![Icy Death Rogue Build for Diablo IV [S Tier Grade]](https://wasted666.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IcyD-1200x675.jpg)
Icy Death Rogue BUILD for Diablo IV [S Tier Grade]
Diablo IV launched on June 6th, 2023 for PC (Battle.Net), XBOX, & PlayStation) and I’ve had my fair share of playing and testing done. I’m now ready to start making full Builds/Theorycrafts that work for both ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters as well as late endgame. I’ll evolve & keep them updated when we get major rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Rogue Class called Icy Death.
I’ve also made spreadsheets for my builds (see the links below) that have shortlisted the active and passive skills + legendary aspect + unique item + gems & sockets + suggested stat rolls + paragon boards that work well with the build which you can use to tinker. Alternatively, I’ve added build calculator links (mostly needed for the paragons)
This build will be updated when needed.
Video Version:
Skill Trees
Below you’ll see ONLY the Active & Passive skills that were selected for this build. For additional skills that can be taken + alternative skill options, you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Icy Death) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.
Basic Skill (Resource Generator/Builder) (Required Points: 0 )
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Puncture – Throw blades a short distance, dealing 21% (X – ?) damage. Every 3rd cast Slows enemies by 2 seconds. Critical Strikes will always Slow.
Requires Dual Wielded Weapons.
Lucky Hit Chance: 50% | Damage: Physical ; Tags: Basic, Ranged, Marksman- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Puncture – Gain 2 Energy when Puncture damages a Crowd Controlled enemy.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Fundamental Puncture – Puncture now throws 3 blades in a spread, each dealing 35% of its Base damage. Hitting an enemy with at least 2 blades at once makes them Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
Core Skill(s) (Resource Spender) (Required Points: 2 )
- (active) Flurry – Unleash a flurry of stabs and slashes, striking enemies in front of you 4 times and dealing a total of 60% (X – ?) damage to each.
Combo Points increase damage and grant an Attack Speed bonus:
1: 75% damage, +15% Attack Speed ;
2: 90% damage, +30% Attack Speed ;
3: 105% damage, +45% Attack Speed
Requires Dual Wielded weapons
Energy Cost: 25 | Lucky Hit Chance: 8% | Damage: Physical ; Tags: Core, Melee, Imbueable, Cutthroat- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Flurry – Each time Flurry damages a Crowd Controlled or Vulnerable enemy, you are Healed for 1% of your Maximum Life, up to 12% Maximum Life per cast.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Improved Flurry – If Flurry hits any Vulnerable enemy it will make all enemies hit by that cast Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
- (passive) Sturdy – You gain 4%/8%/12% Close Damage Reduction.
- (upgrade) Siphoning Strikes – Heal for 1%/2%/3% of your Maximum Life when you Critically Strike Close enemies.
- (passive – ONLY put 2 points here) Stutter Step – Critically Striking an enemy grants +5%/+10%/+15% Movement Speed for 4 seconds.
- (passive) did not pick any other Core passives to save points
Agility Skills (Required Points: 6 )
- (active)
- (1st upgrade)
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2)
- (passive) Weapon Mastery – Gain a bonus when attacking based on weapon type:
Daggers: 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased damage to Healthy enemies.
Swords: 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) increased damage.
Bows: 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative) increased damage to Vulnerable enemies.
Crossbows: 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased Critical Strike Damage. - (passive) did not pick other Agility passives to save points
Subterfuge Skills (Required Points: 11 ) Not taking an Active Subterfuge skill
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Vanish from sight, gaining an advanced form of Stealth for 4 seconds tat will no be removed by taking damage. Concealment also makes you Unstoppable, grants +30% Movement Speed, and allows you to move freely through enemies for its duration. Using an attack Skill during Concealment will break Concealment .
Cooldown: 20 seconds. Tags: Subterfuge- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Stealth – You gain 40 Energy when you enter Stealth.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Countering Stealth – The Skill that breaks Concealment will always be a guaranteed Critical Strike.
