Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn Leveling Guide
Last Updated:October 24, 2024|Changelog
Welcome to the Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn Leveling Guide! This is a melee build that leverages the Rock Splitter basic attack to apply a massive amount of thorns directly. Your main skill, Rock Rock Splitter, applies thorns directly after every third attack. When paired with Scourge, Armored Hide and, Gorilla, you have a good amount of defenses and sustain allowing you to easily progress through the leveling experience.
Survivability is no problem using Gorilla skill to deal damage, you choose primary Gorilla and secondary Gorilla in your Spirit Hall to benefit from a substantial amount of barrier generation and some thorns as well as permanent Unstoppable.
Most of the primary aspects that power this build are drop only. However, the build does not require any specific aspect to come online. There are some targetable aspects that help you on your way. Because this build primarily uses a basic attack to enable the damage, Might is an incredible aspect to get early to provide a great boost to survivability. Rapid gives you a leg up on the damage side early on by increasing your attack speed.
There are more things to unlock later down the line, which are explained in the Rock Splitter Thorns Gorilla Spiritborn Endgame Guide. Until then, this guide teaches you all about how to reach the endgame in Diablo 4 with the Rock Splitter Thorns Spiritborn. Let's get started!
This build guide takes you up to level 60 and gets you started for the early Endgame on Torment 1 difficulty. If you're looking for in-depth Endgame guides, check out our Spiritborn Guides section!
- No resource management
- Good defenses
- Good all around build
- Needs a good amonut of dropped aspects
- Has to go Melee for Bosses
- Worse Mobility than other Spiritborn Builds
Check out our Leveling Builds Tier List to see how this build compares to others.
Season Theme
Season theme
Season 6 is the Season of Hatred Rising. It features the Zakarum Remnants faction which hunts Realmwalkers, massive behemoths that roam outdoor zones and beckon Mephisto's hellspawn. Participate in these zone events and take down the Realmwalkers to spawn a portal to a Seething Realm. There you can acquire Seething Opals, new consumables that stack with Elixirs for a XP buff and the chance to gather extra rewards when defeating enemies. The types of Opals are:
- Seething Opal of Equipment
- Seething Opal of Gold
- Seething Opal of Materials
- Seething Opal of Torment
- Seething Opal of Socketables
Use these Opals at all times to earn reputation with the Zakarum Remnants faction and unlock further rewards.
Learn more details about the season theme in our full Season Guide.
Skills & Gameplay
Getting Started
To start off you are going to put one point into Rock Splitter, which is our primary damage source, one into Enhanced Rock Splitter and, one into Accelerated Rock Splitter. Spamming this ability applies thorns on each third attack. As you progress through your skill tree, you pick up a massive amount of utility. Counterattack provides you with a high uptime on Dodge Chance and some Block Chance from Armored Hide. Once you reach Scourge, your survivability skyrockets as you maintain a high uptime on ongoing heals.
One of the biggest pluses of this build, is that there is no need to solve for resources. With this build solely focused on applying your thorns with Rock Splitter, no resources are spent to fully maximize this build.
Leveraging the Hunter skill movement, you can quickly traverse the battlefield and quickly gather up your enemies with Vortex which is cast from your Runeword. Once you are in place lay down the damage with nonstop thorn applications with Rock Splitter.
Speed & 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. Rock Splitter is the primary damage dealer in this build. Every third attack applies 100% of your thorns damage and with increased attack speed you can rapidly apply these thorns dealing massive amounts of damage.
Spirit Hall
At level 15, you can unlock your class mechanic called Spirit Hall. There you may choose one out of the four spirit guardians for both the primary and secondary slots. In this case, you go with Gorilla and Gorilla. The first grants you additional thorns and huge barrier generation, and the second grants +2 to your max Resolve and permanent Unstoppable. With Gorilla as your primary, survivability goes through the roof.
Key Passive
Adaptive Stances is your key passive of choice. Since you utilize all four spirits, we are frequently gaining all of the bonuses from this passive. Movement speed, damage reduction, attack speed, and life per second. With the swaps happening frequently, you have a very high uptime on the core stat increase as well.
Final Journey to Level 60
At this point, most of the key synergies are unlocked and the gameplay loop is almost complete. As you level up, you unlock a lot of extra points that go into various offensive and defensive passives or max out certain skills. Check out the skills progression above to see where to put your points as you go, but feel free to deviate from the order displayed as necessary. For example, you can pick up Auspicious earlier for extra defense or leave out some of the Ultimate passive cluster nodes until later if you find yourself rarely using The Hunter.
More info in the Endgame section below.
Check out our Renown Guide to unlock all your additional Skill Points efficiently.
Spirit Hall
Primary: Gorilla grants additional thorns and massive barrier generation.
Secondary: Gorilla grants Maximum Resolve and grants massive uptime on Unstoppable
Unlocking the Spirit Hall
Once you reach level 15, you have to complete a short questline starting in Gea Kul, Kehjistan. A Priority Quest leads you there to help out Tarka. After a few stops outside of town you have to enter the Sacred Hunting Grounds and defeat the Spirit Beast. While inside this dungeon you have to use the emote wheel at two separate stops, once for "Help", once for "Thanks" in order to progress. The boss fight is relatively long and difficult for low level characters, so it's recommended to do this quest on normal. After finishing the quest your secondary Spirit Hall unlocks automatically at level 30.
Learn more details in our full Spiritborn Spirit Hall Guide.
Gear & Stat Priorities
To get started as Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn, focus the most on upgrading your weapon as its damage is the base for all further damage calculations. Otherwise, follow the priority list below. While you don't have all of the desired temper manuals available, simply try to get anything useful on your gear until you get the right ones. For example, % Damage, Damage to Close, Vulnerable Damage, etc. all work as long as you activate their conditions. Likewise, you can temper multiple defensive options such as Resistances, Life, Armor to fill gaps in your survivability. Tempering low level gear is relatively cheap and the results can be very impactful.
Tip: For the early game, Elemental Surge Weapon Tempers are very powerful due to their high base damage, especially if you are twinking. If you find these, you may want to keep imprinting them on your weapons for an easy time.
Legendaries & Uniques
The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary or salvaging items with these powers. Check out our Map Tool to locate these Dungeons.
For leveling, there are a few powers that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them. In addition, keep an eye out for powerful Unique items you may find for this or other builds.
Must-have Dungeon unlocks
- Rapid
Nice-to-have Dungeon unlocks
- Bristleback
- Tormentor's
- Might
Other useful Aspects (drop/gamble)
- Menacing
- Forest Power
- Sky Power
- Adaptability
- Conceited
- Moonrise
What to Gamble
| Offensive | Gloves |
| Defensive | Helm, Chest, Pants |
| Utility, Mobility | Boots |
| Resource | Rings |
Great Uniques for this build
- Razorplate
- Harmony of Ebewaka
- Sepazontec
Jackpot Drops
As you level up, you may get lucky and find some great random drops. Some of these can massively amplify your power and speed up the leveling by switching to another build. Keep in mind that there are many more Aspects and Uniques that can be useful to multiple builds; this just lists some of the most impactful ones. While we usually recommend starting with Endgame Builds at level 60, you often can make them work earlier with these drops:
Build-defining Uniques
- Jacinth Shell (enables builds and amplifies multiple Endgame Builds)
Learn more details in our articles covering the Codex of Power and Unique Items.
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
- Lith + Wat - Which grants Decrepify providing a chance to execute enemies, Damage Reduction, Chance to Stun, and Slowing
- Xol + Kry - by invoking Decrepify, you constantly activate this Runeword to cast Vortex. Pulling enemies in is incredibly impactful and negates the Fear from Scourge
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 - Generates offering by spamming Rock Splitter
- Poc - Another way of generating offering
- Mot - Generates Dark Shroud 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 : Raheir
He offers you unparalleled defense that in turn buffs your offense. Valiance and Bastion reduce the damage you take and save you in dire situations. Inspiration gives you two great damage boosts as Raheir uses his skills either to save you or to attack enemies.
Reinforcement : Varyana
Call Varyana, the Berserker Crone as your reinforcement Mercenary when you cast Counterattack to attack with Ancient Harpoons. This helps mitigate the Fear that is applied by Scourge
Learn more about Mercenaries and how they work in our dedicated Mercenaries Overview.
How To Level
In Diablo 4, you can level by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, completing Helltide activities, grinding Dungeons, clearing Strongholds, fighting in the Undercity of Kurast or interacting with the Seasonal Mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are equal.
Campaign Leveling
- For your first character in Diablo 4, completing the Campaign provides all the background lore information but is not necessary.
- The Campaign is the slowest way to level, but it's worth experiencing the Campaign and Diablo 4's storyline at least once.
- To play Seasonal Content you need to have completed or skipped the Campaign.
- If your account is below Rank 4 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
- This only needs to be done once per realm (Softcore / Hardcore).
- After finishing the campaign, you should focus on earning experience in Helltides by combining Helltide activities with Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or completing Gathering Legion Events.
- Strongholds provide a big boost of experience for little time investment. Make sure to clear all of them after around level 40.
Seasonal / Alt Leveling
- Complete the Seasonal Questline in order to progress your Seasonal Journey to unlock additional Legendary Aspects and work on your Seasonal Powers.
- If your account is below Rank 4 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
- This only needs to be done once per realm (Softcore / Hardcore).
- Complete the Dungeons needed for any Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power.
- From level 1-60 you should focus on earning experience in Helltides by combining Helltide activities with Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or completing Gathering Legion Events.
- Strongholds provide a big boost of experience for little time investment. Make sure to clear all of them after around level 40.
- If you're playing an Alt, make sure to use Tempers and Leveling Caches crafted from the Alchemist to speed up your progression.
- Find the most efficient way of leveling your character in detail with our Speed Leveling Guide.
Tips and Tricks
- Don't Imprint Your Weapon
- It is a better idea to put your best Offensive Aspect on your Amulet, which usually is not replaced as often as your Weapon.
- Compare Your Items
- Press Shift to activate item comparison. Use this build guide's Stat Priorities section to identify potential upgrades.
- Choose an Easy Difficulty
- Ideally, start on Hard difficulty for the extra XP modifier, then try to go higher when it's way too easy. If that slows you down noticeably, it's better to stay on a lower difficulty.
- Use Your Materials
- There's no point in holding on to your gold or materials for later. Use everything to speed up your journey to 60. If you're twinking, make sure to craft the Allowance Caches from the Alchemist at level 20 and if available, equip your Mythic Uniques at level 35 to make the leveling a breeze.
Speedrun Route
- If you're looking to min/max your time spent on the way to 60 instead of following a generic guideline, you need to use a specific strategy.
- This usually includes farming certain activities up to a specified level and then switching to other tasks while gathering XP in high density areas and pushing the difficulty as high as you can.
- We update this strategy seasonally in our Speed Leveling Guide.
Endgame Transition
As you approach level 60 with the Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn, you unlock higher item power gear that represents a massive jump in character power. This is a good time to refresh your setup with new tempers and imprints.
At level 60, Paragon Levels and The Pit unlock. Work towards Tier 20 to enter Torment 1, where the Endgame begins. Focus on overcapping your Armor (1000+) and Resistances (70%+) as you receive some penalties to your character's stats:
- -250 Armor per Torment difficulty
- -25% All Resistances per Torment difficulty
At this point, your setup should look roughly like this before you dive into min/maxing with Uniques, Mythics & Masterworking. With better gear, more levels and Glyphs, you can push further and eventually unlock higher difficulties for increased rewards.
This step marks the end of the leveling guide. Below is the Paragon setup to get you started in Torment difficulty, but ideally, you should now transition towards the endgame version of this build or choose another of your liking.
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.
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
- Outmatch
- Headhunter
- Colossal
- Turf
- Hubris
To Level 46
- Headhunter
- Turf
- Hubris
- Colossal
- Outmatch
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.
Video Guide
Coming soon.
Summary
- The Rock Splitter Gorilla Thorns Spiritborn is a super fast, fun to play leveling build that scales very well into the lategame.
- No aspects needed to get started
- Utilizing the life steal of Scourge, you have great sustain paired with your nonstop onslaught of damage with Rock Splitter. Weaving in Armored Armored Hide for more defense and The Hunter to deal massive damage and bound across the battlefield, you are an unstoppable force with this build.
- Make sure you are getting thorns damage, attack speed, and defenses on your gear.
- While this is an up close and personal combat style, it has wonderful sustain and an overall comfortable gameplay.
Credits
Written by serocifkre
Reviewed by wudijo