.
00:46:09And the really interesting thing here is we're not trying to like just mimic a martial arts style.
00:46:14We're really trying to find the best pieces of them and seeing where they fit.
00:46:18How can we manipulate them?
00:46:20How can we rearrange them in ways that make a really unique and interesting fighting style for the Spiritborn?
00:46:26Once the animation team has that, and again, they have a wide range of options that they're looking at,
00:46:32they start to figure out like where it fits for each Guardian.
00:46:35So for example, the gorilla is blunt force, lots of strength.
00:46:41The jaguar is cleaves, multi-hit combos, aggression.
00:46:46The centipede is like open palm strikes for applying poisons and unearthing things from the ground.
00:46:51And the eagle is about really precision movements and repositioning on the battlefield.
00:46:56So like they nailed it when it came to that.
00:46:58You know, honestly, it's like the combination of all the things that we put together.
00:47:02We've been talking about it. It's like we've almost invented our own martial arts style for Diablo.
00:47:07And we've been talking about this the last few days with all the people that we've met with.
00:47:11And they actually said, hey, does it have a name?
00:47:13And currently it doesn't.
00:47:15So like for those of you at home, if you had ideas.
00:47:18Check out the Spiritborn gameplay.
00:47:21If you have names, suggestions, we're all ears.
00:47:25Exactly, we're all ears.
00:47:26Well, we've heard about concept and we've heard about character art, tech art.
00:47:31And now we just heard about animation.
00:47:33I always call it kind of like the frosting on the cake.
00:47:36And that is kind of VFX and that makes everything kind of pop a little bit.
00:47:40How does VFX actually play into something like the Spiritborn?
00:47:43Yeah, you know, at this point, VFX is really an amazing bridge between gameplay and the visuals of the game.
00:47:49And they had a really important lift, which was to try to figure out how we represent the spirit realm
00:47:56and these elemental spirit guardians together.
00:47:59What is that fantasy and what is that story we're telling?
00:48:01So Eleni mentioned earlier that there's this veil, right?
00:48:04So we needed to understand how do you get the jaguar, for example, to come through this veil,
00:48:10show up in sanctuary and exit through the veil?
00:48:13So visually, we're looking at like, what is the spirit realm?
00:48:16So we have this kind of bluish white mist.
00:48:18They come in through the veil.
00:48:21That bluish white mist kind of like trails off of them.
00:48:25They become physical.
00:48:26The jaguar is now engulfed in flames, this spirit guardian.
00:48:31It kills everything on the screen that's around it.
00:48:34And then it exits through that veil and kind of like transitions into that blue-white mist again.
00:48:39That's a fantastic story for us to tell.
00:48:41And it also allows us to start to understand what are our pieces with the VFX
00:48:45and how to then ramp up our basic skills to maybe lean a little more into the elemental side.
00:48:49Our core skills, we start to kind of blend the two together.
00:48:53Maybe it's like the gorilla fish show up and they look like that spirit element.
00:48:56And then you go into the ultimates where it's just like our spectacle is ramped up.
00:49:02And to be honest with you, when it all comes together,
00:49:06there is a feel to this class that is really awesome.
00:49:10Kind of like inherently martial arts has a rhythm and a cadence to it.
00:49:13This class has that.
00:49:14It's fantastic to look at.
00:49:16You feel it when you play it.
00:49:17And the art team, they killed it.
00:49:19They did a fantastic job.
00:49:20Yeah, I got to give another shout out to the Diablo IV art team.
00:49:24Absolutely killed it.
00:49:25The Spiritborn is fantastic.
00:49:27It's great to look at, great to play.
00:49:29But Nick, thank you so much for walking us through the creation of the Spiritborn.
00:49:34Reminder for everyone watching from home,
00:49:37we'll actually be holding a Q&A at the end of today's Spiritborn Showcase,
00:49:41similar to how we always do with all our live streams.
00:49:43You can drop your questions in the Diablo Twitch chat
00:49:46and we will try to get to as many of them as possible towards the end of the show.
00:50:04We've heard the lore.
00:50:22We've seen the art.
00:50:23Now let's get ready to talk about some gameplay.
00:50:25I know a lot of people are excited to hear more about how this class actually plays.
00:50:30So next up, we have Bjorn Mikkelsen, Class Designer,
00:50:33on stage to talk about the gameplay for the Spiritborn.
00:50:36Bjorn is actually here to tell us more about the Spiritborn's overall class kit and design.
00:50:41And later on, we'll get into some itemization,
00:50:43which I know every fan wants to hear about because itemization is, of course, incredible,
00:50:48especially within Diablo.
00:50:50Bjorn, welcome.
00:50:52Thanks for having me.
00:50:53I know Bjorn will be a fan favorite here because he's going to walk us through
00:50:57all the skills and the gameplay for how it works.
00:51:00So Bjorn, can you kick us off and tell us a little bit about this new class?
00:51:05Absolutely.
00:51:06So yeah, just like high level, what is this class?
00:51:09Excellent question.
00:51:11So basically what Spiritborn are,
00:51:13they are these jungle warriors who are empowered by the spirits.
00:51:16They're sort of this dexterity-focused class and sort of masters of martial arts
00:51:21and hand-to-hand combat.
00:51:23And so what they do is ultimately all of their actions and their movements,
00:51:27they sort of resonate with the spirits to form sort of these unique combat styles as they're fighting.
00:51:32They sort of mix and match them to hit whatever sort of build they need.
00:51:36Awesome.
00:51:37So like if you are a current Diablo player right now,
00:51:39or like let's say I'm a current Diablo player, which I am,
00:51:42I play a lot of Rogue or Barb.
00:51:45Like where would you kind of place the speed and aggression of the Spiritborn?
00:51:50Yeah, I would say Spiritborn is definitely probably our fastest, most aggressive class.
00:51:56It's got multiple gap closers built into its basic attacks.
00:51:59It's got several movement skills, very high damage on those,
00:52:03as well as several ways to upgrade its evade skill as well.
00:52:07It's all about kind of like getting on a target, sticking to it, and killing it.
00:52:11Awesome.
00:52:12I know we had footage earlier of like, you know,
00:52:15within the trailer of players actually being able, and we talked about this earlier,
00:52:19players being able to actually summon in these spirit guardians.
00:52:22So can you like just summon a giant jaguar into battle or anything like that?
00:52:27Yeah, absolutely.
00:52:28Yeah, kind of in addition to being these master martial artists,
00:52:31because they're empowered by these spirits, you'll see parts of the spirits,
00:52:34but then ultimately with the ultimates,
00:52:36the spirits themselves will show up on the battlefield,
00:52:39and they'll empower you and deal damage.
00:52:41And it's really the core of the fantasy, right?
00:52:43Like if we talk about power fantasies,
00:52:45summoning the god into battle is the power fantasy for this class.
