Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
The final boss of Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is an all-powerful aspect of Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred. The wolf grows into a monstrous creature that briefly becomes invulnerable as the fight progresses — to really damage the Harbinger of Hatred, your hero will need the help of Akarat. The holy lion will help you destroy the avatar of Hatred and leave him temporarily weakened in the toughest boss fight of the campaign.
This is the final boss of the Vessel of Hatred expansion, so be prepared for spoilers. For more Vessel of Hatred guides, learn the best way to farm max level legendary loot, or how to farm for Angelbreath. If you’re looking for the best unique, here’s how to get the Rod of Kepeleke. Stuck at the Spiritborn Class Quest? Here’s how to solve the ‘help’ puzzle.
More Diablo 4 guides:
All Guides & Walkthroughs | Class Overview | Necromancer Shadowblight Minions Build | Barbarian Unconstrained Berserk Build | Golem Summoning | Accessibility Options To Change First | Potion Upgrades & Increase Max Capacity | Unlocking Horses | Silent Chests & Whispering Keys | Secret of the Spring Quest Solution | Early Game Loot Farm
Harbinger of Hatred | Boss Guide
The Harbinger of Hatred is the final boss of the Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred DLC. This creature appears at the end of the Tomb of Akarat during the quest ‘All Good Things‘ in the Nahantu region. This boss is required to complete the expansion — and it can only be fought in the expansion campaign.
- The Harbinger of Hatred is a challenging boss — if you don’t have defensive skills or a build that will keep you alive or heal you, you may want to lower the difficulty to World Tier 1 if you’ve moved up to World Tier 2.
Start Of The Battle: At the start of the battle, the Harbinger will create a shrinking circle around the battlefield and summon an endless horde of Hollow monsters. Fight until Akarat appears and leaves behind an orb of his power. Collect it to briefly gain a powerful holy attack and infinite resources for a short time.
This will also begin the battle proper. This is a long fight with multiple phases — and if you’re standing in the wrong spot, you can die almost instantly. On Veteran difficulty, it is possible to die in a split second. You’ll need defensive skills, movement abilities or plenty of evade charges.
P
Harbinger of Hatred | Phase 1
The Harbinger is a massive — and very fast — wolf demon. He’ll spit out new Hollows while unleashing waves of attacks. To avoid taking high damage, always try to stay behind the Harbinger boss. When he charges his ranger wave attack, stand behind him while attacking to avoid taking too much damage.
When the boss summons explosive AOE attacks from the sky, dodge as the circle shrinks around you. I recommend running around so you can clearly see the circle and dodge at the right moment. Otherwise, these attacks deal extreme damage and can kill instantly on Veteran difficulty. Take your time and attack when the Harbinger of Hatred is briefly stunned or charging attacks.
- Dealing High Damage: After several cycles of attacks, the Harbinger will drop the orb of Akarat’s power. Collect it to charge a powerful attack — aim and hit the boss with it to stun him for several seconds. Using the attack will also give your character unlimited resources for a short duration.
Use as many attacks as you can and save any combat buffs for this phase. This is when you can deal extreme damage to the Harbinger. Use your Ultimates here and unlock passive skills to boost your Ultimates as much as possible.
Harbinger of Hatred | Phase 2
At 50% health the boss will gain new attacks. It will jump to the center of the arena and generate shockwave AOEs around itself while shooting out tendrils. Dodge through the shockwave and tendrils to avoid — the more evades you have the better.
It will also gain a powerful version of its corruption tendrils wave attack. It’ll lunge to a corner of the arena and fire a fanning blast of tendrils, then launch a straight line of corruption forward. Don’t get hit by the lingering beam of corruption — it can kill your hero in an instant.
- Invulnerable Sequence: At about 25-30% health, the boss will become invulnerable and generate another shrinking circle around the arena. He summons an infinite army of hollow from the deadly circle. Stay alive and keep fighting the waves back.
When large Hollows and elites spawn near the end of the wave, Akarat will reappear and help. Use the infinite resources to deal with the large Hollows and dodge the corruption blasts from the Harbinger. Akarat will also attack the Harbinger directly, breaking his invulnerability.
The small circle will remain as the Harbinger weaves through the corruption. You’ll need to stay in the safe area, dealing damage until the Harbinger is down to 5-10% health. When the boss only has a tiny fraction of health left, Akarat will return and empower you one final time. He’ll give you infinite resources and protect you — at this stage, you should be safe and can take out the boss for good.
