Is Cunning Stratagem Worth It? A Deep Dive into Rogue Key Passives in Diablo 4
The short answer is: it depends heavily on your build and playstyle. Cunning Stratagem, while offering a seemingly appealing 33% boost to non-damage Combo Point bonuses, doesn’t always shine as brightly as other key passives available to the Rogue in Diablo 4. It’s not an automatic “must-have” for every Rogue build. To determine if it’s right for you, we need to dig deeper into what it does, how it compares to alternatives, and where it truly finds its niche.
Understanding Cunning Stratagem
Cunning Stratagem directly modifies the effectiveness of your Combo Points. In Diablo 4, Rogues generate Combo Points using Basic Skills and then expend them using Core Skills for various benefits. These benefits can include increased damage, added effects, or enhanced mobility. Cunning Stratagem doesn’t affect the damage component of your Combo Point expenditures, instead focusing solely on non-damage benefits. Specifically, Cunning Stratagem increases the effectiveness of non-damage Combo Point bonuses by 33% when you spend three Combo Points at a time.
This means if you are regularly spending all three Combo Points, and your chosen Core Skill offers non-damage benefits such as increased movement speed, resource generation, or utility effects tied to Combo Point expenditure, Cunning Stratagem will enhance these bonuses by a third.
Situational Usefulness
The efficacy of Cunning Stratagem fluctuates dramatically depending on your build. For builds that lean heavily into Twisting Blades and their inherent damage, or those that are geared towards maximizing direct damage via skills like Penetrating Shot or Rapid Fire, Cunning Stratagem might not provide the best return. These builds often prioritize skills and passives that directly boost damage output, rendering the non-damage focus of Cunning Stratagem less appealing.
However, if you’re using a build where utility and mobility are paramount, Cunning Stratagem may become more relevant. Examples include a build centered around Flurry with its ability to apply Vulnerable, or a build using Shadow Imbuement for crowd control. In these instances, the enhanced utility, such as resource generation or increased movement, can add substantial value to your gameplay experience.
Comparing Cunning Stratagem to Alternatives
The Rogue boasts several powerful key passives, each catering to a distinct style of play. Directly comparing Cunning Stratagem to others helps to highlight its strengths and weaknesses:
- Victimize: This passive is highly versatile, offering a significant damage boost against vulnerable enemies. It’s consistently ranked highly for good reason, with its widespread applicability and potential for scaling damage against a large portion of the game’s enemies. Victimize is often preferred for its ease of use and direct damage output, making it a more competitive option than Cunning Stratagem for damage-focused builds.
- Momentum: For builds that prioritize high-mobility and weaving between enemies, Momentum is a strong contender. It offers damage reduction and increased damage upon gaining a certain amount of movement speed, making it a powerful option for fast-paced encounters. It’s more useful than Cunning Stratagem for a build that constantly moves.
- Precision Imbuement: This is a strong choice for builds focused on imbue skills. By offering a chance to apply imbues automatically, it offers very high damage for the builds it compliments.
Why Cunning Stratagem Often Falls Short
The core issue with Cunning Stratagem isn’t its design in a vacuum but rather the prevalence of other key passives that simply provide more tangible benefits. The primary reason it’s not consistently a top choice is that in many builds, raw damage output often outweighs the marginal utility offered by boosted non-damage Combo Point bonuses. Unless a build is uniquely reliant on the secondary effects of specific Core Skills, the direct damage boosts offered by alternatives like Victimize typically outperform Cunning Stratagem.
Optimizing Your Rogue: Is Cunning Stratagem Right for You?
To determine if Cunning Stratagem is worth it for your particular build, consider these points:
- Analyze Your Core Skill: What specific bonuses does your Core Skill offer when expending Combo Points? Are these mainly damage-focused or do they have a notable utility component? If the latter is true, Cunning Stratagem might be worth considering.
- Evaluate Your Playstyle: Do you value raw damage, or does your build lean on mobility, crowd control, or resource management? If you prioritize utility, Cunning Stratagem might be a viable choice.
- Experiment: The best way to know for sure is to actually test the passive out. Respeccing skills is relatively cheap and easy in Diablo 4, so don’t hesitate to try different key passives to see how they feel.
In conclusion, while Cunning Stratagem isn’t a universally strong choice, it can be powerful in certain specific scenarios. Its focus on enhancing non-damage Combo Point bonuses makes it a niche option, but one that can shine under the right circumstances. Understanding your build, play style, and the relative merits of other key passives is crucial to optimizing your Rogue in Diablo 4.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are Combo Points in Diablo 4?
Combo Points are a Rogue-specific resource generated by using Basic Skills and spent by using Core Skills. Spending Combo Points enhances the effect of your Core Skills, adding additional damage or utility based on your skill choices.
How do you generate Combo Points?
Combo Points are generated by using Basic Skills. Different Basic Skills generate different amounts of Combo Points, which the player can use to enhance their Core skills.
What are the best key passives for Rogue in Diablo 4?
The best Rogue key passives depend on your build, but commonly favored options are Victimize for direct damage, and Momentum for mobility based builds. The strongest build is widely considered to be a Twisting Blades build.
Is Twisting Blades still the best Rogue build?
Yes, despite minor nerfs, Twisting Blades remains one of the most potent Rogue builds in Diablo 4, praised for its high damage and versatility.
What is the Aspect of Encircling Blades?
Aspect of Encircling Blades is a legendary aspect that enhances the Flurry skill. This is essential for Flurry builds.
What are Paragon Points and how do I get them?
Paragon Points are earned after reaching level 50. These points are used to upgrade your Paragon board which increases your character’s power.
How do you get 100 Power Paragon?
To get a 100 Power Paragon, you need to acquire over 134 Paragon Totems, which amounts to over 200,000 Paragon Power.
What does the Tricks of the Trade Paragon Node do?
The Tricks of the Trade Legendary Paragon Node creates a cycle of damage amplification between Marksman and Cutthroat skills, encouraging a balanced build utilizing both.
What is a Lucky Hit?
A Lucky Hit is a chance to trigger an additional effect on skills or items. The percentage chance of a lucky hit varies.
How many times can you respec in Diablo 4?
You can respec your skill points as often as you wish, though after early levels, it will cost an amount of gold that increases with your level.
What is the most picked class in Diablo 4?
According to achievement stats, the Sorcerer is the most popular class, while the Druid is the least popular.
What is the best solo class in Diablo 4?
The Necromancer is often considered the best solo class, due to its ability to summon an army of minions to fight for them.
What does Wily Stratagem mean?
Wily Stratagem, in the general sense, is a synonym for cunning or trickery, implying the use of clever deception to gain an advantage.
What is the best way to level up Paragon?
The fastest way to level up Paragon Levels is to farm experience outside of usual questing, and to be efficient with killing enemies.
Does Paragon increase combat rating?
Yes, earning Paragon Levels increases your combat rating overall, and allows for the use of Paragon skill trees, which improve your character’s power.