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League of Legends Terminology

Abbreviations

League of Legends is a very fast paced game. Often there is no time to write lengthy sentences, and a lot of abbreviations were created in order to deal with this fact.

Ctrl+F a term you want to read up on about, for example "glhf".

glhf :D

A

AA - Auto attack
AAS - Archangel's Staff
Ace - When all champions on a team are dead at the same time. To kill the last living champion on the opposing team.
AD - Attack Damage
ADAM - All Draft All Mid - a custom game type
AFK - Away From Keyboard
Aggro - The targeting priority (or enmity) of the A.I. controlled minion, turret, monster, etc.
Ali - Alistar
Ani - Anivia
AoE - Area of Effect
AP - Ability Power
ARAM - All Random All Mid - a custom game type
ArP or ArPen - Armor Penetration
AS or ASPD - Attack Speed
Assassin - A champion type whose forte is ambushing enemy champions. They have abilities that may include concealing themselves or having a good dash skill.
Assist - To help an allied champion in killing an enemy champion, gaining a part of the bounty.
Atmallet - A build that utilizes Atma's Impaler and Frozen Mallet. Can also be referred to as Fratma's.
Atmog's - A build that utilizes Atma's Impaler and Warmog's Armor.
Aura - A passive ability that usually applies to the champion and those around the champion.

B

B or Back - To retreat in the general direction of your base or away from the enemy.
Bait - To feign weakness in order to lure the enemy into a trap.
Baron - Baron Nashor
Exalted with Baron Nashor
Base - The area where the shop, nexus and inhibitors are situated.
BC - The Black Cleaver
BD or Backdoor - To attack the enemies' towers and base without the support of a minion wave.
To capture a capture point, usually the middle one, which is close to enemy fountain and surrounded by other two enemy capture points.
BF - B. F. Sword
BG - Bad Game
Blind - A Crowd Control that causes the recipient's autoattack to miss completely.
Blind Pick - a type of match where all participants select their champion simultaneously. Both teams are unaware which champions the opposing side has picked until the loading screen appears. Any champion can be summoned by one ally and one enemy at the same time.
Blink - A type of movement ability, similar to the Flash Summoner Spell.
Blitz - Blitzcrank
Blue - Blue Buff: Crest of the Ancient Golem
Blue Team - the group of players that start out at the lower left side of Summoner's Rift, or on the left side of Twisted Treeline and Crystal Scar.
Bot - Bottom lane
The capture points of quarry or boneyard in Dominion mode.
A.I. - controlled champion
Bounty - The amount of gold a target is worth should they be slain.
BP - Blue Pill (obsoleted). However, it was replaced with Recall. Some veteran players from the time still refer to it as BP though.
Brb - Be right back
Bruiser - A champion with high effective health and damage per second.
Brush or Bush - The tall grass where champions can hide in.
BT - The Bloodthirster
Buff - A positive effect applied to a champion.
An official modification to the game mechanics which makes something more powerful, as opposed to a "nerf".
Burst - A large amount of damage being dealt in a short time, pertaining particularly to the damage dealt by a single champion. To Nuke is also a commonly used term.
BV - Banshee's Veil

C

Cait - Caitlyn
Cap - Rabadon's Deathcap
To capture a point in Dominion.
Care - Be careful, implying a possible or probable gank coming.
Carry - A champion that generally starts off weaker than other champions, but becomes more powerful as the game progresses.
Cass - Cassiopeia
CC - Crowd Control: a category of status effects which limit movement or actions.
CD - Cooldown
Waiting for an ability's cooldown to finish before commencing an action.
CDR - Cooldown Reduction
Chain CC - To consecutively use multiple Crowd Control spells on an enemy champion.
Champ - Champion: a particular character that the summoner calls on and controls.
Channeling - The casting time needed before certain spells can be performed. These types of spells can be interrupted by certain crowd control spells.
Chase - To pursue an enemy champion as they're running away.
Cho - Cho'Gath
Classic - The classic MOBA game mode in which players focus on laning, pushing minion waves and destroying the enemy structures.
Commit - To not retreat. To stay in a fight until the battle is over, or until your champion is slain.
Co-op - Co-op vs. AI, the player versus A.I. controlled champion match mode. Only in this mode player can choose to fight the intermediate A.I., which is otherwise not available to custom game.
Cover - During the laning phase, ask your jungler or teammate of the other lane to hold the lane for a moment so you can recall to the base for recovery and shopping.
Cow - Alistar
Creeps - Monsters and minions
CS - Creeps Slain/Creep Score
The Crystal Scar, the map in which Dominion takes place. Chrono Shift
Custom - Custom game: the match mode created by player with the freedom to determine the team size, A.I. controlled champion participation and the password for limited access.
CV - Clairvoyance

