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 September 15, 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

Relic

• Players with Weaponmaster Training with the Secrets of the Obscure expansion should use Scepter + Torch in the second weapon set.
• For relics you can also consider Relic of Akeem for AoE damage, or Relic of the Sunless if you lack access to expansion relics.
• Equip the highest tier Jade Bot Core you can afford. The extra vitality will also increase your boon duration due to Twisted Medicine.
• You can consider using a few Ritualist pieces if you're struggling to maintain permanent quickness.

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 Shroud, cast all skills except Vital Draw, then exit Shroud.

Priority

1. Open fights with Harbinger Shroud using all skills except Vital Draw which should be saved for crowd control.
2. Elixirs
3. Weapon skills
4. Blood Is Power ⇒ Deathly Swarm or Plague Sending

• 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.
• Your Shroud auto attacks are much stronger than your weapon auto attacks, moreso thanks to Dhuumfire.
• Transfer the self-inflicted conditions of Blood Is Powerwith Deathly Swarm or by entering Shroud to trigger Plague Sending.

Boons

You provide Quickness and Fury periodically while in Harbinger Shroud, so don't delay it too much. Elixir of Anguish also provides quickness.

You probably will not be able to maintain permanent quickness if you don't have Alacrity from external sources and a high tier Jade Bot Core, which increases vitality and thus concentration due to Twisted Medicine. You can consider using one or two Ritualist trinkets to help maintain quickness.

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)