Rogue Leveling Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 6)

Introduction

The Rogue offers a variety of viable Core Skills that are effective for leveling a new character. In this guide, players can choose between a melee, ranged, or hybrid playstyle. The following list ranks the leveling builds in order of highest recommendation and provides links to each guide.

1. The Dance of Knives Rogue is the newest leveling build for Season 6, featuring a fun spin-to-win playstyle. Snapshots for Dance of Knives enable the build to gain 100% Critical Strike Chance and unlimited Imbuement.
2. The Barrage Rogue is one of the best builds to level a new character. Barrage deals high single-target damage and ricochets to additional targets to clear groups of enemies. The Barrage Rogue is perfect for beginner players looking for an easy-to-play build.
3. The Dual Core Rapid Fire Flurry Rogue is a hybrid build with an advanced playstyle. Flurry provides Area-of-Effect damage with quick mobility from Improved Flurry. Rapid Fire supplements the build with necessary single-target damage.
4. The Twisting Blades Rogue is a melee build that excels at single-target damage, but the Area-of-Effect can be a bit lacking.
5. The Penetrating Shot Rogue build features a pure ranged playstyle but lacks damage output compared to the other options.

If you are already Level 60, choose an endgame guide from the Rogue Builds Page.

General Leveling Tips

The recommended World Tier to level in is 1 (Adventurer) for the fastest experience. You can play on World Tier 2 (Veteran) for an added challenge, but the 20% extra experience from monsters does not make up for the added time it takes to kill them. This will generally result in a slower and clunkier leveling process.

If you are playing on the seasonal realm, check out our season checklist for some useful tips and tricks to prepare you for Season 1 of Diablo 4. Don’t miss this chance to make the most out of your leveling journey!

You must complete the main storyline before you can engage in endgame activities, like the Capstone Dungeon (which unlocks World Tier 3), Nightmare Dungeons, or the Tree of Whispers. If you have already completed the main storyline on another character, use the Campaign Skip feature in the character selection screen.

Getting a mount is an important step in your leveling journey, and we recommend saving your explorations of the world (such as for obtaining Altars of Lilith) for until after you get it. For more details, read our mount guide.

Energy, Rogue’s Class Resource

Rogues rely on Energy as their resource to use their Core Skills. Energy regenerates slowly on its own and can be increased by skills, passives, and gear.

Specialization, Rogue’s Class Mechanic

The Rogue has a unique mechanic called Specializations. Players will get access to the Specializations after reaching Level 15 and finishing a Rogue-exclusive questline.

The Rogues class mechanic offers three different Specializations, each of which opens a distinct playstyle and setup. Rogues can swap their specialization outside of combat.

Combo Points

The first Specialization option for Rogues is Combo Points. Basic Skills generate Combo Points, and Core Skills consume them for additional effects.

The skills that are affected by the Combo Points Specialization are:

• Barrage: Increased damage and number of arrows fired
• Rapid Fire: Increased damage and number of arrows fired
• Penetrating Shot: Increased damage and a chance to Knock Down
• Flurry: Increased damage and Attack Speed bonus
• Twisting Blades: Increased damage and Movement Speed

Inner Sight

The second Rogue Specialization, Inner Sight, is unlocked at Level 20. This Specialization allows Rogues to mark their enemies and places an Inner Sight gauge next to their Energy pool. Attacking marked enemies fills the Inner Sight gauge until it grants unlimited Energy for 4 seconds.

A purple eye icon identifies enemies marked by Inner Sight. The mark switches to another target if the marked enemy is not killed within 10 seconds. Higher damaging hits fill the gauge faster.

Preparation

Preparation is the third and final specialization for Rogues. It becomes available at Level 30 and enables players to decrease the cooldown of their Ultimate Skill by spending 100 energy. Additionally, using the Ultimate ability resets the cooldowns of all other skills. This specialization is especially useful for players with builds that heavily rely on energy consumption and Ultimate Skills.

Secondary Rogue Class Mechanics

Stealth

Rogues have the option to play in a very discreet and stealthy manner. In certain situations, it may be more efficient to hide within the shadows to then strike the enemy unaware. Stealth can be activated through specific Rogue skills. Characters who are Stealthed cannot be attacked by enemies. However, Stealth is lost when attacking or being damaged by an enemy.

