Click to open network menu
Join or Log In
Mobafire logo

Join the leading League of Legends community. Create and share Champion Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

's Forum Avatar

LoL Terminology

Creator: Matt October 14, 2010 9:53pm
115 posts - page 1 of 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12
Matt
<Administrator>
Matt's Forum Avatar
Show more awards
Posts:
4286
Joined:
Dec 8th, 2009
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 14, 2010 9:53pm | Report
Update: For a more detailed list, check out Janitsu's LoL Terminology Guide!





A handy list for new players. Thanks to everyone in this thread for their contributions :) Feel free to reply to this thread with other terms and I or the mods will add them. Also report if any of the descriptions could be improved.

  • Ace: Finishing off the last person on the enemy team.
  • AD, Attack Damage: How much physical damage you deal with each attack.
  • Aggro, Aggression: This term is used to describe who, and how NPCs choose their targets. If you are being targetted by an NPC (tower, creep, boss) you have agro. There are various ways to break agro, such as moving into brush or getting out of the range of a tower.
  • AI, Artificial Intelligence: The logic that computer-controlled opponents will follow during a match.
  • AoE, Area of Effect: An ability that affects an area instead of a single target. This means anything standing within a certain distance of where the attack lands will be affected.
  • AP, Ability Power: A stat that increases the power of your abilities.
  • AP Ratio: The rate at which Ability Power boosts a champion's abilities. A 1.0 or 100% ratio means every 1 point of AP increases the power of an ability by 1.
  • AR, Armor: Decreases physical damage received.
  • ArP, Armor Penetration: Decreases the amount of physical damage your opponent's armor will absorb.
  • AS, Attack Speed: The time in between each of your attacks. DPS = Attack Damage / Attack Speed.
  • B: Short form that means different things depending on timing and context such as recall, come back, back up, be careful.
  • Backdoor: When one or more champions attack a tower without any minions to take the tower damage.
  • Bait, Baiting: Placing yourself in an open location, seemingly easy to kill, but you're just baiting them to your ganking party waiting in the brush.
  • BG, Bad Game: Used at the end of a match to express dissatisfaction with the results, usually because of people who have disconnected or left during the game.
  • Bot: An AI, computer-controlled character. More specifically, a character that is normally controlled by a human but is currently being controlled by a computer instead. Computer controlled champions are called bots, but creeps and towers are generally not called bots. A bot may also refer to a third-party program that takes control of the game to play for you, such as to cheat or gather experience and points while you are away from the computer. This breaks the terms of use for any online game and will often lead to a permanent account ban. It is also strongly frowned upon by any game's community.
  • Bot, Bottom: Bottom lane.
  • Brush: Brush is the tall grass scattered around the map that you can hide in. Players can use brush to break agro, escape, ambush, confuse, etc.
  • Buffed: A buff is a beneficial spell cast on yourself or a teammate that protects or enhances stats or abilities. This may also refer to the opposite of nerfed - when the developers change something in the game to make it stronger for the sake of balance, it was buffed.
  • Care: Means you have to be careful, they might be coming for you.
  • Carry: A champion that starts off weak but becomes very strong late game.
  • CC, Crowd Control: Any ability or action that can control an opponent, such as preventing them from moving or casting spells. Fear, Silence, Taunt, Stun, Slow, etc...
  • CDR, Cooldown Reduction: Reduces the cooldown of abilities, or the amount of time you must wait before an ability can be used again after you activated it.
  • Champ, Champion: The character you are controlling.
  • CrC, Critical Strike Chance: The percentage chance that your attack will be a critical strike.
  • CrD, Critical Strike Damage: The percentage of extra damage that your critical strikes will cause.
  • Creeps: The squads of weak NPCs that constantly spawn and fight in the lanes.
  • CS: Stands for "Creep Score", this is a common term used to refer to how many minions each player has killed.
  • D/C, Disconnect: Someone who disconnects from the game while it is still in progress.
  • Diving, Tower Diving: Running past an enemy tower in order to chase down an enemy champion, risking your own death.
  • DMP: Dance Master Phreak
  • DoT, Damage over Time: A term used to describe a spell that deals damage over the span of several seconds instead of instantly. An example is Malefic Visions.
  • DPS, Damage Per Second: A DPS champion is generally a term for a character that can do a lot of damage in a short period, whose gear and build is focused on dealing damage rather than support or defense.
  • ELO: A rating system named after Arpad ELO that determines how good you are relative to all the other registered players.
  • Facecheck: Sticking your face into some brush to check if anyone is hiding. Warning: may result in loss of face.
  • Farming: Killing minions repeatedly for money.
  • Farmed: Someone that has a high amount of minion kills giving them a lot of money to buy powerful gear with.
  • Fed: Someone that has a high number of kills giving them a lot of money to buy powerful gear with.
  • Feeding: Someone that is dying over and over to enemy players, feeding them free money. This is often an accusation, such as when a player wants to throw the match but his teammates do not, he may start feeding the opposing team. It may also be an insult, basically saying that the player has no skill and so keeps getting killed.
