Heartseeker – Rogue Build for Diablo 4

Build Introduction

The Heartseeker Rogue is the easiest-to-play build within the class, mainly focused on repeatedly casting a Basic Skill to deal damage. Heartseeker deals devasting single-target damage, and Paingorger’s Gauntlets echos the damage to clear activities with high monster density, such as Inferno Hordes and The Pit.

The final version of the Heartseeker Rogue utilizes Shard of Verathiel for maximum damage output. Heartseeker is transformed to consume Energy, so the setup has strict requirements to function properly. Check the Shard of Verathiel section for the full details.

The only starting requirement for this endgame build guide is a Level 60 character. Check the Rogue Leveling Guide if you need help getting there.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

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

HeartseekerDashShadow StepCaltropsSmoke GrenadeDeath Trap

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

Dark Shroud is not equipped on the Skill Bar. Dark Shroud shadows are granted through Umbrous Aspect.

Cold Imbuement is not equipped on the Skill Bar. Coldclip Aspect automatically applies the effects of Enhanced Cold Imbuement and Mixed Cold Imbuement to Heartseeker.

Heartseeker Rogue Specialization

Preparation is the preferred specialization for the Heartseeker Rogue for 15% Damage Reduction and to reset Cooldowns. The bonuses are activated by casting Death Trap and automatically through Lith Yom.

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 Heartseeker 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.

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.
3. Any remaining points can be spent on Dexterity nodes within the radius of Headhunter.

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 Heartseeker 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.

Gear Slot	Aspect Name	Aspect Power
Ranged Weapon	Aspect of the Moonrise	Damaging an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampiric Bloodrage, gaining x [40 – 80%] Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.
Amulet	Aspect of Adaptability	When cast below 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills generate 3 of your Primary Resource, once per cast. When cast at or above 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills deal x [20 – 80%] increased damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Rings	Aspect of Retribution	Distant enemies have a 10% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds when they hit you. You deal [15 – 30%] increased damage to Stunned and Knocked Down enemies.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Rings	Rapid Aspect	Basic Skills gain [15 – 30%] Attack Speed.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Rings	Coldclip Aspect	Your Basic Skills are always Cold Imbued. You deal x [5 – 20%] increased damage to enemies who are Chilled or Frozen.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Rings	Aspect of Elements	Gain x [20 – 30%] increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets: • Fire, Lightning, and Physical. • Cold, Poison, and Shadow.
Gloves (replaced by Paingorger’s Gauntlets)	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. (only used for the damage multiplier, not the Grenade Skills effect)
Helm (replaced by Harlequin Crest)	Aspect of Might	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2 – 6] seconds
Chest (replaced by Tyrael’s Might or Shroud of False Death)	Aspect of Quickening Fog	You automatically drop a Smoke Grenade at the end of Dash. Smoke Grenades reduce Dash’s cooldown by [0.5 – 0.65] seconds for each enemy hit, up to [1.50 – 1.95] seconds.
Pants	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 60%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
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 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).

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 Gar	Gain: 200 Offering — Drink a Healing Potion. Requires: 25 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%.
Lith Yom	Gain: 25 Offering — Stand still for 0.3 seconds. Requires: 500 Offering, Cooldown: 5 Seconds — Evoke the Druid’s Petrify, Stunning enemies.

If you prefer to stutter-step (move in between attacks), replace Lith with Moni.

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 Heartseeker Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Precision provides the highest damage output increase, if not already capped at 100% Critical Strike Chance.
2. Elixir of Advantage increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.
3. Elixir of Fortitude is the best general purpose option for survivability.
4. Specific Resistance Elixirs can be utilized to survive against Uber Bosses with elemental attacks.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Heartseeker Rogues. Each line of affixes are listed in order of importance. 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 affixes in each line before moving to the next line. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades.

The Ranged Weapon type selected depends on your preference. Bows have a faster weapon speed, while Crossbows have a higher damage per hit. Equip Daggers for a faster weapon speed on Shadow Step.

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.

Check out our Tempering Guide for more details on Blacksmith upgrading.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Maximum Life, Vulnerable Damage 2. Life on Hit, Dexterity	Marksman Augments — Basic (Weapon): Chance for Heartseeker Projectiles to Cast Twice (up to 100% maximum chance, and then temper Caltrops Duration or Caltrops Size from Trap Augments) Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Close Enemies
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction, Lucky Hit Chance 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Schemes (Utility): Crowd Control Duration 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 Freeze Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance
Gloves	1. Critical Strike Chance, Lucky Hit Chance, Attack Speed 2. Vulnerable Damage, Resistances, Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Close Enemies Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze
Pants	1. Ranks to Heartseeker 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 2. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Immobilize Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Ranks to Dash, Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Stun
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse, Unstable Elixirs, Malice and Exploit 2. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, Lucky Hit Chance	Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Close Enemies Natural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed
Rings	1. Critical Strike Chance, Lucky Hit Chance, Attack Speed 2. Vulnerable Damage	Agility Efficiency (Resource): Agility Cooldown Reduction Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Close Enemies

