Twisting Blades Rogue Guide (Season 2)

Season 2

Endgame

Abottoir of Zir Ready

Clear everything with Ronarray's Poison Tank Rogue Build!

Season 2 introduced many overpowered builds that can showcase amazing results such as Ball Lightning Sorceress or Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian. Some of them were also empowered due to unintended interactions that Blizzard decided not to fix for now.

One of such builds is Twisting Blades Rogue with Combo Points. It can be considered one of the strongest builds in the current meta mostly because of great Crowd Control potential, overall tankiness and high poison damage.

The build is viable for all types of content and can run the same setup for everything. It can showcase both great Speedfarming capabilities due to innate Rogue Movement Speed which is the best in the current game and tremendous Single Target / AoE damage.

Survivability is quite impressive as well. Apart from good armor, capped resistances and high damage reduction numbers we also daze enemies pretty often using Improved Twisting Blades passive. In the late game when Doombringer is introduced together with the Tears of Blood glyph the build can also reach an absurd amount of health to tank even better.

Twisting Blades itself is a pretty versatile skill and is one of the strongest options for a Melee Rogue build. It benefits and scales well with Vampiric Powers Attack Speed bonuses making the gameplay even more fast–paced, smooth and fun!

Maintaining Energy is not that hard – although we don’t always stay on full Resource, sustaining it feels natural as we spam a lot of auto attacks that grant it. One less thing to worry about!

By combining our spinning blades with Close Quarters Combat, great X'fall AoE and Combo points, both our single target and monster pack damage skyrockets and nothing is able to stand in our way longer than mere moments.

This Build Guide is mostly focusing on an endgame version of the Twisting Blades Rogue build so to try it out you should have at least a 60+ character with access to Paragon.

To get more paragon points you can check our Altar of Lilith Map.

Main Skill

• Twisting Blades – The core skill of the build which can do damage, apply poison and crowd control via the Daze mechanics with Improved Twisting Blades passive. Due to the Bladedancer's Aspect we can keep the blades floating around us dealing damage and applying on–hit effects. It feels smooth and doesn’t hinder our movement. Combined with Tibault’s Will (which can provide additional maximum Combo Points due to an unintended interaction) and Condemnation it can do tremendous damage with both Poison Stacks and base blade damage. We can also spread the effects of the CC we inflict with the main skill due to Aspect of Shared Misery to crowd control an entire screen!

Generator

• Puncture – Our basic attack and generator. In the Rotation it should be used to first stack Combo Points to the maximum and hit with Twisting Blades afterwards. It can also make enemies Vulnerable with Fundamental Puncture Passive if at least 2 out of 3 blades hit the enemy. Since we are staying as close to the enemies as possible to get other bonuses it synergizes well with improving the Vulnerable uptime.

Defense

• Dark Shroud – Rogues' signature defensive ability that can lower the damage that you receive based on the amount of Shrouds that you currently have. Can significantly boost survivability and help with avoiding one–shots in tough situations. Provides a pretty strong Critical Strike bonus via Countering Dark Shroud. Alternatively, Subverting Dark Shroud can be used to boost movement speed even further if you aim to run faster.

Crowd Control

• Smoke Grenade – The strongest Crowd Control skill for almost any Rogue build in the current meta. Should be used in higher tiers of Nightmare Dungeons if you feel like you need more CC to boost overall survivability of the build. Can also greatly increase your damage with Enhanced Smoke Grenade passive.

Mobility

• Shadow Step – Is a movement ability that in this build provides a source of unstoppable and stuns the enemy you teleport to for 2 seconds via Methodical Shadow Step . It can also boost Critical Strike Chance by using Enhanced Shadow Step passive.

Imbuement Skills

• Poison Imbuement – Imbuements are Rogue–specific skills that give an opportunity to imbue weapons with a particular element, in our build's case it's poison. Poison Imbuement will make 2 of the next used skills do Poison Damage instead of Physical and will Poison enemies as well. It is the main source of additional damage which can be easily stacked further and should be used at all times.