  • Gank: Gang kill or surprising an enemy for a kill.
  • GG, Good Game: Said near the end or after a match in good sportsmanship. If said while a match is still going, it may mean the player sees no way they can win and is admitting defeat.
  • Harassing: Using abilities and strategies that annoy and pester the enemy, slowly taking away their health and/or leading them to make poor strategic decisions. Taking pot shots from range repeatedly, for example.
  • HP, Hit Points, Health Points: Your health. When your HP reaches 0, you die.
  • HP5, Health Regen: The amount of HP you regenerate over 5 seconds
  • IAS, Increased Attack Speed
  • Initiate: Used in reference to starting a fight or team fight. Who should attack first, or how. A champion, ability or strategy that is effective to open a team fight with, such as area crowd control abilities or tank built champions.
  • Juke, Juking: When you trick an enemy that's chasing you, such as using cover of bushes to make them go the wrong way and lose you.
  • Jungling/Jungle/Forest: Killing boss NPCs in the forest/jungle area.
  • Kiting: Dealing damage while keeping the pursuing enemy safely at range.
  • Lane: Maps are designed with corridors or lanes where the creeps and towers are.
  • Laning: Fighting in a lane, often used to indicate who you are laning with, or if you are solo laning.
  • Last Hit: To get the last hit on an enemy, getting the reward for yourself. Usually applied to minions.
  • Leash: To hit a neutral monster before your jungler does when it spawns at the beginning of the game so it aggros onto you and chases you, letting your jungle get in several free hits.
  • Leaver: Someone who leaves the game while it is still in progress.
  • Metagame: What is currently "popular" in the game, what you are most likely to come up against in a typical game.
  • MIA, Missing in Action, Miss: When an enemy champion is not visible on the map, often a warning of incoming gank. TM/MM/BM may be used to indicate where an enemy player is missing, or where they may be expected to turn up (top/middle/bottom).
  • Mid, Middle: The middle lane on a map with 3 lanes.
  • MOBA: Multiplayer Online Battle Area, a term used to describe games like League of Legends.
  • MP, Mana Points: The blue bar below your health bar that most champions use as a resource to cast spells.
  • MP5, Mana Regen: The amount of mana you regenerate over 5 seconds
  • MPen, MrP, Magic Penetration: How much magic resist your spells ignore.
  • MR, Magic Resist: Reduces the amount of magic damage you take
  • MS, Movement Speed: How quickly your champion moves
  • Nerfed: When the developers change something in the game to make it weaker for the sake of balance, it was nerfed.
  • NMST, Nerf Master Suck Town: A teasing nickname that originated in the LoL forums for Morello, one of the champion designers and balancers.
  • Offtank: Usually the offtank is someone that acts as a backup tank in case the regular tank isn't around or gets killed. May also be referred to as "offensive tank", as in someone that can tank relatively well but still do a lot of damage.
  • OOM, Out of mana: You are no longer able to cast spells and are defenseless or unable to assist.
  • OP, Overpowered: Usually in reference to something that the player feels is unbalanced and needs to be fixed. A champion or item that they feel is too strong in relation to others.
  • Ping: Clicking the minimap to "ping" a location in order to get your teammates attention on that spot. Depending on the location and circumstances it could mean a MIA, incoming gank, tower about to fall, team fight breaking out, etc...
  • Pushing: Fighting in a lane with the intention of taking out enemy creeps and towers, to advance your attack.
  • QQ, qq: Whining like a baby. The Qs look like eyes with tears coming out in most fonts. The term originated from the original DotA where pressing the "Q" key twice would cause a user to leave the game they were in.
  • Re: An abbreviation for "returned", meaning that someone who was recently called missing has returned to their lane.
  • River: River that cuts across the map. "Watch out for River, might be a ganking party there".
  • Scales: How a spell gets more damage based on your items - for example, Disintegrate scales with Ability Power because it gets stronger the more AP you get.
  • Scaling: Usually refers to runes, this means that it gets better as your champion gets to a higher level.
  • Skill Shot: An attack that you have to aim.
  • SS: "Switching Sides", a common substitute for "MIA".
  • Tank: A champion built to absorb high amounts of damage. Tanks are the ones that should initiate team fights or pull aggro on boss NPCs.
  • Team Fight: Means exactly what it says. Late in the match teams will often travel in a pack and when they inevitably clash this is a team fight.
  • Top: The top lane of the map.
  • TP, Tele, Teleport: Teleport is a Summoner Spell that allows you to travel to any friendly unit on the map.
  • TT: Twisted Treeline, the 3v3 map.
  • UP, Underpowered: Usually in reference to something that the player feels is unbalanced and needs to be fixed. A champion or item that they feel is too weak in relation to others.
  • Upper: Upper lane.
  • Zone, Zoning: Zones are areas of control, generally around players, NPCs and towers. Zones are affected by positioning, terrain, abilities, attack range and other game mechanics. Zoning is taking advantage of your knowledge and understanding of these zones to control the fight and harass/push/starve effectively while staying alive and safe.
Restrictnine#5232
<Veteran>
Restrictnine#5232's Forum Avatar
Posts:
1286
Joined:
Jul 18th, 2010
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 15, 2010 8:12am | Report
Kiting - dealing damage while running away, without being caught up to

