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Last Epoch: Harbingers and the Nemesis System Explained

Harbingers lead through Monolith endgame progression toward a Pinnacle Boss. Nemesis encounters let you claim loot, discard it, or empower the same enemy for upgraded rewards later.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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In Last Epoch: Harbingers of Ruin, Harbingers are part of Monolith endgame progression, while Nemesis is a repeatable loot encounter available in several activities. At a Nemesis, you can discard the offer, fight to claim it, or fight to send the same Nemesis away for upgraded rewards later. The progression details below are the Patch 1.1 launch rules; campaign spawn behavior was adjusted in Patch 1.1.2.

What are Harbingers in Last Epoch?

Harbingers are endgame encounters connected to the Monolith of Fate and a route toward a Pinnacle Boss. Under the Patch 1.1 rules published by Eleventh Hour Games, each of the 10 Monolith Timelines has an associated Harbinger that appears after its Timeline Boss.

How Harbinger progression works

  1. Defeat the Timeline Boss in the final level 90 Normal Monolith Timeline to make the first Harbinger available.
  2. Progress through the Harbingers associated with the Empowered Monolith Timelines; subsequent encounters require Timeline Boss kills at increasing Corruption levels.
  3. Defeat all 10 Harbingers and complete the questline to unlock the Pinnacle Boss challenge.

These are the launch progression rules described in the Patch 1.1 notes; they should not be read as a statement that every campaign spawn condition has remained unchanged.

Forgotten Knights and Harbinger rewards

The Forgotten Knights faction tracks Harbinger kills and grants rank rewards. Its benefits include improved Nemesis rewards and faster Corruption progression. The Patch 1.1 notes also describe examples such as a higher chance for an Egg of the Forgotten, more Forging Potential from Nemesis Empower, and a chance for Harbingers to drop specific Uniques. The Forgotten Knights support guide explains the faction ranks.

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How does the Nemesis system work?

A Nemesis is a slain warrior that offers items during an encounter. The Patch 1.1 notes say Nemeses can appear in the Campaign, Monolith, and Dungeons. You choose what to do with the offered items: Banish the Nemesis, Challenge it for the items as shown, or Empower it to fight for a chance at improved versions later. The exact campaign appearance rules changed in Patch 1.1.2, so launch conditions should not be treated as current spawn guarantees.

Choice Must you fight? What happens to the current offer? Does the same Nemesis return?
Banish No You forfeit the current offer. No. The next encounter is a new Nemesis with a new reward set.
Challenge Yes Defeat the Nemesis to claim the items shown. No. The next encounter is new.
Empower Yes You defer the reward while pursuing upgrades; after defeat, the Nemesis escapes through a rift. Yes. The same Nemesis and its items return later, upgraded.

The current three-choice explanation is in the official Nemesis support article.

What Empower can change

Empowering can add affixes, increase existing affix tiers, or add Forging Potential. The Patch 1.1 notes say Rare and Exalted items can gain affixes up to Tier 7; Unique items may gain Legendary Potential or become Legendary with random affixes. Outcomes depend on the item type, so an item is not guaranteed to receive every kind of upgrade.

Should you Challenge or Empower a Nemesis?

  • Challenge when you want to fight once and claim the displayed items without waiting for another encounter.
  • Empower when you are willing to delay claiming the offer and fight again later for a chance at better items. The official support article says you can choose Empower twice before you must Challenge or Banish.
  • Banish when you do not want the fight or do not want the current offer; it discards that Nemesis rather than upgrading its items.

Empower is not a guaranteed improvement to every aspect of every item. Choose it for the possibility of upgrades, not as a promise that each item will receive a specific affix, tier, or Legendary outcome.

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What does the Egg of the Forgotten do?

The Egg of the Forgotten is a Nemesis reward that lets you create or upgrade a Unique-item outcome. Leave the Egg in place to receive a random Unique. Alternatively, replace it with an eligible Unique from your inventory and empower that item through the Nemesis encounter.

The eligible item must have neither Legendary Potential nor Weaver’s Will. The Egg chance figures in Eleventh Hour Games’ 2024 Patch 1.1 notes are 0% below level 60, 20% at level 60, and up to 60% at level 100. Rank 1 of the Forgotten Knights adds 40 percentage points to the chance. These are the developer-published launch figures, not independently measured rates.

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Did Nemesis spawn rules change after launch?

Yes. Patch 1.1.2 documents changes to campaign spawn protections and area levels. That means launch-era statements about campaign appearance should be qualified rather than presented as universal current rules. The notes establish that spawn behavior changed, but do not make every launch condition a reliable description of later behavior. See the official Patch 1.1.2 notes for the adjustment.

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