Harbinger

Manipulators of miasma. They weaken foes with it, then use scythes to cut them down.

—Class description, Etrian Odyssey V

The Harbinger (Japanese name Reaper (リーパー)) is one of the new classes in Etrian Odyssey V. They use "miasma" in battle, a shadowy substance that calls creatures towards and away from death. While its source and exact nature is unknown, spreading miasma across the battlefield enfeebles the Harbinger's enemies, and enshrouding themselves in it - a technique known as Miasma Armor - empowers the Harbinger. Miasma Armor can enable many abilities for the Harbinger, including faster action speed, protection, healing, and ailment and damage infliction. The debilitating effects of Miasma are akin to those of Hexers, while using it to attack makes Harbingers fight like Nightseekers.

• EO5
• EON

Legendary Names

Deathbringer

The Deathbringer fights while causing more types of status ailments through being clad with miasma. With their Miasma Armor speed boost, they aim to disable their enemies before they can even act. They enjoy a large bonus to Strength and Luck to maximize their damage output.

• Strengths: Easily shuts down entire enemy lines with ailments, and great damage to ailing enemies. Source of the strongest poison damage available to players.
• Weaknesses: Costly Reap skills, even with TP Up. Needs to take time away from attacking to reset Miasma Armor. Highly dependent on ailments for damage output.

Main article: Deathbringer/Stats

Level	HP	TP	STR	INT	VIT	WIS	AGI	LUC
20	+10	+3	+4	+0	+0	+0	+1	+7
40	+13	+4	+6	+0	+0	+0	+1	+10
70	+22	+7	+10	+0	+0	+0	+2	+17
99	+36	+12	+16	+0	+0	+0	+4	+28

Deathguard

The Deathguard excels at supporting allies and weakening enemies. Their debuff skills work exceptionally well with Miasma Armor, allowing them to weaken enemies first so that the rest of the party can benefit from it. To better support the team, the Deathguard gains a bonus to Vitality, Wisdom, Agility and TP.

• Strengths: Good debuffing support. Excellent Miasma maintenance that ties in to their healing skills.
• Weaknesses: Ephemeral Reap takes time to set up unless supported by debuffs from the rest of the party; damage output is poor outside of this skill.

Main article: Deathguard/Stats

Level	HP	TP	STR	INT	VIT	WIS	AGI	LUC
20	+4	+9	+2	+0	+1	+5	+3	+1
40	+6	+12	+3	+0	+1	+7	+4	+1
70	+10	+20	+5	+0	+2	+12	+7	+2
99	+16	+32	+8	+0	+4	+20	+12	+4

Skills

Any effect prefaced with "Miasma:" requires Miasma Armor buff in order to trigger. If a skill starts with that phrase, it requires the buff to even be used. "Dispel Miasma:" means you must have Miasma Armor active to use that skill, and using it will remove Miasma Armor.

