Twisting Blades – Rogue Build for Diablo 4 (Season 9)

Build Introduction

The Twisting Blades Rogue build eviscerates your foes before they know what hit them. Twisting Blades hits hard with a stacking debuff to increase damage taken by enemies. This fast-paced melee build is perfect for starting characters to reach Torment 4 difficulty.

For an advanced version of this build that revolves around Azurewrath, check the Azurewrath Twisting Blades Rogue Build Guide. The build has stricter requirements, but is capable of pushing higher tiers of the Pit.

If your character has not reached Level 60, follow the Leveling Guide for the Twisting Blades Rogue.

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

Strengths and Weaknesses

Quick Navigation

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Skill Bar Setup for the Twisting Blades Rogue (order does not matter)

Twisting BladesShadow CloneDashShadow StepCaltropsPoison Trap

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

Dark Shroud is not equipped on the Skill Bar, but is instead granted through Umbrous Aspect.

Frigid Finesse is always active against Staggered Bosses, as they count as being affected by all crowd control types.

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 preferred Rogue Specialization for the Twisting Blades Rogue. Spending Energy reduces the Cooldown of Shadow Clone for consistent casts to gain 15% Damage Reduction and activate No Witnesses.

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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 Twisting Blades 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	Aspect Name	Aspect Power
Ranged Weapon	Bladedancer’s Aspect	Twisting Blades orbit for a short time after they return to you, dealing x [60 – 80%] of Twisting Blade’s return damage per hit.
Amulet	Vehement Brawler’s Aspect	Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your damage by [10 – 30%] for 8 seconds. Gain 2 additional Ultimate Skill Ranks.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #1 (replaced by Asheara’s Khanjar)	Aspect of Inner Calm	Deal x [5 – 13%] increased damage. Triple this bonus after standing still for 3 seconds.
Gloves (replaced by Fists of Fate)	Accelerating Aspect	Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by + [10 – 30%] for 5 seconds.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Aspect of Voracious Rage	Killing an enemy or hitting a Boss with a Core Skill refunds [15 – 35%] of its base cost. Can only happen once per Skill cast.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Ring Slot #2	Conceited Aspect	Deal x [10 – 30%] increased damage while you have a Barrier active.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Ring Slot #2	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.
Helm (replaced by Heir of Perdition)	Aspect of Might	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2 – 6] seconds
Chest (replaced by Shroud of False Death)	Juggernaut’s Aspect	Gain [X] Armor, but your Evade has 100% increased Cooldown.
Pants	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 60%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Boots	Slice and Dice Aspect	Twisting Blades’ initial hit cleaves. Twisting Blades return [25 – 45%] faster.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Twisting Blades 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.

Daggers are equipped for the Damage to Close Enemies implicit stat to scale Close Quarters Combat. Bows and Crossbows provide comparable implicit stats, so the choice does not make a noticeable difference.

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.

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Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource, Maximum Life, Dexterity 2. Vulnerable Damage, Critical Strike Damage	Cutthroat Augments (Weapon): Chance for Twisting Blades to Hit Twice up to 100% cap Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive):
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Lucky Hit Chance	Natural Schemes (Utility): Barrier Generation Any uncapped Resistances or Armor, otherwise Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Dodge Chance
Chest	1. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 2. Ranks to Dark Shroud, Dexterity, Maximum Life	Natural Schemes (Utility): Barrier Generation Any uncapped Resistances or Armor, otherwise Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Dodge Chance
Gloves	1. Ranks to Twisting Blades, Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Resource Cost Reduction, Maximum Life, Lucky Hit Chance	Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze
Pants	1. Dexterity, Maximum Life 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor	Trap Expertise (Utility): Caltrops Size Any uncapped Resistances or Armor, otherwise Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Dodge Chance
Boots	Implicit Stat: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown 1. Movement Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Ranks to Dash, Maximum Life, Dexterity	Trap Expertise (Utility): Caltrops Duration Natural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed
Amulet	1. Ranks to Unstable Elixirs, Exploit, and/or Malice, +% Dexterity 2. Critical Strike Chance, Cooldown Reduction, Attack Speed	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Shadow Clone Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Rings	1. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Resource Cost Reduction, Vulnerable Damage, Critical Strike Damage, Maximum Life	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Shadow Clone Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud

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Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique and Mythic Unique Items for the Twisting Blades 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.

