Shadow Hunter Rogue BUILD for Diablo IV [S Tier Grade]

(Emerge from the Shadows to Penetrate your foes while splitting your shots to clear big groups at once)

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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 already 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 Shadow Hunter.

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 (Shadow Hunter) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Basic Skill (Resource Generator/Builder) (Required Points: 0 )

Core Skill(s) (Resource Spender) (Required Points: 2 )

Agility Skills (Required Points: 6 )

Subterfuge Skills (Required Points: 11 )

Imbuements Skills (Required Points: 16 )

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

Key Passive / Capstone (Required Points: 33 )

Class Mechanic (Specializations):

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 Combo Points for this build, especially if you already are using the Condemnation dagger (it would be pointless to use that dagger without that specialization). Also, try to use Penetrating Shot with full Combo Points as much as possible, especially vs Bosses and Elites.

Unique Items

In Diablo IV 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 Uniques inherited from the Mythical gear they supposedly replaced was scrapped even before the closed beta tests. My top pick will be the following one but check below it & the notes under the Aspects list for more info:

Top Pick Unique for the Build

Harlequin Crest (Helm)

Gain [5-8%] Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +[2-4] 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

Condemnation (Dagger)

+[20%] Damage to Close Enemies

Your Core Skills deal x[20 – 40]% increased damage when spending 3 Combo Points. Your Basic Skills using this weapon have a [30%] chance to generate 3 Combo Points.

+[4 – 10]% Basic Attack Speed
+[4.5 – 12]% Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies
+[7 – 14]% Damage with Dual-Wielded Weapons
+[12.5 – 19.5]% Core Skill Damage

“I’ve never seen such ruthless butchery. He deserves to be be shipped off to die in the swamps with the rest of the godless murderers.” – Witness to the murder of Sergeant Walcot

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 is what this build needs most
Armor: Ruby or Topaz (dmg reduction is very needed in high tier NM dungeons).
Jewelry: Skull for Armor until they rework resistances. After the rework: Diamond unless you need specific resistance more than all.

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 (Shadow Hunter) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

• Helm: Umbrous Aspect / Harlequin Crest (see notes below)
• Amulet: Enshrouding Aspect
• Chest: Aspect of The Protector
• Pants: Aspect of Disobedience
• Gloves: Aspect of Inner Calm
• Boots: Eluding Aspect
• Ring 1: Accelerating Aspect
• Ring 2: Aspect of The Expectant
• Main Hand Weapon: Trickshot Aspect
• Off-hand Weapon: Vengeful Aspect / Condemnation (see notes below)
• 2-H Weapon: Rapid Aspect
  (I recommend using a Crossbow in the 2h Weapon slot and using Swords in the 1h Weapon slots, until you equip the Condemnation unique dagger in one of the 1h weapon slots, of course)

NOTES: How to re-arrange if using any of the Uniques:

- For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Aspect of The Protector gets removed from the Helm slot to make room for the Unique Helm.
- For Condemnation (Dagger): Vengeful Aspect gets removed from the Helm slot to make room for the Unique Dagger.

NOTE 2: Keep in mind that, in order to get the most out of the Condemnation Unique dagger, I STRONGLY recommend using Puncture (with the triple shot upgrade) and leaning towards Close Enemies over Distant enemies bonuses (if you need to pick between them in the first place).

Obviously crit dmg, vulnerable dmg, core skill dmg, and Crit Dmg with Imbued skills (and even vs injured enemies) may be better than either dmg vs close or distant but when using Puncture the synergy is better when adopting point blank shotgun playstyle.

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 86 with 166 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.

• 166/223 Paragon Pts. (~LVL 86 with renown & altar pts): Click THIS LINK
• MAX LEVEL & MAX Paragon points spent (223/223): Click THIS LINK

Suggested Gear Rolls to look out for (NOT in order of priority):

I’ve shortlisted 36 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. NOTE: I’ve added a new “Top Priority per Slot” list but left the old unsorted list below it.