00:52:50One of the things that I really liked about that
00:52:52is that we were getting a bunch of feedback early on
00:52:54about making ultimates more meaningful,
00:52:57and we were actually able to do that with this class ground up.
00:53:01Awesome.
00:53:02I know people are probably dying to know like,
00:53:04okay, let's jump into some spirit guardians.
00:53:07So I think this is a great opportunity.
00:53:09Maybe we should start off with like the jaguar being the first one.
00:53:12Bjorn, do you want to take us through the jaguar itself?
00:53:14Sure. Yeah, starting off, jaguar is a great one.
00:53:17Jaguar is, as we've kind of touched on before,
00:53:20it is sort of this manifestation of just like the hunter.
00:53:23It's exhilaration, it's violence, it's aggression.
00:53:27It's attacking repeatedly, kind of just constant pressure as it's going.
00:53:32It's got these ramping mechanics to it.
00:53:34It's got lots of kill streaks.
00:53:36Mechanically speaking, the way we've kind of translated this,
00:53:39its primary focus is attack speed,
00:53:42and it chases that through a new keyword
00:53:44and mechanic that we call ferocity.
00:53:46This is a stacking buff that it can generate,
00:53:48usually via jaguar skills,
00:53:50that will increase the attack speed of all of its skills,
00:53:53but it will also enhance other jaguar skills
00:53:55so you can use them more often, reduce their cooldowns,
00:53:57that sort of thing.
00:54:00Moving on to an example, I guess, of a jaguar skill.
00:54:03First off, here's one we have ravager.
00:54:06This is a new type of skill we're adding to the game
00:54:08called incarnate skills.
00:54:09They all have a passive and active effect.
00:54:11This one allows you to maintain your ferocity
00:54:13at just a minimum level, so you're all just a little bit fast.
00:54:16But then when you activate it, you kind of go full jaguar mode.
00:54:20It gives you additional attacks,
00:54:23kind of like whenever you hit something, it does an extra strike.
00:54:26So it can even turn skills that deal a little bit less damage,
00:54:30they can now deal extra damage just whenever you hit something.
00:54:33Moving on to another skill, we have rushing claw.
00:54:36This one is the jaguar's kind of primary mobility skill.
00:54:40It will dash you through a target and slash everything along the way.
00:54:43And the key to this one is you can kind of use it
00:54:45over and over and over again, like multi-strike your enemies.
00:54:49And then finally, of course, we have the ultimate, the hunter.
00:54:52This will actually manifest the jaguar onto the battlefield.
00:54:55You'll leap through the air. It's also a movement skill.
00:54:58And when you land, the jaguar will destroy everything.
00:55:01And it also has upgrades to kind of help chase the killstreak vibe.
00:55:05There's a chance to reset the cooldown
00:55:07after you kill something with it.
00:55:09Yeah, so if you look at all of these things as a package,
00:55:13you start to see almost a combat archetype
00:55:15built into each guardian themselves.
00:55:17And that was actually something that was really important to us.
00:55:20So if you were speccing into the jaguar,
00:55:23it's important to those types of players
00:55:25who do want to keep the attack speed up,
00:55:27that do want to keep their killstreaks going.
00:55:29And you're going to see this as like a through line
00:55:31that each particular guardian will have their own thing.
00:55:34Yeah, I'm a huge fan of, you know,
00:55:37the fast, frantic gameplay.
00:55:39And I will say I have a little bit of bias
00:55:41towards the jaguar for sure.
00:55:42But I know we want to go on to the other guardians for sure.
00:55:46And for all our tanky friends out there,
00:55:50Bjorn, do you want to walk us through the gorilla?
00:55:52Absolutely. Yeah, moving on to the gorilla.
00:55:54The gorilla, core concept behind protection and defense.
00:55:58But it's not just like passive defense.
00:56:00This is a very active defensive play style
00:56:03where you're shrugging off the damage,
00:56:05but you're also returning it to your attacker.
00:56:07So it's really got this kind of core of like retribution
00:56:10also sort of built into it.
00:56:12Its core mechanic and stat that we work with
00:56:15is damage reduction.
00:56:16It chases us in two ways.
00:56:18One is through using block,
00:56:19sort of actively blocking damage,
00:56:21as well as a second new keyword and mechanic called resolve.
00:56:25This is also a stacking buff,
00:56:26but this one falls off whenever you get hit.
00:56:28So it's really important to keep stacking it
00:56:31and kind of keep stealing yourself
00:56:32and building resolve back up.
00:56:33But as long as you have any stacks of it,
00:56:35you get the full damage reduction bonus.
00:56:38So moving on to just a couple of examples
00:56:40for gorilla skills.
00:56:41Starting off, we have crushing hand.
00:56:43This is their core spender skill.
00:56:45Kind of just does what it says.
00:56:46Will smash your enemies to pieces.
00:56:48Kind of neat thing about it
00:56:49is it's actually two separate attacks
00:56:51that kind of overlap in the middle.
00:56:53So you can sort of prioritize a single target
00:56:55and deal double damage to it.
00:56:57Another attacking skill that we have,
00:56:59this one's payback.
00:57:00This one really leans hard
00:57:01into the sort of aspect of retribution
00:57:03that we have going on.
00:57:05This one will deal a large amount of damage
00:57:07and that damage will ramp up
00:57:08the more something has hit you.
00:57:09So it's really good for just like ending a fight
00:57:11if you need to.
00:57:12But also like as things are hitting you,
00:57:14that will reduce its cooldown.
00:57:16So kind of you have this flow
00:57:17of like being able to sort of like end fights,
00:57:19but also kind of keep hitting as you go.
00:57:21And then finally, again,
00:57:23we have the ultimate skill
00:57:25bringing in the gorilla itself.
00:57:27The skill's called the protector.
00:57:29It creates a large protected area
00:57:31on the battlefield
00:57:32that will grant you barrier
00:57:33while you're inside of it
00:57:34as well as several other defensive bonuses
00:57:36that you can spec into with it.
00:57:37And the girl will just smash any enemies
00:57:39that try to come and harm you
00:57:40while you're in it.
00:57:41Yeah, if you like that bruiser archetype,
00:57:45like this is the build for you.
00:57:47It is definitely about that give and take of damage.
00:57:49I mean, you had said it earlier,
00:57:50anyone who's been looking for a tank
00:57:52or a tank-like build in Diablo,
00:57:55this is the one that you're going to want
00:57:56to spec into as a part of your kit.
00:57:58Yeah, it sounds like a really unique way
00:58:00of being able to,
00:58:01especially for tank players,
00:58:03to bring damage to enemies
00:58:04and stuff like that,
00:58:05which is so awesome.
00:58:06So next onto our third guardian.
00:58:09Of course, we have the eagle.
