Since the trailer for the Rogue class was released, I have loved this class. It was the class that I always missed in a Diablo. In Diablo 2 I liked the Amazon and the Assassin and in Diablo 3 the Demon Hunter, but it was never 100% what I had imagined for my favorite class.
Since the release of Diablo 4, I’ve been playing the Rogue every season. I never feel the attraction to play a meta build so my mission was to make my favorite skill Shadow Step viable as my main source of damage.
In the first 3 seasons it was still a long way from getting a working Shadow Step build. But every season I had the feeling that I was getting a little closer to my goal. In Season 4, tempering was added and that also led to Shadow Step getting more attention.
With the PTR for Season 5 there are a few useful changes for Shadow Step. But I think that Shadow Step is still very limited. That’s why I’ve been working on an idea for a unique that I’d like to present here.
Shadowfang (the name is from D2)
[Unique Modifiers]
Dexterity 14 - 90
Shadow Step Damage 289% - 370%
Shadow Step Cooldown Reduction 8.0% - 10.0%
to Shadow Step 1 - 3
Increases the damage of Shadow Step by 1.0% – 3.0% [ x ] per rank.
Shadow Step generates stacks after 5 Stacks while attacking a boss or elite enemy Shadow Step does 10.0% - 30.0% [ x ] bonus damage. While attacking a normal enemy with 5 Stacks Shadow Step deals damage to surrounding enemys.
Lore: The bearer of the sword is able to walk through the shadows. (Placeholder)
A modification for the Ravager Aspect.:
Previous - Shadow Step has an additional Charge. Killing an enemy with Shadow Step refunds a Charge and increases the damage of Shadow Step by 12.0% [ x ] for 2 seconds, up to 48% [ x ].
Now - Shadow Step has an additional Charge. Killing an enemy with Shadow Step refunds a Charge. Killing an enemy or hitting a Elite or Boss increases the damage of Shadow Step by 12.0% [ x] for 3 seconds, up to 48% [ x].
Shadow Step has the problem that it does too little damage, has a high cooldown, is not a core skill and has no aoe.
With tempering it is possible to increase the damage (and lower the CD) but then you have to use every offensive temperslot for shadow step, that results in no benefits for other skills and should be more crucial. Just like increasing the ranks of shadowstep. You limit yourself a lot while doing this and that should be rewarded.
Please let me know what you think, maybe there are more ideas for uniques regarding shadow step or other skills.
I hope Blizzard is receptive to ideas regarding items.
The item should have the 4 affixes + the unique affix which is somehow split in two here.
Dexterity 14 - 90
Shadow Step Damage 289% - 370%
Shadow Step Cooldown Reduction 8.0% - 10.0%
to Shadow Step 1 - 3
Increases the damage of Shadow Step by 1.0% – 3.0% [ x ] per rank. Shadow Step generates stacks after 5 Stacks while attacking a boss or elite enemy Shadow Step does 10.0% - 30.0% [ x ] bonus damage. While attacking a normal enemy with 5 Stacks Shadow Step deals damage to surrounding enemys.
The + ranks are already on the item as you can see.
This is just another damage multiplier that “rewards” you when you increase the ranks of Shadow Step.
This affix makes many aspects valuable to me for a Shadow Step build.
For example, the “Clandestine Aspect” playable on the PTR (+3 on agility and subterfuge skills) maybe would be viable en Amulett Slot, Harlequin’s Crest and GA on the boots with Temper Crits. Or to find this Unique “Shadowfang” with GA.
Some of these are things that you only achieve later, so the build still has potential for a progression in the late game. In the worst case you do 5% more damage in the best case maybe 90%. I like the idea of having this progression within a unique, but 90% is of course extremely difficult to achieve. In my opinion, it is precisely this effect that makes a unique item unique.
I don’t know exactly if or how Shadow Step works with Attack Speed, but it is already possible to completely reset the cooldown of Shadow Step in season 4. However, your attack sequence is still not very high.
Either way, I like the effect as it is.
Whether the item is balanced or not I can’t judge at the moment, but since I have done various damage calculations for Shadow Step I can say that it is currently too weak if you don’t play with Victimze, for example, and then it is more of a Victimize build for me. Currently you can play with any skill on Victimize and have passable damage. For me, it lacks individuality.
I don’t see the Lucky Hit Chance as being that strong.
If you’re playing for Lucky Hit, it’s much more important to have a high attack speed. Although Puncture for example has the lowest Lucky Hit base chance (35%) it is in my opinion the best skill as you have 6 projectiles at once (with Fundamental Puncture and Temper mods) which all have their own Lucky Hit as far as I know, that with a lot of attack speed triggers a lot of Lucky Hits.
Not a bad idea. A shadow step victimise build was theorycrafted before season 4 but it didn’t quite work out.
I think something like this would be cool:
Shadowfang (1-handed sword)
+7-9% Attack speed
+100% Vulnerable damage
12-16% Shadow Step cooldown reduction
+1-3 ranks to Shadow Step
For every enemy hit with Shadow Step or Dash, you have a 20-35% chance of releasing a shadow explosion that deals x damage to nearby enemies and infects them with Shadow Imbuement. Shadow Step deals 30-60%[x] more damage to enemies infected by Shadow Imbuement.
For those wondering, the attack speed is there to help make Shadow Step and Dash animations smoother and make using Hectic aspect faster for cooldown resets.
As I have been working with Shadow Step for a long time, Victimize has always been the only hope for Shadow Step.
But my point is to make Shadow Step more independent.
As mentioned in the last Campfire Chat, Uniques should be more unique.
I also thought about the effects you wrote or something like that:
“The chance of x shadow damage as an explosion” (this already exists several times Doombringer and Volatile Shadows).
“Shadow Step is always Shadowimbued”
But then you start limiting Shadow Step again, you HAVE to play with Shadow Imbued, it’s no longer optional and in general for freedom and variety I personally prefer to have the choice, because a build should depend on many factors and not steer the playstyle directly in one direction with one item.
Of course, there have to be items that inspire you in a certain direction, but while retaining a certain flexibility.
The Unique Ring Saboteur Signet, for example, is now limited to Core Skills and previously only worked with Flurry.
I think that’s good. Windforce is now a barrage only bow, which I like less, but I understand the decision.
But I have to admit that I still like the idea of Shadow Step doing more damage against shadow imbued enemys. But I mentioned above what bothers me about it.
I thought of this overlapping with Volatile Shadows in that sense, except having the shadow imbuement spread on your attacks makes this much more versatile especially when Volatile Shadows receiving an indirect nerf in the lead up to season 5 (Dark Shroud shadows can now only be removed once every 1.5 seconds) which makes that aspect fairly lackluster unless they do something about it.
I guess even then it’s not that bad anyway - think of Umbrous and Enshrouding aspects doing the same sort of thing but with different triggers.
I also don’t see this making Shadow Step as being dependent on Shadow Imbuement but rather unlocking a way for these two to being used effectively together in a way that is not currently possible with the current toolkit for Rogues.
