Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn Endgame Build Guide
Welcome to the Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn Endgame Guide! This build has an excellent mix of survivability, speed, and area damage output. While most Thorns builds require you to get hit, this one does not, because Rock Splitter applies your Thorns directly to enemies on every attack thanks to Accelerated Rock Splitter and Sepazontec.
A major plus to this build is it has no resource management as all of the damage being applied by your basic attack. With multiple defensive abilities, this is a very comfortable playstyle while dealing massive damage to easily clear all content.
One of the key items that enables the build is Sepazontec and it's recommended you acquire it from Andariel or Duriel before transitioning. This weapon makes your basic attack always use its third attack and in this case, always applying Thorns on every hit. This weapon, while not required to function, enables this build to function in high end content. The other is Razorplate and significanly boosts your Thorns damage.
You choose Centipede Primary Spirit Hall to enable Replenishing Toxic Skin. This significantly increases all Thorns damage dealt to enemies. Jaguar Secondary Sprit Hall lets you generate Ferocity by killing enemies or hitting a Boss, keeping your Attack Speed increased as you batter your enemies. Harmony of Ebewaka futher boots your damage for having 3 Spirit Hall tags on Rock Splitter.
You need to cycle your defenses to maintain your survivability and prepare to utilize The Hunter as Bosses near the injured threshold or are injured.
Recommended items for this build
- Sepazontec
- Razorplate
This build guide assumes you have a Level 60 Character and unlocked Torment 1. To get there, level up with one of our Spiritborn Leveling Guides. To see how this Build compares against others, check out our various Build Tier Lists.
Witchcraft Powers
Season 7 is the Season of Witchcraft. It features two separate borrowed power mechanics in the forms of Witchcraft Powers and Occult Gems. Both Seasonal mechanics are unlocked and improved by new NPCs found at the Tree of Whispers after collecting resources from Headhunt Zones, Seasonal areas similar to Helltide that appear across Sanctuary.
There are 25 Witchcraft Powers, 6 of which can be equipped at a time. Each Power belongs to one of four Schools (Eldritch, Growth & Decay, Psyche, and Lost), tags that promote synergies within themselves and with Occult Gems. Each School has a single Unique Witchcraft Power, only one of which can be equipped at a time. These Unique Powers max out and gain an additional effect at rank 5, while the other Powers max at rank 21 and gain their bonus effects at various levels. To unlock and improve Witchcraft Powers, defeat Headrotten or complete Whispers within the Headhunt Zones to collect Restless Rot. Lost Powers are an exception, requiring you to randomly encounter a Forgotten Altar in Dungeons to unlock them.
Best-in-Slot Witchcraft Powers
- Soul Harvest - This Power dramatically increases Core Stats based on monster density and is a reliably strong choice for the Rock Splitter Spiritborn, which can group mobs together with Vortex from Kry.
- Twilight Warding - Grants 30% of your Maximum Life as Barrier, which reduces the Barrier Generation requirement to reach your Maximum Life to 34% minmum. Que grants 45% of Maximum Life as Barrier makes the total 75% of Maximum Life.
- Breath of the Coven - This gives you a large amount of Cap 1 Attack Speed (see Attack Speed Mechanics for more details) when casting an Ultimate skill thanks to Voice of the Stars.
- Aura of Misfortune - Mitigates some incoming damage while boosting your Movement Speed and enabling the Psyche portion of It also activates Breath of the Coven.
- Hex of Whispers - Synergizes well with Friend of the Bog as you gain more Fortify when it ends and increase your Damage Reduction.
- The Cycle - This is primarily used to activate Friend of the Bog however it is a good source of healing and another source of Poison damage for Replenishing Toxic Skin.
Alternate Witchcraft Powers
- Piranhado - This power can be used as an alternative way to group mobs.
- Aura of Siphoning - Can provide some healing in place of Hex of Whispers.
- Shaken Soul - Can help apply Vulnerable if you do not have a reliable method.
- Hex of Shattering - The Damage Reduction is great and it is the most consistent way to apply a Hex when paired with Voice of the Stars.
Occult Gems
Rarely, Headrotten Bosses appear with a still-attached Fugitive Head stolen from the Tree of Whispers. Slay these enemies and return the Heads to Gelena to unlock and upgrade Occult Gems. These Gems are socketable in Jewelry and each provide +160 Armor and +8% Resistance to All Elements so be sure to slot them in for the defensive stats even if they don't synergize with your chosen Witchcraft Powers. More importantly, each Occult Gem grants a unique effect that synergizes with your equipped Witchcraft Powers to provide a variety of Offensive, Defensive, and Utility-based bonuses.
Best-in-Slot Occult Gems
- Cornucopia - Increases Barrier Generation and Thorns, both vital stats for this build.
