Difference between revisions of "Harbinger - Pistol Curses"

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* Your elixirs apply boons to your allies so try to share it with them whenever possible. This is most important for {{Skill|Elixir of Ambition}}.
 
* Your elixirs apply boons to your allies so try to share it with them whenever possible. This is most important for {{Skill|Elixir of Ambition}}.
  
*'''Never''' 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. The only exception can be {{Skill|Mark of Blood}} (because it's not a key skill and has a low CD), which you can freely place at an entrance or under yourself to potentially give away Stealthed enemy movement.
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*'''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, {{Skill|Mark of Blood}} (because it's not a key skill and has a low CD) or even {{Skill|Chilblains}} can be used a bit more freely. For example place them at an entrance or under yourself to help your team spot {{Tooltip|Stealth}}ed 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 {{Skill|Reaper's Mark}} right before they jump you to ruin their burst.
  
 
*Entering Shroud triggers {{Trait|Weakening Shroud}}. If you're CC'd and getting focused you can enter shroud for the {{Tooltip|Weakness}} and boon rip as a defensive measure and even proc {{Trait|Plague Sending}} for some cleansing and additional counter-pressure.
 
*Entering Shroud triggers {{Trait|Weakening Shroud}}. If you're CC'd and getting focused you can enter shroud for the {{Tooltip|Weakness}} and boon rip as a defensive measure and even proc {{Trait|Plague Sending}} for some cleansing and additional counter-pressure.

Revision as of 12:20, 20 June 2022

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 and Boon removal

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on June 20, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.


Overview

A high condition damage PvP Harbinger build made to teamfight.


Skill Bar

Pistol/Dagger
Staff
Utility


Template Code

[&DQgCKycaQCrnGqIAiwD6AC4BMAG9Ab0B6BqSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]
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Specializations


Equipment

Pistol
Dagger
Sigil
Sigil
Staff
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet


Usage

Elite specialization basics

  • 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

  • Role: follow the teamfight, stay with the support if you have one.
  • Your elixirs apply boons to your allies so try to share it with them whenever possible. This is most important for .
  • 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, (because it's not a key skill and has a low CD) or even can be used a bit more freely. For example place them at an entrance or under yourself to help your team spot Stealth 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 right before they jump you to ruin their burst.
  • Entering Shroud triggers . If you're CC'd and getting focused you can enter shroud for the Weakness Weakness and boon rip as a defensive measure and even proc for some cleansing and additional counter-pressure.
  • is one of the more versatile skills in the build:
    • The healing and endurance reduction from Poison Poison and Weakness Weakness is great for wearing down enemy bunkers/supports.
    • Could be used defensively for AoE projectile denial, helping you and your teams survive pressure, even shutting down elites such as .
    • It's unblockable and the Poison Poison does solid damage on its own.


Sustain

  • Both entering and staying in shroud removes conditions thanks to and .
  • Removing and applying conditions generates Carapace stacks from Death Magic, reducing direct damage taken. At 25+ stacks is going to start pulsing Protection Protection for, well, further protection. This boon also reduces condition damage taken thanks to .
    • grants Carapace even if the condition was removed through other means, like .
  • (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 when your enemies jump after you.
    • Activate SW (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!
  • 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 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. and are both great for building (or closing) gaps.
  • Skill #4 on both weapon sets is a condition transfer: and .


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 8 votes.
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3 stars
Krytical.ERROR gave this build 3 stars • October 2023
Tough spot for this build currently. Pre SOTO, started working on a very in depth guide for Harb builds based around the Pistol Curses build with some tweaks, as it was my favorite and most played build for the entirety of EOD. But it feels very underwhelming currently where there are so many melee burst builds that can blink on top of you from what feels like out of nowhere, projectile denial and people running in packs and with what seems to be pro-tier supports even in unranked matches.... Pistol Curses and variants used to be a super hard carry build. It's just not in a good place and it's hard to see it coming back to 4 or 5 stars without some significant changes to the meta, even in unranked. Can still be fun for sure, the build itself still flows nicely and feels smooth to play, and if you go up against a team of mostly lower skilled players, you'll wreck. Otherwise you're crossing your fingers and clenching your jaw.
3 stars
Hanz gave this build 3 stars • September 2023
Not what it once was, gets blown up in mere seconds in this burst meta, extremely vulnerable when Wurm/Spectal Walk/elite elixir are on CD. I'd rank this last among necro elite specs and arguably even power Harb is better now. Has a couple of redeeming qualities like the damage which is still great when playing with Soul Reaping, shroud mobility allows for skillful gameplay if you know how to use those skills properly. Weakness uptime is nice but more and more specs are getting Resistance for free which lets them ignore that. It's still playable but there are better options out there.
5 stars
Gkhougaz gave this build 5 stars • August 2023
This build has it all for a dps. Great weakness spam. An escape button with wurm, projectile denial with Cloud, very long range with staff, and solid CC. Excellent ability to scale damage from single target (pistol) to staff (aoe). Fantastic condi build during the condi build drought. EDIT: Don't play if enemies have core guardian or tempest.
4 stars
Rhubarbpie gave this build 4 stars • October 2022
Honestly I don't consider this build to be as meta as other people say. Reaper feels a little stronger to me. I Think maybe it's easy to do though since mostly just using auto attacks and pistol/shroud 2 and occasionally throwing your potions at people
4 stars
Chokeen Chi Kahns gave this build 4 stars • August 2022
Seriously, is it the best, is it the most powerful? Probably not. But using condi removal when condi is supa pop right now is awesome. As well as regen casting acting as an opening or upkeep. Then you spike condi right back. I did put signet of spite. since i act almost like a tank / gw1 necro bomber then get out with spectral or my worm bud - I like a little more power. Also, like sending the spite as active when we target or if i need to spam/overwhelming the area while being attacked.
5 stars
Acezelpyer gave this build 5 stars • May 2022
High damage, decent defense and your sheer presence makes others fear you. If you get popping off your target is going to fold fast, and that's the name of your game. Sheer overwhelming force. Remember your shroud here doesn't cover your HP so you're taking all that damage to your face.
5 stars
MaxWolfe gave this build 5 stars • March 2022
Great build with good pressure and survivability if played well. Virtually unbeatable if you have no condition cures. I play this as Pistol/Dagger, Scepter/Focus and it works well. I'm currently running Blood Magic instead of SR which might be worth a shot if you are struggling with sustain. Give it a go!
5 stars
Primeauxvera gave this build 5 stars • March 2022
The fun part about this build, is that it can be overwhelming to your opponent to fight if you play it aggressively. Good crowd controls, if you utilize the utilities correctly you can be very mobile. High damage, carrion amulet is a great choice since harbinger doesn't have a second HP bar. I recommend this to anybody, especially if you're used to playing support classes. This is the glassy spec you need, to break you out of that defensive support class mentality, and into the world of dps. Overall it's a good option for anyone to pick up. :)

Comments

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