Death Trap – Rogue Build for Diablo 4 (Season 10)

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.

Season 10 Update (Patch 2.4.0): The power of this build is significantly increased by Chaos Perks, Chaos Armor, and buffs to Legendary Paragon nodes. Be sure to check the Season 10 Mechanics section for the best-in-slot setup.

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.

Required Uniques

Beastfall Boots

Scoundrel’s Leathers

Eyes in the Dark

• A Maximum Energy of 150 is required. When Momentum is allocated, only 16 Maximum Resource is needed on Beastfall Boots. Exposure can be utilized instead for more damage if you have Beastfall Boots with 51 Maximum Energy from a Greater Affix and 2 Masterworking bonuses.
• Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue is required to temper Casting Ultimate Skills Restores Primary Resource.
• Death Trap cooldown needs to be reduced to 10 seconds or less by any necessary combination of the following sources:
  • Beastfall Boots with a Greater Affix and/or Masterworking Bonuses on Ultimate Cooldown Reduction.
  • A Legendary Helm or Harlequin Crest with a Greater Affix and/or Masterworking Bonuses on Cooldown Reduction. Harlequin Crest is not required to reach this requirement, but its Cooldown Reduction and Maximum Resource affixes make the setup much easier.
  • Death Trap Cooldown Reduction tempers, potentially with Masterworking Bonuses, on a Legendary Amulet and both Legendary Rings (unless Ring of Starless Skies is equipped).
  • Ranks to Core Skills applies to Death Trap when Scoundrel’s Leathers is equipped. The additional ranks lower Cooldown and are available on Legendary Gloves, Harlequin Crest, and Ring of Starless Skies.

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 TrapConcealmentDashDark ShroudSmoke GrenadeCaltrops

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.

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

If you do not need the Maximum Energy or Damage Reduction from Momentum, switch to Exposure for more damage.

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. Consuming the 150 Maximum Energy in this build activates Preparation 2 times, 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.

Trickster’s Aspect applies the Stun Grenade Tag to Death Trap, allowing it to receive Stun Grenade damage bonuses.

For the best-in-slot gear setup in Season 10, check the Chaos Armor section of the guide.

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)	Trickster’s Aspect	Caltrops, Smoke Grenade, and Death Trap receive your Stun Grenade benefits and throw Stun Grenades that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Ring Slot #1	Vehement Brawler’s Aspect	Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your damage by [10 – 30%] for 8 seconds. Gain 2 additional Ultimate Skill Ranks.
Ring Slot #2 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	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.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Gloves	Aspect of Artful Initiative	When you spend 75 Energy you release a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Gloves	Opportunist’s Aspect	When you enter or break Stealth, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around you that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] more damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Gloves	Aspect of Surprise	When you Evade or Shadow Step, you leave behind a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] more damage.
Helm (replaced by Heir of Perdition or Cowl of the Nameless)	Juggernaut’s Aspect	Gain [X] Armor, but your Evade has 100% increased Cooldown.
Chest	Scoundrel’s Leathers	Your Trap Skills can be thrown and will spawn a Death Trap every 10 seconds when Cast, granting you x [10 – 30%] increased damage for 5 seconds.
Pants	Eyes in the Dark	Death Trap deals x [40 – 60%] increased damage and will rearm itself after activating, once every 10 seconds.
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. Yellow bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades, while blue bolded affixes are secondary options. For more details, check the Tempering and Masterworking guides.

Swords are preferred over Daggers for higher damage per hit and a better implicit stat. The choice of a Ranged Weapon between Bow and Crossbows does not matter.

Prioritize capping Armor at 1,000 and all Resistances at 75%. Be aware of the increasing penalties to Armor and Resistances as you progress through Torment difficulties.

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Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Maximum Life 2. Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	Trap Augments (Weapon): Chance for Death Trap to Deal Double Damage Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Helm	1. Maximum Resource 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Maximum Life	Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Chest	Scoundrel’s Leathers	Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
Gloves	1. Maximum Life, Ranks to Core Skills 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Attack Speed	Trap Expertise (Utility): Caltrops Duration Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Pants	Eyes in the Dark	Masterworking Priority: Maximum Life
Boots	Beastfall Boots	Masterworking Priority: Maximum Resource or Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse (only use if you are Freezing enemies with Frostbitten Aspect or a seasonal power) 2. Ranks to Unstable Elixirs, +% Dexterity 3. Ranks to Exploit or Malice	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Death Trap Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Ring Slot #1	1. Maximum Life 2. Any uncapped Resistances 3. Attack Speed, Dexterity	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Casting Ultimate Skills Restores Primary Resource Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Ring Slot #2 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	1. Maximum Life 2. Any uncapped Resistances 3. Attack Speed, Dexterity	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Death Trap Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud

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Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Listed below are the required and recommended 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.

