Last week, I talked about Ranked Anxiety. This week, I will discuss League of Legends terms and jargon.
Many people have been asking me what the different terms in League of Legends mean. When I first started playing, I had no idea what these things meant. I considered doing an article with the most common League of Legends terms and their definitions. For a complete reference, you can check this page on LoL Wikipedia.
Here’s a list of the terms that I’ve already made articles about:
- Objectives: The Key to Winning Games
- Trading: Winning the Exchange
- Last Hitting: How to CS
- Ganking: When, Where, and How to Gank
Now it’s time to get on to the main list!
- AA (Auto Attack) — A champion’s default attack is activated by right-clicking on a valid target.
- AoE (Area of Effect) — It is the total area where an ability or many abilities take effect. (e.g. Annie’s Incinerate, Nasus’ Spirit Fire, Xerath’s Eye of Destruction)
- B (Back) — The act of retreating in the general direction of your base or away from the enemy. It can also mean the Recall spell, which is bound to “B” by default.
- Bait — A tactic to act weak to lure the enemy into a trap.
- BD (Backdoor) —Attacking the enemy team’s Nexus while most focus elsewhere.
- Burst — The act of doing a large amount of damage quickly. It is also called Nuke.
- CC (Crowd Control) — A category of status effects that limit movement or actions. (e.g. Nasus’ Wither)
- Collapse — A coordinated attack performed by converging towards the enemy team.
- CS (Creep Score) — The total amount of minions you have managed to last hit.
- DoT (Damage over Time) — Persistent damage done over a few seconds, in intervals/ticks. (e.g. Malzahar’s Malefic Visions, Rumble’s Flamespitter, Ignite)
- DPS (Damage Per Second) — A measure of how much damage a champion or team can do each second.
- Face Check — A champion walks into a brush to see if an enemy champion hides in there. Due to the potential risks of this action, this is discouraged.
- Farm — The act of seeking out and killing minions for experience and gold.
- Feed — The act of dying often to the enemy team, giving them gold and experience.
- Freezing — The act of farming a lane by only last-hitting minions.
- Ganking — The act of ambushing unsuspecting enemies. A Support or a Jungler usually does this.
- Invade — Entering the enemy’s territory, particularly their jungle.
- Juke — The act of feinting an enemy in the wrong direction, usually done by breaking the line of sight.
- Kite — The act of maintaining a safe distance from a pursuing target. This makes the enemy have a hard time retaliating.
- KS (Kill Steal) — An ally who contributed less to killing the enemy and delivering the final blow.
- Meta/Metagame — The game’s current most effective playstyle. This consists of aspects such as lane setup, jungling, and team composition.
- MMR (Match Making Rating) — A hidden rating that determines your skill level.
- Overextending — A situation where a champion is moving too far in lane/enemy territory. This might open them up to sudden engagement.
- Objectives — A valuable monster or structure whose acquisition goes towards winning the match. (e.g. Turrets, Rift Herald, Dragons, Baron Nashor)
- Peeling — Using Crowd Control abilities to stop enemy champions from attacking an allied champion.
- Poke — Using long-ranged attacks to cause minor to moderate damage to weaken an enemy. It is usually done while keeping a safe position.
- Proc — The activation of an item’s/ability’s effect.
- Proxy — A high-risk, high-reward strategy. This involves farming enemy minions between the enemy turrets. Doing so prevents the opposing laner from pushing or farming.
- Push — The act of advancing in a lane, clearing it of minions and towers.
- Smurf — A secondary account of a lower level or rank than a player’s primary account.
- Split Pushing — Continuously advancing in one lane while teammates are focused elsewhere.
- Snowball — A situation that occurs when a champion or team gains an advantage that allows them to grow stronger progressively.
- Trading — A situation where players from each side deal equal injury to each other during a confrontation.
- Ult — A term that references a champion’s ultimate ability. You would unlock these ones when your champion hits level 6 (with a few exceptions).
- Wave — A term used to refer to a group of minions. (e.g. A wave of minions spawns every 30 seconds)
- Zoning — A tactic used to prevent enemy champion(s) from gaining gold/experience.
That’s all for now! I hope you learned something from this article. Good luck on the Rift!