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Dark Shroud – Surround yourself with up to 5 protective shadows. Gain 8% Damage Reduction per active shadow. Each time you take direct damage, that damage is reduced and a shadow is consumed
Cooldown: 20 seconds. Tags: Subterfuge- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Dark Shroud – Dark Shroud’s shadows have a 8% chance to not be consumed
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Countering Dark Shroud – While you have at least 2 active shadow from Dark Shroud, gain +10% Critical Strike Chance.
- (passive) Exploit – You deal 6%/12%/18% (multiplicative) increased damage to Healthy and Injured enemies.
- (upgrade) Malice – You deal 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) increased damage to Vulnerable enemies.
- (passive) did not pick other Subterfuge passives to save points
Imbuements Skills (Required Points: 16 )
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Cold Imbuement – Imbue your weapons with frigid energies. Your next 2 Imbueable Skills deal Cold damage and Chill enemies for 25% per hit.
Cooldown: 9 seconds. Lucky Hit Chance: 33% | Damage: Shadow ; Tags: Imbuements- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Cold Imbuement – Cold Imbued Skills have up to a 30% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Mixed Cold Imbuement – Cold Imbued Skills deal 20% (multiplicative) damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. Double this bonus against Frozen enemies.
- (passive) Precision Imbuement – Imbued Skills gain +5%/+10%/+15% increased Critical Strike Chance.
- (passive) Frigid Finesse – You deal 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased damage to Chilled enemies. This bonus increases to 10%/20%/30% (multiplicative) against Frozen enemies.
- (upgrade – did NOT put points here) Chilling Weight
- (passive) did not pick other Imbuements passives to save points
Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )
- (active) Death Trap – Place a trap that arms after 1.25 seconds. It activates when an enemy moves near, dealing 250% (X – ?) damage to enemies in the area.
Cooldown: 50 seconds. Lucky Hit Chance: 4% | Damage: Shadow ; Tags: Ultimate, Trap- (1st upgrade) Prime Death Trap – Enemies are Pulled into Death Trap when it activates.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Supreme Death Trap – If Death Trap kills an enemy, its Cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds.
- (passive) Innervation – Lucky Hit: Up to a 10%/20%/30% chance to gain 8 Energy.
- (upgrade) Second Wind – did NOT put point into this
- (upgrade) Alchemist’s Fortune – Non-Physical damage you deal has a +5%/+10%/+15% increased Lucky Hit Chance.
- (passive) Aftermath – After using an Ultimate Skill, restore 25/50/75 Energy.
- (passive) Trap Mastery – When Poison Trap or Death Trap activates, you gain +4%/+8%/+12% increased Critical Strike Chance against Vulnerable and Crowd Controlled enemies for 4 seconds.
- (passive) did not pick other Ultimate passives to save points
Key Passive (Required Points: 33 )
- (passive) Momentum – Cutthroat Skills grant a stack of Momentum for 8 seconds if they either:
Hit a Stunned, Dazed, or Frozen enemy
Hit any enemy from behind
While at 3 stacks of Momentum, you gain:
20% increased Damage Reduction
30% (multiplicative) increased Energy Regeneration
+15% increased Movement Speed
Class Mechanic (Specializations):
I don’t have much information about the 3rd Specialization of the Rogue. The 3 Specializations are the Rogues’ Class Mechanics:
- Combo Points – Your Basic Skills now generate Combo Points. Core Skills consume Combo Points for additional effects.
- Inner Sight – Attack marked enemies to fill up your Inner Sight gauge. When it’s full, gain unlimited Energy for 4 seconds.
- Preparation – Every 100 Energy you spend reduces your Ultimate Skill’s Cooldown by 4 seconds. Using an Ultimate Skill resets the Cooldowns of your other Skills..
I prefer and advise using Preparation for this build. However, Combo Points is an amazing syenrgy with Flurry, especially if you take the Cunning Stratagem Paragon Node.
