Diablo 4 Season 9 has introduced powerful new gear, balance changes, and gameplay updates. Among all the options available, one Rogue build has risen above the rest in both power and popularity: the Penetrating Shot Cold Rogue using the legendary item Azure Wrath.

This build turns your Rogue into a cold-damage machine, clearing mobs, elite packs, and bosses with ease thanks to a synergy of high attack speed, lucky hit effects, and bouncing projectiles. The core of this build is built around Azure Wrath, but several other key items and mechanics work together to make it so strong.

Why This Build Works

The power of this build comes from the synergy between Penetrating Shot and Azure Wrath. Azure Wrath has up to a 40% chance to deal 17,000 cold damage on Lucky Hit. This damage scales with your attack speed, which means the more attack speed you have, the more cold damage you deal. For example, with 100% increased attack speed, the bonus becomes 34,000 cold damage. At 200% attack speed, it's 51,000.

Although this scaling is technically considered a bug, it has been in the game for four seasons and remains unpatched. This allows players to build around it and take full advantage of the damage potential.

To consistently trigger Azure Wrath's effect, you need a skill with a high Lucky Hit chance. Penetrating Shot is perfect for this, offering 137% Lucky Hit chance. Combined with Azure Wrath's 40% chance to trigger, your actual chance to proc cold damage rises to over 54%. If you use a helmet with 40% increased Lucky Hit chance and the gloves Fist of Fate with another 114% Lucky Hit chance, you can easily reach over 90% effective chance to trigger Azure Wrath.

Core Items

The following Diablo IV items are essential to this build:

1. Azure Wrath

This sword is the heart of the build. It provides a Lucky Hit chance to deal massive cold damage. You want to find one with a greater affinity to cold damage and increase its power through masterworking, ideally at least two levels.

2. Fist of Fate

These gloves add over 100% Lucky Hit chance, making Azure Wrath more consistent. They also offer a chance to apply vulnerability, which increases your overall damage.

3. Eaglehorn

This bow allows Penetrating Shot to bounce off walls. Each bounce can retrigger Azure Wrath, creating a deadly loop. You don't need the bonus damage from the bow's effect — you just need the bouncing mechanic.

All three of these items work together to create a gameplay loop where enemies are frozen and destroyed in large groups. You dash into mobs, fire a bouncing shot, and watch the cold damage explosions clear everything on screen.

Skills and Passives

You only need one point in Penetrating Shot since the majority of your damage comes from Azure Wrath and not from the skill itself. The goal is to maximize your chance to trigger its cold effect and gain bonuses from Lucky Hit, critical strikes, and attack speed.

Important passives and skills include:

· Siphoning Strikes: Heals you on hit based on Lucky Hit chance. With high Lucky Hit, this becomes a consistent source of healing.

· Dark Shroud: Grants damage reduction and critical strike chance.

· Dash with Methodical Modifier: Enhances your mobility and grants critical damage bonuses.

· Kel'Thuzad: Chills enemies, making them vulnerable and increasing your cold damage.

· Shadow Clone: Mirrors your attacks and provides 20% damage reduction.

· Frigid Finesse and Malice: Increase your damage against chilled and vulnerable enemies.

· Alchemical Advantage: Provides a 15% bonus attack speed when dealing poison damage.

To apply poison damage and activate Alchemical Advantage, you use Disintegrate as part of your Arcana. This beam attack deals poison damage and dazes enemies, which triggers more bonuses through Trick Attacks.

Attack Speed Mechanics

There are two separate attack speed caps in the game. The first one is shown on your character sheet, and the second is a hidden cap that adds additional multipliers.

This build takes advantage of both. For example, bonuses from Alchemical Advantage and Close Quarters Combat contribute to different attack speed caps. You can easily reach 100% on the first cap and stack more bonuses on the second one, reaching over 130% total. This dramatically increases the Azure Wrath proc damage.

Paragon Board and Glyphs

Your Paragon board should support cold damage, vulnerability damage, and attack speed. Here's a basic structure:

· Deadly Ambush: Provides bonus damage against elite enemies.

· Dance Macabre: Boosts your damage after using mobility skills like Dash.

· Eldritch Bounty: Increases your cold, poison, and shadow damage.

· No Witnesses: Adds 40% bonus damage from your ultimate skill.

· Exploit Weakness: Boosts damage against vulnerable targets.

Useful glyphs include:

· Control: Increases damage against chilled, frozen, or stunned enemies.

· Fluidity: Boosts energy regeneration and damage after casting agility skills.

· Devious: Increases your ultimate damage.

· Scornful Light: Improves elemental damage.

· Seal of Control: Adds Lucky Hit chance and crowd control duration.

Gear Affix Priorities

Focus on stacking the following attributes across your gear:

· Lucky Hit Chance

· Attack Speed

· Cold Damage

· Critical Strike Damage

· Damage to Close or Vulnerable Enemies

· Dexterity

· Maximum Life

· Energy Regeneration

Your rings should prioritize attack speed, energy regeneration, and damage bonuses. Use Code Clipped and Conceited aspects to increase cold damage and barrier damage, respectively.

Your boots should be Penitent Greaves for bonus damage to chilled enemies. Your pants should be Tibault's Will, which gives you 20% more damage while Unstoppable.

Your helmet should be Cowled of the Nameless, which gives you a Lucky Hit chance against crowd-controlled enemies.

Use Trickshot Aspect on your off-hand so that Penetrating Shot splits into extra arrows. These additional arrows can also trigger Azure Wrath.

Use Umbral Aspect on your chest to generate shadows and improve energy regeneration. For amulets, look for Greater Affixes like Dexterity and bonuses to Alchemical Advantage and Malice.

Arcana and Disintegrate

Disintegrate plays a surprising but crucial role. It deals poison damage to trigger Alchemical Advantage and dazes enemies to activate damage bonuses from Trick Attacks.

With Frigid Heart, your beam will freeze enemies. Using Bloody Charm allows you to execute weakened enemies earlier, making boss fights faster.

Shadow Clone and Cooldown Management

The Preparation specialization is what makes this build run smoothly. It resets your cooldowns when you spend energy, and since you're always spending energy with Penetrating Shot, you'll always have access to Dash, Kel'Thuzad, and Shadow Clone.

Shadow Clone is key for survivability and damage. It mirrors your attacks and provides constant damage reduction. With energy generation from glyphs like Innovation, you'll never run out of resources.

Mercenary Setup

For your companion, choose Rahier for bonus elemental resistance and damage or Varshahn for additional attack speed. If your attack speed cap is already maxed, you can consider other mercenaries with different bonuses, like Cleave for crowd control.

Performance and Pit Scaling

This build is excellent for leveling, farming, and progressing through the seasonal content. You can reach level 60 in under three hours, and after acquiring Azure Wrath, you can jump into Torment 3 with no trouble.

In the endgame, the build comfortably clears up to Pit Tier 75. Most bosses, especially those that can be staggered, go down quickly thanks to the build's reliance on cold damage and crowd control. Balile, who cannot be staggered, may take a little longer, but the build still performs well.

While this build may not be the best for extremely deep Pit diving or pushing leaderboard content, it excels at farming, seasonal objectives, and fast clearing. It's one of the fastest Rogue builds this season in terms of leveling and early game dominance.

Conclusion

If you're a fan of the Rogue class and want a build that's fast, fun, and powerful, the Azure Wrath Penetrating Shot build is one of the best in Diablo 4 Season 9. It starts strong, scales well, and provides a smooth gameplay experience with fast clears and high damage.

Give it a try this season, and enjoy one of the most entertaining Rogue builds Diablo 4 has offered yet.