Diablo 4 best Death Trap Rogue leveling guide

In Diablo 4, the Rogue class offers a rewarding playstyle that combines stealth, agility, and deadly traps. The Death Trap Rogue, in particular, is unique and powerful, offering high sustained damage in an area of effect, good survivability with damage reduction, and multiple crowd control abilities to render entire groups of enemies helpless. However, this build also comes with some drawbacks, including strict build requirements and complex mechanics.

This guide walks you through the process of leveling a Death Trap Rogue in Diablo 4 Season 7. It covers the pros and cons of the build, along with the key items and skills required, and provides tips for success.

Pros and cons of Death Trap Rogue in Diablo 4 Season 7

Death Trap remains one of the most devastating builds for the Rogue class in Diablo 4, with high damage-dealing abilities to take out almost any enemy in the game. However, it still comes with a few drawbacks.

Pros:

High mobility
Extremely versatile
Amazing AoE damage output
Perfect for power leveling and farming in any difficulty
Fantastic crowd-control capabilities

Cons:

Weak defensive abilities
Lower damage against a single target
Hard to master
Depends on specific legendary aspects and gear to unlock its full potential

How to play Death Trap Rogue in Diablo 4 Season 7

The Death Trap Rogue build focuses on spamming the ultimate skill, Death Trap, to deal with any enemies in the game.

This is achieved by stacking enough Trap, Ultimate, or regular Cooldown Reduction to get Death Trap's cooldown to below the 10-second margin and then triggering Preparation with one shot using Beastfall Boots and a minimum of 150 Energy pool to instantly reset the skill. With the help of Aftermath, you can instantly fill your energy bar again and repeat the process.

A major advantage of the Death Trap Rogue is the constant resetting of all of your abilities and the opportunity to pull enemies together at will with Prime Death Trap. This makes the build stand out and defuses the danger in most elite fights.

With high enough damage output, the Death Trap Rogue can destroy any boss encounters in Diablo 4.

Build requirements for Death Trap Rogue

Death Trap Rogue skill bar (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

To fully utilize this build's potential as a destructive class in Diablo 4, which has amazing AoE and single-target damage, a particular set of skills is needed. Here’s how you can do it:

Essentials:

In the beginning, pick Forceful Arrow as your basic skill. This will help deal a lot of damage while applying Vulnerable to enemies with every third hit.
Get Rapid Fire as the core damage skill.
Use Forceful Arrow to generate combo points for Rapid Fire.

One point - Six arrows, 114.4% increased damage
Two points - Seven arrows, 127.4% increased damage
Three points - Eight arrows, 145.6% increased damage

Agility:

Use Dash to quickly move out of tough situations while dealing damage and slowing enemy movement by at least 30% for three seconds.
Dedicate points to Weapon Mastery, inflicting Vulnerable to enemies and additional increased damage.

Imbuements:

Shadow Imbuement is the key imbuement for the build. Activating it gives extra Damage over Time (DoT) and an additional critical hit chance while hitting shadow-inflicted targets and applying Vulnerable to enemies.
Spend points on consuming Shadows to generate 30 energy from enemies killed from shadow damage.
Invest in Shadow Crash to get up to a 30% chance to stun enemies when hit with shadow damage.

Subterfuge:

Gain increased damage by picking Smoke Grenade; change it to Subverting Smoke Grenade to deal poison damage over five seconds to enemies while dazing them for four seconds.
Dedicate points towards Exploit (increased damage dealt to both healthy and injured enemies) and Malice (increased damage towards vulnerable and knocked down enemies).

Ultimate:

Upgrade Deathtrap fully to Supreme Death Trap, which pulls in targets towards it and deals massive damage up to 1300% while getting a cooldown reduction from Death Trap kills.
Dedicate points towards Unto Dawn (45% increased damage of the ultimate) and Aftermath for getting energy back on casting the ultimate skill.
Upgrade hate for a 15% boost in movement speed while having above 50% max energy and a 15% increased attack speed while below 50% max energy.

