Dance of Knives – Rogue Build for Diablo 4

Build Introduction

The Dance of Knives Rogue features a spin-to-win playstyle and is most likely the top-performing build in Season 6 within the class. Auto-targeting projectiles are unleashed while running at maximum speed, making this build perfect for Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, and The Pit.

If you used the Leveling Guide for the Dance of Knives Rogue, this is the best endgame guide to continue your journey. This build improves the damage of the hit-based Dance of Knives setup with Unique Items, Paragon, Grenade tech, and more snapshot mechanics!

If your character has not reached Level 60, follow the Leveling Guide for the Dance of Knives Rogue.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Check the build tier lists to see how this build compares to others on Icy Veins.

Video Overview and Gameplay Footage

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Skill Bar Setup for the Dance of Knives Rogue (order does not matter)

Dance of KnivesConcealmentCold ImbuementShadow ImbuementDark ShroudShadow Clone

The Skill Tree above shows the full allocation of 71 Skill Points for the Dance of Knives Rogue build. Make sure you obtain the 12 Skill Points available from Renown.

Puncture is not equipped on the Skill Bar. 2 Skill Points are allocated into the Basic Skill cluster only as a prerequisite to proceed in the Skill Tree.

Once you have equipped Bac Yom to activate Preparation to reset Cooldowns, Methodical Dash can replace Shadow Clone on the Skill Bar for more mobility while speed-farming activities. Remove 2 points from Shadow Clone and 1 point from Agile for this setup.

Rogue Specialization

Preparation is the preferred specialization for the Dance of Knives Rogue for 15% Damage Reduction and to reset Cooldowns. These bonuses are activated by casting Shadow Clone and automatically through Bac Yom. The Cooldown reset works with Dance of Knives to restore all charges.

Paragon

After Character Level 60, experience gains are applied to Paragon up to Level 300. A maximum of 228 Paragon Points can be obtained through Paragon Levels, Renown, and Altars of Lilith. Follow the Paragon setup designed for the Dance of Knives Rogue to gain a considerable amount of progression for your character.

Glyphs are inserted into sockets on each Paragon board and can be found during various activities in Diablo 4. Level up the Glyphs included in the Paragon setup by completing The Pit. Clearing higher tiers of The Pit allows Glyphs to reach higher levels.

Important Notes:

• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the proper orientation.
• Attach Legendary Boards in the order shown, as bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order.
• Prioritize leveling each of your equipped Glyphs to 15 to gain the increased radius, which can be required to meet additional bonus requirements. Afterward, level each Glyph to 46 to unlock its Legendary Bonus and gain another radius increase.

If you have not yet acquired the Bac Yom Runeword setup, skip the No Witnesses board. You will need to reset your entire Paragon setup once you have the Runeword.

The Paragon setup displayed above focuses on quickly unlocking the essential Glyph sockets and Legendary Nodes at a moderate Paragon Level. Once the base setup is complete, allocate the remaining Paragon points in the following order.

1. Obtain any remaining nodes providing a damage increase within the radius of Glyph sockets.
2. Safeguard, Damage Reduction from Elites, and Armor nodes in the Cheap Shot board.
3. Unassailable, Damage Reduction from Vulnerable Enemies, and Armor nodes in the Exploit Weakness board.
4. Cold Resilience, Cold Resistance, and Maximum Cold Resistance nodes in the Exploit Weakness board.
5. Resilience, Resistance to All Elements, and Maximum Life in the starting board.
6. Deviant, Resistance to All Elements, and Maximum Life in the Cheap Shot board.
7. Ranger, Damage Reduction from Distant Enemies, and Damage to Distant Enemies nodes in the Danse Macabre board.
8. Calculated, Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies, and Armor nodes in the Cheap Shot board.
9. Spearhead, Damage to Healthy Enemies, and Maximum Life nodes in the Cheap Shot Board.
10. Fleeting, Dodge Chance, and Control Impaired Duration Reduction nodes in the No Witnesses board.
11. Skulker, Subterfuge Cooldown Reduction, and Resistance to All Elements nodes in the Danse Macabre board.
12. Acrobat, Mobility Cooldown Reduction, and Maximum Life nodes in the Danse Macabre board.

Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats

The following sections cover the important systems that are essential to improving the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4.

