Glossary

Ship power. Generated by the Hearth to run your ship's systems, weapons, and constructs. Click any system to add Flow or right-click to remove it. You rarely have enough Flow to power everything at once, so route Flow to the systems you need most.

A room that requires Flow to work, such as the Helm, Drive, Ward Loom, or Battery Deck. Damaged systems lose Flow; completely wrecked systems stop working until repaired.

Generates Flow (ship power) using crystal. Upgrading the Hearth gives your ship more total Flow.

Keeps the ship airborne. Always requires 1 Flow. If it loses power or is wrecked, the ship starts sinking and must be repaired before the timer runs out.

Steers the ship. Must be manned by a crewmate and powered for your ship to dodge enemy shots.

The ship's engine. Increases evasion (dodge chance), changes combat range, and charges your Break Away escape.

Powers your ship's weapons. Each weapon requires Flow to charge and fires at the enemy room you target.

Allows mages stationed inside to cast ship-to-ship spells or hold Counterspell to block incoming enemy shots. The room requires Flow, while spells cost the mage's own mana.

Weaves your ward layers. Higher levels and more Flow provide more ward layers.

Your ship's wind shield: layers of moving air woven by the Ward Loom. Each ward layer blocks 1 enemy spell shot and is woven again after a few seconds. Solid projectiles (like ballista bolts) pass right through. A tier II spell needs 2 layers up to be stopped, tier III needs 3, and tier IV ignores wards.

Reveals nearby waypoints and weather forecasts on the map. In battle, use Look Inside to reveal the enemy ship's interior, crew, and mana.

Heals crew standing inside during battle, and automatically heals your crew between passages.

Controls your constructs (wisps, crabs, golems, weevils, hounds). Constructs run automatically as long as the Construct Bay has Flow (and crystal in battle)—no crewmate is required inside the room.

Fires a grappling line into an enemy room at Close range, locking both ships together so your crew can cross over and board.

Your ship's health. At 0 Hull, your ship is destroyed. Repair hull damage at port docks for silver.

Room armor plating. Reduces damage from solid projectiles (bolts) hitting that room by its armor value. Spells and beams ignore armor.

Passive ship upgrades (up to 4 equipped) that require no room or power. Each provides a permanent bonus.

Powerful permanent ship upgrades earned from completing quests. Relics take no fitting slots and have no equip limit.

Equipment carried by a crewmate (1 slot per person, 2 for Gnomes) for passive bonuses or active abilities in battle and ground missions.

What your ship carries against your Keel's lift: rooms, plating, weapons, a few fittings, cargo (questline crates too) and bolts past the first 20. Crew, crystal, provisions and constructs weigh nothing. Over her lift she is Overweight: more crystal per passage, less evasion. Full breakdown: Ship menu › Cargo tab.

The top row of rooms on a ship. Weather hazards (wind gusts, rain, hail, frost, cinders, lightning) only hit top-deck rooms.

Enemy attack rating (1–5 pips; 3 is average for this Act). Measures the enemy's total threat from weapons, attack mages, and boarders. Hover over the pips in battle for a detailed breakdown.

Enemy durability rating (3 pips is average for this Act). Measures how hard the enemy is to destroy based on hull, ward layers, evasion, counterspells, and repair crew. Hover over the pips in battle for details.

Your chance to dodge incoming enemy shots. Requires a crewmate manning a powered Helm, plus power in the Drive.

Distance between ships: Long, Close, or Grappled. At Long range, bolts are less accurate and boarding is disabled. At Close range, spells are more accurate and crews can board.

Both ships are locked together by a harpoon line. Neither ship can dodge or flee, and crew can cross the line to board.

Physical projectile weapons (such as ballistas). Each shot uses 1 bolt and passes through wards (the light bolts of repeaters excepted), but room armor reduces its damage.

Ammo for physical weapons. Buy bolts at ports or salvage them after winning battles.

A hull breach in a room. Slows crew inside and makes fires burn twice as fast until a crewmate repairs it.

