Rain of Arrows (RoA) – Rogue Build for Diablo 4 (Season 11)

Build Introduction

The Rain of Arrows Rogue (RoA) hails down an endless stream of death. Rain of Arrows receives a bonus damage that scales from your Damage to Distant bonus, making this a powerful build capable of clearing the highest Tiers of The Pit!

The Rain of Arrows Rogue is a top-performing build for the endgame of Diablo 4 but requires strict gearing to function. Make sure you meet the Build Requirements before getting started. The Dance of Knives Rogue is recommended as a starter build to collect the gear.

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

Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Requirements

The Rain of Arrows Rogue is a specialized build that requires strict gearing to function. Obtain the following items before switching to this build.

Required Uniques

Skyhunter

Word of Hakan

Beastfall Boots

• A Maximum Energy of 150 is required.
  • Beastfall Boots provides a Maximum Resource affix.
  • The remaining Energy is obtained from an Elixir of Resourcefulness II.
• The Cooldown of Rain of Arrows needs to be reduced to 10.25 seconds or less. Word of Hakan can easily reach the 75% cap with a Greater Affix on Rain of Arrows Cooldown Reduction, lowering a Rank 5 Rain of Arrows Cooldown to 10.25 seconds.
• 150 Energy needs to be restored after each cast of Death Trap.
  • Two Legendary Rings with the Casting Ultimate Skills Restores Primary Resource temper from Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue is required. One Ring restores 41 Energy with a Greater Affix temper and Capstone Masterworking bonus, while the other Ring restores 32 Energy with just a Greater Affix temper.
  • Beastfall Boots restores 25 Energy when using a Cooldown, which is activated by casting Death Trap.
  • Aftermath refunds 35 Energy after casting Death Trap.
  • At least 425 Strength to increase Resource Generation by 12.8%.
  • Final Calculation: (41 +32 + 25 + 35) × 1.128 = 150

Quick Navigation

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Skill Bar Setup for Rain of Arrows Rogue (order does not matter)

Rain of ArrowsHeartseekerBarrageConcealmentSmoke GrenadeCaltrops

The Skill Tree above shows the full allocation of 71 Skill Points for the RoA Rogue build. Leveling up grants 59 points. The remaining 12 points are gained from completing Renown for Eternal Players and Seasonal Rank/Journey for Seasonal Players.

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 Rain of Arrows Rogue. Barrage consumes 150 Energy through Beastfall Boots and Elixir of Resourcefulness II to activate Preparation twice, reducing the Cooldown of Rain of Arrows 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 Rain of Arrows 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.

Gear Slot	Name	Effect
Ranged Weapon	Skyhunter	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.
Amulet	Word of Hakan	Your Rain of Arrows is always Imbued with all Imbuements at once and receives your Arrow Storm benefits.
Dual-Wielded Swords	Aspect of Arrow Storms	Lucky Hit: Your Marksman and Cutthroat Skills have up to a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy’s location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal [45 – 65%] increased damage.
Dual-Wielded Swords	Vengeful Aspect	Lucky Hit: Damaging a Vulnerable enemy has a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy’s location, dealing [X] Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal x [45 – 65%] more damage.
Gloves	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 #1	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.
Ring Slot #2	Aspect of Retribution	Distant enemies have a 10% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds when they hit you. You deal [15 – 35%] increased damage to Stunned and Knocked Down enemies.
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 have [5 – 15%] increased Damage Reduction and +10% increased Movement Speed, 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	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 RoA 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.

Ensure you apply a Tempering affix to your endgame items. If you have a surplus of crafting materials, reroll Tempering affixes on your best items until they upgrade to a Greater Affix.

Bolded affixes are the most important targets for the Capstone Bonus from Masterworking. Capstone Bonuses are granted after Masterworking 25% Quality and can be re-rolled for a cost. For more details, check the Tempering and Masterworking guides.

Swords are equipped for the Critical Strike Damage implicit stat.

