Shadow Step

The Shadow Step Rogue Build Guide teaches you about Gear, Skills, Paragon, Playstyle & Seasonal Mechanics in Diablo 4.

Shadow Step is your main driver of this build and you use it as a Catalyst to proc the Lucky Hit Chance: Deal Cold Damage from Azurewrath. This unique sword and a few other flat damage lucky hit damage sources scale their damage via Attack Speed. Therefore, we try to stack it as much as we can.

• The unique Boots Assassins Stride are mandatory to playing any variant of this build. You can drop them from Lord Zir.
• You can find a very in-depth explanation of everything there is to know further down below. The main focus of the guide is the Endgame variant and the following provides a quick overview depending on which variant you select.

• Activate Shadow Clone whenever it is ready.
• Shadow Clone is a massive damage boost and allows you to score more Lucky Hits to proc Azurewrath.
• Move around by spamming Shadow Step on monsters.
• Casting Shadow Step will not break Inner Calm Aspect. Dash or moving however, will.
• If there are no monsters in range, utilize Dash to cover the distance.
• Hitting enemies with Shadow Step will proc Azurewrath for big damage. This can also proc from the Cleave.
• Shoot Heartseeker every 6-8 seconds.
• You need to do this to keep up Close Quarters Combat.
• The exact timing is dependant on your Heartseeker Duration Temper.
• Drop Caltrops and Poison Trap on Elite packs and Bosses.
• Through the Umbrous Aspect you generate Dark Shrouds through Lucky Hits, securing your defense.

Everything you need to know

Playing Shadow Step Rogue can definitely be challenging because of how certain mechanics interact with each other. Below you will find deeper level information and answers to common questions.

Unique Items

Assassin's Stride

The Shadow Step Rogue build is nearly impossible to play without those. Your Cooldown on Shadow Step will not be low enough to be able to constantly reset it.

Azurewrath

This unique sword allows you to gain a massive flat damage proc. In fact, it is so good that you optimize your build around it once you have it. The damage it and other flat damage procs you utilize deal, scale with Attack Speed. This leads you to stack both Attack Speed and Lucky Hit Chance to proc it as often as possible.

Frostburn

These gloves are insane for Shadow Step Rogue. Combined with the Smoldering Ember Infusion you can gain the benefit quite easily. The additional flat damage procs also scale with Attack Speed and allow you to nearly have another Azurewrath.

Mythic Priority:

Heir of Perdition > Shroud of False Death > Starless Skies

Regular Unique Priority:

Assasins Stride = Azurewrath > Frostburn

Stat Requirements

Cooldown Reduction

You need Shadow Step to have a Cooldown of 3.5s or lower. Usually, having Greater Affix Mobility Cooldown Reduction on Assassins Stride is enough to get there combined with Luminate Eye.

Clone Cooldown Reduction

You need Shadow Clone to have around 25 seconds or less Cooldown to be able to use it often enough to maximize the benefits from all it's buffs. Due to our Specialization, Preparation, the Cooldown is reduced very often. We are spending Energy to proc Preparation through the AhuQax Runeword.

Lucky Hit Chance

To get Shadow Step to proc Azurewrath on every single Hit, you need a total of +150% **Lucky Hit Chance.
Once your ingame tooltip for Shadow Step states 250%, you are all set.

Attack Speed

We want to get as close as possible to +200% Attack Speed (100% in Cap 1 and as much as we can in Cap 2.) Therefore we use affixes on gear to cap out on Cap 1. Shadow Step Rogue uses the following sources of Attack Speed increases:

• Cap 1 (100%+)
• Close Quarters Combat Buff 1
• Attack Speed on Gear
• Elixir of Advantage II
• Cap 2 (75%+)
• Close Quarters Combat Buff 2
• Alchemical Advantage
• Fundamental Heartseeker

Consumables

You want to use the following for optimal stats:

• Elixir of Advantage II
• Spiral Morning
• Song of the Mountain
• Soothing Spices

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why do we need +150% Lucky Hit Chance?

