when do you heal after after combat to include deathknell triggers, breakdown the steps

Ruling: Deathknell triggers fire before the heal, but they resolve after it — so the heal happens first as far as any play decisions are concerned.

Here's the full combat resolution breakdown (Rule 465.3 → 466):

1. Combat Damage Step (Rule 465) — damage is assigned and dealt simultaneously.
2. FEPR is skipped (Rule 465.3) and play jumps straight into the Resolution Step (Rule 466.1).
3. Combat Cleanup begins:
   • 3a (Rule 323.4): Units with lethal damage that have Deathknell (or other "when I die" abilities) trigger — their triggers are noted as Pending Items.
   • 3b (Rule 323.5): Those units are Killed and placed in their owner's trash.
   • 3c (Rule 466.1.a.1): Heal all units — every unit in play, not just those that fought.
   • 3d (Rule 466.1.a.2): Recall attacking units still present if defenders remain.
4. Determine Combat Result (Rule 466.3), then Establish Control / Conquer (Rule 466.5) and Combat ends (Rule 466.7).
5. FEPR resumes — only now do the Pending Deathknell triggers get finalized and resolve on the chain.

Practical takeaways: Deathknell cannot finish off units that survived with non-lethal damage (they heal first), and cannot save a unit that took lethal damage (it's already in the trash before anything resolves). Same timing applies to "when I die" abilities — they were aligned with Deathknell in the Vendetta rules update.

FAQ #9514 covers this exact sequence (Rule refs: 465.3, 466.1, 466.1.a.1, 323.4, 323.5, 808.1.d).