Rogue is a very peculiar class in Diablo 4 due to their mastery over both ranged and closed combat. They are masters of poison and shadow magic and can use stealth to destroy their enemies. Due to the huge plethora of unique playstyles at their disposal, the Rogue class in Diablo 4 can have a lot of builds centered around skill combinations like Rapid Fire and Barrage.
Most builds usually revolve around one core skill while the rest of the skills are used as support. However, we have decided to take the concept a bit further and create a Rogue build that specializes in not only one but two core skills.
Due to its high Energy cost and increased support skills requirements, the Diablo 4 Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build is recommended for extreme endgame sections. This build is not sustainable before level 60. So, we recommend players check our Vampiric Rogue build and easy Rogue level-up guide to cross the level 50 mark easily in Diablo 4.
Jump To:
- Skills and unlock order
- Rogue Specialization
- Playstyle and skill rotation
- Gear, Gems and Stats priority
- Paragon Board
- Unique Items
- Legendary Aspects
- Elixir choices
Rapid Fire Barrage skill progression and unlock order
Rapid Fire and Barrage both skills belong to the Rogue Core skill tree. Each core skill can be used to create a whole build around it. But the problem arises with their corresponding shortcomings. Rapid Fire is a skill target high damage skill that seriously lacks crowd control. Barrage can hit multiple enemies but it severely lacks in damage output.
Combining both skills with one specialized imbuement allows us to create a build that is not only powerful against enemies but can easily control the crowd while leaving them reeling from the effects of poison.
Here is a list of active skills we will be using for the Diablo 4 Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build.
- Puncture (basic)
- Barrage (core)
- Rapid Shot (core)
- Shadow Step (agility)
- Poison Imbuement (imbuement)
- Poison Trap (subterfuge)
At this late in the game, we expect players to have all 58 skill points from leveling up and completing Renown Tasks. These skill points must be distributed into the following skills in no particular order. Just make sure to follow the upgrade ranks closely.
| Unlock Order | Skill Name |
| 1 | Puncture (Rank 1) |
| 2 | Enhanced Puncture |
| 3 | Fundamental Puncture |
| 4 | Barrage (Rank 5) |
| 5 | Enhanced Barrage |
| 6 | Advanced Barrage |
| 7 | Rapid Fire (Rank 5) |
| 8 | Enhanced Rapid Fire |
| 9 | Improved Rapid Fire |
| 10 | Sturdy (Rank 3) |
| 11 | Siphoning Strikes (Rank 3) |
| 12 | Shadow Step (Rank 1) |
| 13 | Enhanced Shadow Step |
| 14 | Methodical Shadow Step |
| 15 | Weapon Mastery (Rank 3) |
| 16 | Concussive (Rank 2) |
| 17 | Trick Attacks (Rank 1) |
| 18 | Poison Trap (Rank 1) |
| 19 | Enhanced Poison Trap |
| 20 | Countering Poison Trap |
| 21 | Exploit (Rank 2) |
| 22 | Malice (Rank 3) |
| 23 | Poison Imbuement |
| 24 | Enhanced Poison Imbuement |
| 25 | Blended Poison Imbuement |
| 26 | Precision Imbuement (Rank 3) |
| 27 | Deadly Venom (Rank 1) |
| 28 | Debilitating Toxin (Rank 1) |
| 29 | Dark Shroud (Rank 1) |
| 30 | Enhanced Dark Shroud |
| 31 | Alchemist’s Fortune (Rank 1) |
| 32 | Innervation (Rank 1) |
| 33 | Adrenaline Rush (Rank 1) |
| 34 | Haste (Rank 3) |
| 35 | Precision |
Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build depends heavily on high DPS and inflicting status effects upon enemies. This is where Puncture skill comes in handy. It not only deals a great amount of damage but also slows down enemies and makes them vulnerable too. Barrage hits multiple enemies at one time and can deal critical strikes with the help of puncture.