Skill	Description	Type	Requires	Extra
BASIC
Scythe Mastery	Raises physical ATK dealt with scythes.	Mastery	None
Soul Gather	For a set number of steps, raises encounter rate and EXP gained in battle.	Field	None	Lv5 and 10 increase duration and encounter rate.
Miasma Armor	Consumes HP to enable Miasma Armor for 3 turns, which raises act speed.	Support	None	Max Lv5
Auto Miasma	May use Miasma Armor at the start of the battle.	Passive	Miasma Armor Lv2
Endless Shroud	When casting a debuff skill, Miasma Armor may activate automatically.
Judgment	Miasma: May induce sleep on 1 enemy each time user is hurt.
Stifling Miasma	Lowers ATK of all enemies for 3 turns.	Debuff	None	Lv5 and 10 increase duration.
Wilting Miasma	Lowers ailment/bind resistance of all enemies for 3 turns.		Stifling Miasma Lv3
Paralyzing Reap	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May paralyze.	Scythe	None	Lv5 and 10 increase ailment chance.
Cursed Reap	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May curse.		Paralyzing Reap Lv3
DEATHBRINGER
Black Blade	Miasma: User gains ATK power when inflicting an ailment.	Passive	None	Lv5 and 10 increase boost cap.
Black Shroud	Miasma: User gains DEF boost when inflicting an ailment.
TP Up	Increases maximum TP.	Stat Up	None
Status ATK Up	Increases ailment/bind rate.	Stat Up	None
Bloody Reap	Miasma: Consumes HP for 2-4 melee cut attacks to random enemies.	Scythe	Judgment Lv3	Lv5 and 10 increase HP cost.
Frigid Reap	Melee cut/ice attack to 1 enemy line. If any target has an ailment, attacks again.
Temporal Shroud	Dispel Miasma: Forms a substitute. At end of turn, user returns to cut 1 enemy.	Scythe	Bloody Reap Lv3 Frigid Reap Lv3	User returns without attacking if substitute is dead.
Toxic Reap	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May poison.	Scythe	Cursed Reap Lv3	Lv5 and 10 increase ailment rate.
Chaos Reap	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May cause panic.
Fatal Reap	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy, may insta-kill. Damage and instant kill rate increases if target is asleep.	Scythe	Toxic Reap Lv3 Chaos Reap Lv3	Lv5 and 10 increase instant kill rate.
DEATHGUARD
Spirit Absorb	Heals whenever debuff is applied. Can overheal.	Passive	None
HP Up	Increases maximum HP.	Stat Up	None
Magic DEF Up	Increases magic defense.	Stat Up	None
Death's Asylum	May nullify debuffs or ailments.	Passive	Endless Shroud Lv5
Atonement	Dispel Miasma: Heal entire party and may dispel ailments.	Recovery	Death's Asylum Lv5
Miasma Wall	Dispel Miasma: May prevent ailments/binds to the party.	Support		Lv5 and 10 increase max activations.
Eroding Miasma	Lowers DEF of all enemies for 3 turns.	Debuff	Wilting Miasma Lv3	Lv5 and 10 increase duration.
Masking Miasma	Lowers the hit rate of all enemies for 3 turns.
Ephemeral Reap	Dispels all buffs on an enemy, then performs a number of melee cut attacks equal to number of buffs dispelled.	Scythe	Eroding Miasma Lv5 Masking Miasma Lv5
Soul Transfer	Dispels all buffs on an enemy, then all party members may revive on death this turn.	Support

External Links

• Skill Simulator

Profile

Harbingers in Etrian Odyssey Nexus don't have customizability through their Legendary Names, and thus their skill set is largely condensed. More focused on debuffs and Miasma Armor, a great part of their Deathbringer aspect is discarded in favour of supportive Deathguard skills, although proper use of subclasses can allow a Harbinger to relive their Deathbringer role. Quality of life improvements make managing Miasma Armor much smoother.

• Strengths: Powerful debuffs that amplify the party's combat performance, and good durability.
• Weaknesses: Despite a wide variety of other abilities, lackluster at all of them.
• Force Boost - Endless Armor: For 3 turns, the Harbinger's Miasma Armor duration will not reduce and will be retained even after using skills that dispel Miasma.
• Force Break - Miasma Tsunami: Greatly reduces all enemies' offenses, defenses, turn speed, and bind/ailment resistance for the turn. This effect does not count as a debuff.

Stat Progression

Harbingers in Nexus no longer have their stat base tied to a race, and now follow their own stat spread. Compared to their Arcanian counterparts, Harbingers gave up their offensive stats in favour of Luck and Wisdom, to emphasize the Deathguard's supportive role.

Main article: Harbinger/Stats#EON

Level	HP	TP	STR	INT	VIT	WIS	AGI	LUC
1	54	57	14	16	13	16	15	18
30	103	107	29	34	28	35	32	39
70	205	211	62	72	59	75	68	84
99	304	312	93	109	90	113	103	127
130	438	449	135	159	131	166	150	185

Skills

Any effect prefaced with "Miasma:" requires Miasma Armor buff in order to trigger. If a skill starts with that phrase, it requires the buff to even be used. "Dispel Miasma:" means you must have Miasma Armor active to use that skill, and using it will remove Miasma Armor.