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Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Ranged Weapon	Skyhunter	Masterworking Priority: Chance for Marksman Projectiles to Cast Twice up to 100% cap and then Critical Strike Damage.
Dual-Wielded Swords	1. Critical Strike Damage 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Assassin Augments (Weapon): Chance for Rain of Arrows to Deal Double Damage
Helm	1. Resistances or Armor 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Natural Schemes (Utility): Barrier Generation
Chest	1. Resistances or Armor 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Natural Schemes (Utility): Barrier Generation
Gloves	1. Critical Strike Damage, Attack Speed 2. Resistances or Armor 3. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Natural Finesse (Offensive): Damage to Distant Enemies
Pants	1. Resistances or Armor 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze
Boots	Beastfall Boots	Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Agile (defense) or Movement Speed (mobility)
Amulet	Word of Hakan	Masterworking Priority: Rain of Arrows Cooldown Reduction (if not already a Greater Affix) or Chance for Rain of Arrows to Deal Double Damage
Rings	1. Critical Strike Damage, Attack Speed 2. Resistances 3. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): ⁕Casting Ultimate Skills Restores Primary Resource

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Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Listed below are the required, recommended, and optional Unique and Mythic Unique Items for the Rain of Arrows 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.

• Word of Hakan (required) caps Rain of Arrows Cooldown Reduction at 75% and grants Arrow Storm benefits.
  • Masterworking Priority: Rain of Arrows Cooldown Reduction (if not already a Greater Affix) or Chance for Rain of Arrows to Deal Double Damage
• Beastfall Boots (required) is necessary to consume all Energy to activate Preparation.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Agile (defense) or Movement Speed (mobility)
• Skyhunter (required) provides a high amount of Critical Strike Damage to scale Precision and double cast for Rain of Arrows.
  • Masterworking Priority: Chance for Marksman Projectiles to Cast Twice up to 100% cap and then Critical Strike Damage.
• Heir of Perdition (recommended) is a Mythic Unique Helm that provides the most damage in the slot.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance or Lucky Hit Chance
• Cowl of the Nameless (recommended) is an alternative offensive option if you do not yet have Heir of Perdition.
  • Masterworking Priority: Movement Speed
• 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: Resource Generation or All Stats

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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 Emerald for Critical Strike Damage to scale Precision.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gem or Grand Skull for Armor.

Runewords

Insert the following 2 Runewords, each consisting of a Rune of Ritual and a Rune of Invocation, 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 Ohm	Gain: 150 Offering — Cast an Ultimate Skill. Requires: 600 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds — Invoke the Barbarian’s War Cry, increasing your damage dealt by x15% for 6 seconds.
Cir Jah	Gain: 300 Offering — Cast 5 Skills then become exhausted for 3 seconds. Requires: 250 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds —Replace your next Evade with the Sorcerer’s Teleport, blinking further, dealing damage, and becoming Unstoppable.

Vex can replace Jah for a maximum damage setup.

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Paragon Board

Use the following Paragon Boards, Legendary Nodes, and Glyphs for the Rain of Arrows Rogue.

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Season 11 Mechanics

Season 11: Divine Intervention offers a seasonal theme that can be utilized to enhance this build. Access Divine Gifts from the tab in the character sheet, and apply Sanctification on your items for additional bonuses.

Divine Gifts

Obtain the Divine Gifts of Lesser Evil bosses by defeating them for the first time, and then level up equipped Divine Gifts by killing the associated Lesser Evil or any of their minions. Insert the following Divine Gifts setups into Purified sockets, unlocked by progressing through the Seasonal Reputation Board, to gain beneficial rewards for specific activities.

• Helltides – Duriel
  • Purified: Essence of Pain – Briefly gain maximum Barrier after becoming Injured, every 20 seconds.
  • Corrupted: Essence of Squallor
• World Bosses – Azmodan
  • Purified: Essence of Sin – Gain 20% increased Armor.
  • Corrupted: Essence of Hellfire
• Kurast Undercity – Andariel
  • Purified: Essence of Anguish – Gain 30% Movement Speed.
  • Corrupted: Essence of Screams
  • Note: If you are already move speed capped or need extra defense, swap the Andariel Gifts for a 20% Resistance boost to defense.
• Belial – The Pit
  • Purified: Essence of Lies – Fortify for 1% of your Maximum Life a second.
  • Corrupted: Essence of Shadows

Sanctification

Use Heavenly Sigils to sanctify your items at the Heavenly Forge for a chance to apply one of the outcomes listed below. Sanctification makes the item unmodifiable, so ensure all other item crafting is finalized.