Because of a combination of the following:

• Shadow Step has a base Lucky Hit Chance of 100%.
• Azurewrath has a 40% Chance to proc whenever you score a Lucky Hit
• To proc Azurewrath on every single Shadow Step, you need it to have a 250% Lucky Hit Chance
• A simple calculation shows:
  40% * 250% = 0.4 * 2.5 = 1

What other affixes can I roll on my Amulet?

Ranks to Malice can be replaced with Ranks to Exploit or Ranks to Frigid Finesse.

How are we spending Energy?

AhuQax allows us to spend energy to proc Preparation and Ring of Starless Skies.

Why do we have Ranks in Dark Shroud but it's not on the Skill bar?

Umbrous Aspect allows you to generate Dark Shrouds on Lucky Hits.

My Shadow Step is not resetting it's Cooldown entirely, what can I do?

That means you do not have enough Cooldown Reduction on it. Here are a few things to check:

• Your Assassins Stride have a good roll on Mobility Cooldown Reduction (ideally Greater Affix).
• The Horadric Jewel Luminating Eye does help, make sure to craft it soon.
• Get another Shadow Step Cooldown Reduction Temper on your Jewelry.
• Roll Cooldown Reduction on your Amulet and/or Helmet at the Enchanter until you get better gear.

How do we trigger Frigid Finesse?

You can activate Frigid Finesse via Methodical Caltrops and the Chill from Azurewrath.

I am not dealing much damage, what is happening?

Azurewrath scales insanely well with better gear. Be it better Masterworks on Azurewrath itself on the Cold Damage, more Attack Speed and Lucky Hit Chance everywhere or just more Dexterity or higher Glyph Levels. There are many layers of damage increase in this build, that will cumulatively increase your damage by a lot once they all fall into place. Keep working on your gear and make sure to follow the Gameplay Loop rotation further above for optimal results.

Can I use this Build on Hardcore?

For Hardcore, you should ensure you always use Incenses and Elixirs. Swap a few offensive affixes or even Dexterity to defensive ones or Maximum Life. Amulet tempers can also provide you additional defense if requires and switching out Heir of Perdition for Harlequin's Crest and Shroud of False Death for Tyraels Might is a good idea.

Attack Speed Caps

There are two different Attack Speed Caps in Diablo 4. Generally speaking, affixes on gear and permanent Attack Speed increases fall into Cap 1, everything else is usually Cap 2. However, the Game is very inconsistent with these things and listing every single case would break the scope of this guide. For Shadow Step Rogue we just need to know that stacking more Attack Speed is good until we are capped out.

• For a better understanding of what buff goes where, refer to the Attack Speed Mechanics Guide by Avarilyn over at Maxroll.

Dark Shroud Damage Reduction Scaling

Dark Shroud

Dark Shroud is used passively through the Umbrous Aspect and therefore does not need to be placed on our Skill Bar. Dark Shroud is an insanely powerful defensive skill because of its parabolic scaling. This means that it gets stronger the more we invest in it.

• Level 1 Dark Shroud provides 40% DR at 5 stacks.
• Level 5 Dark Shroud provides 48% DR at 5 stacks. 1 - (1-48%)/(1-40%) = 13.33% effective DR increase.
• Level 15 Dark Shroud provides 68% DR at 5 stacks. 1 - (1-68%)/(1-48%) = 39.5% effective DR increase.
• Level 19 Dark Shroud provides 76% DR at 5 stacks. 1 - (1-76%)/(1-68%) = 25% effective DR increase.

Cooldown Reduction Formula

Cooldown Reduction behaves inversely multiplicative.

• That means when you have two Cooldown Reduction rolls, each being 20.2% your actual Cooldown Reduction is not 40.4% now, but 36.3% instead.
• The formula for this example is as follows:
  0.363 = 1 - (1 - 0.202) * (1 - 0.202)

1st of July 2025

• Guide published for Season 9 Sins of the Horadrim