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Diablo 4 Build

Rock Splitter - Gorillaborn - Levelling

Spiritborn

Leveling

Verified

Season 11

Imortilize

Hardcore

Speed Farm

By imortilize

LIVE

Updated on Mar 4, 2026

Mar 4, 2026

Build Overview

This Gorilla Spiritborn Levelling Build focuses on optimising the Thorns Damage from Rock Splitter whilst staying tanky enough to easily get to Level 60.

Check the How It Works Section and FAQ below to learn how the Rock Splitter Spiritborn smashes Levelling.

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🎬 Find Build Guides and Additional Info on YouTube

Endgame Guide: Thorns Rock Splitter - Gorillaborn / Others: Tier List + Levelling Guides

Strengths and Weaknesses

Excellent Levelling Build
Super Casual To Play
Easy To Get Going

Base Thorns Hard To Scale
Hard To See Thorns Damage Numbers
Average Mobility

Build Variants

30 - 60

15 - 29

1 - 14

At this point you will have up to 71 Skill Points at Level 60.
This will require you to have completed All Season Journey Objectives that Award Skill Points to complete.

Once you have reached Level 60 be sure to check out the Endgame Guide for where to go next.

Assigned Skills

30 - 60

15 - 29

1 - 14

Primary

Secondary

Primary Spirit

Secondary Spirit

To unlock Spirit Halls you will need to have completed the Spiritborn Class Quest at Level 15+ at least once in your accounts lifetime on whichever realm you are playing (Softcore or Hardcore).

We swap from Gorilla Primary Spirit Hall to Eagle Primary Spirit Hall at this point because we gain access to the Life on Hit from Fueled now that we have the Jaguar Secondary Spirit Hall and it grants us easy access to a lot of Damage Passives.

Eagle (Primary)

We take the Eagle Primary Spirit Hall to help Cap Movement Speed as well as provide Vulnerable Application.

Jaguar (Secondary)

We take the Jaguar Secondary Spirit Hall for the Ferocity Generation.

Equipment

30 - 60

15 - 29

1 - 14

HelmAspect of Disobedience

Chest armorBruiser's Aspect

GlovesRapid Aspect

PantsJuggernaut's Aspect

BootsAspect of Haste

AmuletAspect of Adaptability

Ring 1Aspect of Combined Strikes

Ring 2Vehement Brawler's Aspect

WeaponAspect of the Moonrise

Requirements

There are no specific requirements to start this build.

Aspects

You can acquire the following Aspects from World Map Dungeons and Drops Only:

Dry Steppes

Rapid Aspect -> Buried Halls

Kehjistan

Aspect of Disobedience -> Halls of the Damned

Drops Only

Aspect of Combined Strikes
Aspect of the Moonrise
Vehement Brawler's Aspect
Bruiser's Aspect
Juggernaut's Aspect
Aspect of Haste
Aspect of Adaptability

Bloodied Affixes

These are the new Seasonal Mechanic which you may or may not come across during levelling but here are a list of useful Bloodied Affixes worth looking for:

Feast (per X kills)

Savagely bite 4 times for X damage and apply vulnerable
Reset 2 random Cooldowns
Gain Berserking for Y seconds
Release a Bloodspolsion for Y damage
Chain hooks Y nearby enemies

Rampage (per kill streak tier)

Attack Speed
Movement Speed
Cooldown Reduction
Life on Hit
Maximum Life
Critical Chance

Hunger (during kill streaks)

Increased Experience
Increased Reputation
Increased Chance for Runes

Unique Items

If you happen to come across any of the following Unique Items whilst levelling they will greatly boost the build:

Razorplate

- Pure Thorns Damage
- Synergises well with Accelerated Rock Splitter

Sepazontec

- Big damage
- Every Rock Splitter attack will activate Accelerated Rock Splitter
- Double Basic Skill Damage
- 3rd Attacks now hit 3 Times

Balazan's Maxtlatl

- Close combat Thorns Damage
- Auto-Poison makes Replenishing Toxic Skin easy to activate
- Ranks to Bastion
- Base Thorns Damage

