Twisting Blades Rogue Leveling Guide

Season 6 is the Season of Hatred Rising. It features the Zakarum Remnants faction which hunts Realmwalkers, massive behemoths that roam outdoor zones and beckon Mephisto's hellspawn. Participate in these zone events and take down the Realmwalkers to spawn a portal to a Seething Realm. There you can acquire Seething Opals, new consumables that stack with Elixirs for a XP buff and the chance to gather extra rewards when defeating enemies. The types of Opals are:

Use these Opals at all times to earn reputation with the Zakarum Remnants faction and unlock further rewards.

At level 15, we unlock the Rogue's Specialization class mechanic. Finish this Priority Quest as soon as possible to get Combo Points. Using Puncture up to 3 times boosts the damage of your next Core Skill and buffs you with more Movement Speed, allowing for much better Energy economy.

Introducing Imbuements

This is the part where the full build comes online. Imbuements are Skills that can buff your Core Skills with extra effects.

• Shadow Imbuement is an AoE tool, best used when there are many enemies nearby. It also refills Energy via Consuming Shadows.
• Poison Imbuement is great to melt single targets like elites and bosses.
• Note that both Imbuements cannot be used simultaneously.

At this point you should have some Veiled Crystals from salvaging Rare items that allows you to imprint an item at the Occultist. Complete Jalal's Vigil to unlock Bladedancer's Aspect and put it on your Amulet (because it's 50% stronger and Amulets are replaced very infrequently).

The Final Passive & Journey to Level 50

Momentum is our Key Passive of choice for the Twisting Blades Rogue build. It can easily be activated by naturally using Blade Shift + Twisting Blades, providing a substantial damage, movement and defensive bonuses.

At this point, the core setup is complete. All of our remaining points go into boosting our damage, defenses, speed or already allocated skills. This makes transitioning into the endgame very smooth with this build.

Rogue Specializations

Unlocking Specializations

Once you reach level 15, you have to complete a short questline starting in Menestad, Fractured Peaks. A Priority Quest leads you there to help out Leyrana. After a few stops outside of town you have to enter the Forsaken Quarry Dungeon and finish the questline there, unlocking Combo Points. After that, the other two Specializations unlock automatically once you reach their minimum level (Inner Sight at 20, Preparation at 30) and can be freely assigned at any time.

To get started as a Twisting Blades Rogue, always use your highest DPS Melee Weapon available for more damage. Your Ranged Weapon is simply a stat stick to fuel your power, so its DPS is secondary. Otherwise, follow the priority list below. While you don't have all of the desired temper manuals available, simply try to get anything useful on your gear until you acquire the right ones. For example, % Damage, Damage to Close, Vulnerable Damage, etc. all work as long as you activate their conditions. Likewise, you can temper multiple defensive options such as Resistances, Life, Armor to fill gaps in your survivability. Tempering low level gear is relatively cheap and the results can be very impactful.

Tempering Tip:

For the early game, Elemental Surge Weapon Tempers are very powerful due to their high base damage, especially if you are twinking. If you find these, you may want to keep imprinting them on your weapons for an easy time.

The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary or salvaging items with these powers. Check out our Map Tool to locate these Dungeons.

For leveling, there are a few powers that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them. In addition, keep an eye out for powerful Unique items you may find for this or other builds.

Must-have Dungeon unlocks

• Bladedancer's (Jalal's Vigil - Scosglen)
• Energizing (Sanguine Chapel - Fractured Peaks)

Nice-to-have Dungeon unlocks

1. Expectant (Underroot - Scosglen)
2. Enshrouding (Ghoa Ruins - Hawezar)
3. Volatile Shadows (Ancient's Lament - Dry Steppes)
4. Protector (Lost Archives - Fractured Peaks)
5. Wind Striker (Shivta Ruins - Kehjistan)
6. Arrow Storms (Howling Warren - Scosglen)
7. Vengeful (Inferno - Kehjistan)
8. Retribution (Abandoned Mineworks - Khejistan)