Skill	Description	Type	Requires	Extra
Endless Armor	For 3 turns, user's Miasma Armor will maintain duration and won't be dispelled.	Force Boost	--
Miasma Tsunami	This turn, lowers all enemies' ATK/DEF, evade, act speed, and bind/ailment resistance.	Force Break
NOVICE
Eroding Miasma	Lowers physical/elemental DEF of all enemies for 3 turns.	Debuff	None	Lv5 and 10 increase duration.
Stifling Miasma	Lowers physical/elemental ATK of all enemies for 3 turns.
Sluggish Miasma	Lowers evasion and act speed of all enemies for 3 turns.		Eroding Miasma Lv2 Stifling Miasma Lv2
Paralyzing Reap	Melee cut to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May paralyze.	Scythe	None	Lv6 increases ailment rate.
Toxic Reap	Melee cut to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May poison.		Paralyzing Reap Lv3
Miasma Armor	Enables Miasma Armor for 3 turns, increasing act speed.	Buff	None	Triggers at start of battle.
Endless Shroud	When casting a debuff skill, Miasma Armor may activate automatically.	Passive	Miasma Armor Lv2	Triggers on any kind of debuff.
Atonement	Dispel Miasma: Restore party HP. May remove ailments.	Heal
Take	Increases material yield from taking in the labyrinth.	Gather	None
VETERAN
Wilting Miasma	For 3 turns, lowers all enemies' ailment resistance and natural recovery.	Debuff	Sluggish Miasma Lv3	Lv5 and 10 increases duration.
Binding Miasma	For 3 turns, lowers all enemies' bind resistance and natural recovery.		Wilting Miasma Lv3
Darkness Reap	Melee cut to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May blind.	Scythe	Toxic Reap Lv2	Lv6 increases ailment rate.
Chaos Reap	Melee cut to 1 enemy line. Miasma: May cause panic.		Darkness Reap Lv3
Black Shroud	Miasma: Increases physical/elemental DEF.	Passive	Atonement Lv1
Soul Transfer	Dispel Miasma: May revive the party.	Heal	Atonement Lv3
Black Wave	Miasma: At end of turn, restores user's TP.	Passive	Soul Transfer Lv1
Spirit Absorb	Restores HP when you inflict an enemy with debuff. Can heal beyond MAX HP.	Passive	None
Status ATK Up	Increases bind/ailment success rate.	Stat Up	None
MASTER
Death Tolerance	User may nullify a debuff or ailment.	Passive	None
Ephemeral Reap	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Cuts the target once per debuff.	Scythe	None
Fatal Reap	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. May instakill.	Scythe	Chaos Reap Lv2	Lv4 and 8 increase instant kill rate.
Miasma Wall	Dispel Miasma: May null all binds/ailments this turn.	Support	Soul Transfer Lv1	Lv6 increases max activations.
Spirit Barrier	Dispel Miasma: May null all instakills/stuns/debuffs this turn.
Enduring Armor	When dispelling Miasma Armor, armor is reduced by 7 turns instead of ending.	Passive	Miasma Wall Lv2 Spirit Barrier Lv2	Armor reduction decreases at higher levels. Miasma Armor dissipates if duration falls to/below 0.

Skill Breakdown

Someone coming from Etrian Odyssey V will surely immediately appreciate a free autocast of Miasma Armor when they enter battle with a Harbinger for the first time. Auto Miasma is no longer a skill, they just get this for free. In addition, Miasma Armor no longer costs HP, Endless Shroud is guaranteed to activate at max level, Enduring Armor reduces the Armor's duration when skills would normally dispel it, and their Force Boost Endless Armor tops all that off by straight up preventing Miasma Armor from dissipating at all for 3 turns. All told, Miasma Armor is very easy to use without ever having to select the actual Miasma Armor skill in battle. You can keep it active at all times even when occasionally using skills that dispel it. This all highlights that Harbingers are quite clunky in their original game.

As mentioned in the profile, Harbingers in Nexus favor Deathguard, with a few skills from Deathbringer such as Black Shroud and Fatal Reap. They help Harbingers battle the enemy, but they aren't great at it (this will be a recurring theme). Taking in the rest of their abilities, there is a surprising variety. They can inflict ailments while Miasma Armor is active. They can heal and revive others, but dispel Miasma Armor to do it. They can protect themselves and the party from ailments, binds, and debuffs, but not damage itself and dispel Miasma Armor to do it. Miasma Armor boosts action speed, but most Harbinger skills are slow. Black Wave sustains their own TP, but only by a trickle. Spirit Absorb is pretty good for healing themselves.

What they are actually good at is inflicting unique, widespread, and long-lasting debuffs. All those other abilities hinge on this. Eroding and Stifling Miasmas aren't any more potent than similar debuffs, but no other class can match Sluggish, Wilting, and Binding Miasmas. Being so pivotal to Harbingers, one should understand the basics to get the most out of this class. Unlike binds and ailments, monsters can't resist debuffs under normal circumstances. Usually an opposite buff or simply time is the only way to get rid of them. That makes them valuable in boss battles, but debuffs only alter numbers rather than interfere with actions outright, so they make things easier rather than guarantee success. Taking into account contextual details like how much damage is being dealt makes the difference. Wilting and Binding Miasmas have no effect if ailments and binds aren't being used (Harbingers cannot inflict binds on their own), and Sluggish Miasma has no effect if your party already moves first and their attacks have no chance to miss. Monsters and players alike can have a maximum of 3 debuffs, setting the cap for Harbingers' most powerful attack, Ephemeral Reap.

