In Diablo IV Season 10, one build stands above all others in terms of speed, damage, and survivability — the Dance of Knives Poison Rogue. Known among veterans as one of the most destructive endgame setups in the game, this build doesn’t just slice through high-tier Pits — it melts Uber bosses and even Uber Lilith with lethal precision. Its synergy between poison-based damage, D4 Gold, and trap mechanics creates an unstoppable combination of burst potential and battlefield control.
Whether you’re speed-farming Nightmare Dungeons or pushing your limits in the hardest content Sanctuary has to offer, this build is designed to deliver maximum efficiency. In this in-depth breakdown, we’ll go over every aspect of the build — from skill setups and chaos perks to gear, Paragon boards, and gameplay strategy — so you can unleash your own dance of death.
1. Build Overview
At its core, the Dance of Knives Poison Trap Rogue revolves around deploying a storm of Poison Traps through the Dance of Knives ability. Instead of relying on direct melee strikes, this Rogue channels spinning blades that trigger traps automatically, creating waves of burst damage across the battlefield.
What makes this build so deadly is its combination of three pillars:
Massive Burst Damage: Leveraging the Aspect of Bursting Venoms and Bands of Icarus Rose, poison traps detonate in devastating bursts that obliterate elites and bosses.
High Mobility: Dance of Knives and Dash ensure constant movement, allowing you to kite enemies, dodge lethal attacks, and trigger key bonuses like Hit and Run.
Exceptional Survivability: Through Dark Shrouds, concealment, barriers, and Chaos Perks, the build can handle even the deadliest encounters while maintaining maximum DPS.
However, this is an endgame build — you’ll need specific Chaos Armor pieces, Uber Uniques, and Masterworked gear to unlock its full potential.
2. Core Skills Breakdown
Dance of Knives
Your signature skill and the foundation of this build. It causes your Rogue to spin and hurl knives, increasing movement speed and dodge chance while channeling.
Main Function: Deploy Poison Traps automatically via the Aspect of Bursting Venoms.
Important Note: Dance of Knives itself doesn’t deal direct damage; its true power comes from the traps it spawns.
Poison Trap
This is your main damage dealer. Each trap detonates after a short delay, releasing an explosion of poison that scales with both core and trap modifiers.
Enhanced by: Scoundrel’s Leather Chaos Armor (makes traps count as core skills).
Key Aspect: Aspect of Contamination boosts burst damage, making the detonation — not the DoT — your primary source of DPS.
Concealment
Provides Stealth and Unstoppable, letting you break free from crowd control and reposition safely. This skill also increases overall damage through subterfuge synergy.
Poison Imbuement
Infuses your attacks with venom, enabling Dance of Knives to trigger traps with the Aspect of Bursting Venoms. Always keep this active when facing bosses or elite groups.
Caltrops
Creates a slowing field that also chills and increases damage to affected enemies. Caltrops synergize with your trap setup, triggering Death Trap automatically via Scoundrel’s Leather.
Dash
A double-charge mobility skill for quick repositioning, dodging, or initiating combat. Each dash benefits from passive damage increases tied to movement and agility.
3. Specialization and Chaos Perks
Inner Sight
This specialization fuels your resource loop. By attacking marked enemies, your Inner Sight gauge fills. When full, you gain unlimited Energy and +25% Crit Chance for four seconds.
Aspect of True Sight further enhances this specialization, granting massive damage while Inner Sight is active.
Season 10 Chaos Perks
Accelerating Chaos: Triggers Chaotic Burst on Lucky Hits, reducing cooldowns and dealing bonus damage.
Power Siphon: Boosts Core Skill damage (benefiting Poison Trap) at the cost of maximum resource.
Innervated Strikes: Further amplifies Core Skill damage, though you stop regenerating energy naturally.
Hit and Run (Unique Perk): Increases damage after moving 15 meters. Since you’re constantly spinning and dashing, this perk remains active nearly 100% of the time.
4. Mercenary Setup
The mercenary system plays an important support role in this build.
Primary Mercenary: Sububo
Skills: Seeker (reveals enemies), Wire Trap (stuns), Ready at Hand (movement speed), Cover Fire (slows), Opening Fire (critical damage).
Reason: Provides crowd control, scouting, and consistent debuffs to enemy groups.
Reinforcement: Rahier
Skill: Bastion — summons a protective barrier granting Unstoppable.
Reason: Crucial for surviving CC-heavy encounters in high-tier Pits.
5. Gear and Legendary Aspects
This build is heavily gear-dependent, requiring specific Chaos Armors and Uber Uniques to perform optimally.
Helmet: Heir of Perdition (Uber Unique)
Stats: Crit Chance, Lucky Hit, Movement Speed, +Core Skills.
Aspect: “Succumb to Hatred” — increases damage dealt by 60%.
Priority: Masterwork +Ranks to Core Skills.
Chest Armor: Umbrous Aspect
Stats: Max Life, Armor, +Poison Trap ranks.
Aspect: Lucky Hit – Critical Strikes grant Dark Shrouds.
Essential for defense — enables passive Dark Shroud generation.
Gloves: Bands of Icarus Rose (Unique)
Key Stat: Chance for Poison Trap to cast twice.