Key Passive:

Since you are going to be using Death Trap extensively, pick Exposure as your key passive. While damage to enemies afflicted with trap skill effects, Exposure has a 40% chance to reduce trap skill (in this instance, Death Trap) cooldowns by 30%. It also drops a cluster stun grenade dealing 80% of total physical damage and stunning enemies.

Skill rotation:

Mobbing:

Use Forceful Arrow to generate Combo Points while having Shadow Imbued. Then, use Rapid Fire to deal up to 145% increased damage using Combo Points.
Kite enemies to pile them up and use Death Trap to deal massive amounts of damage. If the enemies don’t die by then, keep attacking them to trigger Exposure, which lowers the cooldown of trap skills, allowing you to cast Death Trap again.
Use Dash to move away if you get overwhelmed while dealing damage to enemies as you pass through them.
If you get overwhelmed, drop Smoke Grenades (subverting Smoke Grenades deal Poison Damage), dealing up to 160% damage and dazing enemies for four seconds.

Bossing:

Generate Combo Points with Forceful Arrow and exhaust them to cast an enhanced (eight arrows) to deal 145% additional damage and inflict Vulnerable to significantly weaken the target.
Have Shadow-imbued skill activated to apply Vulnerable on enemies and deal extra damage over time. On cooldown, cast Death Trap to inflict massive damage on the enemy. Unto Dawn increases damage dealt by the Ultimate skill by an additional 45%.
Use supporting skills like Subverting Smoke Grenades to deal poison damage to the boss.
Vulnerability stacking is the key here; stack the boss with vulnerability before casting the ultimate skill to deal extra damage to a weakened boss.
Use Dash to move around the boss, keeping it in the trapped area, and continue to deal continuous damage.
Stack Trap, Ultimate cooldowns to lower the cooldown of Death Trap so that you can continuously cast the Ultimate in short intervals.

Diablo 4 Death Trap Rogue Leveling progression guide: Skill Point allotment

When you start the campeign in Diablo 4, it should be your priority to get as many levels as you can and as quickly as possible. At this stage, remember to keep upgrading your weapons to get the best potential of Rapid Fire and Forceful Arrow. At level 15, unlock specialization and use Combo Points.

In Diablo 4, you will have a total of 71 skill points, 59 skill points from level 2 to 60, and 12 skill points from Renown. Be specific about where you put your points till you can unlock Death Trap.

Skill setup (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Level (2-3)

When you begin your demon-slaying adventure in Diablo 4, you don't have many options, so begin by putting points into Forceful Arrow. This generates Combo Points and deals Vulnerable to enemies on every third cast.

Level 2 - Forceful Arrow
Level 3 - Enhanced Forceful Arrow

Level (4-7)

At this stage, you will unlock your Core skill, allot points to Rapid Fire, and upgrade it till improved Twisting Rapid Fire, which will increase the damage dealt to a Vulnerable enemy and gain Energy on hit.

Level 4 - Rapid Fire
Level 5 - Enhanced Rapid Fire
Level 6 - Improved Rapid Fire
Level 7 - Rapid Fire

Level (8-15)

Once this level is reached, you will have access to Agility skills. Unlock Dash, which will allow you to move out of sticky situations while dealing damage to enemies. Dash will allow maneuvering around targets and kiting them to use Smoke Grenade (Subverting Smoke Grenades deal Poison Damage to enemies). At Level 15, unlock Combo Points.

Level 8 - Dash
Level 9 - Rapid Fire
Level 10 - Rapid Fire
Level 11 - Rapid Fire
Level 12 - Enhanced Dash
Level 13 - Smoke Grenade
Level 14 - Enhanced Smoke Grenade
Level 15 - Subverting Smoke Grenade

Level (16-22)

Once you have made it to level 16, you can unlock an imbuement skill, which could be Poison, Cold, or Shadow. For the Death Trap build, pick the Shadow Imbuement for an increased Damage over Time (DoT) and to make enemies Vulnerable for up to three seconds while increasing the potency of other skills.

