Overlay
RaidCodex Overlay guide: what it does and what it shows
The RaidCodex Overlay is a free Windows app that shows live battle information on top of RAID: Shadow Legends while you play PvE. This guide explains every part of it in plain words: what each line on a card means, how to read the kill estimates, what the buttons do, and what happens to your data.
Written for overlay version 0.3.44. What changed since: What's new in the RaidCodex Overlay.
What it is, and what it is not
- A free app for Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit). It shows a small card over each champion in your PvE battles: live stats, Shield and Stone Skin, turn order and turn meter, skill cooldowns, kill estimates for your attacks, and a battle report after each fight.
- It only reads. It reads the game on your own PC and draws on top of it. It never changes the game, never clicks or plays for you and never sends anything to the game. Your clicks go straight through the cards to the game.
- PvE only. It works in Campaign, Dungeons, Doom Tower, Faction Wars, Cursed City, Demon Lord, Hydra, Chimera and other PvE battles. In Arena, Tag Team Arena, Live Arena and Siege it switches itself off: nothing is read or recorded. If it cannot confirm that a battle is PvE, it reads nothing.
- It needs a free RaidCodex account. It never asks for your Plarium login.
- Nothing from your game is sent to us unless you tick the report sharing box (off by default). To keep you signed in, the overlay sends only your account, a random id for this PC and the overlay version.
Getting started
- Sign in at account.raidcodex.com and press Download the overlay on your account page.
- Unzip the file into a new folder and start START-RaidCodex.cmd.
- Under Account, press Sign in on raidcodex.com. Your browser opens; sign in with Discord, Google or an email code, then press Allow when the page asks to allow RaidCodex Overlay on your PC. You do this once per PC; one account works on up to 3 PCs.
- Start RAID through Plarium Play and play it in a window or borderless window, not exclusive full screen. Under Game the overlay finds the game by itself; press Refresh games if you started RAID later.
- Press Start live overlay and switch back to RAID. The battle mode is detected automatically. The first start can take a few minutes.
The overlay needs an internet connection when it starts: the battle rules it uses come from our server after you sign in. It checks for a new version when it starts and every 6 hours. When one is out, the version line shows it and an Update now button appears; the update window lists what changes, with a What's new link. Nothing is installed until you press Update now; the overlay then downloads the new version and restarts. If your version is no longer supported, you need to update to keep using the live overlay. We can also switch the live overlay off for a while (for example after a game update); the window then says so.
The cards
Each champion in the battle gets a card. Here are two examples, drawn in the overlay's style with made-up numbers: one of your champions on their turn, and an enemy with a kill estimate.
| On the card | What it means |
|---|---|
| Name | The champion's name. |
| Team and slot | YOURS or ENEMY and the battle slot. Extra words: NOW (acting now), SKIP? (a control effect may take this turn), DEFEATED, and LOW HP 25% when the low health alert is on. |
| Turn order | The round badge: 1 is the champion acting now; ~2, ~3… is the projected order of the next turns across both teams, from the live turn meters and battle speed. Skills, extra turns and effects can change it. — means no projection right now. |
| Turn meter | The thin bar under the name: how full the turn meter is. It is gold for the champion projected to act next. |
| Skills | A row of small circles under the turn meter, one per active skill: A1, A2, A3, and A4 or A5 when the champion has them. They are on every card: yours, enemies and bosses. Green with the skill's slot: ready. Dark with a number: turns of cooldown left. Grey ⊘: blocked, for example by Block Active Skills. A champion that changes form shows the skills of its current form. Passive and hidden skills are not shown, and a defeated champion shows none. Cooldowns are read from the game, never predicted. |
| HP | Current health. — when the game gives no usable number (the Clan Boss, for example). |
| ATK, DEF | Attack and Defense in battle. |
| SPD | Battle speed with one decimal, as the game uses it for turns. |
| ACC, RES | Accuracy and Resistance in battle. A blue tag like +30 CC is a relic stone bonus (see below). |
| Shield | Shield left and the turns it lasts, for example 6,500 · 2t. Unknown when it cannot be read right now. |
| Stone Skin | Stone Skin strength left. It is not the ordinary damage needed to break it. |
| Colours | Teal edge: your team. Coral edge: enemies. Red edge and darker card: one of your champions at or below the low health alert. A number turns gold for a moment when it changes. |
The numbers are the game's live battle values, with buffs, debuffs and battle bonuses already in them, so they can differ from the champion screen. A — means the value cannot be read right now; the overlay shows nothing rather than a wrong number.