Unique Items
In Diablo IV apparently (I have multiple sources that confirmed this) we can equip more than one unique item at the same time (not so ‘unique’ if we can get decked out in full uniques I guess). It seems that the one unique per build idea that Unique inherited from the Mythical gear they supposedly replaced was scrapped even before the closed beta tests. My top picks will be the following two but check the notes under the Aspects list for more picks:
Eyes in the Dark (Pants)
While Injured, Your Potion Also Grants [30%] Movement Speed for 2 Seconds
Unless it hits a Boss or Player, Death Trap will continue to re-arm itself until it kills an enemy. However, Death Trap‘s Cooldown is increased by [15 – 30]%.
[3.1 – 7.3]% Dodge Chance
+[0.07 – 0.14] Shadow Damage
+[16.5 – 23.5]% Damage to Elites
+[7 – 14]% Damage to Trapped Enemies
“And so, when the sun dipped behind the hills each night, he knew that Ashen Jack would soon be near. Watching, and waiting.” – Greenslade’s Tales, Chapter 2: “Each Long Night”
Harlequin Crest (Helm)
Gain [5-8%] Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +2 Ranks to All Skills.
[0.245 – 0.455] Maximum Life
X% Cooldown Reduction
+[42 – 70]% Crafting Material Drop Rate
[14 – 28] All Stats
“This headdress was once worn by an assassin disguised as a court mage. Her treachery was unveiled, but not before she used its magic to curse the king’s entire lineage.” – The Fall of House Aston
Sockets & Gems
There are various possible good/viable choices for the gem slots. I’ve shortlisted what works by slot. I’d recommend picking one of those:
Weps: Emerald, Saphire, Ruby, Diamond, or Skull.
Armor: Ruby.
Jewelry: Diamond unless you need specific resistance more than all.
XYZ Diamond (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Ultimate Skill Damage
• Armor: +N% Barrier Generation
• Jewelry: N% Resistance to All Elements
+5%/+5%/+5% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Skull (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N Life On Kill
• Armor: +N% Healing Received
• Jewelry: +N Armor
+13/+5%/+170 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Saphire (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Fortified
• Jewelry: N% Cold Resistance
+7.5%/5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Ruby (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Overpower Damage
• Armor: +N% Maximum Life
• Jewelry: N% Fire Resistance
+15%/+5.5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Emerald (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
• Armor: +N Thorns
• Jewelry: N% Poison Resistance
+7.5%/+39/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Topaz (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Basic Skill Damage
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Control Impaired
• Jewelry: N% Lightning Resistance
+16.7%/8.2%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
Legendary Aspects / Powers
I will only list the Legendary Aspects that have been selected for the build and the slots in which I advise putting those. For in-depth information you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Icy Death) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.
- Helm: Exploiter’s Aspect / Harlequin Crest (see notes below)
- Amulet: Aspect of Stolen Vigor OR Aspect of the Crowded Sage
- Chest: Aspect of Stolen Vigor OR Aspect of the Crowded Sage
- Pants: Aspect of The Protector* / Eyes in the Dark (see notes below)
- Gloves: Conceited Aspect* (only use while you have Aspect of the Protector for Barriers) / Frostburn (see notes below)
- Boots: Ghostwalker Aspect / Exploiter’s Aspect
- Ring 1: Aspect of Volatile Shadows
- Ring 2: Accelerating Aspect
- 1H Weapon: Aspect of Encircling Blades
- Off-hand: Vengeful Aspect
- 2-H Weapon: Smiting Aspect
NOTES: How to re-arrange if using any of the Uniques: - Aspect of the Protector stays in the Pants slot ONLY until you get the Eyes in the Dark Unique Pants. For after that just discard it from the build or move it to the Helm slot. If you also have the Unique Helm you're better off removing this Aspect from the build. - For Frostburn (Gloves): Conceited Aspect gets removed from the Gloves slot to make room for the Unique Gloves. Many (me including) may prefer Legendary Gloves for the +4 Ranks to Flurry they give but Frostburn is a pretty good synergy with the build too, especially for mobbing. - For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Ghostwalker Aspect get removed from the Boots slot & replaced by Exploiter’s Aspect, this makes room for the Unique Helm. - For Eyes in the Dark (Pants): Aspect of Control gets removed from the Ring 1 slot to make room for the Unique Ring. ALTERNATIVE: If you decide to use Doombringer (Sword) in the build, you may wanna sacrifice one of the Ring Aspects (Accelerating Aspect OR Aspect of Volatile Shadows) and move the Aspect of the weapon/off-hand that Doombringer Replaces on that Ring slot.
