When designing a rogue build in Diablo 4, it's vital that players take into account how the class functions as a whole. Thinking about this will help players decide which active and passive skills to take, as both will be required to construct a viable and effective build. Though active abilities will always take center stage due to their direct impact on enemies, it would be foolish to believe that passive skills have little to no impact on gameplay. In fact, many active abilities function best when paired with a proper set of passive skills.
Every build will have different needs and therefore different abilities are likely to be best for that specific character. That being said, some skills offer more benefits to more potential builds than others. The following examples are a collection of the most useful and versatile passive skills for Diablo 4's rogue class.
This list will not include key passives, which will be covered elsewhere.
10 Sturdy
It's not flashy, but it'll keep players alive. This passive skill flatly reduces all incoming damage players receive from close enemies. Specifically, that means any enemy within melee range deals less damage to the player.
Not only does this make enemies less effective when engaged by close-combat rogues, but can also help protect ranged rogues from enemies that get a bit too close for comfort.
9 Siphoning Strikes
Siphoning Strikes is a passive skill that heals players by a small amount when critically striking an enemy within melee range. Synergizing well with the rogue's many critical strike bonuses, this skill is an excellent way to turn their pain into one's gain. Additionally, since the healed amount is relative to the player's maximum health, this bonus will never become obsolete.
While less useful for ranged-focused builds, this passive skill is a must-have for survivable melee builds.
8 Aftermath
This passive restores 25 points of energy after the rogue's ultimate ability is activated, making it especially useful for players who rely on their ultimate as a last resort. Of course, this passive is only helpful for characters with both an ultimate ability and core ability equipped, so it won't be for everyone.
This skill synergizes well with the shadow clone ultimate or the death trap combined with the consuming shadows passive. For more resource-focused builds, this passive serves as a great compliment to the rogue's preparation specialization.
7 Weapon Mastery
While not as specialized as some other passives, this skill is an extremely versatile choice that offers bonuses to any kind of build and even remains useful if players change their build later. Specifically, this passive offers a different bonus for every possible rogue weapon, allowing players to specialize their own way and presenting some insight into how the class's weapons function overall.
Weapon Mastery increases damage to health enemies when using daggers, flatly increases damage with swords, increases bow damage against vulnerable enemies, and boosts critical strike damage with crossbows.
6 Rapid Gambits
Rapid Gambits reduce the player's evade cooldown every time they daze an enemy. This passive is perfect for players who rely on stunning and dazing skills such as Dash and Smoke Grenade to get them out of trouble.
This isn't just to keep ranged rogues out of harm's way, however. The stacking cooldown reduction makes a great addition for melee rogues who prioritize mobility and positioning.
5 Stutter Step
The Stutter Step skill increases the rogue's movement speed every time they critically strike an enemy. While this effect does not stack on its own, it does compound with other speed-enhancing effects and is ideal for ranged players who prefer to deal damage from a distance while remaining mobile.
The downside of this passive is that it requires a successful critical strike to function. Fortunately, many rogue builds thrive on generating high critical strike chances, especially those utilizing ranged attacks and crossbows.
4 Malice
The rogue class excels at creating openings in which to strike and leaving enemies debilitated and vulnerable. The Malice passive increases the overall damage players deal to vulnerable enemies, further capitalizing on already weakened opponents.
The best part about this particular skill is that many rogue abilities synergize well with it regardless of whether they apply the vulnerable status. Specifically, skills like Puncture and Flurry work well with this passive.
3 Alchemical Advantage
Rogues who utilize poison abilities will find this passive to be right up their alley. Alchemical Advantage slightly increases the player's attack speed for each enemy affected by poison, up to a certain limit. This stacking bonus works especially well for builds focusing on rapid attacks.
Of course, one will also need abilities capable of inflicting poison as well. For that reason, it is highly recommended that players pair this skill with the Poison Imbuement or Poison Trap abilities.
2 Frigid Finesse
While many frost rogue builds are focused on slowing their targets from a safe distance, some players may still prefer to get up close and personal. Frigid Finesse increases the player's damage to chilled enemies and further boosts attack against enemies the player has frozen.
This effect is useful for both ranged and melee players who utilize Frost Imbuement and helps make up for some damage bonuses frost users may pass up for debuff effects.
1 Shadow Crash
Shadow damage naturally turns enemies infected by it into walking bombs waiting to infect surrounding enemies. With Shadow Crash, players can add a passive chance for any shadow damage to also stun enemies. While this does require a lucky hit, the AOE impact of shadow explosions makes this much more likely than one may assume.
Shadow Crash is an ideal addition to shadow damage builds and synergizes well with the Shadow Imbuement and Death Trap active abilities.
Diablo 4 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.