Cursed Relic#
Cursed Relic is a 6,400-soul spirit item with an active ability: you curse a target and shut down much of what they can do for a short time. Several hero pages note that it can cancel tether effects, such as Ivy’s Kudzu Connection. Exact duration and effects change with patches — read the tooltip in game.
“Cursed items” vs corrupted items#
Some coverage of the City Never Sleeps update called the Broker a “cursed item shop”. The items he sold were officially corrupted items: stronger versions of normal items with a random drawback. That system was limited-time and has left regular matches — see the Broker and corrupted items. Cursed Relic is a normal shop item and has nothing to do with it.
When Cursed Relic is worth it#
- Against a single enemy hero who decides fights on their own — curse them before they act.
- When an enemy relies on a tether or a channel your team can’t otherwise stop.
- Late game, when you have the souls and slots for a utility item rather than raw damage.
For other answers to specific heroes, see the counter items cheat sheet.