Diablo 4: BEST Assassin Build [Skills, Class & Gems]

If you want to build a complete assassin, adopt my assassin build. It’s based on the Rogue Class and relies primarily on Shadow damage and Imbuement. This guide discusses the best assassin build and how to maximize your mobility and damage on the battlefield.

Active Skills

Skill	Type	Effects	Upgrades	Rank
Blade Shift	Basic	Stabs the target rapidly and dashes, dealing 15% damage and letting you move through foes for some time.	Enhanced Blade Shift, Fundamental Blade Shift	1
Twisting Blades	Core, Imbueable	Your blades go through a single target, dealing 45% damage. During this impaled state, they will receive an extra 8% damage from you. The blades will come back to you after 1.5 seconds, impaling enemies once again and dealing 72% damage. The damage increases with Combo Points as well as an additional Movement Speed boost.	Enhanced Twisting Blades, Improved Twisting Blades	1
Shadow Step	Agility	You can rapidly move in the shadows, impaling enemies for 72% damage while remaining Unstoppable. After Shadow Step ends, you gain a 2-second 50% Movement Speed boost.	Enhanced Shadow Step, Disciplined Shadow Step	1
Dark Shroud	Subterfuge	5 shadows provide cover as you move through the arena. Whenever you take damage, a shadow is consumed, reducing that damage. You receive an 8.8% Damage Reduction boost for every active shadow.	Enhanced Dark Shroud, Countering Dark Shroud	3
Shadow Imbuement	Imbuement	Your weapon becomes Imbued with shadows. The next two Imbueable Skills will deal Shadow damage to enemies while also infecting them for 6 seconds. When these infected foes die, they explode, dealing AoE damage (56%). If the enemy doesn't die before the infection runs out, only that target will receive the damage.	Enhanced Shadow Imbuement, Blended Shadow Imbuement	5
Shadow Clone	Ultimate	You create a Shadow Clone that does everything you do, including your attacks. But the damage is reduced to only 60%. The Clone disappears after 15 seconds.	Prime Shadow Clone, Supreme Shadow Clone	1

I highly suggest Blade Shift for your Basic Skill. It not only deals a medium amount of damage but also enables mobility through enemies.

• Key Passive:

  • Momentum: Provides a balance of defense and agility, synergizing with various skills.

  Active Skill Passives:

  1. Stutter Step: Increases Movement Speed, enhancing mobility.
  2. Siphoning Strikes: Provides Max HP healing upon Critical Strikes.
  3. Trick Attacks: Knocks Down enemies, especially effective with Fundamental Blade Shift and Improved Twisting Blades.
  4. Concussive: Boosts Critical Strike Chance when Knocking Down enemies.
  5. Rapid Gambits: Reduces Evade Cooldown, facilitating faster movement.
  6. Malice: Makes enemies Vulnerable, increasing damage taken.
  7. Sturdy: Reduces damage received, balancing survivability.

  Imbuement and Shadow Skills:

  • Precision Imbuement: Increases Critical Strike Chance for Imbued Skills.
  • Shadow Crash: Adds Shadow damage and has a 10% chance of Stunning enemies, complementing Momentum.

  These Passives work together to create a well-rounded assassin build with mobility, survivability, and damage potential.

Passive Skills

Skill	Effects	Rank
Momentum (Key Passive)	Cutthroat Skills, when hitting a Dazed, Frozen, or Stunned enemy or any foe from behind, generate a stack of Momentum. Each 3 stacks of Momentum grant 30% more Energy Regeneration, 20% Damage Reduction, and 15% Movement Speed. This effect lasts 8 seconds.	1
Stutter Step	You receive a 10% Movement Speed boost when landing Critical Strikes on enemies. This lasts for 4 seconds.	2
Siphoning Strikes	Each Critical Strike on a Close enemy heals 3% of your Max HP.	3
Rapid Gambits	Whenever you Daze a foe, the Cooldown on Evade reduces by 1.5%.	3
Malice	Vulnerable enemies take 6% extra damage from you.	2
Trick Attacks	Critically Striking a Dazed enemy will Knock them Down for 1.5 seconds.	3
Concussive	Knocking Down or Back a foe will grant 12% additional Critical Strike Chance against them, lasting 3 seconds.	3
Precision Imbuement	Imbued Skills have a +9% higher Critical Strike Chance.	3
Shadow Crash	Your Shadow damage may Stun targets for 1.5 seconds (10% chance).	3
Sturdy	Close Damage against you gets reduced by 12%.	3

For your Key Passive, opt for Momentum. It works well with Blade Shift, Twisting Blades, Shadow Crash, Fundamental Blade Shift, and Improved Twisting Blades. It’s an excellent all-around defensive and agility Skill.