00:58:11Bjorn, do you want to take us through the eagle?
00:58:14Yeah, so the eagle.
00:58:16Kind of soaring above it all,
00:58:18we've got this guardian
00:58:20that represents precision and accuracy
00:58:22and kind of finesse.
00:58:24Its ability, its freedom of movement.
00:58:26Like a lot of the movement
00:58:27that the class has
00:58:28is very aggressive,
00:58:29very in-your-face,
00:58:30and the eagle really is able
00:58:32to kind of take that to another level
00:58:33and kind of go wherever it wants.
00:58:36In addition to that,
00:58:37it can also sort of extend its attacks
00:58:39to sort of pseudo-range play styles.
00:58:42It allows it to really prioritize a target
00:58:44and sort of hit from anywhere.
00:58:46So its core stat that it cares about
00:58:49is movement speed.
00:58:50That allows it, like I said,
00:58:51able to kind of go anywhere it wants
00:58:53and sort of tactically reposition
00:58:54on the battlefield.
00:58:56And it also has several ways
00:58:57to sort of amplify its evade skill,
00:58:59you know, adding damage,
00:59:00that sort of thing to it.
00:59:02So moving into just a couple examples,
00:59:04we of course have to start off with Soar.
00:59:06This is sort of Spiritborne's
00:59:07premier mobility skill.
00:59:10Takes you up into the air,
00:59:11out of the battle for a second.
00:59:12Able to dodge mechanics with that
00:59:13if you need to.
00:59:15But also, because the eagle is all about
00:59:17kind of those big impacts as well,
00:59:19it will create a target area
00:59:20where you're going to come down
00:59:21and make those enemies vulnerable
00:59:23so that it just amplifies the damage
00:59:24when you land.
00:59:26Moving on to another example,
00:59:28we have Razor Wings.
00:59:30This is a damaging skill for the eagle.
00:59:33This one has kind of this
00:59:34cool back and forth
00:59:35where it sends it out,
00:59:36allows you to hit something at range,
00:59:37but because it also returns to you,
00:59:39it sort of rewards you
00:59:40for the tactical positioning
00:59:41on the battlefield
00:59:42so you can sort of line it up
00:59:43so it'll hit different things
00:59:44as it comes back.
00:59:46And then of course, our ultimate skill,
00:59:48the Seeker,
00:59:49bringing in the eagle itself
00:59:50to just annihilate your enemies with damage.
00:59:52You can cast it anywhere on the battlefield.
00:59:54It charges up and then blasts off.
00:59:56The blast can be upgraded
00:59:58to be a guaranteed critical strike,
00:59:59and while it's on the battlefield,
01:00:00it will also make everything
01:00:01vulnerable for you.
01:00:03This is also like one of the first
01:00:04ultimates that we have
01:00:05which will have multiple charges,
01:00:07so you can kind of use it back to back
01:00:08or like prioritize a target with it,
01:00:10and there's like a lot of
01:00:11player agency with that.
01:00:13Yeah, this is really
01:00:14for that tactical player, you know,
01:00:16where positioning is super important.
01:00:19You don't necessarily want to be
01:00:20constantly in the fray,
01:00:21so you still want to output that damage.
01:00:24Maybe you want to put it
01:00:25in a particular place in the encounter,
01:00:28but you can do it by going in
01:00:29and then you can get right back out.
01:00:31So for those players who really like
01:00:32that tactical positioning,
01:00:33that's what the eagle is for.
01:00:34Yeah, it seems like the eagle
01:00:35gives you that extra freedom
01:00:37in mobility so you can
01:00:39kind of move in and out,
01:00:40especially with things like Soar,
01:00:42which is sick to see for sure.
01:00:44It's one of my favorites.
01:00:45So unique for Diablo IV
01:00:46for sure on that end.
01:00:48Last but not least, of course,
01:00:50this is probably our most
01:00:51unique spirit guardian,
01:00:53and probably one that I'm sure
01:00:54a lot of people are looking at
01:00:55and going like,
01:00:56oh, this has got to be crazy,
01:00:57and that is the centipede.
01:00:59So Bjorn, how's the centipede play out?
01:01:02Yeah, so moving to the centipede.
01:01:04The centipede's very unique.
01:01:06It represents this sort of abstract
01:01:08concept of the cycle of life and death,
01:01:10and the way we've kind of chosen
01:01:11to interpret that is that it's
01:01:13sort of this epicenter of attrition,
01:01:15but it's also like really about
01:01:17just kind of like this endless
01:01:20or inescapable sort of persistence,
01:01:23and that's like really bad for your enemies,
01:01:25but kind of really good for you.
01:01:27So it's core mechanics that it works with
01:01:30with that persistence is damage over time,
01:01:32poisoning, crowd controls,
01:01:34that sort of thing,
01:01:35but then it uses those things
01:01:36to sort of empower and sustain itself,
01:01:38so also like leeching life
01:01:39and that sort of thing back to you,
01:01:40sort of draining your enemies
01:01:42as you kill them.
01:01:44So moving on to just a quick example,
01:01:46Stinger is our core skill for the centipede.
01:01:50This one does a large amount of damage
01:01:52in a small area in front of you,
01:01:54but the sort of interesting thing about it
01:01:56is that that damage will also echo out
01:01:58to any nearby poisoned enemies,
01:02:00so it kind of has this adaptive,
01:02:02dynamic range that it has,
01:02:05sort of depending on how much
01:02:06you've been spreading your poisons
01:02:07around the field,
01:02:08so it can basically hit the whole screen
01:02:10if you really want to.
01:02:13Another skill example that we have
01:02:14would be Scourge.
01:02:16Scourge kind of takes that
01:02:17sort of oppressive control
01:02:19that the centipede has,
01:02:21and it will fear,
01:02:22and it will slow and poison enemies
01:02:24and sort of disrupt any kind of strategies
01:02:26they might have going on
01:02:27and just sort of allow you
01:02:28to turn the tables on them.
01:02:30And then finally,
01:02:31we have the ultimate skill,
01:02:32bringing in the centipede itself
01:02:34onto the battlefield.
01:02:35This is the Devourer.
01:02:37Poison laser beams,
01:02:38globs of poison everywhere,
01:02:40just the centipede kind of
01:02:42wrecking the entire battlefield
01:02:43and it's got upgrades
01:02:44which will also allow it
01:02:45to instantly execute enemies
01:02:47who have been fully poisoned,
01:02:48sort of helping the cycle
01:02:50of life and death
01:02:51to speed up a little bit there.
01:02:53Yeah, this is clearly
01:02:54our most Diablo guardian that we have.
01:02:57It's becoming a fan favorite
01:02:59very quickly.
01:03:00People who have gotten
01:03:01a hands-on with it
01:03:02have a lot to say about it.