The next core skill, Rapid Fire, deals massive damage to single enemies and can generate a lot of Energy in the process. Sturdy and Siphoning Strikes strengthen our character against enemy attacks in the meantime.
Shadow Step is used to either close distance with the enemies or run away from them by turning the players Unstoppable. It also increases the chance of critical strikes and surely stun enemies for a few seconds.
Weapon Mastery increases the damage from all kinds of weapons. Trick Attacks can knock down enemies and line them up to be critically struck by Concussive.
Dark Shroud increases defense against both closed and ranged enemies while Poison Trap deals an insane amount of poison damage to the enemies in addition to cooling down all the imbuement skills instantly. Exploit and Malice passives increase DPS against enemies afflicted with specific ailments.
Poison Imbuement allows both of our core skills to deal poison damage and increased damage with critical strikes. Precision Imbuement and Deadly Venom increase poison damage and critical strike chance against enemies. Debilitating Toxin strengthens players against poisoned enemies.
Innervation increases Energy generation while Alchemist’s Fortune further enhances Lucky Hit chances. Haste passively increases both movement and attack speeds upon achieving specific requirements. Precision key passive increases the chance of a critical strike by our core skills by up to 40%.
This is a general overview of how all these skills work in tandem and create loops of massive DPS using critical strikes and inflicting vulnerability.
Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue Specialization
Each class in Diablo 4 has a unique class mechanic and the same is true for Rogues too. The unique class mechanic for Rogue is called the Specialization system. It allows players to choose 1 specialization from three to grant unique passive buffs. For the Rapid Fire Barrage build in Diablo 4, we will be using Combo Points which unlocks at level 15.
The Combo Points Rogue specialization allows players to generate combo points by using Basic skills. A maximum of 3 combo points can be stored at a time. Core skills use these combo points to deliver additional damage and status effects upon enemies.
Diablo 4 Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue playstyle and skill rotation
Each build relies on specific mechanics that define its playstyle. Below is a list of such mechanics along with the skills and items from which they can be triggered.
Poison
For the Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build in Diablo 4, we will be relying heavily on Poison damage to inflict massive DoT upon enemies. Below is a list of skills and items to support this effect.
- Poison Trap: This subterfuge skill inflicts up to 344% poison damage to enemies for the next 9 seconds.
- Blended Poisoning Imbuement: This enhancement skill allows core skills to deal 100% poison damage for over 6 seconds. In case of a critical strike, the poison damage is increased up to 175%.
- Deadly Venom: This passive increases the poisoning damage by up to 9%.
- Aspect of Corruption: This legendary Rogue aspect increases poison damage against vulnerable enemies by up to 40%.
Vulnerable
Turning enemies vulnerable results in them receiving extra damage from normal attacks. Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build focuses on inflicting this powerful status effect on enemies by using the following skills and items.
- Fundamental Puncture: This skill turns an enemy vulnerable if it is hit by two consecutive blades.
Critical Strikes
Critical strikes not only inflict a lot of physical damage upon enemies, but they also line them up to take additional damage from other status effects. Below is a list of skills and items to increase the chance of critical strikes.
- Enhanced Rapid Fire: This skill increases the critical strike chance by each arrow by 5% up to a total of 25%.
- Enhanced Shadow Step: this enhancement skill increases critical strike chance by up to 8% for the next few seconds.
- Concussive: This passive skill increases critical strike chance against knocked-down enemies by up to 15%.
- Precision Imbuement: This passive skill increases the critical chance of all imbuement skills by up to 9%.
- Vengeful Aspect: This legendary aspect increases critical strike chance against vulnerable enemies by up to 9%.
- Precision: This key passive deals a 100% guaranteed critical strike against enemies upon consuming 5 stacks of precision.
Increased Damage
The main purpose of every endgame build in Diablo 4 is to clear out the enemies as fast as possible. This can only be achieved by delivering maximum DPS from the given character. We have listed a few skills and items to help you understand how to maximize the damage with each of Rogue’s strike.