Loyalty's Mantle

- Double Gorilla Spirit Hall Potency
- Huge Gorilla Skill Cooldown Reduction

Hesha e Kesungi

- Huge damage on using The Protector
- Can use The Protector at range.
- The Protector Cooldown
- Gorilla Skill Ranks

Runes

If you happen to come across any of the following Rune Pairs whilst levelling they will greatly boost the build:

Moni + Ton

- Rains Meteorites every 2 Attacks
- Great clearance
- Easy levelling

Cir + Qua

- Solves Movement Speed along with Aspect of Haste

Moni + Xan

- If you come across a Xan use this instead of Ton
- Unlocks Critical Strikes and Overpower Damage for Accelerated Rock Splitter

Elixirs and Incenses

30 - 60

15 - 29

1 - 14

ElixirElixir of Advantage

Core IncenseQueen's Supreme

Defensive IncenseReddamine Buzz

Resistance IncenseSoothing Spices

Elixir of Advantage
Elixir of Resourcefulness (If Attack Speed is capped and Aspect of Adaptability is equipped)

Skill Tree

30 - 60

15 - 29

1 - 14

Available

0 (0)

Spent59 (12)

Leveling Path

Be sure to check out the Levelling Path that can be Toggled above in the Skill Tree.

Skills

Accelerated Rock Splitter

- Grants Thorns Damage
- Every 3rd Attack
- Activates Every Attack via Sepazontec
- Basic Skill Damage scales this
- Double Damage Tempers scale this

Armored Hide

- Grants 100% Block Chance
- Grants Unstoppable
- Enhanced Armored Hide Grants Thorns Damage
- Enhanced Armored Hide Grants Maximum Resolve
- 5% Block Damage Reduction per Nearby Enemy (Maximum 20%)

Ravager

- Grants Minimum Ferocity passively (+5% Attack Speed per stack)

Toxic Skin

- Grants Unhindered
- Poisons enemies
- Grants 100%[x] Thorns Damage

Scourge

- Up to 50% Damage against Crowd-Controlled Enemies

The Protector

- Grants Barrier in area
- Deals Thorns Damage at Rank 5
- Reduces enemy damage
- Increases Damage for 6 Seconds
- Grants Unstoppable for 6 Seconds
- Slows Enemies & Projectiles in area

Key Passive

Adaptive Stances

- Grants 30% Damage Reduction
- Grants 100% Core Stats for 7 Seconds

Divine Gifts

30 - 60

15 - 29

1 - 14

Andariel

CorruptedEmpty

PurifiedEssence of Anguish

Azmodan

CorruptedEmpty

PurifiedEssence of Sin

Belial

CorruptedEmpty

PurifiedEssence of Lies

Duriel

CorruptedEmpty

PurifiedEssence of Pain

Divine Gifts

Purified

The best in slot Divine Perks for most Spiritborn Builds as follows:

Essence of Anguish

- +30% Movement Speed
- Double Chance for an Extra Obols in the Undercity

Essence of Sin

- 20% Increased Armour
- Double Chance for Activity Keys from World Bosses

Essence of Lies

- Fortify for 1% of your Maximum Life per Second
- Double Chance for an Extra Upgrade in the Pit

Essence of Pain

- Briefly Gain Maximum Barrier after becoming Injured, every 20 Seconds.
- Double Chance for an Extra Socketables in the Helltide

Mercenary

30 - 60

15 - 29

1 - 14

Varyana (Primary)

We take Varyana as our Primary for the Attack Speed and Movement Speed she grants which are both mandatory and exceptional for this build whilst levelling.

Raheir (Secondary)

We take Raheir as our Secondary as a get out of Jail Free Card if he activates in time when you Become Injured.

How it Plays

The main focus of this Gorilla Spiritborn Levelling Build is to scale your Thorns Damage where boosting your weapon will drastically increases the damage output of the build Whilst Levelling. The rest of the gear can be whatever you find and it is highly recommended to equip Defensive Aspects to help trivialise the Levelling Process.

If you're lucky enough to come across a Sepazontec whilst levelling this will allow you to annihilate the game all the way until level 60. It makes Every Attack count as a 3rd Attack and on your 3rd Attack you hit 3 Times instead. It also grants a quite phenomenal amount of damage.

