This is a Rogue Poison Dance of Knives endgame build and guide for Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred (D4). Read on to learn more about the Poison Dance of Knives build, including its skills, gear, gems, runes, mercenaries, paragon boards, and how to play the build for Season 6.

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Poison Dance of Knives Build Guide

Poison Dance of Knives Build Summary

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Skills and Class Mechanic				Aspects and Affixes				Gems and Runewords
Mercenary				Paragon				Playstyle

Build Summary
Dance of Knives Build
	Focus: Endgame, Torment 4, Pit 75+, Infernal Hordes
High Mobbing Capabilities Excellent Mobility Low Single-Target DPS

This build uses Dance of Knives and stacks it with buffs from various skills and equipment. The build focuses on increasing the damage of Dance of Knives through the Heir of Perdition, Aspect of Synergy, Concealment, Momentum Key Passive, and Condemnation.

How Does it Work?

Certain aspects and skills that grant bonus damage last for the entire duration of one Dance of Knives channel. This interaction allows you to theoretically sustain their bonuses as long as you maintain the Dance of Knives channel.

Poison Dance of Knives Build Skills and Class Mechanic

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Poison Dance of Knives Build Skills and Passives

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Active Skills
Basic Skill Tree ┗ Blade Shift (1/5) 　┗ Enhanced Blade Shift
Core Skill Tree ┗ Sturdy (3/3) 　┗ Siphoning Strikes (3/3) ┗ Stutter Step (3/3)
Agility Skill Tree ┗ Dance of Knives (5/5) 　┗ Enhanced Dance of Knives 　　┗ Disciplined Dance of Knives ┗ Unstable Elixirs (3/3) ┗ Weapon Mastery (3/3) 　┗ Trick Attacks (3/3)
Subterfuge Skill Tree ┗ Concealment (1/5) 　┗ Enhanced Concealment 　　┗ Subverting Concealment ┗ Dark Shroud (5/5) 　┗ Enhanced Dark Shroud ┗ Exploit (3/3) 　┗ Malice (3/3)
Imbuement Skill Tree ┗ Poison Imbuement (3/5) 　┗ Enhanced Poison Imbuement 　　┗ Blended Shadow Imbuement ┗ Deadly Venom (3/3) 　┗ Alchemical Advantage (3/3) 　　┗ Debilitating Toxins (3/3) ┗ Frigid Finesse (3/3)
Ultimate Skill Tree ┗ Shadow Clone (5/5) 　┗ Prime Shadow Clone 　　┗ Supreme Shadow Clone ┗ Second Wind (1/3) 　┗ Haste (3/3)
Key Passive ┗ Momentum

Poison Dance of Knives Build Specialization

Combo Points is the best specialization for Dance of Knives as it grants a damage bonus and extra charges that allow the build to channel Dance of Knives longer.

Rogue Specialization Guide

Poison Dance of Knives Build Aspects and Affixes

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Skills and Class Mechanic				Aspects and Affixes				Gems and Runewords
Mercenary				Paragon				Playstyle
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※ More gear Aspects can be seen by scrolling vertically.

