Reading Your HUD
v0.11.0 The corner HUD is built around a Qi orb. Beside it, a short column says who you are and what you are doing; under it sit your techniques; below those, every effect on you gets its own icon tile. This page explains each part, then lists every icon the HUD can show and what it means. Servers still on v0.10.3 or earlier show the older text panel instead.
/cultivation hud shows or hides it. In Settings (/cultivation settings) you can move it to another corner, nudge it, or hide its situational lines.
Numbers marked Default are what the mod ships with. Every one is configurable, and the in-game Codex shows your own server's values; see In the Codex.
How to Read the Orb
The orb is your dantian.
| Part | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| The orb | Fills with Qi as you gather toward your next rank-up. The number at its heart is how far along you are. |
| The gold ring around it | Lights one segment for each stage of your realm you have reached. |
| The dashed ring inside | Fills while a breakthrough, advancement or refinement is underway, and turns solid jade the moment you hold enough Qi to begin one. |
| The badge at its foot | Your Dao, shown as your element's glyph. See Your Dao. |
The Side Column
Beside the orb are your realm, your stage, your Qi and your spirit stones. Under them sits a chip that says what you are doing: meditating, in a ritual, in combat, and so on. When you are simply walking around, the chip goes away.
Every chip is listed under What You Are Doing, and the stone count under Spirit Stones.
Technique Slots
Under the orb sit your four bound techniques, each with its key.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| A dark fill draining away | The technique is cooling down. |
| A number on the slot | The seconds of cooldown left. |
| A dimmed slot | You cannot afford it right now. |
| A dashed slot | Nothing is bound to it. See Keybinds. |
The Effect Strip
Below the slots, every effect on you has its own tile.
- Jade tiles are blessings; red tiles are afflictions.
- Afflictions come first, then whatever ends soonest.
- Up to eight show at once.
- A tile shows the time left, the charges you have banked, or a draining bar when the effect's full length is known.
Affliction, draining bar
8s8 seconds left
4m4 minutes left
22 charges bankedThe sample is drawn the way a left-corner HUD lays it out; a right-corner HUD mirrors it, so the first tile is always the one nearest the edge of the screen. Time left is written short (8s, 4m, 2h), and a single banked charge shows no number.
The Situational Panel
Everything situational appears in the panel underneath, and only while it applies: your sect, a ritual you are ready for, Fire Watch while your Pill Cauldron needs tending, a quest. The HUD Lines section of Settings hides them.
Blessings (Jade Tiles)
Each of these sits on a jade tile while it is helping you.
Qi Gathering Pill
All the Qi you gain is multiplied while it lasts. Refine it at a Pill Cauldron. A weaker dose will not replace a stronger one that is still running.
Clarity Pill
Breakthrough and advancement rituals finish faster while it lasts. It does not speed up refinement.
Tribulation Ward Pill
Charges banked from Tribulation Ward Pills. Each one fully absorbs one tribulation lightning strike: the bolt still falls, it just does no harm. The number is how many you hold.
Clear-Mind Pill
Charges banked from Clear-Mind Pills. Each one cancels one drain on your composure in a Heart-Devil Trial or an Inner Demon Duel. Drinking the pill also cures Qi Deviation at once.
Waking Bell Charm
Charges banked from Waking Bell Charms. Each one cancels one drain on your composure in the Hollow Mirror.
Spirit Meal
Spirit Cooking is nourishing you. One tile covers every food blessing at once (more Qi, more Qi from meditation, less damage taken, more damage dealt), and its time is the longest of them. Raw forage gives a short, light blessing; a Spirit Hearth dish a long, strong one.
The Tea Ceremony
The afterglow of a Tea Ceremony finished in harmony: you gain more Qi, the more so the better you and your partner kept time. It fades if you log out.
Iron Body
Your body is hardened: incoming damage is reduced while it lasts. Iron Body does this, and so do several other arts, Hundred Trials Body among them.
Qi Infusion
Your blows carry infused Qi: you deal more damage while it lasts. Qi Infusion does this, and so do several other arts.
Cloud Step
You move faster on the ground while it lasts. Cloud Step does this, and so does a Cloudstep Talisman.
Qi Barrier
A barrier of Qi soaks up damage until it breaks or runs out. Qi Barrier raises it, and so do a Barrier Talisman and a Tribulation Sacrifice Pill.
Hundred Trials Body
A Human art: you take less damage, and gain extra maximum health for every Meridian Injury you have ever carried.
Legacy Blessing
A Cultivation Legacy: a cultivator who named you heir retired a profile, and their blessing makes your next rank-ups cost less Qi. It lasts a few days of real time.
Afflictions (Red Tiles)
Each of these sits on a red tile, and afflictions always lead the strip.
Pill Toxicity
Too many pills, too fast. Past the threshold every pill you take is weaker (shorter, fewer charges, a smaller effect), and rushing a rank-up is more likely to end in Qi Deviation. The bar shows how close you are to the cap. It fades on its own over real hours, even while you are offline.