• Asheara’s Khanjar (recommended) improves damage output with Critical Strike Chance, Ranks to Weapon Mastery, and Attack Speed.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Weapon Mastery or Critical Strike Chance
• Heir of Perdition (recommended) is best-in-slot for damage output
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Core Skills or Critical Strike Chance
• Cowl of the Nameless (optional) is another decent option if you do not have Heir of Perdition.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Unstable Elixirs or Trick Attacks
• Ring of Starless Skies (recommended) is a Mythic Unique Item that provides a highly valuable 1.5x multiplier.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Core Skills or Critical Strike Chance
• 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 Maximum Life
• Fists of Fate (recommended) applies Vulnerable status to enemies. Prioritize a high roll on the unique effect for up to 50% more damage output.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance or Attack Speed

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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. If you are playing in Season 9, replace the Jewelry Gems with Horadric Jewels.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Diamond for Ultimate damage to scale No Witnesses.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Grand Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

Runewords

Insert the following 2 Runewords, each consisting of a Rune of Offering 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
Yax Gar	Gain: 200 Offering — Drink a Healing Potion. Requires: 25 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%.
Igni (or Cir) Zec	Gain: 25 Offering — Stores offering every 0.3 seconds. Cast a non-Basic Skill to gain the stored offering. Requires: 100 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Seconds — Reduce your active Ultimate Cooldown by 1 second.

If you are already capped on Critical Strike Chance, replace Gar with Thul or Ohm.

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Paragon Board

Use the following Paragon Boards, Legendary Nodes, and Glyphs for the Twisting Blades Rogue.

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Horadric Spell and Jewels (Season 9)

Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim offers seasonal powers that can be utilized to enhance this build. Access Horadic Spells from the Powers tab in the character sheet, and place Horadic Jewels into Jewelry slots.

Horadric Spell

The Horadric Catalyst is the base power of your spell, attached to a Skill slot on the Skill bar and triggered when the Skill is cast. The Catalyst is combined with one Infusion that modifies the damage type, and three Arcana that enhance the baseline power of the spell.

Type	Power	Effect
Catalyst	Cosmic Anomaly (equipped on Shadow Clone)	Spawn Rate: Every 5 seconds Lucky Hit: 20% Passive: Manifest up to 5 Anomalies that emit particles which deal 866% damage over 4 seconds. Active: Command your Anomalies to converge and implode, dealing 3465% damage per detonation. Rank 10: While at 5 Anomalies, you are Unstoppable and the next implosion will deal double damage.
Infusion	Nebulous Extract	Your Spell Catalyst now deals Shadow and or Corrupting damage. Enemies hit by it deal 10% reduced damage for 7 seconds. While equipped, your Shadow Damage Bonus is equal to that of your highest Damage Type Bonus. Rank 5: Deactivates monster Summoner effects for 8 seconds.
Arcana	Bloody Charm	Your Catalyst gains a specialized Execute effect for non-Boss enemies with 20% or less Life. Cosmic Anomaly: Executes non-Boss enemies with its implosion. Successful Executions increase your Attack Speed by 20% for 8 seconds.
Arcana	Frigid Heart	Your Catalyst gains a specialized Freeze effect that lasts 5 seconds. Cosmic Anomaly: Anomalies have a 30% chance to preserve themselves instead of imploding and Freeze surrounding enemies for 5 seconds.
Arcana	Fractured Core	Your Catalyst deactivates monster Damage Resistance Aura effects for 5 seconds, but you take 10% more stacking damage for the same time.

Horadric Jewels

Insert the following Horadric Jewels into Jewelry slots to enhance the Horadric Spell.

