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Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is finally available after multiple delays to the roll-out. Players eager to dive into the new region of Nahantu can start right away whether they’ve finished the campaign or not — but some are experiencing issues playing as the new Spiritborn class. The fast-paced warrior uses combo-attacks, poison and shadow magic to dismantle waves of demons. They’re a fresh new face and the first totally new class in the mainline games for a long time. And yet some console players can’t play as this class even after purchasing the Vessel of Hatred expansion. If you’re struggling to play this class and don’t understand how to jump in, here’s a quick guide.
More Diablo 4 guides:
All Guides & Walkthroughs | Class Overview | Necromancer Shadowblight Minions Build | Barbarian Unconstrained Berserk Build | Golem Summoning | Accessibility Options To Change First | Potion Upgrades & Increase Max Capacity | Unlocking Horses | Silent Chests & Whispering Keys | Secret of the Spring Quest Solution | Early Game Loot Farm
How To Unlock Spiritborn
The Spiritborn Class is exclusive to the Vessel of Hatred DLC and requires a copy of Diablo 4 — you’ll need Diablo 4 to purchase and play Vessel of Hatred — and the expansion comes included with the Spiritborn Class. The expansion costs $39.99 and is available through PC (Battle.net), PS4/PS5 or Xbox Series X.
- UNLOCKING: The Spiritborn class is available right from the start and requires no in-game steps to unlock — as long as you own the Vessel of Hatred DLC, you should be able to start a new game with the Spiritborn class.
- IMPORTANT: If the Spiritborn class is UNAVAILBLE even after purchasing the Vessel of Hatred DLC, scroll down for a fix.
The Spiritborn Class can be used to start the expansion right away. Start a new character on the Eternal / Seasonal Realm and select [Skip Campaign] before launching your character. This will skip the entire main story campaign.
This allows you to start the new content with a totally new character right after purchasing the expansion. If you still can’t play as the Spiritborn even after downloading the expansion and starting it up, there’s another step you may need to try.
Unlocking Spiritborn On Xbox Consoles
Many players are experiencing issues unlocking the Spiritborn class on the Xbox family of consoles — this includes the Xbox Series X. If you attempt to create a new character after downloading and installing Vessel of Hatred DLC and the Spiritborn class is still locked, this is what you need to do.
- From the Main Menu on Xbox — select the Manage Game menu on Diablo 4.
- Select the Spiritborn / Vessel of Hatred add-on for Diablo 4. It is a small 10mb download.
- Download this add-on and the Spiritborn class will unlock.
Why does this happen? Diablo 4 is a Live Service game and will update to include all the assets for Vessel of Hatred whether you own the expansion or not. You’ll still need to download the latest update and patch the game — but, for whatever reason on Xbox consoles — the actual add-on tag that tells the console whether you actually own the expansion or not does not get automatically downloaded if you pre-ordered or even just purchased through the Xbox Live store. You’ll need to manually download that file.
Once the file is installed, you should be good to go. While we haven’t heard of PC or PS5 users experiencing this same issue, we’ll update this article if we learn more.