Qi Deviation
Your Qi has turned on itself, from a broken Heart-Devil Trial or a rushed rank-up. Meditation gathers less Qi, and Heart-Devil Trials drain you harder, until it passes. It wears off with time, even offline; a Clear-Mind Pill cures it at once, and meditating beside your spouse, master or disciple burns it off faster. More on Qi Deviation.
The Dao-Heart Flaw
You broke a Heavenly Oath. Until the flaw fades you cannot attempt a realm breakthrough, and Heart-Devil Trials drain your composure faster. It wears off with time.
Lifespan Running Out
Your lifespan is nearly spent. Every cultivator has a budget of online hours set by the highest realm they have reached, and the bar shows how much is left. Reach a higher realm or take a Longevity Pill to extend it.
Withering
Your lifespan has run out. Qi gathers far slower, and when the bar empties (online time only) you pay the price your server sets; by default you fall back one realm. A Longevity Pill or a higher realm buys you time.
Meridian Injuries
Meridian Injuries come from tribulation strikes taken at low health, broken Heart-Devil Trials, failed rushed rank-ups, technique backfires and failed trials. Each tile's bar is how much of that injury is left.
They heal while you are online: faster while meditating, faster still with your spouse, master or disciple meditating beside you. A Meridian-Mending Pill, the Meridian-Opening Art or the Marrow-Cleansing Rite speeds them along. By default you carry at most three at once. The whole system is on Meridian Injuries.
Crippled Meridian
Techniques cost more Qi and charged arts gather slower. Only a technique backfire causes it.
A Crack in the Dantian
Your dantian cannot hold as much Qi. Its ceiling sits below your next rank-up, and Qi above the ceiling spills away.
A Hand That Will Not Close
Your hand will not close properly: you deal less damage.
Scarred Sea of Qi
Meditation gathers less Qi, healing does less for you, and pills are weaker.
A Fault in the Spirit
Your composure drains faster in trials, and Dao comprehension comes slower.
Ribs That Never Set
Your ribs never set: you take more damage.
What You Are Doing
The chip beside the orb shows one of these at a time, and goes away when you are doing none of them.
Meditating
You are meditating. With Show Qi flow while meditating switched on in Settings, the chip also shows how much Qi you bank each second.
A Ritual
A ritual is underway. A breakthrough, advancement or refinement shows its progress here and on the orb's dashed ring; a Marrow-Cleansing Rite or a spirit beast's evolution shows as a rite.
Closed-Door Retreat
You are in a Closed-Door Retreat. Leaving it early forfeits the reward.
A Trial
You are facing a trial: a Heart-Devil Trial, the Hollow Mirror or an Inner Demon Duel. Hold your composure; its bar is in the panel below.
Gathering an Art
You are gathering a charged technique. Release it at the right moment; its charge bar is in the panel below.
In Combat
You were hurt in the last few seconds. Any damage counts, even a fall. The number counts down to when you are out of combat. Meditating, gathering an art or a ritual shows in its place.
Partnered Cultivation
You are meditating beside your spouse, and gathering Qi faster together. Partnered Cultivation needs the Marriage mod.
Warnings
A warning line tells you what guards your next rank-up, early enough to prepare for it.
Heavenly Tribulation
Tribulation ahead. A Heavenly Tribulation guards your next breakthrough. The warning appears from the late stage of your realm on, so you have time to prepare; each Tribulation Ward charge absorbs one strike.
Heart-Devil Trial
Heart-Devil Trial ahead. Your Yin-Yang lean is strong enough that your next breakthrough will be a Heart-Devil Trial instead of lightning. Hold your composure when it comes; Clear-Mind charges help.
Your Dao
The diamond badge at the orb's foot carries the glyph of your Spiritual Root's element.
No Dao Yet
You have not comprehended a Dao yet. The Dao unlocks at Foundation Establishment; once you comprehend one, the badge takes your element's glyph.
The Classic Ring
Wood
Earth
Water
Fire
Metal
Each element overcomes the next and is overcome by the one before it: Wood overcomes Earth and is overcome by Metal. Wood is also the healing path: part of the damage you deal heals you.
The Shadow Ring
Ice
Wind
Poison
Lightning
Void
The five mutant roots form a ring of their own and work the same way: Ice overcomes Wind and is overcome by Void. Mutant roots are off by default, so these badges only appear on a server that turns them on.
Duck
A root outside both rings, granted by an addon: the Rubber Duck addon. You only see it where that addon is installed.
Spirit Stones
The count beside the orb is the spirit stones in your hotbar and main inventory; chests do not count. Stones are the cultivator's coin: faction vendors, Cave Abode upkeep, sect donations, spirit beasts, wagers, and the market wherever your server has it open.
In the Codex
The same legend is in the game, and since a HUD tile has no tooltip, that is the place to check mid-session. Open the Codex: Reading Your HUD is the first entry under Self. It does two things this page cannot:
- It opens with On You Right Now: every effect on you at this moment, with what is left of it (time left, charges banked, how close you are to the toxicity cap, or how much of your lifespan remains).
- It lists only the icons that can appear on your server. An icon for a feature your server has switched off is left out.
Each system's own Codex entry carries your server's exact numbers, where this page can only give the defaults.