Nurse Harrow joined Deadlock on October 20, 2026. She was the last hero from the City Never Sleeps community vote, and most launch-day pages just repeat her ability list. This guide covers what they leave out: how the leech-stack economy works, which items change her healing syringes, the exact rules of Specter Rush and Specter Crash, and how to counter her ultimate, Lurking Terrors.
Numbers come from the launch build (Valve’s October 20 patch notes plus the datamined values on the Deadlock Wiki and unDeadlock). The wiki marks her page as under construction, and Valve often retunes a new hero within days, so check the in-game tooltip if a number looks different.
Nurse Harrow at a glance
| Stat (launch) | Value |
|---|---|
| Weapon | Code Blue: rapid fire, long range, about 39 DPS, 14.9 bullet damage (+0.374 per level) |
| Ammo / reload | 11 rounds, 1.9 s reload, 2.63 bullets per second |
| Falloff range | 20 m to 58 m |
| Health | 730 (+32 per level), 0 base health regen |
| Move / sprint speed | 6.8 m/s, 2.5 m/s sprint |
| Crit bonus scale | -40% (headshots are worth less on her than on most heroes) |
Her prerelease data was stronger in some places. It listed 780 health, 2 regen and 7.2 move speed, and Valve shipped her with less of each. Her 0 base regen matters: almost all of her sustain has to come from leeches.
Controls (default PC keys)
| Action | Default key | Harrow note |
|---|---|---|
| Leech Therapy / Wretched Vapors / Healing Needles | 1 / 2 / 3 | Press 3 again to put the syringes away |
| Lurking Terrors (ultimate) | 4 | A channel. Face the enemies you want to fear |
| Alternate cast | Mouse 3 | Since City Never Sleeps, alternate cast is set per hero. Check Harrow’s setting before you try to self-cast Vapors |
| Fire / reload | Mouse 1 / R | With needles loaded, reload spends a charge for a fresh clip |
| Active items | Z X C V | – |
| Quick ability upgrade | Hold Alt + 1-4 | Or hold Tab and click the upgrade pips |
| Dash / melee / parry | Left Shift / Q / F | – |
1. Leech Therapy: the stack system that powers her kit
Leech Therapy throws a jar of leeches (6.5 m radius, 30 s cooldown). They stick to enemies and deal about 23 spirit DPS (x0.19 spirit scaling). They also eat away at enemy buff durations, at 0.65 s of buff time per second. When they finish feeding, they crawl back toward you (8 m crawl range). You have to walk over them to collect them.
Each collected leech heals you for the health it drained. It also adds a permanent stack:
- +0.6 health regen per leech (x0.13 spirit scaling)
- +5% fire rate per leech
- Up to 10 stacks (18 with the tier-3 upgrade)
- You lose 25% of your stacks when you die
Stacks also feed your other abilities. Each leech slowly restores Healing Needles charges (0.15%/s per leech) and adds 0.1 s of fear duration to Lurking Terrors. That makes Leech Therapy the skill to level and land early.
| Upgrade tier | Effect |
|---|---|
| T1 | Leeches drain stamina and give it to you on pickup |
| T2 | -10 s cooldown, +4 spirit power per leech |
| T3 | +1 m radius, +0.3 spirit scaling, +8 max leech stacks |
How to farm stacks without dying
- Throw the jar where enemies will walk through it, such as a lane choke or the path to a contested box. Then back off so you are not trading shots for the full drain.
- Watch where the leeches crawl back. Their crawl range is 8 m, so collect them from cover instead of chasing them into the enemy.
- Throw it at enemies who have a buff running. The buff-eating effect shortens it, which is a quiet reason to aim at whoever just used a self-buff.
- Play safer as your stack count rises. Losing 25% of 18 stacks costs you more than losing 25% of 4.
2. Wretched Vapors: the rules of Rush and Crash
Wretched Vapors goes on yourself or an ally (13 m cast range, 4 s rush). Specter Rush gives 25% faster actions and numbs all incoming damage while it lasts. Instead of hitting right away, that damage becomes looming specters. When Rush ends, Specter Crash starts: 4 s of 20% slower actions, while the remaining specters deal their stored damage plus 30% extra.
These rules decide whether Vapors saves a teammate or kills them:
- Incoming healing removes specters first. Follow Vapors with Healing Needles on the same target so the stored damage gets erased before the Crash.
- Debuff resist does not shorten Specter Crash.
- Ethereal Shift does not block the Crash damage. Other invulnerability, such as Pocket’s Enchanter’s Satchel, does block it.
- Don’t put Vapors on an ally who is low on health and out of your healing range. The Crash can finish them.
| Upgrade tier | Effect |
|---|---|
| T1 | -15 s cooldown, +7 m cast range |
| T2 | +1 s duration, +20% healing effectiveness |
| T3 | +15% rush speed, dispels non-ultimate debuffs |
3. Healing Needles: syringe-item interactions
Healing Needles loads Code Blue with a clip of syringes that heal allies: 25 heal per shot (x0.2 spirit scaling), with a 15% headshot heal bonus. The heal ignores falloff range, so you can heal from the back line. Dealing damage recovers charges, and so does each leech you have collected. Reloading spends a charge for a fresh clip, and unused syringes are refunded as a partial charge.
| Upgrade tier | Effect |
|---|---|
| T1 | +1 max charge |
| T2 | +20 heal per shot, shots restore 0.6 stamina |
| T3 | +0.4 spirit scaling, shots extend non-ultimate buff durations by 6% (up to their max) |
Most launch guides skip item behaviour. Tested interactions recorded on the wiki:
| Item | What it does to syringes |
|---|---|
| Split Shot | Fires several syringes. Each ally is healed only once per shot and extra syringes pass through. Hitting several allies does not give the item’s damage stack |
| Express Shot | Fires two syringes without changing their heal |
| Ricochet | Syringes bounce to nearby allies for 50% of the base heal, but never back to you |
| Armor Piercer | Syringes pierce through allies and give the full heal to every ally hit |
| Restorative Shot, Burst Fire, Escalating Resilience, Headhunter, Spiritual Overflow | Proc when you shoot allies |
| Active Reload | Recast 3 to put the needles away, then press reload to get back to your normal gun faster, with the usual Active Reload window |
Our take, not tested data: Armor Piercer looks like the strongest healing pick of the group, because each shot heals every ally in a line fully. Ricochet is weaker since bounces heal half. Expect players to test this through the first week.
4. Lurking Terrors: how the fear works
Lurking Terrors is a channel (7 s, 35 m, 200 s cooldown). It deals 60 spirit DPS (x0.3 spirit scaling) to enemies in front of you. Enemies looking at you build terror. While they build it, they can’t use stamina or movement abilities. After 1.3 s of buildup they are feared for 2.2 s, plus 0.1 s per leech you hold. Enemies facing away take only 50% damage unless they are already feared.
| Upgrade tier | Effect |
|---|---|
| T1 | -50 s cooldown |
| T2 | Slows enemies’ move speed and fire rate by 20%, +30 DPS |
| T3 | +3 s channel time, +0.5 spirit scaling, immune to damage while channeling |
Using it well
- Open with it when enemies are already looking at you, for example when they dive you or peek a corner you’re holding. The fear needs them facing you.
- Get your leech stacks up before a big fight. At 10 stacks the fear lasts 3.2 s, and at 18 stacks it lasts 4.0 s.
- Before T3 you can take damage while channeling, so start the ult from cover or behind a Vapors-buffed teammate.
How to counter Nurse Harrow
- Turn away from Lurking Terrors. Facing away stops terror from building and halves its damage. Fight back only once the channel ends.
- Unstoppable suppresses the fear. Debuff resist shortens it.
- Kill her to strip stacks. Each death costs her 25% of her leeches, so focus her once she has stacked up.
- Deny the pickups. Leeches have to crawl back to her, so pressure her while they are on their way.
- Anti-heal. Her team’s sustain runs through syringes and leech healing. The game’s own announcer pushes this: on a high Harrow killstreak, the enemy herald urges his team to buy Healbane.
- Punish the Crash. When an enemy’s Vapors run out, they are 20% slower and take 30% extra from stored specters. That is when to commit.
- unDeadlock’s data diff shows that the item which auto-cleanses your next stun, chain, immobilize, sleep or silence now lists Fear in its description as well. Valve’s notes don’t mention this, so test it in-game before you rely on it.
Suggested ability order (speculative)
Launch-week opinion based on how the kit fits together, not tested win-rate data: level Leech Therapy first for stacks and the T2 cooldown, then Healing Needles T2 for the +20 heal per shot. Take Lurking Terrors T1 when you can, because 200 s is a long cooldown. Wretched Vapors T1 adds +7 m of cast range, which makes it much easier to land in fights.
Want something shorter between matches?
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FAQ
When was Nurse Harrow released in Deadlock?
October 20, 2026, in the “Shh… This Won’t Hurt a Bit.” update. She was the final City Never Sleeps hero.
How many leech stacks can Nurse Harrow have?
10 by default and 18 with the tier-3 Leech Therapy upgrade. She loses 25% of her stacks on death.
Does Ethereal Shift block Specter Crash damage?
No. Other invulnerability, such as Pocket’s Enchanter’s Satchel, does block it.
How do you escape Lurking Terrors?
Look away from Harrow so terror stops building, which also halves the damage you take unless you are already feared. Unstoppable suppresses the fear.
Do Healing Needles work at long range?
Yes. The heal ignores falloff range, so syringes heal fully at any distance they reach.
Sources: Valve’s October 20, 2026 Deadlock patch notes (“Shh… This Won’t Hurt a Bit.”, via SteamDB), the Deadlock Wiki Nurse Harrow page (ability values and item interaction notes), and the unDeadlock hero page and patch diff (launch stats versus prerelease data).