D

D or Def - Defend: to protect the tower or base without attacking aggressively.
DC - Disconnected
DD - Direct damage Double damage
Debuff - A negative effect applied to a champion; it's the opposite of a Buff.
Deny - An ability to kill allied minions or pets, preventing the opponent from earning the gold and experience from killing them in other MOBA games. This feature is intentionally removed from League of Legends and replaced with zoning tactics.
Disable - A form of Crowd Control that prevents the enemy from taking particular actions.
Dive - To pursue a specific target while there are enemies around the target.
Dodge - A champion stat which determines the possibility to avoid an auto attack.
To shut down the game client during the champion selection process to avoid playing the match.
Dominion - A game mode that differs from the classic MOBA-style gameplay. The mode focuses on seizing capture point.
DoT - Damage over time
DotA - Defense of the Ancients: a successful mod created from Warcraft 3. It has inspired similar games such as League of Legends. "Dota" is also used to categorize games of this particular sub-genre under the real-time strategy genre.
Double Kill - Slaying two enemy champions within a certain length of time.
DPS - Damage per second (i.e. attack speed)
A champion who specializes in dealing damage consecutively.
Draft - Draft Pick: a type of champion selection where all participants must first go through a champion banning phase and where no champion can be picked by more than one player.
Drake - Dragon

E

E - The third champion ability which is bound to the "E" key by default.
EC - Executioner's Calling
Elo - A mathematical rating system for a player's relative skill level.
Eve - Evelynn
Executed - Being slain by a tower or a creep with no enemy champion receiving credit for the kill.
Exp - Experience Points
Ez - Ezreal

F

Face Check - A champion going into a brush to see if an enemy champion is hidden in there. This can be a very risky action to do.
Farm - To seek out and kill minions to obtain experience and gold.
FB - First Blood: the first kill of the game.
Fear - A debuff which makes target champion walking around randomly and uncontrollably.
Fed - A champion becoming very powerful after killing multiple enemy champions OR by having a large creep score.
Feed - To repeatedly die to the enemy team (whether through lack of skill or intentionally) giving them gold and experience. A player that does this is a Feeder.
FF - Forfeit; While /ff calls for a surrender vote, a teammate typing ff means that he or she wants to surrender.
Fighter - A hybrid between tanking and DPS, these champions combine the survivability of a tank and the damage of a DPS or a caster. They were formerly called Bruisers.
FM - Frozen Mallet
Fratma's - A build that utilizes Atma's Impaler and Frozen Mallet. Can also be referred to as Atmallet.
Focus - To assault a specific target, normally one of strategic value (usually not the tank).
Fog of War - The darkened area in the map which is out of the vision range of allied champions, minions and structures.
FoN - Force of Nature
FotM - Flavor of the Month: a champion that is suddenly being played by many people.
Fountain - The starting position of the champions when the match begins, where they can regenerate health and mana, and where they will respawn after they die.
Fid, Fiddle - Fiddlesticks

G

GA - Guardian Angel
Gank - To ambush one or more unsuspecting enemies with one or more champions.
Gary - Garrison
GG - Good Game
GJ - Good Job
GL - Good Luck
glhf - Good Luck, Have Fun
Glass Cannon - A champion that is high in damage but low in defenses (e.g. Annie). This mainly refers to a particular item build, as any champion can become high in defense through defensive items.
Global - An ability that can strike anywhere on the map (e.g. Cannon Barrage).
Glyph - A type of runes which primarily boosts various magical stats.
Golem - Ancient Golem, which grants the Crest of the Ancient Golem (aka Blue Buff) after being slain.
Gold - The currency used to buy items.
GP - Gangplank
GP5 or GP10 - Items/masteries/runes that generate extra gold over time, usually per 10 seconds.
Grag - Gragas

