Guides say things like "a CV of 40 is a solid piece, BiS is the Emblem set, and mind your ICD" - and new players are left guessing. Here is every common term, grouped into five sections, each with a one-line explanation. Once you know these, you can read any guide without translation.
BiS stands for Best in Slot: the single strongest weapon or artifact set for a given slot on a given character. When a guide says "BiS is Emblem of Severed Fate", it means that set beats every alternative for that build - not that it is required, and the gap to the second-best option is often only a few percent.
Quick answer - the five most-asked
| Term | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AR | Adventure Rank | Unlocks content and raises World Level |
| WL | World Level | Sets enemy strength and drops; can be lowered by one step manually |
| HP / ATK / DEF | Health / Attack / Defense | Base value versus total after bonuses |
| EM | Elemental Mastery | Boosts reaction damage, especially transformative reactions |
| ER | Energy Recharge | Multiplies energy received; does not generate more particles |
| CR | Crit Rate | Common target is 60%-80% |
| CD | Crit Damage | Can also mean cooldown - read the context |
| CV | Crit Value | CR x2 + CD; 40 on a single piece is strong |
| DMG% | Damage Bonus | Elemental or physical bonus; additive within the same multiplier |
| RES | Resistance | Enemy resistance, reducible via shredding |
| Shred | Resistance Shred | Lowers enemy resistance; gains halve once resistance goes negative |
| Term | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pity | Guarantee counter | Reaching a set number of pulls guarantees a high rarity item |
| Soft / Hard Pity | Elevated chance / absolute cap | Soft pity is where rates spike, hard pity is the ceiling |
| 50/50 | Coin-flip on the featured 5-star | Half the time you get the featured character, half the time a standard one |
| Guarantee | Next 5-star is featured | Granted after losing the 50/50 |
| Primogems | Main free currency | Converted into Wishes |
| Fates | Intertwined / Acquaint Fate | One for limited banners, one for the standard banner |
| Stardust / Starglitter | Gacha by-products | Spent in Paimon's Bargains for fates, characters and materials |
| Welkin | Blessing of the Welkin Moon | The best value paid item in the game |
| BP | Battle Pass | A version-length mission track with free and paid lanes |
| Whale / Dolphin / F2P | Spending tiers | Heavy spender / light spender / free to play |
| Term | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ICD | Internal Cooldown | Limits how often one source can apply aura or trigger an effect |
| Gauge | Elemental aura strength | Measured in units; determines how many reactions an aura can support |
| Aura | Current elemental state | What is currently attached to an enemy |
| Snapshot | Stat locking | Buffs are locked in at cast time, so losing them later does not reduce damage |
| I-frames | Invincibility frames | Brief immunity during dashes and burst animations |
| AoE | Area of Effect | Damage hitting an area rather than a target |
| DoT | Damage over Time | Damage applied over a duration |
| CC | Crowd Control | Freeze, petrify, knock-up and similar disabling effects |
| Stagger | Interruption | Enemies being knocked back or having actions interrupted |
| Shield | Damage absorption | Some elemental shields absorb specific elements more efficiently |
| Quickswap | Fast-swap playstyle | Rotating characters quickly with very short field time each |
| Term | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Main DPS / Carry | Primary damage dealer | The character the team is built around |
| Sub-DPS | Secondary damage | Deals damage from off-field or during brief swaps |
| Support | Utility | Buffs, resistance shred, healing or shielding |
| Enabler | Aura provider | Keeps an element applied so the carry can trigger reactions |
| Battery | Energy provider | Generates same-element particles for the carry |
| Hypercarry | Single-core team | All resources funnelled into one damage dealer |
| Driver | On-field trigger | Stays on field to activate off-field effects; personal damage is secondary |
| Shielder / Healer | Survivability roles | Prevent damage or restore health |
| Rotation | Skill sequence | The order you cast abilities so bursts come back on time |
| Funneling | Feeding particles | Casting a support skill then swapping so the carry catches the particles |
| Term | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BiS | Best in Slot | The optimal choice for a weapon or artifact slot |
| Ascension | Level cap increase | Raises the level ceiling and requires materials |
| Talent | Skill levels | Normal Attack, Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst |
| Constellation | Dupe upgrades | Written as C0-C6 |
| Refinement | Weapon dupe upgrades | Written as R1-R5 |
| Artifact | Equipment | The main source of stat customisation |
| Main Stat / Substat | Primary / secondary affix | Main stat is fixed per slot; substats are random |
| Godroll | Near-perfect piece | Almost every roll landed on a useful stat |
| Fodder | Fusion material | Low-value artifacts fed into others for experience |
| Resin | Original Resin | Resource spent to claim domain and ley line rewards |
Five abbreviations carry most of the load: AR (Adventure Rank), EM (Elemental Mastery), ER (Energy Recharge), CV (Crit Value) and ICD (Internal Cooldown). Come back to this table for the rest.
Around 40 Crit Value on a single 5-star piece is strong; anything above 45 is rare. There is no need to chase 40 on every piece across a whole roster.
It depends on context. On a stat panel it usually means Crit Damage; when discussing skill uptime it means cooldown. To avoid ambiguity, many guides write CR/CD for crit stats and spell out "cooldown".
BiS usually means the best overall pick, but team composition, constellations, weapon refinement and playstyle can all change it. For some characters the best-in-slot set changes with the team.
It caps how often auras and effects can trigger. Get the rhythm wrong and the later part of a rotation stops triggering reactions, which cuts damage directly.
Different systems. ER affects how fast your Burst charges; stamina is the bar drained by sprinting, climbing and swimming. Original Resin is a third, separate resource used to claim rewards.
It refers to the classic Xiangling, Xingqiu, Bennett plus an Anemo flex composition built on Pyro resonance and Vaporize. Its appeal is high damage without needing 5-star characters.
Weekly character builds and version guides, no spam.