Harbinger overworld solo build?

[Lynx.9058]

Seems like with the blight mechanic, Harbinger just ends up too squishy to properly solo overworld content.   Anyone come across a build that is tanky enough to handle hot/pof/eod zones?

[Warscythes.9307]

You are not that squishy because you typically use up your blight stacks really quickly to power your shroud. Even if you want to save it for whatever reason, your hp pool is still about 15-17k at absolute max stacks.

 

So basically exact same raid/fractal dps build, swap out an elixer for a stunbreak/condi cleanse if you need it. Take Parasitic Contagion if you really want to as it essentially makes condi necro builds immortal. That's really it. Yes harbinger is the squishiest necro build, that doesn't mean is squishy.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Warscythes.9307

[Asum.4960]

Unless you plan on transitioning into endgame content any time soon and can't justify multiple gearsets, I'll always recommend Celestial, especially due to the flexibility it allows.

 

This is a very comfy OW build which allows you to pretty much just Auto Attack for perma 25 Might & Vulnerability, Fury and Quickness, which is already fairly tanky with Celestial and Regen from Tormenting, Alchemic Vigor, Signet of Vampirism and Vital Persistence as sustain - which will definitely get you through anything general OW, with minimal effort - just camp Shroud, kite at range and Blast.

 

That in turn allows you to easily adjust over to something like This, which can get you all the way through solo'ing T4's - aka, anything that can mechanically be solo'ed in the game, this will get you through it. All while at least still pulling ~12k DPS, which while not particularly impressive is actually pretty decent considering it's Utility in incredibly tankyness, sustain, stab, boon rip, condi cleanse and CC.

 

Or This as sort of hybrid between the two, which has neither the ease of use of the former, nor the incredible tankyness of the latter, but in turn provides far more damage (while still focusing on some Utility and Sustain this will pull ~18k DPS solo which is pretty good - if you don't need the extra sustain and utility of stab, you can push that further with Soul Barbs and Dark Gunslinger instead).

All of these benefit from running Deathly Haste over Doom Approaches, which imo isn't just far more fun to play with perma Quickness, but also allows you to freely kite rather than having to stay in melee, which in of itself is a massive survivability increase, as well as providing more DPS uptime. 

As added bonus, you are a Quickness and Fury provider for any ally you might meet in Events, Metas, etc., and you can run these in Dungeons and low tier Fractals too no problem, and swapping to Twisted Medicine is no issue for that either. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Asum.4960

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

Few simple steps to make your harb more tanky:

1. Death magic with corrupter's fervor or Unholy Sanctuary grandmaster.
2. Signet of the Locust. Quick big heal after you drop outta shroud

3. Gear with big vitality and/or tougness (Trailblazer, Ritualist, Plaguedoctor, Carrion, Dire).

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Run a gearset with max Vitality, like Marauder, Dragon or for condi Ritualist. These have the added benefit of being tanky but still useable in raids since they have no Toughness. Remember to use a Power+Vitalty runeset and matching food, as well for the most Blight resistance.

 

Maruader also crit caps really easily on Harbinger, although their power builds are lackluster. Condi also does better solo since you can inflict alot of soft CC (Blind, Cripple, etc.).

Edited October 3, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[The Boz.2038]

Power Harb doesn't work well. Go condi.
Something like this should work: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSBFoE1aYZoMQGLTlRiF7Vd8H-zRRYmBLn8Kj4ShirKzHAA-e
Don't know your resources, so opted for ascended viper trinkets; those are easy to get with season content, and will last you a good long while. EoD is rotten with exotic ritualist gear in armor and weapon slots. The runes and sigils are dirt cheap, but effective.
Use Blood Is Power only when entering shroud. The build has range and can function at it, but is intended to work in point blank, in-your-face distance. The traits and rotation will get you ready for instanced scourge/harbinger builds.

[Lynx.9058]

Is Blood magic / blood bank not used on any of these?  I thought that was a go-to for survivability with all necro builds.

[EriskRedLemur.7153]

Cele may not be totally easy to get but I was Cele Harb roamer; and it goes into OW so well. Don't use full cele even OW. You always have the option to use pets; that does help. But really you just gotta know your timing/stacks/when to and not to enter shroud, etc. Def go condi if not full cele.

I also do similar to The Bozz - except half celestial; n my weapons are the same but sigils/type is what I use for DPS/quick harb for PvE because I'm lazy n works great still (aka torment rune, viper/ritualist). Only I like Deathlyy Haste too and if I'm with groups I go to Twisted Medicine. However, I may adjust adding Shadow Fiend for Bliss or full minion or Signet of Locust or etc. if have issues/pending what I'm doing. However I rarely run full minions anymore; I just don't die like I used to first doing Harb. That's a lot of it too. Experience. ANYWAYS lots of good info by other hope it all helps! 🙂

Edited October 3, 2022 by EriskRedLemur.7153

[Warscythes.9307]

1 hour ago, Lynx.9058 said:

Is Blood magic / blood bank not used on any of these?  I thought that was a go-to for survivability with all necro builds.

No, parasitic contagion is all you need.

[Asum.4960]

On 10/3/2022 at 11:12 PM, Lynx.9058 said:

Is Blood magic / blood bank not used on any of these?  I thought that was a go-to for survivability with all necro builds.

Bloodmagic just costs too much Damage for too little sustain (it doesn't have any damage modifiers, it doesn't generate Might, Vuln, nothing), and Blood Bank as a Trait has the problem that it's only worth taking when you have very good sustain already - in which case you don't need the Trait anymore. 