- Voice of the Stars - Gives your Ultimate all 3 Witchcraft tags for Breath of the Coven
- Friend of the Bog - Extra Core Stats improve skill damage, Armor, and Resistances, Maximum Life improves defense, and becoming Unhindered helps you move through groups of mobs while also activating Unrestrained Power. This is a great all rounder gem.
Alternate Occult Gems
- Hungering Void - Helps pull in enemies if you do not have a better source.
- Moonlight Ward - An additional layer of Damage Reduction. Maximum Resistance is a rare affix and reduces elemental damage significantly.
Learn more details about the season theme in our full Season Guide.
Skills & Gameplay
- Rock Splitter is your primary source of damage for this build. With Sepazontec, you constantly apply Thorns each attack while increasing Block Chance through Enhanced Rock Splitter.
- Toxic Skin is taken to double Thorns damage through Replenishing Toxic Skin. Centipede Primary Spirit Hall applys Poison to any enemies you hit so this damage boost is always active.
- Activate Armored Hide to replenish Resolve stacks and become Unstoppable. Reinforced Armored Hide additionally grants a large amount of Blocked Damage Reduction while active.
- Counterattack is primarily taken to boost Thorns gained from Hubris. Use it to avoid dangerous hits. It should be activated every 3 seconds to maintain the full bonus from Hubris
- Enhanced Scourge increases damage dealt to Crowd Controlled enemies while Adaptable Scourge allows you to heal a large amount of damage.
- The Hunter provides a Spiritborn with exceptional mobility, use this skill to initiate combat whenever it is available. You can to go from pack to pack or close the distance to your target. Harmonious Hunter helps keep your Ferocity and Attack Speed high, giving you 8 stacks on cast. Exalted Hunter lets you continue casting the skill when killing enemies often, and boosts your damage thanks to Supremacy.
Skill Rotation
- Cast The Hunter to initiate combat and overflow your Ferocity
- Use Rock Splitter to deal all of your damage while dashing to your targets. This also increases your Block Chance from Enhanced Rock Splitter
- Activate Scourge on cooldown for ongoing heals and incresed damage to Crowd Controlled enemies.
- Cast Armored Hide to become Unstoppable and replenish your Resolve.
- Continue weaving in other skills every 7 seconds to maintain Adaptive Stances.
- (On Bosses) When Bosses near the Injured threshold, cast The Hunter for a 100% multiplier.
Spiritborn Spirit Hall
Primary: Centipede reduces damage taken while inflicting Poison.
Secondary: Jaguar increases your Attack Speed and maintains your Ferocity buffs.
Learn more details and how to unlock this system in our full Spiritborn Specialization Guide
Paragon & Glyphs
Carefully check your Paragon Boards to ensure correct board rotation. Glyphs go from a radius of 3 to 4 at level 15 and from 4 to 5 at level 46. Some of them cannot be activated before reaching these thresholds! Progress through The Pit to rank up your Glyphs.
Use the slider to see progression steps. At around Paragon 200, leveling slows down significantly and all important Rare clusters, Legendary nodes and Glyph sockets should be unlocked. Afterwards, you can min/max your build with minor tweaks and by picking up additional smaller nodes.
Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn
Some Glyph position swaps, board changes and other pathing adjustments may occur as you unlock your full potential. The setup displayed by default is the final version of the build before spending additional points that do not significantly impact your character's power.
Glyph Leveling Priorities
To Level 15
- Hubris
- Revenge
- Colossal
- Outmatch
- Turf
To Level 46
- Colossal
- Outmatch
- Turf
- Revenge
- Hubris
There are a total of 328 Paragon Points. After reaching level 60, you gain up to 300 Paragon Levels, 24 from Renown and 4 from Altars of Lilith. Check out our dedicated in-depth guides to learn more about Paragon Boards and Glyphs.
Runes
You can have up to two Runewords in your setup, each consisting of one Ritual and one Invocation Rune. Socket them in Two-Handed Weapons if your build calls for them, otherwise place them into your Armor pieces to replace normal gems. The Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn focuses on the following combos:
Best in Slot
- Moni + Que - Grants consisent Barrier by casting Rock Splitter since it is a Mobility skill.
- Igni + Kry - Pull in enemies with Vortex.
Alternative choices
As long as you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top runes, you can also benefit from these options:
- Cir - Periodically generates a large amount of offering
- Poc - Another way of generating offering
- Mot - Generates Dark Shroud for extra defense
- Lith - A great way to generate Offering in extended fights
- Zec - Helps reduce The Hunter cooldown
- Ohm - Grants moderate uptime of War Cry to increase damage
- Bac - Consistently generates Offering in Speedfarming.
