Build:Harbinger - Celestial Elixir Roamer

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Hybrid damage and Mobility

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on May 24, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Celestial Harbinger WvW build designed for roaming known for its high sustain, strong damage and decent mobility.

Skill Bar

Pistol/Torch

Staff

Utility

Skill Variants

Weapons

There are several viable options for the off-hand slot. Torch also requires both Path of Fire and the Secrets of the Obscure expansions so if you don't have access to those then you're forced to pick one of the following weapons:

• Warhorn - this is mostly taken with a Relic of Speed for improved mobility. The Swiftness sources in the build however are scarce and with long CDs which makes this vulnerable to boon removal. The unblockable CC of Warhorn 4 can be good value too but it has a shorter range than the one on Torch.

• Focus - Spinal Shivers adds a great boonrip skill with high damage, it's the most bursty option.

• Dagger - a defensive weapon with extra condition removal and damage mitigation through Blind and Weakness.

• Sword - primarily a defensive/CC focused weapon.

Utility

Viable choices for the optional slot:

• Elixir of Ignorance - low CD stun break and the Resistance is useful against Blind spamming specs like D/P Thief or Flashbang Holosmith.

• Summon Flesh Wurm - stun break that could also be used as a mobility tool, it's especially useful at scaling difficult terrain and kiting to the highground. The downside is the long cast time, especially when you're trying to set this up as an escape tool while disengaging.

• Elixir of Bliss - if you need more cleansing.

• Spectral Ring - area denial skill that could ward off attackers or trap enemies inside.

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Specializations

Variants

• Take Dark Defiance if you want more passive survivability.

Variants

• Dark Gunslinger is also a viable option, improves your Pistol skills in exchange for lower burst damage and less Stability access.

• Twisted Medicine lets you share your elite's boons with allies, something that's worth considering if you're roaming with a group.

Specialization Variants

Taking Soul Reaping instead of Death Magic for more condition damage, better Life Force management and unblockable Staff Marks is also a viable (albeit much less popular) choice. This however is a high risk/reward option, as your sustain is going to be considerably lower:

Equipment

Head
Celestial

Shoulders
Celestial

Chest
Celestial

Hands
Celestial

Legs
Celestial

Feet
Celestial

Backpiece
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Amulet
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Staff
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Pistol
Celestial

Torch
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of Surging or Rune of Superior Rune of the Traveler - passive mobility boost.

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Berserker - good hybrid damage rune.

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Firebrand - nearly permanent Quickness uptime.

Relic

• Relic of Akeem - improved burst damage and condition variety, but Demon Queen is better at bringing down other high sustain Cele specs because of the healing reduction.

• Relic of Isgarren - boosts both your strike damage and condition pressure while being easy to maintain.

• Relic of Nayos - extra survivability.

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Generosity over Cleansing - slightly worse condition removal for increased pressure. In most cases Generosity should be enough, but Cleansing is the safest and most forgiving option.

Consumables

Food

• - passive damage mitigation and great stats.

• - active damage mitigation.
  • - budget version

Utility

• , , or .

• Budget: either from Canned Food Crates found in WvW s or purchased from the Permanent Portable Provisioner.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Harbinger Shroud doesn't replace your health bar! Unlike other Necromancer shrouds, Harbinger Shroud can't be used to soak damage, which makes this spec more squishy by default. Death Magic should offset this a bit.

• You can enter shroud even with no Life Force to use, but staying inside still drains your LF each interval.

General

• Entering Shroud triggers Weakening Shroud. If you're CC'd and getting focused you can enter shroud for the Weakness and boon rip as a defensive measure and even proc Plague Sending for some cleansing and additional counter-pressure.

• Harbinger Shroud is unique in a sense that it doesn't require Life Force to activate - this skill even gives you LF! Because of that LF management is much less of a concern on Harbinger builds.

• Corrosive Poison Cloud is one of the more versatile skills in the build:
  • The healing and endurance reduction from Poison and Weakness is great for wearing down other tanky Cele roamer specs.
  • Could be used defensively for AoE projectile denial, helping you and your teams survive pressure, even shutting down elites such as Lich Form.
  • It's unblockable and the Poison does solid damage on its own.

• On Staff always try to use Putrid Mark AFTER Chillblains for a free Weakness combo.

Damage

• This part of the build is rather straightforward, there aren't any complicated burst chains you have to learn. It's all about keeping the target constantly pressured.

• In terms of damage, Shroud > Pistol > Staff. Staff is mainly a utility/defensive weapon.

• Elixirs apply Blight to you and Shroud skills can consume Blight, empowering them. Consider using elixirs right before entering Shroud. Elixir of Ambition is especially good at kicking off burst combos.

• Vile Blast fires quickly and with little to no animation, which makes it hard to dodge for enemies. Use it to set up abilities that have longer cast times like Weeping Shots or high importance such as Elixir of Ambition.

• Dark Barrage should always be used in melee range to ensure that all the projectiles hit the main target.

• Vital Draw serves as an ideal setup for other shroud skills (except for Voracious Arc which could "stunbreak" enemies as the daze overrides the stronger CC of Vital Draw).

• Tainted Bolts (shroud auto) is the best filler in the build, capable of delivering some serious damage if left unchecked especially with the passive Quickness.

Shroud burst combo example:

1. Devouring Cut to get into melee range.
2. Voracious Arc to deliver damage while avoiding incoming attacks and dazing the target, making it harder for them to prevent the next step of the chain. It's also yet another mobility skill in case you were still not in melee range.
3. Vital Draw for CC.
4. Dark Barrage at point-blank range for maximum effectiveness.
5. Tainted Bolts spam.

Sustain

• Both entering and staying in shroud removes conditions thanks to Plague Sending and Shrouded Removal.

• Removing and applying conditions generates Carapace stacks from Death Magic, reducing direct damage taken. At 25+ stacks Corrupter's Fervor is going to start pulsing Protection for, well, further protection. This boon also reduces condition damage taken thanks to Dark Defiance.
  • Shrouded Removal grants Carapace even if the condition was removed through other means, like Spectral Walk.

• Spectral Walk (SW) is great for preventing condition pressure from ramping up on you. Activating its chain skill which "ends" Spectral Walk does not stop the cleansing. This skill has many uses, for example:
  • Activate SW ⇒ jump off a cliff while being chased ⇒ Spectral Recall when your enemies jump after you.
  • Activate SW ⇒ Necrotic Traversal (Flesh Wurm skill) ⇒ teleport back when they catch up to you. This works for stomping downed enemies as well, the channeling isn't interrupted by either of these teleports!

• Summon Flesh Wurm provides much needed vertical mobility, allowing you to teleport to the highground if you need to escape or chase someone.

• Harbinger has better mobility than the average Necromancer build which could prove useful when it comes to surviving damage. Devouring Cut and Voracious Arc are both great for building (or closing) gaps.

• Putrid Mark and Elixir of Bliss are the closest things you have to a mass cleanse.

Related Builds

• Harbinger - Pistol Curses - Conquest PvP version of the build.