Level 16 - Disciplined Dash
Level 17 - Primary Forceful Arrow
Level 18 - Shadow Imbuement
Level 19 - Enhanced Shadow Imbuement
Level 20 - Blended Shadow Imbuement
Level 21 - Consuming Shadows
Level 22 - Shadow Crash

Level (23-32)

Once you have reached this stage, you will have access to your ultimate. Here, focus on getting Death Trap as quickly as possible. This allows you to drop a Death Trap, which, when deployed, pulls in enemies towards it and deals massive damage to targets in the vicinity. Invest points in Unto Dawn to get a massive boost to the damage output of the Ultimate Skill.

At this level, change Class Specialization from Combo Points to Preparation, which allows you to reset the cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by spending Energy. Using your Ultimate Skill resets all other skills.

Level 22 - Shadow Crash
Level 23 - Dash
Level 24 - Forceful Arrow
Level 25 - Death Trap
Level 26 - Prime Death Trap
Level 27 - Supreme Death Trap
Level 28 - Unto Dawn
Level 29 - Aftermath
Level 30 - Adrenaline Rush
Level 31 - Haste
Level 32 - Malice

Level (33-60)

At Level 33, you will have access to the Key Passive skill. Since this build relies on using Death Trap consecutively in a short interval while dealing damage to the targets with other skills, use Combo Points to increase the damage of the core skill.

Level 33 - Exploit
Level 34 - Death Trap
Level 35 - Exposure
Level 36 - Shadow Imbuement
Level 37 - Smoke Grenade
Level 38 - Dash
Level 39 - Death Trap
Level 40 - Smoke Grenade
Level 41 - Smoke Grenade
Level 42 - Shadow Imbuement
Level 43 - Dash
Level 44 - Shadow Imbuement
Level 45 - Shadow Imbuement
Level 46 - Death Trap
Level 47 - Death Trap
Level 48 - Dash
Level 49 - Forceful Arrow
Level 50 - Forceful Arrow
Level 51 - Forceful Arrow
Level 52 - Unto Dawn
Level 53 - Aftermath
Level 54 - Haste
Level 55 - Adrenaline Rush
Level 56 - Unto Dawn
Level 57 - Aftermath
Level 58 - Consuming Shadows
Level 59 - Shadow Crash
Level 60 - Shadow Crash

If you have completed all Renown in Diablo 4, you achieve a global bonus (you get this by finding waypoints, interacting with Altars of Lilith, finishing side objectives, completing dungeons, and running strongholds). This bonus includes paragon points and a total of 12 extra skill points.

These points can then be allotted to certain special nodes like Weapon mastery, Deadeye, etc., which improves the damage output of class-specific weapons (in this case, marksman weapons).

Level 61 - Consuming Shadows
Level 62 - Haste
Level 63 - Smoke Grenade
Level 64 - Exploit
Level 65 - Exploit
Level 66 - Malice
Level 67 - Malice
Level 68 - Weapon Mastery
Level 69 - Weapon Mastery
Level 70 - Weapon Mastery
Level 71 - Deadeye
Level 72 - Deadeye

Class Specialization of Death Trap Rogue in Diablo 4

At Level 15, you will have a priority quest called True Potential. Once this quest is done, you will have access to Class Specialization in Diablo 4.

Class Specialization: Combo Points (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

At that level, you will only be able to pick Combo points as your Specialization. At level 20, you can unlock Inner Sight, which you won't be using in this build. In this case, you will use Combo points as your Class Specialization until you can unlock Preparation at level 30.

Class Specialization: Preparation (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)]]]]

Preparation allows you to reset the cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by spending 75 Energy. In addition, using your Ultimate Skill resets all other skills you have. This is a powerful skill for late-game builds that have a lot of Energy generation or run ‍Death Trap and‍ Exposure. With a high Attack Speed, it's possible to use all of your skills much more often and become a powerful Rogue.