Crew sent onto the enemy ship to fight enemy crew and sabotage systems.

Retreating from battle. Requires a manned Helm and powered Drive to charge; once full, your ship escapes.

Damaged enemies may offer to surrender. Accept to end the battle immediately and claim their offered reward, or refuse and finish them off.

AI combat toggle. When on, the AI controls your ship or ground party (you can still pause, inspect, or order Break Away at any time). Customize AI strategy and resource spending in Options.

Battle weather affects both ships equally (e.g., Gales reduce accuracy, Rain puts out fires, Thunderstorms strike random rooms). Your Lookout reveals weather forecasts on the map.

A spellcaster who specializes in one element (Fire, Water, Ice, Air, or Stone). Station them in the Casting Room to cast ship spells using their mana.

Mages cast spells of their specific element (Stone, Fire, Water, Ice, or Air) and unlock element-specific choices in events.

An offensive mage whose spells damage enemy rooms and crew.

A defensive mage whose spells boost shields, protect your rooms and crew, and ferry boarding parties on elemental disks.

Blocks incoming enemy shots or boarding disks. Toggle on for a mage in the Casting Room. Costs 3 mana per shot (6 per disk) with a 6s cooldown (-1s per Casting level). Success chance: 50% base (75% Practiced, 100% Perfect). Cannot block beams, mortars, wisps, or harpoons. Casting an active spell turns Counterspell off.

Energy used by mages to cast spells. Regenerates slowly over time, or use a Flask to refill it immediately. At 0 mana, the mage becomes Hollow (exhausted) and cannot cast.

Spellcasting skill. Increases as the mage casts spells, reducing mana costs and unlocking higher spell tiers. A mage's or natural caster's skill at spells. Each level: spells cost 10% less mana, and +3 mana. Each level opens the next spell tier: Tier II at level 1, Tier III at level 2. Each level: an element disk carries one more crewmate (2 at most). From level 2: a Striker can raise an element disk (a Warden always can). From level 2: a natural caster can cast at ships. Each level: a mage's counterspell is ready again 1 s sooner (6 s with no Casting, 3 s at the least). A counterspell is an attempt: it works 50% of the time, 75% with Practiced Counter and 100% with Perfect Counter (two trainings, taken at a new Casting level or bought at a magehold). Wherever this crewmate casts. A mage must still be seated in the Casting Room to cast at ships. In events: opens the answers marked [Casting 2+]. Grows with every spell cast.

A beastborn crewmate with innate elemental magic. Knows 1 spell; can cast on your own ship immediately and at enemy ships starting at Casting 2.

An unlicensed mage (Quickener, Mender, Shaper, or Wisper) with powerful non-elemental abilities. Illegal in Charter territory (increases Heat). Higher Control unlocks stronger abilities and prevents accidents.

Measures a wild caster's mastery from 0 (Leaking) to 3 (Full Control). Higher Control prevents magic accidents and unlocks their best abilities.

Small engineers who eat half rations, move through vents (ignoring locked doors), carry 2 devices, and can operate the Construct Bay. All Gnomes start with Tinkering 2 and operate a Tinker's Bench 1 level higher than normal.

Automated magical units (wisps, crabs, golems, weevils) controlled from the Construct Bay to repair rooms, defend your ship, or sabotage the enemy.

Restores +30 mana and +15 HP to a crewmate immediately. Stored in ship supplies and bought at ports or refined from crystal.

A void crystal you carry from the end of Act I. Its Fill (0 to 12) rises when it swallows an enemy spell in battle and on each passage under the front. At Fill 8+ the front takes an extra step every 3rd passage, but some event options open, and at the Cistern you can spend Fill as damage. More in How to Play › The Shard.

An advancing dead-magic zone that chases you across the map from Act II onward. Drains mana, weakens shields, and disables magic in affected rooms.