- Fundamental Puncture: This modifier increases the damage of thrown blades up to 31% each.
- Enhanced Barrage: This skill makes the ricocheted arrows deal additional damage to vulnerable enemies.
- Advanced Rapid Fire: This skill deals 30% additional damage to enemies after a successful evade.
- Weapon Mastery: This skill increases weapons’ damage by fixed percentages. Each weapon’s damage increment is different from the rest.
- Exploit: this passive skill deals 18% additional damage to healthy/injured enemies only.
- Malice: This passive skill increases damage against vulnerable enemies by up to 9%.
- Edgemaster’s Aspect: This legendary aspect deals up to 20% more damage from skills if the players have maximum amount of primary resources.
- Condemnation: This unique dagger delivers up to 40% more damage when consuming 3 skill points with core skills.
Energy Generation
Rogues use Energy as the main resource to use their skills. However, their skills cost a fortune in Energy to cast. Conserving energy and generate it during the battle sequences is of utmost importance.
- Enhanced Puncture: This skill generates 2 energy per attack against crowd controlled enemies.
- Improved Rapid Fire: This skill generates 15 energy for every cast of Rapid Fire. However, it only happens upon hitting a vulnerable enemy.
- Innervation: This passive skill has a 30% chance to generate 8 energy. This is however a Lucky Hit.
- Adrenaline Rush: This passive skill increases Energy generation by up to 15% just by moving.
Increased Speed
In this section, we will be looking at skills and items that increase both attack and movement speed, which are crucial for survival in late game dungeons.
- Shadow Step: This skill increases the movement speed by up to 50% for the next few seconds.
- Haste: This passive skill increases movement speed by up to 15% when players have more than 50% energy. In case of energy reserves below 50%, it increases attack speed by up to 15%.
- Condemnation: This unique dagger increases attack speed of basic skills by a fixed percentage.
- Grasp of Shadow: This unique glove increases the attack speed of all skills by a fixed percentage.
- Alchemist advantage: This passive skill grants 1% increased attack speed per poisoned enemy, but only up to 15%.
Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue Damage Rotation
Everything we have discussed above is a theoretical knowledge of how the Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build will play out. Nothing of it is of any value until it is tested and proven against the hordes of Lilith. This is where the damage rotation comes into play. In this section, we will extensively cover the order of skills to be cast when facing enemies.
Dungeons in Diablo 4 are procedurally generated making it an even tougher challenge to prove if our build is worthy of an endgame section or not.
Below is a list of skills players need to use in a specific order for Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue in Diablo 4.
- Shadow Step
- Poison Trap
- Puncture 3x
- Poison Imbuement
- Barrage
- Rapid Fire 3x
Always start the rotation by using Shadow Step. We are avoiding Poison Imbuement, in the beginning, to save it for our core skills. Shadow Step decreases the distance between players and enemies and deals massive amount of physical damage.
It also increases movement speed and makes the enemies vulnerable to critical strikes. Use the advantage of being Unstoppable and place 4 Poison Traps before moving away from the enemies.
Poison Trap not only inflicts an insane amount of Poison damage to enemies, it also knocks them down allowing players to make them vulnerable. It also has a 30% chance to cooldown immediately making it even more devastating.
We have a lot of passives that increase poison damage over time and strengthen the players against poisoned enemies. Now cast Puncture to deal physical damage upon enemies. It also slows them down and makes them vulnerable for a few seconds.
With everything in place, now is the time to unleash hell. Cast Poison Imbuement upon your weapon and start hitting already poisoned enemies with Barrage and Rapid Fire. With a lot of enemies already in a vulnerable state, Barrage will strike upon them like the wrath of God. The damage is further increased by Rapid Fire skill which inflicts massive single-target damage.
This whole loop generates enough Energy to keep it going while the main skills reset cooldown. Enemies are constantly put in a vulnerable state with high chances of critical strikes against them. Poison keeps building DoT against them until they are taken down. This rotation also works wonders against elites and bosses.