Jewel	Effect
Myriad Stone	After you cast your Catalytic Skill, if it is an Ultimate, gain 30%[+] Attack Speed for 10 seconds.
Reverie Horn	After you injure or kill an enemy, your Summons are empowered, growing larger and dealing x50% more damage for 4 seconds.
Willbreaker	Physical damage you deal shatters enemies’ spirits, causing them to take 40%[x] more Physical damage for 6 seconds. This effect applies when first damaging a Boss or Elite, or when they are affected by Crowd Control.

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: Raheir
  • Skills: Ground Slam, Raheir’s Aegis, Bastion, Inspiration
• Reinforcement: Varyana
  • Skill: Bloodthirst
  • Opportunity: Cast when the player casts Shadow Clone.

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Build Mechanics

This starter Twisting Blade Rogue build features an easy-to-play setup, without needing a Basic skill or Combo Points. Twisting Blades is cast rapidly to apply a stacking debuff to ramp up damage dealt to enemies. Bladedancer’s Aspect causes 2 additional hits to further increase the damage output of Twisting Blades.

Dark Shroud is not equipped on the Skill Bar, but is instead granted through Umbrous Aspect.

Resource Management

Energy Generation is necessary to repeatedly cast Twisting Blades. Ensure you have enough sustain from the following sources.

• Innervation Rank 3
• Momentum
• Combat and Fluidity Additional Bonuses
• Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource affixes on Weapons and Gloves
• Ring of Starless Skies
• Elixir of Resourcefulness II

Rotation and Playstyle

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Use Dash and Shadow Step to traverse quickly and close the gap to enemies.
2. Against bosses and tough elites, cast Poison Trap and Caltrops to deal maximum damage.
3. Cast Shadow Clone to mimick attacks and activate No Witnesses.
4. Use a Potion to activate the damage buff from Unstable Elixirs.
5. Cast Twisting Blades repeatedly to deal damage.

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 Twisting Blades Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Resourcefulness II greatly helps with Energy issues, if you do not already have the appropriate Energy Generation. This elixir is highly recommended for starting characters to maintain the casting of Core Skills.
2. Elixir of Precision II provides the highest damage output increase, if not already capped at 100% Critical Strike Chance.
3. Elixir of Advantage II increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.

Momentum and Close Quarters Combat Variants

Momentum is the default version for the Twisting Blades Rogue due to its numerous benefits, including a damage multiplier, Energy Generation, Damage Reduction, and Movement Speed. No additional scaling is needed for Momentum, making it the preferred Key Passive for a starter setup.

Close Quarters Combat can provide more damage output than Momentum if you have the proper gearing to scale its bonus. For this setup, make the following changes to the original version of this build:

• Replace Damage per Dark Shroud tempers with Damage to Close Enemies from Natural Finesse in all Offensive slots.
• Switch Shadow Step with Fundamental Heartseeker in the Skill Tree and Skill Bar to fulfill the Marksman Skill requirement of Close Quarters Combat. Cast Heartseeker every 8 seconds to activate the damage bonus.
• Swap the Deadly Ambush Paragon board with Tricks of the Trade.

Season 9 Updates

A brief summary of the seasonal changes is provided below. For a complete overview of Season 9, take a look at the comprehensive season guide.

• Danse Macabre
  • Previous: Casting a Mobility or Subterfuge Skill increases the damage of your next Skill by 75%[x].
  • Now: Casting a Mobility or Subterfuge Skill increases your damage by 30%[x] for 10 seconds.

Changelog

• June 27, 2025: Guide updated for Season 9 (Patch 2.3.0)
• April 26, 2025: Guide updated for Season 8 (Patch 2.2.0)
• January 21, 2025: Guide updated for Season 7 (Patch 2.1.0).
• October 4, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• August 6, 2024: Guide updated for Season 5 (Patch 1.5.0).
• May 14, 2024: Guide updated for Season 4 (Patch 1.4.0).
• January 22, 2024: Guide updated for Season 3 (Patch 1.3.0).
• October 17, 2023: Guide updated for Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0).
• July 18, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1.