How the engine works
Dance of Knives is a channelled skill that throws auto-targeting knives while you run at full speed. You can cast Dark Shroud, Shadow Clone, Poison Imbuement and Concealment without breaking the channel, so the whole build is: switch on the buffs, hold the button, steer. The damage comes from Poison Imbuement, Damage over Time multipliers and the Aspect of Channeling. The Spellbound Steel charm set applies all three Imbuements at once, so the Shadow Imbuement in it makes everything the knives touch Vulnerable. There are no snapshots and no combos. You can stop and restart the spin whenever you like.
Who it's for
New Rogues, controller players and anyone coming straight off levelling. It is at its best speed farming and in Infernal Hordes, and carries you through the early Torment tiers before you own a single unique.
- Rating
- A-Tier
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key stat
- Damage over Time
- Must have
- Nothing — works without uniques
The bar
This is the finished Poison bar. At a fresh 70 you run Dash and Shadow Step where Smoke Grenade and Concealment sit, and move to this bar as the gear arrives.
Rank 15 with Pierce and Size, Slow and Movement Speed, and the Star Shards variant: knives have a 50% chance to shatter into six shards, for range and area. At a fresh 70 take the Resource Cost Reduction upgrade instead of Slow and Movement Speed, which drops the cost to 20.
Hold — constantlyRank 15 with Toxic Touch. Cast it as you start spinning and again every time it comes back.
Press — on cooldownRank 15 with Consume Chance and Movement Speed. Cast it first. Use the Overflow variant while Energy is short, then Shadow Dancer for defence.
Keep it upOne point at the finish with Cooldown, Weaken & Vulnerable and Relentless; rank 15 at a fresh 70. It builds Ferocity and doubles your damage while it is out. Save a cast for bosses.
Press — on cooldownRank 15 with Recuperate. Unstoppable, and it triggers Shrouded Gift and the Sightless charm bonuses.
Press — on cooldownOne point with the Silhouette variant: a cloud at your feet that gives Critical Strike Chance and Stealth once a second. Alternate it with Concealment to keep Shrouded Gift running.
Press — on cooldownPassives
There are no passives and no Key Passive in the Rogue tree. Two one-point skills sit off the bar: Cold Imbuement with Buffered Battery (a Lucky Hit barrier and 20% cheaper Energy costs) and Shadow Imbuement. You never press them. The Spellbound Steel set fires them whenever Inner Sight triggers. Keep the ranks of Dance of Knives and Poison Imbuement as equal as you can without losing total ranks.
Specialization
Start on Inner Sight. Once your Spellbound Steel charms trigger Inner Sight for you, which the set's two-piece bonus does, switch to Preparation: spending Energy then brings Shadow Clone back faster and every cast gives you Damage Reduction.
| Pick | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Inner Sight | Your pick at a fresh 70, until the Spellbound Steel set is in place. |
| Preparation | The finished pick. 75 Energy spent cuts your Ultimate's cooldown by 5 seconds, and Ultimates give 15% Damage Reduction for 10 seconds. |
| Combo Points | The Cold version's pick. Three Blade Shifts on the first enemy, then channel: more damage and Movement Speed while you spin. |
What to wear
There are no breakpoints. Stack Damage over Time, Poison Damage and Vulnerable Damage wherever they roll, and rush the Spellbound Steel charm set before any unique.
Uniques
| Item | What it does | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Etna's Lost Dagger | Dagger. Up to 78% more Imbuement Potency and Non-Physical damage for 8 seconds after you deal two Non-Physical types. The charm set's extra Imbuements trigger it without effort. First unique to get. | Core |
| Cowl of the Nameless | Helm. Lucky Hit: Imbued skills have up to a 40% chance to cause a large explosion for 75% of the damage, applying the Imbuement at 195% potency. It spreads Cold and Shadow Imbuement across the pack, so everything is Vulnerable and Weakened. | Core |
| Asheara's Khanjar | Dagger. Hits raise Attack Speed and damage, stacking three times. Attack Speed raises the base damage of every knife. | Core |
| Stone of Jordan | Ring. All resistances equal your highest. Put Poison Resistance on gear and charms to feed it. | Core |
| Shrouded Gift | Pants. Gaining Stealth also grants Concealment, with 39% Damage Reduction while Stealthed and for 8 seconds after. If you dislike juggling Stealth, wear Snowveiled or Disobedience pants instead. | Recommended |
| Leoric's Crown | Helm, for bosses. It holds two more Splinters, and with Hellfire inside it beats Cowl of the Nameless by roughly 48% on a single target. Cowl stays better for packs. | Variant |
| Enigma | Chest runeword. Maximum Life, +2 to all skills, Damage Reduction and Movement Speed. A late luxury. | Optional Crafted |
| Death's Pavane | Pants, Cold version only. Up to 117% more Dance of Knives damage in its Mythic form. | Variant |
Before they drop
Nothing is missing at a fresh 70. Wear a crossbow with the Aspect of Channeling, swords with Malice and Edgemaster's, Imitated Imbuement gloves, a Crushing amulet, Orange Herald and Alchemical Advantage rings, a Mending Obscurity helm, Debilitating Toxins chest, Disobedience pants and Accursed Touch boots. Add three Spellbound Steel charms and Inner Sight. Your bar is Dash, Shadow Step, Shadow Clone, Dance of Knives, Dark Shroud and Poison Imbuement. Shadow Step onto an enemy when you need Unstoppable.
