Death Trap – Rogue Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 8)

Build Introduction

The Death Trap Rogue is a specialized build focusing on Ultimate Skill damage. Death Trap is rapidly cast through synergies with the Preparation specialization, Beastfall Boots, and Cooldown Reduction. The explosive trap damage in this build is perfect for pushing high tiers of The Pit and Inferno Hordes!

This late endgame guide assumes your character is Level 60 and fulfills the Build Requirements. If you are not ready for this build, follow the Rogue Leveling Guide to find a starter build.

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

Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Requirements

The Death Trap Rogue is an advanced endgame build with strict requirements to function. Obtain the following list of items before attempting the build.

• Eyes in the Dark with a 150% value in its unique effect.
• Beastfall Boots with a high value on the Ultimate Cooldown Reduction affix. The value of the unique effect does not matter in this build.
• A Death Trap cooldown reduced to 10 seconds by any necessary combination of the following sources:
  • Harlequin Crest with a greater affix and/or masterworking bonuses on Cooldown Reduction. A Legendary Helm can also have a Cooldown Reduction affix with a lesser value.
  • Beastfall Boots with a greater affix and/or masterworking bonuses on Ultimate Cooldown Reduction.
  • Death Trap Cooldown Reduction tempers, potentially with masterworking bonuses, available on an Amulet and Rings.
• A maximum Energy of 150 by any necessary combination of the following sources:
  • Maximum Resource from Harlequin Crest.
  • Maximum Resource from Beastfall Boots.
  • Maximum Energy from Momentum.

Quick Navigation

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Skill Bar Setup for the Death Trap Rogue (order does not matter)

Death TrapTwisting BladesConcealmentShadow ImbuementSmoke GrenadeDark Shroud

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

Blade Shift 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.

Frigid Finesse is always active against Staggered Bosses since they count as being affected by all crowd controls.

Alchemical Advantage is activated by a Lucky Hit Chance to Deal Poison Damage temper.

Disciplined Shadow Step can replace Smoke Grenade for mobility and Unstoppable status.

Wondering what comes after Level 60? Head to the Paragon Board section to power up the build even further. If you want to see how everything plays out in combat, check out the Rotation and Playstyle section for a quick breakdown.

Rogue Class Mechanic – Specialization

Preparation is the required Specialization for the Death Trap Rogue. A maximum Energy of 150 is needed to activate Preparation twice, reducing the Cooldown of Death Trap by 10 seconds.

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Gear, Stats, Gems, and Runes

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 Death Trap 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. For the best results, combine these Aspects with the ideal Stat Priorities.

Gear Slot	Name	Effect
Ranged Weapon (+100% bonus effect)	Aspect of Apogeic Furor	Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your Ultimate damage by x [6 – 10%] , up to x [60 – 100%]. At 10 stacks, your Cooldowns and this bonus are reset.
Amulet (+50 bonus effect)	Aspect of Retribution	Distant enemies have a 10% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds when they hit you. You deal x [15 – 35%] increased damage to Stunned and Knocked Down enemies.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Frostbitten	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 – 30%] increased Critical Strike Damage against Frozen or Stunned enemies.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of Inner Calm	Deal x [5 – 13%] increased damage. Triple this bonus after standing still for 3 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Ring Slot #2	Conceited Aspect	Deal x [10 – 30%] increased damage while you have a Barrier active.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Ring Slot #2	Vehement Brawler’s Aspect	Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your damage by [10 – 30%] for 8 seconds. Gain 2 additional Ultimate Skill Ranks.
Gloves (replaced by Fists of Fate)	Accelerating Aspect	Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by [10 – 30%] for 5 seconds.
Helm (replaced by Harlequin Crest)	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 65%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Chest (replaced by Shroud of False Death)	Cheat’s Aspect	You take [10 – 30%] less damage from Crowd Controlled enemies. Whenever a Crowd Controlled enemy deals direct damage to you, gain 15% Movement Speed for 2 seconds.
Pants	Eyes in the Dark	Death Trap deals [50 – 150%] increased damage and will re-arm iteself once after activating.
Boots	Beastfall Boots	When you cast an Ultimate Skill, your next Core Skill consumes all of your energy and deals [0.25 – 0.75%] increased damage per Energy consumed. Using a Cooldown restores 25 Energy.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Death Trap Rogues, ranked by importance. Affixes on the same line have equal value, so attempt to obtain all affixes in each line before moving on to the next. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. For more details, check the Tempering and Masterworking guides.