01:03:04But the cool thing about this one
01:03:06is we took on a really unique
01:03:07design challenge.
01:03:08Like, how do you take a concept
01:03:10of damage over time,
01:03:12dealing damage,
01:03:13regenerating life,
01:03:15and make that kind of
01:03:16the core of an entire archetype?
01:03:19I thought you guys
01:03:20did a fantastic job
01:03:21at getting it there.
01:03:22For those Type A players
01:03:23who really want to manipulate
01:03:25the field and keep that damage up
01:03:27and keep that resilience going,
01:03:28this is definitely
01:03:29that class for you.
01:03:30Yeah, I have to call out,
01:03:32it's so crazy seeing
01:03:33a giant centipede
01:03:34behind me right now.
01:03:35But I know a lot of players
01:03:37at home are probably
01:03:38looking at each of these
01:03:39four spirit guardians
01:03:40and they're going like,
01:03:41okay, this is probably
01:03:42the one I'm going to go with,
01:03:44just seeing some of the gameplay
01:03:45and some of the play styles.
01:03:46But I think one big question
01:03:48that probably a lot of people have
01:03:49is are you kind of forced
01:03:51to go down one of these?
01:03:52Or can you actually do
01:03:53some mix and match?
01:03:54Or how does that work?
01:03:55You know, freedom of choice
01:03:56is really important
01:03:57for this class.
01:03:58So if you want to go
01:03:59all in on one of them,
01:04:00go for it.
01:04:01Like, there's no problem
01:04:02doing that.
01:04:03There's benefits
01:04:04that you can see from it.
01:04:05But there's also benefits
01:04:06for mixing and matching.
01:04:08Like, we wanted adaptability
01:04:10and hybridization
01:04:11to be at the core
01:04:13of this class.
01:04:14So it's been a goal
01:04:15from the very beginning
01:04:16to actually get that there.
01:04:17So when you get hands-on
01:04:19with this, like,
01:04:20you're going to want
01:04:21to experiment.
01:04:22We want you to experiment.
01:04:23We know that there's going
01:04:25to be many builds
01:04:26that are very emergent.
01:04:27And I actually can't wait
01:04:29to see some of the cool stuff
01:04:30that people come up with
01:04:31once this goes live.
01:04:32Yeah, exactly.
01:04:33Like, at its heart,
01:04:34Spiritborne is really
01:04:35all about, like,
01:04:36personalization,
01:04:37sort of expressing yourself.
01:04:39And so, like,
01:04:40whichever spirit
01:04:41sort of resonates with you,
01:04:42we really want to allow you
01:04:44to mix and match them
01:04:45kind of to your heart's content.
01:04:47And sort of make
01:04:48that play style choice,
01:04:50like, fully customizable.
01:04:52And the primary way
01:04:53that we're doing that,
01:04:54or the main way
01:04:55that we're doing that,
01:04:56is the Spiritborne's
01:04:57class mechanic
01:04:58called Spirit Hall.
01:04:59The way the Spirit Hall works
01:05:00is you start your journey off
01:05:02by choosing one of four bonuses
01:05:04at the top,
01:05:05the primary bonus.
01:05:06This is a, like,
01:05:07massive bonus that will add
01:05:08sort of a thematic effect
01:05:10to all of your skills
01:05:12of that type.
01:05:13So, like,
01:05:14an effect like the jaguar
01:05:15will add extra strikes
01:05:16and that sort of thing
01:05:17to all your jaguar skills.
01:05:19But a subtle,
01:05:20but very important
01:05:21extra piece of this
01:05:22is that it will also add
01:05:23that spirit's tag
01:05:24to your entire skill kit.
01:05:26So every single part
01:05:27of your skill kit
01:05:28now has the jaguar skill.
01:05:29And so even if you want to use,
01:05:30like, centipede skills,
01:05:31you can still sort of
01:05:32hook into various parts
01:05:33of the jaguar
01:05:34using this bonus.
01:05:37Then later on in your journey,
01:05:38you will unlock
01:05:39a second bonus.
01:05:41This is a set of four
01:05:42distinct bonuses
01:05:43from the first.
01:05:44Each of these kind of
01:05:45has a tie-in
01:05:46with the sort of
01:05:47core mechanics
01:05:48of each of the spirits.
01:05:49So we mentioned before
01:05:50sort of the new keywords
01:05:51that we are introducing,
01:05:52like, the jaguar has ferocity,
01:05:54the gorilla has resolve,
01:05:55those sorts of things.
01:05:56These give you an opportunity
01:05:57to sort of mix those
01:05:58into your kit
01:05:59regardless of, like,
01:06:00if you are using
01:06:01those specific skills or not,
01:06:02and sort of, like,
01:06:03add that extra layer
01:06:04on top of your build.
01:06:06And when you are
01:06:07choosing these spirits,
01:06:08these can absolutely
01:06:09be the same.
01:06:10You can pick gorilla and gorilla,
01:06:11jaguar and jaguar,
01:06:12or you can mix and mash them.
01:06:13And it is really important
01:06:14that, like,
01:06:15they all kind of
01:06:16flow and work together.
01:06:17So if you look at
01:06:18the nesting doll effect
01:06:19that we have
01:06:20of your skill tree,
01:06:22your class mechanic,
01:06:24this can get complicated
01:06:25very quickly.
01:06:26And so one of the things
01:06:28that the team took on
01:06:29was this idea of finding
01:06:31what resonates most
01:06:33with each guardian
01:06:35and how do we create
01:06:36some level of overlap
01:06:38so that we can have
01:06:39some synergies
01:06:40between all of them.
01:06:42Yeah, exactly.
01:06:43As we hit, like,
01:06:44each of these has, like,
01:06:45very clear themes, right?
01:06:47You have got the jaguar
01:06:48with its attack speed.
01:06:49You have got the gorilla
01:06:50with its protection.
01:06:51You can definitely build
01:06:52into those.
01:06:53But it was important for us
01:06:54to sort of establish
01:06:55that these spirits,
01:06:56they do not exist, like,
01:06:57in isolation from each other.
01:06:58They have overlap.
01:06:59They have things
01:07:00that they both care about.
01:07:01And that allows us
01:07:02to sort of create
01:07:03these very hybrid-esque builds
01:07:04that work together.
01:07:05You know, just like
01:07:06an example, right?
01:07:07You have got, like,
01:07:08the jaguar is a hunter.
01:07:09It is all about aggression
01:07:10and kind of chaos.
01:07:11And that is a thing.
01:07:12It loves that.
01:07:13But as a hunter,
01:07:14you are also sort of providing.
01:07:15You are also sustaining yourself,
01:07:16which is a thing
01:07:17that the centipede
01:07:18also loves to do.
01:07:19And so they both
01:07:20care about healing
01:07:21and they both have, like,
01:07:22different hooks
01:07:23that they can do for that.
