The NEW Rogue in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred - Patch 2.0

In this Diablo 4 Rogue in Vessel of Hatred Patch 2.0 article, I’ll be helping you understand how the Rogue Class changes for the D4 Vessel of Hatred expansion (Patch 2.0) affect it and give you an easy overview of what to expect for your builds and Gameplay.

The new expansion is adding 1 new Cutthroat Agility Skill, 1 Key Passive and 4 regular passives to the Rogue as well as a new Paragon board. On the itemization side, we’ll be getting new Uniques, and Legendary Aspects.

The New Rogue in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred – Patch 2.0

Before we get into the specifics of the Rogue, let me tell you about some huge changes coming to Diablo IV itself. I’ll try to keep this brief, and we’ll have full detailed coverage in a future video, but for now, here are the most important ones.

First of all, max level has been reduced to 60 (from 100), and players will begin receiving Paragon Points once they hit this level. These Points can be used by any level 60 character on your account. This means you can gain Paragon Points for your Rogue while playing your Necromancer, and you’ll also have an additional 10 Skill Points to allocate into your build (from levels 51-60), giving you a total of 69 Skill Points in Patch 2.0, up from 59.

Additionally, stats like Armor, Health, and Damage have been drastically reduced to simplify the game and make mathing easier for players. This doesn’t result in a nerfing of your character—it’s more of a backend change, reflected in the new numbers in your UI. So don’t freak out if you see that your weapon no longer deals the same damage; it will still be as effective as before.

Lastly, the difficulty system of Diablo IV is changing. There are now new Torment levels along with new difficulty levels, much like there were in Diablo III. Regular difficulty levels will unlock as you advance your character, but Torment levels will need to be unlocked through an End Game activity called The Pit of Artificers, which functions similarly to Rifts in Diablo 3. These are randomized dungeons with a Boss at the end. This shouldn’t fundamentally change the way you play the game and should allow for better customization of your preferred difficulty.

The New Rogue in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred

New Skills

Active Skill

The Rogue has a new Cutthroat Agility Skill called “Dance of Knives.” While channeling, it increases your movement speed and dodge chance while throwing knives at nearby enemies for 42% Weapon Damage. The skill comes with 6 charges and has a 1-second charge cooldown.

The enhancement grants 4 additional charges if you move 30 meters while channeling Dance of Knives, allowing you to potentially keep channeling the skill almost indefinitely as long as you’re not stunned. This should make the Rogue even more mobile and deadly in chaotic combat situations.

There are two different upgrades,

Methodical Dance of Knives: When you stop Channeling Dance of Knives, drop up to 12 Stun Grenades, each dealing 20% Weapon damage. The Channeled duration determines how many are dropped. This option allows you to quickly move through weaker enemies and then stop the Channeling on top of an elite pack to deal a burst of damage and finish them off with the rest of your skills. Might be great for mobility on many rogue builds.
Disciplined Dance of Knives: Dance of Knives Slows enemies hit by 25% for 3 seconds. Each knife has a 20% chance to pierce the enemy. This approach applies guaranteed slow effect, which is great, and the piercing chance allows you to deal with packs of enemies at the same time.

I think that this will become a staple on many Rogue builds, as it provides you with both Mobility and survivability. On top of that, the skill itself is very fun to use and engage, reminding me a lot of the Whirlwind Barbarian, so I’m sure we are going to see some builds trying to mimic a similar playstyle, especially when combined with the new Aspect of Star Shards which enhances both Damage and AoE.

Passive Skills

The new Key Passive is called Alchemical Admixture

Alchemical Admixture: Dealing 3 different types of non-physical damage increases the Potency of your Imbuement skills by 40% for 5 seconds. This Potency is further increased by 20% of the total amount of your Bonus Damage to Poison, Shadow, and Cold

Most Imbuement builds were aimed at a singular type of damage, but with the introduction of this passive and the added amount of skillpoints I think we’ll now be able to create builds that combine all types of imbuements, which allows to take advantage of more affixes on the gear and will be less monotonous to play.

The other passives are mostly welcome additions to already existing builds,

Target Practice: Your Critical Strike Chance with Marksman and Cutthroat Skills is increased by 3/6/9%.

A flat increased critical strike chance is great for builds that mostly rely on luck or attack speed will love this new passive.

Balestra: Gain 4/8/12% increased Damage for 4 seconds after using Evade.

At level 3 with 12% increased damage almost all builds that rely on the Evade mechanic will be picking this and will motive players to fight in the middle of packs of monsters.

Evasive: After Dodging an attack, gain 2/4/6% Damage Reduction for 4 seconds.

