Payback – Spiritborn Build for Diablo 4 (Season 10)

Build Introduction

The Payback Spiritborn build turns Payback into a spammable Thorns machine by combining Aspect of Bristling Vengeance and the Rod of Kepeleke, removing its cooldown and making it count as Basic, Core, and Potency at once. WithPoised Payback, each cast consumes full Vigor for bonus damage while instant Vigor restoration keeps the skill flowing, creating nonstop damage and strong synergies with Prodigy’s Tempo.

Starting new? Begin with our Quill Volley Leveling Build and switch to this one at Level 60.
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Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Requirements

Required Uniques

Ring of the Midnight Sun

Required Aspects

Aspect of Bristling Vengeance

Please note that this build requires a specific set of Chaos Armor to function:

• Sunstained War-Crozier
• Sepazontec
• Harmony of Ebewaka
• Banished Lord’s Talisman
• Rod of Kepeleke

Want to know more about the Uniques supporting this setup? Jump to the Uniques section.

Quick Navigation

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Recommended

Suggested Skill Bar

VortexArmored HideRavagerThe ProtectorScourgePayback

Wondering what comes after Level 60? Head to the Paragon Board section to power up the build even further.

And if you want to see how everything plays out in combat, check out the Rotation and Playstyle section for a quick breakdown. If you are missing skill points, complete Renown Tier 1-3 in every zone.

Spiritborn Class Mechanic – Spirit Hall Choice

The Spirit Hall allows you to combine two different Spirit Guardians or stick with just one. 

• Primary: Centipede
  • Hitting an enemy with a Centipede Skill reduces their Damage by 2%, Slows them by 10%, and deals 70% Poisoning damage over 6 seconds, stacking up to a maximum of 8 times. All Skills are now also Centipede Skills.
• Secondary: Jaguar
  • Maximum Ferocity is increased by 1. Gain 1 stack of Ferocity whenever you kill an enemy or damage a Boss.

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Gear, Stats, Gems, and Runes

The following sections cover all systems that are important if you want to improve the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4. 

Legendary Aspects

Each Aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each Aspect in the assigned slot. Remember to salvage Legendary Items with higher Aspect values to unlock them in the Codex of Power, and then imprint them onto gear pieces with the preferred affixes. For best results, combine these Aspects with the right stat priorities.

Gear Slot	Gems/Runes	Aspect / Unique	Legendary Aspect / Unique Power
Helm	Poc Ohm	Chaos Armor Sunstained War-Crozier	Your Focus Skills benefit from all their Upgrades, and they increase the damage of your Potency Skills by 30% for 8 seconds, up to 300%.
Chest	Ahu Que	Chaos Armor Sepazontec	Your Basic Skills deal x 144% increased damage and always use their 3rd attack. Every 3rd cast of a Basic Skill strikes three times
Gloves		Chaos Armor Harmony of Ebewaka	According to your secondary Spirit Hall choice, your Skills are all additionally Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, or Centipede Skills. Your Skills deal x48% increased damage per SPirit type they have.
Pants	Grand Amethyst	Chaos Armor Banished Lord’s Talisman	After you spend 275 of your Primary Resource, your next Core Skill is guaranteed to overpower. Your Critical Strikes that Overpower deal 72% increased damage.
Boots		Chaos ArmorRod of Kepeleke	Your Core Skills are now additionally Basic Skills and free to cast. When cast at Maximum Vigor, your Core Skills Consume all Vigor to return to full damage, cast at their largest Size, and become guaranteed Critical Strikes, with x0.9% increased Critical Strike Damage for each point of Vigor Consumed this way.
Amulets(50% bonus)	Grand Diamond	Aspect of Adaptability	Basic Skills generate 5 additional Primary Resource, once per Skill. Basic Skills deal x[0.4-0.6%] increased damage for each point of Primary Resource you have
Ring	Grand Diamond	Ring of the Midnight Sun	When you Critically Strike, you regain [20-50%] of the Vigor you’ve spent in the 2 seconds. Gain Counterattack’s Passive Effect.
Ring	Grand Diamond	Aspect of the Moonrise	Damaging an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you +4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampireic Bloodrage, gaining x[40-60%] Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.
Weapon (200% bonus)	Grand Emerald	Aspect of Bristling Vengeance	Payback now echoes forward and deals 100-150% of your Thorns along the way. The final echo is larger and deals double the Thorns damage.

