The Harbingers are a series of bosses that must be killed in order to progress The Forgotten Knight Faction and eventually fight Aberroth. Each Timeline has one Harbinger. Harbinger of Ash is the Harbinger for the Spirits of Fire Timeline. He follows the Tank archetype, which gives him access to the skills of that archetype. He also gains some unique skills from Bhuldar, Herkir, and Logi, the boss of this Timeline.
In this guide, we cover the rewards, boss mechanics, and provide a strategy for defeating this boss.
Each Harbinger can drop its own Unique as well as Forgotten Knight Faction rewards.
Flames of Midnight
Harbinger Eye: Used to summon the Pinnacle Boss Aberroth.
Harbinger's Needle: When equipped in an Idol slot, this item will allow Empowered Timeline Boss kills to give 3 additional Gaze of Orobyss, significantly speeding up Corruption gains. The item is destroyed when the Timeline Boss is killed.
Boss Mechanics
Each Harbinger has a set of skills according to their archetype (agile or tank) as well as a few skills from the boss of the Timeline Boss.
Archetype - Tank
Slams the ground in a small area, with an aftershock going outward from the Harbinger. Deals moderate Physical damage.
Slams the ground in a large area, dealing moderate Physical damage.
The Harbinger and five Echoes slam the ground in the same place in quick succession, dealing high Physical and Void damage that travels in straight lines outward from each Echo.
The Harbinger slashes with his weapon three times before slamming the ground. The slashes deal moderate Physical damage, while the slam deal high Physical damage.
Spawns several orbs on the ground that persist for a short time and deal Void damage to enemies that walk over them.
Creates a portal next to him. A short timer later, he thrusts his hammer through the portal, dealing moderate Physical and Void damage.
Rushes towards the player and strikes in front of him, dealing moderate Physical and Void damage.
Strikes outward in front of him, creating a small wave that deals moderate Physical and Void damage.
Places orbs on the ground that persist for several seconds and fire in a single direction, dealing Void damage.
Timeline Boss - Bhuldar, Herkir, and Logi
Creates a large pool on the ground. Standing in it deals high Necrotic damage.
A medium sized Necrotic circle appears on the ground. Moments later, the Harbinger fires a Necrotic ball at the center of the circle, dealing high Necrotic damage to anyone caught in the circle.
The Harbinger creates a small fireball that slowly spirals outward around him and grows larger over time. Getting hit by the fireball deals high Fire damage.
Modifiers
When you go into a timeline boss fight, you carry any modifiers that are active from running echoes. Some of these modifiers can be especially dangerous, while some can actually bring value with little or no downside.
Avoid These Modifiers
Critical Strike Avoidance - If you're a Crit based build and have sufficient Crit to be noticeable.
Enemies have +X Critical Strike Chance - avoid these if you don't have capped Critical Strike Avoidance.
Enemies have a chance to Dodge - any builds that rely on Hitting the enemy (including DoT builds that apply Ailmentson Hit) should avoid this modifier (except for Rogues with Focus Fire).
Enemies heal if they have not been damaged recently - Only take this if you're confident you'll never go 4 or more seconds without damaging the boss.
Frenzy and Haste + Berserk - Individually these are manageable (although you may still want to avoid them if you can). Together they can make a boss very difficult to deal with as they significantly speed up the mechanics of the fight. Don't take these unless you're comfortable with the mechanics and confident that the additional speed of the fight won't be a problem.
Take These Modifiers
Anything that affects Rare enemies - Bosses are not considered Rare enemies, so those modifiers do not apply to the encounter. However, the rewards do. This is an easy way to boost the value of a fight for any build without increasing difficulty.
Enemies have +X Critical Strike Chance when Crit capped or Reduced Bonus Crit is at 100%- If so, then this modifier provides no extra difficulty.
Critical Strike Avoidance on a DoT build - DoTs can't Crit, so this won't matter.
Enemies have a X% chance to receive a Glancing Blowwhen hit on a DoT build - Similar to Crits, Glancing Blows only apply to Hits.
Enemies have a chance to Dodge on a build that uses a DoT skill - Ailments generally need to Hit to be applied, so don't take this if you're relying on Hits to stack your DoTs. However, some skills have the DoT tag, meaning they don't Hit. DoTs can't be Dodged, so your damage is unaffected.
Boss Strategy
This is one of the more challenging Harbinger fights, largely due to the Timeline boss mechanics.
Avoid standing in the center of the Echo Slam, where you can be hit by multiple slams
Unless you're very tanky, avoid his other slams, as they do considerable damage, especially at high corruption. This includes the final Strike from Void Combo Strike.
Void Orbs and Void Turrets are easily avoidable. Stay clear of them to prevent unnecessary damage.
The key to defeating this boss is positioning and anticipation. He can use Necrotic Pool, Necrotic Blast, and Circling Fireballs in quick succession, which causes them to all be out at the same time. The two Necrotic skills have very large areas, leaving little room for maneuvering. Always make sure your positioning allows you to move enough to avoid the Circling Fireballs. It is possible to out distance them, but if you underestimate how far you need to go, you may end up with Fireballs that are at their max size.
