Ledgerbound Certificates of Mastery

Every Ledgerbound map asks you to win, then asks you to look good on paper. Certificates of Mastery are the HULG-facing grade for a fight: three optional stamps (sometimes described as stars) sitting beside the required victory. Official combat recap copy and launch reviews agree on the structure even when they disagree on how punishing the third stamp should feel. This page is the stamp primer. For the voucher shop those stamps feed, read HR Objectives. For the nights you spend replaying a board, read Time and Burnout.

Treat Certificates as skill grades, not as a second campaign. You can finish Rayna’s claim without a perfect file. You cannot fake a Certificate the wiki invented — we quote the three-stamp loop, not a secret fourth seal.

What a Certificate actually measures

A typical encounter has:

1. A required win — rout, survive, escort, or deny the Vacari standing in front of you.
2. Three optional stamps — efficiency, risk control, and a map-specific feat. Official trailers frame them as performance paperwork. RPGamer and Phenixx describe the same trio as optional conditions that raise shareholder value when all three land.
3. A Certificate of Mastery when the file is clean enough for HULG to brag.

Clearing all three is how Shareholders board scenes arrive. If a critic’s warning about those scenes applies to you, stop chasing the third stamp. The campaign still ends. See Campaign.

Failed stamps rarely fail the mission. They fail your economy. Tickets for swag scale with stamps. A story clear with zero extras still advances Eldarra. A story clear with three extras funds the next Vacari spike.

How to read the live board, not a wiki list

We will not invent the three phrases for Emberworks, Landfill, or Elderhold. OmniMegaSuperCorp prints them on the battle preview. Patch #3 (August 18, 2026) made that preview more honest in one way and less honest in another:

• Marked locations and target areas got brighter highlights. Unmarked tiles got dimmer “out of fairness,” in the studio’s joke. Use that pass when you are hunting a protect-or-stand stamp on a cluttered grid. Details: Battle Maps.
• Abilities on the radial popup are now purple. The old color was “bad.” If a stamp wants a specific action type, look at the new color before you spend the turn.
• Double Homicide’s third star — protect four Onx — is still bugged, and the description is confusing. Engineering and narrative “bonded over shared blame.” Do not burn a Resterlude replaying that board for a star the client will not award.
• Lunar Rifts are not selectable in battle setup. If a Certificate depends on a rift tile you planned during deploy, the live client may refuse the click.

Read the current preview. Build a safe clear. Then decide which stamps fit inside that clear. Chasing a Certificate before the win is stable wastes more than a turn. A failed or replayed fight spends the same limited hour used for equipment and romance.

A.R.T.E. still grades the file

Stamps sit on top of A.R.T.E.: Water beats Fire, Fire beats Plant, Plant beats Water. A turn-limit stamp wants the correct triangle early, not cleanup after a Vacari revive. A no-loss stamp wants positioning, not a panic summon that blocks the flanking tile you needed. A “use this action” stamp wants the liability or promotion skill already on the unit who can stand on the right square — see Liabilities.

Certificates do not replace coverage. A pretty file with a blank Plant slot still dies to the next Water wave.

Replays, burnout, and Patch 3’s extra mercy

Tabletop replays exist to pick leftover stamps. Launch notes say mock fights can skip EXP and still cost Resterlude. Patch 2 added a setting that dramatically reduces time-management pressure. Patch 3 extended that setting: disabling time-management gameplay now also removes burnout costs for equipping swag and liabilities. If you turned the toggle on so you could chase Certificates without starving Jazz or Sylvie, the August 18 depot finally made the gear swaps match that policy.

If you keep default pressure, pick stamps when they are free. Do not spend the night replaying a map you almost triple-stamped unless shareholder value is the joke you came for.

Related

• Combat Hub — loop, Vacari, official combat trailer.
• Difficulty — dropping a notch after a wipe still taxes bonding time.
• Saves — a misclick stamp is filed forever.
• Patch Notes — Patch 3 known issues that still steal stars.