EndgameGorillaJaguarBasic Skillseason 7Spiritborn

Thunderspike – Spiritborn Build for Diablo 4 (Season 7)

This Thunderspike Jaguar build is powerful, fast, and easy to play!

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Neviriah

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GhazzyTV

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Updated: Posted:

ThunderspikeSoarRavagerThe HunterArmored HideCounterattack


Season

Build Introduction

This ThunderspikeThunderspike Jaguar endgame build for the Spiritborn is a straightforward, fast, and powerful basic skill build. With high mobility, good defense, and even greater attack power, you can smash through multiple enemies and bosses with ease. Furthermore, this build does not require any Mythic uniques, making it perfect for beginners, casual players, or simply as a go-to build while pushing endgame activities until you get the Mythic uniques you want for one of our other builds.

This endgame guide assumes your Spiritborn is Level 60 and meets all the build requirements. If you are just starting out with a new Spiritborn character, we recommend heading over to the Quill Volley Leveling Build and then switching to this endgame build when ready.

For information on Season 7, you can check out our Season Hub.
Have questions or feedback about this guide? Join Ghazzy’s livestream and ask him!


Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths
  • Great Mobility
  • Fast Attacks
  • Easy to Play
Weaknesses
  • Gear Reliant
  • Does not work without Sepazontec Unique Weapon

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Build Requirements

Required Uniques
Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Suggested Skill Bar
Armored HideArmored HideSoarSoarRavagerRavagerThe HunterThe HunterThunderspikeThunderspikeCounterattackCounterattack

Follow the points allocated in the Skill Tree above for the completed build. If you are missing skill points, complete Renown Tier 1-4 in every zone to get the missing additional points.


Spirit Hall Choice

The Spirit Hall allows you to combine two different Spirit Guardians or stick with just one. 

  • Primary Spirit Guardian: Gorilla
    • Casting a Gorilla Skill deals 100% Thorns to enemies you hit and grants a Barrier for 10% of Maximum Life, up to 40%, for 3 seconds. All Skills are now also Gorilla Skills.
  • Secondary Spirit Guardian: Jaguar
    • Maximum Ferocity is increased by 1. Gain 1 stack of Ferocity whenever you kill an enemy or damage a Boss.

For this endgame build, we use the Gorilla as the primary Spirit Guardian for extra survivability and because it provides a Barrier, which helps us to focus more on dealing damage and worry less about staying alive. Additionally, we pick the Jaguar as secondary Spirit Guardian for the increased Ferocity.


Gear, Stats, Gems, Runes, and Elixirs

The following sections cover all systems that are important if you want to improve the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4. 

Legendary Aspects

Each Aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each Aspect in the assigned slot. Remember to salvage Legendary Items with higher Aspect values to unlock them in the Codex of Power, and then imprint them onto gear pieces with the preferred affixes.

Additionally, if you are trying to farm a specific item, we recommend using your Obols to target farm them!

Gear SlotGems/RunesAspect / UniqueLegendary Aspect / Unique Power
HelmXolXolKryKryHarmony of EbewakaHarmony of EbewakaAccording to your secondary Spirit Hall choice, your Skills are all additionally Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, or Centipede Skills. Your skills deal {x}% increased damage per Spirit type they have.
ChestLithLithOhmOhmAspect of DisobedienceAspect of Disobedience Replace with Tyrael's MightTyrael’s MightYou gain x%[+] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to x%[+].
GlovesAspect of Plains PowerAspect of Plains PowerLucky Hit: Up to a 25% chance to create a Mystic Circle for 10 seconds. Casting a Jaguar Skill in Mystic Circles empowers them to keep your Ferocity at Maximum and increase your damage by {x}% per stack while you remain within.
PantsGrand EmeraldGrand Emerald Aspect of MightAspect of MightBasic Skills grant 20.0% Damage Reduction for {x} seconds.
BootsDuelist's AspectDuelist’s AspectMaximum Ferocity increased by 1-5.
Amulets(50% bonus)Grand SkullGrand Skull or Occult GemAspect of Unyielding HitsAspect of Unyielding HitsCasting a gorilla skill adds x% of your armor to all attacks for 3 seconds.
RingGrand SkullGrand Skull or Occult GemAspect of AdaptabilityAspect of AdaptabilityWhen cast below 50% Maximum resource, Basic Skills generate 3 of your Primary Resource, once per cast. When cast at or above 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills deal x% increased damage.
RingGrand SkullGrand Skull or Occult GemAspect of the MoonriseAspect of the MoonriseDamaging an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampiric Bloodrage, gaining {x}% Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.
Weapon (200% bonus)Grand EmeraldGrand EmeraldSepazontecSepazontecYour Basic Skills deal x% increased damage and always use their 3rd attack. Every 3rd cast of a Basic Skill strikes three times.

