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The Rogue’s Penetrating Shot build inDiablo 4is a powerful ranged build with high burst potential. This build utilizes traps and imbuements to lay down tons of area and burst damage, making it a flexible and versatile option for ranged Rogues.
Penetrating Shot can be a bit tricky to use, but with enough practice, aiming your shots will be second nature. This build guide will give you everything you need to know about using this build, including Legendary Aspects, stats, gear, Paragons, and more.
June 10, 2025, by Sean Murray:If high burst damage and flexibility are your goals in Diablo 4, this Penetrating Shot build for the Rogue will put the minions of Hell in their place. We’ve given this guide our freshest formatting and more links to other helpful Diablo 4 topics.
The concept of the Penetrating Shot build is quite simple. As the name implies, the core of the build revolves around firing off extremelyhigh damage Penetrating Shotson single targets or groups of enemies, usingPoison TrapandPoison Imbuementto further boost its damage. TheTrickshot Aspectgives Penetrating Shot arrows that split off from their target for added AoE.
We haveDashas an importantmobility and Crowd Controloption, but this can be swapped out forShadow Stepif you choose.Punctureis used as our Basic Skill forquickly generating Combo Points, applyingVulnerable, andrestoring Energy, but in higher-level content it can be swapped out forForceful Arrowfor higher damage.
Smoke Grenadeis used in conjunction with theAspect of Explosive Verveto have it act as another Trap, but this can be swapped out forDark Shroudfor some added survivability.
The playstyle of this build essentially involvespowering up your Penetrating Shotusing Combo Points and Poison Imbuement, knocking down enemies with Poison Trap and Smoke Grenade, then firing off your high-power shot. If you enjoy builds withhigh burst potential, this one won’t disappoint.
Augments
Puncture
Enhanced: Gain 2 Energy when Puncture damages a Crowd Controlled enemy.
Fundamental: 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.
Penetrating Shot
Enhanced: Penetrating Shot deals 10% increased damage per enemy it pierces.
Advanced: When cast with full Energy, Penetrating Shot will slow all enemies it hits by 50% for 3 seconds. Elite enemies will also be Knocked Down for 1.5 seconds.
Smoke Grenade
Enhanced: Enemies affected by Smoke Grenade take 15% increased damage from you.
Countering: Lucky Hit: Dealing direct damage to enemies affected by Smoke Grenade has up to a 25% chance to reduce its Cooldown by 1 second, or by 3 seconds instead if the enemy is Vulnerable.
Poison Trap
Enhanced: Knocks Down enemies for 1.5 seconds when it activates.
Countering: Poison Trap has a 30% chance to reset your Imbuement Skill Cooldowns when activated.
Poison Imbuement
Enhanced: Poison Imbuement’s Poisoning Duration is increased by 1 second.
Blended: Critical Strikes with Poison Imbued Skills deal 75% increased Poisoning Damage.
Dash
Enhanced: Enemies damaged by Dash take 15% increased Critical Strike Damage from you for 5 seconds.
Disciplined: Dash Slows enemies it hits by 30% for 3 seconds. Any enemy already Slowed will be Dazed for 2 seconds instead.
Paragon Boards
Deadly Ambush
Grab Spring-Loaded, Cunning, Engineering, and the Legendary Node. Socket in Exploit and buy enough Strength Nodes to activate it.
Exploit Weakness
Buy Exploit, Dosage, Artifice, Unassailable, Hunter Killer, and the Legendary Node. Socket in Combat in the Glyph node.
Cunning Strategem
Pick up Slayer, Fundamentals, Lawless, Finisher, Dominant, and the Legendary Node. Socket in AMbush and pick up Strength Nodes to activate its additional effect.
Glyphs
Chip
Deal more physical damage for every 5 Dexterity purchased within range.
Dealing physical damage to an enemy increases all damage they take from you up to 10%.
Exploit
Deal more damage to Vulnerable enemies for every 5 Strength purchased within range.
Enemies damaged by you become Vulnerable for 3 seconds. This can only occur once per enemy every 20 seconds.
Combat
Core skills deal more Critical Strike damage for every 5 Intelligence within range.
When a skill Critically Strikes, restore 12% of their Energy cost.
Ambush
Deal more damage to enemies affected by your Traps for every 5 Strength within range.
Enemies affected by Traps take 10% more damage from you.
Prioritize making a path to each of these Rare Nodes and Glyphs, then fill out stats within range as needed.ChipandExploitare yourmost important Glyphsto activate, with incredibly powerful additional effects, so be sure to do these first. Also,prioritize leveling up Chip and Exploitat the end of Nightmare Dungeons.
Recommended Gear And Stats
As you gear up this build, be sure to use the following Legendary Aspects on each of your gear.The most important Aspectsto always have equipped areTrickshot Aspect, Accelerating Aspect, Rapid Aspect, Aspect of the Expectant, Aspect of the Quickening Fog (if you’re using Dash), and Aspect of Explosive Verve (if you’re using Smoke Grenade).
Below, you may find our recommendations forwhere to equip each Legendary Aspect, as well as thetop statsto keep in mind when finding new pieces of equipment.
Damage value, Vulnerable damage
Aspect of the Expectant
Aspect of the Umbral
Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage, Lucky Hit Chance
Other Aspects
There are a fewother Legendary Aspects you can swapinto this build, which we’ve detailed below.
Explanation
Aspect of Disobedience
This Aspect grants a stacking armor buff when you deal any form of damage, including Poison, which makes it very easy to reach max stacks with this build thanks to the constant Poison damage ticks. Swap in this Aspectif you need a bit more survivability.
Aspect of Bursting Venoms
This Aspect provides a chance to spawn a poison puddle when attacking with a Poison Imbued skill. While you are standing in this puddle, Poison Imbuement has no cooldown and Poison Imbuement charges have no limit. This Aspect can be a lot of fun to play around with, but relies on RNG to get the most use out of it. If you havehigh Lucky Hit Chanceon your gear, it may be worth considering.
Uniques
The Penetrating Shot build doesn’t leave much room for Uniques, especially since most Rogue-specific ones aren’t suited to the build. However,Condemnation, a Unique Dagger,can be extremely powerfulin this build.
Condemnation
Your Core Skills deal [20-40]% increased damage when spending 3 Combo Points. Your Basic Skills using this weapon have a 30% chance to generate 3 Combo Points.
Because youalways want to build three Combo Points before firing Penetrating Shotanyway, Condemnation makes this playstyle even easier to accomplish, and makes your Penetrating Shot even stronger. Plus, this weapon has good default affixes likeBasic Skill Attack Speedand Core Skill Damage.
Playing A Penetrating Shot Rogue
In a normal encounter against a group of enemies, start by usingPuncturetobuild three Combo Points. While doing this, circle around the monsters slightly togroup them up. Then, move in and place aPoison TrapandSmoke Grenadeto knock down the enemies. UseDash to gain distance or repositionas needed, then applyPoison Imbuement.
When the monsters are lined upor knocked down from the trap,use Penetrating Shot to deal huge damageto them. Build your Combo Points again before firing another Penetrating Shot or two to finish off the group.
This build doesn’t have the highest survivability, so you’ll be relying on good positioning with Dash andCrowd Controlthrough various means to not die.
When facing a boss or high-health Elite enemy, you will basically want to beusing your skills off-cooldown; that is,as soon as they are available. Use Poison Trap to knock down the boss, apply Poison Imbuement, and fire Penetrating Shot whilekiting around.