• Apply a bonus Legendary power
• Improve an Affix into a Greater Affix
• Add a bonus Affix from a pool of special Sanctification affixes
• Replace an existing Affix with a random Sanctification affix
• Add a random amount (5-25) of bonus Quality

Some of the jackpot desirable Sanctifications include +Ranks to All Skills, useful affixes like Critical Strike Chance or Attack Speed, or generic offensive Legendary Aspects. The potential Quality Increases will be especially strong on a weapon, increasing its DPS. Other options can ruin your item, such as replacing a necessary existing affix.

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 Rain of Arrows Rogue is a specialized build for the endgame of Diablo 4. The build excels at pushing the highest Tiers of The Pit. Although, the skill rotation is difficult and the playstyle has a slower pacing than other builds during speed-farming activities.

Rain of Arrows is rapidly cast by reducing its Cooldown. The cooldown cap of 75% can be obtained for Rain of Arrows solely through Word of Hakan to lower a Rank 5 Rain of Arrows to 10.25 seconds. Preparation is activated twice by consuming 150 Energy with Barrage and Beastfall Boots to further reduce Rain of Arrows Cooldown by 10 seconds. The additional 50 Energy is granted by Elixir of Resourcefulness II and Beastfall Boots.

At least 150 Energy needs to be generated before each cast of Barrage to activate Preparation twice. Refer to the Build Requirements for more information.

Any Core Skill can be used to consume Energy with Beastfall Boots, but Barrage is ideal due to it having the lowest animation frames.

For survivability, Second Wind constantly generates Barrier due to the high Energy consumption. The ranged playstyle and Knock Downs provide additional layers of safety.

Mixed Cold Imbuement and Mixed Shadow Imbuement are applied by Rain of Arrows through Word of Hakan.

Concealment is cast directly before Rain of Arrows to apply Vulnerable with Subverting Concealment, while activating Danse Macabre and Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth affixes.

Rotation and Playstyle

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Use a Potion every 10 seconds to activate the damage buff from Unstable Elixirs.
2. Against tough elites and bosses, cast Caltrops to apply Enhanced Caltrops for more damage.
3. Cast Smoke Grenade on enemies every 5 seconds to apply Enhanced Smoke Grenade.
4. Cast Concealment every 4 seconds to activate Subverting Concealment and Danse Macabre.
5. Cast Rain of Arrows to deal damage.
6. Cast Barrage to consume all your Energy for Preparation and gain 1 Precision stack.
7. Cast Heartseeker twice to gain the 2nd and 3rd Precision stack.
8. Continue repeating the rotation Rain of Arrows, Barrage, and 2x Heartseeker.

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 Rain of Arrows Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Resourcefulness II is required to reach the 150 Maximum Energy requirement in this build, along with the Maximum Resource affix on Beastfall Boots.

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 reduce incoming damage.

Season 11 Updates

A brief summary of the changes in Patch 2.5.0 that may pertain to this specific build is provided below. For a complete overview of Season 11, take a look at the comprehensive season guide.

• Damage scaling per 10 points of Dexterity increased from 1.1% to 1.25%.
• Siphoning Strikes: Healing per Rank reduced from 1% to .5% of Maximum Health.
• Tibault’s Will:
  • Maximum Life affix replaced with Critical Strike Chance affix.
  • Damage Reduction while Unstoppable affix replaced with Attack Speed affix.
  • Resource gain when becoming Unstoppable increased from 50 to 100.

Changelog

• December 7th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 11 (Patch 2.5.0).
• 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 created for Season 7 (Patch 2.1.0).