Game Dictionary: League of Legends

Abbreviations

AA - auto attack, the right-click your champion does to opponenets

ADC - attack damage carry, a champion in the bottom lane, used generally for any bot laner although technically different to a mage / ability power carry (APC)

AoE - area of effect, where an ability can have an impact

AP - ability power, the strength of a champion's abilities

CC - crowd control, managing the waves of minions and champions in a teamfight

CD - cooldown, when you use an ability, time must pass before you can use it again

CDR - cooldown reduction, allowing you to reduce the time between using the same ability again

CS - creep score (minions killed)

DPS - damage per second, there is also the separate DoT for damage over time

ER - Essence Reaver, an item that provides +70 attack damage, +25% critical strike chance and +20% cooldown reduction

GG - good game, said at the end of matches

IAS - increased attack speed

IE - Infinity Edge, an item that grants +80 attack damage+25% critical strike chance and an increase in critical strike damage by 25%

KS - kill steal, overused phrase for when a champion is set to get the kill but another champion 'takes' it

MR - magic resist, the equivalent of armor but for magical attacks

MS - movement speed (not to be confused with ms in the top right corner)

TP - Teleport, a summoner spell you can bind to D or F by default that allows you to send your champion to an allied structure or champion quickly

VGU - visual and gameplay update, another way of describing a rework with significant changes

VO - voiceover, champions often deliver voice lines as they are played

Terms

Ace - when a whole team of five champions is killed by the opposing team

Ban - in modes with a draft, each team member can ban a champion that prevents it from being picked by allies or enemies

Baron - Baron Nashor is a huge and powerful monster in the jungle that first spawns at 20 minutes and gives the Hand of Baron buff to the team that kills it

Baron Pit - the area in which Baron Nashor and the Rift Herald spawn

Blue Buff - the Crest of Insight buff is given to the champion that kills the large Blue Sentinel in jungle

Brush - the tall grass in which champions and wards turn invisible

Camp - where monsters spawn, these are set areas in every game so are known before the start

Chickens - the Raptors are the bird-like creatures that spawn in the jungle

Counter - champions that are a strong matchup against their opponenet, counter picks often give you a better chance of winning through kit alone

Damage - three types of damage can be dealt - physical damage, magic damage and true damage - with the latter ignoring armor and resistance items/stats

Dive - going under a turret to engage with and kill a champion knowing you will take significant damage

Dragon - in the bottom right of Summoner's Rift, different elemental drakes spawn here that provide different buffs when killed

Elder Dragon - a strong monster that spawns 35 minutes into the game and when killed, grants the Aspect of the Dragon buff

Engage - the act of entering into a fight with disengaging being the opposite

Farm - gaining gold and exp from minions and monsters

Fed - a champion that earns many kills and levels up above opponents is 'fed'. Dying multiple times to another champion, this can be described as 'feeding'

Focus - usually followed by a champion name, this means the team should seek to eliminate that champion to give a higher chance of winning a fight

Fog of War - the dark areas of the map over which players do not have vision

Gank - a surprise attack that seeks to ambush and eliminate an enemy champion, often the junglers who have the most freedom to gank all three lanes

Herald - the Rift Herald is a large and strong monster that spawns once a game at 9:50 and drops the Eye of the Herald when killed

Kit - the set passive and abilities a champion possesses

Kite - staying out of range of enemies while attacking them and keeping them in place through slows, stuns or other CC

Last hit - the last hit is the killing blow to enemy champions, minions or mobs. This determines who receives gold or buffs in the case of the jungle monsters

Mana - the resource many champions have that allows them to use abilities that cost a portion of it to cast

Minions - the small mobs that walk down each of the lanes

Monsters - also referred to as 'neutrals' or 'mobs', these are the enemies that appear in the jungle such as the raptors and wolves

Peel - a means of enabling an ADC, peeling is preventing your carry from taking damage using CC

Penta - similar to an 'ace' when all enemies are wiped out, a penta is when one champion kills the five enemy champions personally

Pick - draft mode allows you to select, or pick, a champion

Poke - small damage to reduce enemy HP without seeking a kill

Pre - short for 'premade', used in lobbies by players to state they are queued with others in the lobby

Proc - short for Programmed Random Occurence, this term is borrowed from World of Warcraft to mean an ability/item that has an extra effect that can be activated

Push - leaving your lane or jungle to make progress in a lane as a team together to bring down a tower

Red Buff - the Crest of Cinders buff is given to the champion that kills the large Red Brambleback in jungle

Roam - not sticking to one area/lane on the map

Rocks - the Krugs are the rock-like monsters in the jungle that split into smaller versions of themselves when first killed

Root - similar to a stun, this debuff stops champions moving and roots them to the spot

Runes - special customisation that can tweak how a champion plays such as providing shields when hit or earning extra gold, this is explained in detail below in a YouTube video by Snow Fox

Silence - this debuff prevents a champion from activating their abilities

Smite - a summoner spell all junglers should have, this enables high damage to neutrals and bosses in the jungle

Smurf - someone who is using a low level or low rank account while their main account is of higher level and rank

Split Push - this involves the team pushing a lane while a teammate tries to make progress elsewhere while the opponent is distracted

Squishy - a champion that is easy to kill due to low HP on their side or high damage on the other side

Tank - strong durable champions who are capable of taking significant amounts of damage

Tower / Turret - the tall structures to attack and defend in each lane

Trade - an enemy champion kills you or another ally and is then killed

Ward - a unit that can be placed to grant vision in an area and come in multiple forms

Wave - the crowd of minions is commonly referred to as a wave

Ult - R for all champions is an ultimate, a special ability that allows for a powerful attack, buffs, transformations or other significant changes

Zoning - keeping a champion out of range for their attacks to land