Diablo IV best Rogue build: Skills and gear for Twisted Blades

Diablo IV is already shaping up to be one of the biggest 2023 releases, with the news dropping that Diablo IV is the fastest-selling Blizzard game of all time. So if you’re wanting to jump on the hype train and need some ideas on which class to run, we’ve got you covered.

The Rogue is agile and deadly, delivering lethal blows utilizing elemental imbuements. Since the Diablo IV beta, the Rogue class has been one of the strongest DPS classes in the game and the full release is no exception. If you’re wanting to clear mobs quickly AND have an extremely high single target DPS character, be sure to follow the guide below:

PUNCTURE

Before we can get to the heavy DPS abilities in the Rogue Skill Tree, we need to start with the best basic skill for this build – Puncture. Puncture is your go to in between attacks to help rebuild energy and primes your targets for the heavy attacks you’ll unlock later in the tree. In addition, Puncture can be modified using the Enhanced Puncture and Fundamental Puncture Perks. In conjunction, these perks will make the targets you strike become Vulnerable, which makes a target take an extra 20% damage from all sources.

TWISTING BLADES

Impaling enemies has never been more satisfying. The Rogue skill, Twisting Blades, will be your primary DPS ability so investing points early on will prove to be beneficial in higher world tiers and you’ll want to drop a point in the Enhanced Twisting Blades perk as well, which will deal 30% extra damage when the blades return to you. The following perk isn’t entirely necessary early on, but at some point you will want to unlock the Improved Twisting Blades perk so impaled targets have a chance to become dazed.

DASH AND SHADOW STEP

As I mentioned earlier, the Rogue is an extremely agile and deadly class in Diablo IV. The following two perks are the backbone of this build – Dash and Shadow Step. Dash will allow you to move quickly between targets, and when modified using the Enhanced Dash perk, will cause the targets that are damaged by Dash to take an additional 15% in critical strike damage.

Shadow Step is an extremely beneficial tool to have at your disposal, whether it’s just for leveling, farming World Tier 4, or taking out players in PVP. Why? Because Shadow Step allows you to break free from any crowd controlling effects by becoming Unstoppable and dazing any target you hit with it along with increasing your critical strike chance. While this skill isn’t as important in early world tiers, it’s all but a requirement to run a Rogue in World Tier 4 due to nearly every enemy being able to apply devasting crowd control abilities on you. In addition, immediately after activating Shadow Step, you will gain a temporary buff to movement speed.

SHADOW IMBUEMENT

Imbuing your weapons with festering shadows which infect targets upon damaging them is so fun to do, especially considering the targets explode if they die. By modifying the perk with Enhanced Shadow Imbuement and Blended Shadow Imbuement, any target injured (targets with less than 35% health) will cause you to get an 15% extra critical strike chance against them. In addition, the explosions from the deaths will cause targets to become Vulnerable.

SHADOW CLONE

One Rogue just isn’t enough so why not have two? With Shadow Clone you can do just that by summoning a clone of yourself that will deal 80% of your damage as it fights by your side for 15 seconds. Modifying the perk with Prime and Supreme Shadow Clone will cause you to become Unstoppable and deal an additional 20% of your damage to targets.

KEY PASSIVES

Passives tie all of these skills together and there’s a few that you’ll want to prioritize early on:

• Weapon Mastery – This perk will buff your attacks in various ways depending which weapons you have equipped.
• Exploit and Malice – Both of these passives go hand in hand. Exploit will increase your damage against Healthy (life above 80%) and Injured targets.
• Precision Imbuement – Because you’ll be imbuing your weapons frequently, this perk will increase your critical strike chance against targets.
• Momentum – Most of the perks mentioned focus on damage so Momentum is crucial in survivability due to its ability to stack buffs just for using your Twisting Blades to daze targets. Doing so will buff your damage reduction, energy regeneration, and movement speed.
• Adrenaline Rush, Haste, Impetus, Sturdy, and Siphoning Strikes round out the build. As you finalize your skill tree as you approach level 50, place points in these in no specific order.