Death Trap – Rogue Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 9)

Build Introduction

The Death Trap Rogue is a specialized build focusing on Ultimate Skill damage. Death Trap is rapidly cast through synergies with the Preparation specialization, Beastfall Boots, and Cooldown Reduction.

This late endgame guide assumes your character is Level 60 and fulfills the Build Requirements. If you are not ready for this build, follow the Rogue Leveling Guide to find a starter build.

Check the build tier lists to see how this build compares to others on Icy Veins.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Requirements

The Death Trap Rogue is an advanced endgame build with strict requirements to function. Obtain the following list of items before attempting the build.

Required Uniques

Beastfall Boots

Scoundrel’s Leathers

Eyes in the Dark

• A Maximum Energy of 150 is required. Obtain 51 Maximum Energy from Beastfall Boots with a Greater Affix and 2 Masterworking bonuses. If you do not have the proper Beastfall Boots, an Elixir of Resourcefulness II can be consumed.
• Death Trap cooldown needs to be reduced to 10 seconds or less by any necessary combination of the following sources:
  • Beastfall Boots with a Greater Affix and/or Masterworking Bonuses on Ultimate Cooldown Reduction.
  • A Legendary Helm or Harlequin Crest with a Greater Affix and/or Masterworking Bonuses on Cooldown Reduction. Harlequin Crest is not required to reach this requirement, but its Cooldown Reduction and Maximum Resource affixes make the setup much easier.
  • Beastfall Boots with a greater affix and/or masterworking bonuses on Ultimate Cooldown Reduction.
  • Death Trap Cooldown Reduction tempers, potentially with Masterworking Bonuses, on a Legendary Amulet and both Legendary Rings.
  • Ranks to Core Skills applies to Death Trap when Scoundrel’s Leathers is equipped. The additional ranks lower Cooldown and are available on Legendary Gloves, Harlequin Crest, and Ring of Starless Skies.

Quick Navigation

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Skill Bar Setup for the Death Trap Rogue (order does not matter)

Death TrapConcealmentDashDark ShroudSmoke GrenadeCaltrops

The Skill Tree above shows the full allocation of 71 Skill Points for the Death Trap Rogue build. Make sure you obtain the 12 Skill Points available from Renown.

Frigid Finesse is always active against Staggered Bosses since they count as being affected by all crowd controls.

Wondering what comes after Level 60? Head to the Paragon Board section to power up the build even further. If you want to see how everything plays out in combat, check out the Rotation and Playstyle section for a quick breakdown.

Rogue Class Mechanic – Specialization

Preparation is the required Specialization for the Death Trap Rogue. Consuming the 150 Maximum Energy in this build activates Preparation 2 times, reducing the Cooldown of Death Trap by 10 seconds.

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Gear, Stats, Gems, and Runes

The following sections cover the important systems that are essential to improving the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4.

Legendary Aspects

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects for the Death Trap 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. For the best results, combine these Aspects with the ideal Stat Priorities.

Trickster’s Aspect applies the Stun Grenade Tag to Death Trap, allowing it to receive Stun Grenade damage bonuses.