The following steps are the recommended Build Rotation for skill usage:

Cast Armored Hide for 100% Block Chance.
Cast Counterattack for 100% Dodge Chance.
Cast Toxic Skin to apply Poison to surrounding enemies as well as boost your Thorns Damage.
Cast The Protector for Barrier Generation, Unstoppable and Immense Damage Output.
Cast Rock Splitter liberally around the other skills.

Repeat each step as necessary

How it Works

Build Overview

This Gorilla Spiritborn focuses on optimising the Thorns Damage across the build whilst staying tanky enough to beat all end game content. It does this through the following:

Use of the Accelerated Rock Splitter Thorns Tech.
Both Gorilla Spirit Halls.
Making use of the Razorplate if you drop one.
Maximising the base Thorns Damage.
Vulnerable Application via Eagle Spirit Hall in 30 - 60 Variant.
Ferocity Generation via Jaguar Spirit Hall in 30 - 60 Variant.
Counterattack for 100% Dodge Chance in combat.
100% Block Chance using Armored Hide.
The Protector for incredible Utility and Damage Output.
Maxing Attack Speed through Aspects and Equipment.

Check out the In-Depth Explanations below for further details on the build.

Extra Details

This build was incredibly easy to level requiring very little to blast and went to Pit 107+ in the Season 12 PTR. This was achieved at Paragon 200 - 220 with Decent Equipment and Maxed Glyphs.

With the correct gear this build should easily reach Level 60 and beyond without any issues.

Start Tips

Equip a Pet
Equip Mercenary
Claim Season Journey Skill Points
Start Seasonal Questline
Unlock Seasonal Reputation Board
Start Levelling Strategy

Levelling Strategies

All of these levelling strategies will get you from Level 1 - 60 in a matter of hours. Below are the Levelling Strategies you can use in order of Fastest to Slowest:

Vessel of Hatred Campaign + Strongholds

Fastest Strategy
Run Vessel of Hatred Campaign until Level 48 - 50
Once you hit Level 48 - 50
- Run Strongholds until Level 60

Helltides + Strongholds

Fastest Non-Campaign Strategy
Run Helltides until Level 48 - 50
Hand in Whispers along the way
Once you hit Level 48 - 50
- Run Strongholds until Level 60

Note: The Strongholds grant the same reward XP in all Difficulties so run them in a difficulty where you can blast through them at a good speed.

PvP Zone (Season 12 Only)

Not Recommended for Hardcore
Head to either of the PvP Zones
Circle around killing All Enemies in your path
Aim to get to the 500+ Kill Streak Bonus
Let the Killstreak Bonus end
Repeat process

Nightmare Dungeons

Requires Nightmare Dungeon Sigils (Experience Mote Affix)
Not the fastest
Provides other materials

FAQ

If you have any questions about this guide feel free to reach out to me whilst live on Twitch, YouTube, Kick or X or contact me offline via my Discord.

How do You make my Thorns Critical Strike and Overpower?

The only way that is available to allow your Thorns Damage to Critical Strike or Overpower right now is by using a Xan Rune which will not be a given to drop during the Level 1 - 60 phase. If you do come across one of these then you will certainly want to pair this up with a Moni Rune for an enormous boost to the build.

How Much Attack Speed Do You Need?

You will want as much Attack Speed as possible since the faster you attack, the more often your Moni Rune will activate and this ultimately is where your big hits will activate later on through the Sepazontec and the Xan Rune.

Aim for 100% Attack Speed on Equipment, Aspects, Paragon, Mercenaries and Elixirs.

You can only attain Attack Speed in Attack Speed Bucket 2 via Ferocity and Adaptive Stances if using a Jaguar Skill right now so we prioritise Ferocity since we are using a Gorilla Skill.

We achieve this by stacking Ferocity through the use of the Jaguar Secondary Spirit Hall.

Changelog

3rd March 2026 / v5.0.beta

Updated in preparation for Season 12.
This can still be used for Season 11 by ignoring all Bloodied Affix Info and using any Sanctifications you apply as you Level.