01:07:24And so you can really, like,
01:07:25if you are looking
01:07:26to get more healing
01:07:27into your build,
01:07:28you can add some centipede,
01:07:29you can add some jaguar,
01:07:30mix them together,
01:07:31you can make an entire build
01:07:32about healing
01:07:33and also just, like,
01:07:34they are overlapping stats
01:07:35that allow them
01:07:36to sort of communicate
01:07:37with each other.
01:07:38So just a couple examples.
01:07:39We have, for instance,
01:07:40if you want to build,
01:07:41like, the gorilla.
01:07:42Gorilla is a lot of protection.
01:07:43Jaguar is a lot of sort of
01:07:44chaotic, constant damage.
01:07:45So when you mix
01:07:46those two together,
01:07:47you get this sort of, like,
01:07:48semi-tanky brawler
01:07:49who can just kind of go
01:07:50toe-to-toe with anything.
01:07:51And they sort of, like,
01:07:52dip into this,
01:07:53the stat of dodge
01:07:54because dodge
01:07:55is a little bit inherently
01:07:56a slightly more RNG,
01:07:57a little bit more chaotic
01:07:58kind of jaguar.
01:07:59But it also kind of
01:08:00has a little bit more
01:08:01damage mitigation.
01:08:02And so you kind of
01:08:03combine them together
01:08:04and you have this very,
01:08:05like, retribution
01:08:06but also fast-paced
01:08:07play style.
01:08:08Another example
01:08:09would be potentially
01:08:10if we think about,
01:08:11like, the centipede
01:08:12and the eagle.
01:08:13The centipede's all about
01:08:14sort of debilitating
01:08:15your enemies
01:08:16and, like,
01:08:17making them weaker.
01:08:18And the eagle's all about,
01:08:19like, kind of finding
01:08:20those weak points
01:08:21and, like, getting these
01:08:22high damage, you know,
01:08:23bursts off.
01:08:24So when you add
01:08:25those two together,
01:08:26they both care about
01:08:27vulnerable and sort of,
01:08:28like, turning the tables
01:08:29on all of your enemies.
01:08:30And so adding that
01:08:31together kind of creates
01:08:32this character that's
01:08:33sort of just able to,
01:08:34like, prioritize a target,
01:08:35weaken it, and then
01:08:36just, like, cull it
01:08:37from the battlefield.
01:08:38Yeah, it's...
01:08:39I'm so glad Bjorn
01:08:40brought all these,
01:08:41like, really good examples
01:08:42for us.
01:08:43He's got a lot of footage
01:08:44for us to go through.
01:08:45It's awesome to see
01:08:46all these skills
01:08:47and how they work
01:08:48with the actual
01:08:49spirit guardians.
01:08:50And of course,
01:08:51the big popular topic
01:08:52that comes with
01:08:53every single class
01:08:54is itemization.
01:08:55And I know we have
01:08:56a lot to talk about
01:08:57with legendary aspects
01:08:58and some uniques as well.
01:08:59So Bjorn, Brent, Mike,
01:09:00how does itemization
01:09:01work with Spiritborne?
01:09:02Yeah, we all know
01:09:03that itemization
01:09:04is the heart of the game,
01:09:05right?
01:09:06And as we've been
01:09:07moving through
01:09:08our itemization journey
01:09:09with this game,
01:09:10we've had a really
01:09:11great opportunity
01:09:12to fold in
01:09:13all the feedback
01:09:14and how that applies
01:09:15to the Spiritborne
01:09:16as we've been developing.
01:09:17And one of the cool
01:09:18things that we did
01:09:19was took the opportunity
01:09:20to actually lean into
01:09:21the things that you get
01:09:22from items and see
01:09:23how they build
01:09:24into the Spiritborne
01:09:25as we've been developing.
01:09:26And one of the cool
01:09:27things that we did
01:09:28was take a look
01:09:29at how items build
01:09:30into the Spirit's
01:09:31abilities themselves.
01:09:32So we're going to show
01:09:33a few examples of that.
01:09:34Now, this is just
01:09:35the tip of the iceberg.
01:09:36There's a lot of
01:09:37really cool stuff coming,
01:09:38but we thought we'd do
01:09:39a really quick breakdown
01:09:40and show you
01:09:41what that looks like.
01:09:42Yeah.
01:09:43So just hitting
01:09:44a couple examples,
01:09:45we have added this
01:09:46large suite of
01:09:47Spiritborne legendaries
01:09:48and uniques to the game.
01:09:49But just to break down
01:09:50some of our thoughts
01:09:51as we were working
01:09:52with them,
01:09:53sort of the types
01:09:54of legendaries
01:09:55you can expect to see.
01:09:56One example,
01:09:57we have our
01:09:58power augmenting things.
01:09:59There's a lot of
01:10:00different stats in our game
01:10:01and sort of making
01:10:02them work together.
01:10:03Not just work together,
01:10:04but be cool together.
01:10:05So we kind of have
01:10:06this category of items
01:10:07that will sort of
01:10:08interweave a couple
01:10:09of different stats.
01:10:10Secondly, we have
01:10:11our power augmentation
01:10:12legendaries.
01:10:13These just kind of let
01:10:14you take your favorite
01:10:15skill and ascend it
01:10:16to its final form
01:10:17and just kind of
01:10:18go crazy with it.
01:10:19And then thirdly,
01:10:20we have subpowers.
01:10:21These are sort of
01:10:22things like,
01:10:23we think of them
01:10:24like rogue grenades,
01:10:25barbarian dust devils.
01:10:26These are like skills,
01:10:27but they don't exist
01:10:28in your skill tree
01:10:29as things you can
01:10:30put on your bar.
01:10:31And then finally,
01:10:32we have our unique items,
01:10:33which are there
01:10:34to enable you
01:10:35to sort of make
01:10:36the craziest builds
01:10:37you can think of.
01:10:38So moving on
01:10:39to a couple examples,
01:10:40just kind of one
01:10:41for each real quick.
01:10:42We have tormentors.
01:10:43This is an example
01:10:44of a hybridization legendary.
01:10:45This one interweaves
01:10:46poisoning and thorns
01:10:47together kind of
01:10:48in an interesting way
01:10:49that will allow you
01:10:50to apply your thorns
01:10:51in a different way
01:10:52than just like having
01:10:53something hit you
01:10:54all the time.
01:10:55It's great.
01:10:56You can probably
01:10:57see the connection.
01:10:58Gorillas, centipedes,
01:10:59they'll love this
01:11:00sort of thing.
01:11:01Moving on to an example
01:11:02of a power augmentation.
01:11:03We have bristling vengeance.
01:11:04This takes the payback
01:11:05seal that we kind of
01:11:06hit on before.
