diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 064e41af..8339effb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -48,7 +48,5 @@ jobs:
         run: scripts/doc-links.py
       - name: pass-span-lint
         run: scripts/pass-span-lint.py
-      - name: player-build
-        run: cargo build -p benilla --no-default-features
       - name: player-tests
         run: cargo test -p benilla-formats -p benilla-app --no-default-features --lib
diff --git a/scripts/check.sh b/scripts/check.sh
index 784f08cd..9cdccfce 100755
--- a/scripts/check.sh
+++ b/scripts/check.sh
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ esac
 pflags=""
 for p in $pkgs; do pflags="$pflags -p $p"; done
 echo "check: scope = $pkgs"
-echo "check:   (changed crates + everything that depends on them; full chain still runs at sync→land)"
+echo "check:   (changed crates + everything that depends on them; the full chain runs once, at land)"
 
 log="$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/benilla-check.XXXXXX")"
 skips="$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/benilla-check-skips.XXXXXX")"
@@ -120,4 +120,4 @@ if [ -s "$skips" ]; then
 fi
 
 echo "CHECK GREEN (scoped: $pkgs)"
-echo "  (land still pays the full chain once: scripts/gates.sh — memoized, so an already-gated tree is free)"
+echo "  (the full chain, scripts/gates.sh, runs once on the tree that lands; a run before it repeats it)"
diff --git a/scripts/gates.sh b/scripts/gates.sh
index bdc704c6..b3cb45b4 100755
--- a/scripts/gates.sh
+++ b/scripts/gates.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # The land gate chain: every gate in order, stopping at the first failure.
 #
-# fmt, clippy, test, test-no-install, doc-links, pass-span-lint, player-build, player-tests,
-# enforcer, enforcer-no-install. A failure prints the gate's log tail and exits nonzero; a green
+# fmt, clippy, test, test-no-install, doc-links, pass-span-lint, player-tests, enforcer,
+# enforcer-no-install. A failure prints the gate's log tail and exits nonzero; a green
 # run stamps the tree, which then re-greens without running. GATES_FORCE=1 runs the chain anyway,
 # WOW_DATA picks the install (set and empty: none) and TMPDIR holds the scratch files; the script
 # sets BENILLA_REQUIRE_DATA, BENILLA_ADDON_CORPUS, BENILLA_SKIP_LOG and WOW_WORLDVIEW_CHECK for
@@ -135,12 +135,12 @@ run doc-links scripts/doc-links.py
 # wgpu validation error on Vulkan and a silent no-op on Metal and DX12, which no macOS run sees.
 run pass-span-lint scripts/pass-span-lint.py
 
-# player-build: `benilla` without `dev`, which compiles out the debug panel, perf HUD, inspector,
-# capture harness and probes, so it fails when any other code names one of them.
-run player-build cargo build -p benilla --no-default-features
-
-# player-tests: the unit tests of the `cfg(not(feature = "dev"))` code (the resolver skips the
-# source tree; the state folder sits beside the binary), which no other gate runs. WOW_DATA, which
+# player-tests: the player build, `benilla-app` without `dev`, which compiles out the debug panel,
+# perf HUD, inspector, capture harness and probes, so it fails when any other code names one of
+# them. Its test build compiles every line of the player graph but the `benilla` launcher, a shim
+# with no `dev` seam, so a `cargo build -p benilla --no-default-features` would add only the shim
+# and a link. It runs the unit tests of the `cfg(not(feature = "dev"))` code (the resolver skips
+# the source tree; the state folder sits beside the binary), which no other gate runs. WOW_DATA, which
 # a player build reads too, goes in for the shipped-UI tests that read FrameXML off the install.
 # Without `dev` only $BENILLA_ADDON_CORPUS finds the addon corpus, so the link goes in by that name,
 # and BENILLA_REQUIRE_DATA refuses a skip here exactly where it does in `test`.