Aspect: Compresses Poison Trap damage into a 3-second burst.
Core Mechanic: Rapid deployment of traps for high burst windows.
Pants: Scoundrel’s Leather (Chaos Armor)
Build-Defining Piece.
Converts trap skills into Core Skills, enabling massive synergy with other modifiers.
Also triggers Death Trap automatically every 10 seconds.
Boots: Fist of Fate (Chaos Armor)
Adds Vulnerable Chance on Lucky Hit — critical for maximizing burst.
Randomly multiplies your attack damage up to 360%.
Weapons
Two-Handed Crossbow: Prioritize Vulnerable Damage, Poison Trap Duration, and Aspect of Contamination.
One-Handed Swords: Both should carry Poison Trap Duration and Damage per Dark Shroud Shadow.
One Sword with Aspect of True Sight for Inner Sight synergy.
Another with Aspect of Shattering Blades for Dance of Knives synergy.
Amulet and Rings
Amulet: Lucky Hit – Poison Imbued Skills deploy Poison Traps.
Ring 1: +5 to Agility/Subterfuge Skills — boosts Poison Trap damage.
Ring 2: Ring of Starless Skies (Uber Unique) — Reduces resource cost and grants stacking +10% damage.
6. Rune and Gem Setup
Runes (Chest):
A Rune + Quack Rune — drastically increases damage but drains all resource on activation.
Enables Second Wind passive for barrier generation.
Runes (Weapons):
Neo + Vex — +1 to all skills when avoiding health damage.
Gems:
Armor: Emeralds (Dexterity for damage).
Weapons: Sapphires (Vulnerable Damage).
Jewelry: Diamonds (Elemental Resistance).
7. Paragon Board and Glyphs
Your Paragon Board determines how far this build can scale into late endgame content.
Starter Board – Ambush Glyph
Boosts damage to enemies affected by trap skills.
Deadly Ambush Board
Glyph: Headhunter — increases bonuses of nearby nodes, especially against elites.
Legendary Node: Deadly Ambush — +50% Crit Damage to enemies hit by your traps.
Eldritch Bounty Board
Glyph: Canny — increases non-physical (poison) damage.
Legendary Node: Eldritch Bounty — +50% Poison, Shadow, and Cold Damage, plus resistance.
Lurana’s Instinct Board
Glyph: Versatility — amplifies magic node bonuses.
Legendary Node: Lurana’s Instinct — +60% Core Skill Damage; synergy with Inner Sight grants temporary 100% dodge.
Dance Macabre Board
Glyph: Snare — expands Poison Trap radius and increases trap damage.
Legendary Node: Dance Macabre — +50% Damage after casting a Mobility or Subterfuge skill.
Tip: Level up your glyphs! The expanded radius allows better node reach and huge additive bonuses.
8. Gameplay and Strategy
The key to mastering this build lies in rhythm and flow — hence, the “dance.”
Buff Up: Activate Poison Imbuement before engaging large groups.
Engage: Use Dance of Knives to spin into packs, deploying Poison Traps automatically.
Crowd Control: Drop Caltrops under elites or bosses to chill, slow, and trigger Death Trap.
Reposition: Use Dash frequently — this keeps Hit and Run active and repositions you for optimal trap coverage.
Stealth Management: Use Concealment when crowd-controlled or to reset fights.
Burst Windows: During Inner Sight activation, you gain infinite energy and high Crit Chance — unleash all traps for maximum burst.
For Speed Farming:
Simply maintain Poison Imbuement + Dance of Knives. You can clear entire screens in seconds without using other abilities.
For High-Tier Pits:
Rotate Caltrops, Concealment, and Dash for maximum uptime on buffs.
Always fight while moving to maintain Hit and Run and defensive barriers.
9. Survivability Tips
Even though this Rogue is fast and aggressive, it can be fragile without proper defenses.
Dark Shroud Generation: Umbrous Aspect ensures constant shrouds for damage reduction.
Second Wind Passive: Consuming energy grants a protective barrier.
Rahier’s Bastion: Adds Unstoppable and heavy damage mitigation when CC’d.
Potion & Incense Buffs: Always use Elixir of Advantage II (Attack Speed + Lucky Hit) and Incenses like Song of the Mountain (Armor) and Soothing Spices (Resistances).
With buffs active, you can easily reach the armor cap of 1,000+ and max all resistances, even in the toughest content.
10. Final Thoughts
The Dance of Knives Poison Trap Rogue is arguably one of the most complete builds Diablo IV has ever seen — blending unmatched speed, insane burst potential, and tactical finesse. It embodies what makes the Rogue so dangerous: precision, mobility, and control cheap D4 Gold.
While gear-dependent, the payoff is immense. Once your Chaos Armors and Masterworks align, this build transforms your Rogue into a relentless, spinning storm of venom and steel — capable of deleting Uber bosses in seconds and gliding through Tier 100 Pits with ease.
If you’re looking for a Season 10 endgame build that delivers top-tier performance in both solo and group play, this is it. Gear up, master the rhythm, and let your blades dance — because in Sanctuary, there’s no deadlier performance than the Rogue’s Dance of Knives.