01:11:07Usually it's like
01:11:08a smaller AOE
01:11:09like right in front
01:11:10of you that just
01:11:11hits one enemy,
01:11:12but this one really
01:11:13allows it to sort of
01:11:14like extend its range,
01:11:15hit multiple enemies,
01:11:16as well as apply
01:11:17your thorns
01:11:18over an area.
01:11:19And then thirdly,
01:11:20we have an example
01:11:21of one of our subpowers.
01:11:22This one's called
01:11:23a pestilence swarm.
01:11:24The cool thing
01:11:25that we're kind of
01:11:26trying it out with
01:11:27each of our subpowers
01:11:28is there are multiple
01:11:29legendaries for them
01:11:30and they sort of
01:11:31allow you to customize
01:11:32how they work.
01:11:33So there's like one
01:11:34that'll let your pestilence
01:11:35swarm like poison enemies,
01:11:36one that'll make it spiral,
01:11:37one that'll even
01:11:38make it orbit.
01:11:39You can sort of
01:11:40like combine those.
01:11:41Like you can have it
01:11:42orbit and spiral
01:11:43or poison.
01:11:44You can just have it
01:11:45shoot off kind of
01:11:46whatever works
01:11:47for your build.
01:11:48We really want people
01:11:49to be able to experiment
01:11:50and play with those subpowers.
01:11:51And then just a couple
01:11:52of teasers,
01:11:53these are some
01:11:54unique boots
01:11:55that basically allow
01:11:56you to override
01:11:57your evade skill
01:11:58with Soar.
01:11:59Just get the ultimate
01:12:00amount of mobility
01:12:01you can think of.
01:12:02The neat thing about
01:12:03that is also that
01:12:04it allows you
01:12:05potentially like to
01:12:06take Soar off your bar.
01:12:07You can't let it go,
01:12:08but you at least
01:12:09kind of get to keep it
01:12:10with you in that
01:12:11evade slot.
01:12:12And then another example
01:12:13would be our
01:12:14unique quarterstaff,
01:12:15which is one of the
01:12:16two weapons we're
01:12:17adding with the
01:12:18Spiritborn.
01:12:19This one sort of
01:12:20allows you to ramp up
01:12:21your basic attacks.
01:12:22Spiritborn's basic
01:12:23attacks are a little
01:12:24bit special.
01:12:25They're kind of
01:12:26really cool.
01:12:27They're these
01:12:28three-hit combos,
01:12:29and each third hit
01:12:30does like a special
01:12:31thing.
01:12:32And this specific
01:12:33unique basically lets
01:12:34you get that third
01:12:35attack all the time.
01:12:36So then we have to
01:12:37take their third
01:12:38attack and make it
01:12:39a triple version
01:12:40that almost turns
01:12:41them into a different
01:12:42skill entirely.
01:12:43Yeah, this is awesome
01:12:44seeing all the,
01:12:45a couple of examples
01:12:46of uniques.
01:12:47As Brent mentioned,
01:12:48this is just kind of
01:12:49like the tip of the
01:12:50iceberg.
01:12:51Absolutely amazing.
01:12:52But I want to give a
01:12:53huge thanks to Bjorn
01:12:54for walking us
01:12:55through all the
01:12:56skills especially
01:12:57associated with the
01:12:58Spirit Guardians.
01:12:59And of course,
01:13:00the itemization across
01:13:01the whole entire class.
01:13:02We will actually have
01:13:03an extensive look for
01:13:04the entire community
01:13:05after the show on
01:13:06our blog.
01:13:07It will provide a
01:13:08great amount of
01:13:09detailed mention here
01:13:10immediately following
01:13:11the stream.
01:13:12So you can check it
01:13:13out and do a deeper
01:13:14dive with the
01:13:15Spiritborn yourself.
01:13:16Now we're going to
01:13:17bring back everyone
01:13:18to get into our Q&A
01:13:19for all things
01:13:20Spirit Guardians.
01:13:51Hi.
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01:14:33Hi.
01:14:34Hi.
01:14:35Hi.
01:14:36Now we're ready for
01:14:37our community Q&A
01:14:38where we'll answer
01:14:39your burning questions
01:14:40for all things
01:14:41Spiritborn.
01:14:42If you have questions,
01:14:43again,
01:14:44please drop them
01:14:45in Twitch chat
01:14:46and we'll try to
01:14:47get through as many
01:14:48always ask, and I know we've probably seen it a million times in chat already, is like,
01:14:52hey, we have the Spiritborn, this is a brand new class, why not something like a class
01:14:58from a prior game, like a Paladin or something?
01:15:00Yeah, right out of the gate, right?
01:15:02Right out of the gate.
01:15:04You know, when we started off, one of the key things that were really important to us
01:15:08was to make sure that the class came from the place that we were going.
01:15:14We also knew that, you know, we did a really good job at revisiting classic archetypes
01:15:19like the Barbarian and the Necro, and so we were in this position where doing something
01:15:25new was a great opportunity.
01:15:28It was something that allowed us to inject some fresh gameplay in, and going after the
01:15:35Spiritborn was a wider palette to play with.
01:15:39And so, making sure that we were building something from the ground up, from Nahantu,
01:15:44was really the driving factor of this, and we're very proud of where we landed at today.
01:15:50Awesome.
01:15:51Another question, this is everyone, this is the first time you guys are explaining it,
01:15:55this is everyone's favorite moment where I butcher Twitch names like no other.
01:15:59But Arkfenix asks, wait, the lore, like, where have the Spiritborn been in D3, D2, why are
01:16:07they not fighting Mephisto themselves?
01:16:09Yeah, I mean, we talked about it before, like, this is a religion that has been building
01:16:17up over time, they're a little more secluded, and really one of the things that we looked
01:16:24at is, like, the early exploration of Akrat, right?
01:16:28Yeah.
01:16:29Like, there wasn't much development that was going in, so that was, like, a new frontier
01:16:32for us to work with.
01:16:34Yeah, and in general, the Spiritborn, which you'll notice when you do play the game, they
01:16:39are very scattered throughout Nahantu, it's not like they have this massive presence where
01:16:43you walk in and you're like, there they are, you know?
01:16:46It's like, a little different than that, they're hidden, they're in the jungle, and they don't
01:16:51necessarily want to be seen.
01:16:53And this has sort of been the idea this entire time, it takes a lot of devotion to be a Spiritborn,
01:16:59this isn't something that you can hop in and out of.
01:17:02So when we talk about being a Spiritborn, these are people who have devoted their entire
01:17:07lives to be doing this one thing, and that's what they're doing in Nahantu, they're not
01:17:12exploring really.
01:17:14I know we've actually gotten a few questions about this specifically, and this is a pretty
01:17:18good question for Bjorn and Nick, because a lot of people have noticed, like, hey, quarter
01:17:22staff and new weapons, like, what are the new weapon types for Spiritborn specifically?