Subclassing

Subclass for Harbinger

Harbingers in Nexus are capable of subclasses to expand their role in the party. Good choices usually follow in the vein of party support, but certain others hook effectively into Harbinger's internal synergies. Their debuffs and the whole package in general demands a lot of skill points, so they may have to forgo some skills in order to invest elsewhere.

• A Protector subclass gives access to shields to reinforce the Harbinger's weaker physical defense stat, with the Harbinger's own Miasma Armor countering the speed penalty. The Guard skills paired with offense debuffs synergize to blunt the enemy's offense, and Shield Bash is a great area attack skill that can also renew Miasma. Recovery Guard and Heal Guard complement Atonement by letting the Harbinger unbind and heal without expending Miasma.
• Medic skills are for the supportive Harbinger. Their high Wisdom works great for the Heal skills, and their high turn speed due to having Miasma up lets them deploy them in good time. Revive is a great asset to have, with a guaranteed revival on a single target without needlessly expending Miasma to use it. Refresh and Unbind off a Medic subclass will never reach the levels for affecting more than one ally, so rely on Atonement instead.
• War Magus as a subclass offers a good series of passives. HP Up, Status DEF Up, and ATK Up are staples, and Vampire works wonders when striking anything with ailments from the Reap skills. If you have bind support, usually due to Binding Miasma assisting with this, then the Harbinger also gets to trigger Mind Drain, giving passive healing and regeneration to their line.
• Ninja skills offer another stacking Status ATK Up for the ailment-oriented Harbinger, but the main draw here is Ninpo: Clone. Despite the steep HP and TP cost, it can be reliably regenerated by Spirit Absorb and Black Wave. With two Harbingers stacking and maintaining debuffs, it's easy for both of them to repeatedly unleash full-power Ephemeral Reaps.
• Landsknechts are better suited for Harbingers than most combat classes, helping them participate more on the front. Initiative and Proficiency work hand-in-hand with Miasma Armor's speed bonus, increasing damage done and assisting the party moving afterwards. The Break skills encourage shield use and are an alternative to their own debuffs that help conserve skill points while keeping a Harbinger on the offensive. As Harbinger skills are only single-element, Single Devotion has its full effect.
• Nightseeker helps reprise the Deathbringer title with the passives Proficiency, Foul Mastery, and Follow Trace that reward the Harbinger for inflicting ailments. The Throw skills are fully available for inflicting ailments on single targets for less TP, but Shadow Bite requires a sword or dagger in place of armor, which may not be desirable.
• Arcanist allows a Harbinger to remain useful in the back row full-time, especially if the party doesn't already have an Arcanist. Wilting and Binding Miasma make Lv4 Circles as effective as Lv 8, and Harbs do decent Dismissals. If none of that is of any interest, TP Return makes Reaps more spammable.

Harbingers as Subclass

As a subclass, Harbingers are mainly taken for their Miasma Armor branch of skills by those who can inflict debuffs of their own. For supportive characters that don't, Harbinger's debuffs and Reaps offer helpful options during downtime.

• Medics with a Harbinger subclass use Star Drop and Medical Rod when they don't need to heal others. Miasma Armor provides valuable action speed to address critical wounds or create an Overheal buffer before enemies attack.
• Farmers can support the party with debuffs, including Binding Miasma to amplify their own Strange Seeds to follow up with Harvest Festival. The Reaps allow them to cripple enemies so they don't have to rely on others to set up Rotten Eggs.
• Arcanist with a Harbinger subclass substitutes for Hexers, which cannot be played in Nexus, and is a more engaging debilitation magic caster. Having Arcanist as the main class provides ranged attack and superior ailment and bind coverage.

External Links

• Skill Simulator

Trailer

Fear the Harbinger in Etrian Odyssey V- Beyond the Myth

Gallery

Male Portrait 1

Female Portrait 1

Male Portrait 2

Female Portrait 2

Temporal Shroud in action

Wilting Miasma in action