Great Uniques for this build

1. Cowl of the Nameless
2. Fists of Fate (also used in the Dance of Knives Endgame Rogue)
3. Penitent Greaves

Jackpot Drops

As you level up, you may get lucky and find some great random drops. Some of these can increase your power temporarily or if you are interested in trying another build archetype. Keep in mind that there are many more Aspects and Uniques that can be useful to multiple builds; this just lists some of the most impactful ones. While we usually recommend starting with Endgame Builds at level 60, you often can make them work earlier with these drops:

Build-defining Aspects

• Star Shards (enables the Endgame Dance of Knives Rogue)
• High Velocity (enables the Endgame Barrage Rogue)
• Encircling Blades (enables the Endgame Flurry Rogue)

Build-defining Uniques

1. Saboteur's Signet (enables the Endgame Grenade Rogue)
2. Eyes in the Dark (enables the Endgame Death Trap Rogue)
3. Scoundrel's Kiss (enables the Endgame Rapid Fire Rogue)
4. Skyhunter (enhances the Endgame Rapid Fire Rogue)
5. Andariel's Visage (enables the Endgame Andariels Rogue)
6. Shard of Verathiel (enables Endgame Heartseeker Rogue)

You can have up to two Runewords in your setup, each consisting of one Ritual and one Invocation Rune. Socket them into your Armor pieces to replace normal gems. The Twisting Blades Rogue focuses on the following combos:

Best in Slot

• Tam + Ohm - Invokes War Cry. With our frequent use of Twisting Blades, we keep this up a lot.
• Poc+ Lac - Invokes Challenging Shout. We spend a lot of resource, so this is active often and boosts our defenses.

Alternative Choices

If you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top runes, you can also benefit from these options:

• Cem - We evade frequently so that is a good alternative to Noc.
• Yax - We drink a potion frequently to keep Unstable Elixirs up, so this rune can also be beneficial.
• Kry - To group up enemies before having access to Shroud of Khanduras.
• Wat - Decrepify helps with stagger, defense and allows an execute at 10% HP, can be combined with Xol in your other Runeword to generate large amounts of offering.
• Mot - You can use this before you have access to Umbrous in addition to taking Dark Shroud on your skill bar.

Mercenaries are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and assist you in battle. There are 4 separate Mercenaries to choose from, each with their own skill trees and abilities. You can have one hired (permanent) mercenary during solo play and a reinforcement who assists you from time to time in certain situations.

Hired: Subo

He reveals all enemies and materials on the minimap, allowing you to farm Iron Chunks and Bundled Herbs easily. The highlighting is very useful to spot out Elites in Dungeons, as you will recognize the pattern for elites quickly after getting used to it.

You gain a multiplicative increase to your Lucky Hit Chance whenever Subo attacks an enemy through his Ambusher passive. This greatly benefits your Arrow Storms procs.

With how frequently we want to drink Potions for Unstable Elixirs, Share a Drink helps us to generate more.

Reinforcement: Raheir

We choose Bastion for extra defense when fighting.

In Diablo 4, you can level by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, completing Helltide activities, grinding Dungeons, clearing Strongholds, fighting in the Undercity of Kurast or interacting with the Seasonal Mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are equal.

Into the Endgame

This step marks the end of the leveling guide. Below is the Paragon setup to get you started in Torment difficulty, but ideally, you should now transition towards the endgame version of this build or choose another of your liking.

Paragon & Glyphs

Use the slider to see progression steps. At around Paragon 200, leveling slows down significantly and all important Rare clusters, Legendary nodes and Glyph sockets should be unlocked. Afterwards, you can min/max your build with minor tweaks and by picking up additional smaller nodes.

Glyph Leveling Priorities

Video Guide

Updated S6 Video Guide coming soon.

Summary

• The Twisting Blades Rogue is a super fast, fun to play leveling build.
• Attack enemies, then utilize your mobility through Evade, Dash or Shadow Step to hit more enemies with returning blades.
• Use Shadow Imbuement against groups and Poison Imbuement versus tough single targets.
• Focus on improving your Melee Weapons more than any other items.
• Look out for helpful Legendary Powers in the Codex of Power, especially Bladedancer and those that generate Energy and buff your damage/damage reduction.

Credits

Written by M1PY
Special Thanks to wudijo