Legendary Aspects

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects for the Dance of Knives Rogue build. Salvage Legendary Items with higher Aspect values to unlock them in the Codex of Power, and then imprint them onto Legendary Items with the preferred affixes.

All Grenade aspects are only utilized for the increased damage to Grenades, which work with all hits from Dance of Knives when Methodical Dance of Knives is allocated. Prioritize Grenade aspects with the highest increased damage value.

Resistant Assailant’s Aspect is useful to reset Concealment early in the gearing process when you do not have much Cooldown Reduction.

Gear Slot	Name	Effect
Ranged Weapon (+100% bonus effect)	Aspect of Synergy	Using an Agility Skill reduces the Cooldown of your next Subterfuge Skill by 20%. Using a Subterfuge Skill increases the damage of your next Agility Skill by x [35 – 55%].
Amulet (+50 bonus effect)	Aspect of Stolen Vigor	While at maximum stacks of the Momentum Key Passive, your Cutthroat Skills deal [30 – 50%] increased damage and you become Unstoppable for 3 seconds every 8 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #1 (replaced by Asheara’s Khanjar)	Aspect of Surprise	When you Evade or Shadow Step, you leave behind a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal [25 – 45%] more damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Rings	Aspect of Star Shards	Knives from Dance of Knives have a 50% chance to shatter into 6 shards of metal on hit, dealing [X] Physical damage. Dance of Knives now spends Combo Points, granting up to 3 additional Charges that can exceed the Maximum.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Rings	Opportunist’s Aspect	When you enter or break Stealth, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around you that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal [25 – 45%] more damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Rings	Aspect of Artful Initiative	When you spend 75 Energy you release a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Gloves (replaced by Fists of Fate)	Trickster’s Aspect	Caltrops and Smoke Grenade receive Stun Grenade benefits and throw Stun Grenades that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Helm (replaced by Heir of Perdition or Cowl of the Nameless)	Resistant Assailant’s Aspect	Casting Concealment grants 10% Resistance and Maximum Resistance to all elements for 6 seconds. Killing an Elite enemy reduces Concealment’s cooldown by [6 – 14] seconds.
Chest (replaced by Tyrael’s Might or Shroud of False Death)	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 65%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Pants	Frostbitten Aspect	Enemies hit by your Grenade Skills have a chance equal to your Critical Strike Chance to be Frozen for 2 seconds. You deal x [10 – 25%] increased Critical Strike Damage against Frozen or Stunned enemies. Note: only used for the damage increase, not for Grenade Skills
Boots	Aspect of Concussive Strikes	Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 20% chance to Daze them for 2 seconds. You deal x [5 – 20%] increased damage to Dazed enemies.

Gems and Runewords

Listed below are the best Gems to socket into gear for each item type.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Diamond for Ultimate Damage to scale No Witnesses.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Grand Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

Insert the following 2 Runewords, each consisting of a Rune of Offering and a Rune of Invocation, into any equipped Helm, Chest, or Pants item. Add sockets to your equipment at the Jeweler if necessary.

Runewords	Effects
Yax Qax	Gain: 200 Offering — Drink a Healing Potion. Requires: 400 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Your next non-Basic Skill cast spends all of your Primary Resource to deal up to 100% increased damage.
Bac Yom	Gain: 50 Offering — Travel 5 meters. Requires: 500 Offering, Cooldown: 5 Seconds — Evoke the Druid’s Petrify, Stunning enemies.

Elixirs

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs, or find Elixirs by killing enemies or opening chests during various activities in Diablo 4. Listed below are the best Elixirs to consume for the Dance of Knives Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Advantage increases damage output.
2. Elixir of Fortitude is the best general-purpose option for survivability.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Dance of Knives Rogues. Each line of affixes are listed in order of importance. Gear affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important, but their benefits may vary depending on how much is stacked or other character stats. Attempt to obtain all gear affixes in each line before moving to the next line. Yellow affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades, while blue affixes are secondary options.

Daggers offer greater spike damage from Weapon Mastery, useful for killing weak enemies in one hit and flexing the highest damage numbers. Swords provide a more consistent damage output. The Ranged Weapon type does not matter since no attacks utilize them.

The priority order of Resistances is Lightning > Poison > Fire > Cold > Shadow. Maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.

Critical Strike Chance is not needed due to the Concealment snapshot guaranteeing Critical Strikes.

