Best Rogue Skills

Rogues may have the widest variety of Skills and playstyles out of any Class. This is because they have have a mix of both melee and ranged attacks in their Skills, and can even add elemental effects with Skills from the Imbuement Skills tier. They also gain access to traps in the Agility and Subterfuge tiers, further mixing up their playstyle.

Their Mount Skill is Volley. It allows them to leap upwards from their mount and unleash a volley of arrows, dealing 105%.

Tips

The vast majority of the Rogue’s Skills deal physical damage. However, some traps and effects can deal Cold, Poison, or Shadow damage.
Some Skills will require you to use either your Ranged weapon or your dual wield weapons.
When using an Imbuement Skill, the icon of the Skills affected by it will change color to match the Imbuement.
Depending on the Skills and Passives you choose, you can either choose to focus on melee or ranged combat, or you can even have a mix of both.
All Skills (besides the ones in the Ultimate tier) will have an Enhancement, and two Upgrades.
- Only one Upgrade per Skill can be chosen, and the Enhancement must be learned first.

Once you reach level 50 in Diablo 4, it’s time to figure out your Build, and the first step in that is determining what Skills you want to focus on. Your skills will determine which weapons and armor you will want to go for, as well as what your rotation and approach will be, so picking the right set can be important.

While some Skills will be for specific Builds (and will often become their focus), other Skills are a staple for just about every Rogue.

Best Basic Skills

Puncture

Best Build: Rapid Fire Build
This move will be used to build up Combo Points and stacks of Precision.

Heartseeker

Best Build: Penetrating Shot Build
This move will be used to build up Combo Points, and will raise your Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage, and Attack Speed.

Best Core Skills

Rapid Fire

Best Build: Rapid Fire Build
The primary Skill for this Build. With the Scoudrel’s Kiss, it’s capable of quickly damaging single enemies and groups of enemies.

Penetrating Shot

Best Build: Penetrating Shot Build
The primary Skill for this Build. It is the strongest AoE Skill that a Rogue has, and the Trickshot Aspect makes the AoE potential even better.

Barrage

Best Build: Barrage Build
The primary Skill for this Build. It can be used either as a spread shot from a distance to hit groups, or a focused shot up close to deal massive damage to one enemy.

Best Agility Skills

Shadow Step

Best Build: Barrage Build and Penetrating Shot Build
This is a great source of mobility that can get you out of a tough situation.

Caltrops

Best Build: Rapid Fire Build and Barrage Build
This is a great way to keep enemies at a distance, while also boosting your damage.

Dash

Best Build: Any
This will be your primary source of mobility to reposition yourself whenever needed.

Best Subterfuge Skills

Smoke Grenade

Best Build: Rapid Fire Build and Barrage Build
Both increases your damage and disables your enemies.

Smoke Grenade

Best Build: Penetrating Shot Build
Gives a huge boost in damage.

Best Imbuement Skills

Cold Imbuement

Best Build: Rapid Fire Build
Helps keep enemies under control while boosting your damage.

Best Ultimate Skills

Rain of Arrows

Best Build: Barrage Build
Provides various buffs while also helping you spam Barrage more.

Death Trap

Best Build: Penetrating Shot Build
Helps group enemies together and gives you a damage boost.

Skill List

As the name implies, these are your most basic Skills that will allow you to generate Energy. These attacks can also apply debuffs to enemies, and build Combo Points.