01:17:27Sure.
01:17:28Yeah, Spiritborn's bringing two new weapons with it.
01:17:31So first off, we have the Glaive, kind of its premier weapon that you see in all the
01:17:34key art.
01:17:35That's really the weapon for, like, a hunter.
01:17:37It's great for, like, taking down priority enemies, it's got built-in elite damage, that
01:17:41sort of thing.
01:17:42And then the second weapon we're adding is the quarter staff.
01:17:44This is a faster weapon that they can use to even sort of, like, add, like, block chance
01:17:49and that sort of thing to it.
01:17:50So it's almost like a little bit of a pseudo-defensive weapon, but it's also got very high attack
01:17:54speed.
01:17:55Yeah, from a fantasy standpoint, it was really cool to, like, try to create weapons that
01:17:59made sense for, again, like Brent mentioned, like, where the class is from.
01:18:02So, like, a Glaive makes a lot of sense for, like, cutting through the jungle, you know,
01:18:06being an aggressive weapon, being an attack-based weapon.
01:18:09The quarter staff is really cool because it's, like, you could imagine, like, how do they
01:18:13train with this?
01:18:14They probably found, like, really strong branches from, like, trees that were really important
01:18:18to them, and they start to, like, train with that, and eventually they kind of start to
01:18:21perfect that craft and that bow staff.
01:18:23So there's a lot of really cool fantasy that we can, like, our team can really dig into.
01:18:27It also looks cool.
01:18:29Like, just to be frank, like, we're talking about a martial arts class, like, having the
01:18:35bow staff or the Glaive to, like, really extend some of those key poses that we got with the
01:18:42martial arts stuff that we put into the game, I mean, it just, it looks really good.
01:18:47Yeah, it's awesome to see, like, new weapons for the Spirit Form with Vessel of Hatred.
01:18:53So another question that we have here.
01:18:55This is from bucko351, easy name.
01:18:59Question, what's the difference between the Spiritborn and the Druid class?
01:19:02The Druid class currently has bonds with, like, the stag, the wolf, the eagle, and the
01:19:07snake.
01:19:08Like, what's kind of the changes between that and something like the Spiritborn?
01:19:11Yeah, I mean, when it comes to the Spiritborn, you're not necessarily turning into this animal
01:19:19that we're talking about.
01:19:21This is a spirit guardian that lives in the spirit realm, and you're channeling this spirit
01:19:28guardian.
01:19:29And the manifestation that we're talking about is what comes out.
01:19:32So when we talk about, like, ferocity or something, that's something that you see in the jungle,
01:19:37right?
01:19:38So you have this jaguar that's recognizable, and that's this manifestation.
01:19:43It's the best way to show that.
01:19:45So if we had a different belief, then it would manifest in a different way, versus
01:19:52the Druid, you sort of really encompass the entire animal.
01:19:57And you see that in the gameplay quite a bit, where I think, Nick, you were mentioning before
01:20:02where it's like, yeah, I have this bond with the centipede.
01:20:06When I call him in, I call the centipede in to deal with this side of the combat, and
01:20:10then I go off and I start managing the other side of the combat.
01:20:13So you really see this, like, combat partnership between the guardians and the spiritborn,
01:20:20which is incredibly unique.
01:20:23We got a question here from Kat the Dewey.
01:20:26They're asking, we've seen four spirit guardians.
01:20:29Are there other spirit guardians that were considered potentially?
01:20:32Yeah.
01:20:33Look, I'll spill the beans.
01:20:35I'll talk about it.
01:20:37You know, when we're choosing the spirits, we played around with a lot of concepts.
01:20:42Super abstract stuff that weren't animal-based.
01:20:45We talked about, okay, if I'm from the jungle, these things would probably represent things
01:20:50I know, which brought us to animals.
01:20:53And when we think about protection and strength, we originally had some conversations around
01:20:57an elephant.
01:20:58Like, what does an elephant mean?
01:21:00If there's an animal that represents, like, family and protection the most, the elephant
01:21:06is one of those.
01:21:08The gorilla was also being talked about at the same time, and they mean the same thing.
01:21:13So when we looked at them side by side, that really came down to, like, which one can convey
01:21:17the best powers, which gives you the right movement and visuals that you would need for
01:21:24the power set itself.
01:21:25So, yeah.
01:21:26Go ahead.
01:21:27I was going to say, like, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out, like, there's a
01:21:30lot of collaboration, and sometimes art will inform design, design will inform art.
01:21:34So I think this is a great spot where, like Brent was saying, like, we're looking at a
01:21:37lot of different things.
01:21:38But, like, when you think about Nahantu, when you think about, like, the canopy of the jungle,
01:21:41and you start thinking about how does that protect what's in the jungle, like, the gorilla
01:21:45just made a lot of sense, like, thematically.
01:21:48So like, we start to find those moments, right?
01:21:50And you think about the centipede, it's like, there's, like, the ground and the roots of
01:21:53the jungle.
01:21:54Like, what comes up, there's insects.
01:21:55So, you know, we spent a lot of time, like, exploring that.
01:21:57But when you think about the gameplay connection, poisons, fears, right?
01:22:01The centipede, this, like, life and death kind of cycle they talked about, like, the
01:22:04centipede makes a lot of sense.
01:22:05So we really start to try to connect the dots in really interesting ways.
01:22:09And those are the ones that really stick.
01:22:11Fictionally, the idea that these things are created based on human beliefs, we believe
01:22:16more than in more than four things, right?
01:22:20And so the idea that we could expand this out well beyond the class, we've developed
01:22:25more lore than you're actually going to see in the game for the Spiritborn because we
01:22:30want this thing to live beyond just Diablo 4.
01:22:34Awesome.
01:22:35I know we, this one's a little bit for Bjorn.
01:22:38We'll test his skill knowledge here.
01:22:40But a question from Chernyfire was, does the echoing poison effect work on enemies not
01:22:46poisoned by you?
01:22:47Is there, like, a radius limit?
01:22:48Like, how does it work specifically?
01:22:50Yeah, there's a small radius limit to it, but that can be extended through things like
01:22:54tempering and that sort of thing.
01:22:55It will do any poisoned enemies on the screen.
01:22:57Oh, nice.
01:22:58That sounds, that sounds crazy.
01:23:01So yeah.
01:23:03And then we have a question from Crawling Out of the Spiral.
01:23:07This one's a lore question specifically.
01:23:09Did Mephisto know about the veil between Sanctuary and Spirit Realm and, like, the corruption
01:23:14within the jungles during Diablo 2?
01:23:16Like, was he able to sense it during that time?
01:23:19I know we had talked about, like, the Spirit Realm being this pure and, like, untouched
01:23:23place.
01:23:24So.
01:23:25Yeah, we can definitely assume that Mephisto knew there was something there.