Traps

Rogues can be entirely built around Subterfuges. This includes Traps. Various skills consist of setting up different Traps. This playstyle, however, forces Rogues to be aware of their positioning as well as the placement of their Traps. Some of these Traps inflict Cold, Poison, or Shadow damage. Traps are triggered when an enemy moves within their range.

Imbuements

Rogues are the only class that is able to Imbue their weapons with different elements: Cold, Poison, and Shadow. Through the use of these elemental Imbuements, Rogues can cripple their targets them with Shadow damage, inflict Poison damage over time, and even Freeze them completely.

Rogue Weapons and Restrictions

Rogues can equip two One-Handed Weapons, which can be either One-Handed Swords or Daggers, and one ranged weapon such as the Bow or Crossbow. Depending on the skill that is used, Rogues automatically swap to the appropriate weapon type.

Note that certain skills require the use of two Daggers; One-Handed Swords do not work for all skills.

Rogue Skills and Talents

This section provides an overview of the main skill categories for the Rogue class.

For a more detailed and in-depth list of all Rogue skills and talents, refer to the appropriate pages below.

Basic Skills

Basic Skills are repeatable skills that only deal a small amount of damage and are used to apply debuffs or to recover Energy. Furthermore, Basic Skills are the only way to generate Combo Points for that Specialization.

The Basic Skills for the Rogue are Puncture, Heartseeker, Forceful Arrow, Invigorating Strike, and Blade Shift.

Core Skills

These are the most important skills for the Rogue. Despite costing a lot of Energy, Core Skills do much more damage than Basic Skills and typically offer more Area-of-Effect. These skills become especially powerful in combination with the Combo Points Specialization.

The Core Skills for the Rogue are Barrage, Rapid Fire, Penetrating Shot, Flurry, and Twisting Blades.

Agility Skills

Agility Skills allow Rogues to move around the battlefield faster in order to reposition or engage enemies on the move. Dash is especially useful for fast-paced combat, and should be included in almost every Rogue build.

The Agility Skills for the Rogue are Shadow Step, Dash, and Caltrops.

Subterfuge Skills

Subterfuge Skills massively add to the class identity of the Rogue by providing multiple tricks to choose from, either offensive, defensive, or both. Subterfuge Skills are a great addition to any build.

The Subterfuge Skills for the Rogue are Dark Shroud, Smoke Grenade, Poison Trap, and Concealment.

Imbuement Skills

Through the use of these skills, Rogues are able to Imbue their next two weapon attacks with extra effects. Imbuement Skills have a fairly long cooldown, however. Skills that can be imbued are: all Core Skills, Dash, Shadow Step, and Rain of Arrows.

The Imbuement Skills for the Rogue are Poison Imbuement, Shadow Imbuement, and Cold Imbuement.

Ultimate Skills

Ultimate Skills are powerful skills that have a particularly long cooldown. Ultimate Skills must be built around in order to be effective, and only one Ultimate Skill can be chosen at a time.

The Ultimate Skills for the Rogue are Shadow Clone, Rain of Arrows, and Death Trap.

Dismount Skill

While mounted, the Rogue has access to a unique Dismount Skill which causes them to leap off the mount and cast Rain of Arrows while midair. Players that are struck by an enemy are automatically dismounted and are unable to use their Dismount Skill.

Rogue Attributes

The four core attributes benefit each of the five classes in slightly different ways. Here are their effects on the Rogue:

*Dexterity is considered the primary attribute of the Rogue, as it multiplies all damage.

Endgame Activities

Finish the storyline to unlock the various endgame activities in Diablo 4. Follow the yellow-marked quests to find progress your way through.

After finishing the main storyline, the game becomes open-ended. The following sections provide a quick list of the activities you should do, in approximate order.

Tree of Whispers

The Tree of Whispers, located in Hawezar, rewards you for completing bounties found all over the game world. These are generally profitable activities that reward you with experience and items. They can be completed while doing other events and activities in a zone.