Relic stone tags such as “+30 CC”
Some relic stones give extra Resistance or Accuracy only against, or only when placing, certain effects. The game adds that bonus while it rolls the effect and never puts it in the RES or ACC stat, so the card shows it as a separate tag after the number. Each copy of the stone in the champion's relic adds its bonus once; several tags can stand side by side, for example +30 CC +40 TM.
| Tag | Relic stone | Extra |
|---|---|---|
| RES +30 CC | Uncontrollable | RES against Stun, Freeze, Sleep, Provoke, Fear, Petrification and Polymorph |
| ACC +30 CC | Puppetmaster | ACC when placing Stun, Freeze, Sleep, Provoke, Fear, Petrification and Polymorph |
| RES +30 strip | Assured Security | RES against buff removal and buff steal |
| ACC +30 strip | Precision Removal | ACC when removing buffs |
| ACC +30 steal | Perfect Heist | ACC when stealing buffs |
| RES +40 CD | Skillmaster | RES against cooldown increase |
| ACC +40 CD | Impede Them | ACC when increasing cooldowns |
| ACC +40 TM | Slow The Enemy | ACC when decreasing Turn Meter |
Where the cards sit
- Over each champion, following the camera. The overlay finds the game's own health bars in the game window's picture; that picture is only used to place the cards, never saved or sent.
- When cards would overlap, they move apart and a thin line points to their champion.
- Big bosses have a fixed spot: the Clan Boss, the Chimera and bosses such as those in Doom Tower and the dungeons sit next to the round counter, on a slightly larger card. Hydra heads sit under each head's panel.
- A defeated enemy shows DEFEATED for a moment, then its card disappears. Your defeated champions keep their card, faded, so you can see who is down.
- Right after a wave starts the cards stay hidden for a moment while the overlay locates the champions. A card it cannot place yet waits at the side of the screen (your team left, enemies right) marked LOCATING… and moves over its champion once found. Cards cannot be dragged: they are placed automatically.
Kill estimates
On your champion's turn, every enemy card gets a footer with an estimate for each of the acting champion's skills: A1, A2 and A3. The line above the marks sums it up, for example A2: Estimated kill. On enemy turns the footer says Waiting for your turn.
| Mark | What it means |
|---|---|
| ≈☠ | Estimated kill (red): even the low end of the estimated damage beats the enemy's HP plus Shield. |
| ☠? | Possible kill (yellow): the damage range reaches HP plus Shield but its low end does not, or its top is just under, within the model's known error. |
| — | Below HP: even the top of the range, with a safety margin, stays under HP plus Shield. When all skills are like this the line says Estimates below HP. |
| ? | Unknown: no reliable estimate for this skill on this enemy (see below). |
| 3 | On cooldown (a number, for example A3 3): the skill is on cooldown for that many more turns, as in the skill circles. |
| ⊘ | Unavailable (⊘): the skill cannot be chosen right now for another reason, for example it is blocked. When no skill can be used, the line says Skills unavailable. |
| · | Nothing yet: waiting for your turn, or the overlay is still reading the turn. |
Why a “?” appears
- the skill has an effect the overlay does not calculate yet, or adds damage after its hits;
- the enemy has a passive or an effect that may keep it alive, such as Unkillable, a revive, Block Damage, Ally Protection or Stone Skin; the line then names it, for example Unkillable may trigger;
- something needed is missing or changing, such as masteries or stats that cannot be read at that moment;
- an ally may join the attack with damage the overlay cannot add.
