Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred - Quill Volley Spiritborn Build Guide

The Quill Volley Spiritborn build has become one of the top-tier choices in Diablo 4, especially after the nerfs to the Eagle Evade Spiritborn build. It shines particularly at high-level Torments and endgame content, where it provides a strong combination of damage, survivability, and mobility. This build revolves around the Quill Volley skill, utilizing unique equipment, Aspects, and strategic stat allocation to maximize its potential. Here's your ultimate guide to mastering this build.

Overview

Playstyle: Ranged, high-damage shotgun-style attacks.

Strengths: Exceptional damage output, high mobility, survivability, and scaling in higher Torments.

Core Focus: Utilizing Quill Volley, the Spiritborn's Core Skill, in combination with cooldown reduction, Vigor management, and high attack speed.

Key Build Components

Quill Volley Core Skill

Quill Volley launches a barrage of feathers in a cone, which can deal massive damage, apply Vulnerable status, and trigger bonus effects when upgraded.

Rod of Kepeleke

This unique item is crucial for the build, as it adds the Basic tag to all Core Skills, making them free to cast, allowing you to spam Quill Volley and benefit from increased Crit Damage based on Vigor spent.

Jacinth Shell

Reduces cooldowns rapidly at the cost of draining Life, but it heals when you spend Vigor, making it essential for keeping your damage output at its peak while maintaining survivability.

Ring of the Midnight Sun

Restores Vigor with Critical Hits, making it a key piece for managing your Vigor and maintaining high uptime on the Rod of Kepeleke's damage bonus.

Skill Tree Breakdown

Basic Skills:

Rock Splitter: Allocate one point here for passive Vigor regeneration when blocking (you don't need to slot this skill).

Enhanced Rock Splitter: Unlock this node to further improve your Vigor regeneration.

Core Skills:

Quill Volley: Max out this skill for devastating area damage. Pick up the Enhanced Quill Volley and Replenishing Quill Volley nodes to trigger Vulnerable status and gain additional feathers per cast.

Balanced Exertion & Vigorous: Boost your overall damage and Vigor regeneration with these nodes.

Focus Skills:

Ravager: Max this skill to increase attack speed and mobility, vital for high-paced combat.

Vortex: One point here is enough to group enemies, maximizing the effectiveness of your AoE abilities.

Passive skills: Mirage, Unrestrained Power, Focal Point, and Apex for extra damage and utility.

Defensive Skills:

Armored Hide and Scourge: Key for survivability, providing defense and burst damage.

Counterattack: Grant's passive dodge, synergizing with the Ring of the Midnight Sun and Rod of Kepeleke for Vigor management.

Potency Skills:

Resilient, Brilliance, Furnace, Potent: These skills boost damage and increase survivability, crucial for high-level content.

Ultimate:

The Hunter: Your go-to Ultimate for its damage boost and cooldown reduction. When paired with Jacinth Shell and other cooldown-reduction Aspects, you can use it frequently to enhance your overall damage output.

Key Passive: Prodigy's Tempo

Effect: Prodigy's Tempo is the cornerstone of this build. It increases the effectiveness of your skills and reduces cooldowns drastically. Every third consecutive use of a Basic or Core skill boosts all skill ranks by 2 for 5 seconds and reduces cooldowns by 10%, enabling you to cycle through Quill Volley rapidly and deal massive damage.

Spirit Hall Choices

Primary Spirit Hall: Jaguar - This gives a damage boost after every 15th hit on an enemy, which is often due to high attack speed.

Secondary Spirit Hall: Gorilla - Increases Resolve stacks and provides the Unstoppable buff when your Resolve is above 5, further enhancing your tankiness and mobility.

Recommended Uniques for the Build

Jacinth Shell: Reduces cooldowns at the cost of life, which is mitigated by Vigor expenditure. This item is essential for making the build viable, especially for fast cooldown cycling.

Rod of Kepeleke: Turns your Core skills into Basic Skills, allowing you to cast them for free and spam Quill Volley. This is a must-have for the build.

Ring of the Midnight Sun: Provides Vigor regeneration with Crits and grants Counterattack's dodge passive, allowing you to maintain Vigor and dodge effectively in combat.

Harmony of Ebewaka: Assigns your secondary Spirit Hall type to all skills, increasing the damage output for every Spirit associated with them.

Paragon Boards & Glyphs

Paragon Board: Focus on Dexterity and Strength for increased damage and survivability.

Dexterity: Boosts damage and dodge chance, vital for this build. By Torment 4, you should aim for 3000-4000 Dexterity.

Strength: Improves Armor and Critical Strike Chance, important for boosting your overall effectiveness.

Best Glyphs:

Fulminate Glyph: Boosts Lightning damage and increases bonus damage to healthy and injured enemies.

Menagerie Glyph: Boosts Magic Nodes in range, increasing overall damage for your Spirit Hall skills.

Fitness Glyph: Increases Crit Damage for every Dexterity in range, and generates Vigor on Critical Hits.

Colossal Glyph: Increases damage with Gorilla skills and boosts damage for every stack of Resolve.

Talon Glyph: Increases damage with Eagle Skills, boosting Crit Damage and Lightning damage.

Runewords & Mercenaries

Runeword 1 (PocQue): This increases Offering generation, helping you trigger powerful effects like the Earthen Bulwark for free casting.

Runeword 2 (CirGar): Boosts Crit Chance after casting the same spell three times in a row, synergizing well with high-speed Quill Volley spam.

Best Mercenaries:

Primary Mercenary: Raheir: Provides Armor and Fortify boosts, as well as Stun abilities for added control and survivability.

Reinforcement Mercenary: Varyana: Casts Earth Breaker every time you use a Skill, providing additional AoE damage.

Stats, Affixes, and Gems

Primary Stats:

Dexterity: The primary stat for increasing damage and dodge chance.

Strength: Secondary stat to boost Armor and Critical Strike Chance.

Important Affixes:

Increased Crit Chance: Essential for maintaining high Vigor levels with Ring of the Midnight Sun.

Increased Attack Speed: Improves your overall damage output and triggers your Spirit Hall effects more frequently.

Increased Vigor Generation: Helps maintain a constant flow of Vigor for damage boosts from Rod of Kepeleke.

Gems:

Ruby (for Strength boosts).

Emerald (for Critical Chance).

Sapphire (for Dexterity boosts).

Conclusion

The Quill Volley Spiritborn build in Diablo 4 is one of the most powerful and versatile builds for endgame content, especially with its ability to scale incredibly well in high Torments. With the right combination of skills, Aspects, and gear, this build allows you to deal massive amounts of damage while maintaining survivability and high mobility. Keep an eye on your Vigor management and cooldown reduction, and you'll be dominating the battlefield in no time.

If you need Diablo 4 Gold and Diablo 4 Items to help complete your build or speed up your progression, platforms like MMOexp offer reliable and secure ways to purchase what you need. With the right gear and progression, your Quill Volley Spiritborn will be unstoppable.