Keep in mind that Chaos Armor does not have to be in its respective slots. If you find Sepazontec on Boots and Kepeleke on Chest, the power and affixes will remain the same, so pick the one with the best Greater Affix rolls! As long as you have all the required Chaos Armor, you will be good to go.

Curious how this build compares to other endgame options? Take a look at our Endgame Build Tier List.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides for more details about these topics. Want to jump back up to the gear table?

Slot	Targeted Gear Affix	Tempering Affixes
Helm	Dexterity Maximum Life Ranks to Focus Skills Chance For Potency Skills to Deal Double Damage	N/A
Chest	Chance for Basic Skills to Deal Double Damage Rnaks to Follow Through Dexterity Basic Skill Lucky Hit Chance	N/A
Gloves	All Stats Movement Speed Damage Reduction Ranks to Velocity	N/A
Pants	Maximum Life Overpower Damage Attack Speed Ranks to Core Skills	N/A
Boots	Critical Strike Damage Maximum Resource Ranks to Vigorous Chance for Core Skills to Hit Twice	N/A
Amulet	1. Dexterity 2. Maximum Resource 3. Ranks to Potent	Worldly Stability (Resource): Resource Cost Reduction Worldly Finesse (Offensive): Overpower Damage
Ring	Dexterity Cooldown Reduction Critical Strike Damage Ranks to Mirage	N/A
Ring	1. Attack Speed 2. Dexterity 3. Resource Cost Reduction	Jaguar Efficiency (Resource): The Hunder Cooldown Reduction Worldly Finesse (Offensive): Overpower Damage
Weapon	1. Polearm: 100% Vulnerable Damage 2. Dexterity 3. Critical Strike Damage 4. Resource Cost Reduction	Worldly Finesse (Offensive): Critical Strike Damage Forest Augments (Weapons): Chance for Payback to Deal Double Damage

Prioritize capping all of your Resistances, and make sure to reach the Armor Cap of 1,000. However, certain builds that scale with armor, such as this one, benefit from having more armor in general. Furthermore, in higher difficulties, there will be a penalty to armor and resistance, so you will need a higher amount to compensate for the loss.

Looking for progression beyond gear? See our Paragon recommendations or Runewords Synergy next.

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Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Below, you will find information on Uniques and Mythic Uniques that are useful and recommended for this build. If a Unique or Mythic Unique is not listed here, it is NOT recommended and won’t benefit this specific build in any way.

Uniques

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for this build.

• Ring of the Midnight Sun (Required): When you Critically Strike, you regain {x}% of the Vigor you’ve spent in the 2 seconds. Gain Counterattack’s Passive Effect.

Check our Chaos Armor section for the Chaos Uniques requirements.

Mythic Uniques

Listed below are the recommended and optional Mythic Unique Items for this build.

• Ring of Starless Skies (Recommended): Spending your Primary Resource reduces the Resource cost of your Skills and increases your damage by x10% for 3 seconds, up to x50%.

If you are interested in target farming Mythic Uniques, check out our How to Farm Mythic Uniques guide. Or you can return to the Build Requirements.

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Gems and Runewords

Listed below are the recommended Gems and Runewords to socket into your gear.

Gems

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Emerald For more Critical Strike Damage	Grand Amethyst For more Barrier Generation	Grand Diamond or Grand Skull For more Resistance or Armor

Runewords

Runewords are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and replace gems in gear. Improve your build by combining a trigger Rune of Ritual and an effect Rune of Invocation. You can equip up to two Runeword pairs (four Runes) at a time. For a detailed guide on Runewords, check out our Runewords Guide!

The following are recommended Runeword combination options for the Poison Thorns endgame build of the Spiritborn:

Runeword Combination	Runeword Effects
Poc Ohm	Poc – Gain: 5 Offering. Spend 5% of your Maximum Resource. Ohm – Requires: 600 Offering. Cooldown: 2 seconds. Invoke the Barbarian’s War Cry, increasing your damage dealt by x15% for 6 seconds.
Ahu Que	Ahu – Gain: 15 Offering. Lucky Hit: Up to a 100% chance against non-Healthy enemies Que – Requires: 300 Offering. Cooldown: 1 Seconds. Evoke the Druid’s Earthen Bulwark, granting yourself a Barrier.