- Wat - Decrepify helps with Stagger, defense, and executes enemies at 10% HP. When combined with Xol in your other Runeword it also generates large amounts of Offering
- Xal - For extra defense
Learn more about Runes and how they work in our dedicated Runewords Overview and Runewords Tier List.
Mercenaries
Mercenaries are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and assist you in battle. There are 4 separate Mercenaries to choose from, each with their own skill trees and abilities. You can have one hired (permanent) Mercenary during solo play and a reinforcement who assist you from time to time in certain situations.
Hired: Varyana
She is primarily used to boost your Attack Speed through Hysteria, Bloodthirst, and Bloodlust. She also gives you a Movement Speed boost as you kill more and more enemies through Massacre.
Reinforcement: Raheir
Call Raheir, the Shieldbearer as your reinforcement Mercenary to when you become Injured to save you with Bastion and prevent nearly all damage dealt to you for 5 seconds.
Learn more about Mercenaries and how they work in our dedicated Mercenaries Overview.
Stat Priorities & Item Progression
To enable the Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn to perform optimally, hunt for these stats on your gear with good rolls and aim to Temper ⚒️ & Masterwork Crit ↑ them accordingly. Keep in mind that certain stats, such as Armor, Resistances, Extra Size Tempers, Attack Speed and more, have caps that may affect your priorities according to the items and Paragon points available at that moment.
Recommended Endgame Stat Thresholds
- 100%+ Attack Speed
- 3000+ Thorns
- 600%+ Mobility Damage
- 2000+ Dexterity
- 100% Block Chance
- 80%+ Rock Splitter Size
- Armor Capped 1,000
- Resistance Capped 70%+
- 6,000+ Life
- 160%+ Movement Speed
- 34%+ Barrier Generation
- 15 second The Hunter Cooldown
Item Progression Goals
Before you dive into the Endgame with the Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn, take a look at this overview of the items used in the build. See below for further details about the different progression steps and variants. Some of your Skill Tree choices depend on what Legendary Aspects and Unique items are available to you. Keep in mind that while we can guarantee that everyone has access to the same Codex of Power Aspects, the exact progression is different for everyone.
Learn more details and how to farm Legendary Aspects and Uniques in our General Farming Guide.
Build Variants
This section is designed to guide your Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn from a fresh level 60 into the very late endgame using the three variants Starter, Ancestral and Mythic. At the final step, you should be fully decked out with a great all-rounder build. From there, follow the other min/max variants if you want to optimize around certain activities such as Pit Pushing, Speedfarming and more.
If you are fresh in Torment 1 coming from a leveling guide, this is where you begin. Since only some Aspects can be guaranteed from Dungeon unlocks for the Codex of Power, focus on acquiring the additional aspects via gambling with Murmuring Obols.
Gear & Skills
- Early on in your progression, focus on armor & resistances to survive. Each Torment difficulty adds a 250 armor and 25% all res penalty and it's recommended to keep both capped (1000 armor, 70+ res) at all times. As you unlock higher power gear, masterworking levels and more paragon points, you naturally scale your character into the higher difficulties and can start replacing some of these rolls with offensive or utility stats.
- Be mindful as you progress into the Tormented levels, each item you upgrade drastically improves your damage and survivability.
- You do not deal as much damage without the massive damage increase from Sepazontec and the large amount of Thorns from Razorplate. These are the build defining uniques and the power you achieve from looting them can easily carry you to the next tier. Gamble all of your Obols on Quarterstaffs and Chest Armors. Fight Andariel and Duriel for Sepazontec and Lord Zir for Razorplate.
The goal here is to progress through the Torment difficulties as you unlock Ancestrals, Paragon points, all Legendary Aspects, Temper mods and the most important Uniques to pilot this build. Some Legendary Aspects are used temporarily to fill slots that may be replaced with more Unique items later on.
Gear & Skills
- As you upgrade your gear to Ancestral, start Masterworking, and reach higher paragon, you can focus more and more on replacing armor & resistance rolls with better stats, but ensure to stay capped at 1000 armor and 70%+ resistances for the difficulty you're currently in.
- Razorplate has 4 of the same affixes. Prioritize Masterwork crits on the largest values. Note that the Greater Affix portion of the affix is not increased by Masterworking.
- Sepazontec is a significant damage boost by allowing you to have every attack deal Thorns damage from Accelerated Rock Splitter. Prioritize Masterworking Chance for Basic Skills to Deal Double Damage.
- Harmony of Ebewaka provides a nice damage boost since you use Centipede and Jaguar Spirit Hall effects. This gives Rock Splitter 3 skill tags and lets it benefit from additional passive skills like Potent
This is the final version of the build's progression, including all regular Unique items, Mythic Uniques, Legendary Aspects, Temper mods and Masterworking, leaving you with a great all-rounder build for all content in the game. Additional variants use this as a baseline to optimize around certain activities.