These are estimates, not guarantees. They come from the game's own formulas and your champions' live stats, but misses, random procs and effects outside the model can change the result, and no percentage is claimed. The estimates disappear while you hold the mouse button and come back once the game has settled.
Which champions have estimates
Almost every champion of every rarity. Share of damage skills with an estimate (game data 11.85.5):
| Rarity | Skills with an estimate |
|---|---|
| Mythical | 89% |
| Legendary | 94% |
| Epic | 99% |
| Rare | 100% |
| Uncommon | 100% |
| Common | 100% |
For the reasons behind a mark, press Attack details in the main window. It lists every skill against every enemy with Estimate, Coverage, Damage range, HP, Shield and Reason, and the full calculation of the selected row underneath. If the acting champion has no estimates yet, the cards say Attacker not supported.
Attack estimates: on / Attack estimates: off in the main window turns the estimates on or off. Change it before pressing Start live overlay. With estimates off you still get every other line on the cards.
Window controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start live overlay / Stop | Starts or stops the overlay. Starting needs a selected RAID game and a valid sign-in. |
| Hide overlay / Show overlay | Hides or shows the cards without stopping. Shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+O while RAID or the RaidCodex window is in front. If another app already uses the shortcut, the window says so; use the button. |
| Attack estimates: on | Kill estimates on or off (change it before starting). |
| Attack details | Opens the Live attack estimates window with the reasons behind each mark (while the overlay runs). |
| Label size | Card size from 75% to 150%. |
| See-through | How see-through the card background is: Solid, Light, Medium or Strong. The text stays solid. |
| Low health alert | Turns your champion's card red at or below 20%, 30% (default), 40% or 50% health, or Off. Only your own champions. |
| Show on labels | Switches card parts on or off: Stats, Shield and Stone Skin, Turn order, Turn meter, Skills. All are on at first. |
| Language | The globe menu at the top right: English, Français, Deutsch, Русский, Español, Português, Italiano, Türkçe or Українська. It changes the window, the cards and the battle reports (reports are made again in the new language). |
Label settings apply at once, also while the overlay runs, and are kept for next time. The collapsed Advanced section at the bottom holds test tools for checking data with RaidCodex; you do not need it to play.
Battle reports
After each PvE fight the overlay makes a battle report from its own recording and saves it as a page on your PC (in %LOCALAPPDATA%\RaidCodex\Reports). It opens in your browser. A report shows:
- damage by champion, turns and the skills used, buffs and debuffs kept on the enemies;
- a check of the kill labels the overlay showed against what really happened;
- speed in practice, health and protection, and how your champions died;
- your team's builds as the game set them up for the battle: gear, masteries, blessing, relic and battle-start stats;
- waves, Hydra heads and pacing, Clan Boss turns, and a comparison with your other runs of the same line-up.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Open last report | Opens the newest report. |
| All reports | Opens the list of all your reports. |
| Save report picture | Saves the newest report as a picture next to it and copies it, ready to paste into a chat. |
| Export battle report | Saves a ZIP of your recent recordings (up to 8 sessions) with their reports, for when you report a problem to RaidCodex. |
| Export small copy | A much smaller ZIP: what the reports need plus the game readings of your own turns (up to 64 MB). Enough to check the kill labels. |
| Record each hit (test) | Also saves each hit's damage and critical or weak result in the recording, for checking kill labels hit by hit. Takes effect the next time you start the overlay. |
Recordings and reports stay on your PC. The overlay keeps up to 8 recording sessions (2 GB at most) and removes the oldest. Nothing is exported unless you press an export button.
Sharing battle reports (optional)
Under Battle reports there is a box Share my battle reports with RaidCodex. It is off by default. Shared reports help us find bugs and make the overlay better.
What is sent when the box is ticked
- The battle report of each PvE fight you finish in the live overlay: the mode and its title, your team's champions and their builds, turns, effects, deaths, damage, and the kill labels the overlay showed against what happened, with the overlay and rules versions.
- Diagnostic data about the overlay for that same fight: where cards were drawn and why, gaps in its readings, its estimates for your hits, and each hit's damage if Record each hit (test) is on.