01:23:31When it comes to the lore of Nahantu, there are a lot of protection that happened during
01:23:35Mephisto's corruption.
01:23:37He wasn't able to break through the veil.
01:23:39So that is something that, you know, that's why it's so dire now.
01:23:43But definitely he had this feeling for sure.
01:23:48Question for not-MVP.
01:23:49How does the resource for the Spiritborn work?
01:23:53Do they generate it, like, passively or how does that work specifically?
01:23:57Sure.
01:23:58The Spiritborn's primary resource is called Vigor.
01:24:00It does not inherently recharge passively.
01:24:04You'll generate it by using your basic attacks.
01:24:07But sort of, like, the key with Spiritborn being very customizable, like, one of the
01:24:10first choices that you'll be able to make in your tree with your basic attacks is you
01:24:14can sort of, like, customize, like, how you will build the spirit beyond that, whether
01:24:19it's, like, by poisoning enemies or by blocking damage, that sort of thing, to really, like,
01:24:23kind of make the resource work the way you want it to work.
01:24:27And then later on, there are also some uniques that will allow you to further customize sort
01:24:31of, like, how your build influences the resource generation.
01:24:34Awesome.
01:24:35I know people, we just talked about the weapons and stuff, and there's, like, follow-up questions
01:24:39of, like, are the Spiritborn only using two-handed weapons for this class?
01:24:44Yes.
01:24:45The short answer is yes.
01:24:48They are.
01:24:50The other quest, or the other question that we're getting is, is there, like, a special
01:24:55quest before you can actually start a Spiritborn or create a Spiritborn, or are there quests
01:25:00that are maybe specific to the class itself?
01:25:03Yeah, well, we're going to definitely be introducing the class mechanics similarly to the way that
01:25:09we introduced it with the other classes.
01:25:11As far as the beginning of the story is concerned, you know, we really want to jump straight
01:25:16into continuing the chapter of hatred, right?
01:25:21Like, what happened when Nayrel left?
01:25:23We want to jump right into it, get right back into the story, and so we're going to pick
01:25:27up from the perspective where Nayrel left off.
01:25:30Awesome.
01:25:31That was a question from Agara, I forgot, and throughout the name, I do want to give
01:25:35people shout-outs when they do actually ask the names.
01:25:37The Grim Knot asks, does the Spiritborn have ties maybe with the Witch Doctor in any type
01:25:42of way from Diablo III?
01:25:45Not at all.
01:25:47When Brent is talking about creating something new, that's what we wanted to do with the
01:25:51Spiritborn.
01:25:53That also meant really diving into lore and figuring out a separation for freshness.
01:25:59We wanted to still bring in things that were familiar from D2 and just lore in general
01:26:04that we know about, but when it comes to the Spiritborn class and the traditions of the
01:26:10Spiritborn, they're very new.
01:26:12You get a chance to explore it in the game, and you'll see that they're very different.
01:26:16Awesome.
01:26:17Azaron Bloodmoon asks, how much is the Monk inspired into the gameplay of the Spiritborn?
01:26:26We always look back, and we can find a lot of reference, or we can be inspired by things
01:26:31we've made, but I think when you play the class, you'll see it's extremely different.
01:26:37It's so unique, it's so fresh, and it kind of carves its own space in our kind of lineup
01:26:42that after an inspirational point, maybe, of looking at martial arts as the core, it
01:26:47just kind of goes off in its own direction and kind of redefines that space.
01:26:52Oh, sorry.
01:26:53Go, go, go.
01:26:54Well, I definitely want to add to that.
01:26:55I don't want to be shy about the fact that we know what works mechanically in the game,
01:27:01and so we're constantly looking at inspiration for the existing classes, for the new classes
01:27:06on what works best.
01:27:10Take that inspiration, and then take a right turn and actually amplify it or take it into
01:27:15a slightly new direction that makes it very different.
01:27:18I know we have time for one more question.
01:27:21This is a question for everyone here.
01:27:24What is everyone's favorite Spirit, I've already revealed mine, which is Jaguar, but what is
01:27:27everyone's favorite Spirit Guardian here for the Spiritborn?
01:27:31I can start.
01:27:32I'm going to cheat.
01:27:33I'm going to say two.
01:27:34I love the Jaguar as well, but it's just a little bit too chaotic for me inherently,
01:27:40and so I love to just mix the Eagle in there as well, just for a little bit more control,
01:27:43a little bit more freedom.
01:27:45Gorilla.
01:27:46I mean, when I saw it show up on screen, beat its chest, it was just awesome.
01:27:52It was like, that's it.
01:27:53I knew it.
01:27:54We're like wrestling buds.
01:27:55We talk about wrestling all the time, and I'm not surprised Nick is about the Gorilla.
01:28:00Not surprised.
01:28:01My favorite Guardians are Qualli, the Eagle, and Balazon, the Centipede.
01:28:07I just love the Poison, and it's sick, like it looks crazy.
01:28:11Yeah, for me, Jaguar, like it started with that iconic piece.
01:28:15Yeah.
01:28:16Sorry, we're going to have to share a little bit, but like the movement, it's such a pace
01:28:24changer for the game.
01:28:26Like once you get into it, it's got a very addictive flow, and so I'm all in on the Jaguar.
01:28:31Well, it's awesome to hear everyone's favorite Spirit Guardians.
01:28:34I do want to thank you all for jumping in for this Q&A.
01:28:38Before we do close out the stream, we did want to let everyone know that we'll be sharing
01:28:42more about Vessel of Hatred at Gamescom this year on August 20th, but you'll actually have
01:28:48a chance to attend Gamescom yourself and play the Spiritborn in person.
01:28:52We're actually sending five lucky players to Cologne, Germany to play the Spiritborn
01:28:56at our Gamescom booth in person.
01:28:58Make sure to check out our Instagram at Play Diablo and read our blog for full details
01:29:03on the contest after the show.
01:29:05Everyone on the Diablo team is incredibly excited for you to check out the new class
01:29:09coming with Vessel of Hatred on October 8th, and of course, you can pre-purchase the expansion
01:29:14now.
01:29:15Stick around to check out our Diablo creators, Raxx, Wootii, MacroBioBoy, and Fame.
01:29:20They're actually upstairs right now streaming live here at Xbox Studios with Spiritborn
01:29:25gameplay.
01:29:26Also, shout out to Xbox Studios for hosting us.
01:29:29We really appreciate it.
01:29:30And of course, you can check out Kind of Funny Games after the stream, where they'll be live
01:29:34chatting with Rod Ferguson, GM of the Diablo franchise.
01:29:38Brent, Eleni, Nick, Bjorn, thank you for being here to walk us through the Spiritborn, and
01:29:44thank you all and everyone at home for tuning in.
01:29:47We'll see you in Nahantu.