Unique and Mythic Items

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

• Paingorger’s Gauntlets (highly recommended) echos damage to multiple enemies to supplement the limited targeting of Heartseeker.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Basic Skills
• Shard of Verathiel (recommended build variant) provides a 3x multiplier for Heartseeker, at the cost of 25 Primary Resource per cast. Solving for the heavy Energy drain requires strict gearing, so check the Shard of Verathiel section for the full setup.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Basic Skills
• Ring of Starless Skies (recommended build variant) synergizes with Shard of Verathiel to reduce the Mana cost of Heartseeker, while also providing a damage multiplier.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, or Lucky Hit Chance
• Harlequin Crest (recommended) provides a good amount of offense and defense, if you are lucky enough to find this Mythic Unique Item.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Fists of Fate (optional) increases overall damage by 50% with a 300% value on the unique effect.
  • Masterworking Priority: Lucky Hit Chance
• Cowl of the Nameless (optional) provides the highest damage output when properly Masterworked.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Unstable Elixirs or Trick Attacks
• Tyrael’s Might (optional) is the best defensive option for a Chest Armor. The divine barrage does not contribute a significant portion of the total damage in this build, but it marks enemies for Paingorger’s Gauntlets.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction
• 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: All Stats or Maximum Life

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 Heartseeker Rogue. Read this advanced information after understanding the basic overview of the build in the previous sections.

Build Mechanics

The Heartseeker Rogue focuses on increasing Basic Skill damage with massive multipliers from Aspect of the Moonrise and Aspect of Adaptability. Primary Heartseeker allows for 2 hits per cast, even against an individual target due to the seeking property of the skill.

Paingorger’s Gauntlets mark enemies hit by Smoke Grenade, Caltrops, and Death Trap to echo damage done by Heartseeker to groups of enemies.

Vulnerable from Enhanced Cold Imbuement is automatically applied through Coldclip Aspect.

Dark Shrouds stacks are rapidly generated through Umbrous Aspect with the high Attack Speed of Heartseeker and can also be manually cast from the Skill Bar when needed.

Smoke Grenade can be cast manually from the Skill Bar, or auto-casted through Aspect of Quickening Fog by using Dash. Aspect of Quickening Fog also reduces the cooldown of Dash when enemies are hit by a Smoke Grenade from either source. Use Dash offensively to land on top of enemies and Daze them, while applying Enhanced Smoke Grenade for enemies to take 25% increased damage.

Caltrops increase the damage enemies take from you by 45% with Enhanced Caltrops. A Caltrops Duration temper and a Caltrops Size temper prevent the effect from falling off during Boss fights.

Lith Yom activates Preparation and No Witnesses consistently, along with Death Trap.

Crowd Controls and Boss Stagger

Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze/Daze/Immobilize/Slow tempers, Smoke Grenade, and Aspect of Concussive Strikes are utilized to Crowd Control normal and elite enemies, activating Frigid Finesse, Aspect of Retribution, and Control for massive damage increases. These damage bonuses do not apply to bosses unless they are Staggered. Repeated Crowd Controls of the same type in a short duration apply less Stagger to bosses, so separate sources of Crowd Controls are tempered for maximum effect. Make sure to optimize damage against Staggered bosses by building up the Enhanced Caltrops damage bonus ahead of time.

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Initiate combat with one of the following Skills:
   • Cast Shadow Step on the toughest enemy.
   • Dash on top of enemies to automatically drop a Smoke Grenade (if using Aspect of Quickening Fog).
   • Cast Smoke Grenade to Daze enemies from a distance while running up to them.
2. Cast Death Trap to activate No Witnesses.
3. Against bosses or tough elites, cast Caltrops on top of them to apply Enhanced Caltrops.
4. Use a Potion to activate the damage buff from Unstable Elixirs.
5. Spam Heartseeker to deal damage.

Shard of Verathiel Heartseeker Rogue

The final version of the Heartseeker Rogue utilizes Shard of Verathiel for a massive 3x damage multiplier, at the cost of 25 Primary Resource per cast. Energy is drained quickly from rapidly casting Heartseeker with a high Attack Speed, so the setup has strict requirements to function.

Make the following changes to the original version of the Heartseeker Rogue to solve Energy issues:

• Remove Rapid Aspect and Aspect of Elements from the build.
• Equip a Shard of Verathiel with at least a 150% value on the unique effect.
• Equip Ring of Starless Skies to reduce the Resource cost of your Skills.
• Remove Skill Points from Siphoning Strikes (1), Sturdy (1), and Agile (3).
• Add Skill Points to Innervation (3) and Second Wind (2).
• Temper Ranks to Innervation from Rogue Invigoration onto your Rings and Amulet (instead of Movement Speed).

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 new tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Changelog

• October 16th, 2024: New Paragon tool added.
• October 4th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• August 6th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 5 (Patch 1.5.0).
• May 26th, 2024: Guide created.