Glossary

The game's own words, in alphabetical order.

Term	Meaning
Approved step	A step Health Connect reports after your first launch that has not been counted before. Each one becomes exactly one attack.
Area	One stage of the trail: five normal foes and a boss. Beating the boss opens the next area. See World.
Ascension	A voluntary reset of your run in exchange for renown. Opens at Area 50. See Economy & ascension.
Auto-attack	On by default: each new step attacks when it arrives. When paused, steps are saved instead. See Gameplay.
Banked renown	Rules v3: the renown your deepest run is worth. An ascension only adds the part above what you already hold.
Biome	Ten areas with their own landscape and foes: Sunny Meadow, Whisperwood, Mistfen, Highstone Pass and Embervale.
Biome boss / Elder	The boss of every 10th area, with 10× normal health and a 10× reward, shown as "Elder …".
Damage per step	What one attack deals before Focus Strike or surge spikes: your base damage plus renown and trial bonuses.
Focus Strike	The Trail Ranger's trait: every 5th attack is a power kick for 3×, upgradeable to 5×.
Hero	Your combat identity (Wanderer, Trail Ranger or Pathfinder Mage). It decides how each step fights. Not the same as an outfit.
Hero level	An endless per-hero purchase that adds flat damage and doubles it every 25 levels. Ascension resets levels.
Lap	After the fifth biome the trail repeats the biomes with a number: "Sunny Meadow II", "Whisperwood III" and so on. Enemies keep getting stronger.
Outfit	A cosmetic look bought in the Outfitter. It never changes combat.
Overflow	The Pathfinder Mage's trait: damage beyond a foe's remaining HP carries into the next foe.
Renown	Permanent ascension power. Each point adds +25% base damage per step.
Rules version	The economy ruleset a save plays under (v1, v2, v3). Updates convert saves once, recorded so backups replay exactly. See What's new.
Saved steps	Steps walked while auto-attack is paused. They wait, never expire, and fire one attack each with Strike, All, or by turning auto-attack back on.
Strike / All	Battle-plate buttons while auto-attack is paused: Strike fires one saved step and All fires every saved step.
Surge	The Pathfinder Mage's upgrade: every 10th attack deals 2× damage.
Tier	One step of a hero's fixed upgrade ladder, bought in order with gold.
Trial / depth	The tap dungeon behind the town's dungeon gate. A depth is one trial foe, and every 5 cleared depths add +1% walking damage, capped at +5%. See Active Trial.