Penetrating Shot - Rogue Build for Diablo 4 (Season 10)

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.

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.

If your character has not reached Level 60, check out the recommended Rogue leveling builds.

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

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

Pierces through multiple enemies
Ranged playstyle for more safety
Plenty of crowd control

Weaknesses

Lower single-target damage than Rapid Fire
Not designed to tank high incoming damage
Combo Points builds require a rotation

Quick Navigation

Want to skip ahead? Use the table below to jump to sections.

BiS Gear, Gems, and Runes	Paragon Board
Rotation and Playstyle	Season Updates

Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

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.

Dark Shroud is not equipped on the Skill Bar. It is instead automatically activated by Umbrous Aspect.

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

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

Combo Points Rogue Diablo 4 — Combo Points Are Counted Above the Skill Bar

↑ Back to Navigation Table

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 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. For the best results, combine these Aspects with the ideal Stat Priorities.

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

Gear Slot	Aspect Name	Aspect Power
Ranged Weapon (replaced by Eaglehorn)	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.
Amulet	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.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #1 (replaced by Condemnation)	Aspect of the Expectant	After attacking enemies with a Basic Skill, increase the damage of your next Core Skill cast within 5 seconds by x [5 – 12%], up to x30%.
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.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Accelerating Aspect	Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by + [10 – 30%] for 5 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Ring Slot #2	Coldclip Aspect	You deal x [20 – 40%] increased damage to enemies that are Chilled or Frozen. Your Basic Skills are always Cold Imbued at 50% potency and gain this damage bonus against Bosses.
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 Heir of Perdition or Cowl of the Nameless)	Aspect of Might	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2 – 10] seconds.
Chest (replaced by Shroud of False Death)	Cheat’s Aspect	You gain [5 – 15%] increased Damage Reduction and +10% increased Movement Speed. These bonuses are doubled while below 50% Maximum Life.
Pants	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 65%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Boots	Aspect of Slaughter	You gain 20% Movement speed. Lose this bonus for [5 – 2] seconds after taking damage from a Close Enemy.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Penetrating Shot 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. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. For more details, check the Tempering and Masterworking guides.

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.

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

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.

↑ Back to Legendary Gear Table

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Critical Strike Damage 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Marksman Augments — Core (Weapon): Chance for Penetrating Shot Projectiles to Cast Twice Worldly Finesse (Offensive): Critical Strike Damage
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Cold Imbue Additional Casts Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Chest	1. Ranks to Dark Shroud 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Cold Imbue Additional Casts Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Gloves	1. Ranks to Penetrating Shot, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Damage 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Worldly Finesse (Offensive): Critical Strike Damage Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Cold Imbue Additional Casts
Pants	1. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Trap Expertise (Utility): Caltrops Duration Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Boots	Implicit Stat: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown 1. Movement Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Dexterity, Maximum Life, Ranks to Dash	Natural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Cold Imbue Additional Casts
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse, % Dexterity 2. Ranks to Unstable Elixirs, Weapon Mastery, Exploit, or Malice 3. Cooldown Reduction, Attack Speed	Imbuement Abundance (Utility): Cold Imbue Additional Casts Worldly Finesse (Offensive): Critical Strike Damage
Rings	1. Attack Speed, Critical Strike Damage 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life, Resource Cost Reduction	Marksman Finesse (Offensive): Critical Strike Damage Worldly Stability (Resource): Resource Generation

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique and Mythic Unique Items for the Penetrating Shot 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.

Eaglehorn (recommended) enables Penetrating Shot to hit enemies twice and deal increased damage.
- Masterworking Priority: Chance for Penetrating Shot Projectiles to Cast Twice up to the 100% cap and then Ranks to Penetrating Shot
Condemnation (recommended) provides increased damage and reduces the Basic Skills cast between Core Skills from 3 to 1.
- Masterworking Priority: Basic Skill Attack Speed
Heir of Perdition (recommended) is a Mythic Unique Helm that provides the most damage in the slot.
- 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
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
Shroud of False Death (recommended) provides the highest damage increase in the slot due to the +1 Ranks to All Passives inherent affix.
- Masterworking Priority: All Stats or Resource Generation
Fists of Fate (recommended) provides up to a 50% overall damage increase in its unique effect and a high amount of Lucky Hit Chance.
- Masterworking Priority: Attack Speed

↑ Back to Navigation Table

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 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).

Runewords

Insert one of the following Runewords, consisting of a Rune of Ritual 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. Check the Runewords Guide for more details.

