Reference · Australia

Battle collection RPGs, one term at a time

This site takes the vocabulary of a single genre — affinity, ascension, shards, mastery, energy refresh, clan boss — and gives each term a short definition, a worked example, and a link to the longer entry that explains it. Nothing here is a recommendation to spend money. It is a reference for readers who want to understand what a game is asking of them before they decide anything.

• Champion
• Affinity
• Shard
• Ascension
• Energy
• Clan boss
• Drop rate
• Pity counter
• Gear set
• PvE

How this reference is funded

Veroworks carries no advertising and sells nothing. It is funded by affiliate commission from one game: Raid: Shadow Legends. The links on this site that point to that game are paid links. If you follow one, register on the game's own landing page, install the game and start the opening tutorial, the game's affiliate program pays Veroworks a fee. The publisher of the game pays that fee, not you, and following the link does not change anything about what the game costs you or what it offers you.

That commercial arrangement is the reason this site exists, and it is why one title is described here in more detail than others. It does not buy favourable wording: the entries below describe randomised rewards, energy limits and spending pressure in the same terms whether or not a commission is attached. The affiliate disclosure page sets out the arrangement in full, including what does and does not decide the content.

What the genre actually is

A battle collection RPG is built from two loops that feed each other. The first is collection: you acquire characters — usually called champions or heroes — through a randomised draw rather than by choosing them. The second is progression: you level, equip and rank up those characters so they can clear content that then yields the currency and materials used for the next draw and the next upgrade. Combat is typically turn-based and team-based, with four to six characters on a side, and the interesting decisions sit in team composition rather than in reflexes.

The genre's shape follows from that structure. Because characters arrive at random, a large part of the design is about what happens when you do not get the one you wanted: duplicate conversion systems, gradual ranking mechanisms, and ways to make a common character viable in a specific role. Because progression consumes a rate-limited resource — energy or stamina that refills on a clock — the games are designed around short sessions repeated over weeks, not long sessions in a weekend. Understanding those two constraints explains most of what a new player finds confusing.

Three things follow that are worth stating before any of the detail. Randomised draws mean the number of attempts needed to obtain a specific character is not fixed and cannot be predicted from an average. Rate-limited energy means time and money are partly interchangeable, which is the commercial model of the genre. And account progress is tied to the publisher's servers, so it is not a possession in the ordinary sense — it is access under the terms of a service agreement that is worth reading once.

Ten terms that unlock the rest

The vocabulary is the barrier. Most guides assume it; this reference defines it first. These ten cover the majority of what appears in a game's own interface.

Champion

A single collectible character with its own rarity, faction, element, skill set and stat profile. The unit you collect, level and place in a team.

Affinity or element

A rock-paper-scissors layer over combat. A champion of an advantaged affinity lands hits more reliably against a disadvantaged one and suffers the reverse. It is the reason a roster needs breadth and not only power.

Shard, scroll or summon token

The item consumed to make one randomised draw from a pool of champions. Tiers of shard draw from different pools with different odds.

Drop rate

The stated probability that a single draw yields a given rarity or a given character. A published rate describes the draw, not your session: it does not improve because previous draws disappointed.

Ascension or rank-up

Raising a champion's star rank by consuming other champions or dedicated materials. Distinct from levelling, and usually the larger constraint on progress.

Mastery or talent tree

A per-champion tree of passive bonuses unlocked with a currency earned by playing that champion. Slow, permanent, and generally the last thing a new player should worry about.

Gear set

Equipment pieces that grant a bonus when several of a matching type are worn together — speed, defence, lifesteal and so on. Set bonuses usually matter more than an individual piece's numbers.

Energy

The consumable that permits a battle attempt in most modes. It refills on a fixed clock and can generally be topped up with premium currency, which is where the time-versus-money trade sits.

Clan boss or guild raid

A cooperative encounter where a group of players each attack the same target on a daily cycle, and rewards scale with the group's combined damage.

PvE and PvP

Player-versus-environment content, which is scripted and repeatable, against player-versus-player content such as an arena, where you fight defensive teams built by other accounts.

The full glossary extends this to around forty entries, each cross-linked to the page that works through it in practice.

Sections of this reference

• Glossary A–Z

  Around forty terms defined in one place, from affinity and ascension through to pity counters and speed tuning.

• Champions and teams

  Rarity, roles, cooldowns, gear sets and speed, with worked examples of building a first workable team of four.

• Summoning and randomised rewards

  How draws, published odds and pity counters behave, what an average does not tell you, and where Australian consumer protections sit.

• Progression and game modes

  Campaign, dungeons, cooperative bosses and arena, and how energy economies shape a week of play.

• Playing on desktop

  What a desktop client involves on Windows, macOS and Linux, and how to check you are downloading from the publisher.

• The title this site links to

  What Raid: Shadow Legends states about itself, what this reference can and cannot confirm, and the terms of the paid link.

The title this reference links to

Raid: Shadow Legends is the game whose affiliate program funds this site. Described in the genre's own terms, it is a battle collection RPG: you assemble an alliance of champions and lead them through a world of dungeons and clan boss fights, with a campaign across twelve locations that is fully voiced, and tactical player-versus-environment combat in which team composition carries the decisions. That description comes from the publisher's own material, and this site does not extend it — where the publisher states nothing about a topic, neither does this page.

The affiliate program's link is for desktop players. It is described as desktop traffic only, covering Mac, Windows and Linux, and the action it pays on is registering on the game's landing page, installing the game and starting the opening tutorial. If you are reading this on a phone, the link is not aimed at you, and there is no reason to follow it. The detailed entry sets out what is stated, what is not stated, and the questions worth answering on the publisher's own site rather than here.

Visit the Raid: Shadow Legends website

Paid link. Veroworks is paid a commission by the Raid: Shadow Legends affiliate program if you register, install and start the tutorial after following it. It costs you nothing and changes nothing about the offer you see.

Checking things for yourself, in Australia

Very little on this site needs to be taken on trust, and the parts that involve your rights should not be. These are the Australian bodies whose published material is worth reading directly rather than through a summary:

• The Australian Classification Board publishes the classification decisions and consumer advice that apply to games sold and distributed here. Classification for a specific title is a matter of record on its database, not something this site restates. Games with purchasable randomised items are not suitable for children, and the Board's own advice is the right place to check what applies.
• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission administers the Australian Consumer Law, which covers misleading conduct and the consumer guarantees that apply to digital products and services bought in Australia.
• Scamwatch, run by the National Anti-Scam Centre, collects and publishes current scam patterns — including account-trading and "free currency" approaches that target game accounts.
• The eSafety Commissioner publishes guidance on online safety in games, including reporting routes for harassment in chat and clan features.
• The Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes plain advice on account security, two-factor authentication and safe software downloads.
• The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner oversees the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, which govern what a publisher may do with the personal information you give it at registration.