Penetrating Shot Rogue Endgame Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 4)

Build Introduction

The Shadow Penetrating Shot Rogue build blasts through even the toughest foes. Penetrating Shot always pierces, dealing massive hit damage to any enemies in the way. Trickshot Aspect and Shadow Imbuement increases the coverage of Penetrating Shot to easily destroy entire groups of enemies. This ranged build is perfect for players who want a safe and heavy damage dealing playstyle.

If you are interested in a better ranged build, check out the Dual Core Penetrating Shot and Rapid Fire Rogue. The ranged Dual Core build also uses Penetrating Shot, but supplements Rapid Fire to deal higher single-target damage.

The only starting requirement for this endgame build guide is a character around Level 50 in World Tier 3. Check our Rogue Leveling Guide if you need help getting there.

Strengths and Weaknesses

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Skill Bar Setup for Penetrating Shot Rogue (order does not matter)

Penetrating Shot Heartseeker Dash Shadow Step Concealment Shadow Imbuement

The Skill Tree above shows the full allocation of 58 Skill Points for the Penetrating Shot Rogue build. Make sure you obtain the 10 Skill Points available from Renown.

Alternative Skills

Heartseeker allows for the furthest ranged playstyle, with Enhanced Heartseeker and Fundamental Heartseeker providing DPS increases. Alternatively, switch to Puncture Level 1, Enhanced Puncture and Fundamental Puncture for Energy Generation and easy application of Vulnerable.

Penetrating Shot Rogue Specialization

Combo Points is the preferred Rogue Specialization for general farming due to it providing bonus Lucky Hit Chance for Penetrating Shot, in additional to increased damage.

Paragon

Paragon unlocks after reaching Level 50, and the progression system offers a considerable boost to character power. The images below provide a visual of each Paragon Board setup for the Penetrating Shot Rogue.

Important Notes:

• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the correct orientation.
• Attach Legendary Boards in the correct order, as bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order.
• Additional bonus requirements on Rare Glyphs may not be obtainable until they gain increased radius range at Level 15.

1. Starting Board (Ranger)

Socket Ranger for some valuable damage reduction. The Penetrating Shot Rogue always wields a Ranged weapon for a permanent 10% reduced damage taken.

2. Tricks of the Trade (Turf)

Rotate the Tricks of the Trade board 2 times before attachment. Immediately obtain the Legendary node, and then Socket Turf for some valuable Damage Reduction. Prioritize leveling Turf to 15 for increased radius, as it is needed to allocate enough Strength to activate the additional bonus.

3. Cheap Shot (Nightstalker)

Rotate the Cheap Shot board 2 times before attachment. Immediately obtain the Legendary node on this board. Socket Nightstalker to reduce the Cooldown of Shadow Imbuement by using Concealment. Prioritize leveling Nightstalker to 15 for the increased radius to obtain the additional bonus.

4. Exploit Weakness (Combat)

Rotate the Exploit Weakness board 2 times before attachment. Immediately obtain the Legendary Node on this board. Socket Combat to gain Critical Strike Damage for an increased damage bonus on Precision.

5. No Witnesses (Exploit)

Rotate the No Witnesses board 3 times before attachment. Socket Exploit for increased Vulnerable damage and additional Vulnerable application. The Legendary Node on this board is not utilized.

Paragon Board images courtesy of d4builds.gg. Click this link for the Paragon planner.

Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats

Season 4 brings an incredible shift in character progression systems. The major rework to itemization and crafting in Patch 1.4.0 changes the core mechanics of Diablo 4, and the changes will remain in effect beyond Season 4. For further details, read the overview in the Tempering and Masterworking section.

Legendary Aspects

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects for the Penetrating Shot Rogue build. Salvage Legendary Items with higher Aspect values to unlock them in the Codex of Power, and then imprint them onto Legendary Items with the preferred affixes.

