Heralds in HC

I see tons of posts and research put out on Heralds. I get how they work and the odds/strategies, but I'm still trying to understand more of the stories of people randomly getting one-shotted by an OP Herald. I'm scared lol and have been creating new games after beating the level 4 Herald. How are people dying to the level 5's? SC players are inherently a bit more reckless than HC. My bind demon is obviously stupid OP. Once the Herald is hunting me, if I'm super slow and cautious and sending him out ahead of me anywhere, how big is the risk I'm taking? I want to run heralds, but I'm making the 99 push on this toon. Should I start a new guy to run heralds with just in case or should I be alright as long as I stay slow and steady and not be afraid to portal out and abandon a guy? I don't have gg gear yet, just got my enigma, but beyond that, doing 14k-21k on my echo, spirit shield, aldurs boots, yellow gloves, rings, and ammy for res. Nothing special at this point.