This is the Sorted by Slot list of Top Priority Affixes/Rolls:

• Helm:
  • Priority 1: Cooldown Reduction
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, Basic Skill Attack Speed
  • Priority 3: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Str, All Stats), Maximum Energy
  • Priority 4: Total Armor
• Amulet:
  • Priority 1: Cooldown Reduction, +X Ranks of Imbuement Skills, Movement Speed
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, +X Ranks of a Passive you like, Imbuement Skill Cooldown Reduction
  • Priority 3: Imbuement Skill DMG, +X% Damage, Damage Reduction from Close or Distant Enemies/While Injured,
  • Priority 4: Energy Cost Reduction
• Chest:
  • Priority 1: Damage Reduction from Close/Distant Enemies
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, + X% Damage
  • Priority 3: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Str, All Stats), Total Armor
  • Priority 4: Imbuement Skill Damage, Marksman Skill Damage, Shadow Damage
• Pants:
  • Priority 1: Damage Reduction from Close/Distant Enemies
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, Damage Reduction while Injured
  • Priority 3: + X ranks of Concealment/Dark Shroud, Core Stats (Int, Dex, Str, All Stats), Imbuement Skill Cooldown Reduction
  • Priority 4: Total Armor, Damage Reduction
• Gloves:
  • Priority 1: + X ranks of Penetrating Shot
  • Priority 2: Critical Strike Chance, Damage to Injured Enemies, Attack Speed
  • Priority 3: Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% Chance to Restore +X% Primary Resource, Lucky Hit Chance
  • Priority 4: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Str, All Stats)
• Boots:
  • Priority 1: Movement Speed, Energy Cost Reduction
  • Priority 2: Damage Reduction while Injured
  • Priority 3: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Str, All Stats), +X Ranks of Shadow Step (if using it intead of an Ult)
  • Priority 4: Dodge Chance, Dodge Chance Against Distant Enemies
• Rings:
  • Priority 1: Vulnerable Damage, Critical Strike Damage, Core Skill Damage
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, Critical Strike Chance, Damage to Injured Enemies, Damage to Close/Distant Enemies
  • Priority 3: Physical/Shadow Damage, Imbued Skill DMG, Critical Strike DMG with Imbued Skills, Lucky Hit Chance
  • Priority 4: Resource Generation
• Main Hand Weapon:
  • Priority 1: Vulnerable Damage, Critical Strike Damage, Core Skill Damage
  • Priority 2: Damage to Injured Enemies, Damage to Distant/Close Enemies (depending on preferred playstyle)
  • Priority 3: Critical Strike Damage with Imbued Skills
  • Priority 4: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Str, All Stats)
• Off-hand Weapon: See the 1H Weapon Rolls List
• 2-H Weapon: See the 1H Weapon Rolls List

This is the UNsorted by list of useful Affixes/Rolls:

+ X% Damage

Critical Strike Chance/Critical Damage Bonus

Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Shadow/Imbued Skills

Critical Chance/Critical Damage with Core Skills

Damage with Core Skills

Lucky Hit Chance

+ X Ranks to Core/Imbuement Skills

+ X Ranks to Penetrating Shot/Concealment/Dark Shroud/Shadow Step

Damage vs Injured Enemies

+ Intelligence, + Dexterity, + Strength

+ All Stats

+ Maximum Life

Energy Generation / Regeneration / On Kill

Resource/Energy Cost Reduction

Cooldown Reduction

Attack Speed

Physical/Shadow/Imbued Skill Damage Bonus

Lucky Hit Chance with Physical/Shadow/Imbued Skill Damage

Resistance to All Elements

Damage Against Close/Distant Enemies

+ % Physical/Shadow Damage to Elites

Vulnerable Damage

Damage Against Vulnerable Enemies

Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite

Damage Reduction from Elites

+ % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite

Damage Against Crowd Controlled Enemies

Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% chance to Restore +X% Primary Resource

Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% chance to Heal +X Life

Damage while Healthy

Barrier Generation

Movement Speed

Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies

Lucky Hit: Up to a +X% Chance to Execute Injured Non-Elites

Damage vs Healthy Enemies

Weapon Damage (not sure if there are any bonuses to that as rolls)

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

For all of my Diablo IV Post-Launch & RDY-4-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

For my Diablo IV Class Skill Trees (can be used as mini-calculator): This Spreadsheet

For all of my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

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This concludes the Shadow Hunter 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)

XBOX

PlayStation

Official Website