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Diablo 4 Rogue Build – Cold Archer (Bow Build)

Diablo 4 Rogue Build – Cold Archer (Bow Build) – In this Diablo 4 Rogue Class Build I’ll show you how to play my Cold Archer, which is a pure ranged Diablo IV Rogue Build that focuses on Chilling and Freezing enemies so that they cannot attack you, all while you deal increased damage to them with your attacks. If you’ve been looking for a pure ranged Diablo 4 Rogue Class Build, then this guide is fore you!

Diablo 4 Rogue Build – Cold Archer (Bow Build)

The general strategy with this Build is to Chill enemies and eventually Freeze them. Each time you Chill an enemy, you Chill them for a certain percentage amount, and when that amount hits 100% they Freeze and can no longer move until the Freeze status wears off. The more Chill percentage you can do per second in the case of Methodical Caltrops, or the more Chill you can do per hit in the case of Cold Imbuement, the faster enemies will Freeze. Hitting enemies with many different sources of Chill is the fastest way to Freeze them.

You deal 15% increased damage to Chilled enemies from a maxed out Frigid Finesse passive skill, and 30% increased damage if they are Frozen. So Chilling and Freezing them doesn’t just provide Crowd Control, but it also provides you with a means to dispatch enemies more quickly, which is why it’s imperative to do so as soon as possible.

Combined with Damaged to Slowed Enemies, and Damage to Crowed Controlled Enemies on your gear, you will gain bonus damage to nearly all damage you deal, since enemies should be Slowed or Crowded Controlled nearly all the time with this Diablo 4 Rogue Build.

But wait there’s more. Mixed Cold Imbuement also makes the damage of your Cold Imbued Skills deal 20% more damage to Crowd Controlled enemies, and 40% to Frozen enemies. This means when you use Cold Imbuement on Rain of Arrows or Rapid Fire, you will deal substantially more damage than usual to already Chilled or Frozen enemies.

Elite Frozen solid after a Cold Imbued Rapid Fire to the face!
Elite Frozen solid after a Cold Imbued Rapid Fire to the face!

Diablo 4 Rogue Build – Cold Archer Active Skills

Each Diablo 4 Rogue Build is made up of the 6 Active Skills they have equipped and changing these Skills can drastically change the way the Rogue Class in Diablo IV plays. In this section we’ll take a look at what Skills you should slot for the Cold Archer Diablo 4 Rogue Build. Your Skill distribution should look something like this:

LEVEL 25 ROGUE SKILLS
Skill Points Spent
 Forceful Arrow  1
 Enhanced Forceful Arrow  1
 Rapid Fire  2
 Enhanced Rapid Fire  1
 Improved Rapid Fire  1
 Primary Forceful Arrow  1
 Caltrops  1
 Enhanced Caltrops  1
 Methodical Caltrops  1
 Dash  1
 Enhanced Dash  1
 Weapon Mastery  3
 Cold Imbuement  1
 Enhanced Cold Imbuement  1
 Mixed Cold Imbuement  1
 Frigid Finesse  3
 Precision Imbuement  2
 Rain of Arrows  1
 Prime Rain of Arrows  1

 

Forceful Arrow (Basic Skill)

Forceful Arrow is useful for gaining Energy and building up Combo Points, as well as setting the Vulnerable status on enemies. Each time you strike an enemy with Forceful Arrow you will gain Energy and one Combo Point, as long as that is your selected Rogue Specialization, and your Core Skills get more effective with each strike up to 3 strikes.

In this Build this means that for each Forceful Arrow you land, Rapid Fire will gain an additional arrow (up to 8 total), and each arrow will deal substantially more damage. This means you not only set Vulnerable with 3 Forceful Arrows, but you will gain the max potential damage with Rapid Fire after doing so.

Rapid Fire (Core Skill)

Rapid Fire costs 25 Energy to fire, which is cheaper than all other ranged Core Rogue Skills, and fires 5 arrows in rapid succession. Because of its lower Energy cost, you can use it liberally, and this Skill is excellent at dealing with single targets, but can also hit multiple targets if they are grouped closely together.

