Glossary: words players use

The words

Looking for a stat? Go to the stats guide. Looking for how a mode works? Start at the Campaign or the section list on the guides page.

2-set / 4-set

How many pieces of a gear set you must wear for its bonus. A "2-set" such as Speed gives its bonus for every two pieces; a "4-set" such as Lifesteal needs four pieces. See gear sets.

A1 / A2 / A3

The champion's active skills in the order the game lists them. A1 is normally the basic attack with no cooldown; A2 and A3 are stronger skills with cooldowns. Passives are listed apart. See skills and cooldowns.

ACC (Accuracy)

The stat that decides whether your debuffs land. It is compared with the target's RES. See accuracy and resistance.

Accessory

A gear slot for a ring, an amulet or a banner. Accessories have their own sets and are often tied to a faction. See accessories, glyphs and ascension.

Active skill

A skill you (or Auto) choose to cast on a turn. Most have a cooldown. The opposite of a passive.

Affinity

A champion's element: Magic, Force, Spirit or Void. The first three form a triangle in which one has the advantage over the next; Void sits outside it. A good matchup gives better hits, a bad one gives weaker hits. See affinities.

Ascension (ascend)

Turning a champion's yellow stars into purple ones with potions. It raises base stats and, for most champions, adds or upgrades a skill. See making a champion stronger.

Aura

A bonus a champion shares with its team while standing in the leader slot, such as "+30% SPD to all allies in the Arena". It only works in the places its text names.

Auto

The game playing your turns for you. It picks skills and targets by itself, which is fine for farming but will not play a hard boss the way you would.

Awakening

A progression track where you apply Souls to a champion at the Altar of Souls. It raises the strength of the champion's blessing. A champion cannot be awakened higher than it is ascended.

Banner

One of the three accessory slots, next to the ring and the amulet.

Base stats

A champion's stats before gear, masteries and the other bonuses are added. They depend on rank, level and ascension.

Blessing

An extra effect a champion can carry once it has been awakened. A champion can wear one blessing at a time. See blessings.

Book / booked

To "book" a skill is to upgrade it with skill tomes. A "fully booked" champion has every skill at its top level. See skills and cooldowns.

Brutal

A difficulty. The Campaign is played on Normal, Hard, Brutal and Nightmare; "Brutal 12-3" means chapter 12, stage 3 on Brutal. The Clan Boss has its own ladder of difficulties.

Budget team

A team built from cheap, easy-to-get champions instead of rare ones. Useful early, or whenever you want to see what a mode needs.

Buff / debuff

A status effect placed on a champion. Buffs help (Increase ATK, Shield...), debuffs hurt (Poison, Stun, Decrease DEF...). See every effect and buffs and debuffs explained.

CB (Clan Boss)

The Clan Boss, also called the Demon Lord: a boss the whole clan fights every day, with a ladder of difficulties from Easy to Ultra-Nightmare. See Clan Boss.

C.DMG (Critical Damage)

How much extra damage a critical hit deals. It starts at 50 for most champions. See stats.

Chicken

A rare item that counts as one champion of a certain star rank when you rank someone up. Handy fodder.

Chimera

A weekly clan boss with its own keys and a set of challenges. See Chimera.

Cleanser

A champion whose skill removes debuffs from allies.

Control (CC)

Effects that stop or slow enemies: [Stun], [Freeze], [Sleep], [Decrease SPD] and turn meter reduction. "CC" stands for crowd control.

Cooldown (CD)

The number of turns before a skill can be used again after casting. Skill books can shorten it. See skills and cooldowns.

C.RATE (Critical Rate)

The chance that a hit is a critical hit. 100 is the ceiling, so more than 100 is wasted. See stats.

Crit

Short for critical hit.

Crushing hit

A stronger hit, 30 percent more damage, that can happen when you attack with the affinity advantage.

DEF (Defense)

The stat that reduces the damage of ordinary hits, with diminishing returns. See damage.

Demon Lord

The in-game name of the Clan Boss.

Doom Tower

A mode made of floors you climb, each guarded by a boss. It pays out resources and a few champions that cannot be summoned. See Doom Tower.

DoT (damage over time)

Damage that ticks every turn without an attack, such as [Poison] and [HP Burn]. Strong against high-HP bosses.

Dungeons

Stages that repeat so you can farm: gear sets, ascension potions, mastery scrolls and more. The five Keeps give potions. See dungeons.

Empowerment

A late step for Epic and Legendary champions that uses duplicate copies to add fixed bonuses. See making a champion stronger.

Energy

The resource that most PvE fights cost. It refills slowly and stops filling at the cap. See resources.

Epic

A rarity above Rare and below Legendary.

Faction

The group a champion belongs to, such as High Elves or Orcs. Faction Wars is built around it, and many accessories and some skills use it.

Faction Wars

A mode where you fight with teams made from a single faction. Gives resources and chickens. See Faction Wars.

Farmer

A champion who can clear one stage on Auto, fast and safely, over and over. Farmers turn energy into experience, silver and gear.

Fodder / food

Champions you sacrifice to rank up another champion. Usually the cheap ones from Mystery Shards.

Fusion

A time-limited event in which you give up a list of specific champions to make a new one. See other modes.