The Unique Weapon, SepazontecSepazontec, is very important because it greatly increases basic skill damage. On top of that, the Harmony of EbewakaHarmony of Ebewaka helmet provides an incredibly powerful passive by making all attacks also count as Gorilla attacks.


Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. To masterwork, you will need rare materials that only drop from Nightmare Dungeons. Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides, for more details about these topics.

SlotTargeted Gear AffixTempering Affixes
HelmAll Stats
Movement Speed
Damage Reduction
Ranks to Velocity
N/A
Chest1. Ranks to Armored Hide
2. Resistances
3. Armor
Spiritborn ResolveSpiritborn Resolve (Defensive): Resolve Generated
Eagle InnovationEagle Innovation (Utility): Thunderspike Size
Gloves1. Attack Speed
2. Critical Strike Chance
3. Critical Strike Damage
Sharpened FinesseSharpened Finesse (Offensive): Basic Skill Damage
Eagle InnovationEagle Innovation (Utility): Thunderspike Size
Pants1. Ranks to Basic Skills
2. Ranks to Thunderspike
3. Resistances
Eagle InnovationEagle Innovation (Utility): Thunderspike Size
Natural ResistanceNatural Resistance (Defensive): Any Needed Resistance
Boots1. Movement Speed
2. Armor
3. Dexterity
Natural MotionNatural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed
Eagle InnovationEagle Innovation (Utility): Thunderspike Size
Amulet1. Attack Speed
2. Ranks to Follow Through
3. Needed Resistance
Eagle InnovationEagle Innovation (Utility): Thunderspike Size
Sharpened FinesseSharpened Finesse (Offensive): Basic Skill Damage
Rings1. Attack Speed
2. Critical Strike Damage / Lucky Hit: Up to a % Chance to Make Enemies Vulnerable
3. Critical Strike Chance
Sharpened FinesseSharpened Finesse (Offensive): Basic Skill Damage
Jaguar EfficiencyJaguar Efficiency (Resource): + Counterattack Charges
WeaponChance for Basic Skills to Deal Double Damage
Ranks to Follow Through
Dexterity
Basic Lucky Hit Chance
N/A

The priority order of Resistances is Lightning > Poison > Fire > Cold > Shadow.

Make sure to reach the Armor Cap of 1,000. Certain builds that scale with armor may benefit from having more of it. For instance, those that make use of the Aspect of Unyielding HitsAspect of Unyielding Hits. Furthermore, in higher difficulties, there will be a penalty to armor and resistance, so you will need a higher amount to compensate for the loss.


Gems and Runewords

Listed below are the recommended Gems and Runewords to socket into your gear.

Gems

Weapon GemsArmor GemsJewelry Gems
Grand EmeraldGrand Emerald
For increased Critical Strike Damage
Grand EmeraldGrand Emerald
For more Dexterity
Grand SkullGrand Skull
For more Armor

Occult Gems

For your Jewelry sockets, you can also equip Occult Gems in Season 7. Here are some recommended Occult Gems for this build:

  • CornucopiaCornucopia: While you have three or more Growth and Decay Witch Powers slotted, you generate 30% more Barrier, gain 30% more Fortify and have 30% more Thorns.
  • Dust StoneDust Stone: For each of your Auras and Hexes an enemy is afflicted by, they take 2.5% increased damage from you.
  • Hungering VoidHungering Void: While you have an Aura active, pull Nearby enemies toward you every 8 seconds.

Runewords

Runewords, unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign, replace gems in gear and can improve your build by combining a trigger Rune of Ritual and an effect Rune of Invocation. Ritual Runes generate Offerings, which Invocation Runes consume to trigger effects, with some even gaining overflow bonus power from excess Offerings. You can equip up to two Runeword pairs (four Runes) at a time. For a detailed guide on Runewords, check out our Runewords Guide!