H

Harass - To put pressure on an enemy champion, most commonly by causing small amount of damage to them without the risk to be retaliated.
Hat - Rabadon's Deathcap
Heca - Hecarim
Heim or Heimer - Heimerdinger
Hero - The equivalent term for "champion" in other MOBA games.
HF - Have Fun
HP - Health Points
HPS - Healing Per Second
HP5 - Health Regeneration per 5 seconds

I

IE - Infinity Edge
Ignite - Ignite
Inc or Incoming - Used to warn a player that one or more champs are heading their way in an attempt to gank. This is unlike MIA, which does not give a definite indication of the missing enemy champion's direction.
Inhib - Inhibitor: a structure that prevents the enemy's super minions from being spawned.
Initiate - A champion performing an action which signals allied champions to begin the battle. The Initiator may act as bait and take major damage from the enemy in order to protect their allies from taking major damage.
IP - Influence Points
Ire - Irelia

J

J4 - Jarvan IV
Jack or JitB - Jack In The Box
Juke - The act of tricking the enemy pursuer(s) into chasing the wrong way, which is most often accomplished by utilizing the brush and/or the fog of war to break the enemy's line of sight.
Jungle - The spaces populated by neutral monsters between the lanes.
Jungler - A champion who forgoes fighting in a lane in order to obtain experience and gold from killing creeps in the jungle.
Jungling - To kill monsters in the jungle.

K

Kamikaze - A suicidal attempt to destroy/kill a target under an extremely unfavorable situation.
Kass - Kassadin
Kat / Kata - Katarina
Kha / Khaz - Kha'Zix
Kiter - A champion that is particularly good at kiting (e.g. Ashe).
Kiting - Continuously backing away and attacking a pursuing enemy champion in such a way that the enemy is damaged while unable to deal damage back.
Knockback - Pushing the target's position in the opposite direction of the skill user. Target cannot move or act during the knocking motion.
Knockup - Disabling the target by sending them into the air. The airbound target's horizontal position does not change.
Kog - Kog'Maw
KS - Kill Secured: preventing a severely weakened target from surviving by doing an excessive amount of damage to the target.
Kill Steal: blaming an ally for landing the finishing hit on an enemy champion who they intended to score the kill on.
Kill Streak: when a champion slays many enemy champions consecutively. The "Kill Streak" will reset when the champion is slain.

L

Lag - Slow response during the match due to high network connection latency, usually over 300 milliseconds.
Lane - The paths that allied and enemy minions follow.
Laning - Staying in the minion paths in order to push or farm.
Laning Phase - The first part of the match on Summoner's Rift and Twisted Treeline. This phase usually ends as one or two turrets are destroyed.
Last Hit - Getting the killing blow on a minion, creep, or enemy champion.
LB - LeBlanc
Leash - A tactic used to draw monster aggro, benefiting the jungler.
Leave or Leaver - Exiting the champion selection or the match before each game is finished, whether voluntarily or not. This is regulated by the Leaver Buster system.
Lee - Lee Sin
Leech - Staying within range of enemy units to gain experience points without assisting your team mates with the kills.
LOL - LoL: League of Legends
lol: Laughing out loud
LOM - Low On Mana
LW - Last Whisper

