Harbinger - Power Harbinger

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

Focused on: Strike damage and Boon removal

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on August 11, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A high damage PvP Harbinger power build meant to teamfight, but can hold it's own in some duels. The build is a glass cannon with limited survivability, relying mainly on its mobility tools and careful positioning to survive.

Skill Bar

Sword/Sword

Staff

Utility

Instead of using Staff, you could also use Axe Focus for more Direct Damage at the expense of utility and CC: Rending ClawsGhastly ClawsUnholy FeastSoul GraspSpinal Shivers

Skill Variants

Utility

• Elixir of Ignorance - low CD stunbreak + damage mitigation and defense against soft-CC like Blind spam or Immobilize.

• Spectral Ring - Added AoE Protection and CC and with Fear. Good for kiting or team fights.

• Well of Darkness - can replace Flesh Wurm, generally Well of Darkness is one of the most Meta skills for Necromancer right now. The blindness pulse can really mess up any player.

• Well of Suffering - Great to combo with your elixrs to cause your opponent to have high Vulnerability allowing for intense bursts. You could potentially drop multiple players with this but that's all situational.

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Specializations

Specialization Variants

For more Damage you could try replacing either Blood Magic or Curses with Spite and/or Soul Reaping. Keep in mind that letting go of Blood Magic, while allowing you to invest in having extreme dps, will make you far glassier and you will desperately need a support to stay alive.

Alternatively, you could swap Blood Magic with Death Magic if you'd prefer added toughness and power over barrier and lifesteal. You'd might want to consider taking if that's the case.

Equipment

Sword

Sword

Sigil

Sigil

Staff

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Instead of taking , you can opt for more damage by taking . Note you'll be glassier if you choose this. Again, you can opt for Axe Focus instead of Staff for less utility and CC but more damage.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Harbinger Shroud doesn't replace your health bar! Unlike other Necromancer shrouds, Harbinger Shroud can't be used to soak up too much damage, which makes this spec more squishy by default. This makes Implacable Foe a must have, as it reduces damage for 2 seconds. Make sure to time entering Shroud carefully, as it mitigates 50% damage when first entered.

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

General

• Role: Follow the teamfight, stay with the support if you have one. Apply counter pressure if your support is under duress, as your support will keep you alive.

• Don't spam your marks on the ground out of combat - they are easy to spot and a single dodge from the enemy can get rid of them. Skills 4-5 are also valuable defensive cooldowns and you don't want to risk not having them for the next fight. There are exceptions of course, Mark of Blood (because it's not a key skill and has a low CD) or even Chilblains can be used a bit more freely. For example place them at an entrance or under yourself to help your team spot Stealthed enemy movements or force a dodge at the start of the fight. Or if you see an enemy with teleport skills approaching you could place Reaper's Mark right before they jump you to ruin their burst.

• Entering Harbinger Shroud gives you life force, so start dropping in/out of shroud the moment the game starts (before you'd even leave spawn) and keep doing it even out of combat for the rest of the match for free LF (and mobility from skills 3-4).

Damage

• Staff is more of a utility weapon while Sword/Sword and Shroud skills are for burst damage and mobility. Axe/focus can provide more damage than swords but doesn't have mobility and is less survivable.

• The 3 skills that benefit from Sigil of Intelligence the most are Spinal Shivers if you're running Axe/Focus, Devouring Cut and Voracious Arc.

• Dark Barrage is best used in melee range where all of the projectiles hit your main target.

• Vital Draw is an excellent setup for burst combos as it's quite a long CC.
  • Follow up with any other shroud skill except for Voracious Arc as that one dazes targets and could therefore stunbreak your enemies. It's still good to use near the end of Vital Draw.

• Tainted Bolts (shroud auto) can do a lot of damage with Quickness and makes for a great filler skill if you're out of CDs or don't want to go into melee.

• Elixir of Ambition does decent AoE damage too. While this could act as a ranged skill, you need to be inside the landing area if you want to get the boons from it.

• Sometimes when you drop out of shroud you'll have a few seconds of Quickness left, which might be enough to cover Devouring Visage, Consume, Hungering Maelstrom, and Gormandize if using Swords, and

Ghastly Claws If using Axe. You'll want to burst as heavily as possible while having any remaining Quickness available, as it will be harder to avoid.

Sustain

• Use Spectral Ring to kite enemies or wall yourself off from them if using it. Crossing the ring also gives you Protection.
  • Casting Putrid Mark inside the ring results in AoE Chaos Armor (but only if an enemy triggers the mark).

• 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 should be placed well before entering combat, preferably at a spot where your enemies can't reach it easily. Wurm provides you with an escape route and makes it easier to travel around the map in general. Last but not least, teleporting to the wurm with Necrotic Traversal grants 10% life force, which means you could consider using the teleport before even leaving spawn at the start of a game in order to start off with some LF.

• 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.

• Path of Gluttony and Satiate are Mainhand Sword skills that allow kiting potential also and more survivability.

Related Builds

• Harbinger - Power Elixir Roamer - WvW version of the build.