The following are recommended Runeword combination options for the Thunderspike endgame build of the Spiritborn:

Runeword CombinationRuneword Effects
Lith OhmLithLith – Gain: 25 Offering. Stand still while fighting for 0.3 seconds.
OhmOhm – Requires: 600 Offering (Overflow: Increased Duration). Cooldown: 2 Seconds. Evoke the Barbarian’s War CryWar Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt
Xol KryXolXol – Gain: 150 Offering. Evoke power from another Class.
KryKry – Requires: 300 Offering (Overflow: Increased Size). Cooldown: 3 Seconds. Evoke the Spiritborn’s Vortex, dealing damage and Pulling In enemies.

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

Visit the Alchemist and craft an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Assault Elixir to increase Attack Speed. Some Elixirs cannot be crafted and only drop from activities like Helltides or Nightmare Dungeons. Additionally, make sure to keep your health potion upgraded! 

The following Elixirs are useful for most Spiritborn builds:


Paragon Board

Paragon unlocks after reaching Level 60, and is considered an endgame progression system. Leveling up your paragon greatly increases your character’s power! We recommend using the following Legendary nodes and Glyphs to improve the build even further as you grind through the endgame. Note that each Glyph’s information and radius listed below is for the Level 46 version.


Witchcraft Powers

During Season 7, you can equip and rank up 6 Witchcraft Powers as you progress. These powers can be acquired at the Coven’s Altars near the Tree of Whispers. To purchase them, you will need Restless Rot, a currency earned naturally through doing Headhunts.

These Witchcraft Powers provide unique ways to strengthen your build. As you progress through the above leveling journey, consider prioritizing the following powers:

Witchcraft Power & TypeEffect
PiranhadoPiranhado (Unique, Lost Power)When an enemy is afflicted by both Hex and an Aura Effect, a Piranhado is summoned, pulling enemies towards it and dealing x physical damage over 12 seconds. May occur once every 20 seconds.
At Rank 5 and above: Piranhado moves itself towards nearby enemies.
Soul HarvestSoul Harvest (Growth & Decay)Feed upon the life force of nearby enemies whenever you use a skill with a cooldown, increasing your primary stat by 3% per monster for x seconds.
At Rank 9 and above: Soul Harvest does not lose duration so long as enemies are nearby.
Aura of MisfortuneAura of Misfortune (Psyche)Enemies near you have a x% chance for their attacks to be interrupted. Does not work on bosses.
At Rank 5 and above: Auro of Misfortune increases your Movement Speed by 5% and Slows enemies by 30%.
Hex of ShatteringHex of Shattering (Psyche)Damage done by your Witchcraft Effects afflicts enemies with Hex of Shattering causing them to deal x% reduced damage for 5 seconds.
At Rank 8 and above: When a Hex effect is applied to Headrotten, all damage will be guaranteed critical strikes for 5 seconds.
Wave of WoeWave of Woe (Eldritch)Release a Wave of Woe when damaging an enemy with your skills. Wave of Woe deals an additional x Shadow damage and echoes this damage to all other nearby enemies of the same type.
At Rank 5 and above: Damage is increased by 15% each time damage is echoed and is guaranteed to echo at least 5 times. May strike the same target multiple times.
Hex of FlamesHex of Flames (Eldritch)Lucky Hit: You have up to a x% chance to apply Hex of Flames. Hex of Flames deals 40% additional Fire damage each time you deal damage to the target.
At Rank 7 and above: Hex of Flames explodes dealing damage to all nearby enemies when you land a critical strike.

Mercenaries

During the Vessel of Hatred campaign, you will unlock different NPC Mercenaries who join you on your travels. In the early endgame, you can generally pick any mercenary you like, as they will not play an essential role until you optimize your build. However, if you would prefer to get a recommendation, we would advise selecting Subo as your main companion, for the added survivability he provides, and Raheir as Reinforcement.

Subo Skill Tree choices:

Raheir Reinforcement choices:

  • Opportunity Skill: Pick “Injured” as opportunity skill (it will automatically trigger when you become Injured).
  • Reinforcement Skill: ProvokeProvoke

Rotation and Playstyle

This build is straightforward and easy to play, especially for beginners or anyone who does not want to worry too much about resource management, thanks to the use of a powerful basic skill (ThunderspikeThunderspike). CounterattackCounterattack and The HunterThe Hunter will increase your damage dealt. During the fight, Armored HideArmored Hide will provide good protection, especially since we are using the Gorilla as primary guardian. Lastly, SoarSoar is either used for movement or to get out of dangerous situations.