Legendary aspects
| Aspect | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| Channeling | Ranged weapon. While channelling, all damage is increased (140% on the finished two-hander). You are always channelling. The first aspect to find. |
| Imitated Imbuement | Gloves or ring. Shadow Clones copy your Imbuements, and casting one adds Non-Physical damage. |
| Alchemical Advantage | Ring. Attack Speed from dealing Non-Physical damage, and Attack Speed is a separate damage multiplier for this skill. |
| Crushing | Amulet. More damage while Fortified. Add Exploiter's, Earthstriker's or Mending Obscurity as the second amulet aspect. |
| Writhing | Gloves or amulet early on. A Damage over Time multiplier. |
| Debilitating Toxins | Chest. Damage Reduction, and Poisoned enemies hit you less hard. |
| Snowveiled | Pants without Shrouded Gift. Damage Reduction while you have a Barrier, which Buffered Battery and the Bac + Que runeword keep up. |
| Orange Herald | Ring at a fresh 70. Core skill damage cuts a cooldown, which brings your buffs back sooner. |
Match your temper to your charm
Which temper is right depends on one charm. If you run Phoba of Spellbound Steel, temper Damage over Time. If you run Phoba of the Sightless, temper Imbuement Potency. Potency only beats Damage over Time once your glyphs are at level 140 or higher, so early on Damage over Time is the safe choice.
Stats, gems and paragon
Roll and masterwork toward these, in this order.
| # | Stat | Where you roll it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damage over Time | Tempers on weapons, gloves and jewellery |
| 2 | Vulnerable Damage | Gloves, rings and amulet |
| 3 | Poison Damage | Everywhere it rolls; the best transfigure on non-jewellery slots |
| 4 | Ranks to Dance of Knives and Poison Imbuement | Gloves for Dance of Knives; keep the two skills level |
| 5 | Attack Speed | Rings and Asheara's Khanjar; it scales knife damage, not throw rate |
| 6 | Dexterity and All Damage | Weapons and jewellery |
| 7 | Maximum Life, Armour, Barrier Generation | Life on armour, Armour on pants, Barrier Generation on chest and boots |
Hard targets
There is no hard breakpoint for this build — follow the order above. Attack Speed does not throw knives faster; it scales their base damage as its own multiplier, so it is never wasted. With Dark Shroud up, the spin can pass the normal 200% Movement Speed cap.
Tempering & masterworking
Damage over Time on weapons, gloves and jewellery, or Imbuement Potency if you use Phoba of the Sightless with glyphs past 140. Maximum Life on armour, Armour on pants, Movement Speed on boots. When transfiguring, take Poison Damage on most slots and All Skills or Poison Damage on jewellery. Masterwork the damage affix on each item, and skill ranks where you have them.
Gems, runewords & Splinters
- Emeralds in everything. Poison damage in weapons, Dexterity in armour, Poison Resistance in jewellery for Stone of Jordan.
- Soul Splinters: Hellfire, then Pain, then Black Soulstone. In Leoric's Crown, Hellfire is worth about 22% more damage than it is in a ring.
- Bac + Que. A barrier, made bigger by Barrier Generation affixes, which keeps Snowveiled running.
- Yax + Vex. +1 to all skills, which raises both of your main skills together. Neo + Lac is the defensive alternative, and the Ner rune casts Concealment for you.
- Fresh 70 runes: Cir + Ner and Moni + Qua.
