Diablo 4 Twisting Blades Rogue Build Guide

If you’ve chosen the Rogue as your class in Season 2 of Diablo 4, you may want to check out the Twisting Blades build. Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about this powerful Rogue build.

The Twisting Blade Rogue is a fun, dynamic, and powerful build that excels and farming quickly and efficiently. It’s a build that’s somewhat difficult to master, trading defences for offensive capabilities. That makes it a bit of a glass cannon, but skillfully navigating it in Diablo 4 can reap you great rewards. Read on to learn everything you need to know to play the Twisting Blades Rogue in Diablo 4.

Playstyle

This build uses the two-part attack of Twisting Blades combined with positioning to deal a large amount of damage to your enemies. As with most Rogue builds, it utilizes both Shadow Imbuement and Poison Imbuement to enhance the skill for maximum single-target or AoE potential. Meanwhile, you use Dash and Shadow Step for amazing mobility around the battlefield. Lastly, you use Puncture to build up Energy and apply Vulnerable.

The Twisting Blades attack consists of two portions. The first is throwing the blades at a target. However, it’s the second part that is the main component of this build’s damage. In the second portion of the skill, the blades return to your character. The most optimal use of the skill is to set up your enemies in such a way that after throwing the blades you can Dash or Shadow Step away to have the longest return time on the skill.

Don’t forget to plan your Imbuement use to best fit the situation. Poison Imbuement should be used against tough enemies, Elites, and Bosses. It is the Rogue’s best single-target buff. Meanwhile, Shadow Imbuement is used for the opposite, to dish out AoE damage and explode packs of monsters.

Skills

The skill tree selections for the Twisting Blades Rogue build revolve around buffing the damage output and utility of the build’s core skills. It features plenty of passives to help with buffs, mobility, and some survivability. For skills, pick the following:

• Puncture (1/5)
  • Enhanced Puncture
  • Fundamental Puncture
• Twisting Blades (5/5)
  • Enhanced Twisting Blades
  • Improved Twisting Blades
• Sturdy (3/3)
• Siphoning Strikes (3/3)
• Shadow Step (1/5)
  • Enhanced Shadow Step
  • Disciplined Shadow Step
• Dash (1/5)
• Weapon Mastery (3/3)
• Trick Attacks (1/3)
• Rapid Gambits (2/3)
• Exploit (3/3)
• Malice (3/3)
• Shadow Imbuement (5/5)
  • Enhanced Shadow Imbuement
  • Mixed Shadow Imbuement
• Poison Imbuement (5/5)
  • Enhanced Poison Imbuement
  • Blended Poison Imbuement
• Shadow Crash (1/3)
• Consuming Shadows (2/3)
• Precision Imbuement (1/3)
• Innervation (3/3)
• Adrenaline Rush (1/3)
• Haste (3/3)
• Close Quarters Combat (Key Passive)

For the Rogue Specialization options, this build utilizes Combo Points. That way, Twisting Blades becomes even more potent when used with maxed-out Combo Points. Each Combo Point increases the damage of the skill, as well as your movement speed after using it.

Gear

Your gear is an important part of any build. For the Twisting Blade Rogue, there are a few unique items to look out for and many useful Legendary Aspects. However, most of the gear strength will come from prioritizing stats. We will discuss that further below. For now, let’s see what useful pieces of Unique gear and Legendary Aspects you should look out for.

Legendary Aspects

There are several useful Aspects to get for this build. Some can be found as dungeon rewards, while others need to be extracted from Legendary item drops. Bladedancer’s Aspect should be highlighted as one of the most crucial ones to get for this build. With that, let’s see the full list:

• Bladedancer’s Aspect from Jalal’s Vigil in Scosglen
• Ravenous Aspect from Shifting City in Dry Steppes
• Aspect of Disobedience from Halls of the Damned in Kehjistan
• Edgemaster’s Aspect from Oldstones in Scosglen
• Aspect of Might from Dark Ravine in Dry Steppes
• Cheat’s Aspect from Luban’s Rest in Scosglen
• Aspect of Shared Misery from Oblivion in Hawezar
• Ghostwalker Aspect from Broken Bulwark in Scosglen
• Aspect of Corruption from Renegade’s Retreat in Kehjistan
• Aspect of the Expectant from Underroot in Scosglen
• Energizing Aspect from Sanguine Chapel in Fractured Peaks
• Ravager’s Aspect from a random drop.
• Aspect of the Umbral from a random drop.

Unique Items

There are several Uniques that can be useful for this build. These powerful items will replace some of the Legendary Aspect slots listed above.

• Tibault’s Will: an offensive option that synergizes with Ravager’s Aspect.
• Godslayer Crown: used situationally to increase burst damage.
• Harlequin Crest: can be used to replace Cheat’s Aspect.
• Andariel’s Visage: can be used to replace Cheat’s Aspect.
• Doombringer: a best-in-slot weapon that replaces Aspect of Corruption or Ravenous Aspect.

Stat Priorities

The main way to increase your power in the late game is by improving your stat priorities. This is done through getting better gear and ironing out the kinks where it’s lacking. Here’s what you should be focusing on with the Twisting Blades Rogue:

1. Bonus ranks of Twisting Blades
2. Resistances
3. Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
4. Critical Strike Chance
5. Critical Strike Damage
6. Vulnerable Damage
7. Core Skill Damage
8. Damage to Close Enemies
9. Bonus ranks of Poison Imbuement
10. Bonus ranks of Shadow Imbuement
11. Dexterity
12. Intelligence
13. Strength

Speaking of buffs, you should take advantage of sockets and consumables to increase your power. For gems, use Royal Skull in weapons and Royal Ruby in armour. For jewellery sockets, use resistance gems where you’re lacking. Otherwise, use Royal Skull in jewellery as well.

In terms of consumables, useful elixirs include Elixir of Cruelty, Iron Skin Elixir, Heady Assault Elixir, and Heady Precision Elixir. Useful incenses include Song of the Mountain, Reddamine Buzz, and Chorus of War.

Glyphs

Just like your gear and your stats, your Paragon Board should be set up with damage in mind. There are several Glyph priorities when it comes to levelling. These five Glyphs are your best options for this build:

• Control
• Closer
• Exploit
• Efficacy
• Turf

Vampiric powers

In Season 2 of Diablo 4, Season of Blood, you have access to Vampiric Powers. You can leverage those powers to gain significant buffs to your build. For the Twisting Blades Rogue, look into getting the following five powers:

• Accursed Touch (Major, 6 Divinity)
• Prey on the Weak (Minor, 2 Ferocity)
• Moonrise (Major, 6 Ferocity)
• Ravenous (Minor, 3 Ferocity)
• Hemomancy (Minor, 3 Eternity)

Some alternative Vampiric Powers that you can use for survivability and damage include Undying, Resilience, and Infection.

The Twisting Blades Rogue is a rewarding build to develop and play in Diablo 4. It emphasizes smart positioning and screen awareness. If you’re looking for more Diablo 4 guides, check out How to Get Seeds of Hatred in Diablo 4, Where Is Diablo 4 in the Timeline, and Best Barbarian Builds in Diablo 4.