Name	Max Rank	Weapon Needed	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Primary)	Upgrade 2 (Fundamental)
Puncture	5	Dual Wield	Throw your blades, dealing 21% damage. Every 3rd cast Slows enemies by 20% for 2 seconds. Critical Strikes will always Slow.	Gain 2 Energy when Puncture damages a Crowd Controlled enemy.	Every 3rd cast of Puncture will also ricochet up to 2 times. Critical Strikes will always ricochet.	Puncture now throws 3 blades in a spread, each dealing 35% of its Base damage. Hitting an enemy with at least 2 blades at once makes them Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
Heartseaker	5	Ranged	Fire an arrow that seeks an enemy, dealing 24% damage and increasing your Critical Strike Chance against them by 3% for 4 seconds, up to 15%.	When Heartseeker Critically Strikes, gain 8% Attack Speed for 4 seconds. Double this amount if the enemy is Vulnerable.	Heartseeker ricochets to an additional enemy, dealing 75% of the original damage.	Heartseeker also increases the Critical Strike Damage the enemy takes by 5% for 4 seconds, up to 25%.
Forceful Arrow	5	Ranged	Fire a powerful arrow at an enemy, dealing 22% damage. Every 3rd cast makes the enemy Vulnerable for 5 seconds.	Every 3rd cast of Forceful Arrow additionally has a 15% increased Critical Strike Chance.	Forceful Arrow pierces through Vulnerable enemies.	Forceful Arrow Knocks Back Non-Elite enemies if they are Close. If they collide with an enemy, both are Knocked Down for 1.5 seconds.
Invigorating Strike	5	Dual Wield	Melee attack an enemy, dealing 45% damage and increasing Energy Regeneration by 20% for 3 seconds.	Damaging a Crowd Controlled or Injured enemy with Invigorating Strike increases its Energy Regeneration bonus to 30%.	Invigorating Strike additionally grants 8% Lucky Hit Chance. Hitting a Crowd Controlled or Injured enemy increases this bonus to 16% Lucky Hit Chance.	Hitting an enemy with Invigorating Strike while you are below 85% Energy makes them Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Blade Shift	5	Dual Wield	Quickly stab your victim for 30% damage and shift, making you Unhindered for 4 seconds.	Damaging an enemy with Blade Shift grants 5% Movement Speed while Blade Shift is active, up to 20%.	While Blade Shift is active you gain 15% to all Non-Physical Resistances and reduce the duration of incoming Control Impairing Effects by 30%.	Moving through enemies while Blade Shift is active refreshes its duration. After moving through enemies 5 times, your next Blade Shift will Daze enemies for 3 seconds.

These Skills will be the Rogue’s primary damage dealer. While these cost a lot of Energy, depending on your Specialization, they can either take advantage of your combo points, or be used more frequently.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Weapon Required	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Improved)	Upgrade 2 (Advanced)
Barrage	Skill	5	Ranged	Unleash a barrage of 5 arrows that expands outwards, each dealing 22% damage. Each arrow has a 20% chance to ricochet off an enemy up to 1 time. Ricochets deal 40% of the arrow’s base damage.	Barrage’s ricochet chance is increased to 100% for arrows that damage a Vulnerable enemy or Critically Strike any enemy.	Every 3rd cast of Barrage makes enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.	Whenever a single cast of Barrage ricochets at least 4 times, your next cast gains 20% increased Critical Strike Chance.
Rapid Fire	Skill	5	Ranged	Rapidly fire 5 arrows, each dealing 30% damage.	Each subsequent arrow from Rapid Fire has 5% increased Critical Strike Chance, up to 25% for the 5th arrow.	Gain 15 Energy when Rapid Fire damages a Vulnerable enemy.	Rapid Fire deals 30% increased Critical Strike Damage for 5 seconds after you Evade.
Penetrating Shot	Skill	5	Ranged	Fire an arrow that pierces through all enemies in a line, dealing 70% damage, increased by 10% per enemy it pierces	Casting Penetrating Shot and hitting a Boss or Elite with it has a 25% Chance to fire an additional shot for free.	Penetrating Shot has a 10% increased Critical Strike Chance. If Penetrating Shot damages at least 3 enemies, you can 10% increased Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds.	When cast with full Energy, Penetrating Shot will Slow all enemies it hits by 50% for 3 seconds. Elite enemies will also be Knocked Down for 1.5 seconds.
Flurry	Skill	5	Dual Wield	Unleash a flurry of stabs and slashes, striking enemies in front of you 4 times and dealing a total of 130% damage to each.	Each time Flurry damages an enemy, it has a 10% chance to apply Vulnerable for 3 seconds and deals 1% increased damage for 5 seconds after hitting a Vulnerable enemy, up to a total of 25%.	Casting Flurry dashes you to the target and Heals 10% of your Maximum Life.	Successive casts of Flurry increase its damage by 10% and reduce its Energy cost by 10%, up to 3 times.
Twisting Blades	Skill	5	Dual Wield	Impale an enemy on your blades, dealing 45% damage and making them take 8% increased damage from you while impaled. After 1.5 seconds the blades return to you, piercing enemies for 72% damage.	Twisting Blades deals 30=5% increased damage when returning.	Enemies are Dazed while impaled with Twisting Blades.	When your Twisting Blades return, your active Cooldowns are reduced by 0.1 second per enemy they passed through, up to 2 seconds.
Sturdy	Passive	3	–	You gain 4% Close Damage Reduction.	–	–	–
Siphoning Strikes (requires 1 Point in Sturdy)	Passive	3	–	Heal for 1% of your Maximum Life when you Critically Strike Close enemies.	–	–	–
Stutter Step	Passive	3	–	Critically Striking an enemy grants 5% Movement Speed for 4 seconds.	–	–	–

