Best Diablo 4 Rogue build: Best skills for the Rogue

Looking for the best Diablo 4 Rogue build? If you're after fast melee attacks and sneaky stabbing in Diablo 4, look no further than the Rogue. The Rogue has access to a bunch of phenomenal skills that deal huge damage and apply debuffs to enemies, and it's those debuffs that we've focused on with this Shadow Rogue build.

If you previously heard about the Rogue's strength with abilities such as Twisting Blades and Shadow Imbuement and want to try it out over Server Slam weekend, then you're in the right place! In this guide, we'll break down how to make the best Rogue build in Diablo 4, covering the best skills, attributes, and gems that you need to make the Shadow Rogue feel ferocious in combat.

This build is for this weekend's Diablo 4 Server Slam beta, in which you can only reach level 20. Characters don't carry over from the previous beta, so you'll need to start fresh with a new character this weekend!

Best Rogue build in Diablo 4

Our Diablo 4 Shadow Rogue build splits the focus between simple damage and sneaky debuffs that'll help you control crowds of demons. Puncture and Twisting Blades, for example, will stab away at enemies while also leaving them Slowed, Vulnerable, or Dazed.

You can then use Dash and Smoke Grenade to apply the Dazed effect to these enemies, leaving them open to follow up attacks. Smoke Grenade also raises the damage dealt to enemies caught within its effect, and you can take that even further with Shadow Imbuement.

Shadow Imbuement is key for this Diablo 4 Rogue build, allowing Twisting Blades to Infect enemies. Infected enemies will explode on death, dealing 40% of your usual damage to nearby enemies. This functions similar to the Corpse Explosion Necromancer skill, and while it deals less damage, it's still incredibly powerful for ripping through the hordes of hell.

Finally, the ultimate for this Shadow Rogue build is Shadow Clone. This does what you'd expect, creating a murky copy of your character that mimics your attacks and abilities for 15 seconds. The Shadow Clone deals 60% of your usual damage, making it an excellent companion to have on the field when facing particularly tough enemies.

Diablo 4 Shadow Rogue build skills

Below, you'll find a full list of the skills that you should acquire for our Diablo 4 Shadow Rogue build, in order:

1. Puncture (Basic)
2. Enhanced Puncture
3. Fundamental Puncture
4. Twisting Blades lvls 1-5
5. Enhanced Twisting Blades
6. Improved Twisting Blades
7. Dash
8. Enhanced Dash
9. Disciplined Dash
10. Smoke Grenade lvls 1-3
11. Enhanced Smoke Grenade
12. Subverting Smoke Grenade
13. Shadow Imbuement lvls 1-3
14. Enhanced Shadow Imbuement
15. Blended Shadow Imbuement
16. Shadow Clone

Puncture

Puncture is your basic skill for our Diablo 4 Shadow Rogue build, throwing out three blades to hit nearby enemies from a short distance. With the default skill, every third cast will grant the Slow effect on enemies for 2 seconds. However, the Fundamental Puncture upgrade also allows you to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds, which increases the damage they take by 20%.

It's also worth mentioning that Enhanced Puncture, the first upgrade you can get for this skill, turns Puncture into a builder, granting 2 Energy when Puncture damages an enemy that currently has a crowd control effect (such as Slow). Energy is the resource for a Rogue, so having an easy builder that you can spam makes this build far more viable.

Twisting Blades

Twisting Blades is your main spender for this Shadow Rogue build, costing 30 Energy per cast. It impales a nearby enemy with your blades, and the blades will return to you in 1.5 seconds. If you use Twisting Blades and then dash through a group of enemies, you can catch anything nearby with the blades as they return, dealing massive piercing damage as they travel back to you.

To really get the most out of Twisting Blades, you can also use the Shadow Imbuement skill (explained further down) to infect all of those enemies, causing them to explode on death and damage anything else around.

Dash

Dash is an Agility ability that you can use to dart in and out of crowds while dealing damage. It's really useful for escaping harm when you're low on health, but the Disciplined Dash upgrade also helps it synergise with this Rogue build.

