Triggers & gear
Hit versus final blow
Means: a hit connects; a final blow is the defeating action. A precision hit adds a target/weapon-specific accuracy condition.
Not: an assist automatically satisfying your personal final-blow perk.
Lesson 3 / Vocabulary / Tower palette
Same element.
Different effect.
Learn what a term means, what it does not promise, and where it appears in an actual build. Search descriptions as well as names.
The keyword fieldbook.
All 36 entries are available below.
Triggers & gear
Powered melee and kill attribution
Means: an ability-driven melee action; perk and mod triggers can depend on the actual damage credited with a kill.
Not: every nearby explosion, shatter, or summon defeat counting as your powered melee final blow.
Triggers & gear
Weapon versus ability damage
Means: separate damage sources with different bonus conditions. A weapon Surge matches weapon element.
Not: Solar Weapon Surge automatically improving Fusion Grenades or Well.
Triggers & gear
Ammo type versus weapon slot
Means: Primary/Special/Heavy describe ammo; Kinetic/Energy/Power describe equipment slots. Read the actual item.
Not: every auto rifle using Primary ammo, or every shotgun using Special.
Triggers & gear
Catalyst versus required core
Means: an Exotic upgrade whose importance depends on the exact interaction.
Not: all catalysts being mandatory, or an unowned catalyst's effect already applying.
Triggers & gear
0–200 stats
Means: current armor stats have different benefits below and above 100. Final guide targets include fragment adjustments.
Not: 200 doubling recharge, or Super stat simply shortening its base timer.
Solar
Scorch
Means: a stacking Solar damage-over-time debuff that can lead to an Ignition when enough is applied.
Not: all Solar damage adding Scorch, or a single stack being an Ignition.
Solar
Ignition
Means: a Solar explosion produced by a qualifying trigger, including sufficient Scorch or an explicit ability condition.
Not: any orange explosion, or a guarantee that its kills inherit the original attack's mod attribution.
Solar
Radiant
Means: an empowering Solar buff for weapon damage, with Barrier eligibility on suitable weapons.
Not: healing, a universal ability-damage bonus, or automatically sharing it with allies.
Solar
Cure
Means: an immediate health-restoration effect from a source that explicitly grants it.
Not: a lasting regeneration buff or an automatic property of every Solar kill.
Solar
Restoration
Means: health/shield regeneration over a buff's duration.
Not: immunity or a passive buff granted just by equipping Solar. An extension effect needs the buff started first.
Void
Volatile
Means: a debuff on an enemy that produces a Void detonation under its damage/defeat conditions.
Not: the same thing as Volatile Rounds on your weapon, or guaranteed Barrier coverage.
Void
Volatile Rounds
Means: a timed buff allowing Void weapons to apply Volatile; eligible Void weapon damage can counter Barriers.
Not: a buff for non-Void guns or a way to ignore intrinsic-counter conflicts.
Void
Weaken
Means: a debuff that makes the target take more damage. Its strength and delivery depend on the source.
Not: several Weaken effects freely adding their bonuses together.
Void
Suppression
Means: a Void debuff that inhibits abilities; it can supply Overload counter utility.
Not: freeze, guaranteed boss disable, or a property of all Void damage.
Void
Devour
Means: a buff that rewards defeats with recovery and grenade energy. Feed the Void modifies its benefits.
Not: endless healing when no targets die, or a buff all Void subclasses receive without activation.
Void
Invisibility
Means: concealment useful for repositioning and recovery; actions and duration limit it.
Not: invulnerability, protection from lingering hazards, or all enemies instantly forgetting every projectile.
Void
Void Overshield
Means: a specific defensive elemental buff with additional protection while active.
Not: health restoration, or proof that every generic overshield counts as this named buff.
Arc
Jolt
Means: an Arc debuff that releases chain damage when triggered and can counter Overloads.
Not: every Arc chain-lightning animation applying Jolt. Read the source.
Arc
Arc Blind
Means: a named Arc debuff that disrupts vulnerable enemies and can counter Unstoppables.
