Penetrating Shot is one of those abilities in Diablo 4 that doesn't really shine until the late game. It may feel underwhelming at the start, but once players get the right items and bonuses, this skill can clear entire screens' worth of demons in a single shot.
Diablo 4: Legion Events, Explained
Legion Events in Diablo 4 are repeating group activities that yield fantastic rewards for players who can earn Mastery fast enough.
The following build uses a methodical playstyle using one of the Rogue's specializations in Diablo 4 that doubles down on the class' one-shot potential. Here are the recommended skills, items, and Paragon Board bonuses to get this setup rolling from mid-Nightmare all the way through late Torment difficulties.
Updated April 3, 2024, by Marc Santos: A number of this build's important parts got shaken up in Diablo 4's 1.3.0 patch. The changes to Penetrating Shot are minor, but the buff to the Precision Keystone Passive grants this build more consistency when it comes to critical hits. This guide has been updated to capitalize on these changes while also providing more in-depth info on the parts that make the build work. We're emphasizing the impact of the Penetrating Shot and Precision changes to make things a little clearer for buildcrafters.
Diablo 4 Penetrating Shot Rogue Build
|
Skills |
Total Points |
|
Fundamental Heartseeker |
3 |
|
Improved Penetrating Shot |
7 |
|
Countering Concealment |
3 |
|
Countering Poison Trap |
3 |
|
Blended Shadow Imbuement |
7 |
|
Supreme Rain of Arrows |
3 |
The core idea of this build is to delete large groups of enemies in one or two attacks. Penetrating Shot has high base damage and decent AOE, but it won't reach its peak horde-clearing potential without the support of other abilities.
Previously, this build relied on Advanced Penetrating Shot and Forceful Arrow. Now, it uses Improved Penetrating Shot and Fundamental Heartseeker to maximize the player's critical hit chance and crit damage. The build still uses Blended Shadow Imbuement to set off a chain reaction of explosions, as seen in the Flurry build for Rogues in Diablo 4.
Patch 1.3.0 swapped the effect of Enhanced Penetrating Shot and Improved Penetrating Shot. To summarize, taking both upgrades makes Penetrating Shot deal more damage and gain additional crit chance per enemy it hits. We pair this with Heartseeker to further increase the effectiveness of crits.
Poison Trap and Concealment serve as utility and defensive tools in this build. The former knocks down and poisons anything that gets too close, while the latter provides an on-demand source of the Unstoppable buff.
Rain of Arrows is the final skill for this build — use it to preemptively soften up a group of targets before blowing them all up with Penetrating Shot.
Diablo 4: What is Crowd Control
There are 11 Crowd Control types in Diablo 4, each of which inhibits the target's movement in a different way, including Stun, Fear, and Knockback.
Passive Skills
|
Skill |
Points |
|
Sturdy |
3 |
|
Weapon Mastery |
3 |
|
Concussive |
3 |
|
Consuming Shadows |
3 |
|
Precision Imbuement |
3 |
|
Trap Mastery |
3 |
|
Adrenaline Rush |
3 |
|
Impetus |
3 |
|
Precision |
Keystone |
Take Sturdy for the sake of having a safety net against enemies that get too close. The rest of the points go toward improving damage output and overall quality of life.
Exploit is crucial for maximizing Penetrating Shot's one-shot potential since it buffs damage against Healthy and Injured targets. This helps the build be more consistent when it comes to clearing trash mobs. Pair this with Malice for even more damage.
Consuming Shadows helps keep the Rogue's Energy levels in check. Every time an enemy is killed with Shadow damage, this skill will restore 10 Energy, allowing players to keep their salvo going.
Trap Mastery boosts Critical Strike Chance against Vulnerable and Crowd-Controlled enemies whenever Poison Trap is triggered. This includes targets that are knocked down by Fundamental Forceful Arrow or slowed by Advanced Penetrating Shot. Players can get even more free Critical Strike Chance by getting the Concussive and Precision Imbuements skills.
Cap this off with the Precision Key Passive for more crits and the Combo Points Specialization for maximum one-shot potential.
Gear and Aspects
|
Rogue Penetrating Shot Gear |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Gear |
Aspect/Effect |
Recommended Stats |
|
Helmet |
Might - Gain damage reduction after damaging an enemy. |
|
|
Chest |
Disobedience - Gain Armor after dealing any damage to an enemy. |
|
|
Gloves |
Rapid - Basic Skills gain increased attack speed. |
|
|
Tibault's Will - Pants |
Unique - While Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after, gain increased damage. Gain Primary Resource when becoming Unstoppable. |
- |
|
Boots |
Eluding - If you become Injured while Crowd Controlled, gain Unstoppable. |
|
|
Amulet |
Edgemaster - Skills deal more damage based on how full your Primary Resource is upon casting. |
|
|
Ring of Starless Skies - Ring 1 |
Unique - Spending Primary Resource reduces resource costs and increases the damage of skills. |
- |
|
Ring 2 |
Trickshot - Whenever Penetrating Shot hits an enemy, the arrow splits off to the sides. The arrows deal less damage and do not split. |
|
|
Eaglehorn - Bow |
Unique - Penetrating Shot makes enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds. Every 4th cast bounces off walls and scenery, dealing bonus damage. |
- |
|
Condemnation - 1H Weapon |
Unique - Core Skills deal more damage when spending 3 Combo Points. Using skills with this weapon has a chance to generate 3 Combo Points. |
- |
|
1H Weapon |
Expectant - Using Basic Skills increases the damage of your next Core Skill. |
|
Edgemaster, Expectant, and Trickshot are the some of the best offensive Aspects in Diablo 4. The first two increase Penetrating Shot's raw damage while the other helps it deal more damage over an area.
Ring of Starless Skies is great for boosting your damage while keeping your Energy reserves in check. If you don't have one yet, try farming Uber bosses for a shot at getting Unique drops. The rest of the Aspects are bog-standard and self-explanatory. Make sure to have them to prevent instant death in higher-difficulty content.
As for items, either Bow or Crossbow will do fine. However, if players want to maximize Penetrating Shot's one-hit-kill potential, bows will be the way to go. As of Patch 1.3.0, Eaglehorn now makes Penetrating Shot inflict Vulnerable, making it a decent choice if you want to inflict that debuff reliably.
Diablo 4: How to Get More Paragon Boards
Paragon Boards in Diablo 4 unlock powerful new effects that complement the many playstyles of each class. Here's how to get them.
Paragon Boards
|
Paragon Boards |
Glyph |
|---|---|
|
Starter |
Exploit |
|
No Witnesses |
Combat |
|
Eldritch Bounty |
Canny |
|
Cheap Shot |
Ranger |
The go-to Exploit Glyph for other Diablo 4 Rogue builds may feel a bit redundant here with all the extra sources of Vulnerable application in the build, but feel free to use it to improve quality of life.
Players who do want to use Exploit should get No Witnesses as their first Paragon board attachment. Take the Legendary node and the Glyph Socket, then get the Knowledge and Ruin nodes for more damage.
After this, players can get either the Eldritch Bounty board to improve Shadow Imbuement's damage or Cheap Shot for more upfront damage against targets Slowed by Penetrating Shot or affected by Poison Trap.
Diablo 4
- Released
- June 5, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Hack and Slash
- Metascore
- 88
