Best Rogue leveling build guide in Diablo 4 Season 5: Best skills and itemization explained

The best Rogue leveling build in Diablo 4 Season 5 is what most players will want to use as they progress early and mid-game. The setup we recommend the most is the Penetrating Shot build, which is a strong and efficient way to play for those starting new season characters. If you're a returning player and looking for a good build to blast through early levels then this should be your go-to pick.

In Season 5 of Diablo 4, there is a lot of new and unfamiliar content that Blizzard has implemented for players. This content does tend to heavily focus on large amounts of smaller enemies; however, as opposed to bosses or mini-bosses. This is why we suggest you play a build like the Penetrating Shot Rogue, which specializes in covering wide areas with constant damage.

In this guide, we're going to go over why this is the best leveling build for Season 5 and explain how you can make it work effectively.

NOTE: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinion.

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Diablo 4 best Rogue leveling build

Penetrating Shot is perfect for early and mid-game content. (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

If you're going to be making a new season character, you surely have an endgame build in mind already. However, it's always best to hold off on your endgame setup and focus on one dedicated to leveling until you're ready. Most late and endgame builds require certain amounts of skill points or pieces of gear and will be weak or even useless until then.

This Rogue build uses Penetrating Shot as its main source of damage and Puncture as a tool to weaken and slow enemies. Other skills you'll want are Shadow Step and Dash for the added movement ability. Finally, you should equip Dark Shroud and Shadow Imbuement as their utility will allow you to safely reposition and boost your AOE potential, respectively.

Here are the best skills to invest your points in for this Rogue leveling build:

Best Rogue leveling skills:

• Fundamental Puncture (1/5)
• Advanced Penetrating Shot (6/5) (+1 Item Contribution)
• Sturdy (3/3)
• Disciplined Shadow Step (1/5)
• Methodical Dash (1/5)
• Weapon Mastery (3/3)
• Unstable Elixirs (3/3)
• Trick Attacks (3/3)
• Subverting Dark Shroud (7/5) (+2 Item Contribution)
• Agile (3/3)
• Exploit (3/3)
• Malice (3/3)
• Blended Shadow Imbuement (1/5)
• Shadow Crash (1/3)
• Consuming Shadows (1/3)
• Innvervation (3/3)
• Second Wind (1/3)
• Adrenaline Rush (1/3)
• Haste (3/3)
• Precision

Make sure you bring the right utility skills to enhance your damage. (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Since this is a leveling build, it's designed to be achieved without any specific unique or legendary gear pieces. This is so that new players, or those returning for Season 5 of Diablo 4, don't have to suffer from progression walls due to bad RNG.

Below are the best pieces of gear for this build:

Name	Aspect Unlock	Effect
Trickshot Amulet	Completing Bastion of Faith in Hawezar	2 additional arrows split off either side when Penetrating Shot damages an enemy, dealing 15-38% base damage
Rapid Band	Completing Buried Halls in Dry Steppes	+15-30% Attack Speed to Basic Skills
Circle of the Expectant	Completing Underroot in Scosglen	+5-10% damage to next Core Skill cast within 5 seconds after attacking enemy with Basic Skill