Hello Developers and Fellow Players,
I want to start by saying that I love the Spiritborn class the fast-paced playstyle and the fantasy of being a poison shaman are incredible. Like many others, I have been trying to create a viable endgame Poison/Pestilent Swarm build for two seasons now. After extensive testing, I have some suggestions on how to refine the class design to make the build simpler, more enjoyable, and more in line with the Centipede fantasy while improving its endgame viability without disrupting overall game balance.
Current Issues with the Pestilent Swarm Build
- Excessive Aspect Requirements – Too many mandatory aspects are needed to spawn enough Pestilent Swarms and make them effective, which is particularly challenging in a class that already has fewer aspect options.
- Lack of Intrinsic Swarm Integration – Pestilent Swarms are not inherently part of the Centipede Spiritborn; they must be enabled through multiple aspects and runes. Even with full investment, reliably reaching the 15-swarm cap without runes is difficult (typically only reaching 11-13).
- Underwhelming Unique Ring – The Ring of the Writhing Moon lacks a meaningful damage multiplier or critical strike synergy. Its effects—such as spawning a swarm every four seconds and generating vigor—feel lackluster and not deserving of Unique status.
- Unclear UI and Damage Prioritization – The game does not clearly display skill tags or attributes for Pestilent Swarms, making it difficult to optimize builds. Additionally, swarms generated from different sources have varying damage values, but it is unclear if stronger swarms overwrite weaker ones when multiple spawn simultaneously.
- Difficult Synergy with Noxious Resonance & Spirit Halls – The Noxious Resonance key passive is hard to maximize without specific aspects. Integrating Centipede Spirit Halls into the build is challenging unless non-Centipede abilities are used.
- The Devourer Feels Unreliable – This node is one of the only intrinsic ways to spawn Pestilent Swarms, yet it is inconsistent and may even hinder the effectiveness of Noxious Resonance.
Proposed Solutions
- Improve the Ring of the Writhing Moon (Addresses Issues 1, 3, & 5)
• Merge the Aspect of Infestation into the ring’s effect, reducing the total aspect requirement for summoning Pestilent Swarms.
• Allow the ring to spawn swarms from any Centipede skill, making it a true centerpiece for Centipede and poison-focused builds.
• Replace the movement speed bonus with ranks to Unrestrained Power, Apex, Nourishment, or Ravenous for better synergy.
• Add Lucky Hit Chance, Pestilent Swarm Damage, and/or Critical Strike Damage instead of just Critical Strike Chance to improve its scaling and synergy with Noxious Resonance. - Enhance the Noxious Resonance Key Passive (Addresses Issues 2 & 5)
• Modify Noxious Resonance so that Critical Strikes cause poisoning to burst the enemy dealing poison damage to nearby enemies and causing Pestilent Swarms to erupt from the enemies and spiral outward. The damage could scale based on Critical Strike Damage, making it a more visually and mechanically rewarding way to spread poison.
• Alternatively, if changes to Noxious Resonance are undesirable, the Aspect of Pestilence could be modified to include this effect, applying it via Stinger or any Centipede ability. - Improve UI Clarity & Swarm Damage Prioritization (Addresses Issue 4)
• Display the tags and attributes of Pestilent Swarms so players can better understand how they interact with different Spirit Halls and passives (e.g., whether Harmony of Ebewaka grants Jaguar tags).
• Allow weaker swarms to burst upon being replaced by stronger ones, similar to the Insatiable Aspect for Touch of Death. This could either be a baseline mechanic or an added synergy with Insatiable Aspect. - Improve Centipede Spirit Hall Synergy (Addresses Issues 2 & 5)
• The Aspect of the Undying is so essential for all Spiritborn builds that it forces players into Gorilla Spirit Halls unless they use Harmony of Ebewaka.
• Solution: Adjust Loyalty’s Mantle to lower Vigor Cost and Cooldown Reduction to 40-50% while adding a 30% damage multiplier for skills that match the player’s base spirit.
• Alternatively, the mantle could grant +1 to all passives or make skills with a matching base spirit benefit from all of their upgrades, allowing for true single-spirit builds without losing substantial damage. - Rework The Devourer & Exalted Devourer Node (Addresses Issue 6)
• Current Problems: - The Devourer cannot be recast until its duration ends, limiting toxic glob interactions and causing its damage to fall off over time.
- Exalted Devourer hinders Noxious Resonance, as enemies die instantly instead of allowing multiple poison burst triggers.
• Proposed Fixes:
• Allow The Devourer to be recast while active, with new casts either:
• Releasing additional toxic globs (with increased size and guaranteed crits for Noxious Resonance procs).
• Summoning multiple Devourers (max 3).
• Buff Exalted Devourer by having poison bursts from Noxious Resonance also spawn Pestilent Swarms while Devourer is active.
• Alternatively, allow Devourer’s toxic globs and beam to spawn multiple stronger Pestilent Swarms, reinforcing its role in a swarm-centric build.
Closing Thoughts
I absolutely love the Spiritborn class—it’s my main in Diablo 4, and the Centipede/Pestilent Swarm fantasy is incredibly fun. These suggestions are meant to provide constructive feedback to help refine the class while preserving game balance.
I’m open to discussion and I’d love to hear what others think! Please share your thoughts and ideas.