• Scoundrel’s Leathers (required) applies the Core Skills tag to Death Trap for the Beastfall Boots interaction.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
• Beastfall Boots (required) consume all of your Energy for multiple activations of the Preparation and a damage increase for Death Trap.
  • Masterworking Priority: Maximum Resource or Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
• Eyes in the Dark (required) provides a massive damage multiplier in its unique effect.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
• Heir of Perdition (highly recommended) is the best helm for damage output.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Core Skills
• Cowl of the Nameless (recommended) is an alternative offensive option if you do not yet have Heir of Perdition.
  • Masterworking Priority: Trick Attacks or Unstable Elixirs
• Harlequin Crest (optional) can be equipped if additional Cooldown Reduction is needed for Death Trap, but it is not the most optimal setup.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Ring of Starless Skies (optional) is beneficial for a 50% damage increase and Ranks to Core Skills. This Mythic Unique Item can only be used if you do not need the Death Trap Cooldown Reduction temper from a Legendary Ring to reach the build requirement.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Core Skills

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Gems and Runewords

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

Gems

Equip the corresponding Gems into your Weapon, Armor, and Jewelry slots.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Diamond for Ultimate damage.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Grand Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

Runewords

Equip the following 2 Runewords, each consisting of a Rune of Ritual and a Rune of Invocation. Insert the first Runeword into your Ranged Weapon, and then the second Runeword 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
Zan Xan (Ranged Weapon)	Gain: 150 Offering — Cast an Ultimate Skill. Requires: 300 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Your next attack will cause your hits to be a guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower for 0.35 seconds.
Poc Jah (Armor)	Gain: 5 Offering — Spend 5% of your Maximum Resource. Requires: 250 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds —Replace your next Evade with the Sorcerer’s Teleport, blinking further, dealing damage, and becoming Unstoppable.

Cir Vex can replace Poc Jah for a maximum damage setup.

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Paragon Board

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

Death Trap receives the Stun Grenade tag from Trickster’s Aspect to benefit from the damage multipliers from Explosive. The additive increased damage [+] for Stun Grenades is bugged to not work. Only invest enough Dexterity to enable the Additional Bonus and Legendary Bonus.

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Season 10 Mechanics

Season 10: Infernal Chaos offers seasonal powers that can be utilized to enhance this build. Access Chaos Perks from the Powers tab in the character sheet, and equip Chaos Armor to create more powerful Unique Item combinations.

Chaos Perks

Progress through the Seasonal Reputation Board to unlock non-Unique Perks, and defeat Bartuc within the Infernal Hordes in Torment 1 or higher for a chance to unlock Unique Perks. Upgrade Chaos Perks by collecting Infernal Warp, earned by defeating Chaos Monsters. Equip the following Chaos Perk setup recommended for this build.

Power	Description
Unique Chaos Perk: A Beast Cornered	For every 10% Life you are missing, you gain x20% increased damage and 5% Damage Reduction. Spending Resources also drains a percentage of your Life equal to 30% the Resources spent, refunding those Resources. This cannot reduce you to below 10% Life.
Marred Guard	You can no longer be healed above 50% Life. You gain 10% Maximum Resistance to All Elements, x20% Armor, and 100% increased Barrier and Fortify Generation.
Enervated Strikes	You no longer passively generate Energy. Your Core Skills deal x150% increased damage.
Chaotic Grenades	Your Stun Grenades also trigger a Chaotic Burst, dealing 200% Physical Damage. When you drop Stun Grenades, you drop 1 more. Chaotic Bursts generate 5 Energy if they hit an enemy.

Chaos Armor

Enhanced versions of certain Unique Items can drop to fit in the Helm, Chest, Gloves, Pants, or Boots gear slots. Defeat Bartuc in Torment difficulties to target-farm Chaos Armor (guaranteed drop in Torment 3-4).

Equip the following best-in-slot gear setup that is optimized with Mythic Unique Items and Chaos Armor, if you happen to be lucky enough to find them. Greater Affix and Masterworking Bonuses for Unique Items and Chaos Armor are bolded/highlighted. Chaos Armor slots that are interchangeable are noted in the table.

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)	Trickster’s Aspect	Caltrops, Smoke Grenade, and Death Trap receive your Stun Grenade benefits and throw Stun Grenades that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Ring Slot #1	Vehement Brawler’s Aspect	Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your damage by [10 – 30%] for 8 seconds. Gain 2 additional Ultimate Skill Ranks.
Ring Slot #2	Ring of Starless Skies	⁕ Ranks to Core Skills Spending your Primary Resource reduces the Resource cost of your Skills and increases your damage by x10% for 3 seconds, up to x50%.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Gloves	Aspect of Artful Initiative	When you spend 75 Energy you release a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Gloves	Opportunist’s Aspect	When you enter or break Stealth, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around you that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] more damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Gloves	Aspect of Surprise	When you Evade or Shadow Step, you leave behind a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] more damage.
Helm	Heir of Perdition	⁕ Ranks to Core Skills Succumb to hatred and earn Mother’s Favor, increasing your damage dealt by x60%. Slaughter enemies to briefly steal Mother’s Favor from surrounding allies.
Pants	Eyes in the Dark	⁕ Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills Death Trap deals x [40 – 60%] increased damage and will rearm itself after activating, once every 10 seconds.
Chest or Gloves	Chaos Armor: Beastfall Boots (Chest Armor)	⁕ Maximum Resource or Ultimate Cooldown Reduction 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.
Pants or Boots	Chaos Armor: Scoundrel’s Leathers (Pants)	⁕ Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills Your Trap Skills can be thrown and will spawn a Death Trap every 10 seconds when Cast, granting you x [10 – 30%] increased damage for 5 seconds.
Chest, Pants, or Boots	Chaos Armor: Banished Lord’s Talisman (Boots)	⁕ Ranks to Core Skills After you spend 275 of your Primary Resource, your next Core Skill is guaranteed to Overpower. Your Critical Strikes that Overpower deal [20 – 60%] increased damage.