Paragon Boards:
Use the links below to check the paragon boards selected and the nodes I’ve taken. One link is for what the boards will look like at lvl 89 with 179 paragon points (so more paragon points will be obtained on the way to 100). The other link is what the boards will look like when fully maxed out on paragon points but i did leave the last 1 up to you to spend.
- 179/223 Paragon Pts. (~LVL 89 with renown & altar pts): Click THIS LINK
- MAX LEVEL Paragon points spent -1 (222/223): Click THIS LINK
Suggested Gear Rolls to look out for (NOT in order of priority):
I’ve shortlisted 45 different affixes that work well with the build of almost 300 total. I’ll highlight in Orange the ones I think should get higher priority
| Bonus to All Damage | ||||
| Critical Strike Chance/Critical Damage Bonus | ||||
| Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Shadow/Cold Skills | ||||
| Critical Chance/Critical Damage with Core/Imbuements/Ultimate Skills | ||||
| Damage with Core/Imbuements/Ultimate Skills | ||||
| Lucky Hit Chance | ||||
| + X Ranks to Core/Imbuements/Ultimate Skills or to Flurry | ||||
| Lucky Hit Chance with Physical/Shadow/Cold Damage | ||||
| Physical/Shadow/Cold Damage Bonus | ||||
| + % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Shadow/Cold Damage | ||||
| Resistance to All Elements | ||||
| Damage to Enemies Affected by Trap Skills | ||||
| + % Physical/Shadow/Cold Damage to Elites | ||||
| + % Critical Strike Chance with Physical/Shadow/Cold Damage Against Elites | ||||
| + % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite | ||||
| Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite | ||||
| Damage Reduction from Elites | ||||
| Damage to Close Enemies | ||||
| Critical Strike Chance Against Close Enemies | ||||
| Critical Strike Damage to Close Enemies | ||||
| Critical Strike Chance Against Crowd Controlled Enemies | ||||
| Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies | ||||
| Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies | ||||
| Critical Strike Chance Against Vulnerable Enemies | ||||
| Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies | ||||
| Vulnerable Damage | ||||
| Damage while Healthy | ||||
| Damage to Vulnerable Enemies with Imbued Skills | ||||
| Critical Strike Damage with Imbued Skills | ||||
| Shadow Imbued Skill Damage | ||||
| Imbued Skill Damage | ||||
| Imbuement Potency |
| Damage for X Seconds After Dodging an Attack | ||||
| Attack Speed for X Seconds After Dodging an Attack | ||||
| Dodge Chance (both +% and x% exist) | ||||
| Dodge Chance Against Close Enemies | ||||
| + All Stats | ||||
| Damage vs Injured Enemies | ||||
| Damage vs Healthy Enemies | ||||
| Weapon Damage (not sure if there are any bonuses to that as rolls) | ||||
| Energy Generation / Regeneration/ On Kill | ||||
| Movement Speed | ||||
| Attack Speed | ||||
| Dexterity | ||||
| Resource Cost Reduction |
Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):
For all of my Diablo IV RDY-4-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet
For my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Class Skill Trees (can be used as mini-calculator): This Spreadsheet
For all of my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet
♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦
This concludes the Icy Death Rogue Build for Diablo IV. If you’re interested in the game below are links to the various platforms where one can buy it (you can just click the links to open a new tab):
PC (Battle.Net)
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