Gear Slot	Aspect Name	Aspect Power
Ranged Weapon (replaced by Skyhunter)	Edgemaster’s Aspect	Skills deal up to [10 – 20%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource.
Amulet	Cheat’s Aspect	You take [15.0 – 25.0%] less damage from Crowd Controlled enemies. Whenever a Crowd Controlled enemy deals direct damage to you, gain 15% Movement Speed for 2 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #1 (replaced by Condemnation)	Aspect of Retribution	Distant enemies have a 10% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds when they hit you. You deal [15 – 30%] increased damage to Stunned and Knocked Down enemies.
Gloves (optional replacement with Fists of Fate)	Accelerating Aspect	Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by [15 – 25%] for 3 seconds.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Rapid Aspect	Basic Skills gain [15 – 30%] Attack Speed.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of the Expectant	Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by [5 – 10%], up to 30%.
Dual-Wielded Weapon Slot #2 or Ring Slot #2	Trickshot Aspect	Whenever Penetrating Shot damages an enemy, 2 additional arrows split off to either side. These side arrows deal [10 – 25%] of Penetrating Shot’s Base damage and do not split.
Helm (replaced by Harlequin Crest)	Aspect of Might	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2 – 6] seconds
Chest	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes with Marksman Skills have up to a [40 – 60%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Pants (replaced by Tibault’s Will)	Aspect of Disobedience	You gain [0.6 – 1.1%] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [36 – 66%].
Boots	Ravager’s Aspect	Shadow Step has an additional Charge. Killing an enemy with Shadow Step refunds a Charge and increases the damage of Shadow Step by [1 – 6%] for 2 seconds, up to [5 – 30%].

Gems

Listed below are the best Gems to socket into gear for each item type.

Slot	Gems
Weapon	Royal Emerald for increased Critical Strike Damage.
Armor	Royal Ruby for increased Maximum Life or Royal Topaz to prevent deaths from chain Crowd Controls.
Jewelry	Any Resistance Gems needed or Royal Skull for Armor (up to 9,230 Armor cap).

Elixirs

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world. Elixirs can also drop randomly from enemies and chests during many activities in Diablo 4. Listed below are the best Elixirs to consume, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Precision provides the highest damage output increase, if not already capped at 100% Critical Strike Chance.
2. Elixir of Advantage increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.
3. Elixir of Resource greatly helps with Energy issues, if you do not already have the appropriate Energy gear. This elixir is highly recommended for starting characters to maintain casting of Core Skills.
4. Elixir of Fortitude is the best general purpose option for survivability.
5. Elixir of Iron Barbs can provide a high amount of Physical Damage Reduction. Armor becomes more effective as you approach the Armor cap (9,320 against monster level 100 and above).
6. Specific Resistance Elixirs can be utilized to survive against Uber Bosses with elemental attacks.

Return to the Alchemist again when you reach Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80 and 90, to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Penetrating Shot Rogues. Each line of affixes are listed in order of importance. Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important, but their benefits may vary depending on how much is stacked or other character stats. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades.

When comparing Legendary weapons with similar item levels, Crossbows are preferred over Bows for the better implicit stat and Weapon Mastery bonus. Daggers are beneficial for faster Combo Point generation, while Swords offer a boost to Precision with the Critical Strike Damage implicit.

Precision increases the priority of Critical Strike Damage to scale the bonus multiplier, while reducing the need for Critical Strike Chance.

The priority order of Resistances is Lightning > Poison > Fire > Cold > Shadow. Maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.

