Phase 0: The problem. Read the prompt, see the input and expected output.
LC 40 · Combination Sum II

Given candidates: number[] and target, return every UNIQUE combination that sums to target. Each candidate used at most once. Duplicates in the input are allowed but must not produce duplicate output rows.

candidates · target
expected output
[1, 1, 6][1, 2, 5][1, 7][2, 6]

Notice: two 1s sit at different indices. They share a VALUE but not a POSITION. That difference is the whole problem.