Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion has been pretty well-received by players and fans. Much of that love is owed to Blizzard’s design of the new Spiritborn class, but the new story chapter, major zone to explore, and the raid-like new endgame activity have all garnered praise from many in the game’s community.
As with every new release/new season, however, the meta evolves to create powerful endgame builds for Diablo 4’s classes, and some – as expected – are going to be broken. This being the Spiritborn’s first foray into this world means the class is going to gets its first broken build adjusted soon.
The Spiritborn build in question isn’t broken because of the amount of damage it dishes out in combat (though it is incredibly powerful). No, the nerf hammer is going to come down on this one because its main hook exploits the evade mechanic.
You’re not going to find this particular build in our above-board list of recommended Spiritborn builds, but it’s pretty easy to find online. You may have even seen it being used by several content creators, especially those speedrunning content.
One of the game’s next big updates, likely version 2.0.3 that’s set for release later this week, will nerf nerf Spiritborn builds that rely on casting Evade and exploiting the animation. The reason? Those builds rely on a bug and ruin the experience for nearby players.
“This is a bug as the Spiritborn is able to break animation frames during Evade immediately,” community boss Adam Fletcher explained on Twitter. “We will be fixing this so you won’t be able to Evade instantly during another one, and instead it will be normalized to the standard Evade cast rate in all situations.”
Fletcher added that part of the reason the developer is doing this also has to do with the build’s effect on players in the same vicinity. The reception to the news on the Diablo 4 subreddit has been mixed, but veteran players know it was going to be hit sooner or later, especially given the lag it causes.
After the Season 1 nerf wave that took place closer to Diablo 4’s launch angered most players, Blizzard vowed to go easy on nerfing popular builds, and not be as reactionary in that area as it could. The only exception to that, however, is when builds ruin the game for players, regardless of how powerful they may be.
If you’re slowly going up the levels in Vessel of Hatred, you may want to consult our guide for the fastest, most efficient way of levelling up in Season 6. While you’re there, why not give our Mercenaries and Spiritborn specialization guides a look, too?