M

Mana - Mana
OFM - Out of Mana
Malph - Malphite
Mao - Maokai
Map Awareness - To be conscious of the events occurring around the map by using abilities or items (e.g. Clairvoyance or wards) which reveal the fog of war at strategic locations.
Mark - A type of runes which primarily boosts various physical stats.
Martyr - A player dies defending a capture point with an extra score reward, depends on how many enemy champions are involved in the kill.
Malz - Malzahar
Meta or
Metagame - The game's current play style, consisting of aspects such as lane setup, jungling, and team composition.
Metagolem - A tanky-dps build that (ideally) consists of Atmog's, Frozen Mallet, Trinity Force, and Mercury's Treads. The term is a portmanteau of the words "metagame" and "golem".
MF - Miss Fortune
MIA - Missing In Action: an enemy champion who was laning does not show up in the original lane which may result in recalled to base, preparing to gank the other lane and/or hiding in the brush. "MIA" is more common than other similar terms or abbreviation in the U.S. server.
Mid - Middle lane
The capture points of refinery or drill in Dominion mode.
Mid-top At the beginning of Dominion, a player declares to capture the nearest middle capture point then rushes up to top.
Minion Wave - A large accumulation of minions.
Miss - Enemy champion missing in action. "Miss" (along with "ss") is more common than "MIA" in the European server.
MK - Minion Kills
MOBA - Multiplayer Online Battle Arena: a genre of games which brings many
Mord - Mordekaiser
RPG (Role Playing Game) and RTS (Real Time Strategy) elements together.
MP5 - Mana regeneration per 5 seconds
MPen - Magic Penetration
MPS - Mana per second
MR - Magic Resistance
MS - Movement Speed
Mumu - Amumu

N

n1 - Nice one
Naut - Nautilus
Nerf - An official modification to the game mechanics which makes something less powerful, as opposed to a "buff".
Nexus - The primary structure of the match where minions are spawned from. Victory is achieved when the opposing nexus is destroyed.
NJ - Nice Job
Noc - Nocturne
Noob - Unskillful player. Similar forms include "nub" and "n00b".
Normal - Normal game
NPC - Non-Player Character
Nuke - A large amount of damage being dealt in a short time, pertaining particularly to the damage dealt by a single champion. To Burst is also a commonly used term.

O

Off Tank - A champion that has some attributes of a Tank (ability to soak damage, method for initiation, CC, etc.), but lacks in one or more areas.
OMW - On My Way
OOM - Out Of Mana
OP - Overpowered
Ori - Orianna
OTW - On The Way
Overextending - A champion moving too far into enemy territory. This can lead to them being more susceptible to ganks.

P

Party - A player can invite other players from their friend list to form a team before joining a match. If the amount of participants does not reach the maximum size of the selected match mode (3 or 5), they will be placed with solo players to fill the vacancy.
Panth - Pantheon
Path or Pathing The route that will be taken towards a destination.
PD - Phantom Dancer
Pentakill - Slaying five enemy champions within a certain length of time.
Peel - Keeping enemy champions off your carries by "peeling" the enemies off them with your body or abilities.
Pet - A non-champion, non-minion ally that may or may not be controllable that is generated by a champion's ability and fights for him on its own.
Ping - To alt/G+left-click on the mini map causing a "ping" noise and a mark on the map that your entire team can see.
The latency of player's internet connection to the game server, measured in "ms" (millisecond, 1 ms=0.001 second).
Poke - A form of harass which uses long ranged attacks to cause small to moderate damage in order to weaken an enemy, while keeping a safe position.
Position or Positioning A champion's location during a fight. Good positioning is determined by the player knowing the optimal location their champion should be at.
Pot - Potion(s), usually Health Potion.
Premade - Multiple players, who know each other, forming a team together before entering the champion selection phase.
Pro - An act of calling someone that is very talented when playing.
Proc - Programmed Random Occurrence
Purple - Purple Team: The group of players that start out at the upper-right side of Summoner's Rift, or right side of Twisted Treeline and Crystal Scar.
Push - To continue advancing forward in a lane, clearing it of minions and towers.

Q

Q - First champion ability which is bound to the "Q" key by default.
QQ - Depicts a set of crying eyes, implying that the other player is complaining. Can also refer to word "Queue"
QSS - Quicksilver Sash
Quadrakill - Slaying four enemy champions within a certain length of time.
Que - Queue: the champion selection phase before commencing the match. Currently there are Blind Pick and Draft Pick available.
Que Dodge - To leave the champion selection phase to avoid playing the match.
Quints - Quintessences, the most expensive type of runes.

