When designing a rogue build inDiablo 4, it’s vital that players take into accounthow the class functionsas a whole. Thinking about this will help players decide which active and passive skills to take, as both will be required to construct a viable and effective build. Though active abilities will always take center stage due to their direct impact on enemies, it would be foolish to believe that passive skills have little to no impact on gameplay. In fact, many active abilities function best when paired with a proper set of passive skills.
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Every build will have different needs and therefore different abilities are likely to be best for that specific character. That being said, some skills offer more benefits to more potential builds than others. The following examples are a collection of the most useful and versatile passive skills forDiablo 4’s rogue class.
This list will not include key passives, which will be covered elsewhere.
10Sturdy
It’s not flashy, but it’ll keep players alive. This passive skill flatly reduces all incoming damage players receive from close enemies. Specifically, that means any enemy within melee range deals less damage to the player.
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Not only does this make enemies less effective when engaged by close-combat rogues, but can also help protect ranged rogues from enemies that get a bit too close for comfort.
9Siphoning Strikes
Siphoning Strikes is a passive skill that heals players by a small amount when critically striking an enemy within melee range. Synergizing well with the rogue’s many critical strike bonuses, this skill is an excellent way to turn their pain into one’s gain. Additionally, since the healed amount is relative to the player’s maximum health, this bonus will never become obsolete.
While less useful for ranged-focused builds, this passive skill is a must-have forsurvivable melee builds.
8Aftermath
This passive restores 25 points of energy after the rogue’s ultimate ability is activated, making it especially useful for players who rely on their ultimate as a last resort. Of course, this passive is only helpful for characters with both an ultimate ability and core ability equipped, so it won’t be for everyone.
This skill synergizes well with theshadow cloneultimate or thedeath trapcombined with theconsuming shadowspassive. For more resource-focused builds, this passive serves as a great compliment to therogue’s preparation specialization.
7Weapon Mastery
While not as specialized as some other passives, this skill is an extremely versatile choice that offers bonuses to any kind of build and even remains useful if players change their build later. Specifically, this passive offers a different bonus for every possible rogue weapon, allowing players to specialize their own way and presenting some insight into how the class’s weapons function overall.
Weapon Mastery increases damage to health enemies when using daggers, flatly increases damage with swords, increases bow damage against vulnerable enemies, and boosts critical strike damage with crossbows.
6Rapid Gambits
Rapid Gambits reduce the player’s evade cooldown every time they daze an enemy. This passive is perfect for players who rely on stunning and dazing skills such asDashandSmoke Grenadeto get them out of trouble.
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This isn’t just to keep ranged rogues out of harm’s way, however. The stacking cooldown reduction makes a great addition for melee rogues who prioritize mobility and positioning.
5Stutter Step
The Stutter Step skill increases the rogue’s movement speed every time they critically strike an enemy. While this effect does not stack on its own, it does compound with other speed-enhancing effects and is ideal for ranged players who prefer to deal damage from a distance while remaining mobile.
The downside of this passive is that it requires a successful critical strike to function. Fortunately, many rogue builds thrive on generating high critical strike chances, especially those utilizing ranged attacks and crossbows.
4Malice
The rogue class excels at creating openings in which to strike and leaving enemies debilitated and vulnerable. The Malice passive increases the overall damage players deal to vulnerable enemies, further capitalizing on already weakened opponents.
The best part about this particular skill is thatmany rogue abilitiessynergize well with it regardless of whether they apply the vulnerable status. Specifically, skills likePunctureandFlurrywork well with this passive.
3Alchemical Advantage
Rogues who utilize poison abilities will find this passive to be right up their alley. Alchemical Advantage slightly increases the player’s attack speed for each enemy affected by poison, up to a certain limit. This stacking bonus works especially well forbuilds focusing on rapid attacks.
Of course, one will also need abilities capable of inflicting poison as well. For that reason, it is highly recommended that players pair this skill with thePoison ImbuementorPoison Trapabilities.
2Frigid Finesse
Whilemany frost rogue buildsare focused on slowing their targets from a safe distance, some players may still prefer to get up close and personal. Frigid Finesse increases the player’s damage to chilled enemies and further boosts attack against enemies the player has frozen.
This effect is useful for both ranged and melee players who utilizeFrost Imbuementand helps make up for some damage bonuses frost users may pass up for debuff effects.
1Shadow Crash
Shadow damage naturally turns enemies infected by it into walking bombs waiting to infect surrounding enemies. With Shadow Crash, players can add a passive chance for any shadow damage to also stun enemies. While this does require a lucky hit, the AOE impact of shadow explosions makes this much more likely than one may assume.
Shadow Crash is an ideal addition toshadow damage buildsand synergizes well with theShadow ImbuementandDeath Trapactive abilities.
Diablo 4is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
