Death Trap – Rogue Build Guide for Diablo 4

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. The explosive trap damage in this build is perfect for pushing high tiers of The Pit and Inferno Hordes!

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.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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

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.

• Eyes in the Dark with a 150% value in its unique effect.
• Beastfall Boots with a high value on the Ultimate Cooldown Reduction affix. The value of the unique effect does not matter in this build.
• A Death Trap cooldown reduced to 10 seconds by any necessary combination of the following sources:
  • Harlequin Crest with a greater affix and/or masterworking bonuses on Cooldown Reduction. A Legendary Helm can also have a Cooldown Reduction affix with a lesser value.
  • Beastfall Boots with a greater affix and/or masterworking bonuses on Ultimate Cooldown Reduction.
  • Trap Cooldown Reduction tempers, potentially with masterworking bonuses, available on an Amulet and Rings.
• A maximum Energy of 150 by any necessary combination of the following sources:
  • Maximum Resource from Harlequin Crest.
  • Maximum Resource from Beastfall Boots.
  • Maximum Energy from Momentum.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

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

Death TrapTwisting BladesConcealmentShadow ImbuementSmoke GrenadeDark Shroud

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.

Allocate 5 Skill Points into Death Trap (the Skill Tree tool will be updated soon).

Blade Shift is not equipped on the Skill Bar. 2 Skill Points are allocated into the Basic Skill cluster only as a prerequisite to proceed in the Skill Tree.

Frigid Finesse is always activated against Staggered Bosses or activated by an optional Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze temper.

Alchemical Advantage is activated by a Lucky Hit Chance to Deal Poison Damage temper.

Disciplined Shadow Step can replace Smoke Grenade for mobility and Unstoppable status.

Rogue Specialization

Preparation is the required Specialization for the Death Trap Rogue. A maximum Energy of 150 is needed to activate Preparation twice, reducing the Cooldown of Death Trap by 10 seconds.

Paragon

After Character Level 60, experience gains are applied to Paragon up to Level 300. A maximum of 228 Paragon Points can be obtained through Paragon Levels, Renown, and Altars of Lilith. Follow the Paragon setup designed for the Death Trap Rogue to gain a considerable amount of progression for your character.

Glyphs are inserted into sockets on each Paragon board and can be found during various activities in Diablo 4. Level up the Glyphs included in the Paragon setup by completing The Pit. Clearing higher tiers of The Pit allows Glyphs to reach higher levels.

Important Notes:

• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the proper orientation.
• Attach Legendary Boards in the order shown, as bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order.
• Prioritize leveling each of your equipped Glyphs to 15 to gain the increased radius, which can be required to meet additional bonus requirements.

1. Starting Board (Snare)

2. No Witnesses (Versatility)

3. Danse Macabre (Control)

4. Eldritch Bounty (Ambush)

5. Deadly Ambush (Devious)

Paragon boards courtesy of d4builds. Click here for the planner.

Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats

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.

Gear Slot	Name	Effect
Ranged Weapon (+100% bonus effect)	Aspect of Retribution	Distant enemies have a 10% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds when they hit you. You deal x [15 – 35%] increased damage to Stunned and Knocked Down enemies.
Amulet (+50 bonus effect)	Conceited Aspect	Deal x [10 – 30%] increased damage while you have a Barrier active.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Accelerating Aspect	Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by [10 – 30%] for 5 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of Inner Calm	Deal x [5 – 13%] increased damage. Triple this bonus after standing still for 3 seconds.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of Elements	Gain x [15 – 35%] increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets: • Fire, Lightning, and Physical. • Cold, Poison, and Shadow.
Dual-Wielded Weapons or Ring Slot #2	Coldclip Aspect	Your Basic Skills are always Cold Imbued. You deal x [5 – 20%] increased damage to enemies who are Chilled or Frozen.
Gloves (replaced by Fists of Fate)	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 – 25%] increased Critical Strike Damage against Frozen or Stunned enemies.
Helm (replaced by Harlequin Crest)	Umbrous Aspect	Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a [45 – 65%] chance to grant a free Dark Shroud shadow.
Chest	Aspect of Concussive Strikes	Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 20% chance to Daze them for 2 seconds. You deal x [5 – 20%] increased damage to Dazed enemies.
Pants	Eyes in the Dark	Death Trap deals [50 – 150%] increased damage and will re-arm iteself once after activating.
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.