Check the Tempering and Masterworking section for more details on Blacksmith upgrading.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Maximum Life, Critical Strike Damage 2. Dexterity, Vulnerable Damage	Core Augments — Rogue (Weapon): Chance for Penetrating Shot Projectiles to Cast Twice Specialist Evolution (Offensive): Damage per Combo Point Spent
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction, Energy per Second, Ranks to Shadow Imbuement 2. Resistances, Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Lucky Hit Chance	Natural Schemes (Utility): Crowd Control Duration Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Maximum Life
Chest	1. Ranks to Dark Shroud, Energy per Second 2. Resistances, Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Schemes (Utility): Crowd Control Duration Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Maximum Life
Gloves	1. Ranks to Penetrating Shot, Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Damage 2. Resistances, Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Vulnerable Damage, Lucky Hit Chance	Specialist Evolution (Offensive): Damage per Combo Point Spent Natural Schemes (Utility): Crowd Control Duration
Pants	1. Resistances, Armor 2. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Schemes (Utility): Crowd Control Duration Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Maximum Life
Boots	Implicit Stat: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown 1. Movement Speed, Energy per Second 2. Resistances, Armor 3. Ranks to Dash, Maximum Life, Dexterity	Natural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed Natural Schemes (Utility): Crowd Control Duration
Amulet	1. Ranks to Weapon Mastery, Critical Strike Chance, Cooldown Reduction, Attack Speed 2. Movement Speed, Armor	Imbuement Abundance (Resource): Shadow Imbue Additional Casts Natural Motion (Mobility): Movement Speed
Rings	1. Attack Speed, Critical Strike Damage 2. Resource Cost Reduction, Vulnerable Damage, Resistances, Maximum Life 3. Dexterity, Lucky Hit Chance, Critical Strike Chance	Imbuement Abundance (Resource): Shadow Imbue Additional Casts Specialist Evolution (Offensive): Damage per Combo Point Spent

Unique Items

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for the Penetrating Shot Rogue build. Each item description includes the most important affix to target for Masterworking upgrades.

• Skyhunter (recommended) synergies well with Precision to guarantee Critical Strikes, increase damage, and restore Energy.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks of the Exploit Passive
• Condemnation (recommended) provides a 1.4x multiplier that works well in this Combo Points build.
  • Masterworking Priority: Basic Skill Attack Speed or Critical Strike Damage
• Tibault’s Will (recommended) provides a damage multiplier and Energy generation effect, in addition to a Damage Reduction from Close Enemies affix that is not usually obtainable in the Pants slot. Activate the unique effect with Shadow Step. Optionally, Subverting Concealment can replace Disciplined Dash for a second source of Unstoppable.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Close Enemies
• Harlequin Crest (recommended) provides a good amount of offense and defense, if you are lucky enough to find this Uber Unique Item.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Ring of Starless Skies (recommended) is an Uber Unique Item that provides a highly valued 1.4x multiplier. The downside is the unique effect requires some management to ramp up and maintain the buff stacks.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance
• Fists of Fate (optional) increases overall damage by 50% with a 300% value on the unique effect. They are comparable to well-rolled Legendary Gloves with Ranks to Penetrating Shot, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, and an Offensive Aspect. The downside is the drastic damage range of the unique effect can cause an inconsistency in the hits required to kill enemies.
  • Masterworking Priority: any affix

Season 4: Loot Reborn

The following list details the changes in the Season 4 Update (Patch 1.4.0) that may pertain to Penetrating Shot Rogues. Check the Changelog for all the other guide updates.

• Exploit Weakness
  • Maximum increased damage buffed from 15%[x] to 25%[x].
• Skyhunter
  • Damage bonus increased from 10-30% to 20-40%.

Advanced Information

Additional details are provided in the following sections for a more in-depth explanation of the Penetrating Shot Rogue. Read this advanced information after understanding the basic overview of the build in the previous sections.

Build Mechanics

The Penetrating Shot Rogue build is fairly simple to play, but has some complex mechanics to learn. Penetrating Shot has a focused Area of Effect (AoE) in a straight line that can be hard to utilize. Trickshot Aspect helps overcome this downside by adding more arrows to increase coverage and help clear packs of enemies.

When fired at full energy, Advanced Penetrating Shot applies a slow to normal enemies to activate Cheat’s Aspect and knocks down Elites to help you survive. Penetrating Shot also has a high Lucky Hit Chance when fired with 3 Combo Points to activate Umbrous Aspect for Dark Shroud stacks. Dark Shroud is not equipped on the Skill Bar.

