Tollgate, Lifeline and Conduit
Three lesson runes, each taught by a boss victory and a Heart Circle. They all work the same way:
- Learn: earn the boss feat, then with the named Circle active, open your Cord and go to Grimoire → Master studies. Read the three pages and press Learn on the last one. The feat alone recovers the study, even on older saves. If the reading closes, start again from page one.
- Equip: wear an Echo Cord and thread exactly the two runes shown below in a normal spell slot. No modifiers, links, Knots, woven runes, passives, scrolls or imbues.
- Cast: select the slot (default V) and tap Cast (default R). The first press pays once and places something. A later fresh press uses it for free.
- Lift: hold Sneak and press Cast to remove what you placed. There is no refund.
- Rest: each rune has its own rest, shared by every slot that holds it. Placing a new one removes the old one.
A rune item cannot teach these runes. Only the study can.
| Rune | Row | Circle | Feat (boss) | Mana | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tollgate | Wall + Tollgate | X | Tempered (Cinder Warden) | 30 | 10 s |
| Lifeline | Beam + Lifeline | XIV | Starbreaker (Star-Eater) | 28 | 10 s |
| Conduit | Pillar + Conduit | XVIII | Grounded (Storm Conductor) | 32 | 15 s |
Mana is base cost, before normal discounts. See Heart Circles, the Ember Sanctum, the Astral Observatory and Root Guardian and Storm Conductor.
Tollgate
What it is. A low gate on the ground that stops each enemy once. Study: The Warden’s Threshold.
How to use it. Look at open ground within 10 blocks and tap Cast. A 5-block gate appears across your view and lasts 6 seconds. The first time an enemy walks into it, the enemy is stopped, pushed back the way it came, and slowed (Slowness II for 1.5 seconds). Each enemy is stopped only once. After 3 stops the gate is spent.
Allies, pets and party members pass freely. Players you can fight are stopped like mobs. You cannot place it on protected ground.
Practice: let a foe cross your gate. The first stop records it.
Counterplay: jump over it, walk around its ends, wait out the 6 seconds, or send weaker mobs through first to use up its stops.
Lifeline
What it is. A thread to a friend that lets you pull them to safety beside you. Study: The Thread Between Stars.
How to use it.
- Look at an ally, your pet or your summon within 16 blocks and tap Cast. This ties the thread (28 mana) and tells a player ally in chat.
- Tap Cast again within 8 seconds to reel them in. The reel is free. They land on the nearest safe, dry spot next to you.
The ally always gets a moment (1 second) to refuse before you can reel. A player who crouches refuses the pull. The thread snaps past 24 blocks, or if either of you dies, changes world or disconnects, or if they stop being your ally.
The reel fails if you cannot see the ally, if they are riding or being ridden, asleep, in a duel or in a Sword Master’s trial, or if there is no safe ground beside you. You cannot pull someone out of protected ground. Enemies can never be threaded.
Practice: tie a thread to a party member or pet and reel them in.
Tips: pull a friend off a ledge, out of a mob, or across lava you cannot cross.
Conduit
What it is. A rod you plant in advance, then teleport onto. Study: Notes on a Grounded Storm.
How to use it.
- Look at open ground within 20 blocks and tap Cast. A rod appears and lasts 20 seconds (32 mana).
- Tap Cast again. You spark for 0.4 seconds, then arrive on the rod. Arriving is free.
To arrive, the rod must be within 32 blocks and in clear sight, with a safe landing. If an arrival fails, the rod stays and you can try again.
Practice: plant a rod on a ledge, then press Cast and hold still. The first arrival records it.
Counterplay: stand within 1.5 blocks of the rod to ground it; the caster cannot arrive. Hit the caster during the spark to cancel it. Breaking their line of sight to the rod also stops it.
Tips: plant the rod on a ledge or behind cover before a fight, so you have an exit ready.