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Paragon Board

Paragon unlocks at Level 60 and plays a big role in endgame progression. The following Legendary Nodes and Glyphs are recommended for this build. Keep in mind that each Glyph’s information and radius listed below is for the Level 46 version.

Need a refresher on how the skills are set up? Click here to return to the Skill Tree section.

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Season 10 Mechanics

Chaos Perks

Season 10 replaces the seasonal powers with Chaos Perks, which alter how your skills work by giving strong bonuses balanced by drawbacks. You can equip three non-Unique perks plus one Unique. Most perks are unlocked via the Seasonal Reputation board, but Unique perks become available only after defeating Bartuc in Infernal Hordes on Torment I or higher. You can upgrade your Chaos Perks with the seasonal currency Infernal Warps, increasing its impact on your build.

The key perk in this setup is Crazy Brew, which is extremely powerful but requires using your Life Flask actively as a damage tool. For players with less gear or those who feel unsafe, Crazy Brew can be swapped out for Accelerating Chaos to gain passive cooldown reduction, or Back Off! for more reliable damage without relying on flask usage.

Chaos Armor

Chaos Amor is a new type of Unique in Season 10. These items are more powerful versions of existing Uniques, breaking normal slot restrictions and opening up completely new ways to build your character.

The following Chaos Uniques are required for this build:

• Sunstained War-Crozier: Your Focus Skills benefit from all their Upgrades, and they increase the damage of your Potency Skills by 30% for 8 seconds, up to 300%.
• Sepazontec: Your Basic Skills deal x 144% increased damage and always use their 3rd attack. Every 3rd cast of a Basic Skill strikes three times.
• Harmony of Ebewaka: According to your secondary Spirit Hall choice, your Skills are all additionally Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, or Centipede Skills. Your Skills deal x48% increased damage per SPirit type they have.
• Banished Lord’s Talisman: After you spend 275 of your Primary Resource, your next Core Skill is guaranteed to overpower. Your Critical Strikes that Overpower deal 72% increased damage.
• Rod of Kepeleke: Your Core Skills are now additionally Basic Skills and free to cast. When cast at Maximum Vigor, your Core Skills Consume all Vigor to return to full damage, cast at their largest Size, and become guaranteed Critical Strikes, with x0.9% increased Critical Strike Damage for each point of Vigor Consumed this way.

Please make sure to keep wearing all aspects and uniques listed in the build requirements.

Mercenaries

During the Vessel of Hatred campaign, you will unlock different NPC Mercenaries who join you on your travels. For this build, we would advise selecting Raheir as your main companion, for the added survivability he provides, and Varyana as Reinforcement.

Raheir Skill Tree choices:

• Core Skill: Shield Charge
• Core Passive: Raheir’s Guard
• Iconic Skill: Provoke
• Iconic Passive: Iron Wolf’s Ward

Varyana Reinforcement choices:

• Opportunity Skill: Scourge
• Reinforcement Skill: Bloodthirst

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Build Mechanics

Rotation and Playstyle

This Payback Gorilla build works around turning Payback into a spammable strong skill that also scales with Thorns. Thanks to Rod of Kepeleke and Poised Payback, Payback simultaneously counts as a Basic, Core, and Potency skill, letting you benefit from Prodigy’s Tempo for cooldown reduction and extra skill ranks. Each cast consumes 100% of your Vigor, triggering bonus damage from both Rod of Kepeleke and Poised Payback. However, the Ring of the Midnight Sun instantly restores Vigor on critical strikes, keeping the loop going.

Chaos Armor is very important to this build. Sepazontec buffs your Basic Skills, Harmony of Ebewaka adds scaling from multiple Spirit types, and Banished Lord’s Talisman guarantees Overpower. With Aspect of Bristling Vengeance, Payback not only hits enemies directly but also repeats, dealing bonus Thorns damage in waves.

Overall, the build is fast-paced and aggressive. You will be pressing keys constantly, but in exchange, you get a rewarding damage loop that can melt both packs of mobs and bosses.

1. Open by grouping enemies together with Vortex.
2. Use Scourge to slow and poison enemies.
3. Use Ravager to cause your Payback to trigger an additional hit.
4. Use The Protector as soon as it’s ready.
5. Spam Payback as your main damage source.
6. Use Armored Hide when you need more survivability.