You are better off getting your sustain, and more damage, elsewhere.

 

With the Healing Power from Celestial, Alchemic Vigor with holding onto Blight and Regen from Tormenting Runes is pretty much all the sustain you'll need in most cases already, at a good 700 HP healing per second. With Signet of Vampirism and Vital Persistence, you are already at a good >1200 passive healing per second. 

Coupled with Celestials Toughness and crucially the ability to kite on a ranged setup (like with Deathly Haste), that's more than you need for solo'ing any casual content.

 

If you are going full Condi - basically adapting the meta condi DPS Harbinger Build, Parasitic Contagion is another option - although that setup is far weaker in a solo/casual content context overall. 

Going full Viper's with Approaching Doom and Parasitic Contagion nets you about the same damage solo as the third build I shared, except far squishier, locked into melee/far less DPS uptime, less sustain, less Utility, no intrinsic ally boon support, far less flexiable and you have to deal with Corruptions/Condition transference. 

If you go Trailblazer, it just ends up worse than Celestial in every single way. 

It's an option though if you only have one gearset to invest into and want Vipers for organized group content - and for general OW and especially Story, that should still easily get you through ofc.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Asum.4960

[Lynx.9058]

On 10/5/2022 at 1:16 AM, Asum.4960 said:

Bloodmagic just costs too much Damage for too little sustain (it doesn't have any damage modifiers, it doesn't generate Might, Vuln, nothing), and Blood Bank as a Trait has the problem that it's only worth taking when you have very good sustain already - in which case you don't need the Trait anymore. 

You are better off getting your sustain, and more damage, elsewhere.

 

With the Healing Power from Celestial, Alchemic Vigor with holding onto Blight and Regen from Tormenting Runes is pretty much all the sustain you'll need in most cases already, at a good 700 HP healing per second. With Signet of Vampirism and Vital Persistence, you are already at a good >1200 passive healing per second. 

Coupled with Celestials Toughness and crucially the ability to kite on a ranged setup (like with Deathly Haste), that's more than you need for solo'ing any casual content.

 

If you are going full Condi - basically adapting the meta condi DPS Harbinger Build, Parasitic Contagion is another option - although that setup is far weaker in a solo/casual content context overall. 

Going full Viper's with Approaching Doom and Parasitic Contagion nets you about the same damage as the third build I shared, except far squishier, locked into melee/far less DPS uptime, less sustain, less Utility, no intrinsic ally boon support, far less flexiable and you have to deal with Corruptions/Condition transference. 

If you go Trailblazer, it just ends up worse than Celestial in every single way. 

It's an option though if you only have one gearset to invest into and want Vipers for endgame - and for general OW and especially Story, that should still easily get you through ofc.

Thanks for the info, I made some changes and I'm doing crazy good on harbinger now.  I wasn't using the right runes/sigils before (missed those from the build link).

Damage out of shroud still seems pretty average, even sub-par, but as soon as I go into harbinger shroud it melts everything.  Survivability is way up with the tormenting runes and I've been able to solo some of the bounties and overworld bosses even.

[Asum.4960]

43 minutes ago, Lynx.9058 said:

Thanks for the info, I made some changes and I'm doing crazy good on harbinger now.  I wasn't using the right runes/sigils before (missed those from the build link).

Damage out of shroud still seems pretty average, even sub-par, but as soon as I go into harbinger shroud it melts everything.  Survivability is way up with the tormenting runes and I've been able to solo some of the bounties and overworld bosses even.

Glad to hear! 

 

If you don't mind Low-Intensity gameplay and want to maximise Shroud uptime, I can only recommend the first build. 

Signet's of Suffering + Signet of Undeath makes for great Shroud uptime, especially if coupled with a pre-cast Locust Swarm and the occasional Vital Draw in Shroud, especially against multiple targets - you can legitimately stay in Shroud for a whole minute at a time and just Auto Attack melt everything in sight while benefitting from Reaper's Might, Unyielding Blast, Deathly Haste and Dhuumfire (and sustaining from Alchemic Vigor, Regen and Vamp Signet, empowered by Vital Persistence). 

If you leave Shroud just before the last killing blows to regain LF before moving on from a mob pack and the like - combined with Corrupted Talent's refill on Shroud entry, you almost never have to fight out of Shroud with this build.

 

Otherwise as with all of these builds, perma Quickness makes the out of Shroud time at least less miserable.

[Lynx.9058]

I did make a few adjustments based on my preferences.  I use a dagger offhand for the extra condi damage/bleeding and because it looks way better on my character than focus/warhorn, I'm using the syringe skin for it 😃 but I do need to get a good warhorn for the weapon swap still.  Using all celestial gear since it was a boosted character anyways, so most of my gear issues were taken care of already.

 

[Asum.4960]

6 minutes ago, Lynx.9058 said:

I did make a few adjustments based on my preferences.  I use a dagger offhand for the extra condi damage/bleeding and because it looks way better on my character than focus/warhorn, I'm using the syringe skin for it 😃 but I do need to get a good warhorn for the weapon swap still.  Using all celestial gear since it was a boosted character anyways, so most of my gear issues were taken care of already.

 

The Warhorn absolutely isn't necessary, I mainly just have it in there since it's nice for the extra CC for Breakbars. 

All the off-hands, save for Scourge's Torch, are incredibly low impact on Necromancer - so no need to worry about that. 

 

Having Warhorn and Dagger on off-hand swap with Dagger's condi transfer and Warhorn's CC definitely is a good idea though for when you get around to it.