These Skills allow you to move quickly and reposition yourself in battle.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Weapon Required	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Methodical)	Upgrade 2 (Disciplined)
Shadow Step	Skill	5	Dual Wield	Become Unstoppable and quickly move through the shadows to stab your victim from behind for 80% damage. Gain 50% increased Movement Speed for 2 seconds afterwards.	Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step Dazes and applies Vulnerable to them for 3 seconds.	After Shadow Stepping, you gain 20% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds.	Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step Stuns them for 2 seconds and reduces its Cooldown by 3 seconds.
Dash	Skill	5	Dual Wield	Dash forward and slash enemies for 40% damage. Enemies hit are Slowed by 30% for 3 seconds.	Casting Dash increases your Critical Strike Chance by 10% for 5 seconds.	Dash has 1 additional Charge and its Charge Cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.	At the end of Dash, Knock Down surrounding enemies for 2 seconds and deal 350% of its damage to them.
Caltrops	Skill	5	–	Leap backwards and throw caltrops on the ground, dealing 45% damage and Slowing enemies by 50%. Lasts 6 seconds.	Enemies in Caltrops take 10% increased damage from you, increased by 5% each second.	Caltrops now deals Cold damage and Chills enemies for 25% per second.	You have 10% Critical Strike Chance against enemies inside your Caltrops. Double this amount against Vulnerable enemies.
Weapon Mastery	Skill	3	–	Gain a bonus when attacking based on weapon type: Daggers: 7% increased damage to Healthy enemies. Swords: 3% increased damage. Bows: 4% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. Crossbows: 5% increased Critical Strike Damage.	–	–	–
Unstable Elixirs	Passive	3	–	Using a Healing Potion Stuns surrounding enemies for 2 seconds and increases your damage by 6% for 10 seconds.	–	–	–
Rapid Gambits	Passive	3	–	Evading through an enemy Dazes them for 2 seconds. Your Evade Cooldown is reduced by 0.25 seconds when you Daze an enemy.	–	–	–
Trick Attacks	Passive	3	–	Dazing or Stunning an enemy increases your Critical Strike Chance by 2% and Critical Strike Damage by 2% for 5 seconds, both up to 12%.	–	–	–
Rugged	Passive	3	–	Gain 9% Damage Reduction against Damage Over Time effects.	–	–	–
Reactive Defense (requires 1 Point in Rugged)	Passive	3	–	Gain 6.0% Damage Reduction while inflicted with Control Impairing Effects.	–	–	–

These Skills will give the Rogue a form of utility, either offensive or defensive.

