Every league we take a look at a wide range of player data to help us plan future content. We like to share some of this data with the community, as it also provides a nice snapshot of a league's metagame and may be of interest to you. Today's post includes how many challenges have been completed and which unique items and skills are being used most commonly.



This graph shows what percentage of players have how many challenges and only includes accounts that have completed at least one challenge.

  • 29.71% of players have completed 12 challenges and earned the Harbinger Challenge Eyes.
  • 5.26% of players have completed 24 challenges and have earned the Harbinger Challenge Crown
  • 0.47% of players have completed 36 challenges and have earned the Harbinger Character Effect

Today we're discussing the most used unique items and primary skills in the Harbinger Leagues by character at level 80 or higher. Let's take a look at the Standard Harbinger uniques:

Harbinger (80+) SSF (80+)
Atziri's Promise Atziri's Promise
Lion's Roar Belt of the Deceiver
Kaom's Roots Kaom's Roots
Belly of the Beast Violent Dead
Belt of the Deceiver Assassin's Haste
Devoto's Devotion Tabula Rasa
Fight for Survival Frozen Trail
The Wise Oak Belly of the Beast
Witchfire Brew Fight for Survival
Bisco's Collar The Overflowing Chalice

Atziri's Promise remains the most-used unique item by high-level players regardless of league. Belt of the Deceiver and Kaom's Roots also make a strong showing in all leagues. Devoto's Devotion appears high up in Standard Harbinger alone, while Bisco's Collar remains the go-to amulet for many wealth-driven players. The appearance of the Fight for Survival threshold jewels were a surprise, and stand out on Standard variants of Harbinger only.

Harbinger Hardcore (80+) SSF Hardcore (80+)
Atziri's Promise Kaom's Roots
Kaom's Roots Belt of the Deceiver
Belt of the Deceiver Tabula Rasa
Rise of the Phoenix Violent Dead
Lion's Roar Belly of the Beast
Witchfire Brew Lion's Roar
Belly of the Beast First Snow
Frozen Trail Frozen Trail
Brightbeak Witchfire Brew
Rumi's Concoction Spreading Rot

On Hardcore Harbinger variants we see Rise of the Phoenix in high use. This is a pretty strong indicator of Righteous Fire's dominance in the current meta. The prominence of threshold jewels in the SSF variant is unsurprising as they're available from quests. Notably, Tabula Rasa makes an appearance on both the Standard and Hardcore SSF variants of Harbinger, and does not appear at all in leagues where players can trade.


Harbinger (80+) SSF (80+)
Ancestral Warchief Ancestral Warchief
Cyclone Sunder
Righteous Fire Cyclone
Sunder Raise Zombie
Vaal Lightning Trap Summon Raging Spirit
Barrage Ancestral Protector
Ancestral Protector Vaal Lightning Trap
Dark Pact Essence Drain
Scorching Ray Contagion
Kinetic Blast Dark Pact

Harbinger Hardcore (80+) SSF Hardcore (80+)
Ancestral Warchief Ancestral Warchief
Righteous Fire Sunder
Cyclone Summon Raging Spirit
Sunder Ball Lightning
Vaal Lightning Trap Essence Drain
Scorching Ray Contagion
Summon Raging Spirit Righteous Fire
Ball Lightning Raise Zombie
Dark Pact Vaal Lightning Trap
Essence Drain Cyclone

Ancestral Warchief, which provides a strong DPS boost as well as another body to draw the attention of foes, is unilaterally the most popular non-utility skill. This makes sense in the context of a melee-driven meta (note the popularity of both Cyclone and Sunder) as an affordable and reliable way to add a little damage and range to your melee build.

Righteous Fire is extremely popular in both Standard and Hardcore trade-enabled leagues. It's worth noting that, although Rise of the Phoenix isn't one of the top items in Standard Harbinger, Righteous Fire is approximately as popular as it is in the Hardcore variant anyway.

Despite Fight For Survival's popularity in Standard Harbinger, Frost Blades isn't one of the top-used skills. Neither is Frostbolt, despite Frozen Trail taking a spot in almost every other list.

This indicates that the most popular high-level builds at the moment don't require specific unique items to function. We see similar patterns early in almost every league, though it is unusual for these early-league builds to be melee-oriented.
Posted by 
on
Grinding Gear Games
weird spike at 13 rather than 12
kaom's roots popularity courtesy of the safe vaal divination card.. plus the -1 nerf to charges in 3.0
not so many people going for 36 it looks like..
Last edited by ladish#6213 on Sep 5, 2017, 11:26:09 PM
Top 5%. :o

Thanks for the stats! I'm always interested in this kinda stuff.
“Please understand that imposing strong negative views regarding our team on to other players when you are representing our most helpful forum posters is not appropriate.” — GGG 2022

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I'm not 'Sarno' on Discord. I don't know who that is.
Nice
Yep
Saved
Of course Dark Pact is the only new skill in the list. RIP new skills.
El Psy Congroo.
Yahoo!
nice
(🌸=◡=)
Half of the ones with 1 challenge are spamming the trade chat selling tabulas for 1ex or advertising RMT.
Last edited by MrReynolds#4615 on Sep 5, 2017, 11:28:37 PM

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