Clan people with animal traits: Vulpine (fox), Ursine (bear), Avian (hawk), Lupine (wolf), Emberkin, Otterkin, or Chiropteran (bat). Each species has unique passive and active abilities (Trace < Blooded < Deep).

Working-class crew from the Charter's lower class. Few Lowborn mages ever see the Academy: most discovered and learnt their magic on their own. Unlocks Lowborn choices in events, but Charter ports inspect your ship starting at Heat 2 instead of Heat 3 (Heat is your wanted level, shown by the flame icon in the top bar; carrying contraband or casting unlicensed magic raises Heat).

Crew proficiencies (Helm, Drive, Wards, Gunnery, Repair, Melee, Casting, Tinkering). Skills level up through use and grant a perk at each new level. Skills go up to level 2 (3 in the skill a knack belongs to). A construct stops at 1. Anyone's Tinkering can reach 3. What each one does is listed under its own name.

Steering the ship so that shots miss. Each level: +5% evasion. Each level: a ramming run is 0.5 s shorter from Long range and 0.2 s shorter from Close. From level 2: a ram costs your own hull 1 less. Only while this crewmate stands at the station in the Helm. In events: opens the answers marked [Helm 2+]. Grows when the ship dodges a shot or a ram with them at the Helm.

Working the engine so that the ship is harder to hit. Each level: +5% evasion. Only while this crewmate stands at the station in the Drive, and the Drive has Flow. Supercharging the Drive: 10% less chance of straining it for each level of your best Drive crewmate (up to level 2). In events: opens the answers marked [Drive 2+]. Grows when the ship dodges a shot with them at the Drive.

Weaving the ward layers back after they stop a shot. Each level: broken ward layers recharge 10% faster. A layer takes about 2.2 s with nobody there, 2.0 s at level 1 and 1.8 s at level 2. Only while this crewmate stands at the station in the Ward Loom. Grows when a ward layer stops a shot with them at the Ward Loom.

Loading and aiming the ship's weapons. Each level: those weapons charge 10% faster. Only while this crewmate stands at the station in a Battery Deck, and only for the weapons mounted in that room. In events: opens the answers marked [Gunnery 2+]. Grows when the weapons they man fire and hit.

Mending damaged rooms. Each level: repairs go 25% faster. In any damaged room this crewmate stands in. No station is needed. A stop to make repairs: 25% more hull repaired by this crewmate for each level, and each level takes 5% off the silver (50% off at most). In events: opens the answers marked [Repair 2+]. Grows when they repair a damaged room or patch a breach.

Fighting hand to hand. Each level: +15% damage with every blow, and enemy systems break 15% faster under their hands. Wherever this crewmate fights: against boarders, aboard the enemy ship, and on a landfall. Grows with every blow struck, and more for each enemy put down.

Building and overclocking devices at a Tinker's Bench. Level 1: builds a device of the simpler kinds for 40 silver, one job a passage. Level 2: builds any kind of device, and can overclock one for 15 silver (+50% effect, but a 10% chance to break each time it is used). Level 3: 2 jobs a passage, and the devices they overclock break 6% of the time. A gnome works the Tinker's Bench one level better than their Tinkering, pays 10 silver less to build, and the devices they overclock break half as often. A gnome starts at Tinkering 2. At Tinkering 3 a gnome does 3 jobs a passage, and their overclocks break 2% of the time. Between passages, on a ship with a Tinker's Bench. It does nothing in a fight. Grows with every job done at the Tinker's Bench.

A crewmate's job class: Deckhand (+repair), Rigger (+evasion/wind immunity), Gunner (+reload speed), Marine (+HP/boarding), Duelist (+parry), Surgeon (+healing), Quartermaster (-food use, -10% shop prices). Tinkers can build devices at a Tinker's Bench (found in roughly 1 out of 7 hiring halls).

A hidden special talent in a specific skill that unlocks after the crewmate practices that job.

Your player character. If reduced to 0 HP, the captain is gravely injured and out of action until treated by a port surgeon (or revived by a Vitality Chamber).