Not: every generic disorienting effect being the same keyword or counter.
Arc
Amplified
Means: an Arc buff improving movement/weapon handling and enabling effects that explicitly check it.
Not: automatic healing, or Flow State's dodge-specific protection applying to every class all the time.
Arc
Bolt Charge
Means: stacking Arc energy used by qualifying sources to release a lightning bolt at full charge.
Not: Armor Charge, grenade energy, or every Arc hit generating a stack without an enabling effect.
Stasis
Slow
Means: a Stasis debuff that hinders targets and can lead to freeze; it can counter Overloads.
Not: every Stasis weapon hit applying Slow, or Slow alone being an Unstoppable counter.
Stasis
Freeze and Shatter
Means: freeze immobilizes susceptible targets; breaking frozen targets or crystals causes shatter damage. Freeze/shatter can cover Unstoppables.
Not: boss immobilization, or every shatter defeat counting as a grenade final blow.
Stasis
Frost Armor
Means: a stacking defensive Stasis buff whose access and limits depend on your setup.
Not: healing by itself. Icefall's healing or Curative Orbs is a separate source.
Strand
Suspend
Means: Strand control that lifts vulnerable enemies and can counter Unstoppables.
Not: a universal boss disable, infinite duration, or a healing effect.
Strand
Sever
Means: reduces the affected enemy's outgoing damage.
Not: Weaken's increased incoming damage, or healing the player.
Strand
Unravel
Means: a debuff that releases Strand projectiles as the target takes qualifying damage.
Not: Unraveling Rounds already being active, or automatic Barrier coverage.
Strand
Unraveling Rounds
Means: a weapon buff that lets Strand weapons apply Unravel and supplies eligible Barrier damage.
Not: all Strand guns having the buff permanently, or all Unravel sources granting it.
Strand
Woven Mail
Means: a defensive Strand buff that reduces incoming damage under its rules.
Not: automatic healing or sharing with the team. Cyrtarachne's current kill healing is an additional helmet effect.
Strand
Tangle versus Grapple Tangle
Means: a combat Tangle can be thrown/destroyed for Strand effects; Widow's Silk also makes a grapple anchor.
Not: every grapple anchor being an extra carried Tangle or Orb of Power. Generation cooldowns still matter.
Prismatic
Transcendence
Means: a Prismatic state earned through Light/Dark energy, with a class-specific mixed grenade and ability benefits. Kinetic damage contributes to both bars.
Not: your Super, a permanent state, or the normal grenade remaining unchanged.
Prismatic
Facet of Purpose
Means: an Orb pickup grants a buff determined by equipped Super element: Arc Bolt Charge, Solar Restoration, Stasis Frost Armor, Strand Mail, or Void Overshield.
Not: picking whichever buff you want independently of your Super, or activating it with any elemental pickup.
Pickups & charge
Orbs of Power
Means: pickups used for Super energy and equipped effects such as Recuperation, Armor Charge, or Purpose.
Not: every glowing pickup, or a universal grenade/melee-energy source without the relevant effect.
Pickups & charge
Elemental pickups
Means: Firesprites, Ionic Traces, Void Breaches, Stasis Shards, and Tangles have distinct baseline and build-specific uses.
Not: interchangeable Orbs of Power. Artifact Arc elemental orbs are also a separately named effect.
Pickups & charge
Armor Charge and Weapon Surge
Means: a resource used by equipped mods/perks. Matching Weapon Surges grant weapon damage while charge lasts and cause timed charge loss.
Not: Bolt Charge, free ammo, a grenade-damage bonus, or all spenders working together without competition.
No matching terms.
Try a shorter phrase or reset the category and search. This is a teaching glossary, not the complete game database.
Sources and limits.
Prepared 24 October 2026. Bungie's build primer and the linked local guides with their item/aspect/fragment sources. Definitions are practical paraphrases, not complete formulas. Read current in-game tooltips for restrictions and patches. Search combines category with case-insensitive text; printing always includes all 36 terms, even if filtered.