Gear	Aspect and Affixes
Head	Heir of Perdition Stats: ・Critical Strike Chance ・Lucky Hit Chance ・Movement Speed ★★★ ・Ranks to Core Skills Note: You can opt for a Mangler's Aspect Helm that has Dexterity, Cooldown Reduction, and ranks to Poison Imbuement if you do not have the Heir of Perdition yet.
Chest	Tyrael’s Might Stats: ・Damage Reduction ・Movement Speed★ ・Resistance to All Elements ・Maximum Resistance to All Elements ★★ Note: If you aren't able to get Tyrael's Might, you can use a chest armor with the Aspect of Shared Misery.
Gloves	Fists of Fate Stats: ・Lucky Hit Chance ★★★ ・Attack Speed Speed ・Critical Strike Chance ・Lucky Hit: Chance to Apply a Random Crowd Control effect
Pants	Exploiter's Aspect Stats: ・Armor ・Maximum Life Temper: ・Defensive - Rogue Cloaking 　┗ Concealment Cooldown Reduction ・Utility - Worldly Fortune 　┗ Lucky Hit: Chance to Freeze
Boots	Flickerstep Stats: ・Movement Speed ★★★ ・Lightning Resistance ・Damage Reduction from Close Enemies ・Ultimate Damage
Amulet	Aspect of Stolen Vigor Stats: ・Dexterity% ・Attack Speed ★ ・Cooldown Reduction Temper: ・Defensive - Natural Resistance 　┗ Fire Resistance ・Offensive - Subterfuge Expertise 　┗Damage per Dark Shroud Shadow ★★
Ring	Aspect of Creeping Death Stats: ・Attack Speed ・Damage ★ ・Resistance to all Elements Temper: ・Resource - Subterfuge Efficiency 　┗ Subterfuge Cooldown Reduction ・Offensive - Cutthroat Finesse 　┗ Cutthroat Attack Sped ★★
Ring	Clandestine Aspect Stats: ・Attack Speed ・Damage ★ ・Resistance to all Elements Temper: ・Resource - Subterfuge Efficiency 　┗ Subterfuge Cooldown Reduction ・Offensive - Cutthroat Finesse 　┗ Cutthroat Attack Sped ★★
Weapon (Bow)	Aspect of Synergy Stats: ・Critical Strike Damage ・Damage ・Dexterity Temper: ・Weapons - Agile Augments 　┗ Chance for Stinger to Extra Hit ・Offensive - Subterfuge Expertise 　┗ Damage per Dark Shroud Shadow ★★★
Weapon (Dagger)	Aspect of Star Shards Stats: ・Critical Strike Damage ・Damage Over Time ・Vulnerable Damage Temper: ・Weapons - Agile Augments 　┗ Chance for Stinger to Extra Hit ・Offensive - Subterfuge Expertise 　┗ Damage per Dark Shroud Shadow ★★★
Weapon (Dagger)	Condemnation Stats: ・Basic Skill Attack Speed ・Lucky Hit: Chance to Make Enemies Vulnerable ・Damage Per Combo Point Spent ★ ・Dexterity ★★

Poison Dance of Knives Build Gems and Runewords

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Skills and Class Mechanic				Aspects and Affixes				Gems and Runewords
Mercenary				Paragon				Playstyle
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Poison Dance of Knives Build Gems

Armor	Weapons	Jewelry
Emerald	Emerald	Diamond

For gems, it's best to slot in Emerald on armor and weapon slots to get more Dexterity and Critical Damage. For your jewelry, you can slot in Diamonds or Skulls depending on your Armor or Elemental Resistance.

Poison Dance of Knives Build Runewords

Runeword 1	Runeword 2
Yax Qax	Bac Lac

The runewords for this build are Yax + Qax and Bac + Lac. Yax + Qax allows the build to snapshot 100% damage increase to Dance of Knives after drinking 2 potions. While Bac + Lac grants damage reduction as well as taunt to group enemies together for evade with Flickerstep.

List of All Runewords

Poison Dance of Knives Build Mercenaries

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Mercenary	Reinforcement
Varyana	Raheir

Varyana's passive effect prolongs Dance of Knives due to the movement speed it grants. For her skills, use Shockwave, Ancient Harpoons, and Iron Grip to synergize it with Flickerstep, allowing you to evade through the enemies she pulled, reducing your ultimate cooldown.

For Rahier, use his Bastion skill and have his opportunity usage to Crowd Control to apply the Unstoppable from Bastion, granting you an extra dispel against impairment effects.

List of All Mercenaries

Poison Dance of Knives Build Paragon Boards

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Skills and Class Mechanic				Aspects and Affixes				Gems and Runewords
Mercenary				Paragon				Playstyle
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Paragon Boards
1. Starting Board (Versatility)
2. Danse Macebre (Canny)
3. No Witnesses (Devious)
4. Exploit Weakness (Bane)
5. Cheap Shot (Control)

Focus on obtaining the glyph nodes that increase your damage and take the shortest path to reach the next board. In each board, focus on the rare and magic nodes to increase their effectiveness through the glyphs.

The board in total costs 264 paragon points, but you can cut this down by not taking the defensive node clusters that stray from the node path. The most important Legendary node to obtain is No Witnesses, as it grants a significant damage boost whenever we cast our ultimate skill.

Poison Dance of Knives Build Playstyle and Tips

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The Poison Dance of Knives Build playstyle focuses on snapshotting buffs to the dance of knives to increase its damage and make quick work of harder enemies. The rotation is as follows:

1. Cast Shadow Clone to gain Stealth and No Witnesses bonus.
2. Cast Concealment to snapshot guaranteed critical strikes.
3. Use Dark Shroud to gain damage reduction damage boost.
4. Drink two potions to snapshot the effect of Yax + Qax to Dance of Knives.
5. Cast Poison Imbuement then channel Dance of Knives.

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