Current Harrow Advice

[Tiltskillet]

Curious what Harrow players experience is like now in light of the shield rework especially.  Here's my normal build that I haven't updated at all:

Corrosive / Swift Momentum  *  Speed Drift

Adaptation  *  Primed Vigor  *  Primed Continuity  *  Primed Flow

Umbral Intensify  *  Stretch  *  Streamline  *  Natural Talent

 

Arcanes are Guardian and one random BS arcane.

Just to make my preferences clear:

•   I like playing a relatively tanky Harrow, so I want to maintain about the same level compared to before shield gating.
•   I love playing him the classic and non-optimal way with single target weapons and lots of headshots whenever I can, although I spend more time in melee since it's so much more effective.
•  I know a lot of people go neutral or negative range on him, but I find range pretty much essential on him.

Specifically I'm wondering, since shield gating makes him so much easier now,  if I can drop Primed Vigor or Adaptation  and replace it with either better utility or a better tanking option. Or both--if, for instance, the Augur bonus makes a much bigger difference than it used to.  Or maybe have one tankier build for Infested because of Toxin damage, and another build for anything else?

 

 

Thanks for any help!

edit: probably obvious but I forgot to mention:  this isn't for eidolons, just general play.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Tiltskillet

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

Maybe that can be a project for me.  I need to get my harrow and oberon back into a general purpose loadout by default.  Put the Eidolon fighting Loadouts as secondary.  I cant use either one for normal gameplay.  

I was super interested in Harrow for his thurble augment and providing a huge AoE damage reduction buff.  I used it a few times and I really liked the RoF buff it gave him as well both for guns and melee.  Now with Exilus slots on guns which I usually use stabilizers on... I could prob empty an entire Prisma Gorgon in a second with pinpoint accuracy lol.  

 

[TheArcSet]

His augment with his overshield (and the new shield 25% DR) could make him super tanky.

I'd play him more, but it's hard to get headshots in a squad.

Edited March 29, 2020 by TheArcSet

[Tiltskillet]

2 hours ago, TheArcSet said:

I'd play him more, but it's hard to get headshots in a squad.

The good news is, he really doesn't need precise headshots to function.    The sad news is, precision is probably not even the optimal way to play him.

He works really well with melee or area weapons if that sounds appealing to you.  I still love getting headshots with Veldt, Vulkar, Daikyu, or Euphona,  but that's mostly for solo play. 

Nothing's more fun than the occasional slow squad where I can pull one of those weapons out and still feel like I'm contributing though.

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

Ok  tried to do this last night and failed to free up my eidolon hunters.   You can have different mod loadouts, you can have different colored frames,  but you can not have different equipped weapons =(.   I cant just switch between eidolon Harrow and general use Harrow  because no matter what you have to replace the weapons every time.

I really wanted to play with harrow though so I tried to make a cool build.  He wasnt forma'ed at all so that also gave me something to do.   I like Harrow for Thurble augment as a support frame in general use.    I was using umbral intensify/vitality,  x3 +/- mods that cancel each others negatives for str/dur/range.  Prime continuity, thurble.

I got about 50% Damage reduction for 60 seconds.  I dont have alot of shields so Pennance does not last very long. 800HP ?? 

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From trying to use him I definately have some feedback.  First up is his #1 ability chains.  That should be like a 90 degree thing.  It feels pretty much like all the other narrow path ailities from other frames like frost or nidus.  All those guys should pump out a 90 degree cone effect,  not a narrow path...   Although it feels like if you hit one guy it splinters and spreads out more to hit a wider area?  But its just really hard to use I thought.  

The second thing I have a problem with on Harrow was that you dump all your energy into his #3 ability/thurble and you get back energy on kills...  but even if other players are in your AoE you dont get energy from their kills??   So if you try to stay in the middle of everyone so they all get energy from your kills you can come up empty.   Harrow cant really afford to have any negative stats which meas he really cant have any extreme stats either.   Makes it super hard to play as support.  If you try to max anything boom your no longer support and instead your just out for yourself.   I think his 3 should have 50% DR by default...  have 20-30meter range by default...   and most definately everyone in the AoE generates energy from kills. 

Harrow is super fragile, super vulnerable.  Casting 3 takes a ton of time to cast, with no damage reduction in that time lol.  

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Yeah if you just wanted to play him solo...  I would go for zero range.  Max Str/effeceincy.  I would love to give him massive shields so you can have a long time with pennance.   But he definately needs alot of HP for when his 3 is down....  I'd try to get a 60second pennance going and then boost health. 30sec could be ok too.. I hate double casting pennance though because that second cast comes right before you need to refresh his 3 which you need max energy for...   

I can totally see why Harrow does not get much playtime outside of eidolons....  

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In general... Harrow has this awesome energy generating ability....but no offensive abilities... his 1 doesnt even do damage...  what is he suppose to be spamming??? 

 

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

Harrow,  Gara - spectrorage, Trinity  basically compete for the same role.  Team Energy.  

Harrow has to kill to give energy and only affects people in his AoE, but he also grants damage reduction... (can buff the crap out of the teams RoF with pennance) 

Gara - Spectrorage is awesome because her 3 makes enemies ignore players,  piles up energy orbs in a VERY visible area,  but team mates have to come get the orbs.

Trinity and her vampire ability..single target...teammates killing the enemy 99.9% probability killing the energy regen lol....  trinity can heal peeps though...   

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I gotta say... Im still leaning towards gara.   Gara never is left vulnerable.....    I guess it totally depends on the types of missions your running.  "Squad play" in my opinion is when you are all trapped together in defense otherwise it doesnt exist lmao....   I suppose Harrow would be infinitely better at normal mission types since his abilities follow him around.....

Trinity is ugly and hard to use........

 

[TheArcSet]

Just to check, you know that if anyone kills the Trinity'  target, once the ability's active, you get all the energy it would have produced instantly, or did you mean you can never get the ability to resolve? If that's the case range may help.

For Harrow's shields, I'd try to make the most of his passive, to stack overshields, especially as the DR will go from 50% to 62.5% on shields.

AS for his role, he's a gun priest, so he trades damage abilities for cc and weapon support, so not a lot to spam, apart from cc-ing and shield generating.

Edited March 30, 2020 by TheArcSet

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

4 hours ago, TheArcSet said:

Just to check, you know that if anyone kills the Trinity'  target, once the ability's active, you get all the energy it would have produced instantly,

No I didnt know that,  I've barely used trinity.

[TheArcSet]

Ah, glad to help then.

Most people mod duration for convenience and then kill the targets so they don't have to wait at all for energy; you can reduce duration, to accelerate the vampire true damage, but if you were to go that route, revenant might be better, as he scales off max, rather than current, health though I find him a bit tricky to hit with.

Edited March 30, 2020 by TheArcSet

[Zakkhar]

On 2020-03-29 at 4:40 PM, TheArcSet said:

it's hard to get headshots in a squad.

Not if you use his 1.

[vegetosayajin]

The only thing you can change imo is get that arcane for shields(aegis or barrier).

[Tiltskillet]

4 hours ago, Zakkhar said:

Not if you use his 1.

I'd guess he's aware that Condemn helps with that. But neither it nor Harrow are particularly fast, and the big problem in squads is getting those headshots off before targets are dead.  (Or CC'd in such a way they're harder to headshot.)