Harbinger - Condi DPS

Part of the current metagame

Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on August 04, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.

Overview

A condition DPS build for Harbinger. Unlike other Necromancer specialisations, its shroud offers no defence, and it uses Elixirs to lower its own maximum health in order to gain higher damage. This makes it very much a glass cannon, and while its weapon skills are all ranged, it needs to be in melee for maximum damage from its Shroud abilities so it can feel very squishy. Fortunately, you are not denied healing while in shroud.

It has a slow ramp-up of damage and focuses mostly on Torment, so it prefers long-phased, stationary encounters. It provides very high Vulnerability uptime, and Elixirs offer decent self-buffing options too.

As a Necromancer, it has a lot of valuable utility options, though it must trade damage to bring them.

Skill Bar

Pistol/Torch

Scepter/Dagger

Utility

Weapon Variants

• For maximum DPS you run Pistol/Torch & Scepter/Dagger. This build cannot easily swap out utility skills, so lacks versatility.
• If you swap to Pistol/Dagger & Scepter/Torch, you no longer need Plague Signet and can replace it with something else. This is the setup used by the quickness build.
• Players that don't own Secrets of the Obscure can just ignore the Torch.
  • If extra CC is needed, you can run a Warhorn on the Scepter set for minimal DPS loss.

Skill Variants

• If you don't wish to learn a new rotation but want some self-buffing, you can swap Elixir of Risk for another elixir - Elixir of Anguish is particularly good.
• If swapping Plague Signet out you can bring other encounter-specific utility such as Spectral Grasp or Corrosive Poison Cloud.

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Specializations

• Plague Sending is a minor DPS loss and will add some additional condi transfer to the build.
• For a ~5% DPS loss, you could bring Twisted Medicine to provide some extra boon uptime to your subgroup (depending on which elixirs you pick). Including ~10% of each boon from Elixir of Ambition:
  • ~35% Quickness and ~60% Swiftness from Elixir of Anguish
  • ~5 stacks of Might and ~60% Fury from Elixir of Risk

Equipment

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Viper

Chest
Viper

Hands
Viper

Legs
Viper

Feet
Viper

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Pistol
Viper

Torch
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Scepter
Viper

Dagger
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bursting, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Earth and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Torment deal similar DPS. Do not replace the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Demons.
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Torment deals the most damage, but its efficiency is maximised by using it only on the Pistol set.
• You could run a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bursting on both sets, as it's a bit cheaper.
• The cheapest option, but also the lowest damage, is to replace one or both with a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Earth.

Twisted Medicine

• If using Twisted Medicine, make the following changes:
  • Rune of Superior Rune of Tormenting
  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bursting instead of Sigil of Superior Sigil of Demons
  • 15 Malign and 3 Spiteful infusions

Non-SotO Players

• For players that don't own Secrets of the Obscure, the best relic is Relic of the Aristocracy, along with the following changes:
  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bursting instead of Sigil of Superior Sigil of Demons
  • 18 Malign infusions
• If you're using Twisted Medicine AND don't have access to Secrets of the Obscure, just run the default setup with Relic of the Aristocracy.
  • In this setup, it is optimal to use 15 Malign and 3 Spiteful infusions.

Consumables

Food

• - it is only the lifesteal that makes this food stronger than
• If using , it is optimal to use 18 Malign infusions, a Sinister stats backpiece, and
  • is also optimal when not using infusions

Utility

• or alternatives
• if using or (or alternatives)

Usage

Cascading Corruption gains a stack every time you consume a stack of Blight. At 20 stacks, there is an explosion of damage and you gain a damage modifier for 10 seconds. The aim is to keep consuming Blight in order to maintain high uptime of the buff.

The skills that can consume Blight are:

• Elixirs
• Devouring Cut
• Voracious Arc

Elixirs and spending time in Harbinger Shroud are also the way you gain Blight, and consuming Blight increases the strength of the related skills. So ensuring you are using these abilities as often as possible is key.