Maintain buffs from Prodigy’s Tempo and Aspect of the Moonrise by consistently casting Payback.

Against elites and bosses, focus on chaining Payback at max Vigor for the largest critical hits.

Runeword Synergy

• Poc Ohm: Poc generates 5 Offering every time you spend 5% of your Maximum Resource, which stacks up quickly in any resource-heavy build. That Offering fuels Ohm, which spends 600 to trigger War Cry, boosting your damage by 15% for 6 seconds on a 2-second cooldown. With steady resource spending, you can keep War Cry up nearly all the time, creating a loop of resource use, Offering generation, and constant damage uptime.
• Ahu Que: Ahu provides 15 Offering through Lucky Hits on non-Healthy enemies, which feeds directly into Que. Que spends 300 Offering to grant you Earthen Bulwark, giving a Barrier every second the resource is available. This pairing keeps defenses up during fights, letting you push offense with Lucky Hits while steadily reinforcing survivability through constant Barriers.

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

Visit the Alchemist and craft an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Assault Elixir to increase Attack Speed. Some Elixirs cannot be crafted and only drop from activities like Helltides or Nightmare Dungeons. Additionally, make sure to keep your health potion upgraded! 

The following Elixirs are useful for most Spiritborn builds:

• Elixir of Precision provides the highest damage output increase.
• Elixir of Advantage increases your attack speed
• Elixir of Fortitude for additional survivability 

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Season 10 Updates

For a full overview of what is new in Season 10, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub.

Here is a quick overview of seasonal changes relevant to this build:

• Primary Centipede Hall: Damage reduction now capped at 80%.
• Payback: Damage increased from 150% to 175%.
• Enhanced Payback: Stacking damage bonus increased from 5% to 20%, up from 100% to 200%. Total stacks to reach maximum bonus reduced from 20 to 10.
• The Protector Rank 5 Thorns damage bonus increased from 150% to 300%.
  • Now deals Thorns damage every .5 second instead of every second.
• Harmonious Protector:
  • Previous: The Protector’s strikes deal 300% increased damage to non-Elite enemies and reduce the damage you take from Elite enemies by 30% for 6 seconds.
  • Now: The Protector’s strikes deal 350% increased damage and all enemies within its area deal 30% reduced damage.
• Exalted Protector:
  • Previous: The Protector’s area persists for an additional 6 seconds. While in the area you are Unstoppable, deal 25% increased damage, and any enemies or Small Missiles inside are Slowed by 80%.
  • Now: The Protector’s area persists for an additional 6 seconds and Slows enemies and Small Missiles by 80%. While it’s Nearby, you are Unstoppable and deal 30% increased damage.
• Dominant
  • Previous: Gorilla Skills deal 5/10/15% increased damage to Knocked Down enemies and their first hits have a 5% chance to Execute non-Boss enemies.
  • Now: Attempting to Knock Down an enemy increases your Gorilla Skill damage by 5/10/15% for 10 seconds.
• Resilient:
  • Previous: Casting a Gorilla Skill grants 5/10/15% increased Maximum Life for 10 seconds.
  • Now: For each Base Gorilla Skill on your Action Bar, gain 1.5/3/4.5% Maximum Life, Knock Down Duration, and Barrier Generation.
• Aspect of Bristling Vengeance:
  • Previous: Payback now echoes forward and additionally deals 90-130% of your Thorns damage to enemies.
  • Now: Payback now echoes forward and deals 100-150% of your Thorns along the way. The final echo is larger and deals double the Thorns damage.
• Harmony of Ebewaka: Damage per Spirit type increased from 10-30% to 20-40%.
• Sepazontec: Damage increased from 50-100% to 80-120%.
• Rod of Kepeleke: Damage bonus per point of Vigor increased from 0.10-0.50% to 0.15-0.75%.

Obol Gambling

Similar to Kadala in Diablo 3, the Purveyor of Curiosities lets you gamble your Obols for 750 item power gear at Level 60, making them a great way to fill in missing affixes, Aspects, or upgrades. There is also a small chance to receive an Ancestral piece with item power 800.

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Changelog

• September 20th, 2025: Guide created for Season 10 with Chaos Armor requirements.