Shadow Step – Rogue Build for Diablo 4

Build Introduction

The Shadow Step Rogue is an advanced endgame build utilizing the newly added Shadow Step Cleave temper in Diablo 4, Vessel of Hatred. The infinite casts of Shadow Step enable this build to have the highest mobility within the Rogue class, perfect for speed-farming Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, and The Pit!

This 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.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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

Build Requirements

The Shadow Step Rogue requires a high amount of Cooldown Reduction to be applied to Shadow Step. With Disciplined Shadow Step reducing the Cooldown by 3 seconds, the Shadow Step Cooldown on its tooltip needs to be lowered to at least 3.5 seconds for rapid casting. Obtain the following list of items before attempting the build.

• Boots with a Mobility Cooldown Reduction temper.
• Two Rings with Shadow Step Cooldown Reduction tempers.
• An Amulet with a Cooldown Reduction affix, along with Shadow Step Cooldown Reduction and Mobility Cooldown Reduction tempers.
• A Helm with a Cooldown Reduction affix. Harlequin Crest is preferred for a higher Cooldown Reduction value.
• Masterworking bonuses on Cooldown Reduction stats are required.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

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

Shadow StepHeartseekerCold ImbuementSmoke GrenadeCaltropsDark Shroud

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

If your damage increase on Close Quarters Combat has not reached +50%[x], Momentum can be selected instead. Methodical Dash can replace Heartseeker in a Momentum setup.

Frigid Finesse is always activated against Staggered Bosses or activated by Cold Imbuement.

Rogue Specialization

The Specialization options for the Shadow Step Rogue do not offer any significant benefits. Inner Sight is selected for the occasional +25% Critical Strike Chance bonus. The bonus only lasts 4 seconds by default, so you should eventually have Critical Strike Chance capped at 100% without it (see Critical Strike Chance section).

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 Shadow Step 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 Shadow Step 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	Name	Effect
Ranged Weapon (+100% 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.
Amulet (+50 bonus effect)	Aspect of Inner Calm	Deal x [5 – 13%] increased damage. Triple this bonus after standing still for 3 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Rings	Edgemaster’s Aspect	Skills deal up to x [5 – 25%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Rings	Clandestine Aspect	Gain [X] Ranks to Agility and Subterfuge Skills.
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 [15 – 35%] 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 Fists of Fate)	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 – 30%] increased Critical Strike Damage against Frozen or Stunned enemies.
Helm (replaced by Harlequin Crest)	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 60%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Chest (replaced by Shroud of Khanduras)	Juggernaut’s Aspect	Gain [X] Armor, but your Evade has 100% increased Cooldown.
Pants	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 – 25%] increased damage to Dazed enemies.
Boots	Ravager’s Aspect	Shadow Step has an additional Charge. Killing an enemy with Shadow Step refunds a Charge and increases the damage of Shadow Step by x [4.5 – 14.5%] for 2 seconds, up to x [18 – 58%].

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 if Critical Strike Chance is capped at 100% or Grand Sapphire.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Grand Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

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
Yul Vex	Gain: 50 Offering — Cast a Skill with a Cooldown. Requires: 1000 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Gain +3 to all Skills for 7 seconds.
Lith Gar	Gain: 25 Offering — Stand still for 0.3 seconds. Requires: 25 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%.

If you already have 100% Critical Strike Chance without Gar, use Ohm instead.

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 Shadow Step 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.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Shadow Step 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 are selected over Swords for the Damage to Close Enemies implicit when using Close Quarters Combat. A Bow is preferred for a faster cast of Heartseeker.

If Critical Strike Chance is not capped at 100% (see Critical Strike Chance section), replace it with Vulnerable Damage instead.