While damage reduction is great, this skill seems a little out of place, as you need to actually dodge an attack to trigger the effect and then you are expected to be hit which is counter intuitive. Can still be great to mitigate some elemental or AoE damage.

Unto Dawn: Your Ultimate skills deal 15/30/45%[x] increased damage.

This passive seems amazing, and we’ll most likely see an increase in Death Trap builds with the 45% increased damage.

Changes to Skills & Trees

There have been multiple changes to Rogue skills since release, so if you are a returning player you will probably need to tweak your build to match the new effects. The latest patch also brings a new wave of changes, starting with the Blade Shift:

Active Skills

Blade Shift

For starters, the enhancement was buffed by adding the “Moving through enemies refreshes its duration”, which was previously part of the Fundamental Blade Shift Upgrade. Additionally, the new Fundamental Blade Shift upgrade will now empower your next Blade Shift damage by 100% if you cast another skill before using it.

While the upgrade doesn’t seem that relevant, the Enhancement to Blade Shift will make it so you only need to spend 2 points to be able to move through enemies, which might make it a staple basic skill for many builds.

Shadow Step

Disciplined shadow step was changed from “Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step stuns them for 2 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 3 seconds” to “Shadow Step deals 200%[x] more damage. Casting Shadow Step reduces its cooldown by 3 seconds.”

I have mixed feelings about this change, as the stun was really helpful against certain enemies, but the 200% increased damage is more versatile and allows you to quickly dispatch the highest threats.

Concealment

The first noticeable change is that the skill will now also provide Unhindered when used, allowing you to move through enemies and blocking any movement impairment that you may have, greatly increasing its usefulness.

The upgrades were also changed, combining both previous upgrades into a single one. Subverting Concealment will now both make enemies Vulnerable for 6 seconds as it used to, and also guarantee a critical strike on the skill used to break concealment.

The Countering Concealment upgrade will now grant 10% Dodge Chance and increases the Movement Speed bonus to 60%[+] for 5 seconds.

This allows Concealment to be used in two different ways, one that’s aimed at burst damage, and the other one that’s more oriented for survivability and battlefield positioning.

Shadow Clone

The Prime Shadow Clone upgrade will now give Stealth on top of Unstoppable when casting Shadow Clone. This will allow for some synergies and also make it more viable as an escape tool in critical situations.

Death Trap

Death Trap has received a massive buff with this update, now providing a base 10 second cooldown if an enemy is killed with it (This was previously a 12 second cooldown provided by Supreme Death Trap upgrade). The new Supreme Death Trap upgrade now makes it so enemies that resist the Pull In are hit again for 120% of Death Trap’s damage.

While we are losing 2 seconds from the previous version, I think that the new effect will be amazing against elites and Bosses, and don’t forget the increased 45% damage we are also getting from the new Unto Dawn passive, so I’m definitively looking forward to trying this.

Rain of Arrows

Similar to Death Trap, Rain of arrows now gains the Supreme Rain of Arrows upgrade by default, which knocks down enemies for 3 seconds. The new Supreme Rain of Arrows upgrade will now deal 40% increased damage to crowd controlled enemies.

I enjoyed Rain of Arrows before, but this will make it even more viable in combination with the increased damage from the Unto Dawn passive to deal with big crowds of enemies.

Passives

Weapon Mastery

The tooltip was changed to better state that the bonus damage is provided based on the weapon used in your attacks.

Close Quarters Combat

Now scales from 15% of Damage to Close rather than 10% of Damage vs Crowd Controlled. While it might not sound like a big change, it will definetively redifine the affixes that you are using for the build.

Adrenaline Rush

Energy regen while moving increased from 5/10/15% to 7/14/21%. This is a good buff that will definitely see some play, especially with the addition of Dance of Knives.

Impetus

Now gains damage to Basic skills along with Agility/Subterfuge while the buff is active. Basic skills are not very relevant right now, so I don’t think that this is a relevant change.

Victimize

Damage from the explosion has been increased from 62% to 80%, which is a plain buff to its effectiveness.

Momentum

There has been 2 changes, the first one is that Channeled Cutthroat Skills will now also count which includes the newly introduced Dance of Knives. The second and most important change is that stacks will only be removed when using a Marksman Skill instead of any Non-Cutthroat skills, which makes it much more flexible.

I always liked the Momentum Key Passive, but I often felt constrained on using some skills because of this restriction, Im hoping we’ll get to see it more with these changes.

Changes to Paragon Boards & Glyphs

In 2.0, players will also now only be able to equip 5 Paragon Boards at a time, including your base board, so you cannot just ninja through a board for one node and out really quickly, and instead players will need to utilize their boards wisely. However, each Class has gained a new Board, for a total of 9 Boards (up from 8), and some Rare Nodes have changed. And on top of that, players can now earn a total of 300 Paragon Points (up from 200), which should allow for a serious power increase across all Builds.

Glyphs have also seen a significant change. They now no longer improve via experience, but instead level up by completing levels of The Pit of Artificers and trying to improve them at the end, again much like Diablo III. The higher level of Pit you complete, the higher chance you have improving your Glyph. Glyphs also now go up to level 100 further expanding their power, and the higher level they are, the more difficult it becomes to improve them without going to higher and higher levels in The Pit of Artificers.

Devious Devious Glyph

Now applies its damage bonus against Bosses.

Starter Board

Outlaw (replacing Lawless)

Previous: +200 Armor / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Outlaw) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Dexterity

Eldritch Bounty Board

Imbuer

Previous: +15% Imbued Damage / +10% Non-physical Damage
Now: +3% Resistance to All Elements / +20 Armor

Concoction (replacing Dosage)

Previous: +4% Potion Healing / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Concoction) +10% Non-physical Damage / +10 Dexterity

Tricks of the Trade Board

Surgical (replacing Lawless)

Previous: +100 Armor / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Surgical) +10% Damage / +10 Dexterity

Haven (replacing Havoc)

Previous: +15% Critical Strike Damage / +10% Physical Damage
Now: (Haven) +20 Armor / 4% Maximum Life

Cheap Shot Cheap Shot Board

Artificer (replacing Wiles)

Previous: 6% Damage Reduction from Slowed Enemies / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Artificer) +10% Vulnerable Damage / +10 Dexterity

Deviant (replacing Oppress)

Previous: +15% Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies / +15% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Now: (Deviant) +3% Resistance to All Elements / 4% Maximum Life

Deadly Ambush Board

Ensnarement (replacing Cunning)

Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Ensnarement) +15% Critical Strike Damage / +10 Dexterity

Cunning (replacing Slayer)

Previous: +100 Armor / +4% Potion Healing
Now: (Cunning) 4% Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills / +3% Resistance to All Elements

Leyrana’s Instinct Board

Essential (replacing Feint)

Previous: +12.5% Damage for 4 Seconds After Dodging an Attack / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Essential) +14% Core Damage / +10 Dexterity

Punishment (replacing Tolerance)

Previous: +3% Resistance to All Elements / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Punishment) +10% Physical Damage / +10 Dexterity

Targeted (replacing Discerning)

Previous: +12.5% Damage for 4 Seconds After Dodging an Attack / +16% Damage to Elites
Now: (Targeted) +14% Core Damage / +16% Damage to Elites

No Witnesses Board

Deliverance (replacing Training)

Previous: 4% Maximum Life / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Deliverance) +35% Ultimate Damage / +10 Dexterity

Training (replacing Ruin)

Previous: +35% Ultimate Damage / +15% Critical Strike Damage
Now: (Training) 4% Maximum Life / +10% Poison Resistance

Exploit Weakness Board

Misery (replacing Dosage)

Previous: +4% Potion Healing / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Misery) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Dexterity

Revitalize (replacing Hunter Killer)

Previous: +16% Damage to Elites / +14% Movement Speed for 4 Seconds After Killing an Elite
Now: (Revitalize) +4% Healing Received / +20 Armor

Cunning Stratagem Board

Fundamentals (replacing Lawless)

Previous: +100 Armor / +10 Dexterity
Now: (Fundamentals) +10% Damage / +10 Dexterity

Lawless (replacing Fundamentals)

Previous: +35% Basic Damage / +10% Damage
Now: (Lawless) +20 Armor / 4% Maximum Life

New Rogue Paragon Board

The new Paragon board is called “Danse Macabre” and its unique node makes it so Casting a Mobility or Subterfuge Skill increases the damage of your next Skill by 50%[x], which will open the possibility for some hit and run builds made around the new changes to both Concealment and Shadow Step.

The rare nodes are as follow, and will help with cooldown reduction and burst damage:

Assassin: +25% Damage to Healthy Enemies, +4% Maximum Life
Acrobat: +2.5% Mobility Cooldown Reduction, +10 Dexterity
Skulker: +2.5% Subterfuge Cooldown Reduction, +10 Dexterity
Giant Killer: +16% Damage to Elites, +3% Resistance to All Elements
Brawler: 4.5% Damage reduction from Close Enemies, +12% Damage to Close Enemies
Ranger: 6% Damage Reduction from Distant Enemies, +15% Damage to Distant Enemies

The Assasin node provides a massive +25% Damage to healthy Enemies, allowing you to one hit kill high threats at the start of a fight, while the reduction to cooldowns will help keep the uptime of skills and make it viable to create a hit and run build that constantly gets in and out of combat. I think this is a great board that might spawn many new builds.