The Cutthroat Attack Speed temper from Cutthroat Finesse is preferred until you reach 100% Attack Speed bonus in the second cap (separate from the character stats sheet). Asheara’s Khanjar is the only other Attack Speed bonus in this build that is included in cap #2. Once 100% Attack Speed is reached in cap #2, temper Damage Per Dark Shroud from Subterfuge Expertise.

Armor is only needed until capped at 1,000.

SEASON 6 UPDATE: The Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth temper is only applied to the first dagger thrown from channeling Dance of Knives. It has been removed from the setup.

Check the Tempering Guide for more details on Blacksmith upgrading.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Ranged Weapon	1. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	Agile Augments (Weapon): Chance for Dance of Knives to Deal Double Damage (cap at 100%) Cutthroat Finesse (Offensive): Cutthroat Attack Speed
Dual-Wielded Weapons	1. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	Agile Augments (Weapon): Chance for Dance of Knives to Deal Double Damage (cap at 100%) Cutthroat Finesse (Offensive): Cutthroat Attack Speed
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Slow Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance
Chest	1. Ranks to Dark Shroud 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Immobilize Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance
Gloves	1. Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Cutthroat Finesse (Offensive): Cutthroat Attack Speed Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze
Pants	1. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 2. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Stun Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance
Boots	Implicit Stat: Maximum Evade Charges 1. Ranks to Dance of Knives 2. Movement Speed 3. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 4. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Rogue Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed per Dark Shroud Shadow Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse, Unstable Elixirs, Malice, or Weapon Mastery 2. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction	Cutthroat Finesse (Offensive): Cutthroat Attack Speed Subterfuge Efficiency (Resource): Subterfuge Cooldown Reduction
Rings	1. Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Subterfuge Efficiency (Resource): Subterfuge Cooldown Reduction Cutthroat Finesse (Offensive): Cutthroat Attack Speed

Unique and Mythic Items

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for the Dance of Knives Rogue build. Each item description includes the most important affix to target for Masterworking upgrades.

• Heir of Perdition (recommended) is a Mythic Unique Item that provides the most consistent damage increase for the slot.
  • Masterworking Priority: Lucky Hit Chance
• Cowl of the Nameless (optional) is an alternative offensive option with the highest damage potential while Trick Attacks is active.
  • Masterworking Priority: Trick Attacks or Unstable Elixirs
• Asheara’s Khanjar (recommended) provides increased Attack Speed (cap #2 shared with Cutthroat Attack Speed up to 100%) to scale the hit damage of Dance of Knives. The Ranks to Weapon Mastery is the most significant benefit of this weapon.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Weapon Mastery
• Fists of Fate (highly recommended) provides up to a 50% overall damage increase in the unique effect. The Lucky Hit Chance to Apply a Random Crowd Control Effect affix is useful to quickly Stagger Bosses.
  • Masterworking Priority: Attack Speed
• Tyrael’s Might (recommended starter) is extremely helpful to cap Resistences for starting Torment 4 difficulty. The divine barrage does not contribute a significant portion of the total damage in this build.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction or Maximum Resistance to All Elements
• Shroud of False Death (recommended) provides the highest damage increase in the slot due to the +1 Ranks to All Passives inherent affix.
  • Masterworking Priority: Maximum Life or All Stats

Mercenaries

Once the Den is unlocked during the main questline in the Vessel of Hatred expansion for Diablo 4, complete Mercenary key quests to acquire them. Hire a Mercenary and enlist a Reinforcement in the following setup.

• Hired Mercenary: Varyana
  • Skills: Cleave, Hysteria, Bloodthirst, Bloodlust
• Reinforcement: Raheir
  • Skill: Bastion
  • Opportunity: Cast when the player becomes Injured

Advanced Information

Additional details are provided in the following sections for a more in-depth explanation of the Dance of Knives Rogue. Read this advanced information after understanding the basic overview of the build in the previous sections.

Build Mechanics

The Dance of Knives Rogue is a spin-to-win build featuring a simple playstyle that excels in all Diablo 4 activities. While there are several utility skills to improve performance, Dance of Knives is channeled for the majority of combat. This build focuses on the hit-damage of Dance of Knives, as opposed to the proc-based Victimize Version of the Dance of Knives Rogue Build.