Gear Slot	Name	Effect
Ranged Weapon (+100% bonus effect)	Aspect of Apogeic Furor	Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your Ultimate damage by x [6 – 10%] , up to x [60 – 100%]. At 10 stacks, your Cooldowns and this bonus are reset.
Amulet	Trickster’s Aspect	Caltrops, Smoke Grenade, and Death Trap receive your Stun Grenade benefits and throw Stun Grenades that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Frostbitten Aspect	Enemies hit by your Grenade Skills have a chance equal to your Critical Strike Chance to be Frozen for 2 seconds. You deal x [10 – 30%] increased Critical Strike Damage against Frozen or Stunned enemies.
Dual-Wielded Weapons, Gloves, or Ring Slot #2	Vehement Brawler’s Aspect	Casting an Ultimate Skill increases your damage by [10 – 30%] for 8 seconds. Gain 2 additional Ultimate Skill Ranks.
Dual-Wielded Weapons, Gloves, or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of Artful Initiative	When you spend 75 Energy you release a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] increased damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapons, Gloves, or Ring Slot #2	Opportunist’s Aspect	When you enter or break Stealth, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around you that deal [X] Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] more damage.
Dual-Wielded Weapons, Gloves, or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of Surprise	When you Evade or Shadow Step, you leave behind a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal [X] total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal x [25 – 45%] more damage.
Helm (replaced by Heir of Perdition)	Juggernaut’s Aspect	Gain [X] Armor, but your Evade has 100% increased Cooldown.
Chest	Scoundrel’s Leathers	Your Trap Skills can be thrown and will spawn a Death Trap every 10 seconds when Cast, granting you x [10 – 30%] increased damage for 5 seconds.
Pants (replaced by Eyes in the Dark)	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 65%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Boots	Beastfall Boots	When you cast an Ultimate Skill, your next Core Skill consumes all of your energy and deals [0.25 – 0.75%] increased damage per Energy consumed. Using a Cooldown restores 25 Energy.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Death Trap Rogues, ranked by importance. Affixes on the same line have equal value, so attempt to obtain all affixes in each line before moving on to the next. Yellow bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades, while blue bolded affixes are secondary options. For more details, check the Tempering and Masterworking guides.

Swords are preferred over Daggers for higher damage per hit and a better implicit stat. The choice of a Ranged Weapon between Bow and Crossbows does not matter.

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.

Armor is only needed until capped at 1,000.

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Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Maximum Life 2. Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	Trap Augments (Weapon): Chance for Death Trap to Deal Double Damage Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Helm	1. Maximum Resource 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Maximum Life	Daze Control (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Daze Rogue Cloaking (Defensive): Ranks to Aftermath
Chest	Scoundrel’s Leathers	Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
Gloves	1. Maximum Life, Ranks to Core Skills 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Attack Speed	Trap Expertise (Utility): Caltrops Duration Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Pants	1. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 2. Dexterity, Maximum Life	Trap Expertise (Utility): Traps Arm Faster Rogue Cloaking (Defensive): Ranks to Aftermath
Boots	Beastfall Boots	Tempering Not Available Masterworking Priority: Maximum Resource or Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse (only use if you are Freezing enemies with Frostbitten Aspect or a seasonal power) 2. Ranks to Unstable Elixirs, Exploit, and Malice 3. +% Dexterity	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Death Trap Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud
Rings	1. Maximum Life 2. Any uncapped Resistances 3. Attack Speed, Dexterity	Ultimate Efficiency — Rogue (Resource): Death Trap Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage per Dark Shroud

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Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Listed below are the required and recommended Unique and Mythic Unique Items for the Death Trap Rogue build. Each item description includes the most important affix to target for Masterworking upgrades. Check the Mythic Unique Items Guide for information on target-farming them.

• Scoundrel’s Leathers (required) applies the Core Skills tag to Death Trap for the Beastfall Boots interaction.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
• Beastfall Boots (required) consume all of your Energy for multiple activations of the Preparation and a damage increase for Death Trap.
  • Masterworking Priority: Maximum Resource or Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
• Eyes in the Dark (recommended) provides a massive damage multiplier in its unique effect.
  • Masterworking Priority: Maximum Life
• Heir of Perdition (highly recommended) is the best helm for damage output.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Core Skills
• Harlequin Crest (optional) can be equipped if additional Cooldown Reduction is needed for Death Trap, but it is not the most optimal setup.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Ring of Starless Skies (optional) is beneficial for a 50% damage increase and Ranks to Core Skills. This Mythic Unique Item can only be used if you do not need the Death Trap Cooldown Reduction temper from a Legendary Ring to reach the build requirement.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Core Skills or Attack Speed

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Gems and Runewords

Listed below are the recommended Gems and Runewords to socket into your gear.

Gems

Equip the corresponding Gems into your Weapon, Armor, and Jewelry slots. If you are playing in Season 9, replace the Jewelry Gems with Horadric Jewels.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Diamond for Ultimate damage.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Grand Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

Runewords

Equip the following 2 Runewords, each consisting of a Rune of Offering and a Rune of Invocation. Insert the first Runeword into your Ranged Weapon, and then the second Runeword into any equipped Helm, Chest, or Pants item. Add sockets to your equipment at the Jeweler if necessary. Check the Runewords Guide for more details.

Runewords	Effects
Zan Xan (Ranged Weapon)	Gain: 150 Offering — Cast an Ultimate Skill. Requires: 300 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Your next attack will cause your hits to be a guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower for 0.35 seconds.
Poc Jah (Armor)	Gain: 5 Offering — Spend 5% of your Maximum Resource. Requires: 250 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds —Replace your next Evade with the Sorcerer’s Teleport, blinking further, dealing damage, and becoming Unstoppable.

Cir Vex can replace Poc Jah for a maximum damage setup.

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Paragon Board

Use the following Paragon Boards, Legendary Nodes, and Glyphs for the Death Trap Rogue.

Death Trap receives the Stun Grenade tag from Trickster’s Aspect to benefit from the damage multipliers from Explosive. The additive increased damage [+] for Stun Grenades is bugged to not work. Only invest enough Dexterity to enable the Additional Bonus and Legendary Bonus.

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Horadric Spell and Jewels (Season 9)

Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim offers seasonal powers that can be utilized to enhance this build. Access Horadic Spells from the Powers tab in the character sheet, and place Horadic Jewels into Jewelry slots.

Horadric Spell

The Horadric Catalyst is the base power of your spell, attached to a Skill slot on the Skill bar and triggered when the Skill is cast. The Catalyst is combined with one Infusion that modifies the damage type, and three Arcana that enhance the baseline power of the spell.

Type	Power	Effect
Catalyst	Astral Pillar (equipped on Death Trap)	Cooldown: 7 seconds Lucky Hit: 12% Shape an Ethereal Column that Taunts for 4.9 seconds. Piercing waves flow from it and deal 1127% damage, until you create another one or move too far away. Rank 10: The Taunted enemies become Vulnerable and move faster.
Infusion	Nebulous Extract	Your Spell Catalyst now deals Shadow and or Corrupting damage. Enemies hit by it deal 10% reduced damage for 7 seconds. While equipped, your Shadow Damage Bonus is equal to that of your highest Damage Type Bonus. Rank 5: Deactivates monster Summoner effects for 8 seconds.
Arcana	Bloody Charm	Your Catalyst gains a specialized Execute effect for non-Boss enemies with 20% or less Life. Astral Pillar: Will launch additional waves towards Executable non-Boss enemies to Execute them.
Arcana	Frigid Heart	Your Catalyst gains a specialized Freeze effect that lasts 5 seconds. Astral Pillar: The flare Freezes surrounding enemies for 5 seconds when removed. Each Freeze increases your Lucky Hit Chance by 5% for 5 seconds, up to 25%.
Arcana	Fractured Core	Your Catalyst deactivates monster Damage Resistance Aura effects for 5 seconds, but you take 10% more stacking damage for the same time.

Horadric Jewels

Insert the following Horadric Jewels into Jewelry slots to enhance the Horadric Spell.

Jewel	Effect
Idol From Below	You gain x6% primary stat, x6% Maximum Life and you are always Unhindered. However, you will be hunted in Sanctuary’s darkest places by Jewel Guardians who were entombed to protect this relic.
Scornful Light	You deal x20% and take x10% more Elemental damage.
Myriad Stone	After you cast you Catalytic Skill, if it is an Ultimate, gain +30% Attack Speed for 10 seconds.

Mercenaries

Once the Den is unlocked during the main questline in the Vessel of Hatred expansion for Diablo 4, complete Mercenary key quests to acquire them. Hire a Mercenary and enlist a Reinforcement in the following setup.

• Hired Mercenary: Raheir
  • Skills: Shield Charge, Raheir’s Guard, Provoke, and Mocking Lure
• Reinforcement: Varyana
  • Skill: Bloodthirst
  • Opportunity: Cast when the player casts Caltrops.

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Build Mechanics

The Death Trap Rogue is a specialized build that requires a high amount of Cooldown Reduction applied to Death Trap and Maximum Energy to function. The cooldown of Death Trap must be reduced to 10 seconds or less through Cooldown Reduction affixes and Trap Cooldown Reduction tempers on gear.

The Preparation specialization is activated 2 times after consuming 150 Maximum Energy with Beastfall Boots to reduce the remaining Cooldown of Death Trap by 10 seconds. Refer to the Build Requirements for more information.