The Tree of Whispers is also your first source of Nightmare Sigils, used to activate Nightmare Dungeons. They are not guaranteed to drop, so keep turning in Whispers of the Dead until it appears.

Nightmare Dungeons

Nightmare Dungeons are part of the main endgame activity in Diablo 4. Once you receive your first Nightmare Sigil from the Tree of Whispers, you can start clearing these dungeons. Nightmare Sigils continue to drop in Nightmare Dungeons, so you should never run out.

Nightmare dungeons are an essential part of the endgame (since their difficulty has a lot of potential for increase), providing you with a challenge in return for which you can receive great item rewards. Nightmare dungeons are also one of the best way to gather Masterworking materials to upgrade your gear.

Helltides

Helltides appear in any World Difficulty at set locations within a zone, taking over large swathes of land for one hour before resetting. During this time, monsters killed in the affected area drop a special temporary currency that can be used to unlock chests found inside the Helltide area. Additionally, in higher difficulty, Helltides become even more deadly, with higher monster density and better loot drops from defeating enemies and opening chests.

Participating in Helltides is highly recommended. They are a good source for obtaining Forgotten Souls, a crafting material required to enchant Ancestral items at the Occultist. Enchanting items to replace an undesirable property is key to optimizing your gear.

Complete Renown in All Zones

If you are new to Diablo 4, we recommend you first complete the remaining Renown stages in all of the zones.

Although Renown bonuses provide some Skill and Paragon Points, character power grows faster from leveling and finding gear upgrades. Completing Renown can be quite time-consuming, so you should delay it until you are well-geared.

All Renown rewards persist between Seasons and new characters. So the “Renown grind” will only have to be done once.

Legion Events and World Bosses

Legion events and World Bosses are marked on the map. They are worthwhile activities to engage in since they reward potentially good items, as well as Obols.

Additionally, legion events also offer good experience. Simply go to the marked area on the map and join other players in killing the enemies.

The Pit

The Pit is another type of endgame content, similar to Diablo 3’s Greater Rifts, which can be entered through a portal that is opened by a pillar located in Cerrigar. It is also the way to level up the Glyphs that are inserted into your Paragon board, which is crucial for increasing character power.

After reaching Torment 1, you will receive a priority quest to unlock The Pit. Upon completion, you will unlock the possibility for Runeshards to drop from endgame content such as Whisper Caches, Helltides, and Nightmare Dungeons. Opening a pit portal requires one Runeshard.

The Pit has hundreds of tiers of difficulty, and the current highest tier you can unlock is Level 150.

Infernal Hordes

The Infernal Hordes is a wave-based endgame activity, first introduced in Season 5. To face the Infernal Hordes and enter the Realm of Hatred, you need an Infernal Compass, which can be acquired through various endgame activities such as defeating endgame bosses, Helltides, Whispers, Nightmare Dungeons, and so on. Infernal Compasses will scale in function of your World Difficulty.

Kurast Undercity

Kurast Undercity, introduced in the Vessel of Hatred expansion, is a timed dungeon that offers you a multi-floor challenge designed for fast-paced action and great rewards. To unlock Undercity, you need to reach Level 20, after purchasing the expansion, and summon the Spirit Flame in the Nahantu region.

Inside the Undercity, you will have limited time to defeat enemies, gather Attunement for better rewards, and face off against a District Boss. Spirit Beacons on each floor help generate additional enemies for farming Attunement. Completing a Spirit Beacon event will boost your movement speed and reduce cooldowns. Make sure to target the Affflicted monsters to add up a few seconds to the timer on each floor and get at least Rank 1 Attunement before facing the end boss. Kurast Undercity is an efficient spot to farm specific gear and gain experience using the Tributes and Bargain system.

Changelog

• October 3rd, 2024: Leveling Guide update for Season 6
• August 2nd, 2024: Leveling Guide updated for Season 5.
• May 10th, 2024: Leveling Guide updated for Season 4.
• January 23rd, 2024: Leveling Guide updated for Season 3.
• October 17th, 2023: Leveling Guide updated for Season 2.
• August 7th, 2023: Builds moved to their own separate pages.
• July 19th, 2023: Leveling Guide updated for Season 1.