Diablo 4‘s Loot Reborn update reimagines the way you play. Some Diablo classes tend to outperform the rest when farming loot and the Rogue is one of them. After the recent changes, this is the best Rogue build for Diablo 4‘s season four.
Guide to the best Rogue build in Diablo 4 season four
Throughout most of the lifespan of Diablo 4, builds such as the Rapid Fire build and the Death Trap build dominated the metagame. With the rise of the Loot Reborn update in season four and the addition of new bosses, a new build has emerged and has skyrocketed up the ranks: The Heartseeker Rogue build.
This Heartseeker build revolves around its namesake skill. Heartseeker is a bow skill that shoots a seeking arrow that tracks the closest enemy, damages them, and increases your critical strike chance against the affected enemy.
Heartseeker has an upgrade path that consists of one mandatory and two optional upgrades. For this build, we chose these:
- Enhanced Heartseeker: You gain increased attack speed when Heartseeker lands a critical strike. This effect is doubled when the enemy is Vulnerable.
- Primary Heartseeker: Your Heartseeker projectile ricochets to the nearest enemy, dealing 75 percent of the original damage.
Enhanced Heartseeker is the mandatory upgrade. Having more attack speed on Heartseeker increases your chance of landing critical strikes. Primary Heartseeker is the optional upgrade of choice, with the ricochet effect allowing you to kill multiple enemies at once.
Skill progression
The next part of this build is filling up the rest of your skill slots with complementary abilities. Your six slots should ideally consist of these skills.
- Heartseeker:
- Enhanced Heartseeker
- Primary Heartseeker
- Dash:
- Enhanced Dash
- Disciplined Dash
- Smoke Grenade:
- Enhanced Smoke Grenade
- Subverting Smoke Grenade
- Dark Shroud:
- Enhanced Dark Shroud
- Countering Dark Shroud
- Caltrops:
- Enhanced Caltrops
- Disciplined Caltrops
- Poison Trap:
- Enhanced Poison Trap
- Subverting Poison Trap
Repositioning is key when playing a glass cannon Diablo 4 class like the Rogue and having Disciplined Dash will slow all nearby enemies. Enhanced Dash grants you a bonus critical strike chance against hit enemies.
Smoke Grenade is a perfect control skill to Daze enemies, which is further enhanced by Subverting Smoke Grenade increasing the Daze duration against Vulnerable enemies. Enhanced Smoke Grenade increases the damage enemies take from you while they are in the smoke cloud.
Dark Shroud grants you damage reduction through five shadows that spawn. Enhanced Dark Shroud grants you a chance to not let Shadows be consumed by damage while Countering Dark Shroud increases your critical strike chance per active Shadow.
Caltrops is another excellent repositioning skill with added control that slows enemies. Enhanced Caltrops increase your damage against caught enemies while Disciplined Caltrops increase your critical strike chance against them. Finally, Poison Trap combines with Caltrops by adding Poison damage over time to all slowed enemies. For additional control, pick Enhanced Poison Trap to knock down all affected enemies.
Passive abilities
Passive abilities help to enhance your active skills by imbuing them with additional effects. These passive skills are divided into one Key Passive and other secondary passives. First, the Key Passive needed for this build:
- Victimize: When you deal damage to a Vulnerable enemy, your attack has a 50 percent chance to cause an explosion dealing AOE damage to all surrounding enemies.
The constant Heartseeker spam will trigger Victimize often, helping you clear waves of Diablo enemies. Next, pick up these passives:
- Adrenaline Rush: You gain increased Energy regeneration while moving.
- Agile: You gain an increased Dodge chance every time you use a cooldown.
- Exploit: You deal increased damage to Healthy and Injured enemies.
- Haste: You gain increased movement speed when your Energy levels are above half. You also gain increased attack speed when your Energy levels drop below half.
- Malice: You deal increased damage to Vulnerable enemies.
- Stutter Step: You gain increased movement speed each time you critically strike an enemy.
- Trap Mastery: You gain an increased critical strike chance against Vulnerable enemies when they are affected by your Traps.
- Trick Attacks: You knock down Dazed enemies when you critically strike them.
Specialization choices
Specialization is the Rogue’s unique class mechanic. This feature unlocks at level 15 after completing the True Potential quest. Since we aren’t using Core skills or Ultimate skills for this build, there’s no need to use Combo Points or Preparation. As such, the specialization we want for the Heartseeker build is Inner Sight.
Since you will be blowing up screens of enemies eventually with Heartseeker and Victimize, you will be taking out marked targets often, filling up your Inner Sight gauge. Once it fills, the unlimited Energy will allow you to cast all of your skills as needed. With proper management and enough practice, you should never run out of Energy.
Aspects
The right Aspects for this build mostly revolve around imbuing ones that enhance your Basic skills in some way. These are the recommended Aspects:
- Aspect of Adaptability: Your Basic skills deal bonus damage when your Energy is above 50 percent. Your Basic skills also generate extra Energy when your Energy is below 50 percent.
- Aspect of Concussive Strikes: Your attacks have a chance to Daze enemies on hit. Additionally, you deal increased damage to Dazed enemies.
- Aspect of Disobedience: You gain stacks of armor every time you deal any form of damage.
- Aspect of Might: You gain damage reduction after casting a Basic skill.
- Aspect of the Moonrise: You gain stacks of attack speed when you damage enemies with a Basic skill. After gaining five stacks, you gain Vampiric Bloodrage, increasing your movement speed and damage dealt by your Basic skills.
- Cheat’s Aspect: You gain damage reduction against crowd-controlled enemies. Additionally, taking damage from a crowd-controlled enemy temporarily increases your movement speed.
- Mangler’s Aspect: You gain a chance to Daze Vulnerable enemies when you damage them.
- Rapid Aspect: Your Basic skills gain increased attack speed.
- Umbrous Aspect: You gain a chance to acquire a free Dark Shroud Shadow when you land a critical strike with a Marksman skill.
- Vengeful Aspect: Your critical strike chance increases when you turn an enemy Vulnerable.
That’s everything you need to know to run a powerful Heartseeker Rogue. For more, check out our Vampiric Powers guide to find the best powers for your Rogue.
