Harvester

Harvester
Kill Icons
Basic Information
Used by	Pyro
Slot	Melee
Loadout Stats
Harvester Scythe Burning victims fill crit meter while active On Hit: Steal health from your victim while meter is full +5 health gain per afterburn tick while active On Death: Burning victims are extinguished No random critical hits "Ask not for whom the bell tolls."

A grisly utility melee that's as fearsome and traumatizing as the Halloween store animatronic it probably belongs to. With the Harvester held out, some of the afterburn damage you dish out (even on your victims' charred remains!) will be returned to you as health and charge for a decapitating crit-slash! Everyone you set on fire is instantly extinguished when you die, though, so don't be surprised if your marks fight back harder than you're used to.

Harvester promotional blurb

The Harvester is a melee weapon for the Pyro. It is a scythe with a crooked wood handle and a damaged, curved blade bolted on. While equipped, it will appear on the Pyro's back regardless of which weapon the user is wielding. It will decapitate enemy players if the Harvester kills them from a critical hit, and will gain a symmetrical blood splatter on its blade, which will persist until the user respawns or goes underwater.

The Harvester deals the same damage and has the same attack speed as the Fire Axe. While it is the active weapon, afterburn damage dealt to an enemy by the Flame Thrower or the Flare Gun will heal the user by five health per tick (ten health per second) while increasing the Harvester's charge meter. If the user's health is full, the health gained does not turn into overheal, and if the charge meter is full, afterburn no longer heals the user. Separate instances of afterburn stack per enemy, linearly increasing the health and charge gained. The weapon also tracks the remaining afterburn on dead enemies (including extinguished corpses, such as those in water), gaining the same health and charge as when they were alive. As a penalty, all enemies who are suffering afterburn get extinguished upon the Pyro's death.

The charge meter fills up after 30 ticks of afterburn (15 seconds), allowing for 150 points of healing per charge. When fully charged, the Harvester will allow a guaranteed critical hit, marked by a critical glow (including when not active) and a bell sound audible to all players. This critical hit will also heal the user by 195 health, whether or not the enemy dies, and will overheal if their health is full. If the Harvester is crit boosted by other means, such as the Kritzkrieg, the healing will not occur, and the charge will not be used. The critical hit will also not be used if attacking buildings, ÜberCharged enemies, or surfaces. The amount of damage dealt by either afterburn or the critical hit has no effect on the charge and health gained. As a penalty, the Harvester is unable to randomly crit.

Related achievements

Achievement		Description
	Summary Execution	Decapitate all 9 classes with the Harvester. Scout Soldier Pyro Demoman Heavy Engineer Medic Sniper Spy
	Head Rush	Decapitate 3 enemies with the Harvester in a single life.
	Don't Fear the Reaper	Save 5 teammates from burning to death by killing enemy Pyros wielding the Harvester.
	No, Time to Die	As a Spy, extinguish yourself by killing a Pyro wielding the Harvester.

Properties

Properties
Damage type		Melee
Ranged or Melee?		Melee
Taunt		Reaper
Damage
Base damage	100%	65
Critical		195
Mini-crit		88
Healing
Healing (self)		10 / s 195
Function Times
Attack interval		0.8 s 0.5 s
Charge fill speed		6.66% / s
Charge fill time		30 ticks
All values are approximate.

Update history

2.1.0 (Fight or Flight Update)

• Added the Harvester

2.1.3

• Afterburn tick heals while active no longer apply while crit is ready
• Crit now instantly heals for 195HP upon hit
• A sound cue audible to all players now plays when crit is ready
• Wearable now has critglows when crit is ready and weapon is holstered

2.2.0 (Double Down Update)

• Now has a unique taunt kill animation (Hotpockette, Ventrici, GoogleyGareth)

3.0.0

• Crits no longer have extra range

Trivia

• The Harvester's description, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls", is a misquotation from the John Donne work "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions", Meditation XVII. The average enthusiast of 17th century England would know that the "bell" in this analogy refers to church bells that declare important events.
• Pulling out the Harvester will appear to delete all the flame particles created by your Flame Thrower. This is only visual, and does not prevent enemies from being set on fire.
• Switching to another class while an enemy has afterburn, then switching back to the Pyro, will still enable the Harvester to gain charge. The same thing will occur when switching between the Fire Axe and the Harvester.
• The chopped piece of wood bolted onto the Harvester's model suggests it's a repurposed farming scythe, which usually has an additional handle. As a result, to use it as a weapon in real life, you would need to pull the internal, sharp end of the blade towards yourself.

Comparison from Team Fortresss 2

• According to the TF2 Classified developer  NitoTheFunky the Harvester was originally designed with the 3D model of the cut live Team Fortress 2 weapon, the Baleful Beacon, but was later changed to the current scythe model due to "physics and particle issues".

Gallery

Promotional artwork for the Harvester and Twin Barrel.