Shadow Step Stuns enemies for safety and activates Tibault’s Will for more damage. Ravager’s Aspect allows more usage of Shadow Step to break Crowd Controls with Unstoppable.

Shadow Step and Dash are Cutthroat Skills that can be used before Penetrating Shot to gain the damage bonus from Tricks of the Trade.

Smoke Grenade is not equipped on the Skill Bar, but is instead auto-casted through Aspect of Quickening Fog by using Dash. Use Dash offensively to land on top of enemies and Daze them. Enhanced Smoke Grenade is also allocated for enemies to take 25% increased damage.

Skyhunter and Tibault’s Will provide plenty of Energy generation. Resource affixes on gear may not be necessary once you obtain the Unique Items. Consuming Shadows Rank 3 can be allocated if additional Energy generation is needed. Take extra points out of Dark Shroud for this setup.

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Cast Heartseeker up to 3 times to build Combo Points.
2. Initiate combat with one of the following Skills:
   • Dash on top of enemies to apply Enhanced Dash, automatically drop a Smoke Grenade, and activate Tricks of the Trade.
   • Cast Shadow Step on an Elite to Stum them, while activating Tricks of the Trade and Tibault’s Will.
   • Cast Concealment to apply Vulnerable and activate Tibault’s Will.
3. Activate Shadow Imbuement for increased damage and explosions.
4. Line enemies up to piece through them with Penetrating Shot.
5. Repeat the rotation. Try to cast Penetrating Shot while you have full Energy to activate Advanced Penetrating Shot and Edgemaster’s Aspect.

Tempering and Masterworking

The Season 4 update (Patch 1.4.0) introduces a rework for itemization. Tempering and Masterworking brings the biggest change to itemization since the release of Diablo 4, so make sure you understand the new systems explained in this section.

The amount of affixes on items has been changed to reflect its rarity: Normal Items have no affixes, Magic Items have 1 affix, Rare Items have 2 affixes, Legendary Items have 3 affixes, and Unique Items have 4 affixes. Upgrading a Rare Item to a Legendary Item by imprinting a Legendary Aspect from the Codex of Power will not add a third affix. Therefore, Legendary Items are superior to lower rarity items for a min-maxed character.

Greater Affixes are a newly added mechanic that increases the value of an affix by 50%. Ancestral Legendary Items and Unique Items can now drop with up to 4 Greater Affixes! Search for items with your preferred Greater Affixes to upgrade with Tempering and Masterworking.

Tempering and Masterworking is an important system, even mandatory in the endgame, for character progression. You are able to add 2 additional affixes on any Rare Item or Legendary Item, exclusive to the Tempering System. An Ancestral Legendary Item can have up to 5 total affixes! Unfortunately, Unique Items cannot be tempered to add affixes.

Masterworking uses new crafting materials found in The Pit to further enhance the stats of an item. These upgrades can be applied on an Ancestral Legendary Item that has its Tempering Slots filled out. Unique Items can be upgraded with Masterworking right away, as tempering does not apply to them. Each item has 12 upgrade slots. On upgrade Ranks 4, 8, and 12, a random affix is increased in value by 25%. Every other upgrade Rank applies a 5% increase to all affixes on an item. Attempt to apply the bonus 25% upgrade to your preferred affix multiple times by resetting the Masterworking Ranks to repeat the process.

Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Use Obols on your target equipment for a chance to receive Greater Affixes. Check out the new tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Changelog

• May 15th, 2024: Priority Affixes updated with game changes made since the Season 4 PTR.
• May 14th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 4 (Patch 1.4.0).
• March 5th, 2024: Guide updated for the Mid Season 3 Update (Patch 1.3.3).
• January 22nd, 2024: Guide updated for Season 3 (Patch 1.3.0).
• November 15th, 2023: Paragon Board images added.
• October 17th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0).
• July 18th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1.