术语

A - E

AA

遠古冰魄(Ancient Apparition)的簡稱。

AC

強襲胸甲(Assault Cuirass)的簡稱。

AM

敵法師(Anti-Mage)的簡稱。

AoE

範圍效果(Area of Effect)的簡稱。意指能夠影響指定位置周圍的效果 (例如：莉娜的 龙破斩便為一種 "AOE 技能" )。

AW

天穹守望者(Arc Warden)的簡稱。

B

建議隊伍撤退、退後(Back)。

BD

在建築仍有 偷塔保护(Backdoor Protection)的情況下嘗試攻擊建築 。

BB

鋼背獸(Bristleback)或買活(Buyback)的簡稱。

BF

狂戰斧(Battle Fury)的簡稱。

BH

賞金獵人(Bounty Hunter), or 謎團的大招, 黑洞(Black Hole)的簡稱。

Bird

通常指信使,在特定情形下則可能指鳳凰、天怒法師、維薩吉的傭獸。

BKB

黑皇杖(Black King Bar)的簡稱。

BM

獸王(Beastmaster)、酒仙(Brewmaster)、育母蜘蛛(Broodmother)、刃甲(Blade Mail)的簡稱，視情況也可能代表 "Bad Manners"。

Bot

視情況指下路或是由電腦操控的英雄。

BoT, BoTs

遠行鞋(Boots of Travel)的簡稱。

Bottle Crow

把魔瓶(Bottle)交給信使，使其帶回泉水補充。這能確保持續賴線，維持經驗及金錢收入，但運滿的魔瓶會降低30%信使移速，有可能造成隊伍負擔。

BRB

馬上回來(Be right back)的簡稱。

Break

指禁用受影響的單位的被動技能的狀態效果或是靜謐之鞋的被動技能。

BS

血魔(Bloodseeker) or 血精石(Bloodstone)，少數情況也用作 "BullShit" 一詞的縮寫。

Buff

將一有益的技能或效果放置於任意單位上，也可指某物受到強化。

Carry

一類在後期非常強大的英雄，通常需要大量的金錢來支撐。

Caster

通常指負責施放大量技能的角色，或是當前遊戲的講評。

CD

冷卻時間(Cool down)或隊長徵召(Captain's Draft)的簡稱。

Chicken or Chick

通常指動物信使。

Chieftain

上古巨神在原DotA的舊稱。

CK

混沌騎士(Chaos Knight)的簡稱，視情況也能指"Creep kill"(參見：CS及兵線控制技巧)。

CM

水晶室女(Crystal Maiden)或隊長模式(Captain's Mode)的簡稱。

Comeback

指一支隊伍在完全劣勢的情形，有組織的搶到優勢並成功翻盤。

Crow

指飛行信使，做動詞用時多半是要求升級原來的信使。

CS

Initialism for Creep Score, the amount of last hits a player has, or the amount of last hits and denies a player has. In DotA 1, typing -cs would show the player's last hits and denies count. May also refer to "creep steal", the act of stealing last hits from an allied player.

CW

Initialism for Clockwerk.

DD

Initialism for Rune of Double Damage.

Debuff

A detrimental spell of effect placed on a unit. Refers to the opposite of a buff.

Deny

Killing your allied unit, hero or building, in order to prevent an enemy from gaining the gold and experience it gives. You can manually attack your own creeps if their health is below 50%, your own towers below if they are below 10%, and heroes affected by certain DoTs. A hero can also be said to be denied if they die to neutral creeps instead of to an enemy unit.

Deward

The act of removing enemy wards, usually mostly pertaining to Observer Wards.

DGU

Initialism for "Don't give up".

Dieback

When a player dies after using their Buyback, resulting in a much longer respawn time and them unable to use it once more as it will most definitely be on cooldown.

Disable

A catch-all term referring to any spell, ability, or effect that otherwise prevents an enemy hero from moving, casting, and/or attacking, leaving them helpless for a short period of time or in general impeding their ability to act. See the main article for more information.

DK

Initialism for Dragon Knight.

DoT

Damage over Time, an applied effect that repeatedly inflicts damage at a regular interval for a specific duration. A classic example would be Venomancer's Poison Nova.

DP

Initialism for Death Prophet.

DPS

Initialism for damage per second, a measure of the damage dealt by a hero or unit over one second. Usually refers to heroes with consistent damage output over a period rather than heroes with high burst damage periodically.

Dunk

Refers to either Axe's ultimate, Culling Blade, or Earthshaker's ultimate, Echo Slam.

Durable

A hero that can take a lot of damage and abuse before dying. See the main article for more information.

