Make the character
Two clicks, then you're playing.
- Pick Rogue.
- Tick Seasonal Realm — that's where Season 15 content, the seasonal questline and the good loot are.
- Difficulty: start on Normal, or Hard if you've played before. Either way the rule is the same: go up when packs die quickly, and come back down if fights get noticeably longer.
The plan in one line
You're building toward an archer who lines a pack up and puts one heavy arrow through all of it. Levelling is about getting Penetrating Shot at once, adding two Imbuements, and learning to build Combo Points before every shot.
Your first skill bar
This is an A-Tier levelling build, and the bar below is the whole of it. If you'd rather hold one button than aim arrows, Dance of Knives levels just as well. The Rogue tree has no passives and no Key Passive, so every point goes into a skill or an upgrade. You get 83 skill points in total: 69 from levels and 14 from Renown and Season Rank.
Your basic attack. It builds Energy, Ferocity and, from level 15, Combo Points.
GeneratorYour damage, from the second point you spend. It travels in a line through everything, and it is hungry for Energy early on.
Main damageMove in, move out, and get the pack into a row. Its upgrade Weakens enemies you dash through.
MovementA second reposition. Its upgrade makes you Unstoppable.
MovementFor packs. Tagged monsters explode when they die and set off the ones beside them. It also makes enemies Vulnerable.
Press — for packsFor bosses and tough elites. Poison damage over time.
Press — for bossesHow you actually play
Dash or Shadow Step to a spot where the pack lines up in front of you, at a distance. Press Shadow Imbuement for a pack, or Poison Imbuement for a boss or tough elite — never both. Fire Forceful Arrow up to three times, then release one Penetrating Shot down the line. Out of Energy? Back to Forceful Arrow. Dash away from anything that reaches you, line up again and repeat.
Where your skill points go
Spend them top to bottom — finish one line before starting the next. Don't spread them around.
| Order | Skill | Why | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Forceful Arrow + Penetrating Shot | One point each, in that order. That's your generator and your damage. | Rank 1 each |
| 2nd | Dash + Shadow Step | One point each, then upgrades: Energy and Ferocity on Forceful Arrow, Damage Increase on Penetrating Shot, Weaken and the extra charge on Dash, Cooldown and Unstoppable on Shadow Step. 11 points spent by now. | Rank 1 each |
| 3rd | Shadow + Poison Imbuement | One point each. Shadow takes Endemic, Vulnerable and Ferocity; Poison takes Toxic Touch, Duration and Cooldown. Penetrating Shot takes the Shadow Shot variant and its Ferocity upgrade; Forceful Arrow takes Ender. 24 points spent, and the bar is full. | Rank 1 each |
| 4th | Penetrating Shot | Nearly all your damage comes from it, so it is ranked up first. | Rank 15 |
| 5th | Poison Imbuement | Your boss damage. Swap Penetrating Shot's variant to Ballista once its node opens at level 32. | Rank 15 |
| 6th | Shadow Imbuement | Your pack clear. At level 34 swap Dash to Primer and Shadow Step to Artifice. | Rank 15 |
| 7th | Forceful Arrow, then Dash | The last points. Forceful Arrow goes to 15 and Dash to 4. Shadow Step stays at one point. | Rank 15 / Rank 4 |
Made a mess of it?
Respeccing is cheap at low level. Open the skill tree, refund the lot, and spend again in this order. It costs a few gold, not a new character.
Level 15: Specialization
At level 15 the priority quest True Potential starts automatically. Talk to Leyrana in Menestad, in the Fractured Peaks. Follow the signs of Bakira along the Western Highways south-east of town to Chaplina's Slope, clear the Forsaken Quarry dungeon, investigate Bakira's corpse, defeat her ghost, then go back to Leyrana. That unlocks Specialization: one of three passive bonuses. Combo Points opens at 15, Inner Sight at 20 and Preparation at 30.
Take Combo Points
It's the right pick for this bar. Forceful Arrow builds up to 3 Combo Points, shown above your XP bar, and your next Penetrating Shot spends them to hit harder at no extra cost. Early on you have few ways to get Energy back, so you're firing your basic attack a lot anyway — this makes those arrows count. Combo Points and the Ballista variant suit each other: both trade how often you shoot for how hard each shot lands. The shot also gains 10%, 20% or 30% Lucky Hit chance at 1, 2 or 3 points.
From here you stop spamming Penetrating Shot. It's Forceful Arrow up to three times, then one shot. At level 20 you can swap to Inner Sight if you'd rather spam: hit the enemy marked with a purple eye to fill a gauge, fire freely while it's active, and use Forceful Arrow in the downtime. It is weak against very tanky enemies, because the gauge barely fills. Preparation isn't used while levelling, as this bar has no Ultimate. You can change Specialization as often as you like; do it between fights.
The road to 70
What changes, and when. Some steps count skill points spent rather than character level, because that is how the bar fills.
Forceful Arrow, then Penetrating Shot. There are two ways to set difficulty. Normal is the safe choice and the fastest for the campaign. For seasonal levelling you can go to Hard or above, but only while you still kill quickly. If in doubt, stay on Normal. On a first character, finish the Lord of Hatred campaign, which unlocks War Plans, and start the Seasonal Questline if it's available.
Dash and Shadow Step arrive by 11 points spent, both Imbuements by 24. That fills the bar.
Do True Potential when it appears and take Combo Points. From now on it's three Forceful Arrows, then one Penetrating Shot.
An optional swap that lets you spam Penetrating Shot while its gauge is full. Combo Points stays the default.
Preparation unlocks at 30 and you ignore it for now; the endgame build picks it up later. The Undercity in Kurast opens in War Plans around the same time. After 30 most key synergies are in place: fill the ranks on your main skills first, leftovers on utility.
At 32 swap Shadow Shot for Ballista. It takes twice as long to fire but shoots a larger, more powerful arrow, and it deals the most damage of the three variants. At 34 swap Dash to Primer (Stealth and Ferocity at the end of a Dash) and Shadow Step to Artifice (no target needed, and it leaves a decoy that taunts).
Around 60, clear every Stronghold — a lot of experience for little time. As you near 70, higher item-power gear starts to drop. That's a good moment to redo your tempers and imprints.
Paragon opens. Your first glyphs, in order, are Versatility, Fluidity, Tracker, Canny, Bane, ranked up in the Pit. Complete Pit Tier 10 to enter Torment 1, then move across to Penetrating Shot. It swaps Forceful Arrow and Shadow Imbuement for Shadow Clone and Concealment, and Combo Points for Preparation.
Gear rules for beginners
You don't need to understand affixes yet. These rules cover it.
- Upgrade your ranged weapon first. Its damage is the base for every other damage calculation, so it matters more than any other item. A crossbow is fine while levelling; you move to a bow at 70.
- Keep two daggers equipped as well. A Rogue wears two one-handed melee weapons and a ranged weapon at once, and the stats on all three always apply, even if you never swing the daggers.
- Look for: Weapon Damage on the bow or crossbow, then Dexterity, Maximum Life, and Energy (Energy per Second on armour, Energy on Kill on rings). Movement Speed on boots and amulet, and ranks to Penetrating Shot on gloves, are welcome.
- Temper as you go. Until you own the right manuals, anything useful will do: % Damage, Damage to Close or Vulnerable Damage, provided you meet the condition. For defence, Resistances, Life and Armour. Tempering low-level gear is cheap.
- Aspects to keep, in this order: High Velocity, Ranger's, Malice, Imitated Imbuement and Debilitating Toxins. Put your best offensive one on the amulet — you replace it least often. Treat aspects as a bonus while levelling: imprint them if you have the funds, and don't go hunting for them.
- Gambling: one-handed weapons for offensive aspects, chest and pants for defensive, boots for mobility, rings for Resource.
- If Eaglehorn drops, wear it. It is a jackpot that can let you switch to the endgame build before 70. Condemnation, a dagger, is the other one to keep. At endgame Eaglehorn is the first item to chase, but the build works without it.
- Gems and Splinters: Diamonds in all three weapons, Emeralds in pants. Splinters go in jewellery, and each has a bonus and a drawback. Use Hellfire (guaranteed damage, but you can't crit), Lesser Splinter of the Mother (enemies you walk into become Vulnerable) and Lesser Splinter of Lies (more XP, but you are always Weakened and Vulnerable). Avoid Pain: it costs movement speed.
- Runewords go in armour, two at most, because weapon sockets are better spent on gems. Use Moni + Qua, whose wolves freeze enemies to keep you safe, and Cir + Kry, which pulls nearby enemies in. And spend your gold and materials. There's no point holding them for later.
Mercenary
Hire Raheir. Take Bastion for the shield, the Unstoppable and the damage buff, Raheir's Aegis for resistances, and Inspiration. Set Varyana as reinforcement with Bloodthirst, triggered by Penetrating Shot, for attack speed. Mercenaries unlock during the Vessel of Hatred campaign.
Words the game doesn't explain
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Energy | Your blue bar. Core skills spend it. It regenerates slowly by itself, and skills and gear can speed that up. |
| Specialization | The Rogue's class mechanic: pick one of three passive bonuses (Combo Points, Inner Sight or Preparation), unlocked from level 15 by the True Potential quest. |
| Combo Points | Basic skills build up to 3 points, and your next Core skill spends them to hit harder at no extra cost. Shown above the XP bar. |
| Inner Sight | A random enemy is marked with a purple eye. Hitting it fills a gauge next to your Energy bar; when it's full, you get a few seconds of free Core skill casts. The mark moves after 10 seconds. |
| Basic / Core | Basic skills are weak and free, and are there to recover Energy and build Combo Points. Core skills cost a lot of Energy and hit much harder. Penetrating Shot is a Core skill. |
| Imbuement | A cooldown skill that adds an element and extra effects to your next attacks. Only one can be active at a time. |
| Ferocity | A stacking buff that Forceful Arrow builds. With its Ferocity upgrade, Penetrating Shot deals 7% more damage per stack. |
| Vulnerable | A debuff you put on enemies, here through Shadow Imbuement or the Mother splinter. Vulnerable Damage stats and the Malice aspect then multiply what you deal to them. |
| Stealth | While Stealthed, enemies can't attack you. It breaks when you attack or take damage. Dash's Primer variant gives you 4 seconds of it. |
| Codex of Power | Your library of legendary aspects, unlocked by salvaging items that carry them. The Occultist imprints them onto Rare or Legendary gear. |
Mistakes new Rogues make
- Overlapping the two Imbuements. Only one can be active, and you don't want both on cooldown at once. Don't press them while walking between packs either.
- Shooting into a scattered pack. Penetrating Shot travels in a line. Get the monsters in a row first.
- Spamming Penetrating Shot until you're empty. It is Energy-hungry and every shot counts. Build Combo Points with Forceful Arrow first.
- Neglecting the ranged weapon — or leaving the dagger slots stale. The first is the base of all your damage; the daggers' stats always apply too.
- Sitting on a difficulty that's too high. If it slows your kills noticeably, drop down. The extra experience doesn't make up for the time.
- Standing in melee. Rogues are squishy and rely on positioning. Keep your distance and use Dash.
- Hoarding gold and materials. Use everything to speed up the road to 70.
At 70 you're done levelling — move across to an endgame build: Penetrating Shot · Dance of Knives · Death Trap.