Enhanced Rapid Fire will increase the likelihood of you Critically Striking with it, with each arrow fired increasing your Critical Strike chance (up to 40% at 8 arrows, which is only possible with 3 Combo Points). And when you add Improved Rapid Fire you gain back 15 Energy if you strike a Vulnerable target with it, and since 3 Forceful Shots applies this status, you will only lose 10 Energy for your first Rapid Fire against this target, and it also makes this Build really good in a group where other players are setting this status as well.

When you combine Rapid Fire with Cold Imbuement you set Freezing nearly instantly since the Chill build up is applied to each arrow, and then gain over +100% damage to Frozen and Vulnerable enemies, and that doesn’t include any gear bonuses with extra damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. Launching 3 Forceful Arrows, followed by Cold Imbuement, followed by 2 Rapid Fires is the fastest way to deal with Elite enemies.

Diablo 4 Rogue Build - Rapid Fire Core Skill

Caltrops (Agility Skill)

Caltrops is useful for inflicting some damage to enemies, but more importantly Slowing them and also pushing you backwards creating separation between you and the enemy. As a ranged Diablo 4 Rogue Build, you don’t want to be anywhere near the enemy if you don’t have to be.

Methodical Caltrops changes the damage type to Cold and also Chills enemies for 20% per second they stand inside the AoE. This means enemies need to say inside for 5 seconds to completely Freeze unless another source of Chilled is applied to them. And this is where Rapid Fire and Rain of Arrows come in handy, or in some cases a second casting of Caltrops.

Dash (Agility Skill)

Dash is really only used in this Diablo 4 Rogue Build for mobility, as often times you need to get far away from a group of enemies, and it can be used to Dash through enemies as well, dealing damage. You can also Imbue Dash with Cold Imbuement, to Chill many enemies at once, which isn’t a bad strategy if they are already standing in your Caltrops.

Enhanced Dash also makes Dash increase the Critical Strike damage enemies take from you by 20% for 5 seconds, which is useful if you follow up with a Rapid Fire, that is likely to Critically Strike.

Cold Imbuement (Imbuement Skill)

Cold Imbuement not only changes the damage of your next 2 Imbued attacks, but it also adds 25% Chill per hit to enemies with those attacks. Rapid Fire, Rain of Arrows and Dash all hit multiple times or multiple targets, so they are a great use of this skill. And as mentioned before Mixed Cold Imbuement further increases the damage of Imbued Skills to Crowd Controlled or Frozen targets, making it more deadly on the second attack than the first.

Diablo 4 Rogue Build - Cold Imbuement

Rain of Arrows (Ultimate Skill)

Rain of Arrows is your Ultimate Skill which has an extremely long cooldown of 60 seconds, so you will only use it when there are lots of enemies on the screen or you’ll likely die if you don’t use it. It fires 2 waves of arrows across most of the screen, hitting enemies twice. It has a long animation, so make sure you are a good distance away from enemies before using.

When you combine Rain of Arrows with Cold Imbuement you will set 50% Chill on each enemy on the screen. If they already have any Chill on them they are likely to Freeze, and if not, you can likely Freeze them with a quick Dash afterwards. Additionally, Prime Rain of Arrows increases this Chill amount even further, making it more likely to Freeze enemies.

Diablo 4 Rogue Build - Rain of Arrows Ultimate Skill

Final Tips

Fore this Diablo 4 Rogue Build, be on the look out for gear that has Damage to Slowed Enemies, Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies and Cooldown Reduction as these all can help you deal more damage. Reducing the time it takes for Cold Imbuement to come off Cooldown is key, and it will also speed up Rain of Arrows and Dash as well.

Some Bosses are immune to Freezing and Chilled and this Build can have a hard time against them. In those cases you’ll employ the same combo, but won’t worry about Cold Imbuement. The Exploiter’s Aspect comes in handy here because it’ll increase your damage against these Bosses by a good amount, often nearly the same amount you’d gain from Freezing them anyway, which allows you to still use this build just fine. Slot it on your Bow if you can since it’ll have double the damage increased against Unstoppable enemies that way, which will come in handy.

Aspect of Shared Misery is also a great Legendary Aspect to look for on gear since it will spread your Freeze around to enemies. Try to put this on your Amulet if you can for improved results, though not as good as your Bow.


Be sure to check out our Diablo 4 Wiki for any other questions you have about the game and the Builds page if you are looking for more Diablo IV Builds, as well as our Getting Started Guide and Best Class to Play in the Beta Guide if you are looking for more Diablo 4 content!

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