Diablo 4: Best Spiritborn build to try in Season 9 (Jaguar with Balazan's)

Diablo 4 Season 9 has seen some absurdly strong builds across all classes that are not even considered meta. The Spiritborn class has received one of the most powerful Unique items in Season 9, Balazan’s Maxtlatl. The build is specifically created around this particular item. You can acquire it randomly around the world or from the hoards of Varshan and Urivar.

This article will guide you through the steps and specific things needed to create this build in Diablo 4 Season 9.

Also Read — Diablo 4: Azurewrath Penetrating Shot Rogue build guide

Pros and cons of playing the Balazan's Poison Rake Spiritborn in Diablo 4

Pros:	Cons:
Capable of pulling in and clearing screens of enemies.	Requires very specific items to work
High mobility and attack speed.	Strict tempering requirement
Easy to play	Takes a lot of damage
Barrier dependent	Weak against Belial
Strong pit-clearing capability

How to play Balazan's Poison Rake Spiritborn in Diablo 4 Season 9

Poin DoT and Thorns are the two primary source of damage for this build (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Getting Balazan’s Maxtlatl is the key to making this build work. Damaging close enemies for 150% of your Thorns (works in tandem with Razorplate and Adaptable Armored Hide) and dealing 100% of this damage as Poisoning over three seconds (increasing up to 300%).

Poison damage over time is the most important damage type in this build. We can achieve it by using the Noxious Resonance Key Passive skill, which inflicts 180% of your total poisoning damage instantly and 20% splash damage to surrounding enemies simultaneously.

While damage output is high for this build, it lacks in defense. In some ways, this can be mitigated by its high damage ceiling.

Overall, this build is all about timing and tremendous area-of-effect damage capability, making it a powerhouse in Diablo 4 Season 9.

Skill rotation

Group up enemies and bombard them with the Hunter and Rake in between cooldowns, while thorns passively deal damage (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Group up enemies using Vortex to knock them down as soon as you engage them.
Continuously spam Rake to deal damage to the enemies and gain Ferocity.
Continuously keep a stack of Armored Hide, Toxic Skin, and Ravager to deal poison DoT and buff up your overall damage output while Armored Hide increases Thorns damage output.
Use The Hunter to call upon the Jaguar Spirit and bounce around the battlefield, and deal massive damage instantly.
Keep spamming Rake in between casts while letting your Thorns do the damage.

Diablo 4 Balazan's Poison Rake Spiritborn leveling progression guide: Skill Point allotment

Getting the Poison DoT effect higher and massive Thorns stacks is the goal for this build. While some respeccing is necessary in the endgame, here's how you capitalize on this build.

Level (2-3)

Thrash
Enhanced Thrash

Level (4-7)

Vigorous
Vortex
Enhanced Vortex
Replenishing Vortex

Level (8-15)

Mirage
Unrestrained Power
Unrestrained Power
Unrestrained Power
Focal Point
Apex
Apex
Apex

Level (16-22)

Diminishment
Diminishment
Diminishment
Ravager
Enhanced Ravager
Toxic Skin
Enhanced Toxic Skin

Level (23-32)

Replenishing Toxic Skin
Endurance
Patient Guard
Auspicious
Auspicious
Auspicious
Bastion
Bastion
Bastion
Antivenom

Level (33-60)

Nourishment
Nourishment
Nourishment
Potent
Potent
Potent
Resolution
Resolution
Resolution
Spiritual Attunement
Supremacy
Supremacy
Supremacy
Initiative
Sustenance
Intricacy
The Hunter
The Hunter
The Hunter
The Hunter
The Hunter
Harmonious The Hunter
Exalted The Hunter
Noxious Resonance
Intricacy
Rake
Enhanced Rake
Advantageous Rake

Level (61-72)

Perseverance
Perseverance
Perseverance
Velocity
Velocity
Furnace
Furnace
Furnace
Armored Hide
Enhanced Armored Hide
Velocity
Measured Ravager

Spiritborn Spirit Hall

Both Spirit Hall slots must have matching Spirit guardians for this build to function properly in Diablo 4 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

For both the primary and secondary Spirit Hall, we will be going with the Jaguar.