Gear, Gems, and Stats priority
Rogue is the only class in Diablo 4 that benefits from all 4 primary stats. Each stat generates a primary and secondary effect when it is upgraded. We have arranged the stats in order of their upgrade to gain the maximum advantage from investing in them. However, it is always the personal choice of players to upgrade in the order they want.
| Order | Stat Name | Stat Effects (Primary/Secondary) |
| 1 | Dexterity | Primarily increases the damage from skills by 0.1% and secondarily increases dodge chance by 0.025% per upgrade. |
| 2 | Intelligence | Primarily raises chances of critical strikes by 0.02% and secondary effect includes increased resistance against elemental attacks by 0.05% per upgrade. |
| 3 | Willpower | Primarily raises overpower damage by 0.25% and healing by 0.1% as secondary with each upgrade. |
| 4 | Strength | Strength stat for Rogues is directly related to increased resource generation by 0.1% and Armor by 1 for each upgrade. |
You can’t go wrong with any combination of gemstones with Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build. However, we have carefully selected three gems to socket in your gear to complement our build in the best way possible.
| Type | Gemstone | Effect |
| Weapon | Emerald | Emerald in weapon slot for Rogues increase critical damage against vulnerable enemies by up to 12%. |
| Armor | Topaz | Topaz in Armor slot for Rogues increases defense and reduces damage taken when afflicted with crowd control impairment. |
| Jewelry | Skull | Skull in Jewlery slot for Rogues add additional armor permanently. |
Endgame gear is defined by the Affixes it carries. We hope most players have already unlocked a lot of good gear this late in the game.
Following are the gear affixes which when applied to the items make them highly desirable for Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build in D4.
- Increased DPS
- Increased Ranks for Skills
- Increased Chances for Vulnerable
- Increased Damage to Vulnerable
- Increased Energy Generation
- Increased Health Generation
- Increased Chance for Critical Strikes
- Increased Damaged from Critical Strikes
- Increased Defense
- Increased Poisoning Duration
- Reduced Damage from Enemies
- Increased Damage from Poison
- Reduced Cooldown Time for Skills
Paragon Boards for Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue
Diablo 4 has a unique mechanism that differentiates it from its predecessors, the Paragon Board. Upon reaching level 50, skill points are replaced by Paragon Points which can be used to purchase specific nodes and glyphs from Paragon Board. These Paragon nodes and glyphs provide permanent passive buffs to players that can change the whole direction of a playthrough.
Here is a list of our favorite nodes and glyphs from Rogue’s Paragon Board.
Starting Board
- Prime: This rare node increases damage by up to 20% and health by 4%.
- Combat: This are glyph restores 12% energy of skills that deal critical strikes.
- Skillful: This rare node increases damage by up to 20% and adds 10 ranks to Intelligence stat.
Eldritch Bounty Board
- Imbuer: This rare node increases the damage of imbued skills by up to 30%. It also increases non-physical damage.
- Eldritch Bounty: This legendary node increases resistance and damage of imbued element by 20%.
- Ready Supply: This rare node increases cooldown of imbuement skills by up to 2.5%. It also increases non-physical damage by up to 20%.
- Efficacy: This rare glyph increases potency of neighboring nodes by 25%. It also increases imbuement skills damage by up to 20%.
- Potent: This rare node increases damage by imbued skills by up to 30% and adds 10 ranks to Dexterity stat.
Cunning Stratagem Board
- Denial: This rare node provides up to 8% resistance against all elements. It also grants 100 additional armor.
- Cunning Stratagem: This legendary node increases the passive bonuses of combo points by 33.3% upon using all 3 of them.
- Slayer: This rare node grants up to 200 additional armor and 4% more healing from potions.
- Finisher: This rare node increases damage from core skills by up to 28%. It also adds 10 additional ranks to Dexterity stat.