Active Skill Passives:

1. Stutter Step: Increases Movement Speed, enhancing mobility.
2. Siphoning Strikes: Provides Max HP healing upon landing Critical Strikes.
3. Trick Attacks: Knocks Down enemies, particularly effective with Fundamental Blade Shift and Improved Twisting Blades.
4. Concussive: Grants a Critical Strike Chance boost when Knocking Down an enemy, increasing the chance for more Knock Downs via Trick Attacks.
5. Rapid Gambits: Reduces Evade Cooldown, enabling faster movement.
6. Malice: Inflicts Vulnerability on enemies, making them take increased damage.
7. Sturdy: Decreases damage received, improving survivability.

Imbuement and Shadow Skills:

• Precision Imbuement: Enhances the Critical Strike Chance of Imbued Skills.
• Shadow Crash: Adds Shadow damage and has a 10% chance to Stun enemies, complementing the Momentum Key Passive.

Skill Tree

Skill	Rank
Blade Shift	1
Enhanced Blade Shift	1
Fundamental Blade Shift	1
Twisting Blades	1
Enhanced Twisting Blades	1
Improved Twisting Blades	1
Shadow Step	1
Enhanced Shadow Step	1
Disciplined Shadow Step	1
Stutter Step	2
Dark Shroud	3
Enhanced Dark Shroud	1
Countering Dark Shroud	1
Siphoning Strikes	3
Shadow Imbuement	5
Enhanced Shadow Imbuement	1
Blended Shadow Imbuement	1
Rapid Gambits	3
Shadow Clone	1
Prime Shadow Clone	1
Supreme Shadow Clone	1
Malice	2
Momentum	1
Trick Attacks	3
Concussive	3
Precision Imbuement	3
Shadow Crash	3
Sturdy	3

My recommended Skill Tree path for the best assassin build in Diablo 4 is shown above. I highly recommend first building your Basic, Core, and Agility Skills in this build. These grant you significant bonuses on the playing field.

• Upgrade them to the max, and you can alternate between Passive and Active Skills. But don’t build your Key Passive just yet. Build your Subterfuge, Imbuement, and Ultimate Skills first.
• After that, you can move on to building your Key Passive Momentum and then finally complete all of your Passives in no particular order.
• You can swap Passives like Sturdy and Shadow Crash for Active Skill Ranks.

Gear And Weapons

• Helm: Archon Helm of the Protector
• Chest Armor: Doom Armor of Disobedience
• Gloves: Mangler’s Runic Gloves
• Pants: Umbrous Boneweave Faulds
• Boots: Boneweave Treads of Shared Misery
• Amulet: Chain of Corruption
• Ring 1: Accelerating Band
• Ring 2: Vengeful Circle
• Ranged Weapon: Bladedancer’s Warcaster
• Dual-Wield Weapon 1: Edgemaster’s Royal Boneblade
• Dual-Wield Weapon 2: Edgemaster’s Flammard

This is my recommended Gear and Weapons build. As you can see, almost all of these Weapons are Legendary Weapons. Hence, they will be harder to acquire. Thus, it would be best to opt for some Unique or Rare Weapons before you go for the Legendary ones.

One thing of note here is the Ranged Weapon. I decided to go for a Bladedancer’s Warcaster. It has good range and is an excellent backup for when you need to hit enemies from afar. I recommend using the assassin build to get up close and personal with foes.

If you want more information on Legendary Items in Diablo 4, check out my Diablo 4 Legendaries guide.

Legendary Aspects

Legendary Aspect	Effects	Gear Used On
Aspect of Disobedience	While dealing damage, you receive an Armor of 0.25% to 0.5%, at a max of 25% to 50%.	Helm
Eluding Aspect	You become Unstoppable if you get Injured when being Crowd Controlled.	Chest Armor
Aspect of Unstable Imbuements	Imbuement Skills cause an Imbued explosion to occur, dealing AoE damage and applying the Imbued status debuff on all enemies.	Gloves
Cheat's Aspect	Crowd Controlled enemies deal 15% to 25% less damage to you. Additionally, you receive 15% Movement Speed.	Pants
Penitent Greaves	You leave a chilling trail behind you that Chills enemies. Chilled enemies receive 7% to 10% more damage.	Boots
Edgemaster's Aspect	Depending on your Primary Resources, your Skills deal 10% to 20% more damage. Power increased by 50% on Amulet.	Amulet
Energizing Aspect	Basic Skill hits against Elite enemies regenerate 3-7 Energy.	Ring 1
Ravenous Aspect	When you kill a Vulnerable enemy, you receive a 50% to 70% Energy Regeneration boost. This effects lasts 4 seconds	Ring 2
Aspect of the Expectant	Your next Core Skill deals 5% to 10% more damage (max 30%) after you hit foes with your Basic Skill.	Ranged Weapon
Bladedancer's Aspect	Your Twisting Blades will revolve around the arena for a short period while also dealing 10% to 15% damage to enemies. The damage increases to 20% to 30% depending on the range the blades returned. Has a 100% Power boost.	Dual-Wield Weapon 1
Aspect of Corruption	Imbuement Skills have 20% to 40% more damage against enemies that are Vulnerable.	Dual-Wield Weapon 2

Here are my recommended Legendary Aspects for the assassin build. You won’t be able to get all of these early on in the game. So here are the more important ones.

• Aspect of Unstable Imbuements: This aspect works best with your Shadow Imbuement and Precision Imbuement. It enhances Imbued Twisted Blades, creating more Imbued explosions and dealing area damage to enemies.

• Cheat’s Aspect: Reduce damage taken from Crowd Controlled enemies. This aspect synergizes well with skills like Blended Shadow Imbuement, Shadow Crash, Fundamental Blade Shift, and Improved Twisting Blades.

• Ravenous Aspect: Maximize Energy Regeneration when hitting Vulnerable enemies. This aspect complements Blended Shadow Imbuement, enhancing your resource management.

• Bladedancer’s Aspect: Make Twisting Blades orbit the arena, dealing extra damage to enemies. The damage output increases with the range of the returning blades.

• Aspect of Corruption: This aspect boosts the damage of your Imbuement Skills against Vulnerable enemies. It works perfectly with Twisting Blades, Shadow Imbuement, Precision Imbuement, and Blended Shadow Imbuement.

Specialization: Combo Points

I recommend using the Combo Points Specialization with this build. With this Specialization, your Basic Skill will generate Combo Points.

Your other Skills can then use these Combo Points for enhanced effects. Precisely, your Twisting Blades Core Skill’s damage will scale with the number of Combo Points you have. You also get extra Movement Speed, perfect for an assassin build.

Gems

Type	Gem	Effects
Weapon	Emerald	Vulnerable enemies receive +12% Critical Strike Damage.
Armor	Ruby	Max HP +4%.
Jewelry	Skull	Armor +250.

For the Gems, I highly recommend building Emerald on the Weapon, Ruby on the Armor, and Skull on the Jewelry slots.

The Ruby and Skull grant you extra Max Life and Armor, respectively, boosting your sustainability in the arena. However, the Emerald makes you deal more Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable enemies. It works perfectly with Blended Shadow Imbuement.

Related Guide: Diablo 4 Best Gems [All Types]

Paragon Board

Node Type	Effects
Normal Node	Dexterity +5
Normal Node	Dexterity +5
Normal Node	Dexterity +5
Magic Node	Damage +5%
Rare Node	Max Life +4%, Damage +10%, +10% damage if Intelligence requirement is met.
Magic Node	Max Life +2%
Magic Node	Damage +5%
Normal Node	Dexterity +5
Normal Node	Strength +5
Normal Node	Willpower +5
Normal Node	Dexterity +5
Normal Node	Strength +5
Normal Node	Intelligence +5
Magic Node	Armor +50
Rare Node	Dexterity +10, Armor +100, +100 Armor if Strength requirement is met.
Rare Glyph	You deal more damage to Vulnerable enemies proportional to every 5 Strength built within the range. Enemies hit become Vulnerable. The effect can only be triggered once every 20 seconds per enemy.
Normal Node	Willpower +5
Normal Node	Strength +5
Magic Node	Damage +5%
Magic Node	Damage +7
Magic Node	Damage +5%
Normal Node	Dexterity +10, Damage +10%, +10% Damage if Intelligence requirements are met.
Magic Node	Damage +5%
Normal Node	Willpower +5
Normal Node	Strength +5
Normal Node	Strength +5
Board Attachment Gate	Strength +5, Willpower +5, Dexterity +5, Intelligence +5.

I recommend the Paragon Board configuration for your assessing build. Remember that this is only the Starting Board, and you may change your strategy for subsequent boards.

At the end of this configuration, your Starting Board stats should look like this:

• Dexterity: 70
• Intelligence: 39
• Strength: 39
• Willpower: 10

My Experience With Assassin Build

My Assassin build is ideal for players who want quick movement and maximum single-target damage. This build uses the Rogue Class and relies on Twisting Blades as its primary damage-dealing Skill.

Blade Shift is your basic Skill that adds a level of mobility that’s only complemented by Shadow Step. Dark Shroud is your primary defensive Skill, while Shadow Imbuement appends Shadow damage to your Core Skill, Twisting Blades.

And finally, there’s the Ultimate Shadow Clone, which creates a clone of you to help you in battle.

For the best Druid build, check out the Diablo 4 best Druid build guide. If you want the Barbarian build, then head to the best Barbarian guide. Do remember that the rouge build is also one of the best AOE build in the game so I have done a variation for that version of it too, which you can check here: Diablo 4: Best AOE Class [Rogue Build]