- The account server already knows your account, this PC's random id (made by the overlay, not taken from the hardware), the time and the overlay version.
What is never sent
- your game account name or id, your clan, other players' names;
- the recordings themselves, game snapshots or screenshots;
- your mouse input, other programs on your PC, file paths, your Windows user or PC name (they are removed if they ever turn up).
- Only reports of fights from the live session are sent, and only while the box is ticked and you are signed in. Older reports are never sent.
- Unticking the box or signing out deletes every report still waiting to be sent.
- Shared reports are kept 180 days, then deleted. You can delete them any time with Delete my shared reports on your account page; deleting your account deletes them too.
- After the update to 0.3.43 the box was unticked once, because reports now include diagnostic data: tick it again if you want to keep sharing.
Read the account privacy notice.
Privacy and safety in short
- Read-only, PvE only: Arena, Tag Team Arena, Live Arena and Siege are never read or recorded.
- No Plarium login, ever. You sign in to RaidCodex with Discord, Google or an email code; we never see a password.
- Recordings and reports stay on your PC. Report sharing is off unless you tick it.
- The account keeps your sign-in email and name, your PCs and check-in times (every 15 minutes while the overlay runs).
- The game picture used to place cards is read in memory only: never saved or sent.
Questions
- Is the overlay against the game's rules?
- We can only tell you what it does: it reads the game on your PC, draws its own window on top, never changes the game or its files, never clicks or plays for you, and works in PvE only. How Plarium treats third-party tools is up to Plarium; please read Plarium's terms. RaidCodex is not made or endorsed by Plarium, and using it is at your own risk.
- Does it work on Mac, mobile or in the browser?
- No. It works with the Windows version of RAID from Plarium Play.
- Why does it say “off” in Arena?
- Because it is PvE only. In Arena, Tag Team Arena, Live Arena and Siege it reads nothing and shows why in the main window.
- Why are the stats different from the champion screen?
- The cards show battle values: buffs, debuffs and bonuses the game adds in battle are already in them.
- Can I move a card?
- No, cards are placed automatically. Use Label size and Show on labels to make them smaller.
- A red mark and the enemy survived. Why?
- Red is an estimate, not a promise: a miss, a random proc or an effect outside the model can save the enemy. The report's kill label check shows how the labels did; sharing reports helps us fix wrong ones.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to try |
|---|---|
| No cards appear | Make sure RAID runs in a window or borderless window (not exclusive full screen), the game is selected under Game, you pressed Start live overlay and the cards are not hidden (Ctrl+Alt+O). Read the status line under Overlay: it says why, for example when a battle is PvP or the mode could not be confirmed. |
| Cards wait at the side with LOCATING… | The overlay has not found that champion's spot yet. Keep the RAID window visible and not minimised: the overlay needs the game window's picture to find the health bars. The card moves over its champion once found. If there is not enough room, choose a smaller Label size. |
| The cards are missing in my recording or stream | The overlay no longer blocks screen capture (since 0.3.42). The cards are a separate window, so a recorder that captures only the RAID window will not include them: capture the whole screen instead. |
| “Too many requests” | The account server is limiting requests for a moment. Wait a few minutes and try again; pressing sign in repeatedly makes it longer. |
| “This account already has 3 PCs” | Remove a PC on your account page, then sign in again. |
| The update did not appear | The overlay checks when it starts and every 6 hours. Close it and start it again. If it says this copy cannot update itself, download the new version from your account page. |
| No kill marks | Attack estimates: on must be set before starting, it must be your champion's turn, the champion must have estimates, and the marks hide while the mouse button is held. |
| “Live data temporarily unavailable — retrying” | The overlay lost the game's data for a moment and hides old values; it comes back by itself. If RAID was closed, start it again and press Start live overlay. |
More about the overlay: RaidCodex Overlay (download and requirements) and What's new in the RaidCodex Overlay.
RaidCodex is an independent fan project. It is not made, endorsed or supported by Plarium. Use of third-party tools is at your own risk under Plarium's terms.