The Harbinger is a superweapon manufactured by Vox Industries in Deadlocked. It launches a small volley of missiles that paint the ground with targeting lasers, after which orbital ion cannons will rain down lasers.[1] It becomes available for the purchase of two million bolts after unlocking the Liberator Tournament. The Harbinger can be upgraded to the SuperNova with use, which causes meteors to land on the planet instead. In challenge mode, it can be upgraded to the Mega SuperNova for three million bolts.
The Harbinger, and the SuperNova upgrade, are bulky, dark green, and shoulder-mounted weapons. Normally closed, the front end of the barrel is made out of hatches that open up to reveal six loaded missiles (although it fires more than this). The weapon was created by Vox Industries to compete with Gadgetron's R.Y.N.O. and an unseen weapon known as the Apocolator.[2] It was used by Juanita Alvaro as an attempt to kill Dallas Wanamaker in an episode of Juanita and Dallas.
Purchasing The Harbinger unlocks the gold trophy Aiming is Overrated for the PlayStation 3 re-release.
Gameplay[]
The Harbinger is the most powerful weapon in the game, but it also has very limited ammunition. It makes up for this and its low rate of fire by generally destroying, or at least heavily damaging, anything it hits. It does this by releasing a small swarm of missiles that rapidly mark a series of random targets in the area in front of the user, after which massive lasers crash down from above. This attack generally covers everything you can see up to a fixed distance. Due to these mechanics there is little to no strategy to using the weapon, other than ensuring you only use it when facing as many enemies as possible to avoid wasting ammo. It is also generally ineffective against bosses.
As it upgrades, the only alpha mods unlocked are Ammo Mods, which is also the best option thanks to the weapon's low ammo capacity. At V10 it gains no new functionality nor does it improve an existing one, unlike the other weapons. Due to its high damage and large area covering most omega mods are generally superfluous, although the Morph Mod can be reliable enough combined with the standard 'fire and forget' tactic of the weapon.