Dust

Abbreviation for the item, Dust of Appearance.

Easy lane

See Safe Lane.

Egg

Refers to Phoenix' ultimate, Supernova.

Epi

Refers to Sand King's ultimate, Epicenter.

ES

Initialism for Earthshaker, Earth Spirit, or Ember Spirit.

ET

Initialism for Elder Titan.

Exp or XP

Experience, the resource used by heroes to gain levels, level skills, and otherwise increase in power over the course of a game.

ez

"Easy", typically said to mock the enemy team's lesser power.

F - J

Fade time

The amount of time it takes for a unit to become completely invisible following the activating of an invisibility effect.

Farm or Farming

The process of steadily earning gold and experience by killing lane creeps and/or neutral creeps. This tactic is often slow and tedious, but is usually necessary for Carries to reach their full potential.

FB

Initialism for First Blood.

Feed

The act of "feeding" gold and experience to the enemy team by dying repeatedly. Can be intentional or unintentional. Those who feed are called "feeders".

Flash Farming

A style of farming when you farm your lane creeps until the enemy tower and then proceed to clear neutral creep camps in quick and efficient rotations. This is often the fastest method of farming, but it also allows the enemy to farm your creeps freely by their tower and can be risky, as being near the enemy tower is often an easy gank, or the enemy might know exactly where you are clearing the camp closest to the lane tanking creeps and losing health, etc.

Flash Farming Skill/Ability

An AoE ability that facilitates flash farming by allowing a hero to quickly clear lane creeps or groups of neutrals. The classic flash farming ability is Shadow Fiend's Shadowraze which allows him to mow down wave after wave of creeps with ease. It is common to hit lane creeps below threshold and then clear them all in one shot with the flash farming ability, and then go off to check rune, kill neutrals, etc.

FF

According to DotA history, "ff" appeared on DotA-League.com (at this time it was for DotA 1), and it means "forfeit". You had to type "-ff" in the game so it can detected and recorded by the dota-league plugin and save the data to your dota-league profile. If all 5 members of one team type it the game would end. Now replaced by calling "gg" if the surrender option is enabled in a lobby.

Fog of War

Refers to the portion of the map that is dark and unseen. If you cannot see an area, then it is said to be "fogged". Most of the map is "fogged" by default, such as Roshan's lair, and the enemy base.

Fortification/Fortify

The Glyph of Fortification is the button in the bottom right hand of the screen that renders all allied buildings invulnerable for 5 seconds on a 5 minute cooldown. If a player says "don't fort", they are telling the team to save the glyph for later. Towers are "fortified" for the 5 seconds that the glyph is active.

FoW

Initialism for Fog of War.

Furion

Nature's Prophet's name in WC3 DotA. Still referenced in the game's files for the hero.

Gank

Abbreviation for Gang Kill, but over time the term has come to refer to any time a hero or group of heroes attempts to pick off an enemy hero (or enemy heroes) by surprise, but usually with superior forces (such as 2v1).

Gem

The Gem of True Sight. Most commonly means to either buy a gem, or to be careful of the enemy team as they possess a gem (especially for allied invisible heroes).

gg

"Good game". Said by either team when they are winning or losing and the match is close to ending, or when a team or a player gives up or claims victory. For example, both teams might say "gg" to congratulate each other after a hard fought match, or a team might call out "gg" after their ally abandons in an assumption that they can no longer win.

ggwp

"Good game, well played". Used in a similar fashion as "gg", but also congratulates the enemy for skillful play.

gj

"Good job", typically said to compliment an ally.

glhf

"Good luck, have fun". Usually said at the start of a game to encourage other players, or just to be courteous.

Golem

Refers to Mud Golems, Ancient Golems, or Warlock's ultimate summon through Chaotic Offering.

Guinsoo

A reference to Scythe of Vyse's full name in WC3 DotA, which in turn references one of the developers of the original DotA maps.

Hard Carry

A type of carry hero which scales incredibly well with items and requires a substantial amount of farm to be effective. Examples of this are Anti-Mage and Spectre. Hard carries are usually weaker than other semi-carry or non-carry heroes at the early-mid stages of the game, when they do not yet have their core items.

Hard Lane

The lane of either faction where the creep wave meets up furthest from the tower, making those who lane in it more susceptible to ganks (top lane for Radiant, bottom lane for Dire). See Lane.

HH

Initialism for the item Heaven's Halberd.

Hook

Refers to either Pudge's signature ability, Meat Hook, or Clockwerk's ultimate, Hookshot.

