Harbinger - Condi Harbinger

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on April 14, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Condi Harbinger is a fast and mobile build that deals damage through Torment, Bleeding, and Burning. It also provides very high uptime of Quickness, Fury, and Might to itself and nearby allies. It also has great CC capabilities through Vital Draw, Voracious Arc and Vile Blast.

The main downside is how squishy it is. Harbinger Shroud does not replace your health bar unlike Death Shroud or Reaper's Shroud. On top of that, you have reduced maximum health from your profesion mechanic Dark Disciple accumulating Blight. This leaves you very vulnerable to burst damage, but you do have some healing over time from Alchemic Vigor and can stay moderatly safe by fighting from range.

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Skill Bar

Pistol/Dagger

Scepter/Dagger

Utility

Weapon variants

Players with Weaponmaster Training with the Secrets of the Obscure expansion should use Scepter + Torch in the second weapon set.

• Warhorn can be used for some extra crowd control.
• Focus - boon removal and more life force generation.

Skill variants

Heal skill

Elixir of Promise provides both damage and healing. You can consider other options:

• Well of Blood provides slightly higher raw healing.
• Consume Conditions is great vs. enemies that inflict conditions.

Utility Skills

Blood Is Power is taken for damage and boon generation and should never be replaced. Elixir of Anguish is taken to sustain Quickness and should never be replaced. Elixir of Risk provides boon generation but can be replaced by other alternatives:

• Epidemic is amazing for AoE damage by spreading the conditions on your enemy to other nearby enemies, but useless in single target fights.
• Spectral Walk stun break and condition cleanse.
• Corrosive Poison Cloud - destroys projectiles.
• Plague Signet - amazing in fights with many conditions.
• Signet of Spite - single target damage.

Elite skill

Elixir of Ambition deals massive damage when cast above the Blight threshold.

• Summon Flesh Golem - tanky CC buddy.

Specializations

• Parasitic Contagion can be taken for a nice boost to survivability at the cost of some condition damage.

Equipment

• Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required; you can use exotic gear with the same stats.

This build uses the standard raid gear, making it ideal for general PVE.

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

Dagger
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Scepter
Viper

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

• Players with Weaponmaster Training with the Secrets of the Obscure expansion should use Scepter + Torch in the second weapon set.
• Relic of Akeem is nice because it strikes in an AoE, but you can use Relic of the Fractal for higher single target damage.

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• /
• /

Farming

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• /
• (and variants)

Usage

Your Harbinger Shroud and Elixirs will accumulate Blight on you due to Dark Disciple, reducing your maximum health, but also increasing your damage. This leaves you vulnerable to burst damage, but also provides some healing over time from Alchemic Vigor.

Damage

The general idea is to swap between Harbinger Shroud and your weapon set to use all your damage skills. Open fights with your weapons, use all your skills, use Blood Is Power, then enter Shroud, which will transfer the self-inflicted conditions of Blood Is Power to your enemy thanks to Plague Sending. Your Shroud auto attacks are much stronger than your weapon auto attacks, in part thanks to Dhuumfire.

Priority

1. Use all your weapon skills
2. Blood Is Power
3. Harbinger Shroud when your weapon skills are on cooldown.

• You can start fights with Elixir of Risk, Harbinger Shroud's skills except Vital Draw, then exit Shroud.
• Elixir of Ambition should only be used when above 10 Blight to massively increase its damage. Use your other Elixirs off cooldown.
• You can avoid a lot of damage by staying at range and skipping Devouring Cut and Voracious Arc.
• You provide Quickness and Fury periodically while in Harbinger Shroud, so don't delay it too much.
• Blood Is Power should be used close to going into Harbinger Shroud to transfer the self-applied Torment and Bleeding with the maximum duration through Plague Sending and avoid them being cleansed in the meantime.

Survivability

• Elixir of Promise is your main source of healing, so use it whenever you need it. Make sure to throw it close to yourself to apply the stacks of Blight to yourself.
• You heal passively for every stack of Blight through Alchemic Vigor, so try to have many stacks on you. If you want to maintain 20-25 stacks at the cost of some damage, skip Devouring Cut and Voracious Arc because they are the main sources of Blight consumption.

Crowd control

• Vile Blast
• Voracious Arc
• Vital Draw

External links

More information on the general usage and rotation is provided in the video down below: Guide Video (as of May 2022)