Bac Yom activates Preparation and No Witnesses consistently without needing an Ultimate Skill on the Skill Bar.

Movement Speed

Movement Speed is the most important stat for the Dance of Knives Rogue. Every 30 meters you travel while Channeling Dance of Knives grants 4 Charges from Enhanced Dance of Knives. Reach the Movement Speed cap at 200% to have a near-infinite Channeling duration for Dance of Knives, which provides a longer benefit of snapshot mechanics.

A Total of +105% Movement Speed bonus is easily obtained from the Skill Tree by Dance of Knives (+20%), Stutter Step Rank 3 (+15%), Haste Rank 3 (+15%), Enhanced Dark Shroud (+25%), and Momentum (+30%). Any additional Movement Speed provided by gear can still be beneficial when there are no enemies to Critically Strike to activate Stutter Step or Dark Shroud Shadows are depleted.

Snapshot Mechanics

Multiple snapshot mechanics, which extend the duration of temporary buffs by applying them to a channeled skill, are utilized. Cast Concealment and then channel Dance of Knives immediately afterward to create the snapshot. Maintain the channeling without interruption to keep the following buffs active the entire time.

• Subverting Concealment guarantees Critical Strikes and applies Vulnerable status to hits from Dance of Knives and Aspect of Star Shards.
• Shadow Imbuement and Cold Imbuement snapshot while only costing 1 charge.
• Aspect of Synergy
• Danse Macabre
• Yax Qax Runeword grants 100% increased damage on the next non-Basic Skill that deals damage, which applies to the entire duration of a channeled Dance of Knives. Drink 2 potions during each channel period to prepare the buff for the next channel.

The Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth temper from Subterfuge Expertise does NOT snapshot.

The Interact button (“F” key by default on PC) can be pressed to pick up items, open doors, and activate events without breaking snapshots.

Grenade Tech

Methodical Dance of Knives grants the Grenade tag to the skill tooltip, enabling all hits from Dance of Knives to gain Grenade bonuses. Explosive and aspects with increased Grenade damage provide higher damage output, despite Grenades not being utilized.

Crowd Controls and Boss Stagger

Damage multipliers activated by a variety of different Crowd Controls contribute to a significant portion of damage output for a Rogue. These damage bonuses can be applied to normal and elite enemies immediately, but they do not apply to bosses unless they are Staggered. Repeated Crowd Controls from the same source in a short duration apply less Stagger to bosses, so separate sources of Crowd Controls are utilized within the build. Stagger Bosses to deal maximum damage!

This build applies Crowd Controls from the following sources:

• Fists of Fate
• Chill from Cold Imbuement
• Freenze from Frostbitten Aspect
• Daze from Aspect of Concussive Strikes
• Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze/Stun/Immobilize/Slow/Daze tempers

Crowd-Controlled enemies take additional damage through multipliers from the following sources:

• 1.40x Mixed Cold Imbuement
• 1.30x from Frigid Finesse
• 1.25x from Cheap Shot
• 1.20x from Frostbitten Aspect
• 1.20x from Aspect of Concussive Strikes
• 1.20x from Control

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Activate Dark Shroud to prepare for battle.
2. Activate Shadow Imbuement for explosive damage against groups of enemies or Cold Imbuement against tough elites or staggered bosses.
3. If you are using Asheara’s Khanjar, briefly channel Dance of Knives to stack the Attack Speed buff 5 times.
4. Cast Concealment to prepare temporary buffs for snapshotting.
5. Drink 1-2 Potions as needed to activate Yax Qax.
6. Channel Dance of Knives without interruption to maintain snapshotted buffs.
7. While channeling, drink a Potion near Elites to activate Unstable Elixirs.
8. Restart the rotation to begin a new channel. Cast Shadow Clone to reset Cooldowns through Preparation if needed.

Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Use Obols on your target equipment for a chance to receive Greater Affixes. Check out the tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Changelog

• October 19th, 2024: Video guide added.
• October 17th, 2024: Build updated to include Grenade tech.
• October 12th, 2024: Added Paragon points allocated after base setup.
• October 11th, 2024: Setup reworked to include No Witnesses and Preparation due to Bac Yom working to activate them.
• October 10th, 2024: The Damage After Next Attack After Entering Stealth temper removed from setup due to it not snapshotting.
• October 4th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• September 22nd, 2024: Guide created.