Generally, you will want to use RavagerRavager before and again one time after The HunterThe Hunter for the interaction between IntricacyIntricacy:

  1. SoarSoar to jump into the action.
  2. Armored HideArmored Hide for survivability, and to gain Unstoppable for more damage (Unrestrained PowerUnrestrained Power).
  3. Cast RavagerRavager for increased damage as well as Ferocity and before using the Ultimate (due to IntricacyIntricacy).
  4. Use The HunterThe Hunter for increased damage against Injured targets.
  5. RavagerRavager again to interact with IntricacyIntricacy.
  6. Spam ThunderspikeThunderspike!
  7. CounterattackCounterattack to dodge incoming attacks whenever necessary.

Another interesting interaction worth mentioning within this section comes from the Runewords we use in this build to trigger powerful effects.

When you Stand still while fighting for 0.3 seconds, you gain 25 Offering from LithLith. Once you reach 600 Offering, OhmOhm automatically evokes the Barbarian’s War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt. This action will trigger XolXol, which activates when another class power is used. Xol grants 150 Offering and KryKry then evokes the Spiritborn’s Vortex at 600 Offering, pulling in enemies and dealing damage.

This combination lets you repeatedly pull in enemies so you can continuously deal damage to them with minimal effort.


Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Below you will find information on Uniques and Mythic Uniques that are useful and recommended for this build. Moreover, if you are interested in target farming Mythic Uniques, check out our How to Farm Mythic Uniques guide.

If a Unique or Mythic Unique is not listed here, it is NOT recommended and won’t benefit this specific build in any way.

Uniques

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for this build.

  • SepazontecSepazontec (Required): Basic Skills deal [100 – 200]% increased damage, always use their 3rd attack, and every 3rd cast unleashes triple strikes.
  • Harmony of EbewakaHarmony of Ebewaka (Required): According to your secondary Spirit Hall choice, your Skills are all additionally Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, or Centipede Skills. Your skills deal {x}% increased damage per Spirit type they have.

Mythic Uniques

The Thunderspike Jaguar Spiritborn build does not require any Mythic Uniques to work! However, if you do find Tyrael's MightTyrael’s Might, you can replace the Aspect of DisobedienceAspect of Disobedience with it.

If you want to have a look at builds that focus on other items or spirit guardians, you can find all our Spiritborn builds listed on this page


Season 7: Witchcraft

For a complete overview of Season 7, its mechanics and theme, new leveling activity, and other changes coming with the Season of Witchcraft, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub here.

Additionally, the Season of Witchcraft is the first season bringing changes to Spiritborn. Here are the changes related to this build.

  • Enhanced ThunderspikeEnhanced Thunderspike: Vigor generated increased from 5 to 7.
  • EnduranceEndurance: Vigor generated increased from 5/10/15 to 10/20/30.
  • AccelerationAcceleration:
    • Previous – Gain 1/2/3 additional Evade Charges. After you Evade your next Eagle Skill deals 10/20/30%[x] increased damage.
    • Now – Gain 1 additional Evade Charge. After you Evade, your Eagle Skills deal 8/16/24%[x] increased damage for 2 seconds.
  • The HunterThe Hunter: Rank 5: The Hunter’s initial damage will Execute Injured Non-Boss enemies.
  • KryKry: Overflow: Increased size.
  • XolXol: Updated tooltips on runes that Invoke players skills to be more clear with the Xol rune effect.

Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Similar to Kadala in Diablo 3, you can use Obol vendors in town to try and get any specific item that you are missing. When a Level 60 Character spends Obols, all gear from that vendor will be 750 item power, the highest non-Ancestral item power in the game, allowing you to fill out gear with the affixes or Legendary Aspects you need. There is also a small chance to receive an Ancestral piece with item power 800.

You can check out our Obol Gambling Tool here!


Changelog

  • January 18th, 2025: Added Witchcraft Powers and Occult Gems for Season 7.
  • November 10th, 2024: Added Lucky Hit: Up to a % Chance to Make Enemies Vulnerable – Ring Affix recommendation.
  • October 5th, 2024: Updated Skills, Mercenary Skills, Tempers, Runes, and Gear.
  • October 3rd, 2024: Guide theorycrafted and created for Vessel of Hatred, Season 6.
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