Daggers are preferred over Swords to cast Twisting Blades faster. Crossbows are selected for the highest damage per hit for Death Trap.

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.

Armor is only needed until capped at 1,000.

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Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	Trap Augments (Weapon): Chance for Death Trap to Deal Double Damage (on Ranged Weapon and 1 Dual-Wielded Weapon up to 100% cap) and then Elemental Surge — Night: Lucky Hit Chance to Deal Poison Damage (on Dual-Wielded Weapon #2) Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Schemes (Utility): Barrier Generation Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Chest	1. Ranks to Dark Shroud 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Schemes (Utility): Barrier Generation Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Gloves	1. Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze
Pants	Eyes in the Dark	Tempering Not Available Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
Boots	Beastfall Boots	Tempering Not Available Masterworking Priority: Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse, Unstable Elixirs, and Malice 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Attack Speed	Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Death Trap Cooldown Reduction
Rings	1. Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Death Trap Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth

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Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Listed below are the required, recommended, and optional Unique and Mythic Unique Items for the Death Trap Rogue build. Each item description includes the most important affix to target for Masterworking upgrades. Check the Mythic Unique Items Guide for information on target-farming them.

• Eyes in the Dark (required) provides a massive 5x damage multiplier in its unique effect.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
• Beastfall Boots (required) consume all of your Energy for multiple activations of the Preparation specialization to reduce the Cooldown of Death Trap.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
• Harlequin Crest (highly recommended) is a Mythic Unique Item that provides a boosted Cooldown Reduction affix, which is important for reducing the Cooldown of Death Trap.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Fists of Fate (highly recommended) provides up to a 50% overall damage increase in the unique effect.
  • Masterworking Priority: Attack Speed
• Shroud of False Death (optional) provides the highest damage increase in the slot due to the +1 Ranks to All Passives inherent affix.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth

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Gems and Runewords

Listed below are the recommended Gems and Runewords to socket into your gear.

Gems

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Diamond for increased 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).

Runewords

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. Check the Runewords Guide for more details.

Runewords	Effects
Yul Ohm	Gain: 50 Offering — Cast a Skill with a Cooldown. Requires: 600 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds — Evoke the Barbarian’s Enhanced War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt.
Zan Vex	Gain: 150 Offering — Cast an Ultimate Skill. Requires: 1000 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Seconds — Gain +3 to all Skills for 7 seconds.

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Paragon Board

Use the following Paragon Boards, Legendary Nodes, and Glyphs for the Death Trap Rogue.

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. Path to the remaining Rare and Magic nodes. Prioritize obtaining damage reduction, any needed Resistances/Armor, and damage increases.

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Boss Powers (Season 8)

In the Season of Belial’s Return (Season 8), equip the following Boss Powers to enhance this build.

Main: Urivar’s Lobbed Bombs — After you Cast an Ultimate Skill, lob 4 bombs that deal [400%] Fire damage. Gain [15%] Cooldown Reduction.

Modifier:

• Liilth’s Wind of Hate: Hitting an Elite enemy with a Main Boss Power creates an inert Blister Clone with 10% of their Maximum Life for 15 seconds. Killing the Blister removes [2.1%] of the Elite’s Life. An Elite can have up to 1 Blister active at once, and a Boss can have up to 2 Blisters. Enemies with Resilience cannot spawn Blisters.
• Sinerat’s Flames: Gain x [5%] increased damage to all Elements. For each 1% of an Element’s Resistance from bonuses, gain x0.2% increased damage for that Element, up to a maximum of x [15.5%].
• Flesh Reaper’s Disruption: Gain x [5%] Vulnerable Damage, increased by x0.5% for each 1% of Crowd Control Duration Bonus you have, up to a maximum of x [10.5%].