Changes to Aspects

Remember that the Codex of Power was changed in Season 4, and now stores Legendary Aspects of the highest roll you’ve obtained for that particular Aspect. You can also use the Codex of Power as many times as you want on items provided you have the gold and materials. If you have not played in awhile, you should probably head over to your storage, pull items you’ve been saving for a rainy day, and Salvage many of them as soon as possible at the Blacksmith in order to unlock higher rolls at the Codex of Power and free up space.

The following Aspects are changing with the new patch:

Aspect of True Sight: The aspect will now make it so while Inner Sight is full, you gain 21-30%[x] increased damage, in addition to the already existing 70-100% Critical Strike Damage to enemies marked by Inner Sight, which is a massive buff for Inner Sight.

Resistant Assailant’s Aspect: Now gives resistance on casting Concealment rather than when breaking stealth, which makes more sense to escape difficult situations.

Aspect of Uncanny Treachery: Has been reworked from “Dealing damage to a Dazed enemy with an Agility skill grants Stealth for 4 seconds. When Stealth breaks you gain 5-15% dodge chance for 2 seconds.” to “Dealing direct damage with a non-Agility Skill after casting an Agility skill grants Stealth for 2 seconds. When Stealth breaks you gain 10-18% dodge chance for 2 seconds.” Like previously mentioned, it seems like Blizzard is giving us a lot of options for hit and run builds.

Opportunist’s Aspect: Grenades now drop on your target if you exit Stealth with Shadow Step. I think this was unintended, and the new mechanic is how it should have always worked.

New Uniques & Aspects

Three new offensive aspects can be acquired for the Rogue

Aspect of Poisonous Clouds – Offensive Aspect

When entering Stealth, create a cloud that deals (600-780% of Weapon Damage) Poison damage over 6 seconds.

Great for both the Hit and Run archetype or to trigger the new Alchemical Admixture Key Passive which relies on non-physical damage.

Aspect of Splintering Shards -Offensive Aspect

Lucky Hit: Up to a 100% chance when hitting or killing a Frozen enemy to create an ice splinter that fires away from them dealing (25%-50% of Weapon Damage) Cold damage and Chilling for 20-30%.

Great for Crowd Control and to deal with big packs of enemies, I think that this could also be effective with the new Alchemical Admixture passive.

Aspect of Star Shards – Offensive Aspect

Knives from Dance of Knives have a 50% chance to shatter into 6 shards of metal on hit, dealing 100-120% Physical damage. Dance of Knives now spends Combo Points, granting up to 3 additional Charges that can exceed the Maximum.

This Aspect is amazing, greatly increasing AoE and allowing you to mix it with a Combo Style build. I’m sure this is going to be a staple on Dance of Knives builds and see a lot of play.

Unique Item

Pitfighter’s Gull – Unique Ring

Affixes

+ [8.0 – 12.5]% Critical Strike Chance
+ [308.0 – 425.0]% Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth
[18.5 – 27.5]% Smoke Grenade Cooldown Reduction
+ [1 – 2] to Mending Obscurity

Power

Casting Smoke Grenade increases your Critical Strike Damage by 33[x] for 3-6 seconds and leaves behind a cloud of shadows. While within the cloud, you gain Stealth once per second.

The ultimate item for Hit and Run Strategy, this ring will definitely will see some play and enable one hit kills on most elites and maybe even on some Bosses while also providing an insane amount of survivavility for the wearer.

What this all means for the Rogue

The Rogue is getting a wide set of tools that was missing to create some amazing builds and it sure look very promising.

The new Skill is very fun to play and I’m willing to say that it might bring back the Rogue to its golden age similar of that of the Twisting-Blade, as it will both improve existing builds and create new and exclusive ones shaped around it.

I’m also happy to see that Blizzard seem to have made the changes based on their vision of the different playstyles such as the Hit and Run assassin, instead of focusing on modifying a single skill at a time. The new passive skills and Ultimates Rework will also get Death Trap and hopefully Rain of Arrows back into the meta which will further increase the pool of options that you have while playing as a Rogue, while the new passive in combination with the increased amount of Skill Points will allow to mix different imbuements on a single build making it less monotonous to play.

I’m really looking forward to try the Rogue on this expansion, and I’m very happy with the changes that Blizzard has brought with this patch.

So that rounds up our introduction to the 2.0 Rogue in Diablo IV. I’m very excited to try all these changes and try many new builds and even some old ones that were nerfed at the time. As always, you can find our builds on the blog at fextralife.com and make full use of our interactive map and wiki to keep track of where to get all items! We’ve already been working and the expansion content is shaping up nicely.

Will you be playing a Rogue? Or are you going to be going full on into Spiritborn? Let us know in the comments below.