Diablo 4 Death Trap Rogue Leveling gear: Best stats and tempering affixes

You get Aspects by completing dungeons in Diablo 4. Here are a few that you should look out for:

Aspect of Quickening Fog - Randomly on Legendary item drops.
Vehement Brawler’s Aspect - Haunted Refuge dungeon.
Aspect of Apogeic Furor - Randomly on Legendary item drops.
Trickster’s Aspect - Guulrahn Canals in Dry Steppes.
Ravenous Aspect - Shifting City in Dry Steppes.
Shadowslicer Aspect - Twisted Hollow in Scosglen.

Unique Aspects for Death Trap Rogue build (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

While you can get quite a few decent legendary gear to strengthen your build, it is important to attune it to the skill set you are using. Using Aspects and tempering, you can achieve this at ease.

Here are a list of priority stats you should look for when playing the Death Trap Rogue in Diablo 4:

Melee 1:

Dexterity
Maximum Life
Critical Strike Damage
Chance for Death Trap to deal Double Damage
Damage to Trapped Enemies
Resistances

Melee 2:

Addition to all Stats
Damage Reduction
Maximum Life
Armor
Critical Strike Chance
Resistances

Bow:

Vulnerable Damage
Critical Strike Chance
Core Skill Damage
Dexterity
Max Life

Helm:

Cooldown Reduction
Maximum Life
Total Armor
Resistances
Ultimate

Chest:

Damage Reduction
Ultimate Skill Damage
Maximum Resources
Maximum Life
Total Armor
Resistances

Gloves:

Critical Strike Damage
Critical Strike Chance
Damage over Time
Cooldown Reduction
Vulnerable Damage

Pants:

ULtimate Damage
Ranks to Aftermath
Maximum Life
Damage Reduction
Resistances

Boots:

Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
Ranks to Agile
Maximum Resources
Movement Speed
Damage Reduction

Amulet:

Dexterity
Attack Speed
Critical Strike Chance
Damage to Trapped Enemies
Death Trap Cooldown Reduction

Rings:

Resistance to all Elements
Attack Speed
Critical Strike Chance
Critical Strike Damage
Vulnerable Damage
Dexterity
Life per Second
Death Trap Cooldown Reduction

Best gear to look for in Diablo 4

Unlocking Diablo 4's endgame activities is a guaranteed way to get Legendary items. Progress beyond level 50 to find Sacred Gear, which boast far greater stats than legendary items. Beyond level 70, change the difficulty to Torment and unlock the potential to find Ancestral and Mythic items, which are the highest tier of items in the game.

Here are some items to check out for this build:

Eyes in the Dark increases the damage output of Death Trap. It also allows Death Trap to rearm itself after activating.
Harlequin Crest grants you an amazing affix that allows you to live longer while increasing all your Skills’ ranks.
Ring of Starless Skies reduces resource cost on spending primary resources while increasing damage output.
Beastfall Boots increases Core skill damage on casting Ultimate.
Doombringer reduces your enemies’ damage and provides you with a ton of additional HP.

Specific gears for Death Trap Rogue build (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Best Elixirs for Twisting Blades Rogue in Diablo 4

The Third Eye Elixir - This is made at the Alchemist and only requires three ingredients: Gallowvine, Howler Moss, and Crush Beasts Bones. It improves movement, giving you a to your Evade speed and chance while boosting the amount of experience you gain.
Precision Elixir - This offers a boost in Critical Chance and Critical Damage.
Resistance Elixirs - These will come in handy when you find a foe with a particular type of attack, Poison, Shadow, Fire, etc.
Iron skin Elixir: This boosts your armor by 900 giving you a defense upgrade for 30 minutes.
Elixir of Fortitude is the best general-purpose option for survivability.

Best gems for Death Trap Rogue build in Diablo 4

Weapon Slot – Diamond, for additional Ultimate Damage.
Armor Slot – Emerald, for increased Dexterity.
Jewelry Slot – Diamond to gain more Resistance to all elements.

Experiment with gem slots to boost any weakness in your stats in Diablo 4. Gems can be changed anytime. Remember to upgrade your gems as high as you can for better effects.

Although the Death Trap Rogue build is complicated, it is easier once you understand the fundamental mechanics. We hope this guide provides you with the basics of how to begin your journey with it in Diablo 4.

Check out our other guides to Diablo 4:

Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh