Introduction

Welcome to our Diablo 4 Rogue Penetrating Shot Build. In this guide we’ll take you through everything you need to know to create and play this powerful build for yourself. The guide covers Skill Tree, Paragon Board choices, Glyphs, Aspects and more! This build is essentially the ranged counterpart of the Shadow Imbuement build.

Skill Tree and Paragon Board

Glyph Leveling Priority

For our Diablo 4 Rogue Penetrating Shot Build we are using the 5 Rare Glyphs to complement our damage and survivability. Below we will put them in order of which one to level first to last.

• 1 – Exploit: We will need the extra radius to reach the required stats. Granting us Damage to Vulnerable targets and the ability to apply Vulnerable to all Targets on first hit.
• 2 – Combat: We will need the extra radius to reach the required stats. Granting us Core Skill Damage and Energy Cost Reduction.
• 3 – Ranger: We will need the extra radius to reach the required stats. Granting us Marksman Skill Damage and Damage Reduction while using ranged weapons.
• 4 – Chip: We will need the extra radius to reach the required stats. Granting us increased Physical Damage to targets and granting us increased Damage to a target based on Physical Damage dealt. In this case, our Basic Attacks or non-imbued Penetrating Shots.
• 5 – Control: We will need the extra radius to reach the required stats. Granting us increased Damage to Crowd Controlled targets and granting us increased Damage to Slowed or Chilled enemies. This Damage increase is doubled to Stunned or Frozen enemies.

Class Mechanic: Specializations (Combo Points)

Combo Points is our Specialization of choice in this end-game build. This is due to the usage of Puncture to stack Combo Points, allowing you to make very big burst windows. The burst comes from Penetrating Shot increasing in damage with each Combo Point spent.

Legendary Aspects

Legendary Aspects are one of the most powerful parts of any build. Below we list the ones used for this Diablo 4 Rogue Penetrating Shot Build. Each build has a limited amount of Offensive, Defensive, and Utility Aspects that it can use. Here is a reminder of the slot limitations for Legendary Aspects:

• Offensive – Amulets, Gloves, Ring, Weapons
• Defensive – Amulets, Chest, Helm, Legs, Shield
• Mobility – Amulets, Boots
• Resource – Rings
• Utility – Amulets, Boots, Chest, Gloves, Helm, Shield

Aspect Priority

Below you will find the list of Aspects we use and recommend for this build. The Aspects are in order starting from most important to the least. However all the Aspects are worthwhile. You can also check the build planner above for these Aspects:

• Edgemaster’s Aspect (Offensive)
• Umbrous Aspect (Defensive)
• Aspect of Disobedience (Defensive)
• Trickshot Aspect (Offensive)
• Aspect of Might (Defensive)
• Accelerating Aspect (Offensive)
• Aspect of the Expectant (Offensive)
• Aspect of Corruption (Offensive)
• Ghostwalker’s Aspect (Mobility)
• Aspect of the Protector (Defensive)

Unique Items

• Penitent Greaves (Boots) – These boots provide decent stats such as Movement Speed. Penitent Greaves also provides a chilling trail that increases your damage to Chilled enemies and Slows them. Replace Ghostwalker’s with these when possible.
• Harlequin’s Crest (Helm) – The Harlequin’s Crest is the undisupted best in slot Helm for every build in Diablo 4. The helmet provides you with Maximum Life, Cooldown Reduction, Energy Generation and All Stats. On top of this, the Helm provides +4 Ranks to ALL Skills. Replace Mangler’s with this as soon as possible.
• Doombringer (1-Handed Sword) – Doombringer is the ultimate push weapon for high tier Nightmare Dungeons. This unique weapon has it all, Core Skill Damage, flat Damage increases, Life on Lucky Hit and a huge 39% increase to Max Life. The unique effect of Doombringer also provides a Shadow Damage AoE explosion that reduces damage done by 20% too! As a result, for the highest tiers of end-game, this weapon is a must for pushing.
• Condemnation (1-Handed Dagger) – Condemnation is a must-have for this build. The ability to gain an instant full Combo Point meter is incredible. This unique Dagger also provides a huge amount of increased Core Skill Damage.

Malignant Hearts

Malignant Hearts, a new addition to Diablo 4 through the first Seasonal experience act as a huge boost to your build capabilities. As a result, we recommend using the following Malignant Hearts for this build:

Recommended

• Creeping Death (Wrathful, Super): Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.
• The Calculated (Devious, Utility-World Tier III): After spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource, your next attack Stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds.
• Trickery (Brutal, Defensive): When you use a Subterfuge Skill, leave behind an unstable Shadow Decoy Trap that Taunts enemies. The Shadow Decoy Trap will explode after 6.0 seconds dealing 680-1020 Shadow damage. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.

Alternative Choices

• The Dark Dance (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III): Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.
• Prudent Heart (Brutal, Defensive-World Tier III): You become Immune for 2.0-4.0 seconds after you lose more than 20% Life in a single hit. This effect can only occur once every 110 seconds.