Runewords	Effects
Noc Kry	Gain: 10 Offering — Inflict a Crowd Control. Gain double offering if it isn’t a Slow or a Chill. Requires: 300 Offering, Cooldown: 3 Seconds — Invoke the Spiritborn’s Vortex, dealing damage and Pulling In enemies.
Cir Vex	Gain: 300 Offering — Cast 5 Skills then become exhausted for 3 seconds. Requires: 100 Offering, Cooldown: 5 Seconds — Gain +1 to Skills for 10 seconds.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Paragon Board

Use the following Paragon Boards, Legendary Nodes, and Glyphs for the Penetrating Shot Rogue.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

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.
Unpredictable Alchemy	Imbuements flow wildly, Imbuing every Basic Skill Cast with a random Imbuement. Imbued Skills deal x40% increased damage.

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	Eaglehorn	⁕ Ranks to Penetrating Shot Penetrating Shot bounces off walls and deals x [110 – 150%] increased damage.
Amulet	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.
Ring Slot #1	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 Ring Slot #2	Coldclip Aspect	You deal x [20 – 40%] increased damage to enemies that are Chilled or Frozen. Your Basic Skills are always Cold Imbued at 50% potency and gain this damage bonus against Bosses.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Ring Slot #2	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 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	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.
Chest	Shroud of False Death	⁕ All Stats or Resource Generation +1 to All Passives
Gloves, Pants, or Boots	Chaos Armor: Condemnation (Gloves)	⁕ Basic Skill Attack Speed Your Core Skills deal x [50 – 70%] increased damage when spending 3 Combo Points. Casting Basic Skills always generate 3 Combo Points.
Gloves, Pants, or Boots	Chaos Armor: Skyhunter (Pants)	⁕ Chance for Marksman Projectiles to Cast Twice up to the 100% cap and then Attack Speed The first direct damage you deal to an enemy is a guaranteed Critical Strike. When you consume Precision casting a Skill, that Skill gains x [20 – 60%] increased Critical Strike Damage and you gain [30 – 60] Energy.
Gloves, Pants, Boots, or Chest (option #1)	Chaos Armor: Fists of Fate (Boots)	⁕ Attack Speed Your attacks randomly deal 1% to [200 – 300%] of their normal damage.
Gloves, Pants, or Boots (option #2)	Chaos Armor: Cowl of the Nameless (Boots)	⁕ Trick Attacks or Unstable Elixirs

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.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

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.

Dark Shroud is not equipped on the Skill Bar. Dark Shrouds stacks are instead granted through Umbrous Aspect with a high Lucky Hit Chance from Penetrating Shot.

Enhanced Cold Imbuement and Condemnation apply Vulnerable to enemies.

Resource Management

Combat and Innervation 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.

Rotation and Playstyle

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

Dash away from enemies to maintain a Distant Range for a damage increase from Deadeye.
Activate Cold Imbuement for damage increases from Mixed Cold Imbuement and Frigid Finesse.
Against bosses and tough elites, cast Smoke Grenade and Caltrops to deal more damage.
Use a Potion to activate the damage buff from Unstable Elixirs.
Build 3 Combo Points with Heartseeker. If you have Condemnation equipped, only 1 cast of Heartseeker is necessary.
Line enemies up to piece through them with Penetrating Shot.
Continue to build Combo Points with Heartseeker before casting Penetrating Shot.

Elixirs and Incenses

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.

Elixir of Advantage II increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.
Elixir of Resourcefulness II 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.
Elixir of Fortitude II is the best general-purpose option for survivability.

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.

Eaglehorn: Damage increased from 40-80% to 110-150%.
Condemnation
- Previous: Your Core Skills deal 50-70% increased damage when spending 3 Combo Points. Your Basic Skills using this weapon have a 50% chance to generate 3 Combo Points.
- Now: Your Core Skills deal 50-70% increased damage when spending 3 Combo Points. Casting Basic Skills always generate 3 Combo Points.
Penetrating Shot: Damage increased from 95% to 110%.
Advanced Penetrating Shot: Reworded Tool tip to clarify that its damage bonus is only from Penetrating Shot.
Cunning Stratagem
- Previous: Your non-damage Combo Point bonuses are increased by 33% when you spend 3 Combo Points.
- Now: Your Combo Point Bonuses are increased by 40% when you spend 3 Combo Points.
Eldritch Bounty: Damage increased from 30%[x] to 50%[x].
Cheap Shot
- Previous: You deal 5%[x] increased damage for each Nearby enemy that is Crowd Controlled, up to 25%[x]. A Nearby Staggered Boss provides the maximum bonus.
- Now: Deal 30% increased damage, doubled against Crowd Controlled enemies.
Exploit Weakness
- Previous: Lucky Hit: Hitting a Vulnerable enemy has up to a 60% chance to increase your damage by 1%[x] for 25 seconds, up to 25%[x]. At 25 stacks, this bonus remains for 6 seconds before expiring.
- Now: You deal 45% more Vulnerable damage. The first time you hit a Vulnerable enemy their damage is reduced by 20% for 6 seconds.
Danse Macabre: Damage increased from 30% to 50%.