Gear & Skills
- This build does not utilize any Mythic Uniques however, it is important to make sure you reach the appropriate stats with Greater Affixes and Masterworking ranks.
This Speedfarming variant optimizes the build for easy activities like Helltides, Whispers, Nightmare Dungeons and lower Pit Tiers after you have finished the Mythic variant and reached a plateau in your progression.
Gear & Skills
There are no changes from the Mythic setup.
This setup optimizes the build to push the highest possible Tiers in The Pit after you have finished the Mythic variant and reached a plateau in your progression.
Gear & Skills
- The Rock Splitter Spiritborn has many multipliers based on Crowd Control. Fists of Fate greatly increases the rate of stagger buildup against bosses.
- When fighting monsters in high tiers of the Pit, remember that after crowd controlling elites for 5 seconds, they become Unstoppable for 8 seconds. This may be the right moment to start kiting them around because your damage done goes way down and they can freely retaliate.
FAQ & Mechanics
Once a guide is released, many players have questions on why and how we are approaching certain choices. In this section you can find the answers to the questions that have been asked the most.
The build works really well when you decimate everything in seconds, but may get overwhelmed if fights are long against high level monsters. There are several adjustments you can make when you have trouble with more difficult content:
- Check if your Armor & Resists are capped.
- Use defensive consumables.
- Roll Maximum Life instead of offensive stats on as many pieces as possible.
- Kite enemies when they become Unstoppable.
With the Gorilla secondary, you have an insanely high uptime on Unstoppable however, if you find yourself in a pinch and your Gorilla is inactive, you can use Armored Hide to become Unstoppable.
Generally hardcore and softcore share the same builds. Outside of being more prudent in your gameplay, you can also tweak the setup slightly to raise your survivability:
- Focus more on armor & resists, making sure that they are always capped especially as you transition into higher torment difficulties.
- Focus more on maximum life rolls, for example replacing DPS stats like main attributes, attack speed, critical strike chance and additive increased damage rolls. Also masterwork life more than normal if no other crucial stats have priority.
- Focus on adding defensive skills, passives and paragon nodes first as you level up.
- Play on a slightly lower difficulty than normal, don't push into difficult territory. As long as you can deal with all enemies swiftly, they can't retaliate.
- Include a source of Unstoppable if possible to get out of crowd controls.
- Use defensive elixirs and incenses instead of offensive ones.
Mechanics
The following is a quick summary of what Rock Splitter is and what it is not.
- Rock Splitter is an active effect, meaning when you deal damage with Rock Splitter, you trigger the effect.
- Rock Splitter is indirect damage, which means it does not stack effects such as Jaguar Primary Spirit Hall.
- Rock Splitter is a skill, so should carry skill-based modifiers.
- Rock Splitter does retain the skill tags from Rock Splitter
- While all the exact mechanics are much more nuanced, there are two separate Attack Speed Bonus caps of +100% that apply to all builds for a total potential of +200%. For Spiritborn, these two caps are distributed in the following way:
Cap 1
- Gear rolls
- Paragon nodes
- Elixirs
- Moonrise
- Artillery Shrine
- Mercenaries
Cap 2
- Ferocity
- Adaptive Stances
Read up more on Attack Speed in our dedicated guide by Ava.
Bosses are immune to Crowd Control (CC) effects and instead take Stagger Damage when hit by one. The amount of stagger damage dealt depends on the type of CC and is proportional to its duration. After being hit by a CC effect, the Boss temporarily takes less Stagger Damage from a CC of the same type.
Effectively, this means that when you're just spamming one type of CC you don't need to spam any more of it than what you need to keep a normal enemy permanently CC-d. To stagger the Boss quickly you need to use as many different types of CC as possible. After the Boss is staggered it gains a certain amount of stacking Stagger Damage Reduction for the rest of the fight:
- After 1st Stagger: 20%
- After 2nd Stagger: 40%
- After 3rd Stagger: 60%
- After 4th Stagger: 90%
Bosses naturally regain 1% of their Stagger HP every second and when that regen is combined with 90% Stagger Damage Reduction it becomes borderline impossible to Stagger the Boss again unless you bring a serious amount of crowd controls.
Video Guide
Summary
The Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns is a fast paced, defensive, area damage dealing machine. You utilize your basic attack to deal all of your damage with thorns, there is no resource management and no downtime in your combat.
- Rock Splitter applies Thorns on every hit with the use of Sepazontec.
- Incredibly defensive build. Rotate your Defensive skills to ensure maximum survivability and activate Adaptive Stances.
- The Hunter can be used both as a mobility skill and a lethal damage skill when mobs are injured.
Credits
Written by DeezyTheMonster
Reviewed by Wudijo