Item Affix Priority

Item	1	2	3	4	5
Helm	Ranks to Shadow Imbuement	Ranks to Poison Imbuement	Cooldown Reduction	Max Life	Total Armor
Chest	Damage Reduction	Close Damage Reduction	Max Life.	Total Armor	Dexterity
Gloves	Ranks to Penetrating Shot	Critical Strike Damage	Attack Speed	Critical Strike Chance	Critical Strike Damage with Imbued Skills
Pants	Damage Reduction	Close Damage Reduction	Max Life	Total Armor	Ranks to Dark Shroud
Boots	Movement Speed	Energy Cost Reduction	Damage Reduction while Injured	Dodge Chance	All Stats
Amulet	Movement Speed	Damage Reduction	Cooldown Reduction	Ranks to Malice	Ranks to Weapon Mastery
Ring x 2	Critical Strike Chance	Critical Strike Damage	Vulnerable Damage	Max Life	Critical Strike Damage with Imbued Skills
Weapon 1H / 2H	Vulnerable Damage	Critical Strike Damage	Core Skill Damage	Dexterity	Critical Strike Damage with Imbued Skills

How To Play Penetrating Shot Rogue

• Manage your Energy alongside your Combo Points to ensure the strongest Penetrating Shots combined with the Edgemaster’s Aspect.
• You have a ranged advantage, make the most of it and efficiently kite enemies without taking huge amounts of melee damage.
• Use Dash and Shadow Step as a means of re-positioning.
• Dash can also be used as a means of dealing increased damage due to the Critical Strike Damage modifier it gives. To make the most of this, build up your Combo Points, Shadow Imbuement your Dash, Dash through the enemies and then round off the combo with a huge Penetrating Shot for massive damage.
• Shadow Step can also be used to Stun priority mobs in any scenario, make sure to assess what is the most dangerous enemy to you or your party and plan based on that.
• The general gameplay loop is to use Puncture to build up Combo Point stacks, Imbue your Penetrating Shot with either Shadow or Poison, shoot the Penetrating Shot consuming the Combo Points, then repeat!
• In higher tier content, you can afford to drop one of the Imbuement Skills for another Defensive Skill. A good example of this is Smoke Grenade for a quick safety button, or Concealment to stealth revive teammates.
• Remember to keep as much up-time of Dark Shroud as possible through your Amulet Aspect. Putting points into Dark Shroud in the Skill Tree or getting +Ranks to Dark Shroud Pants is also ideal for keeping you alive.

How to Play vs Mob Packs, Elites and Bosses

• When approaching single-target fights such as World Bosses or high tier Nightmare Dungeon bosses, using Poison Imbuement as your primary Imbuement is ideal for damage. You can also add or swap out to Rapid Fire for more consistent damage too.
• To get the most out of your damage in large packs of mobs, weave in as many Punctures as possible to build your Combo Points. This allows you to gather up the enemy while applying Vulnerable and building Combo Point stacks. From here, you can either aggressively Dash through to gain increased Critical Strike Damage, or kite back, firing the Penetrating Shot through the mob pack and weaving Punctures while backing off.
• Against Elites, entering the fight by Crowd Controlling the most dangerous target is advised. To achieve this efficiently, use Shadow Step as an engage tool. Soon after Shadow Step is used, you can Dash through and out of the Elite to gain Critical Strike Damage and proceed to target them down with Poison Imbuement and Penetrating Shot. If the Elite is in a huge pack of mobs however, Shadow Imbuement is still advised.

Additional Tips

This particular Rogue build that plays around Shadow Imbuement and Poison Imbuement excels in pretty much all content within Diablo 4. However, there is a few important things to note throughout each end-game activity and tweaks to the Skill Tree and Aspects:

• With a +4 Ranks to Shadow Imbuement and +4 Ranks to Poison Imbuement Helm, you can reach 5/5 on both Imbuements and spread a lot of points into other areas. For example, more Dark Shroud points.
• Precision, our Key Passive can deal huge amounts of bonus damage for us. As a result of this, be sure to keep an eye on the stacks on your buff bar.
• In the PVP Fields of Hatred, the Rogue is a formidable and high-speed opponent. For PVP content we recommend switching out Shadow Imbuement to Concealment. Concealment acts as both a surprise engage tool and an unstoppable utility. This Skill can also serve as a burst opener, as one of the perks in the Skill Tree provides a Guaranteed Critical Strike with Penetrating Shot upon Stealth Break.
• Survivability is key if you are pushing higher tier Nightmare Dungeons. If you are struggling to survive, focus on improving positioning or adding more Damage Reduction sources to your gear and Paragon.
• In the PVP Fields of Hatred, switching out or hot-swapping gear to have access to the Eluding Aspect to break out of stun-lock, Exploiter’s Aspect to fight Barbarians, Aspect of the Protector to gain a shield vs an opponent and Escape Artist to guarantee Dodge on several attacks – is recommended. Some Aspects gain far less value while fighting in PVP.

Conclusion

This concludes our guide for the Rogue Penetrating Shot build in Diablo 4! For more information on Diablo 4, including Class Builds and Guides, be sure to check out our Diablo 4 home page!