Glossary
Definitions of the key terms you will see across Embershroud and this wiki. Where a term has a deeper page, it is linked.
Combat
Section titled “Combat”Auto-combat - Combat your character resolves automatically. You shape the build and the plan; you do not pilot individual actions.
Core Loop / Pressure / Control / Field / Survival - The four skill roles. Every character equips one skill per role. See Classes.
Battle Plan - The behaviour rules that decide when your character uses what. See Battle Plan.
Momentum (Phase 2) - A per-class rhythm meter. It decides whether a Pressure cast is empowered.
Counter Ready - A short Vanguard window opened by Guard absorbing a hit.
Glancing Hit - The middle outcome of the Hunter’s three-way Evasion roll: half damage, spread over 2 seconds instead of arriving at once.
Tick - One step of the server’s combat simulation. Combat allows at most three skill activations per character per tick; Potions are evaluated separately.
Defence
Section titled “Defence”Armor - Percentage physical damage reduction. Strong against many small hits, weak against single large ones.
Evasion - Hunter exclusive. Avoidance for incoming Attack-delivered hits, resolved as Miss / Glancing Hit / Full Hit.
Guard - Vanguard exclusive. A flat absorption buffer generated by Vanguard skills.
Barrier - Arcanist exclusive. A separate absorb pool above HP that recharges after a delay.
Resistance - Per-element percentage reduction, capped at 75% (80% with investment, 82% for Vanguard). There is no Physical Resistance - Armor is the only physical mitigation.
Affix - A rolled modifier on an item, split into Prefixes and Suffixes. See Items & Affixes.
Implicit - A bonus built into a weapon or armor type rather than rolled - Swords grant Attack Speed, Axes grant Critical Strike Chance.
Integrity - An item’s finite crafting budget. Inscribing spends it; when it runs out, the item is finished.
Oathbound - A locked affix that can appear on boss and elite drops.
Bonded - A separate item-binding state; its crafting systems arrive in Phase 2.
Potential Upgrade - A safety tag applied when an item was triaged, reflecting how it looked at that moment.
Potion - An equipped, persistent type triggered by your Battle Plan. One slot at launch.
Elixir - A consumable buff item, used once with a timed duration. Distinct from a Potion.
Fortune - A small bonus to rare-or-better drop chance, earned through Valor.
Crafting
Section titled “Crafting”Ore - The crafting currency, produced by salvaging.
Echo - A record of an affix family, banked when you salvage an item.
Echo Registry - Where your Echoes are stored. Three of one family and tier consolidate into one of the next tier up.
Inscription Bench - Where stored Echoes are applied to an item, spending Integrity.
Quick Inscribe - A Bench mode that fills every open slot with compatible T1 Echoes at zero Integrity and zero Ore cost.
Roll Preservation - Upgrading an affix tier keeps your relative roll quality. A high T3 roll stays high at T4.
Salvage - Breaking an item down into Ore plus an Echo.
Runic Infusion (Phase 2) - A themed guaranteed affix plus a reroll.
Final Touch (Phase 2) - A safe, cheap finishing step.
Brewing (Phase 2) - Potion crafting.
Progression
Section titled “Progression”Appraisal - The system that evaluates incoming loot and sorts what is worth your attention.
Vows - Per-boss kill tracking that pays out a guaranteed reward at milestones.
Valor - Post-100 progression. XP earned past level 100 accumulates toward it from launch; the full tier system arrives in Phase 2.
Talent Tree (Phase 2) - A shared board spending the Talent point you earn every 2 levels.
Specializations (Phase 2) - A per-skill tree reached from that skill’s row.
Loadouts - Saved build configurations you can swap between. First slot at level 20.
War Sigils - Equippable items with behaviour Tactics, dropping from level 30.
Build Blueprint (Phase 2) - A shareable snapshot of a build, acting as a reference and shopping list. It does not transfer items.
The Ascent - The post-campaign endgame, unlocked at level 100.
Barrow Depths - A milestone endgame zone, accessible from level 60.
Away from the game
Section titled “Away from the game”Idle - Connected but not providing input. Your character fights at the full simulated rate; nothing is reduced.
Offline - Disconnected. Rewards are calculated when you reconnect, capped at 12 hours. See Offline Progress.
Eligibility snapshot - The observed performance the server uses to calculate your offline rewards. It binds to conditions while you were away, not when you claim.
Welcome Back - The return summary explaining what you earned while offline.