Completing all Artifacts and reaching Level 100 unlocks access to The Herald Vault. By interacting with the Artifact Tome, the player receives the crystal required to enter the vault and face The Herald, the final boss of Vault Hunters.
Herald Fight
The Herald fight is divided into a normal stance and four unique phases, each inspired by the powers of the Vault Gods. After the Herald’s HP is depleted during normal stance, he shifts into one of the phases. Once a phase is completed, the Herald returns to his normal stance, repeating the cycle until all phases have been overcome.
Each phase introduces unique mechanics and requires different strategies to progress.
Phases
Normal Stance: The Herald performs melee and heavy melee attacks, dealing consistent damage while frequently knocking players back.
Wendarr Phase: A time-based mechanic where hourglass blocks spawn. These must be destroyed before the Herald fully absorbs their power. If absorption succeeds, he unleashes a devastating arena-wide attack, whose damage scales with the number of absorbed hourglasses. After the attack, the Herald becomes vulnerable and stunned with a yellow HP bar. Depleting this bar forces him back into his normal stance. Failure to do so causes the phase to repeat.
Velara Phase: A wave-based mechanic. The Herald summons waves of Vault Mobs (including Dungeon Mobs, Assassins, etc.). Defeating all waves depletes his HP and returns him to his normal stance.
Tenos Phase: The most dangerous phase. The Herald takes flight, hurling powerful magic attacks that inflict slowing effects and heavy damage. Since some of those attacks deal true damage (similar to instand damge potions) the Resistance stat largly increases survivability in this stage. In the arena center, floating catalysts appear, each symbolizing a type of vault chest (e.g., Gilded Chest). Matching chests spawn around the arena, some of which contain inhibitors. Inhibitors must be thrown into the corresponding floating catalysts to damge the Herald. This mechanic must be completed four times, with each round increasing the number of catalysts required.
Idona Phase: The Herald enters a rage, gaining increased HP, speed and dealing way higher damage. Blood orbs are spawned that inflict heavy bleeding damage over time. Completing this phase results in the defeat of The Herald.
Trophy Rewards
Defeating the Herald grants a trophy based on completion time, functioning as a speedrun ranking:
| Icon | Trophy | Defeat Time |
|---|---|---|
|
Platinum | 00:00 – 12:00 |
|
Gold | 12:00 – 18:00 |
|
Silver | 18:00 – 25:00 |
|
Bronze | 25:00 – 1:20:00 |
Specific Attack Patterns and Damage numbers can be found on the Herald Stats page.
Tips and Tricks
The Herald is one of the hardest encounters in Vault Hunters, especially for players facing him for the first time. Proper preparation and adapting to each phase can make the difference between success and failure.
- Gear Affixes: Resistance is a highly recommended affix, as it helps mitigate incoming true damage from the Tenos phase projectiles and explosions. Additional health and healing support also improve survival across all phases.
- Wendarr Phase: Sparks spawn in groups with a fixed lifespan of 600 ticks (~30s). A hammer is an effective tool, as multiple sparks can be destroyed simultaneously. Focus on clusters, rather than chasing single sparks, to reduce the amount the Herald can absorb.
- Velara Phase: Up to 32 mobs can be spawned per wave. therefore Crowd-control skills, cleave weapons, or area of attack damage skills are valuable to prevent being overwhelmed. Eliminating high-threat dungeon mobs (e.g., witches, piglins, vindicators) early helps reduce incoming damage.
- Tenos Phase: This is often considered the deadliest phase. Projectiles deal 20 true damage and fangs deal 32 damage with an 80% spawn chance, so maintaining distance and mobility is crucial. Debuffs can include slowness, blindness, and mining fatigue. Movement speed, cleansing abilities, or the Carapace blue Trinket help counter these effects. A reliable strategy is to farm around 10 inhibitors of each chest type before progressing. Then quickly match them to the floating catalysts to advance through the stage. Players should avoid lingering in the center for too long, as fangs and explosions from aove can deal heavy damage.
- Idona Phase: Idona spawns blood orbs every 100 ticks (~5s) with a maximum of 12 active. Constant movement is key: running in circles around the arena helps to safely clear blood orbs before they overwhelm the player. Between orb clears, take quick opportunities to land one or two hits on the Herald, then return to kiting to avoid the high-damage melee attacks.
- Generic Stances: Between phases, the Herald always returns to a melee stance with increased health and damage. His melee attacks (Hammersmash, Uppercut, Groundslam) scale in power each time. Defensive skills and good positioning minimize knockback and allow steady chip damage before the next god phase begins. These stages allow for a bit of resting between difficult stages and taking time to reorganise due to the relatively low amount of damage.
Overall, the fight rewards patience and consistency. Learning each phase’s mechanics and adapting gear accordingly will significantly improve chances of victory.