Concealment is cast every 4 seconds in the Damage Rotation to apply Subverting Concealment for guaranteed Critical Strike and Vulnerable. The Subterfuge Skill also activates Danse Macabre to increase Death Trap damage.

Fight from a Distant range to gain the damage increase from Deadeye.

Dark Shroud stacks can be consistently maxed if Legendary Pants with Umbrous Aspect are equipped. Eyes in the Dark provide more damage output, but Dark Shroud needs to be cast manually to refresh stacks.

Resource Management

A total of 150 Energy needs to be consumed for each cast of Death Trap to activate Preparation twice. Ensure you have the following requirements to generate Energy.

• Beastfall Boots restores 25 Energy when using a Cooldown, which is activated by casting Death Trap.
• Aftermath Rank 5, granted by Eyes in the Dark or Legendary Pants with a temper, generates 125 Energy after casting Death Trap. Skill Points can be reallocated from Dark Shroud to Aftermath if needed.

Defenses

You most likely will not be able to cap Armor and Resistances in Torment 4. Do not worry, this build becomes tanky with high Maximum Life, multiple sources of damage reduction, and a rapidly refreshing barrier from Second Wind.

Rotation and Playstyle

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output. Steps 1-5 can be executed before a boss spawns. Due to a bug, remain in Nearby range against bosses for Supreme Death Trap to work. Supreme Death Trap does not work against normal and elite enemies, so utilize Deadeye against them from a Distant range.

1. Keep Dark Shroud refreshed to maintain stacks for Damage Reduction and Damage per Dark Shroud Stacks.
2. Cast Caltrops and Smoke Grenade when more damage is desired against Bosses and tough Elites.
3. Dash to traverse or maintain a Distant range from enemies for the damage increase from Deadeye.
4. Drink a Potion to activate Unstable Elixirs.
5. Cast Concealment every 4 seconds to guarantee Critical Strikes and apply Vulnerable through Subverting Concealment.
6. Cast Death Trap repeatedly to kill enemies .

Elixirs and Incense

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs and Incense. Listed below are the best consumables for the Death Trap Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Resourcefulness II is helpful in reaching the 150 Maximum Energy requirement in this build, if your Beastfall Boots do not provide enough.
2. Elixir of Advantage II provides increased Attack Speed for more damage output.
3. Reddamine Buzz, Queen’s Supreme, and Soothing Spices are Incenses that can be consumed in addition to an Elixir.

Season 9 Updates

A brief summary of the seasonal changes is provided below. For a complete overview of Season 9, take a look at the comprehensive season guide.

• Supreme Death Trap
  • Damage to enemies who resist the pull reduced from 180% to 60%.
  • Now properly damages unstoppable enemies.
  • Deals twice as much damage instead of an extra hit from the Rank 5 pull.
• Concealment
  • Previously: The Skill that breaks Concealment will always be a guaranteed Critical Strike and makes enemies Vulnerable for 6 seconds.
  • Now: Breaking Concealment causes all Skills for 4 seconds to be guaranteed Critical Strikes and make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
• Eyes in the Dark
  • Previously: Death Trap deals 50-150% increased damage and will rearm itself once after activating.
  • Now: Your next Death Trap will deal 100-200% increased damage and rearm itself after activating. This can only happen once every 10 seconds.
• Danse Macabre
  • Previously: Casting a Mobility or Subterfuge Skill increases the damage of your next Skill by 75%[x].
  • Now: Casting a Mobility or Subterfuge Skill increases your damage by 30%[x] for 10 seconds.
• Eldritch Bounty
  • Previously: When you attack with an Imbued Skill you gain 3% Maximum Resistance and 30% increased damage for that Imbuement’s Element for 9 seconds.
  • Now: Each equipped Imbuement Skill grants 3% Maximum Resistance and 30% increased damage for that Imbuement’s Element.

Changelog

• June 27, 2025: Guide updated for Season 9 (Patch 2.3.0)
• April 26, 2025: Guide updated for Season 8 (Patch 2.2.0).
• January 21, 2025: Guide updated for Season 7 (Patch 2.1.0).
• October 4, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• September 21, 2024: Guide created.