Primary

Every 15th time you attack an enemy with any of your Jaguar Skills, you inflict an extra 15% damage (done in the last 0.5 seconds) of the last damage dealt to them. Additionally, all skills are now Jaguar Skills.

Secondary

You get an increased max Ferocity by 1. You also gain 1 stack of Ferocity every time you kill an enemy or inflict damage on a boss.

Diablo 4 Season 9 best gear for Balazan's Poison Rake Spiritborn

Best gear to look for in D4

1) Loyalty's Mantle

+65 All Stats
+12.5% Movement Speed
10.0% Damage Reduction
+3 to Velocity

(While your Spirit Hall choices match)

Their bonuses are 100% more potent.
Skills of their Base Spirit gain 60% Vigor Cost Reduction.
Skills of their Base Spirit gain 60% Cooldown Reduction.

2) Razorplate

+481 Thorns
+481 Thorns
+481 Thorns
+481 Thorns
Thorns has a 10% chance to deal 200% [x] increased damage.

3) Balazan's Maxtlatl

+373 Thorns
+457 Maximum Life
+121 Dexterity
+3 to Bastion
Each attack damages close enemies for 150% of your Thorns and also deals 100% of this damage as Poisoning over three seconds.
Each time you've retaliated with Thorns, for five seconds, the Poisoning damage is increased by 100%, up to 300%.

Aspects

1) Aspect of Wild Claws

Rake manifests a Spirit Jaguar, which also casts Rake at a random enemy, dealing 85% base damage.

2) Duelist’s Aspect

Maximum Ferocity increased by five.

3) Aspect of Plains Power

Lucky Hit: Up to a 25% [+] chance to create a Mystic Circle for 10 seconds.
Casting a Jaguar Skill in Mystic Circles empowers them to keep your Ferocity at maximum and increase your damage by 10.0% [x] per stack while you remain within.

4) Vehement Brawler’s Aspect

Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your damage by 45% [x] for eight seconds. Gain two additional Ultimate Skill Ranks.

5) Conceited Aspect

Deal 30% [x] increased damage while you have a Barrier active.

Or,

Ring of Starless Skies (shoring up resistances and Core Skill)

+12.5% Resistance to All Elements
+12.5% Resistance to All Elements
+17.5% Attack Speed
+12.5% Critical Strike Chance
+12.5% Lucky Hit Chance
+2 to Core Skills
Spending your primary resource reduces the resource cost of your skills and increases your damage by 10% [x] for 3 seconds, up to 50% [x].

6) Fell Soothsayer's Aspect

When you cast an Incarnate skill, enemies around you become Vulnerable for 5 seconds. Killing a Vulnerable enemy echoes 55% of the killing blow's damage to another nearby enemy.

Best Modifiers and Tempering

The most important modifier to get for this build is Attack Speed, which must be over 150% if you want it to perform optimally in the endgame. Here are all the recommended endgame modifiers:

Attack Speed bonus
Dexterity
Movement Speed
Armor
All Resistances
Maximum Life
Mystic circle potency
The Hunter cooldown reduction

Best gems for Balazan's Poison Rake Spiritborn build

Horadric Jewellery

1) Seal of Denial

+120 Armor and 6% Resistance to All Elements
While you have two or more Arcana from the School of Denial equipped, gain 30%[x] more Barrier, Fortify, and Thorns.

2) Idol From Below

+120 Armor and 6% Resistance to All Elements
You gain 6%[x] Primary Core Stat, 6%[x] Maximum Life, and Unhindered.
However, you will be hunted in Sanctuary's darkest places by Jewel Guardians who were entombed to protect this relic.

3) Tyrant’s Bane

+120 Armor and 6% Resistance to All Elements
After you deal Damage Over Time to an enemy, they take 0.33%[x] more Damage Over Time from you forever.

Or,

Myriad Stone

+120 Armor and 6% Resistance to All Elements
After you cast your Catalytic Skill, if it is an Ultimate, gain 30%[+] Attack Speed for 10 seconds.