Gear (artifacts)

Weapon, helmet, shield, gloves, chest and boots, plus accessories. Gear gives stats and, when you wear enough of one set, a bonus. See gear basics.

Glancing hit

A weak hit: 30 percent less damage, and its extra effects (like debuffs) usually do not apply. It happens by chance when you attack with a bad affinity matchup, and some debuffs force it.

Glyph

An extra stat upgrade you can put on a piece of gear. See accessories, glyphs and ascension.

Great Hall

A building where Arena medals buy permanent stat bonuses for all champions of an affinity. See Great Hall.

GS (Giant Slayer)

A mastery that gives a chance of bonus damage based on the target's max HP. See masteries.

Healer

A champion whose job is to restore allies' HP.

HP (Health)

A champion's health. When it reaches zero, the champion is down.

Hydra

A weekly clan boss with multiple heads, fought with keys. See Hydra.

Keep

One of the five dungeons that drop ascension potions: the Arcane Keep and the Spirit, Magic, Force and Void Keeps.

Leader

The champion in the first slot. Its aura applies to the team. See building your first team.

Legendary

The highest regular rarity, above Epic; Mythical is rarer still.

Lifesteal

Healing yourself for part of the damage you deal. Also the name of a gear set.

Lore of Steel

A Support mastery that raises the bonuses of the simple (basic) gear sets by 15 percent. See masteries.

Main stat (primary)

The big stat that every piece of gear is guaranteed to have. Some slots can only roll certain main stats. See gear basics.

Mastery

A permanent upgrade from the Offense, Defense or Support tree, opened with scrolls or gems. See masteries.

Mercy

The hidden bad-luck counter that raises your summon odds after a long dry spell. See shards, summon chances and the mercy system.

Meta

Short for "most effective tactics available": the champions and strategies that are popular right now. It shifts with each new champion or patch.

Multi-Battle

A feature that replays a cleared stage several times in a row. It saves you from clicking through the same fight.

Mystery Shard

The cheapest shard. It summons Common, Uncommon and Rare champions, mostly used for fodder.

Mythical

The rarest rarity. Most Mythical champions come from Primal Shards, and they have two forms.

NM (Nightmare)

The Nightmare difficulty. In chat it usually means the Clan Boss at Nightmare, which is above Brutal and below Ultra-Nightmare.

Nuker

A champion who deals very high damage in a single skill, often with a long cooldown.

Passive

A skill that works on its own, with no cast. It may trigger on a turn start, a hit or an event.

Potions

Ascension materials in three sizes: Lesser, Greater and Superior. You need Arcane potions and potions of the champion's affinity.

Primal Shard

The only shard that can give a Mythical champion. See summoning.

Proc

When a chance-based effect triggers.

Rank

The number of yellow stars, from 1 to 6. Higher rank means a higher level cap and bigger base stats. See making a champion stronger.

Rarity

How scarce a champion is: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythical. Rarity does not set a champion's usefulness, only how it can be obtained and how much it can grow.

Relic

An item a champion can wear that adds stats and an ability, and holds gemstones. See relics.

RES (Resistance)

The stat that makes enemy debuffs fail more often. See accuracy and resistance.

Reviver

A champion whose skill brings a fallen ally back to life.

Role

The label the game gives each champion: Attack, Defense, HP or Support. It points to the stat the champion is built around.

Roll

An upgrade of a substat. Gear gets rolls as you level it up.

Sacred Shard

The shard with the best Legendary chance. It gives Epic or Legendary champions only. See summoning.

Set

A family of gear that gives a bonus when you wear enough pieces of it. See gear sets.

Shard

A ticket for the Summoning Portal. Mystery, Ancient, Void, Sacred, Primal and Prism Shards each have different odds. See summoning.

Siege

A clan mode where your clan competes against others. See Siege and clan.

Skill tome

An item that upgrades a skill. Epic and Legendary tomes are scarce. See resources.

Souls

Items used to awaken a champion. A "perfect" soul jumps to the level it shows; a "split" soul adds one level at a time.

SPD (Speed)

How fast a champion's turn meter fills, so how often it acts. See turn meter and speed.

Speed tune

A set of speed values chosen so a team acts in a planned order. Most common in Clan Boss teams.

Stun

A debuff that makes a champion skip its turn. See [Stun].

Substat

The smaller stats on a piece of gear besides the main stat. They grow through rolls.

Support

A champion role, and a playstyle: helping the team with buffs, heals and debuffs rather than raw damage.

Tag Team Arena

An arena mode with its own keys and its own currency, Gold Bars, spent in the Bazaar. See Arena.

Tank

A champion built to absorb hits for the team, through high DEF or HP, shields or [Ally Protection].

TM (Turn Meter)

The bar that fills until it is a champion's turn. Some skills fill or reduce the turn meter of others. See turn meter and speed.

Unkillable team

A team built around the [Unkillable] buff, which keeps a champion from dropping below 1 HP while it lasts. Used to survive the Clan Boss for a very long time.

UNM (Ultra-Nightmare)

The highest Clan Boss difficulty.

Void

The fourth affinity. Void champions only come from Void Shards, and the affinity sits outside the Magic-Force-Spirit triangle.

Warmaster (WM)

An Offense mastery that gives a chance of bonus damage based on the target's max HP, reduced against bosses. See masteries.

Wipe

When every champion on your team has died.