Learn how to make the best Penetrating Shot Rogue build in Diablo 4
Want the best Diablo 4 Penetrating Shot Rogue build?Diablo 4has many ranged builds, but the Penetrating Shot Rogue is especially powerful thanks to its ability to churn out Critical Strikes at a high rate. With the launch ofSeason 1, this build has become even stronger thanks to the addition of Malignant Hearts, a new item type that grant strong powers, many of which synergise with Penetrating Shot.
In this guide, we break down how to make the bestDiablo 4Penetrating Shot Rogue build, covering the Skills, Specialization, Aspects, Stats, Gems, and Malignant Hearts that you’ll need. This build is fully updated to reflect Patch 1.1.0, but we’ll continue to update it as more patches arrive in the future.
If you’re after some differentRogue builds, check out ourDiablo 4 Twisting Blades Rogue build!
Best Penetrating Shot Rogue build in Diablo 4
Our Diablo 4 Penetrating Shot Rogue build uses Poison and Shadow Imbuement with Penetrating Shot, which allows you to spread Vulnerable and Poison effects through packs of enemies with ease. Shadow Imbuement is particularly good for packs, as it’ll cause enemies to detonate on death, dealing damage to anything nearby, while Poison Imbuement gets massive damage boosts on Critical Strikes that make it excellent against Bosses and Elites.
Below, you’ll find a full list of the skills that you should acquire for our Diablo 4 Penetrating Shot Rogue build, in order:
Forceful Arrowis your Basic skill, and you’re going to use it more than you might use Basics in other builds. That’s because Forceful Arrow has a lot of utility - it gives you Combo Points, it knocks enemies back and, with the Concussive passive, boosts your Critical Strike Chance, and it inflicts the Vulnerable status effect.
Penetrating Shotis your main skill, as it can use either Imbuement skill to get massive damage boosts. It fires an arrow that pierces through enemies, helping spread your Imbuements further and dealing huge damage that increases drastically with Combo Points. The Enhanced upgrade pushes that damage even higher with each pierced enemy.
Advanced Penetrating Shot is the most important upgrade, though, Slowing all enemies it hits by 50% for 3 seconds and knocking down Elites for 1.5 seconds when cast with full Energy.
Shadow Stepis similar to a teleport ability, allowing you to target an enemy and immediately zip to their location. It’s necessary for this build because it grants Unstoppable, which is a buff that ends any status effects on your character (such as Stunned or Immobilized).
Poison Trapis the sole trap in this build, leaving a small net on the field that, when triggered by an enemy, will unleash a pool of poisonous acid that deals damage over time.
Poison Trap is important because we use two Imbuements in this build, and the Countering Poison Trap upgrade has a 30% chance to reset your Imbuement skill cooldowns when activated.
Shadow Imbuementis our first main Imbuement, applying Shadow damage to your Penetrating Shot attacks. It will also infect enemies, which will then explode on death to damage those around them.
Shadow Imbuement is particularly strong because of its Blended upgrade, which makes explosions from infected enemies spread the Vulnerable status effect quickly through mobs.
Poison Imbuementis better for single-target damage, especially if you use the passives in the table above, many of which boost Critical Strike Chance.
Base Poison Imbuement applies 100% of your Penetrating Shot damage as additional Poison damage over 5 seconds, but the Blended upgrade will increase that by 75% when you land a Critical Strike.
If you’re not sure how to use these skills effectively, follow the attack pattern below:
The Rogue class has a uniqueSpecializationclass mechanic, which allows you to pick from three passive upgrade. For this build, we’ve opted for Combo Points, which grants additional effects to your Core skill (Penetrating Shot). To generate Combo Points, you must use your Basic (Forceful Arrow), and you can only hold three Combo Points at a time. They are spent when you use your Penetrating Shot.
Below, we’ll list the buffs applied to Penetrating Shot with each level of Combo Points:
As you complete Side Dungeons and find Legendary items in Diablo 4, you’ll getLegendary Aspects. These are the items that give Legendaries their unique effects, and targeting those that synergise with your build will massively boost your power level.
Below, we’ll list the best Aspects for the Penetrating Shot Rogue build, alongside the Dungeons you must complete to get them:
If you get an Aspect you need on an item that you don’t want to use, head to the Occultist to extract it and then imprint it on a new item!
Gear also gets randomly rolled stats, known as Affixes. Hunting for the best Stats becomes far more relevant when you reach endgame, and prioritising those that synergise with your build will ensure that you can clear Nightmare Dungeons andHelltidesacross theDiablo 4 mapwith ease:
Gear will also often have Gem Sockets, into which you can placeGemsto gain more Stat bonuses. Depending on the type of item into which they are placed, Gems will grant different bonuses.
For your Weapons, we’d recommend usingAmethyststo boost your damage over time. This build uses lots of Poison damage effects, and Amethysts will provide a significant buff to that damage.
For your Armor, useRubiesto boost your Maximum Life. Rogues are one of the more fragile classes in Diablo 4, so more Maximum Life is a must if you’re particularly struggling.
For your Jewelery, you could useSkullsto increase your Armor. However, Season 1’s new Malignant Hearts can only be placed in Infested Jewelry Sockets, so we’d consider focusing on these during the Season of the Malignant You can learn more about these in the following section.
The newMalignant Heartsintroduced in Diablo 4 Season 1 offer powers that significantly enhance our Penetrating Shot Rogue build. We’ve scoured through them all and found those that you absolutely need to use while playing on the Seasonal Realm in the months to come.
Below, we’ll list the best Malignant Hearts for the Penetrating Shot Rogue:
That wraps up our Diablo 4 Penetrating Shot Rogue build guide. If you’re eager to try out other classes, take a look at ourDiablo 4 Barbarian builds,Necromancer builds,Sorcerer builds, andDruid builds.
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