Name	Passive/Skill	Max Rank	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Subverting)	Upgrade 2 (Countering)
Dark Shroud	Skill	5	Surround yourself with up to 5 protective shadows. Gain 8.0% Damage Reduction per active shadow. Each time you take direct damage, that damage is reduced and shadow is consumed. You can only lose 1 Dark Shroud shadow every 1.5 seconds.	Each active Dark Shroud shadow grants you 5% increased Movement Speed and also has a 15% chance to not be Consumed.	You Heal for 10% of your Maximum Life when a Dark Shroud shadow is removed.	While you have at least 1 shadow from Dark Shroud, gain 10% Critical Strike Chance.
Smoke Grenade	Skill	5	Throw a smoky concoction at enemies, dealing 45% Physical damage, and Dazing them for 4 seconds.	Enemies hit by Smoke Grenade take 25% increased damage from you for 5 seconds.	Smoke Grenade now deals Poison damage and applies another 45% Poisoning damage over 5 seconds.	Hitting an Elite or Boss with Smoke Grenade reduces its Cooldown by 5 seconds.
Poison Trap	Skill	5	Place a trap that arms after 1.25 seconds. It activates when an enemy moves within range, applying 660% Poisoning damage over 9 seconds to enemies in the area. You can have 4 armed traps out at once.	Poison Trap Knocks Down enemies for 1.5 seconds when it activates.	You deal 15% increased Poison damage to enemies standing inside your Poison Trap.	Poison Trap has a 40% chance to reset your Imbuement Skill Cooldowns when activated.
Concealment	Skill	5	Vanish from sight, gaining an advanced form of Stealth for 5 seconds that will not be removed by taking damage. Concealment also makes you Unstoppable, grants 30% Movement Speed, and allows you to move freely through enemies for its duration. Using an attack Skill during Concealment will break Concealment.	You gain 40 Energy when you enter Concealment.	The Skill that breaks Concealment always makes enemies Vulnerable for 6 seconds.	The Skill that breaks Concealment will always be a guaranteed Critical Strike.
Agile	Passive	3	Using a Cooldown increases your Dodge Chance by 4% for 3 seconds.	–	–	–
Mending Obscurity	Passive	3	While Stealthed, you Heal for 4% Maximum Life per second.	–	–	–
Exploit	Passive	3	You deal 6% increased damage to Healthy and Injured enemies.	–	–	–
Malice (requires 1 Point in Exploit)	Passive	3	You deal 4% increased damage to Vulnerable or Knocked Down enemies.	–	–	–

These cooldown-based Skills will imbue your next two Skills with extra effects. Skills that will be imbued are all Core Skills, Dash, Shadow Step, and Rain of Arrows.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Mixed)	Upgrade 2 (Blended)
Poison Imbuement	Skill	5	Imbue your weapons with lethal poison. Your next 2 Imbueable Skills deal Poison damage and apply 100% of their Base damage as additional Poisoning damage over 6 seconds.	Casting Poison Imbuement generates 30 Energy, increased by 2 for each Nearby Poisoned enemy.	Lucky Hit: Poison Imbued skills have up to a 30% chance to reduce Poison Imbuement’s Cooldown by 2 seconds.	Critical Strikes with Poison Imbued Skills deal 75% increased Poisoning damage.
Shadow Imbuement	Skill	5	Imbue your weapons with festering shadows. Your next 2 Imbueable Skills deal Shadow damage and infect enemies for 6 seconds. Infected enemies explode on death, dealing 40% damage to all surrounding enemies. If the infection expires before the enemy dies, it will deal 40% damage to only that enemy.	You have 15% increased Critical Strike Chance against Injured enemies infected by Shadow Imbuement.	Enemies damaged by Shadow Imbued Skills take 12% increased non-Physical damage from you for 8 seconds.	Shadow Imbuement’s primary explosion makes enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
Cold Imbuement	Skill	5	Imbue your weapons with frigid energies. Your next 2 Imbueable Skills deal Cold damage and Chill enemies for 5% per hit.	Lucky Hit: Cold Imbued Skills have up to a 40% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.	Cold Imbued Skills deal 20% increased damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. Double this bonus against Frozen enemies.	Lucky Hit: Cold Imbued Skills have up to a 35% chance to instantly Freeze enemies for 3 seconds.
Shadow Crash	Passive	3	Lucky Hit: Shadow damage has up to a 10% chance to Stun for 0.5 seconds.	–	–	–
Consuming Shadows	Passives	3	Each time you kill an enemy with Shadow damage, you generate 10 Energy.	–	–	–
Frigid Finesse	Passive	3	You deal 5% increased damage to Chilled enemies. This bonus increases to 10% against Frozen enemies.	–	–	–
Chilling Weight (requires 1 Point in Frigid Finesse)	Passive	3	Chilled enemies have their Movement Speed further reduced by up to 10%, and you gain 5% increased Chill effect.	–	–	–
Deadly Venom	Passive	3	You deal 3% increased Poisoning damage.	–	–	–
Alchemical Advantage (requires 1 Point in Deadly Venom)	Passive	3	Dealing Poison damage increases your Attack Speed and Lucky Hit Chance by 1% for 8 seconds, up to 5%.	–	–	–
Debilitating Toxins (requires 1 Point in Deadly Venom)	Passive	3	Poisoned enemies deal 5% less damage.	–	–	–
Precision Imbuement	Passive	3	Imbued Skills gain 3% increased Critical Strike Chance.	–	–	–