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 the Tempering Guide for more details on Blacksmith upgrading.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Ranged Weapon	1. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	1. Trap Expertise (Offensive): Caltrops Duration 2. Assassin Augments (Weapon): Shadow Step Cleaves
Dual-Wielded Weapons	1. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	1. Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Close Enemies 1. Assassin Augments (Weapon): Shadow Step Cleaves
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	1. Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance 2. Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Slow
Chest	1. Ranks to Dark Shroud 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	1. Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Dodge Chance 2. Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Immobilize
Gloves	1. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life	1. Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Close Enemies 2. Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze
Pants	1. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 2. Maximum Life, Dexterity	1. Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze 2. Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Rogue Cloaking: Dodge Chance
Boots	Implicit Stat: Maximum Evade Charges 1. Ranks to Shadow Step 2. Movement Speed 3. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 4. Maximum Life, Dexterity	1. Natural Motion (Mobility): Mobility Cooldown Reduction 2. Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Stun
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse, Unstable Elixirs, Exploit, and/or Malice 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed	1. Imbuement Abundance (Resource): Cold Imbue Casts 2. Natural Motion (Mobility): Mobility Cooldown Reduction
Rings	1. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed 2. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	1. Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Close Enemies 1. Imbuement Abundance (Resource): Cold Imbue Casts

Unique and Mythic Items

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

• Harlequin Crest (highly recommended) is a Mythic Unique Item that provides a boosted Cooldown Reduction affix, which is essential for reducing the Cooldown of Shadow Step.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• 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: Critical Strike Chance or Attack Speed
• Shroud of Khanduras (highly recommended) is important to group enemies together for the small radius of the Shadow Step Cleave temper. Reallocate 3 Skill Points from Evasive to Rapid Gambits to Evade more often with Shroud of Khanduras.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Dark Shroud
• 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 or Maximum Resistance
• 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
• Pitfighter’s Gull (optional) can stack multiple clouds to grant Stealth for every Shadow Step, activating any Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth affixes. Remove Aspect of Elements for this setup.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance

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

Gameplay Footage

Advanced Information

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

Build Mechanics

The Shadow Step Grenade Rogue is a specialized build that requires a high amount of Cooldown Reduction applied to Shadow Step to function. Shadow Step is rapidly cast by lowering the base Cooldown to at least 3.5 seconds, while Disciplined Shadow Step further reduces the Cooldown by 3 seconds.

Vulnerable status is applied to individual enemies by Enhanced Shadow Step.

Critical Strike Chance

Critical Strike Chance should be capped at 100% to fully utilize Critical Strike Damage bonuses. A total of 48% Critical Strike Chance is granted through the Skill Tree from Target Practice Rank 3, Precision Imbuement Rank 3, Subverting Dark Shroud, and Disciplined Caltrops.

The Character Stats needs to display the remaining 52% Critical Strike Chance, acquired through gear. Greater Affixes and/or Masterworking Bonuses for Critical Strike stats on gear are necessary. Elixir of Precision II can also be used if needed.

Momentum vs Close Quarters Combat

If you do not have enough Damage to Close Enemies affixes on gear to scale the increased damage bonus on Close Quarters Combat to at least +50%[x], use Momentum instead. Momentum also provides 30% Damage Reduction to improve survivability.

Close Quarters Combat eventually scales to provide more increased damage than Momentum, along with a 30% Attack Speed bonus.

Crowd Controls and Boss Stagger

A variety of different Crowd Controls are applied to enemies through the following sources:

• Fists of Fate
• Daze from Smoke Grenade
• Daze from Enhanced Shadow Step
• Slow from Caltrops
• Freeze 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:

• 1.30x or more from Frigid Finesse
• 1.30x from Aspect of Retribution
• 1.25x from Cheap Shot
• 1.20x from Coldclip Aspect
• 1.20x from Frostbitten Aspect
• 1.20x from Aspect of Concussive Strikes
• 1.20x from Control

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!

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Activate Dark Shroud and Cold Imbuement to prepare for battles.
2. If Shroud of Khanduras is equipped, Evade to group enemies together.
3. Cast Caltrops against tough elites or bosses.
4. Cast Smoke Grenade against elites or bosses.
5. Drink a Potion to activate Unstable Elixirs.
6. Cast Heartseeker to activate the Marksman requirement of Close Quarters Combat.
7. Rapidly spam Shadow Step to deal damage.

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 16th, 2024: New Paragon tool added.
• October 4th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• September 2nd, 2024: Guide created for Season 5 (Patch 1.5.0).