- Exploit: This rare glyph deals 1.3% additional damage to vulnerable enemies by purchasing 5 strength from the neighboring nodes.
Tricks of the Trade Board
- Brawler: This rare node inflicts up to 24% additional damage to close enemies and reduces damage from them by 4.5%.
- Lawless: This rare node increases armor by up to 200 and Dexterity ranks by 10.
- Focused: This rare node deals additional 32% damage to elites and adds 10 more ranks to Dexterity.
- Ranger: This rare glyph reduces damage taken by 10% while using a ranged weapon.
- Havoc: This rare node increases damage by critical strikes up to 30% and physical damage by 10%.
Cheap Shot Board
- Spearhead: This rare node deals 50% additional damage to healthy enemies and adds 100 extra armor.
- Safeguard: This rare node increases armor by 100 and reduces damage taken from elites by up to 13%.
- Cheap Shot: This legendary node deals up to 25% more damage to close crowd-controlled enemies.
- Devious: This rare node adds 10 extra ranks to Dexterity.
- Infusion: This rare glyph decreases the cooldown of imbuement skills by using imbuement skills.
Unique Items
Unique items are super endgame items and undeniably the most powerful ones in Diablo 4. As we are dealing with a level 60+ Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build, we highly recommend finding the unique items as soon as they become available (level 75).
We have found the following ones to be extremely compatible with our unique Rogue build.
Grasp of Shadow: This unique glove has a 30% chance to summon a shadow clone if the players hit vulnerable enemies with a Marksman skill. It also increases damage against vulnerable enemies, attack speed and adds additional ranks to core skills.
Condemnation: This unique dagger increases the damage of core skills by up to 40% by using 3 combo points. It also generates 3 combo points when used with basic skills. It also increases attack speed for basic skills and damage with dual-wielded weapons.
Legendary Aspects for Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue
Legendary aspects store the power of legendary Affixes in Diablo 4. These powerful Affixes can be rerolled onto rare and legendary gear items, unlike the unique items. However, finding legendary Affixes is a chore in itself especially if you are looking for specific ones.
Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build in D4 is incomplete without the following legendary Rogue aspects. Some of these can be obtained from the codex of power while the rest can be extracted from legendary drops with the help of an Occultist.
Umbrous Aspect: Affixes to Helm. Grants a chance to get a Dark shroud Shadow with each critical strike.
Aspect of Disobedience: Affixes to Chest Armor. Grants additional armor up to 50% of your total one just by inflicting damage upon enemies.
Aspect of Might: Affixes to Pants. Grants 20% additional damage reduction by using basic skills for a few seconds.
Mangler’s Boots: Affixes to Boots. Grants a 45% chance to daze vulnerable enemies by directly hitting them.
Aspect of Repeating: Affixes to Ranged Weapon. Grants 45% chance for arrows to ricochet when fired using Rapid Fire skill.
Aspect of Branching Volleys: Affixes to Amulet. Grants 25% chance to split arrows into two when fired using Barrage.
Aspect of the Expectant: Affixes to Ring. Grants up to 30% additional damage to core skills if used after any basic skill.
Aspect of Corruption: Affixes to Ring. Grants 40% additional damage to imbuement skills against vulnerable enemies.
Vengeful Aspect: Affixes to Dual Wield weapon. Grants up to 50% chance to increase critical strike chance by 3%. It only happens after making an enemy vulnerable.
Elixir and Potion choices
For Rapid Fire Barrage Rogue build in Diablo 4, we will be mainly focusing on healing from passive skills. However, we strongly recommend upgrading the healing potion to its maximum rank as facing endgame bosses can prove a little tricky sometimes. You can visit any Alchemist in a town to upgrade your potions with the required items.
Elixirs are a totally personal choice for this build and we will leave these to players’ better judgment. Our recommendations are Iron Barb Elixir to increase defense and enemy-specific elixirs to further increase your DPS against a particular group of enemies.