The royal navy, fortress garrisons, and customs officers of the King's Reach. High standing lowers dock repair costs; low standing brings Excise patrols.

The chartered merchant houses, factors, and cargo exchanges of the Brass Isles. High standing lowers market prices and improves contract pay.

Highland sky-clans, wind-riders, and beast-hunters of the Rime Crags. High standing lowers crew recruitment fees and opens clan Roosts.

The collegium of mages, archivists, and spell-wrights in the Shattered Spires. High standing lowers spellbook and mage-training fees.

Independent privateers, smugglers, and outlaw skippers of the Drift. High standing opens black-market fences and safe anchorages.

A shadowy network of wreckers, void-dredgers, and deep-current brokers operating beneath the law. High standing grants safe passage and rare salvage deals.

The ancient legal compact binding the Guilds, the Crown, and licensed captains.

The Crown's armed revenue cutters and customs inspectors who hunt contraband and high-heat captains.

A map node (port, wreck, storm, quarry, magehold, or open sky). Flying to a connected waypoint takes 1 passage.

The move from one waypoint to the next on the map. Each passage uses crystal (fuel) and provisions (food), and advances the pursuing enemy front by 1 step.

The pursuing threat advancing from left to right across the map with every passage (the Collector's sweep in Act I; the Hush in Acts II–V). Waypoints overtaken by the front trigger hard fights.

Ship fuel. Traveling between waypoints uses crystal, and activating constructs in battle uses crystal. If you run out, you drift and the enemy front catches up.

Crew food. Consumed on every passage. If you run out, your crew starve and take damage each passage.

Currency used to buy repairs, supplies, crew, weapons, and ship upgrades, or to pay off your ship's debt.

The loan you owe the Carriers' Guild in Act I. Pay it off at a Guild port office, or fight the Collector boss at the Act I exit.

Delivery contracts taken at ports. Cargo takes hold space and adds weight; delivering on time pays full silver (plus bonuses), while late delivery pays half.

Illegal cargo that pays +50% more silver, but increases your Heat and risks fines/confiscation if found during port inspections.

A town where you can repair your hull, buy supplies, take cargo contracts and bounties, hire crew, and upgrade your ship.

An away-team mission on foot. Send up to 4 crewmates to explore a wreck, ruin, or dungeon room-by-room for loot. Advances the map front by 1 step.

Contracts posted at ports, ranked by 1 to 4 skulls. A red skull seal marks the target on your chart: defeat or capture them to claim the reward. A teal hand-over seal marks a bounty that ends at a port instead: a witness to deliver, a smuggler to catch there, or recovered cargo to hand in.

A multi-step quest chain started via cargo jobs, tavern tips, wrecks, or encounters. Quest destinations are marked on the map with a gold star and award relics, weapons, or upgrades.

A map zone (1 per Act across a 5-Act run), each with its own factions, weather, and end-of-act boss.

The safe hub port between Acts where your crew rest, get a free refit bonus, and access full shipyard services before choosing the next region.

Your wanted level with the law (0–10, shown by the flame icon in the top bar). Carrying contraband, having wild casters aboard, or casting spells in front of Crown ships without a Guild Casting Permit raises Heat. At Heat 3+ (or Heat 2+ if you have Lowborn crew aboard), Charter ports inspect your ship on arrival; at Heat 5+, Excise patrol ships hunt you. Heat drops slowly as you travel.

Your reputation with each faction (Crown, Guild, Clans, Compact, Free Captains, Undertow). High standing unlocks better prices and event options; negative standing makes them hostile.

The trade syndicate that controls shipping contracts, ports, and your starting ship loan.

Crown law governing magic and trade. Charter ports inspect ships with high Heat and penalize unlicensed spellcasters.

Crown customs police. Excise patrol ships inspect vessels for contraband and unlicensed mages.

Consumable fake ID papers. Automatically passes 1 customs inspection or unlocks special event options.