These are high impact Skills with long cooldowns. Unlike the other Skills, these have a two-step linear upgrade path. You can only choose one Skill from this tree. However, you are free to pick as many Passives you want, just like in all of the previous tiers.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Description	Upgrade 1	Upgrade 2
Shadow Clone	Skill	1	Your shadow mimicks your actions for 15 seconds. The shadow deals 60% of your damage.	You are Unstoppable for 5 seconds after casting Shadow Clone.	Your Shadow Clone deals an additional 20% of your damage.
Rain of Arrows	Skill	1	Arrows rain down over a large area 2 times, each wave dealing 100% damage.	Imbuement Skill effects applied by Rain of Arrows have 30% increased potentcy.	Rain of Arrows’ first wave Knocks Down enemies for 3 seconds.
Death Trap	Skill	1	Place a trap that arms after 1.25 seconds. It activates when an enemy moves within range, dealing 250% damage to each enemy in the area.	Enemies are pulled into Death Trap when it activates.	If Death Traps kills an enemy, its Cooldown is reduced by 12 seconds.
Trap Mastery	Passive	3	When Poison Trap or Death Trap activates, you gain 4% increased Critical Strike Chance against Vulnerable and Crowd Controlled enemies for 4 seconds.	–	–
Aftermath	Passive	3	While an Ultimate Skill is on your Action Bar, you Heal for 0.5% Maximum Life every second. After using an Ultimate, restore 25 Energy.	–	–
Adrenaline Rush	Passive	3	While moving, you gain 5% increased Energy Regeneration.	–	–
Haste (requires 1 Point in Adrenaline Rush)	Passive	3	While at or above 50% maximum Energy, gain 5% increased Movement Speed. While below 50% maximum Energy, gain 5% increased Attack Speed.	–	–
Impetus (requires 1 Point in Adrenaline Rush)	Passive	3	After moving 15 meters, your next Core or Ultimate attack deals 8% increased damage. While the damage bonus remains, your Agility and Subterfuge Skills deal 5% increased damage.	–	–
Innervation	Passive	3	Lucky Hit: Up to a 10% chance to gain 8 Energy.	–	–
Alchemist’s Fortune (requires 1 Point in Innervation)	Passive	3	Non-Physical damage you deal has a 5% increased Lucky Hit Chance.	–	–
Second Wind (requires 1 Point in Innervation)	Passive	3	Every 100 Energy you spend grants 15% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier for 3 seconds.	–	–

These are powerful passives that will likely define your Rogue’s overall playstyle. Only one of these passives can be chosen.

Name	Max Rank	Description
Momentum	1	Casting a Cutthroat Skill grants a stack of Momentum. Casting a Non-Cutthroat Skill removes a stack of Momentum. For each stack of Momentum, you gain 3% Damage Reduction, 3% Maximum Energy, 3% Energy Regeneration, 3% Movement Speed, and 5% Damage. This can stack up to 10 times.
Close Quarters Combat	1	Damaging a Close enemy with Marksman or Cutthroat Skills each grant a 15% Attack Speed bonus for 8 seconds. While both Attack Speed bonuses are active, you deal 10% increased damage against Crowd Controlled enemies.
Precision	1	Each Marksman skill cast grants 1 stack of Precision, or 2 if it has Critically Struck. When you reach 6 stacks, your next Marksman Core or Ultimate Skill is a guaranteed Critical Strike that deals 50% increased Critical Strike Damage, consuming all stacks of Precision. This damage is further increased by an amount equal to 15% of your Critical Strike Damage bonus.
Victimize	1	Lucky Hit: Dealing direct damage to a Vulnerable enemy has up to a 50% chance to cause an explosion, dealing 30% of the original damage to them and surrounding enemies.
Exposure	1	Lucky Hit: Dealing direct damage to an enemy affected by a Trap Skill has up to a 25% chance to: Reduce the active Cooldowns of your Trap Skills by 20% Drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal 40% total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.50 seconds.