Decay
spirit · Tier 3 · 3,200 souls active VerifiedWhat it does
A targeted damage-over-time curse that deals damage based on the victim's health and, most importantly, cuts their healing by half for a long window. It is the strongest dedicated anti-heal in the spirit tree.
Numbers: -50% Healing Reduction for 12s; 1.95 spirit damage/s (+0.003 scaling); 20m cast range, 30s cooldown; +8 Spirit Power, +65 Bonus Health
Buy it when
Buy when an enemy is healing through your damage and you want a point-and-click answer that does not rely on landing bullets.
Skip it when
The damage itself is minimal — buy it for the healing cut, not the damage.
Gotchas
The mechanics people most often get wrong about this item.
- Healing reduction raised -45% -> -50% on 6 Mar 2026
- Damage is non-lethal and does not apply item procs, though it does trigger Spirit Burn
- This item was NOT renamed from Withering Whip — Withering Whip became Rusted Barrel
Problems it answers
- Healing and lifesteal — “They keep healing back everything I do to them.”
- Unkillable frontline — “I cannot kill their tank.”
Heroes that make this worth a slot
Heroes whose kit creates the problems Decay answers. This is derived from kit properties, not from measured build results.