R

R - Fourth champion ability (usually the ultimate ability) which is bound to the "R" key by default.
Ragequit - An incident where a player quits (leaves) the game due to in-game frustrations.
Rambo - Diving into a fight alone, usually a poor tactic.
Random - Blindly summoning a champion during the champion selection phase by clicking the "?" or "Lock In" buttons before selecting a champion. (Champion not yet bought or not free to play will not be chosen.)
Rank or Ranked - Ranked game
Razors - Madred's Razors or Madred's Bloodrazor
Rdy - Ready
re - Short for reappear, meaning an enemy champion is no longer MIA.
Recall - A universal ability to teleport back to base after an 8 second channel.
Recommended - A category of champions whose controlling difficulty is relatively low and suitable to new player of League of Legends.
The recommended items listed in the shop for shortcut purchase. Player can edit the code of recommended item manually.
Red or Red Buff - Blessing of the Lizard Elder
Rene - Renekton
Req - Requiem
Riot - The development company that created League of Legends.
River - The water crossing between lanes on the Summoner's Rift.
RoA - Rod of Ages
Rofl - Rolling on the floor laughing
Root - A debuff which prevents any movement by an enemy champion. Can also be refered to as "snare" and "immobilize".
RP - Riot Points

S

Scrub - An insult indicating that the player has a low skill level for the game.
SealA - type of runes which primarily boosts defensive or utility stats.
Shop - The location where items can be bought.
To go back to the base and buy items. Can be interchangeable with "b" or "brb".
Seju - Sejuani
Shyv - Shyvana
Silence - A debuff which prevents any activated abilities from being used by the target champion.
Skill Shot - An ability that requires aiming a projectile that could miss its target.
Skin - A different appearance for a champion that can only be obtained by spending RP.
Slow - A debuff which reduces the target's movement speed.
Snare - A debuff which prevents target champions movement. Can also be refered to as "root" and "immobilize".
Snowball - Situation that occurs when a champion or team starts building up an advantage, and as a result, becomes nearly impossible to stop.
Snowball Item - An item that grows in power as you gain kills/assists, e.g. Mejai's Soulstealer.
Solo - A champion (usually in the top lane and/or mid lane) that guards an entire lane on their own.
Solo Queue - As opposed to a "Party", a player allows the automatic matching system to assign a team for them. The player may end up joining a team completely composed of solo players, or an incomplete "Party". For the later case, solo players may need to wait longer until the "Party" teammates have finished selecting their champions.
SotD - Sword of the Divine
SotO - Sword of the Occult
Spell - Summoner spell: A battle ability which is not provided by champion but designated by player to their champion before entering the match.
Spell Vamp - Stat that allows champions to gain health when dealing damage with their abilities
Squishy - A champion that can be killed easily due to low base health points and/or defenses.
SR - Summoner's Rift
SS Enemy champion missing, shortened form of "miss". "SS" (along with "miss") is more common than "MIA" in the European server.
Stealth - An ability to conceal the user from being seen or detected by the enemies.
Steroid - An ability that increases one or more of a champion's base stats.
Stun A debuff which prevents the target champions from moving, attacking or casting abilities.
Summoner - The role given to the player as they call a champion to the field and directs them in battle.
Super - Super Minion: a stronger minion that is spawned by destroying enemy inhibitor in classic game mode. In Dominion mode, each minion wave already contains one super minion.
Support - A category of champions whose forte is to support his/her allies' performance.
Suppress or Suppression - A stronger version of the debuff stun which cannot be alleviated or actively broken out of by most methods except Quicksilver Sash.
Surrender or Surrendering - To start a vote between teammates to end the game earlier before the Nexus is destroyed by the opponent team and admit defeat.
Sustain or Sustainability - A champion's capacity for staying in a lane without having to go back to the base.
SV - Spirit Visage
Synergy - An item that benefits a particular champion without wasted stat boosts or inefficient abilities. ("Synergy" sections were removed from the item pages due to the definition being fairly subjective and cumbersome.)
How well two or more champions/players work together.