Alternative skills

• Dash – Fastest moving ability in the Rogue skill kit. Can be used if you want to go even FASTER or reposition quickly. Less useful if you already use the Metamorphosis Vampiric Power.
• Concealment – A pretty unique disengaging ability for Rogues that can be used to avoid unnecessary fights while speedrunning dungeons for glyph experience.
• Shadow Imbuement – A second Imbuement skill which could be used as an alternative damage amplifier at the start of the fight or when your Poison Imbuement is on Cooldown. It can also make all your Non–physical damage higher with Mixed Shadow Imbuement and increase your Critical strike Chance against all injured enemies inflicted with Shadow Imbuement via Enhanced Shadow Imbuement too.

Notable Passives

• Close Quarters Combat – An amazing passive that can provide 2 attack speed bonuses and significant damage bonus based on your Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies when both attack speed bonuses are active.
• Innervation – Another part of the Rogue skill kit that makes sure that we always have enough resource. Together with our amazing Attack Speed and orbiting blades we can proc it often enough to ensure that energy always stays high enough for us to attack comfortably.
• Debilitating Toxins – A great Survivability passive that makes all poisoned enemies deal less damage.
• Trick Attacks - A nice way to crowd control Dazed enemies even further by knocking them down when you critically strike them.

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Essential Powers

• Metamorphosis – One of the most important Vampiric powers that can complement almost any build. It can make your character permanently Unstoppable and together with 25% of Movement Speed bonus from the Ghostwalker aspect will make you run even faster. It can be swapped to some other options especially for Bosses to increase Single Target damage yet your mobility will suffer greatly as a result.
• Ravenous – The best option out of all Vampiric powers for the builds that utilize Attack Speed. Provides a way to weaponize movement speed that Rogue builds excel at and have almost everywhere.
• Flowing Veins – A good way to stack Poison damage even further. To make it work for static targets we need to evade into the enemy we are fighting to curse them with Vampiric Curse via Metamorphosis – and voila – our Poison damage is increased. If the target is moving the bonus works automatically.

Interchangeable Powers

• Undying – One of the best ways to overheal – it constantly heals you with every skill cast including both basic attack and Twisting Blades . Combined with high Attack Speed it makes survivability much higher.
• Resilience – An awesome way to boost overall Damage Reduction significantly. Works better with characters that have more maximum healt, so if you are using Doombringer by any chance it will work any better. Mostly shines in higher tier Nightmare Dungeons.
• Hectic – Improves the build's overall cooldown situation and makes sure that you always have Poison Imbuement available. Not as strong for a Twisting Blades Build mainly because we utilize the Aspect of Bursting Venoms that creates Toxic Pools. Standing within them makes our Poison Imbuement have no cooldown, which happens quite often, thus making Hectic less valuable.

Offensive

• Bladedancer's Aspect – The most important aspect that makes our blades orbit after attacking. Boosts the number of hits per second and allows us to move through packs killing enemies with the returning and orbiting blades. Can be considered a build–enabling Aspect.
• Aspect of Corruption – Strongest pick for any Rogue build that focuses on imbuements. The 40% potency increase from it provides a significant poison damage boost when Poison Imbuement is active. Just make sure that you use Puncture often enough to always keep enemies Vulnerable. Most of the time it should be placed on the Crossbow or amulet.
• Aspect of Shared Misery – Gives us a way to crowd control more enemies within a pack. An invaluable aspect for a Melee Rogue Build that greatly helps with survivability.
• Aspect of Bursting Venoms – Creates Toxic Pools that make our Poison Imbuement skill have no cooldown as long as we are standing within them. Greatly helps with managing cooldowns.
• Accelerating Aspect – Reliable and straightforward boost which procs after every Core skill crit and helps with rising Attack Speed even higher.

Defensive

• Aspect of Disobedience – Still the best way to ramp up almost any build's armor. Is the most important defensive aspect due to the huge bonus it provides.
• Aspect of Might – Since we need to use Puncture after every cast of Twisting Blades this aspect is a constant source of 20% Damage Reduction so should be picked in most cases.
• Ghostwalker Aspect – Boosts our incredible Movement Speed even higher! Since we have a way to stay Unstoppable most of the time due to Metamorphosis Vampire Power the bonus should be up most of the time.

Alternative Aspects

Most of the Alternative options for the offensive aspects should replace Accelerating Aspect and most of the defensive ones should replace Aspect of Might.

