Each class in Diablo 4 has a unique feature, offering players a unique experience. For those getting ready to play the Rogue, you will get your hands on the Energy and Specialization systems. The Energy System is your builder spender, which you use for your basic and core skills. But, the specialization feature is much more important, as it will entirely change your playstyle. Here’s a look at the Rogue Specialization feature in Diablo 4.
The Rogue has access to a feature called Specializations, which are new ways to interact with your core skills. Image via Blizzard Entertainment.
Diablo 4 Rogue Specializations Explained¶
The Rogue will get a special class quest at level 15, which is similar to the Sorcerer’s Enchantment feature. When you get there, you will automatically pick up a quest called the True Potential. Here, you will be sent NPCs all over the world, and complete a somewhat lengthy quest chain. When you complete it, and return to the NPC that starts it, you quill unlock Specializations.
When you unlock the feature, you can then select the following specializations:
- Combo Points
- Inner Sight
- Preparation
Players do not need to feel forced to play and stick to one, as you can freely swap specializations as and when you want.
For the first specialization you get the Combo Points specialization, which unlocks alongside the feature. At level 20, players get the Inner Sight rogue specialization, and a level 30, you can get Preperation. At the time of writing, we have yet to learn about the Preparation specialization, as the game has not allowed testers to reach that level. We will likely update this page for launch when we know more about the class.
Combo Point Rogue Specialization¶
Combo Points is very similar to the combo point feature in other RPGs with Rogue in them, such as WoW. Here, players can expect to build combo points as a resource over time, and then they can then spend them to empower their abilities.
For the most part, your Combo Points empower your Core Skill greatly, which you can find in the skill tree. Lets take the 
Barrage ability as an example. Combo Points spent on Barrage increase the amount of damage and the amount of arrows the skill unleashes, depending on the number of combo points you spent. So, Barrage can send 6, 7, or 8 arrows, and deal 20, 40, or 60% more damage, depending on the combo points spent.
As you can see, the base version only fires 5 arrows, but it will do much more if you have combo points.
Rogue Inner Sight Specialization¶
Meanwhile, the Inner Sight specialization, which unlocks at level 20, offers a different playstyle. This playstyle is all about marking targets, and building up another resource bar. When you approach enemies, you will get an arrow over their head, and attacks made against the marked enemy will reward you by filling the bar. These arrows stay on enemies temporarily and can switch to different enemies over time. Once you fill the bar, you will then be find you do not spend energy on your skills for several seconds, meaning you can pump your strongest damaging skills that cost energy, as long as they are not on cooldown.
There’s also something else that’s important about this specialization, and that is because it scales with damage. If you can easily do big burst damage to bosses, or annihilate enemies quickly with cleave, you can fill the bar up faster. So, being tactical with your group clearing, or your interaction on single-target fights mean you can potentially push your advantages more than you can than combo points.
Lastly, when the Inner Sight buff ends, you are left with a full energy bar. It means you can use your high-energy CDs again and then return to your basic skill rotation.
Rogue Preparation Specialization in Diablo 4¶
The final Rogue Specialization in Diablo 4 is the Preparation option. This is a spec that awards players with full cooldown resets when you press your ultimate skill, and for every 100 Energy you spend, you lower the cooldown of your Ultimate by 8 seconds. What this allows is for certain playstyles to be about spamming your cooldowns and dealing damage, while finding ways to funnel energy to then reset your ultimate, to then reset your skills again. There are certain builds that allow for this gameplay, such as the trap playstyle, where you want to reset so you can get as many imbuement and traps out to do large amount of burst damage or poison stacking in single target moments.
This concludes the Diablo 4 Rogue Specialization feature. Good luck getting to grips with the various playstyles, and see which version of the rogue you like the most. If you want to look at what the other class specializations do, you can see our pages on them as well:
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