Rules Glossary¶
Scope¶
This glossary is the official terminology reference for EchoSpire: Portals.
It is based on the GPT-5.4 ability definitions and should be treated as the canonical vocabulary for design, engineering, UI text, content authoring, and future balancing work.
Terminology Rulings¶
Exhaust¶
Keep this term.
It is established deckbuilder language, clearly understood by players, and appropriate for EchoSpire.
Retain¶
Keep this term.
It is established deckbuilder language and maps cleanly to the intended behavior.
Redact¶
Use this term instead of Exile for the Annalis-oriented removal of cards from discard-history interactions.
Taunt Naming¶
Keep this term as a readable shared combat keyword for effects that force enemy targeting toward a unit.
Classes and factions may express it through different flavored names in cards, powers, and UX text, but the underlying rules concept should remain stable.
Shared Combat Terms¶
Block¶
Shield value that absorbs incoming damage before HP is lost.
Energy¶
The resource spent to play cards during the turn.
Temporary Energy¶
Energy granted for the current turn only.
Draw¶
Move cards from the draw pile into the hand.
Discard¶
Move a card from hand to the discard pile.
Discard Pile¶
The spent-card zone used by recall, copy, and history-based effects.
Copy¶
Create a duplicate of a card.
Temporary Copy¶
A duplicate that exists only for the combat or immediate effect window.
Created Card¶
Any card generated during combat rather than originating in the starting deck state.
Ignore Block¶
Damage bypasses current block and goes directly to HP.
Break Block¶
Reduce a target's current block to zero through damage.
Protectable¶
A non-hero allied objective that can be damaged, defended, healed, repaired, escorted, or lost during a rift.
Examples include artifacts, relays, archives, convoy units, ritual anchors, civilians, and named escorts.
Escort Target¶
A moving Protectable that must survive while the player advances the objective or reaches one or more checkpoints.
Taunt¶
A targeting state that makes enemies prefer or require the taunting unit as their target for a defined window.
Intercept¶
Redirect an attack, hit, or harmful effect from the original target to another legal defender.
Guarded¶
A state on a Protectable or ally indicating that some amount of incoming danger will be redirected, prevented, or reduced before it reaches that unit.
Repair¶
Restore durability to a Construct, machine, artifact, relay, or other non-biological Protectable.
Shared Keywords And States¶
Breach¶
The target takes 25 percent more damage from Attack cards.
Drag¶
The target deals 25 percent less damage with Attack cards.
Stasis-Locked¶
A unit affected by Stasis loses its next action window.
Burnout¶
The self-damage penalty for carrying more Overload debt than can be paid.
Class Mechanics¶
Density¶
The Anchor's stackable mass resource. Density retains block across turns and powers Anchor payoffs.
Echo-Lock¶
The Drifter's target-specific stacking debuff. At exactly 5 stacks, the next Attack against that target ignores block, deals triple base damage, and consumes the stacks.
Overload¶
The Conduit's energy debt system. If a card is played beyond available energy, the deficit becomes Overload owed on the next turn.
Construct¶
The Machinist's deployed board object with independent durability and automated behavior.
Integrity¶
The durability value for a Construct.
Overclock¶
Force a Construct to trigger harder or sooner at some risk.
Mutate¶
Transform a card into a different unstable version.
Mutation¶
A successful use of a Mutate effect.
Anomaly¶
The temporary, high-volatility transformed card produced by mutation.
Volatile¶
An unstable state placed on a card that boosts it for a short window and typically ends in Exhaust.
Faction Mechanics¶
Stasis¶
Hard control that freezes a unit's next action and preserves its current block.
Scry¶
Look at the top X cards of the draw pile and reorder or move them according to the effect.
Recall¶
Return a card from the discard pile to hand or otherwise bring the past back into the current turn.
Scrap Protocol¶
The Salvari break-value trigger: when a friendly block pool is broken or a Construct is destroyed, gain immediate value.
Objective Protection Toolkit¶
Protection and escort encounters are an official gameplay requirement.
Every class must have at least one viable way to keep a Protectable alive, but not every class needs to solve the problem with direct healing.
The official protection toolkit consists of six solution families:
- Taunt: force enemy targeting onto a defender
- Intercept: redirect attacks or damage away from the objective
- Mitigation: grant block, guarded windows, damage reduction, or suppression
- Sustain: heal living escorts or repair mechanical objectives
- Control: Stasis, Drag, debuffs, denial, or turn disruption that prevents attacks from landing
- Space Control: decoys, constructs, hazard shaping, and route manipulation that keep pressure away from the objective
Class Protection Identities¶
Anchor Protection Identity¶
Primary tools: Taunt, Intercept, mitigation.
The Anchor protects by becoming the most valid target on the field and surviving the pressure.
Drifter Protection Identity¶
Primary tools: Control, interception, misdirection.
The Drifter protects by preventing clean enemy targeting, deleting priority threats, and creating windows where the objective cannot be focused efficiently.
Conduit Protection Identity¶
Primary tools: Mitigation, sustain, control.
The Conduit protects by bursting down clustered threats, disrupting enemy actions, and powering temporary barriers, field screens, or emergency restores at real cost.
Machinist Protection Identity¶
Primary tools: Space control, intercept, repair.
The Machinist protects by using Constructs, cover systems, drones, and repair logic to absorb, reroute, and outlast incoming pressure.
Catalyst Protection Identity¶
Primary tools: Space control, sustain, chaos control.
The Catalyst protects by spawning lures, mutating battlefield priorities, creating unstable defensive spikes, and using dangerous short-window rescues that trade reliability for swing.
Official Rulings¶
Echo-Lock Is Capped¶
Enemies can hold at most 5 Echo-Lock stacks.
Overload Is Debt, Not Bonus Energy¶
Overload is a future cost, not a permanent expansion of energy capacity.
Constructs Are Independent Entities¶
Constructs are not cosmetic tokens. They have their own durability, targeting implications, and destruction triggers.
Mutation Is Temporary Combat Tempo¶
In the current official design direction, mutation is a short-term combat engine rather than a permanent deck-editing system.