- Talisman: five Spellbound Steel charms as soon as you can. All Imbuement upgrades free, 200% potency, 50% Lucky Hit, and Inner Sight applies every Imbuement. Later, a Seal of the Diamond Mind lets you mix in Sightless charms.
Paragon
Start with Versatility, Exploit Weakness with Tracker, Eldritch Bounty with Canny, Cheap Shot with Efficacy, and Danse Macabre with Bane. Rush the legendary nodes first: early on they give far more than glyph levels do. Then rank the glyphs in the Pit, up to 150 on the finished build.
Mercenary
Hire Raheir with Ground Slam, Bastion, Inspiration and Raheir's Aegis, because higher Torment tiers demand the defence. Set Aldkin as reinforcement with Field of Languish, triggered by Dance of Knives. If you feel safe enough and want Attack Speed, reinforce with Varyana and Bloodthirst instead. For bossing and pushing, hire Subo and keep Raheir's Bastion as the reinforcement, set to trigger when you are injured.
From fresh 70 to finished
You can start this the minute you finish levelling. Charms come before uniques.
Channeling first, then Writhing, Imitated Imbuement and Mending Obscurity. Inner Sight, three Spellbound Steel charms, and Splinters of Black Soulstone, Pain and Hellfire.
This is the real power jump. Every Imbuement applies at once and with every upgrade. Swap Inner Sight for Preparation now.
Then Cowl of the Nameless, Asheara's Khanjar, Stone of Jordan and Shrouded Gift, in that order.
With Shrouded Gift, drop Dash and Shadow Step. Alternate Concealment and Silhouette to stay in Stealth and keep the Damage Reduction up.
A Seal of the Diamond Mind lets you run Spellbound Steel alongside Sightless charms. Without that seal, keep the five-piece Steel set. When you need more area damage to climb the Pit, the Cold version's grenade variant is the next step.
The rotation
Cast it before anything else.
It builds Ferocity and doubles your output. Keep one cast back for the boss.
Run through the pack. The knives aim themselves. You can let go and start again at no cost.
None of your buffs interrupt the channel. Re-cast each one as it comes off cooldown.
Each one gives Stealth, which keeps Shrouded Gift's Damage Reduction and the Sightless bonuses active. Dash with Primer can take Smoke Grenade's place, at the cost of some Shadow Clone uptime.
Bar: Blade Shift, Dance of Knives, Dark Shroud, Concealment, Cold Imbuement, Shadow Clone, with Combo Points and the Fan of Knives variant. Blade Shift three times, then channel and do not let go, with Concealment every 6 seconds. It builds crit and frozen-enemy multipliers such as Frozen Memories and Shivering. Poison is the simpler and better-supported version; take Cold if you already own its gear.
On bosses
This is the build's weak spot, so change the setup. Swap Star Shards for Fan of Knives, which throws five knives that all land on a single target. Wear Leoric's Crown over Cowl of the Nameless. Drop Silhouette at your feet and keep casting Shadow Clone's Sentry and Concealment to hold your Energy up; the dedicated boss setup adds Fist of the Iron Rose, Crown of Lucion and Tibault's Will. Do not take that setup into normal content.
Strengths, weaknesses, mistakes
What it's good at
- One button. No snapshots, no combos, and it plays well on a controller.
- Works with zero uniques and no breakpoints, so it carries on straight from levelling.
- You deal full damage while moving at full speed, and the knives aim themselves.
- Durable once Shrouded Gift and Stone of Jordan are in.
Where it struggles
- Clunky on bosses without the Fan of Knives swap.
- High Energy cost. Chasing single stragglers drains the bar for nothing.
- Damage over time, so kills lag a moment behind the knives.
- Crowd control can interrupt the channel.
Mistakes that ruin it
- Uneven ranks. Dance of Knives and Poison Imbuement should be as level as you can make them. Pouring everything into one loses damage.
- The wrong temper for your Phoba charm. Damage over Time with Spellbound Steel, Imbuement Potency with the Sightless.
- Expecting Attack Speed to throw more knives. It raises their damage instead. Still good, but the spin will not look any faster.
- Expecting Shadow Clone to copy Etna's buff. The clone does not benefit from the dagger's Potency bonus.
- Taking the boss setup into open content. It is built only for bosses and clears badly.
- Chasing lone weak enemies. You burn Energy for nothing. Move on to the next pack.
Not for you? The other Rogue builds: Penetrating Shot · Death Trap.