Rogues are one of the three melee classes currently in Diablo 4, even though it lacks some of the tanking capabilities that Barbarians and Druids have.
Part of our complete Diablo 4 class guide.
Combining elements of the Amazon and Assassin classes from Diablo 2, the Rogue is an interesting class. It can be played as a ranged or melee class, even though melee builds are currently dominating the metagame. But until you get up to the endgame you can have a look at our best Diablo 4 Rogue Leveling Build. So let’s take a look at one of the best Rogue builds for endgame.
Main Skills
Puncture
Puncture will be our only Basic Skill in this build, and will be mostly relegated to generating Combo Points and Energy when we’re running low. Two points will go here, one that will give us the Enhanced upgrade that will allow us to generate even more Energy with it.
Twisting Blades
This will be our main damage-dealing ability with this build, and will require a total of seven skill points. Two of those will go into the Enhanced and Advanced builds. Twisting Blades deals good single-target damage when fired, with extra AoE damage when returning to you. It also has a 33% Lucky Hit chance that works great for this build.
Shadow Step
This will mostly be a positioning skill for this build, allowing us to get behind an Elite enemy while also providing some much-needed Movement Speed. Three skill points will be added here, with two unlocking the Enhanced and Methodical upgrades.
Dash
A much-needed mobility skill, Dash has two charges and will allow us to reposition while also dealing some damage quickly. A single skill point will be added to Dash with two more for the Enhanced and Disciplined upgrades. The Disciplined upgrade is very important since it will also slow enemies hit by 30%.
Dark Shroud
One of the main tanking abilities that the Rogue has, Dark Shroud gives us five Shroud stacks that will reduce incoming damage. Every instance of damage that we take will remove one of them until we run out. Seven skill points will be needed here in order to get the Enhanced and Subverting upgrades.
Poison Trap
Three skill points will be used here, giving us access to the Enhanced and Countering upgrades as well. With a limit of four traps at the same time, you should generally be laying these all the time before engaging in a fight.
Poison Imbuement
All of our damage-dealing skills can be imbued so this is pretty much a no-brainer. Three points are enough for this skill, allowing you to unlock the Enhanced and Blended upgrades. This will help us stack even more Poison on our enemies, especially with the help of Twisting Blades that deals AoE damage.
Passive Skills
Key Passive – Momentum
Since most of our skills are Cutthroat, this is the ideal key passive for this build. Every time we hit a Stunned, Dazed, or Frozen enemy we will gain a Momentum stack for eight seconds. This will also activate if we hit an enemy from behind. If we get the maximum of three stacks we will get 20% Damage Reduction, 30% increased Energy Regeneration, and 15% Movement Speed.
Sturdy
An important passive to have since we’re a mostly melee build, three skill points added to Sturdy will net us a 12% Damage Reduction buff from Close enemies.
Siphoning Strikes
Two skill points added here will allow us to heal for 2% of our Maximum Life whenever we land a Critical Hit on a nearby enemy. Obviously, this is a great source of Healing that item effects can also buff.
Concussive
Since we have a few effects that can knock down mobs, Concussive will get three of our skill points for this build. This will us a 12% increase to our Critical Chance for three seconds after you Knock an enemy Back or Down.
Exploit
Three skill points added here will give us a flat 18% damage increase when engaging Healthy or Injured enemies.
Malice
While we don’t inflict Vulnerable that easily, the damage buffs that it gives are still great. Three points added to Malice will give us a 9% damage increase when engaging a Vulnerable enemy.
Deadly Venom
We need to add a sole skill points here to get access to the rest of the tree. Deadly Venom will give us a 3% increase to Poison damage which doesn’t make a huge difference but it’s still a damage buff.
Debilitating Toxins
This is the true skill on this tree that we want, giving us a 15% Damage Reduction buff from enemies that are poisoned. And since we will be dropping Poison Traps left and right as well as using Poison Imbuement, this is a great tanking passive that you should definitely add three skill points too.
Alchemical Advantage
A single point added here will give you a 1% Attack Speed increase for each enemy that is currently poisoned. This buff is pretty great but is limited to a maximum of 15% which is easily achievable with the help of Poison Trap.
Innervation
Making use of the high Lucky Hit chance that our skills have, Innervation gives us a 30% chance to gain eight Energy when we land one.
Trap Mastery
Whenever Poison Trap activates we will gain a 12% increase to our Critical Strike Chance when engaging Vulnerable or Crowd Controlled enemies. This buff will only last for four seconds though, so make the most out of it while you can. Trap Mastery will require a total of three skill points.
Adrenaline Rush
Whenever our character is on the move, one point in Adrenaline Rush will give us a 5% increase to our Energy Regeneration.
Haste
Last but not least, we have the Haste passive which will take up three of our skill points. When our character is above 50% Energy we will get a 15% increase to our Movement Speed. When below 50% we will instead receive a 15% increase to Attack Speed.
Aspects
Aspects are a very important part of any build, and this one is no different. Since Rogues currently struggle with tanking endgame content, I’m going to talk more about Aspects that can increase our survivability.
One of the easiest Aspects to get our hands on is the Aspect of Disobedience. You can gain access to it by finishing the Halls of the Dead dungeon which can be found in Kehjistan. It gives us an Armor buff that lasts for four seconds whenever we deal an instance of damage. Depending on the Item Power of the Armor piece we have it on, it will give us bonus armor with a range of 0.25-0.50% which can stack up to 25-50%. Holding those stacks is easily achievable as long as we keep dishing out damage with our skills.
Another tanking Aspect is Cheat’s Aspect which we can pick up from the Luban’s Rest Dungeon which can be found in Scosglen. Any Crowd Controlled enemy that is attacking us will deal 15-25% less damage to us. This range is obviously dictated by Item Power. And to top it all off, whenever we do get hit by one of those enemies we will receive a 15% Movement Speed buff for two seconds, giving us a brief window to reposition.
Since Energy Regeneration can be an issue for this build, especially when starting out, I highly recommend you get your hands on Aspect of the Umbral. You can get it from the Champion’s Demise Dungeon found in Dry Steppes. Aspect of the Umbral will give us between 1 and 4 Energy whenever we Crowd Control an enemy.
Playstyle
Our main combat loop will generally work like this. You should first activate Dark Shroud followed up by Dash or Shadow Step to get close to our main target. Then we can activate Poison Imbuement and drop a Poison Trap. If you happen to reset your trap cooldown with the help of Imubement you should immediately reactivate it. Throw out multiple Twisting Blades into your target, followed up by a quick dash to ensure that all of those blades will hit the entire pack. Obviously this is dependant on the type of pack that you are engaging, but overall it’s your best course of action.
Since inflicting efficient AoE damage with Twisting Blades is very dependent on positioning, we should constantly be moving. After playing a while with this build you’ll start getting the hang of things, especially how to position yourself correctly so Twisting Blades hits as many enemies as possible.
Just like our damage-dealing capabilities, our defense is also catered around our mobility spells. Since Dash has two charges available, you should never shy away from using it as long as it can get you out of a sticky situation.
