By DeadlockStrat · Reviewed
Use Healbane when your normal combat loop reliably deals qualifying spirit damage, Toxic Bullets when you can sustain bullet contact, or consider Decay for a targeted active application. First check whether healing is the problem and whether your team already covers it.
Healbane: spirit application comes first
Healbane suits a hero that can keep applying qualifying spirit damage to the enemy who needs healing reduction. Buying a spirit stat or using a weapon-scaled ability does not establish the damage type. Read the ability interaction rather than choosing by item colour.
For a Lightning Ball Seven path, spirit application is part of the intended loop. That makes Healbane an eligible response to healing pressure in the planner. It is not a promise that every source of damage, summon or item proc will apply the effect.
Toxic Bullets: enough contact to apply the effect
Toxic Bullets asks for sustained bullet contact. It makes more sense when your hero can keep shooting the important target than when fights consist of a brief spell combo followed by disengagement.
Consider range, target access and time spent firing. A healing target you cannot reach is not solved by owning anti-heal. Positioning or a teammate with reliable access may be the missing part of the response.
Decay: targeted timing and an active slot
Decay offers targeted healing reduction with non-lethal damage. Its damage does not trigger item procs in the reviewed rules. Do not build an assumed item-proc chain around it.
The active uses one of the four available item-active slots. Plan when you will apply it, whether you can reach the priority target and whether that slot is already needed for survival or control. A passive alternative can be easier to maintain when your normal attacks already apply it.
Recheck coverage instead of stacking by habit
Healing reduction, lifesteal, damage mitigation and deferred damage are different mechanics. Identify which one is keeping an opponent alive before committing a purchase. Read the current patch's stacking rules; this guide does not assume multiple anti-heal sources always combine at full strength.
Ask what your teammates already apply and how consistently they reach the same target. When coverage is already reliable, improving your own survival or damage delivery may contribute more. The linked item entries give the reviewed cost, components and limits; the planner verifies current definitions before generating a new plan.
Inspect the items
Apply it to a hero
Evidence and review
These are tactical explanations of the Build 6839 reference, reviewed 1 November 2026. They are not match-statistical rankings. Item mechanics can change: the planner verifies current definitions separately and blocks automatic recommendations when the reviewed mechanics no longer match.
- Versioned community item and ability definitions
- How recommendations and patch checks work
- Dated patch reference
Read next
- Deadlock counter items: choose the response your hero can use
- Deadlock item upgrades, soul payments and inventory slots