Gems

1) Grand Emerald: +60 Dexterity

Runeword

1) NeoQax: Instantly get a damage boost at the expense of all primary resources.

2) TamQue: Gaining Earthen Bulwark adds another layer of defense in combat.

3) IgniJah: Gain Teleport capability in place of Evade, allowing you to move around the battlefield more freely.

Best Horadric Spellcrafting for the Balazan's Poison Rake Spiritborn build

Pull in surrounding enemies inside an Ocular Ring and deal massive damage as stars fall upon them in Diablo 4 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

With the following Spellcraft, you can move to the center of the mob and bombard them with massive amounts of Poison and Thorns damage while being Unhindered.

Catalyst

1) Celestial Surge: Creates an Ocular Rune, which pulls in nearby enemies and bombards them with a torrent of falling stars 20 times.

Infusion

1) Corrosive vapor: Catalyst now deals Poison or Poisoning damage for over four seconds, which is equal to that of your highest damage type bonus.

Arcana

1) Floaty Bobble: Catalyst now grants you Unhindered and pulls you in the center of the Ocular Rune.

2) Gleaming Conduit: The size of the Catalyst is increased by 50%.

3) Jagged Bramble: (Lucky Hit) damage from your Catalyst has a 50% chance to deal 300% of your Thorns damage.

Mercenary and reinforcement

For this build, we will be picking Raheir as the Hired Mercenary and Varyana as the Reinforcement Mercenary.

1) Raheir: Ground Slam – Raheir’s Aegis – Bastion – Inspiration

2) Varyana: Bloodthirst every 22 seconds.

Paragon Boards and Glyphs

After reaching level 60, you will have access to Paragon Boards, which allow you to further modify and strengthen your character. Here are the recommended Paragon Boards and Glyphs necessary to shore up this build to push the Pits.

Boards

Spiney Skin: Gain 35% extra Thorns for five seconds after you use a cooldown.
Viscous Shield: You deal 1% [x] increased damage for each 3% of your max life you have as Barrier.
Sapping: When you cast three Centipede, Gorilla, Eagle, or Jaguar skills with the same spirit in a row, you can restore 15% of your Vigor and deal 30% [x] additional damage for five seconds.
Convergence: You deal bonus damage equal to 3.5% [x] of all your bonuses to damage with Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison, and Physical combined, up to a total of 30% [x].

Glyphs

Revenge: Dealing Thorns damage to an enemy increases all damage it takes from you by 1% [x] up to 10% [x] for 10 seconds. Increased overall damage by 10.4% [x].
Ritual: Mystic Circle Potency Increased. Standing in a Mystic Circle reduces damage intake by 10% [x] and increases damage output by 10% [x]. Increased overall damage by 10.4% [x].
Wildfire: Increased Fire Damage. Dealing fire damage has a 30% chance to reduce one of your active cooldowns by 0.5 seconds. Increased Fire damage by 10.4% [x].
Colossal (optional): Increased damage with Gorilla Skills. You deal 2% [x] increased damage for each stack of your Resolve. You deal 12.2% [x] increased damage to close enemies.
Hubris: You gain up to 3000 Thorns based on your dodge bonus. Increase damage to Vulnerable targets by 10.4% [x].
Canny: Increased non-physical damage. Non-physical damage increases all the non-physical damage an enemy takes from you for 15 seconds by 1% [x] up to 10% [x].

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About the author

Jagaran is an MMO and ARPG writer at Sportskeeda. His involvement in the gaming industry also includes working as a concept artist and as a narrative designer.
At age of nine, Halo: Combat Evolved kicked off his love for the medium. He looks back fondly on the times he visited cyber cafes, watching the older boys playing the game and shouting, "Master Chief!"
If given a chance to inhabit a game world, he would eagerly jump into the breathtaking world of Halo.
He admires Ben "CohhCarnage" Cassell for his engaging dialogue and gameplay as well as his critical thinking regardless of how much he loves the game, which encouraged him to spend countless hours in games and technically analyze them.
In his free time, he enjoys writing books, cooking, sketching, and the occasional game of football.

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Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul