Cleanse is the ability to remove one or more negative status effects, the so called Debuffs, from self and allies. Most Healers have this ability. It happens instantly with an animation. When there are stacked debuffs Cleanse removes the whole stack of that debuff.
A few Heroes have the ability to auto cleanse debuffs from themselves, see Cleanse (self).
Important: Some hero Abilities have a Heal and Cleanse component, such as
to name a few. The order in which Heal and Cleanse occure is important when the ally suffers from Wounded, Nerve Damage, or Diseased, or a similar heal-blocking debuff.
The following example describes the consequences of the order:
Because Ember Sanguine trys to heal first, Wounded, Nerve Damage will block the use her Cauterize and she can't help! In case Diseased she only will heal with half power because of the disease and then remove the debuff. The target will not have full health.
Archangel Emily's Cleansing Wave has the same problem. Wounded will block the use of her Ability for the wounded ally. But she can target any other ally because Cleansing Wave affects the whole team. (That selected ally must not be Wounded, of course.) If Emily targets a not wounded ally, her team will be healed except the wounded ones. Then the debuff is removed. But the wounded target will not have gained full health!
Yasmin Bloom can remove 1 or 2 buffs with her Cure Wounds first and then heal. If Wounded (or any other heal blocking debuff) is removed then the target will gain full heal power. The ally can have full health again! (Skill increases the amount of heal.)
Tip:Cleansing Regeneration is a buff that can remove debuffs as well.
Debuff Transfer is another way to get rid of unwanted debuffs.
Heroes
The following heroes have or can inflict/apply Cleanse:
Cauterize (Special Attack): Heals target ally and cleanses all debuffs on them. If targeted on an enemy, ranged fire attack that purges all buffs on hit. On killing blow or targeting a corpse, the corpse is removed. Ignores Taunt when targeting.
Epic Scourge Hide III (Trait): Cleanses 3 Debuffs on all Demon and Fire allies at the start of this Hero's turn. (This trait replaces the trait 'Scourge Hide III' when the Epic is unlocked.)
Cleansing Aura (Trait): If the Hero can act at the end of the round, cleanses 1 Debuff on all allies. Growth Swell (Special Attack): Ranged Water attack on all enemies. Purges two buffs from enemies, cleanses one debuff from all allies, and Grows allied Plants. Algae Wash (Special Attack): Recovers health split between all allies and cleanses all debuffs. Grows allied Plants and Water allies become Plants. Starts Powered.
Phoenix Rising (Special Attack): Heals and cleanses all allies, and grants team Phoenix Feather to prevent their corpses from being removed, lasting 3 turns.
Cloud Hop (Special Attack): Melee Spirit attack on all enemies. Applies Tranquility to all allies, gaining increased Dodge Chance and Retaliation on dodge. Snow Day: Cleanses all debuffs on allies.
Cure Wounds (Special Attack): [One/two] debuff(s) is/are removed from selected target, followed by a heal for [117% SKL]. Upgrading increases the amount healed. Amount of debuffs removed depends on the rank (I/II) of this trait.