Gems and Runewords

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

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Diamond for increased Ultimate Damage to scale No Witnesses.	Grand Emerald for Dexterity.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Grand Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

Insert one of the following Runewords, consisting of a Rune of Offering and a Rune of Invocation, into your equipped Ranged Weapon. The other Runeword can be inserted into any equipped Helm, Chest, or Pants item. Add sockets to your equipment at the Jeweler if necessary.

Runewords	Effects
Yul Ohm	Gain: 50 Offering — Cast a Skill with a Cooldown. Requires: 600 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds — Evoke the Barbarian’s Enhanced War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt.
Zan Vex	Gain: 150 Offering — Cast an Ultimate Skill. Requires: 1000 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Seconds — Gain +3 to all Skills for 7 seconds.

Elixirs

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs, or find Elixirs by killing enemies or opening chests during various activities in Diablo 4. Listed below are the best Elixirs to consume for the Death Trap Rogue, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Advantage increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.
2. Elixir of Fortitude is the best general-purpose option for survivability.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Death Trap 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. Attempt to obtain all affixes in each line before moving to the next line. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades.

Daggers are preferred over Swords to cast Twisting Blades faster. Crossbows are selected for the highest damage per hit for Death Trap.

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.

Check the Tempering Guide for more details on Blacksmith upgrading.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapons	1. Maximum Life, Dexterity, Critical Strike Damage	Trap Augments (Weapon): Chance for Death Trap to Deal Double Damage (on Ranged Weapon and 1 Dual-Wielded Weapon up to 100% cap) and then Elemental Surge — Night: Lucky Hit Chance to Deal Poison Damage (on Dual-Wielded Weapon #2) Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Stun Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Chest	1. Ranks to Dark Shroud 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze Rogue Persistence (Defensive): Ranks to Second Wind
Gloves	1. Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth Worldly Fortune (Utility): Lucky Hit Chance to Immobilize
Pants	Eyes in the Dark	Tempering Not Available Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
Boots	Beastfall Boots	Tempering Not Available Masterworking Priority: Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
Amulet	1. Ranks to Frigid Finesse, Unstable Elixirs, and Malice 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Attack Speed	Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth Subterfuge Efficiency (Resource): Trap Cooldown Reduction
Rings	1. Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances 3. Maximum Life, Dexterity	Subterfuge Efficiency (Resource): Trap Cooldown Reduction Subterfuge Expertise (Offensive): Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth

Unique and Mythic Items

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

• Eyes in the Dark (required) provides a massive 5x damage multiplier in its unique effect.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
• Beastfall Boots (required) consume all of your Energy for multiple activations of the Preparation specialization to reduce the Cooldown of Death Trap.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
• Harlequin Crest (highly recommended) is a Mythic Unique Item that provides a boosted Cooldown Reduction affix, which is important for reducing the Cooldown of Death Trap.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Fists of Fate (highly recommended) provides up to a 50% overall damage increase in the unique effect. The Lucky Hit Chance to Apply a Random Crowd Control Effect affix is useful to quickly Stagger Bosses.
  • Masterworking Priority: Attack Speed
• Shroud of Khanduras (optional) pulls enemies together for optimal clearing. Reallocate 2 Skill Points from Mending Obscurity to Rapid Gambits for better results in this setup.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Dark Shroud
• Tyrael’s Might (optional) is the best defensive option for a Chest Armor. The divine barrage does not contribute a significant portion of the total damage in this build.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction or Maximum Resistance to All Elements
• Shroud of False Death (optional) provides the highest damage increase in the slot due to the +1 Ranks to All Passives inherent affix.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth
• Tyrael’s Might (optional) is the best defensive option for a Chest Armor, although this Mythic Unique Item can be difficult to obtain. The divine barrage does not contribute a significant portion of the total damage in this build.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction or Maximum Resistance to All Elements