With the Discipled Dash upgrade, it applies the Slow effect to any enemies hit for 3 seconds. If an enemy is already Slowed, they will be Dazed for 2 seconds instead. This gives you two ways to apply Slow (Dash and Puncture), and if you Slow enemies with Puncture first, then Dash will Daze them, preventing them from attacking for a few seconds as well.

Smoke Grenade

Smoke Grenade applies the Dazed effect to any enemies caught within its blast for 4 seconds. However, the Subverting Smoke Grenade upgrade will Daze them for 20% longer if an enemy is already Vulnerable or Slowed.

This should already be the case if you've used Puncture or Dash while approaching, so dropping a Smoke Grenade in a crowd could potentially leave most of your enemies unable to attack for 5 seconds.

Shadow Imbuement

Shadow Imbuement allows you to imbue your attacks with Shadow damage, which will Infect any enemies it hits for 6 seconds. If you can then kill the Infected enemy within 6 seconds, they'll explode and deal 40% to all nearby enemies.

The upgrades for Shadow Imbuement make it even more powerful, with Enhanced offering 25% higher crit chance against Infected enemies. If you get the Blended Shadow Imbuement upgrade, the Infect explosion will also give enemies the Vulnerable status effect for 2 seconds. That'll push the damage dealt with Twisting Blades even higher, making it easy to clear entire groups in just a few mere moments.

Shadow Clone

Shadow Clone is the ultimate for our Shadow Rogue build, giving you a mimic who will copy your actions for 15 seconds. While they deal slightly less damage than your player character, the Shadow Clone still offers a huge boost to your DPS potential that help you spread those debuffs even further, and then capitalise on them with extra attacks and, ultimately, a ton of extra damage compared to what you could deal alone.

If you're not sure how to use these skills effectively, follow the attack pattern below:

1. Cast Puncture to apply Slow and Vulnerable as you approach a group of enemies.
2. Use Shadow Imbuement to activate Infect on your attacks.
3. Use Twisting Blades as you get closer to the crowd.
4. Use Dash to pass through the crowd, hopefully applying Infect to enemies.
5. Wait for your Twisting Blades to return, causing them to pierce through the crowd of enemies that you just dashed through.
6. Use your second Dash charge to get away from the crowd, and repeat.

Diablo 4 Shadow Rogue build attributes

Dexterity is the most important attribute for our Diablo 4 Rogue build, as it increases your Skill Damage by 0.1% per point. This might seem small, but it'll add up over time and provide a substantial damage boost when you reach the endgame.

Strength is the next attribute to focus on, as it increases your Energy generation by 0.1% per point. Puncture is the only Energy builder we have in this build, so any extra granted by your Strength stat is incredibly important for those moments when you want to spam spenders, such as Twisting Blades.

Finally, Intelligence is also worth investing in as a Rogue, as each point offers an extra 0.02% crit chance. It's a tiny buff, negligible in the early stages, but it's worth building up over the course of the game. The extra crit chance might not be too shabby in the endgame, and landing crits on Vulnerable enemies will help you whittle crowds down at remarkable speed.

Diablo 4 Shadow Rogue build gems

Your gear will have gem sockets in Diablo 4, and you can insert gems into these sockets for powerful bonuses. Gems have different effects depending on whether they are put into weapons or armor.

For any weapon gem slots, we'd recommend using Rubies and Sapphires. Rubies offer extra Energy generation, while Sapphires will increase crit damage against enemies that have crowd control effects, such as Slow and Dazed.

For your armor gem slots, you should also use Rubies, as they increase your maximum Life total. The Rogue is notoriously easy to kill, with less life than other melee classes such as the Barbarian, so the extra life on offer here is certainly worth taking at any opportunity.

That wraps up our Diablo 4 Rogue build. If you're after something better-suited to slinging spells from a distance, take a look at our Diablo 4 Sorcerer build. If you want to read our thoughts on the beta, check out our recent Diablo 4 preview.

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