Looking for a fast and agile class that can dish out deadly attacks from the shadows? Look no further than the rogue in Diablo 4. As a master of ranged combat and stealthy maneuvers, the rogue is a versatile class that can adapt to a wide range of situations and playstyles.
In this comprehensive leveling guide, we’ll show you how to level up your rogue character efficiently, from choosing the best skills and abilities to acquiring the most effective gear and items. We’ll also provide tips and strategies for farming experience and earning gold, as well as insights into the rogue’s unique playstyle and strengths.
June 2, 2023: We updated, our Diablo 4 Rogue Leveling guide!
Whether you’re a seasoned Diablo player or new to the franchise, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to take your rogue to the next level and dominate the demonic forces of Diablo 4. So if you’re ready to unleash the full potential of the rogue, join us as we embark on a journey of adventure and danger! You can also access the Leveling guide of all classes in Diablo 4 from here.
Diablo 4 Rogue Leveling Build Guide
Rogues are agile, fast-paced characters with many tricks up their sleeve. They can both stay in melee combat, outsmarting their foes with every step, or snipe enemies from a distance in a methodical fashion. Rogues can alternate between ranged weapons (bows or crossbows) and melee weapons (specifically daggers or swords). Just like the Barbarian’s Arsenal system, they can alternate between these weapon categories, therefore, there is no locking out of skill options by picking a specific weapon choice. A skill’s stats will depend on the appropriate weapons’ stats: i.e. ranged skills will be calculated using ranged weapons. Another pillar of the class is mobility, which can be used for assault, quick repositioning, or to retreat.
Rogues combine aspects of the original Rogue, the Amazon, Assassin and Demon Hunter.
Talent Specializations: The Rogue has three different specializations: Combo Points, Exploit Weakness, and Shadow Realm. Each one is tied to a world-Rogue group and requires accomplishing a Rogue-specific quest to unlock. These three groups include the remnants of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, the mercenaries of Kehjistan, and the outlaw smugglers of Hawezar.
Imbue System: The Imbue system can modify the damage type of multiple skills with either Cold, Poison, or Shadow damage, as well as add secondary effects depending on type.
Rogues can lace their weapons with cursed oils, causing them to deal Shadow damage.[4] Cursed enemies that die explode, inflicting a large amount of damage to nearby targets and can be an effective screen clear if a player can maintain the AoE momentum. Just like the Sorceress, they are also capable of applying Chill effects with Cold attacks that builds up to a full Freeze over time.
This leveling guide focuses on high Vulnerable uptime, great AoE burst damage with Shadow Imbuement and extra Energy recovery that unlocks towards the end for smooth farming. You can play the exact same setup with both Flurry (melee) or Barrage (ranged) by simply switching the points between these two Core Skills. Choose one of these and only invest points into that one, not both at the same time!
Levels 2-3, 2 Skill Points
To start off we have to put 2 points into Basic Skills to unlock the other sections. Forceful Arrow is our choice because it applies Vulnerable and helps out with extra damage when out of Energy with the Primary Forceful Arrow upgrade we get later.
- Level 2: Forceful Arrow
- Level 3: Enhanced Forceful Arrow
Core Skills Levels 4-7, 4 Skill Points
Choose your playstyle: Barrage for range, Flurry for melee. Both skills function relatively similarly in the way that they hit enemies multiple times per use, which enables great synergy with Imbuements later on. They are simple to use but reward good positioning to improve your damage. Always position yourself so that you hit the most targets possible with each attack.
- Level 4: Barrage OR Flurry
- Level 5: Enhanced Barrage OR Flurry
- Level 6: Improved Barrage OR Flurry
- Level 7: Primary Forceful Arrow
Levels 8-17, 10 Skill Points
Adding Mobility & Damage:
At this point you unlock one of the Rogue’s signature skills: Dash. This Agility Skill has two charges and allows you to zip around the battlefield to either engage, escape or reposition yourself. While we’re at it, pick up Shadow Step, another mobility tool that we use as a filler until we unlock Ultimate Skills to speed things up a bit. This also allows teleportation across cliffs, which is very helpful in outdoor zones.
At level 13, we unlock Subterfuge Skills and pick up Dark Shroud. This is another important skill used in most Rogue builds due to the massive amount of protection it provides. In addition, we use it to boost our Movement Speed with Subverting Dark Shroud.
At level 15, we also unlock the Rogue Specialization. Finish this Priority Quest as soon as possible to get Combo Points. While we don’t care much about this effect, Forceful Arrow is still used regularly to boost your Core Skill’s damage.
- Level 8: Dash
- Level 9: Shadow Step
- Levels 10-12: Barrage OR Flurry
- Level 13: Dark Shroud
- Level 14: Enhanced Dark Shroud
- Level 15: Subverting Dark Shroud
- Level 16: Barrage OR Flurry
- Level 17: Exploit
Levels 18-23, 6 Skill Points
Shadow Imbuement boosts Core Skills (Barrage or Flurry) by converting their damage to another type and adding extra effects. With it you can apply Vulnerable, recover Energy with Consuming Shadows and blow up packs of small enemies, all of which has fantastic synergy with our main skill. Use it as often as you can but avoid wasting charges on Dash or Shadow Step. We also switch the Rogue Specialization to Inner Sight at level 20, which regularly refills all Energy and allows infinite spamming of our skills for a duration.
- Level 18: Shadow Imbuement
- Level 19: Enhanced Shadow Imbuement
- Level 20: Blended Shadow Imbuement
- Level 20: Switch Combo Points to Inner Sight
- Level 21: Shadow Crash
- Levels 22-23: Consuming Shadows
Levels 24-25, 2 Skill Points + Renown
At level 25, we unlock Ultimate Skills where we pick up Shadow Clone. While Shadow Step is great to have for mobility, the higher damage output especially against Bosses is great to have. Use the Shadow Clone freely whenever you engage a big pack of Elites or other notable targets.
- Levels 24-25: Exploit
- Level 25: Remove Shadow Step, add Shadow Clone
- Renown 1-3: Innervation
(3 extra Skill points can be unlocked in the Beta)
Rogue Flurry Build
This is an alternative full-melee playstyle that is easier to pilot than Twisting Blades. Instead of flying all over the place, you simply stab enemies with your daggers. This build includes both Shadow Imbuement and Poison Imbuement to boost AoE and single-target damage.
