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 / 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 - 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 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 specialty. Avoidance for incoming Attack-delivered hits, resolved as Miss / Glancing Hit / Full Hit. Every class gains a little as it levels.
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% (77% 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 tied to a weapon or armor type rather than to a random affix line - 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 - One of an item’s normal affix lines, permanently locked at drop - not an extra affix. Crafting cannot change it. Most common from bosses and elites.
Bonded (not yet available) - An item-binding state used by crafting systems that are not yet in the game.
Potential Upgrade - A safety tag set when an item drops and looks like a possible upgrade for you. It reflects how the item compared at that moment.
Potion - An equipped, persistent type triggered by your Battle Plan. One slot.
Elixir - A consumable buff item, used once with a timed duration. Distinct from a Potion.
Fortune (not yet available) - 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 (not yet available) - A themed guaranteed affix plus a reroll.
Final Touch (not yet available) - A safe, cheap finishing step.
Brewing - Turning Ore into Potions, from level 20. See Crafting.
Progression
Section titled “Progression”Appraisal - The system that evaluates incoming loot and sorts what is worth your attention.
Valor (not yet available) - Post-100 progression. XP earned past level 100 accumulates toward it.
Talent Tree - A shared board spending Talent points. In the closed alpha you earn one every 5 levels, 9 in total.
Specializations (not yet available) - 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 (not yet available) - A shareable snapshot of a build, acting as a reference and shopping list. It does not transfer items.
The Ascent - The post-campaign endgame.
Barrow Depths (not yet available) - A milestone endgame zone.
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: 50% of your proven XP rate and 25% of your proven item drop rate, for up to 12 hours. See Offline Progress.
Proven rates - Your XP and item drop rates measured over at least 5 minutes of real play in one zone, with one skill loadout and Battle Plan. Offline rewards are calculated from your last qualifying measurement.
Welcome Back - The return summary explaining what you earned while offline.
Catch-up Bonus - Extra kill XP for a limited time after a long absence, from +25% for 30 minutes (12 hours away) up to +100% for 2 hours (30 days away).