I would also suggest adding SS for skillshot. many people refer to it as SS instead.
Click on the Banner to see my new and improved Udyr guide!


Guides By RestrictNine, A.K.A. Taggrin
Matt
<Administrator>
Matt's Forum Avatar
Show more awards
Posts:
4286
Joined:
Dec 8th, 2009
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 15, 2010 12:43pm | Report
Good idea, done :)
caucheka
<Veteran>
caucheka's Forum Avatar
Show more awards
Posts:
8290
Joined:
May 18th, 2010
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 15, 2010 1:10pm | Report
nice list. you might want to add MIA to the list, because i didnt catch the reference when people started using it.

MIA, Missing in Action: when an enemy champion is not visible on the map.
I like things that make me feel stupid. - Ken Levine
SixSonatas
<Veteran>
SixSonatas's Forum Avatar
Show more awards
Posts:
778
Joined:
Oct 10th, 2010
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 15, 2010 2:42pm | Report
MIA can also be said as "Miss" and some people prefer to shorten that to "SS"
Since people usually don't use the term "Skill Shot" in games, you should state that "SS" can mean "Miss" in game.

Being "Fed" doesn't necessarily mean player kills, it can mean that they last hit every minion. A player can "Starve" another by putting on heavy harass that they can't farm or become "Fed".
Super old vet that almost never goes on Mobafire anymore. Contact me in game @ SixSonatas and Mobafire chat (NA).
Restrictnine#5232
<Veteran>
Restrictnine#5232's Forum Avatar
Posts:
1286
Joined:
Jul 18th, 2010
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 15, 2010 2:58pm | Report
Starve is usually used in terms of junglers, to starve them by putting wards everywhere. Zoning is more of a laning term for starving. Zoning is more appropriate for how six described it, while starving is more for the jungle.

lol i almost never here SS meaning miss. pings also are used as miss

Ping is alerting on the minimap with [G] followed by a left click
Click on the Banner to see my new and improved Udyr guide!


Guides By RestrictNine, A.K.A. Taggrin
Matt
<Administrator>
Matt's Forum Avatar
Show more awards
Posts:
4286
Joined:
Dec 8th, 2009
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 15, 2010 3:26pm | Report
Thanks guys! Added a whole bunch more. Let me know if any of my descriptions could be made more accurate.
Restrictnine#5232
<Veteran>
Restrictnine#5232's Forum Avatar
Posts:
1286
Joined:
Jul 18th, 2010
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 16, 2010 10:23am | Report
Zoning is also a form of denying exp in early lane phase. if you can push back the champions for fear that they get harrassed any more, they can be out of range and not get the exp they need. That is mostly what zoning isused in terms of.

Offtank is an Offensive tank such as certain Udyrs or Singed. They can't tank quite as well as natural tanks such as shen or rammus, but they can Take a beating, while doing major damage through high AP ratios or from items such as Atma's or Madred's.
Click on the Banner to see my new and improved Udyr guide!


Guides By RestrictNine, A.K.A. Taggrin
Matt
<Administrator>
Matt's Forum Avatar
Show more awards
Posts:
4286
Joined:
Dec 8th, 2009
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 16, 2010 11:17am | Report
Added :)
SixSonatas
<Veteran>
SixSonatas's Forum Avatar
Show more awards
Posts:
778
Joined:
Oct 10th, 2010
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep October 16, 2010 11:51am | Report
Matt, I noticed you have "Nerfed" but not "Buffed" - I'm sure you know what buffed is, otherwise it's just the opposite of being nerfed.

Fed should be "high number of minion kills" (or something along those lines) instead of "NPC kills" since there ARE bots in practice games.
Super old vet that almost never goes on Mobafire anymore. Contact me in game @ SixSonatas and Mobafire chat (NA).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12

You need to log in before commenting.

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide