Today, I have some exciting news for the Rogue players in Diablo 4 Season 4: Loot Reborn. Turns out, they're even more powerful than we expected. Specifically, there are new Tempering options that give Rogues a slight edge compared to other classes and builds.

It turns out there were some options that Blizzard added in the Season 4 launch that weren't possible before on the PTR, namely vulnerable damage and crit damage on Tempering. Get enough Diablo 4 Gold ready and let's get started!

Cutthroat Finesse

On the offensive slot, there is the Cutthroat Finesse recipe that has vulnerable damage, and vulnerable damage is the most important stat for Victimized builds, which is one of the strongest archetypes in the class right now with the Heartseeker build, possibly the Shadow Step build, and Penetrating Shot build. This used to be just Cutthroat damage or something like that, and for some reason, they converted this to vulnerable damage.

Marksman Finesse

Likewise, we have the Marksman Finesse, which has critical strike damage and is great for Precision Rogues. Any Ranged Rogue that is not already a Victimized build can also run this instead and benefit from this critical strike damage. So, we have 2 of the main Rogue archetypes buffed by those stats directly because we have this that scales with vulnerable damage and Precision that scales with crit damage, and now you can get a lot more of it.

Previously, we had to rely on things like damage per combo points spent or something like that, which wasn't really all that great for the Rogues. But now, you can also move your stats around a bit to roll other stats on your gear instead of trying to get as much vulnerable damage as you can. You just temper the vulnerable damage and get something else instead.

Natural Finesse

After doing some rough calculations, it seems that the new Tempering options have significantly boosted the DPS of Victimized or Precision builds by around 20 to 30%. This is great news for Rogues. However, these changes don't particularly benefit melee builds, as damage to crowd-controlled enemies was already an option, especially evident in Close Quarters Combat with the Natural Finesse key passive remaining unchanged.

While melee Rogues like Twisting Blades and Close Quarters Combat benefit from increased damage against crowd-controlled enemies, they don't gain any additional advantage compared to what was expected from the PTR. Ranged builds, particularly Victimized and Precision build, seem to be the more favorable choice. The exception may be the Shadow Step Rogue, but its effectiveness remains to be seen.

With Momentum becoming obsolete because of other easily accessible options for energy regeneration and movement speed, and Exposure mainly relevant for specific builds like the Poison Barrage Death Trap or Flurry Grenade build, the focus shifts more towards the dominance of the Victimized and Precision key passives in Rogue gameplay, further amplified by the recent Tempering changes.

Final Thought

It's my hope that Blizzard will take note of the current state of melee Rogues, which are clearly not on par with their ranged counterparts. Perhaps in the next season or mid-season update, there could be some rebalancing to elevate them a bit. Hope you enjoy this breakdown and good luck with your Rogue. Hope you enjoy your journey in Diablo 4 Season 4. See you next time!