Each of the listed skills consumes five stacks of Blight except for Elixir of Ambition, which consumes 10. Each elixir skill provides five more Blight than it consumes.

This rotation also uses Torch. Players that don't own Secrets of the Obscure can just ignore any torch skills.

Rotation

Opener

1. Throw Elixir of Promise at your feet to quickly build Blight stacks before the fight starts.
2. Blood Is Power
3. Elixir of Risk
4. Blood Is Power
5. Plague Signet - make sure the condis from the second Blood is Power have applied
6. Harrowing Wave
7. Oppressive Collapse
8. Vile Blast
9. Elixir of Ambition
10. Harbinger Shroud

Harbinger Shroud

It is important to use skills that consume Blight five times during this loop

1. Devouring Cut
2. Dark Barrage
3. Vital Draw - in addition to triggering your relic, this provides life force
4. Voracious Arc
5. Tainted Bolts until Devouring Cut is nearly off cooldown
6. Devouring Cut
7. Dark Barrage
8. Tainted Bolts until Devouring Cut is nearly off cooldown
9. Voracious Arc
10. Devouring Cut
11. Dark Barrage
12. Exit Harbinger Shroud

You should aim to use Devouring Cut off cooldown and to use it three times without delaying your shroud exit. It is best to use this skill before Dark Barrage as the Blight consumption will often trigger Meltdown, and Dark Barrage is the more damaging skill. The other skills have some flexibility, with the following considerations:

• It is optimal to use skills at high Blight stacks
• Ensure you don't sit at 25 Blight for too long by using Voracious Arc

Pistol-to-Scepter Loop

1. Weeping Shots
2. Elixir of Promise
3. Elixir of Risk
4. Vile Blast, Harrowing Wave, Oppressive Collapse and Blood Is Power ⇒ Plague Signet
5. Weeping Shots
6. Weapon Swap
7. Devouring Darkness and Grasping Dead
8. Enfeebling Blood - only if Harbinger Shroud is not yet off cooldown
9. Harbinger Shroud
10. Repeat the Shroud Loop, then when you exit proceed to the Scepter-to-Pistol Loop below

Scepter-to-Pistol Loop

1. Devouring Darkness and Grasping Dead
2. Enfeebling Blood - only if you will not use Elixir of Ambition this loop
3. Weapon Swap
4. Weeping Shots
5. Elixir of Promise
6. Elixir of Risk
7. Vile Blast, Harrowing Wave, Oppressive Collapse and Blood Is Power ⇒ Plague Signet
8. Weeping Shots
9. Harbinger Shroud
10. Repeat the Shroud Loop, then when you exit proceed to the Pistol-to-Scepter Loop

• Use Elixir of Ambition off cooldown
• Where you are at two stacks of Blood Is Power, do the following:
  1. Blood Is Power
  2. Elixir of Promise
  3. Blood Is Power
  4. Plague Signet

Pistol/Dagger & Scepter/Torch Rotation

This is very similar to the quickness build, you could just use that rotation instead if desired.

Opener

1. Throw Elixir of Promise at your feet to quickly build Blight stacks before the fight starts.
2. Blood Is Power
3. Elixir of Risk
4. Blood Is Power
5. Deathly Swarm
6. Elixir of Ambition
7. Vile Blast
8. Weeping Shots
9. Harbinger Shroud

Harbinger Shroud

It is important to use skills that consume Blight five times during this loop

1. Devouring Cut
2. Dark Barrage
3. Vital Draw - in addition to triggering your relic, this provides life force
4. Voracious Arc
5. Tainted Bolts until Devouring Cut is nearly off cooldown
6. Devouring Cut
7. Dark Barrage
8. Tainted Bolts until Devouring Cut is nearly off cooldown
9. Voracious Arc
10. Devouring Cut
11. Dark Barrage
12. Exit Harbinger Shroud

