Penetrating Shot – Rogue Build for Diablo 4 (Season 7)

Build Introduction

The Shadow Penetrating Shot Rogue build blasts through even the toughest foes. Penetrating Shot always pierces, dealing massive hit damage to any enemies in the way. Trickshot Aspect and Shadow Imbuement increases the coverage of Penetrating Shot to easily destroy entire groups of enemies. This ranged build is perfect for players who want a safe and heavy damage dealing playstyle.

If you are interested in a better ranged build, check out the Dual Core Penetrating Shot and Rapid Fire Rogue. The ranged Dual Core build also uses Penetrating Shot, but supplements Rapid Fire to deal higher single-target damage.

If your character has not reached Level 60, follow the Leveling Guide for the Penetrating Shot Rogue.

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 Penetrating Shot Rogue (order does not matter)

Penetrating ShotPunctureDashDark ShroudSmoke GrenadeShadow Imbuement

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

Alternative Skills

Heartseeker allows for the furthest ranged playstyle, with Enhanced Heartseeker and Fundamental Heartseeker providing DPS increases. Alternatively, switch to Puncture Level 1, Enhanced Puncture, and Fundamental Puncture for Energy Generation and easy application of Vulnerable.

Penetrating Shot Rogue Specialization

Combo Points is the preferred Rogue Specialization for general farming due to it providing bonus Lucky Hit Chance for Penetrating Shot, in addition to increased damage.

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 Penetrating Shot 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 (replaced by Skyhunter)	Edgemaster’s Aspect	Skills deal up to [10 – 20%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource.
Amulet	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 Weapon Slot #1 (replaced by Condemnation)	Rapid Aspect	Basic Skills gain [15 – 30%] Attack Speed.
Gloves (optional replacement with Fists of Fate)	Coldclip Aspect	Your Basic Skills are always Cold Imbued. You deal x [5 – 20%] increased damage to enemies who are Chilled or Frozen.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Accelerating Aspect	Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by [15 – 25%] for 3 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of the Expectant	Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by [5 – 10%], up to 30%.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Ring Slot #2	Trickshot Aspect	Whenever Penetrating Shot damages an enemy, 2 additional arrows split off to either side. These side arrows deal [10 – 25%] of Penetrating Shot’s Base damage and do not split.
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)	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 60%] 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 Grenades.
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 Emerald for increased Critical Strike Damage.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Grand Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

If you are playing the Season of Witchcraft (Season 7), visit Gelena at the Tree of Whispers to craft Occult Gems. Socketing 3 of the following Occult Gems into your jewelry, listed in order of importance.

1. Friend of the Bog — While you have three or more Growth & Decay Witch Powers equipped: You gain x8% Primary Core Stat, x10% Maximum Life, and Unhindered.
2. Dust Stone — For each of your Auras and Hexes an enemy is afflicted by, they take 2.5% increased damage from you.
3. Moonlight Ward — For each rank in your slotted Unique Witchcraft Power, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and 0.5% Maximum Resistance to All Elements.
4. Hungering Void — While you have an Aura active, pull Nearby enemies toward you every 8 seconds.

Insert one of the following Runewords, consisting of a Rune of Offering and a Rune of Invocation, into your equipped Ranged Weapon. The other Runeword can be inserted into any equipped Helm, Chest, or Pants item. Add sockets to your equipment at the Jeweler if necessary.

Runewords	Effects
Xol Ohm	Gain: 150 Offering — Evoke power from another Class. Requires: 600 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds — Evoke the Barbarian’s Enhanced War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt.
Lith Wat	Gain: 25 Offering — Stand still for 0.3 seconds. Requires: 100 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them.

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 Penetrating Shot 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 Resource greatly helps with Energy issues, if you do not already have the appropriate Energy gear. This elixir is highly recommended for starting characters to maintain the casting of Core Skills.
3. Elixir of Fortitude is the best general-purpose option for survivability.
4. Elixir of Iron Barbs can provide a high amount of Physical Damage Reduction. Armor becomes more effective as you approach the Armor cap (9,320 against monster level 100 and above).
5. 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 Penetrating Shot 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.

When comparing Legendary weapons with similar item levels, Crossbows are preferred over Bows for the better implicit stat and Weapon Mastery bonus. Swords offer a boost to Precision with the Critical Strike Damage implicit. However, Daggers grant the highest weapon speed if you are using Puncture to generate Combo Points.

Precision increases the priority of Critical Strike Damage to scale the bonus multiplier, while reducing the need for Critical Strike Chance.

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. Critical Strike Damage, Maximum Life, Dexterity	Marksman Augments — Core (Weapon): Chance for Penetrating Shot Projectiles to Cast Twice Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction, Ranks to Shadow Imbuement 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Lucky Hit Chance	Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Shadow Imbue Additional Casts 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	Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Shadow Imbue Additional Casts Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance
Gloves	1. Ranks to Penetrating Shot, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Damage 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Lucky Hit Chance	Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze
Pants	2. Dexterity, Maximum Life 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor	Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Stun Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance
Boots	Implicit Stat: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown 1. Movement Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Ranks to Dash, Maximum Life, Dexterity	Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Shadow Imbue Additional Casts Natural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed
Amulet	1. Ranks to Unstable Elixir, Frigid Finesse, and Weapon Mastery 2. Cooldown Reduction, Attack Speed	Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Shadow Imbue Additional Casts Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Rings	1. Attack Speed, Critical Strike Damage 2. Resource Cost Reduction, Maximum Life	Marksman Finesse (Offensive): Critical Strike Damage Agility Efficiency (Resource): Dash Cooldown Reduction