T

Tank - A champion designed to take high amounts of damage.
Tanking - To be capable of taking high amounts of damage.
Taunt - A disable which forces the target to attack the taunter.
A champion quote which can be activated by entering /t or pressing shift+2.
Team Fight - When multiple champions, from each opposing side, gather in one area to do battle.
Tenacity - A champion stat which determines the reduction of effect duration of most Crowd Control debuffs.
TF - Twisted Fate
Top - Top/upper lane
The capture point of windmill in Dominion mode.
Tower - A stationary defense structure that guards the lanes and the base. It is also commonly referred to as the Turret.
Tower Diving - To pursue an enemy champion while in range of the enemy's tower.
Tower Hugging - To stay near the tower to deter enemy champions from attacking them.
TP - Teleport or Gate
Tree - Maokai
Triple Kill - Slaying three enemy champions within a certain length of time.
Trist - Tristana
Troll - A person who causes acts of disruption to other players and to the community. These acts may include writing offensive messages or intentionally feeding the enemy. Trolls are also referred to as Griefers.
Mythical - beings originating from the Norse mythology. In League of Legends, Trundle belongs to this race.
TT - Twisted Treeline
Tryn or Trynda - Tryndamere

U

Ult or Ulti - Ultimate Ability / To tell a player to use their champion's ultimate ability.
Unique - An aura or ability that does not stack, common to item effects.
UP - Underpowered

V

Vik - Viktor
Vision Hack - An ability which allows a player to see through the fog of war, such as Twisted Fate's Destiny.
Vision Ward - A ward that allows you to see invisible units in a small area.
Vlad - Vladimir
Voli - Volibear

W

W - Second champion ability which is bound to the "W" key by default.
WA - Warmog's Armor
Ward - Items that reveal the Fog of War once placed.
Wolves - The Wolves camp in jungle
WotA - Will of the Ancients
WotD - Win of the day (IP Bonus)
WP - Well Played
Wraiths - The Wraith camp in jungle
WW - Warwick

X

Xin - Xin Zhao
XP - Experience Points

Y

Yi - Master Yi
Yor - Yorick

Z

Zil - Zilean
Zone or Zoning - Tactics that are used to prevent enemy champion(s) from gaining gold/experience.

Credits

A big thanks to Janitsu, for his Game Specific Terminology Guide!

New Comment

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(38) |

I'll update this the more things that I've found. This one is pretty common and it'd be nice to have it added.

- LDR (Lord Dominik's Regards)

(149) |

Randomly scrolling brought me here:

Quoted:

Bot - Bottom lane
The capture points of quarry or boneyard in Dominion mode.
A.I. - controlled champion

The second [*] shouldn't be there I think ("A.I.-controlled champion" is a definition of "Bot")

Quoted:

[li]SS Enemy champion missing, shortened form of "miss". "SS" (along with "miss") is more common than "MIA" in the European server.

Missing "-"

The X and Y categories have odd line wrapping.

Also missing "ADC" and "Marksman". "AD" can also be an abbreviation for "ADC".

Cheers!

(569) |

wrote:

Missing the words 'Peel' and 'Spell Vamp'

added

(4) |

Missing the words 'Peel' and 'Spell Vamp'

(2057) |

You can add those in now, Janitsu, as you're an editor :)

(569) |

E:

Exp - Experience Points

G:

Grag - Gragas

H:

Heca - Hecarim
HPS - Healing Per Second

K:

Kha / Khaz - Kha'Zix
There's "Kat" but people also use "Kata" - Katarina

M:

Malph - Malphite
Malz - Malzahar
Mord - Mordekaiser
Mumu - Amumu
Mao - Maokai
MPS - Mana Per Second

N:

Naut - Nautilus

O:

Ori - Orianna

P:

Panth - Pantheon

Q:

QQ - Can also mean "Queue"

S:

Shyv - Shyvana
Seju - Sejuani

T:

Trist - Tristana

V:

Vik - Viktor
Vlad - Vladimir
Voli - Volibear
Vision Ward - A ward that allows you to see invisible units in a small area.

W:

Wolves - The Wolves camp in jungle
Wraiths - The Wraith camp in jungle
WA - Warmog's Armor

X:

XP - Experience Points

I think you're missing these ;)

(569) |

Aww thanks guys :33

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League of Legends Terminology

Abbreviations

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Credits

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