• Aspect of the Expectant – Since we are using Puncture at least 2–3 times after every cast of Twisting Blades this aspect helps capitalize on this even more by providing up to 30% damage increase
• Aspect of Inner Calm – Good damage multiplier that can rise single target damage even more if you stay at one place. Since we move a lot due to the nature of the skill this build will not be that good for clearing dungeons but will boost damage when fighting endgame bosses like Uber Lilith.
• Aspect of Pestilent Points – Interesting aspect for all poison based Rogue Builds – can make our Puncture proc the Aspect of Bursting Venoms thus providing an extra source of cooldown mitigation. Can proc Aspect of bursting Venoms via Puncture attacks.
• Cheat's Aspect – Can be used with Penitent Greaves Unique boots to get additional survivability since any close enemy will be chilled and therefore crowd controlled.

• Tibault's Will – The most important Unique for any combo points based Rogue build. Due to unintended interaction can provide as many additional combo points as Maximum resource bonus written on the item. Therefore, a perfect Tibault's Will should have +20 Maximum Resource. Can also provide additional damage and resource when you are becoming unstoppable which should happen constantly when you evade with Metamorphosis .
• Condemnation – Second Unique of the build which can't be repicked. Gives us an opportunity to generate more combo points when attacking with Puncture . Synergizes with Tibault's Will maximum combo points unintended interaction and provides up to 23 combo points with it. Always make sure to use a few Puncture attacks right after Rapid Fire to proc it.
• X'Fal's Corroded Signet – A great item that stats-wise complements the build rather well. Damage Over Time is good for the initial poison ticks and lucky hit chance is used to proc various effects and X'fal effect itself. Cooldown Reduction can help with Poison Imbuement uptime. The Unique part provides an awesome Poison Eruption that adds both single target and AoE damage to the whole build kit.
• Harlequin Crest (Shako) – Best In Slot helmet for all Rogue Builds and especially for Twisting Blades Rogue. Can give us the same Damage Reduction as an aspect of Might without additional conditions. Apart from that it provides a significant Maximum Life increase together with Resource Generation and amazing +4 Ranks to all Skills bonuses. If you have the Harlequin Crest you definitely should use it in the build.

• Grasp of Shadow – Awesome gloves that could be a valuable addition to any Rogue build mostly due to strong +6 to all Core skills bonus and innate attack speed. However, the downside of losing critical strike chance and offensive aspect could be a reason to avoid them.
• Penitent Greaves – Strong boots that provide chill as a source of constant Crowd Control. Can be used together with Cheat's Aspect for better survivability and easier dungeon speedruns.
• Doombringer – A really good alternative to the second Sword or dagger. Could be used to heavily improve survivability due to significant Maximum Life Bonus (about 41% for upgraded version). Lucky hit proc can synergize with our high Lucky Hit chance as well and can heal the character pretty often.

Since Gems are universal across all classes and drop fairly often they should be pretty easy to acquire early in the game.

For the armor slots the best pick is Royal Ruby . Make sure to put it everywhere to stack health higher and boost survivability. We can have 1 in the helmet, 2 in the Chest armor and 2 in the pants for the total of 5 stones.

It gives about 20% of additional Maximum Life which is a very strong bonus – make sure you always have all 5 gems on.

For the weapons we are using Royal Amethyst that boost our poison damage for a total of 32% increase.

In the jewelry slots we use the Gems to compensate for the resistances we lack in other places. Make sure to check your character stats to make sure the setup works for you. If all your resistances are capped, i.e., are at 70%, you can always socket Royal Skull to boost armor.

In Season 2 the resistance system was revamped heavily. Now to reach best survivability we will need to cap most of them - ideally all to a maximum of 70%. It could be done though a variety of options.

For the Rogue builds – you can pick some of them in the paragon but ultimately you will need to roll resistances on Gear. The best item to roll resistances is Boots since there are not a lot of good bonuses except for the movement speed and energy cost reduction.

You can also roll some of them on Helmet or Chest armor to reach the cap.

Always make sure that you have at least 68%+ to stay alive in higher tier Nightmare Dungeons without any issues and have better gameplay experience overall.

For this purpose, you can use various Gems in your Jewelry slots which are covered in the previous section.

For the Twisting Blades build the best choice will always be Combo Points since it is the main way to boost damage of the build in the most efficient way. Unfortunately, none of the alternatives are good enough to be considered.

Regarding weapon choices, we generally have many possible combinations that could be chosen based on the Gear that you have at your disposal.