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

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Build Mechanics

The Death Trap Rogue is a specialized build that requires a high amount of Cooldown Reduction applied to Death Trap to function. The cooldown of Death Trap must be reduced to 10 seconds through Cooldown Reduction affixes and Trap Cooldown Reduction tempers on gear.

The Preparation specialization refreshes the remaining 10-second Cooldown by spending at least 150 Energy in a single cast of a Core Skill with Beastfall Boots. A maximum Energy of 150 is obtained through Momentum, Harlequin Crest, and Beastfall Boots. Twisting Blades is selected as the Core Skill due to it being the fastest option with the lowest casting animation frames.

Concealment is cast before every Death Trap in the Damage Rotation to activate The Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth temper from the Subterfuge Expertise manual each time.

Subverting Concealment is applied to each Death Trap to guarantee Critical Strikes, removing the need for Increased Critical Strike Chance in the build. This node also applies Vulnerable status to every enemy.

Momentum is the recommended key passive in this build due to the Maximum Energy, Damage Reduction, and Damage bonuses that are easily activated and maintained by Twisting Blades. A highly min-maxed Close Quarters Combat setup that switches Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth tempers for Damage to Close Enemies tempers can result in a slightly higher damage output. This trade-off is most likely not worthwhile.

Mixed Shadow Imbuement is applied to tough elites and bosses to increase the damage of Death Trap.

Resource Management

A total of 150 Energy needs to be consumed for each cast of Twisting Blades through Beastfall Boots to activate Preparation twice. Ensure you have the following requirements to generate Energy.

• Enhanced Concealment generates 40 Energy.
• Aftermath Rank 3, granted by Eyes in the Dark, generates 75 Energy after casting Death Trap.
• Beastfall Boots restores 25 Energy when using a Cooldown, which is activated by casting Concealment and Death Trap.

Rotation and Playstyle

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Activate Dark Shroud to prepare for battles.
2. (Optional) Cast Smoke Grenade to apply Enhanced Smoke Grenade for more damage.
3. Activate Shadow Imbuement to apply Mixed Shadow Imbuement to the toughest target.
4. If Shroud of Khanduras is equipped, Evade to group enemies up.
5. Drink a Potion to activate Unstable Elixirs.
6. Cast Concealment to guarantee Critical Strikes and apply Vulnerable through Subverting Concealment.
7. Cast Death Trap.
8. Cast Twisting Blades to consume all your Energy through Beastfall Boots, activating Preparation twice to refresh the Cooldowns of Death Trap and Concealment.
9. Repeat steps 6-8 to continue dealing damage.

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 Death Trap Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Advantage increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.
2. Elixir of Fortitude is the best general-purpose option for survivability.

Season 8 Updates

A brief summary of the seasonal changes are provided below. For a complete overview of Season 8, take a look at the comprehensive season guide.

• Fists of Fate no longer applies random crowd controls.
• Worldly Fortune can no longer apply any crowd control tempers.
• Aspect of Concussive Strikes no longer provides increased damage.
• Frostbitten Aspect is now in the Offensive category.
• Death Trap
  • Base Cooldown increased from 50 to 60 seconds.
  • Lucky Hit Chance increased from 8% to 15%.
  • Death Trap’s Pull In effects will always happen around the area the trap is thrown or placed.
  • Previous: If Death Trap kills an enemy, its Cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds.
  • Now: If Death Trap kills or Overpowers an enemy, its Cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds.
• Prime Death Trap
  • Previous: Death Trap Slows all surrounding enemies by 85% for 5 seconds when it activates.
  • Now: Enemies hit by Death Trap take 50 20%[x] increased damage from your Trap Skills for 8 seconds.
• Trick Attacks
  • Previous: Dazing or Stunning an enemy increases your Critical Strike Chance by 2/4/6% and Critical Strike Damage by 2/4/6% for 5 seconds, up to 12/24/36%.
  • Now: Attempting to Daze or Stun an enemy increases your Critical Strike Chance by 1/2/3% and Critical Strike Damage by 1/2/3% for 8 seconds, up to 5/10/15%.

Changelog

• April 26, 2025: Guide updated for Season 8 (Patch 2.2.0)
• January 21, 2025: Guide updated for Season 7 (Patch 2.1.0).
• October 4, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• September 21, 2024: Guide created.