Mercenaries

Once the Den is unlocked during the main questline in the Vessel of Hatred expansion, complete the key quests to acquire each Mercenary. Hire a Mercenary and enlist a Reinforcement in the following setup.

• Hired Mercenary: Raheir
  • Skills: Ground Slam, Raheir’s Aegis, Bastion, Inspiration
• Reinforcement: Varyana
  • Skill: Bloodthirst
  • Opportunity: Cast when the player casts any skill in combat.

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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 and Maximum Energy to function. The cooldown of Death Trap must be reduced to 10 seconds or less through Cooldown Reduction affixes and Trap Cooldown Reduction tempers on gear.

The Preparation specialization is activated 2 times after consuming 150 Maximum Energy with Beastfall Boots to reduce the remaining Cooldown of Death Trap by 10 seconds. Refer to the Build Requirements for more information.

Concealment is cast every 4 seconds in the Damage Rotation to apply Subverting Concealment for guaranteed Critical Strike and Vulnerable. The Subterfuge Skill also activates Danse Macabre to increase Death Trap damage.

Fight from a Distant range to gain the damage increase from Deadeye.

Resource Management

A total of 150 Energy needs to be consumed for each cast of Death Trap to activate Preparation twice. Ensure you have the following requirements to generate Energy.

• Beastfall Boots restores 25 Energy when using a Cooldown, which is activated by casting Death Trap.
• Aftermath refunds 35 Energy after casting Death Trap.
• The Chaos Perk available in Season 10, A Beast Cornered, is highly recommended to start this build. The seasonal power refunds 45 Energy after casting Death Trap.
• Strength increases Resource Generation by about 10-13%.
• The remaining Energy should be generated by the temper, Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue: Casting Ultimate Skills Restores Primary Resource. If you have 10% increased Resource Generation from Strength, 32 Resource (rounded up) needs to be restored from the temper in addition to the other sources listed above: (25 + 35 + 45 + 32) × 1.1 = 150.7

Defenses

You most likely will not be able to cap Armor and Resistances in Torment 4. Do not worry, this build becomes tanky with high Maximum Life, multiple sources of damage reduction, and a rapidly refreshing barrier from Second Wind.

Rotation and Playstyle

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output. Steps 1-5 can be executed before a boss spawns.

1. Keep Dark Shroud refreshed to maintain stacks for Damage Reduction and Damage per Dark Shroud Stacks.
2. Cast Caltrops and Smoke Grenade when more damage is desired against Bosses and tough Elites.
3. Dash to traverse or maintain a Distant range from enemies for the damage increase from Deadeye.
4. Drink a Potion to activate Unstable Elixirs.
5. Cast Concealment every 4 seconds to activate Subverting Concealment and Danse Macabre.
6. Cast Death Trap repeatedly to kill enemies.

Elixirs and Incenses

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs and Incense. Listed below are the best consumables for the Death Trap Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Resourcefulness II is helpful in reaching the 150 Maximum Energy requirement in this build, if your Beastfall Boots do not provide enough.
2. Elixir of Advantage II provides increased Attack Speed for more damage output.

Incense can also be crafted at the Alchemist. Queen’s Supreme (Core Stat), Song of the Mountain (Defensive), and Soothing Spices (Resistance) are recommended. These Incenses are categorized into three separate groups and can be active simultaneously. The added Armor and Resistances are especially helpful to reach their caps.

Season 10 Updates

A brief summary of the changes in Patch 2.4.0 that may pertain to this specific build is provided below. For a complete overview of Season 10, take a look at the comprehensive season guide.

• Death Trap: Pull range increased by 50%.
• Subverting Concealment
  • Reworded the tooltip.
  • Vulnerable duration increased to 4 seconds.
• Aftermath: Energy refund is now always 35 (increased from 25) rather than scaling per rank.
• Deadly Ambush: Damage increased from 30% to 50%.
• No Witnesses
  • Damage from ultimates increased from 20% to 30%.
  • Damage cap increased from 40% to 60%.
• Danse Macabre: Damage increased from 30% to 50%.

Changelog

• September 21st, 2025: Guide updated for Season 10 (Patch 2.4.0).
• June 27th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 9 (Patch 2.3.0).
• April 26th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 8 (Patch 2.2.0).
• January 21st, 2025: Guide updated for Season 7 (Patch 2.1.0).
• October 4th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• September 21st, 2024: Guide created.