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: Varyana
  • Skills: Cleave, Hysteria, Bloodthirst, Bloodlust
• Reinforcement: Raheir
  • Skill: Bastion
  • Opportunity: Cast when the player becomes Injured

Advanced Information

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

Build Mechanics

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

The Preparation specialization refreshes the remaining 10-second Cooldown by spending at least 150 Energy in a single cast of a Core Skill with Beastfall Boots. A maximum Energy of 150 is obtained through Momentum, Harlequin Crest, and Beastfall Boots. Twisting Blades is selected as the Core Skill due to it being the fastest option with the lowest casting animation frames.

Concealment is cast before every Death Trap in the Damage Rotation to activate The Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth temper from the Subterfuge Expertise manual each time.

Subverting Concealment is applied to each Death Trap to guarantee Critical Strikes, removing the need for Increased Critical Strike Chance in the build. This node also applies Vulnerable status to every enemy.

Momentum is the recommended key passive in this build due to the Maximum Energy, Damage Reduction, and Damage bonuses that are easily activated and maintained by Twisting Blades. A highly min-maxed Close Quarters Combat setup that switches Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth tempers for Damage to Close Enemies tempers can result in a slightly higher damage output. This trade-off is most likely not worthwhile.

Mixed Shadow Imbuement is applied to tough elites and bosses to increase the damage of Death Trap.

Resource Management

A total of 150 Energy needs to be consumed for each cast of Twisting Blades through Beastfall Boots to activate Preparation twice. Ensure you have the following requirements to generate Energy.

• Enhanced Concealment generates 40 Energy.
• Aftermath Rank 3, granted by Eyes in the Dark, generates 75 Energy after casting Death Trap.
• Beastfall Boots restores 25 Energy when using a Cooldown, which is activated by casting Concealment and Death Trap.

Crowd Controls and Boss Stagger

Damage multipliers activated by a variety of different Crowd Controls contribute to a significant portion of damage output for a Rogue. These damage bonuses can be applied to normal and elite enemies immediately, but they do not apply to bosses unless they are Staggered. Repeated Crowd Controls from the same source in a short duration apply less Stagger to bosses, so separate sources of Crowd Controls are utilized within the build. Stagger Bosses to deal maximum damage!

This build applies Crowd Controls from the following sources:

• Fists of Fate
• Daze from Smoke Grenade
• Daze from Enhanced Shadow Step (optional)
• Slow from Caltrops (optional)
• Daze from Aspect of Concussive Strikes
• Freeze from Frostbitten Aspect (optional)
• Lucky Hit Chance to Freeze/Stun/Immobilize/Slow/Daze tempers

Crowd-Controlled enemies take additional damage through multipliers from the following sources:

• 1.30x from Frigid Finesse
• 1.30x from Aspect of Retribution
• 1.25x from Cheap Shot
• 1.20x from Coldclip Aspect
• 1.20x from Frostbitten Aspect
• 1.20x from Aspect of Concussive Strikes (optional)
• 1.20x from Control

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage output.

1. Activate Dark Shroud to prepare for battles.
2. (Optional) Cast Smoke Grenade to apply Enhanced Smoke Grenade for more damage.
3. Activate Shadow Imbuement to apply Mixed Shadow Imbuement to the toughest target.
4. If Shroud of Khanduras is equipped, Evade to group enemies up.
5. Drink a Potion to activate Unstable Elixirs.
6. Cast Concealment to guarantee Critical Strikes and apply Vulnerable through Subverting Concealment.
7. Cast Death Trap.
8. Cast Twisting Blades to consume all your Energy through Beastfall Boots, activating Preparation twice to refresh the Cooldowns of Death Trap and Concealment.
9. Repeat steps 6-8 to continue dealing damage.

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 tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Changelog

• October 4th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• September 21st, 2024: Guide created.