The recommended one is a combination of Crossbow to receive Vulnerable damage bonus and Dagger for damage against close enemies. The second melee weapon slot is reserved for Condemnation which is an essential part of the build.

The second option is picking a one-handed Sword instead of a Dagger which could be less beneficial since we are always staying close and are not always dealing critical strikes.

Another great option could be Doombringer instead of the Dagger. It mostly boosts survivability and stacks well with the Undying Vampiric Power healing which is especially helpful in higher tiers.

With the current paragon setup we are mostly focusing on getting bonuses to damage against close targets and crowd-controlled targets to stack Close Quarter Combat bonuses even higher.

In this build the uptime of such bonuses is almost 100%.

The other damage source that we amplify heavily is Non-Physical and Imbued Skills damage.

We take several survivability node clusters to boost resistances and increase armor as well as get extra damage reductions and tank better. It definitely helps in both Tier 100 Dungeons and Abattoir of Zir.

Glyph leveling priorities

1. Control – Due to the way it synergizes with Close Quarters Combat should be prioritized over the rest of the Glyphs. The Additional Bonus is sadly useless for our build, however the Main bonus is strong enough to compensate for it.
2. Efficacy – Provides some armor together with damage but is mostly used for the amazing Additional bonus which grants a significant increase to our Imbuement damage.
3. Turf – An amazing Glyph that further boosts our damage against close enemies, and as we all know a Twisting Blades Rogue is mostly dealing damage when standing close. The Additional bonus provides a neat 10% damage reduction against close enemies.
4. Closer – Boosts our Twisting Blades damage directly and gives even more damage reduction, since we are always wielding a melee weapon.
5. Canny – Is a good way to combine damage-oriented Main bonus with good Additional bonus to hit even harder.
6. Diminish – Buffs armor nodes around it and gives a slight boost to damage against elites, i.e. rare enemies and unique bosses. Should be changed to the Tears of Blood Glyph once you acquire it.
7. Tears of Blood - Strongest glyph in the current meta. Should replace Diminish and be placed in the No Witnesses board.

Alternative glyphs

• Bane – A good option in case you want to focus on Poison damage more. Has a pretty decent Additional bonus as well.
• Infusion – Can be taken for a huge Main bonus boost and used to amplify damage of the build even further.
• Combat – An interesting option which can boost Critical strike Damage and make energy management easier due to Additional Bonus.

Tears of Blood (New Glyph)

The new Tears of Blood glyph will provide even more damage for the build moving the potential to a truly insane amount.

After you acquire the Tears of Blood unique glyph from Abattoir of Zir you will need to replace Diminish with it and place it into the No Witnesses board to get a huge Health increase as well.

Try to get all core stats (intelligence, dexterity, strength,willpower) around it to raise the bonus even higher.

The Twisting Blades Rogue has a pretty strict rotation that should be followed in order to utilize the build in the most effective way.

Before starting the fight you will need to use Dark Shroud skill in order to avoid possible one-shots and increase your critical strike chance.

After that make sure to use your Poison Imbuement so that its cooldown starts and you could get a chance to use it again later.

While engaging you need to attack with Puncture at least 3–4 times to apply Vulnerable and stack Combo Points. This is a general approach for many different Rogue builds so it should be easier to get used to.

After that you can use Twisting Blades with Poison Imbuement at least 1-2 times and then spam Puncture again. If any enemies survive you will need to repeat the process – so use Puncture 3-4 times, then use Poison Imbuement if you have it available + Twisting Blades , rinse and repeat.

Be sure to move around a lot to avoid getting hit by on-death effects like corpse detonations or Nightmare Dungeon debuff explosions. Since fights can get messy and noticing detrimental effects WILL get hard, relocating often is key to surviving in higher tier Nightmare Dungeons and Abattoir of Zir.

The Twisting Blades Rogue build is currently completely broken in terms of damage in the same fashion as Rapid Fire Rogue, Ball Lightning Sorceress, and Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian.

This is one of the most promising Rogue builds for clearing all current content together with the upcoming Abattoir of Zir due to amazing crowd control and overall tankiness combined with damage through combo points.

With a healthy balance between great damage and solid survivability this build offers fun and fluid gameplay that feels incredibly satisfying. Exceptional movement speed is just a cherry on top – going fast while tanking hits and melting everything in your way will definitely never get old.