When Is Healing Reduction Worth It?

Patch 26.19

Buy healing reduction when the champion you're hitting heals faster than your other item can out-damage. For a marksman weighing Mortal Reminder against Lord Dominik's Regards, that's about 27 to 62 health a second on a squishy target. Mages and bruisers give up more damage to buy it, and outside a short list of champions they want a healing support on the other side first.

How much healing is a lot?

Every number here is healing per second of fighting, measured while the champion is taking damage (a heal that lands on a full health bar doesn't count). Against a level 15 marksman holding four items, Dr. Mundo tops the list at 162 a second, and the tenth heaviest healer still manages 90. Supports are a different scale. If a Soraka spends every heal on the champion you're hitting, that's 248 health a second, more than any self-healer in the game.

Support, 4 items	Heals one ally per second
Soraka	248
Nami	42
Rakan	35
Yuumi	27
Taric	25
Sona	23

Marksmen: Mortal Reminder or Lord Dominik's Regards

Both give the same attack damage and crit chance, so the trade is small on paper. LDR adds 5% more armor penetration and Giant Slayer, up to 15% more damage against a target with 1500 bonus health. Mortal Reminder cuts 40% of the target's healing for 3 seconds after each hit.

That makes bonus health the other half of the question. Against champions carrying under 300 of it, Mortal Reminder catches up once the target heals 27 to 62 health a second. Past 800 bonus health the line jumps to 106 to 196, because Giant Slayer is paying out in full. Vladimir is the clearest case. He's one of the heaviest healers in the game and LDR still wins against him for all five marksmen, since Crimson Pact [Passive] turns his build into a pile of bonus health.

On their own healing, Fiora, Samira and Lissandra push Mortal Reminder ahead for at least four of the five. Put a Soraka behind the champion you're shooting and it's Mortal Reminder against at least 163 of the 171 champions in the game. A Nami gets there against 18 to 64.

Enemy	Heals per second	Bonus health	Jinx	Caitlyn	Yunara	Jhin	Tristana
Dr. Mundo	162	2850	Even	Even	Even	MR +4%	Even
Fiora	157	333	MR +20%	MR +1%	MR +27%	MR +37%	MR +18%
Vladimir	137	1378	LDR +10%	LDR +8%	LDR +11%	LDR +12%	LDR +9%
Aatrox	129	850	Even	LDR +2%	MR +4%	MR +2%	MR +2%
Zac	110	1250	LDR +7%	LDR +9%	LDR +6%	LDR +3%	LDR +7%
Warwick	109	900	LDR +2%	LDR +4%	LDR +2%	LDR +6%	Even
Sylas	108	700	LDR +2%	LDR +7%	Even	MR +3%	Even
Briar	96	1000	LDR +6%	LDR +6%	LDR +7%	LDR +6%	LDR +4%
Lissandra	94	0	MR +4%	MR +4%	MR +6%	MR +4%	MR +4%
Ekko	90	300	Even	Even	Even	Even	Even

Each cell is how much more health the better item removes over the same stretch of the fight, with the enemy's own healing and no support. Gaps under 1% are marked even. Marksmen are level 15 with three items of their standard build.

Mages: Morellonomicon or Shadowflame

A mage pays more for anti-heal. Shadowflame brings more ability power and magic penetration, and its spells hit 20% harder once the target is under 40% health. On the median champion Morellonomicon does 11 to 13% less damage as a third item.

It still wins outright against Zac, Volibear and Dr. Mundo, for Syndra, Xerath and Lissandra alike. What surprised me was where the line sits: against a squishy target Morellonomicon needs 60 to 107 healing per second, and against a champion with 800+ bonus health it needs less, 33 to 73. A Soraka feeding one target flips at least 146 of the 171 matchups; a Nami flips 29 to 61.

Enemy	Heals per second	Bonus health	Syndra	Xerath	Lissandra
Warwick	101	450	Even	Morello +3%	Morello +10%
Sylas	93	700	SF +1%	Morello +4%	Morello +19%
Vladimir	93	882	SF +5%	Even	Morello +2%
Dr. Mundo	89	1850	Morello +10%	Morello +4%	Morello +18%
Fiora	87	333	Even	Morello +2%	Morello +4%
Zac	76	1100	Morello +28%	Morello +19%	Morello +43%
Aatrox	65	450	SF +9%	SF +2%	SF +11%
Briar	64	1000	SF +4%	SF +3%	Morello +5%
Illaoi	62	800	SF +5%	SF +8%	SF +2%
Volibear	61	1600	Morello +26%	Morello +11%	Morello +33%

Mages are level 13 with two items of their standard build, enemies level 13 with three.

Bruisers: Chempunk Chainsword or Black Cleaver

These two share almost every stat. What separates them is Black Cleaver's armor shred, up to 30% once it's fully stacked, against Chempunk's healing cut. Against the median champion, Chempunk does 6 to 11% less damage as a second item.

Fiora is the one champion Chempunk beats Cleaver against on its own for Renekton, Pantheon and Illaoi. Most of the big self-healers sit within a few percent of the line, so this is a support question. A Soraka behind the target makes Chempunk right against every one of the 171, and a Nami makes it right against 18 to 26. The squishy line is 48 to 55 healing per second.

Enemy	Heals per second	Bonus health	Renekton	Pantheon	Illaoi
Fiora	72	0	Chempunk +6%	Chempunk +6%	Chempunk +2%
Vladimir	69	458	Even	Cleaver +1%	Cleaver +1%
Sylas	67	350	Even	Even	Chempunk +2%
Dr. Mundo	65	950	Cleaver +2%	Chempunk +1%	Cleaver +2%
Volibear	46	1200	Cleaver +8%	Cleaver +4%	Cleaver +9%
Swain	46	0	Cleaver +3%	Even	Cleaver +5%
Warwick	42	450	Cleaver +4%	Cleaver +3%	Cleaver +1%
Aatrox	39	450	Cleaver +11%	Cleaver +7%	Cleaver +9%
Zac	39	700	Cleaver +11%	Cleaver +10%	Cleaver +7%
Darius	38	350	Cleaver +6%	Cleaver +6%	Cleaver +4%

Bruisers are level 11 with one item of their standard build, enemies level 11 with two.

Tanks

Thornmail cuts healing on whoever hits you, so it's judged on how long you last. It gets its own breakdown against Frozen Heart and Randuin's Omen: Frozen Heart vs Randuin's Omen vs Thornmail

How these were worked out

Every item and champion number comes from the Patch 26.19 game files, including each healer's kit. Every matchup is a fight played out a fiftieth of a second at a time while the enemy hits back and heals, run from eight starting points and averaged. Builds are the standard builds this site uses everywhere, every champion in the game is an enemy, and a support's healing all goes to the one champion you're fighting.