Unique and Mythic Items

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

• Skyhunter (recommended) synergies well with Precision to guarantee Critical Strikes, increase damage, and restore Energy.
  • Masterworking Priority: Attack Speed, Critical Strike Damage, or Chance for Marksman Projectiles to Cast Twice
• Condemnation (recommended) provides a 1.4x multiplier that works well in this Combo Points build.
  • Masterworking Priority: Basic Skill Attack Speed
• 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
• Ring of Starless Skies (recommended) is a Mythic Unique Item that provides a highly valuable 1.5x multiplier. The downside is the unique effect requires some management to ramp up and maintain the buff stacks.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance or Ranks to Core Skills
• Fists of Fate (optional) increases overall damage by 50% with a 300% value on the unique effect. They are comparable to well-rolled Legendary Gloves with Ranks to Penetrating Shot, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, and an Offensive Aspect. The downside is the drastic damage range of the unique effect can cause an inconsistency in the hits required to kill enemies.
  • Masterworking Priority: Attack Speed
• 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.
  • 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

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 Penetrating Shot 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.

Witchcraft Powers

In the Season of Witchcraft (Season 7), earn seasonal reputation to unlock Witchcraft Powers. Equip the following Witchcraft Powers to enhance this build.

1. Piranhado: Lost Power
   • When an enemy is afflicted by both a Hex and an Aura Effect, a Piranhado is summoned pulling enemies towards it and dealing [X] Physical damage over [22] seconds. Additionally, Piranhado will seek nearby enemies. You can only Summon one Piranhado every 20 seconds.
   • At Rank 5: Piranhado now seek enemies.
2. Aura of Siphoning: Growth and Decay Power
   • Conjure an aura of decay that deals [X] Poison damage to enemies every second.
   • At Rank 10: Each time Aura of Siphoning deals damage, you are healed for 1% of Maximum Life.
3. Aura Specialization: Lost Power
   • The size of your Aura Effects are increased by [79%].
   • At Rank 10: Increase the Critical Strike Damage by 50% against enemies inside your Aura Effects.
4. Soul Harvest: Growth and Decay Power
   • Whenever you use a Cooldown, you gain x1% Primary Core Stat per surrounding enemy. This bonus lasts for [15.5] seconds.
   • While there are surrounding enemies, Soul Harvest has infinite duration.
5. Hex of Shattering: Psyche Power
   • Damage done by your Witchcraft Effects afflicts enemies with Hex of Shattering causing them to deal [20%] reduced damage for 5 seconds.
   • At Rank 8: When any Hex Effect is applied to Headrotten, all damage will be guaranteed Critical Strikes for 5 seconds.
6. Hex of Whispers: Growth and Decay Power
   • Dealing damage to an enemy afflicts them with Hex of Whispers that deals [X] Shadow damage the next time damage is dealt. Afterwards, Hex of Whispers will jump to another enemy up to a maximum of 6 times. Hex of Whispers may only be applied once every 5 seconds.
   • At Rank 7: After bouncing onto 6 enemies, the hex bounces back to you granting [X] Fortify and removing all crowd control and negative status effects.

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

Build Mechanics

The Penetrating Shot Rogue build is fairly simple to play, but has some complex mechanics to learn. Penetrating Shot has a focused Area of Effect (AoE) in a straight line that can be hard to utilize. Trickshot Aspect helps overcome this downside by adding more arrows to increase coverage and help clear packs of enemies.

When fired at full energy, Advanced Penetrating Shot applies a slow to normal enemies to activate Cheat’s Aspect and knocks down Elites to help you survive. Penetrating Shot also has a high Lucky Hit Chance when fired with 3 Combo Points to activate Umbrous Aspect for Dark Shroud stacks. Dark Shroud can also be manually cast from the Skill Bar when its stacks are low.

Dash is a Cutthroat Skill that can be used before Penetrating Shot to gain the damage bonus from Tricks of the Trade.

Resource Management

Skyhunter and Combat should provide enough Energy generation if you are taking the time to build 3 Combo Points before casting each Penetrating Shot. Ring of Starless Skies is an option for additional resource management. You can also reallocate 2 Skill Points from Stutter Step into Innervation.

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Cast Heartseeker up to 3 times to build Combo Points.
2. Dash to activate Tricks of the Trade.
3. Activate Shadow Imbuement for increased damage and explosions.
4. Use a Potion to activate the damage buff from Unstable Elixirs.
5. Cast Smoke Grenade on enemies to activate Enhanced Smoke Grenade.
6. Line enemies up to piece through them with Penetrating Shot.
7. Repeat the rotation. Try to cast Penetrating Shot while you have full Energy to activate Advanced Penetrating Shot and Edgemaster’s Aspect.

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 guide from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Changelog

• January 29, 2025: Witchcraft Powers and Occult Gems adjusted due to Purging Touch not working as expected.
• January 19, 2025: Guide updated for Season 7 (Patch 2.1.0).
• October 16, 2024: New Paragon tool added.
• October 4, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• August 6, 2024: Guide updated for Season 5 (Patch 1.5.0).
• May 14, 2024: Guide updated for Season 4 (Patch 1.4.0).
• January 22, 2024: Guide updated for Season 3 (Patch 1.3.0).
• October 17, 2023: Guide updated for Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0).
• July 18, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1.