You should aim to use Devouring Cut off cooldown and to use it three times without delaying your shroud exit. It is best to use this skill before Dark Barrage as the Blight consumption will often trigger Meltdown, and Dark Barrage is the more damaging skill. The other skills have some flexibility, with the following considerations:

• It is optimal to use skills at high Blight stacks
• Ensure you don't sit at 25 Blight for too long by using Voracious Arc

Pistol-to-Scepter Loop

1. Weeping Shots
2. Elixir of Promise and Elixir of Risk - try to hit both yourself and your target so you deal damage as well as gaining Blight
3. Vile Blast, Enfeebling Blood and Blood Is Power, if available - if you used Blood Is Power, immediately transfer your conditions to your target with Deathly Swarm
4. Weeping Shots
5. Weapon Swap
6. Oppressive Collapse
7. Harrowing Wave
8. Devouring Darkness and Grasping Dead
9. Harbinger Shroud
10. Repeat the Shroud Loop, then when you exit proceed to the Scepter-to-Pistol Loop below

Scepter-to-Pistol Loop

1. Devouring Darkness and Grasping Dead
2. Harrowing Wave
3. Oppressive Collapse
4. Weapon Swap
5. Weeping Shots
6. Elixir of Promise and Elixir of Risk - try to hit both yourself and your target so you deal damage as well as gaining Blight
7. Vile Blast, Enfeebling Blood and Blood Is Power, if available - if you used either of the last two skills, immediately transfer your conditions to your target with Deathly Swarm
8. Weeping Shots
9. Harbinger Shroud
10. Repeat the Shroud Loop, then when you exit proceed to the Pistol-to-Scepter Loop

• Use Elixir of Ambition off cooldown
• Where you are at two stacks of Blood Is Power, do the following:
  1. Blood Is Power
  2. Elixir of Promise
  3. Blood Is Power
  4. Deathly Swarm

Utility

CC

• Voracious Arc
• Vital Draw
• Vile Blast
• Wail of Doom - if running Warhorn

General Tips

• If you find yourself running out of life force you can adjust in the following ways:
  • Swapping Epidemic out for an extra source of life force.
  • The extra vitality from higher tiers of Jade Bot Power Cores make you take a lot longer to run out.
• If using Corrosive Poison Cloud, make sure to use it after transfering the conditions from Blood Is Power so that you transfer the right conditions.
• Both Voracious Arc and Devouring Cut have aftercasts that can be easily cancelled by using any other skill. If you are following the rotation, the aftercast of Voracious Arc should always be cancelled by Devouring Cut, but you should manually use Tainted Bolts or Dark Barrage after Devouring Cut rather than wait for autoattacks to take over.
• Try to finish the second attack of Tainted Bolts before using another skill.
• Voracious Arc and Devouring Cut are only worth using if you are above the Blight threshold for each skill (10 and 5 respectively). If for some reason you are not at high enough Blight, skip these skills.
• Leaving Harbinger Shroud during the cast of Dark Barrage can cancel some of the hits, so be careful not to leave too early.
• Most of your weapon skill cooldowns are longer than your loop, meaning that you can pretty much cast them in any order, with a few exceptions:
  • You want to cast Weeping Shots twice each time you end up on Pistol. Delaying the first use will therefore delay your entire rotation so it should always be used first.
  • Enfeebling Blood is a fairly low priority skill, and this means that its effective cooldown is slightly longer than your loop, causing it to drift backwards in the rotation. This shouldn't be a problem if you're good at pressing it off cooldown, but if you're a little slow it can end up delaying your rotation (or need to be skipped). You can offset this by prioritising it over Vile Blast and Scepter skills.
• Performed correctly, you should never need to autoattack.
• If you have downtime during an encounter where Harbinger Shroud is not needed, you can repeatedly enter and immediately exit it to build up life force via Corrupted Talent.