Although players will have to take a hit or two in most fights during the Diablo 4 campaign, minimizing these hits becomes critical to endgame success. Most world bosses have either an instant-death move or one that leaves a player with a fraction of health. Ranged players have more mobility to avoid these hits.
The tradeoff is often a decrease in damage dealt. Developers know that security is a premium in Diablo 4 (just ask the hardcore gamers about that), so some of the moves might seem a bit weaker. However, the Ranged Rogue build hits as hard as any other damage dealer with a thoughtful build.
Updated on June 30th, 2023 by Hodey Johns: This guide has been updated for the huge rebalance patch in 1.0.3. Many guides have remained untouched because most skills got a simple numerical buff or nerf to bring them in line with the rest of the skills in the game. Especially with Vulnerable builds becoming so powerful, this was an appropriate rebalance. However, not every skill received a small buff or nerf. Some of these were significant enough to change builds for and this build was one of those. Some of these buffs weren't to damage but to cooldown or resource reduction which alters the skill rotation entirely. The old build might still be better than it was before but this new guide gets the absolute most out of the class.
Skill Tree
Skill | Points |
Forceful Arrow | 5 |
Enhanced Forceful Arrow | 1 |
Primary Forceful Arrow | 1 |
Barrage | 5 |
Enhanced Barrage | 1 |
Improved Barrage | 1 |
Weapon Mastery | 3 |
Concussive | 3 |
Exploit | 1 |
Malice | 3 |
Shadow Imbuement | 5 |
Enhanced Shadow Imbuement | 1 |
Blended Shadow Imbuement | 1 |
Poison Imbuement | 5 |
Enhanced Poison Imbuement | 1 |
Blended Poison Imbuement | 1 |
Cold Imbuement | 5 |
Enhanced Cold Imbuement | 1 |
Blended Cold Imbuement | 1 |
Precision Imbuement | 3 |
Innervation | 3 |
Alchemist's Fortune | 3 |
Rain of Arrows | 1 |
Prime Rain of Arrows | 1 |
Supreme Rain of Arrows | 1 |
Precision | 1 |
At the maximum level and with all the Renown gathered, players will have 58 skill points to invest. This build capitalizes on three skills, Forceful Arrow, Barrage, and Rain of Arrows, then selects all three Imbuements to enhance their damage.
The big selling point is the ability to permanently make enemies Vulnerable with a healthy attack rotation. It's effective against both mobs but perhaps even more effective against bosses that will get a hefty dose of several debuffs at once.
Vulnerable debuffs are so powerful that players want them out of the game. They stack multiplicatively, not just directly, making them core to most damage builds for the endgame. Until this exploit is fixed or nerfed, the Ranged Rogue build will be one of the strongest with this skills election.
Paragon Boards
Board | Paragon/Legendary Nodes | Glyph |
Start | Prime, Skillful | Exploit |
Exploit Weakness | Exploit, Exploit Weakness, Artifice | Infusion |
No Witnesses | No Witnesses, Ruin, Knowledge | Chip |
Eldritch Bounty | Imbuer, Eldritch Bounty, Readdy Supply, Potent | Control |
Tricks of the Trade | Havoc | Devious |
The paragon boards and glyphs can be a bit tough to figure out. It's a matter of adjusting the boards so that they snake properly. Few players will get to the maximum 200 paragon points but those that do will find that their powers are enhanced by enormous magnitudes.
Listing all nodes would be tedious and impossible to read, but if gamers move between the major nodes listed, it shouldn't be an issue. Make sure to purchase all relevant stat bonus nodes inside the designated glyph areas.
These boards might initially appear to have an unnatural focus on crowd control damage but with all the Imbuements used, players will almost always have a Stun, Chill, or Knocked Down effect on their opponents. As a result, any bonus damage to crowd-controlled enemies translates directly to an increase in damage.
As all five classes have had their damage outputs nerfed, raising the damage threshold is more important than ever. While the paragon boards offer loads of perks to help players tank, damage builds need to predominantly focus on damage to stay relevant. Since this is a ranged build, it will be better to dodge attacks than to waste precious nodes getting more health or armor.
Gear
Slot | Aspect/Piece |
Helm | Harlequin Crest |
Chest | Aspect of Shared Misery |
Gloves | Aspect of Arrow Storms |
Pants | Aspect of Siphoned Victuals |
Boots | Mangler's Aspect |
Amulet | Word of Hakan |
Ring | Aspect of Corruption |
Ring | Vengeful Aspect |
Ranged Weapon | Skyhunter |
With the new aspect system, gamers have a ton of freedom to take the piece of gear they find with the best stats and then add their favorite effect to it. Increasing potion efficiency helps out a bit but these aspects are game-changing. Note that some of these aspects can be swapped in and out on other pieces of gear; which piece has which aspect is not important.
Word of Hakan is a unique Rogue item that puts all Imbuements on the Rain of Arrows ultimate ability. With first hits already guaranteed to hit critically, this means the Ranged Rogue can essentially wipe out entire mobs with a single cast.
Specialization
- Preparation
World Tiers can get out of control when it comes to difficulty. Thankfully, Specializations are a simple way to keep pace with the escalating challenge. For this build, Preparation is the way to go, giving players an extra ultimate cast and resetting their skills at the cost of Energy.
Since only one of these skills actually uses Energy, players have more than enough to spare. Rain of Arrows is obviously effective against mobs but being able to regularly cast it will give players a permanent damage increase due to the legendary node on the No Witnesses board.
Diablo 4 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.