Welcome to your all-in-one guide to one of the strongest and smoothest builds in Diablo 4 Season 8: the Death Trap Rogue. This build is optimized for 100% overpower damage and infinite resource generation, removing the clunkiness and energy management issues that often plague similar setups. Whether you're diving into nightmare dungeons, speedrunning the Pit, or pushing late endgame content, this build will carry you with ease. There are two versions available—a mythic variant and a non-mythic one—both fully capable of clearing all content.

In this guide, we'll walk through skill choices, how the build plays, gear and legendary aspects, specialization, Paragon progression, and key tips to make your Rogue destructive.

Skill Breakdown and Playstyle

Here are the core skills that make the Death Trap Rogue tick:

1. Dash – Dash serves two purposes in this build. It activates an agility skill (synergizing with various Paragon nodes) and, most importantly, smooths out your animation cycles. The optimal flow is to Dash → Death Trap → Dash. Death Trap resets Dash, so this cycling makes movement fluid while maximizing DPS uptime.

2. Death Trap (Ultimate) – The centerpiece of the build. With proper gear and resource investment, Death Trap becomes your spammable nuke. It benefits from both core skill bonuses and unique interactions that make it incredibly powerful, especially with 100% overpower and stun mechanics.

3. Dark Shroud – This is your damage reduction and defensive tool. Pop it at the beginning of a fight to benefit from its mitigation bonuses.

4. Concealment – Not used here for crit or vulnerability like in many Rogue builds. Instead, we use Concealment situationally to bypass mechanics. For example, when a boss like Bile knocks you down, activating Concealment makes you immune to the knockdown and removes debuffs. It's also helpful in nightmare dungeons for mechanics like freeing tied NPCs without being interrupted.

5. Shadow Step (Optional) – A niche skill mainly for speedrunning nightmare dungeons. Shadow Step lets you teleport through walls, which is useful in tightly packed layouts. Use it for movement and mobility, especially when farming.

6. Caltrops – Used to apply Chill and slightly ramp up your damage output. Not mandatory for speedrunning, but adds utility for pushing higher-tier content. Can be replaced with Poison Trap if preferred.

Specialization: Preparation

The key to achieving infinite resources and ultimate uptime is using the Preparation specialization. Once you spend 75 energy, you reduce your ultimate cooldown by 5 seconds. With gear that boosts your maximum energy to 275 or higher, you can reset your ultimate cooldown multiple times in one cast cycle. After you hit three 5-second resets in rapid succession, your Death Trap will have virtually no cooldown.

This specialization also refreshes your cooldowns—giving you infinite Dash, infinite Death Trap, and more. This is what transforms the build from “good” to “god-tier.”

Resource Management and Infinite Energy

The foundation of this build's smooth gameplay is its ability to maintain full energy at all times. Here's how:

· Aftermath passive (with 11 ranks) restores a massive chunk of energy when using an Ultimate.

· Energy appears to never drop, because it's instantly replenished after every Death Trap cast.

· Though you're technically spending energy, it's fully restored, enabling 100% Overpower when you spend 275+ energy.

The trick is not relying on chance-based energy return like Lucky Hit. Instead, you go straight for guaranteed returns via Aftermath.

Key Legendary Aspects and Gear

Let's go over the gear that powers the build, broken down into essential and optional slots:

Essential Gear

· Scoundrel's Leathers – Crucial for trap synergy. Allows you to throw traps and increases trap damage. Big power multiplier here.

· Eyes in the Dark (Pants) – This is the engine for resource regeneration. You need 11 ranks of Aftermath to maintain infinite energy. Get this via gear affixes and masterworking.

· Beastfall Boots – Ideally with maximum resource affix. If you're lucky, you can also land Ultimate Cooldown Reduction and Max Resource on the same pair. You'll be able to drop Harlequin Crest if you get god rolls here.

· Trickster's Aspect (Amulet or Gloves) – Converts Death Trap into a skill that throws stun grenades, applying stuns and significantly increasing your damage thanks to multipliers tied to stun grenade size and ranks.

· Benchuor's Talisman (Amulet) – Gives the necessary boost to your max energy. Aim to hit or exceed the 275 mark. Anything extra is a bonus.

· Bannerlord Swords (Weapon) – Your 2H or dual-wield weapons need to include the affix that gives a 100% chance for Death Trap to deal double damage. It can be acquired via masterworking and tempering. Also, aim to add overpower scaling to your weapons.

Optional / Luxury Gear

· Harlequin Crest (Helmet) – Offers cooldown and energy bonuses. Not mandatory, but helpful for the early stages of gear progression.

· Air of Predition (Helmet) – Once your boots or other gear compensate for energy and cooldown, swap into this to push even more damage.

· Doombringer (Weapon) – Offers more life (translating into higher overpower scaling) and additional bonuses. Not essential but a solid pickup if available.

· Starless Skies (Ring) – Provides core skill enhancements and critical chance. It's flexible—good to have, but can be swapped out depending on what you need.

· Galvanize Aspect (Ring) – Boosts max energy, essential for early gear progression before you perfect your loadout.

· Apricot Fueler (Chest or Pants) – Focus on maximum life and synergy with other survival stats. Gas modifiers are not super relevant here.

Paragon Board Tips

This build heavily benefits from nodes that enhance:

· Overpower Damage

· Trap Damage

· Stun / Crowd Control Multipliers

· Agility Skill bonuses

· Maximum Energy and Resource Generation

Open with boards that scale core skill damage and trap multipliers. Incorporate glyphs that increase Overpower damage when spending large energy totals. Since Dash and Death Trap reset each other, agility-based bonuses work well with cooldown refresh strategies.

Make sure to build around Death Trap as your main damage source, so plan glyph placement and boards accordingly.

How It All Comes Together

Once you meet the conditions (275 energy, Aftermath ranks, Preparation specialization), the build plays like this:

1. Start combat with Dash into the Death Trap.

2. Cycle Dash and Death Trap for infinite uptime.

3. Activate Dark Shroud at the start of every encounter.

4. Use Concealment only for immunities or avoiding crowd control effects.

5. Rinse and repeat with instant resets and full energy.

Your Death Trap will:

· Stun enemies with Trickster's Aspect.

· Deal double damage 100% of the time with tempered weapons.

· Proc critical and overpower hits from high-energy spending.

· Instantly refresh thanks to your specialization and gear synergies.

The gameplay is incredibly fluid once you're geared. Enemies will die instantly, elites melt, and bosses can't survive more than a few Death Traps. You have constant movement via Dash, total uptime on defense from Dark Shroud, and immunity mechanics with Concealment.

Mythic vs Non-Mythic Variants

· Mythic Build – Uses Harlequin Crest, Doombringer, and Starless Skies. Requires top-tier rolls and significant masterworking. Best-in-slot for pushing high-end content and PvE flexing.

· Non-Mythic Build – Functions perfectly without mythics. Focus on getting the core gear: Scoundrel's Leather, Eyes in the Dark with 11 Aftermath ranks, Beastfall Boots, and weapons with Death Trap modifiers. Even without perfect stats, it's fully viable for Pit 100 and beyond.

Final Thoughts

This Death Trap Rogue build in Diablo 4 Season 8 is one of the smoothest, most powerful options available. With infinite energy, 100% Overpower uptime, and almost no cooldowns, you can destroy any content in the game without ever slowing down. Whether you're a high-end player with mythics or a more casual player looking to speed through Pit 100, this build has you covered.

Get your core gear, spec into Preparation, and unlock the full potential of the Rogue. This is not a gimmick build—it's a top-tier, fast-paced, and brutally effective way to play Rogue in Season 8.