diff --git a/src/transport/quic/runtime.zig b/src/transport/quic/runtime.zig
index 07ac85a..c8289e9 100644
--- a/src/transport/quic/runtime.zig
+++ b/src/transport/quic/runtime.zig
@@ -1593,6 +1593,14 @@ pub const QuicRuntime = struct {
     /// matching the inline path's per-call recv bound.
     const inbound_drain_per_call: usize = 1024;
 
+    /// Max bytes the BULK (block) gossip lane offers to the transport per drive
+    /// tick per stream. Bounds the outbound drive phase so a multi-MB block fed
+    /// into zquic's pending queue can't dominate a lap (was SLOW drive iter
+    /// outbound=700ms+, starving the priority/attestation lane). At ~256 KiB/tick
+    /// a ~3 MiB block ships over ~12 ticks (well within one slot) while
+    /// attestations drain every tick. Priority lane is unbudgeted.
+    const gossip_bulk_drain_budget_bytes: usize = 256 * 1024;
+
     /// Re-drain the listener socket + flush server-side conn ACKs if at least
     /// `drive_inbound_pump_interval_ms` has elapsed since the last pump. Cheap
     /// when called too soon (a clock read + compare). Called from inside the
@@ -2617,11 +2625,27 @@ pub const QuicRuntime = struct {
         lane: *std.ArrayList([]u8),
         partial_flag: *bool,
         coalesce_buf: []u8,
+        byte_budget: ?usize,
     ) struct { accepted_any: bool, backpressured: bool } {
         const a = self.allocator;
         var accepted_any: bool = false;
         var backpressured: bool = false;
+        // Bytes offered to the transport this call. The BULK (block) lane passes a
+        // budget so one ~3 MiB block can't be shoved into zquic's pending queue in
+        // a single tick — that built a multi-MB pending backlog whose encryption
+        // dominated the outbound drive phase (SLOW drive iter outbound=700ms+) and
+        // starved the priority (attestation) lane → dropped attestations →
+        // coverage decay. With the budget the block is fed over several ticks and
+        // the priority lane drains every tick. Checked only at FRAME boundaries
+        // (partial_flag clear) so an in-flight frame is never interrupted.
+        var sent_this_call: usize = 0;
         while (lane.items.len > 0) {
+            if (byte_budget) |bb| {
+                // `sent_this_call > 0` guarantees at least one frame ships even if
+                // bb is misconfigured to 0 (else iteration 1 would break before
+                // sending → guaranteed wedge).
+                if (sent_this_call > 0 and sent_this_call >= bb and !partial_flag.*) break;
+            }
             // Coalesce consecutive WHOLE frames into one MTU-dense write.
             // gossipsub RPC frames are self-delimiting (uvarint length prefix)
             // so concatenating whole frames is wire-identical to sending them
@@ -2663,6 +2687,7 @@ pub const QuicRuntime = struct {
                 break;
             }
             accepted_any = true;
+            sent_this_call += sent;
             g.last_write_ms = self.opts.now_ms_fn();
 
             // Drop fully-sent head frames; rewrite the straddling frame (if
@@ -2830,7 +2855,9 @@ pub const QuicRuntime = struct {
                 var pri_accepted = false;
                 var pri_backpressured = false;
                 if (!g.outbox_bulk_partial) {
-                    const pres = self.drainGossipLane(sh, g, &g.outbox, &g.outbox_partial, &coalesce_buf);
+                    // Priority (attestations/aggregations/control): drain fully —
+                    // these are small and must not be held back.
+                    const pres = self.drainGossipLane(sh, g, &g.outbox, &g.outbox_partial, &coalesce_buf, null);
                     if (g.broken) continue;
                     pri_accepted = pres.accepted_any;
                     pri_backpressured = pres.backpressured;
@@ -2840,7 +2867,9 @@ pub const QuicRuntime = struct {
                 // frame must not be interrupted) AND priority did not just
                 // backpressure (transport is full — bulk would fail too).
                 if (!g.outbox_partial and !pri_backpressured and g.outbox_bulk.items.len > 0) {
-                    const bres = self.drainGossipLane(sh, g, &g.outbox_bulk, &g.outbox_bulk_partial, &coalesce_buf);
+                    // Bulk (blocks): budgeted per tick so a multi-MB block is fed
+                    // over several ticks and never monopolizes the outbound phase.
+                    const bres = self.drainGossipLane(sh, g, &g.outbox_bulk, &g.outbox_bulk_partial, &coalesce_buf, gossip_bulk_drain_budget_bytes);
                     if (g.broken) continue;
                     bulk_accepted = bres.accepted_any;
                 }