HP

Health/hit points, referring to the health a unit has.

inc

Abbreviation for "incoming", usually referring to enemy players heading to a lane to gank.

Initiation

The act of starting (initiating) a teamfight. A good initiation can catch the enemy team off-guard, possibly losing quickly to the attacking team. A hero adept at performing this is called an initiator.

Janggo

Drums of Endurance's former name in WC3 DotA.

Juking

Running and weaving around trees, fog and other obstacles in such a manner to avoid and possibly escape an enemy.

Jungling

The process of killing the neutral creeps in the woods (aka "jungle") between the lanes. Killing ancient creeps also counts as jungling, but is more often referred to as ancienting or "clearing ancients". A hero adept at jungling (be it by having summons to absorb the creeps' attacks or having good durability/self-sustain) is termed a jungler.

K - O

Kick

More commonly used to refer to Earth Spirit's Boulder Smash. May also refer to removing a player from a lobby or game or Tusk's Walrus Kick.

Kite or Kiting

See pulling. A technique where a hero gets the attention of a hostile unit to draw them away or force them to follow. Can also be used to refer to a period of repeated hit-and-run attacks where the target is kept out of range.

KotL

Initialism for Ezalor, the Keeper of the Light.

KS

Either means "kill steal" or, usually jokingly, "kill secure". Firstly, it refers to the act of one hero stealing the kill of another hero that could have easily taken it themselves. Secondly, it refers to when another hero "secures" the kill if the carry or another hero could not do so themselves. The latter meaning is also sometimes interchangeably used with the former meaning in a satirical or comedic way.

LC

Initialism for Legion Commander.

Leoric

Wraith King's name in WC3 Dota.

Long lane

See Hard Lane.

Lothar's or Lothar's Edge

Shadow Blade's name in WC3 DotA.

LS

Initialism for Lifestealer.

LSA

Initialism for Lina's ability, Light Strike Array.

Meatball

Refers to Invoker's Chaos Meteor.

Micro

Micromanagement. Refers to (effective) control and usage of multiple units, items, and abilities in quick succession. Bad micromanagement can result in the many units becoming a hindrance or a liability rather than an asset or ability combos being wasted and/or used in the wrong situations, while a good one can easily overpower an enemy in seconds. Meepo, Invoker, and Chen are good examples of heroes who require good "micro".

Mid/Middle

The middle of the three lanes in the map.

Miss, Missing or MIA

Mentions that a particular hero has gone absent (missing) from their lane, and is probably setting up for a gank. Warning missing enemy heroes is crucial to warn your allies of a possible ambush in any of the lanes. "MIA" is an acronym for "Missing In Action".

MK

Initialism for Monkey King.

MKB

Initialism for Monkey King Bar.

MP

Mana points, referring to the amount of mana a unit has.

MS

Initialism for Movement Speed, or sometimes "missing".

Mute

Refers either to the effect that prevents item usage, or blocking any means of communication from a player in the game to avoid harassment.

N'aix Bomb

Refers to when Lifestealer uses his ultimate, Infest, on an allied hero, preferably one with high mobility or with a Blink Dagger (and perhaps a disable), so that Lifestealer bursts out of his ally upon arrival, dealing additional damage and having two heroes down their target.

Necro

May refer to Necrophos or the Necronomicon. Rarely used to refer to Visage, the Bound Form of Necro'lic.

Nerubian/Nerub

Refers to Nyx Assassin and Weaver's former titles in WC3 DotA (the Nerubian Assassin and Nerubian Weaver, respectively).

nj

"Nice job", analogous to gj.

NP

Initialism for Nature's Prophet or "no problem".

Nuke

A spell whose purpose is to deal a large amount of damage immediately or in a very short span of time. Heroes adept at nuking are referred to as nukers.

OC

Initialism for Octarine Core.

OD

Initialism for Outworld Destroyer.

Offlane

See Hard Lane.

Offlaner

A hero sent down to the offlane/hard lane, usually on their own. These heroes usually have good escape abilities or are naturally durable to withstand being alone and facing usually two enemy heroes (and being more vulnerable to ganks).

Omni

Refers to Omniknight or Juggernaut's ultimate, Omnislash.

OoM

Initialism for "out of mana".

OoV

Initialism for Orb of Venom.

Orb effect

The name used for unique attack modifiers in WC3 DotA.

Orb walk

Using your orb effect (aka autocast) ability, i.e. Frost Arrows, Searing Arrows, to harass the enemy while moving forward to gain distance on the target and also preventing enemy creep aggro.

P - T

P

Abbreviation for "push" or "pause". