After playing the fresh Spiritborn class in Diablo 4, I’m glad it’s coming before the Paladin

There are rumors of a Paladin or “sword and shield” class Diablo 4 since its release. Of the original five classes, the “holy warrior” archetype is one that was truly missing from this acclaimed ARPG.

As a huge Crusaders fan in Diablo 3and a fan of Paladin archetypes, I was hoping to get a character that resembled a Paladin Diablo 4first expansion. Instead, Blizzard announced that the all-new Spiritborn would be Diablo 4The first fresh class to appear in Ship of Hate October 8 extension.

At first, I have to admit that my reaction was, “What a bummer.” After all, this means waiting at least another year until I can play the updated version of the Crusader in Diablo 4Open-world Sanctuary. But on July 11, I was able to visit Blizzard and see the Spiritborn to find out what it is, how it plays, and most importantly, why it is not a Paladin. And after talking to one of Blizzard’s game designers, Bjorn Mikkelson, and class designer Stephen Stewart, I changed my mind. I am glad that the Spiritborn will be the first fresh class in Diablo 4 instead of a holy warrior.

The premise of the Spiritborn is that they are agile warriors who utilize melee attacks to deal with their enemies. While attacking, they can also call upon their Spirit Guardians to decimate their enemies. There are four Spirit Guardians to choose from, each with their own identity: Gorilla, Jaguar, Eagle, and Centipede.

Each Spirit Guardian has their own set of skills in their skill tree—usually one for their primary, main ability, ultimate, etc.—that fit their theme. Jaguar’s skills focus on speed and fire, while Gorilla’s skills focus on protecting themselves and others while dealing physical damage. Eagle’s skills have a much longer range than the other Spirit Guardians and focus on precision and lightning damage. The most disgusting and eye-catching of the four is Centipede, which focuses on poison and earth.

The core mechanic of the Spiritborn class essentially lets you commit to two Spirit Guardians at once — or the same Spirit Guardian twice. From there, you can mix and match any of the class skills to create fresh synergies. Your primary Spirit Guardian will grant you a unique passive and change all of your skills to utilize that Guardian’s keyword (e.g., if you commit to a Jaguar, all of the skills in your tree will become Jaguar skills). Your secondary Spirit Guardian will grant you their secondary passive, which is another unique effect that can change up your build.

Just hearing how the class works made me start comparing it to the Druid. Both classes are devoted to the spirits of animals and call upon that power to deal damage. But when I tried to compare the two classes during the interview, Mikkelson and Stewart gave me a bit of an “ehh, not really” look, which I realized after a few moments of playing. The Spiritborn is not at all like the Druid. No, the Spiritborn is like the Monk from Diablo 3.

As someone who always wanted to enjoy Monk but could never get into their ponderous support builds, I was immediately enamored with Spiritborn. It felt like I always wanted Monk to feel. Each of my main abilities threw me at a target, and each had a three-hit combo. I had abilities that helped me control the battlefield—one that let me suck up all the enemies around me—and others that gave me intriguing ways to deal damage. For example, I had the Gorilla ability, which caused me to punch the ground, leaving two fist prints on either side. Each circle did a decent amount of damage, but if I could trap an enemy in a Venn-like overlap of circles, I could do even more. Within minutes, I was able to both control the battlefield and move around it without hindrance.

Blizzard gave me four different versions of the Spiritborn, each set at level 30 and centered around a specific Spirit Guardian. In my brief session, I was struck by how different each one was—like four separate classes rolled into one. And those were just purified forms, builds designed to emphasize the speed of the Jaguar or the slow-paced durability of the Gorilla. The Spiritborn seems like a quick, straightforward delight for a player who wants to focus on just one style. But it’s straightforward to imagine that the Spiritborn will also be a great class for theorists.

Even with the developer enthusiasm around Spiritborn, the shadow of Paladin loomed over my journey. Other members of the press brought it up quite frankly in our group interview, and Mikkelson mentioned it out of hand in my conversation with him and Stewart. But all of those mentions had a purpose. Not to explain why there’s no Saint class, but to make it clear that this alternative is better in the long run.

Photo: Blizzard Entertainment

“If we sit down and create Paladin, it’s a very specific question that has a very specific history in our game of different expectations,” Mikkelson said. “If I tell you it’s Spiritborn, what are your expectations? Like? Like, you’ve never heard the name before, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything to you. And so it’s a slightly different brainstorming process, almost like, ‘What would someone want from this? And how can I try to make that happen?’ And the possibilities are endless.”

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Stewart said. “Because when the world is completely open, you can do whatever you want. But then you try to boil it down to, ‘Well, what would make the class sing the most?’ And you don’t have any guardrails, right? Sometimes the constraints help because they keep you creatively in a certain box where you know these are the things that are expected. And how can we innovate around that? Even if we decide we want to do something that’s more homage to the classes that came before, it’s going to be from this new perspective.”

Paladins and Crusaders come with a lot of baggage. People have been playing these champions for over a decade, so players will expect them to have certain builds that will satisfy all their favorites. Just like you can’t imagine a Barbarian ship without a Whirlwind build, a Paladin has to have Blessed Hammer spam, Captain America shield throws, and so on. But Spiritborn is so unique and innovative that it clearly gave Diablo 4 developers have a chance to experiment with something fresh. And that gives me hope that these developers will approach their sacred classroom with fresh eyes, whenever it inevitably appears.

And so, until Blizzard announces something like Paladin, I’ll have Spiritborn to tide me over. And if what I’ve seen is any indication, I’ll have a ton of intriguing builds to try out while I wait.

Disclosure: This article is based on a preview event held at Blizzard Entertainment’s studios in Irvine, California on July 11. Blizzard provided travel and lodging for Polygon for the event. You can find more information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.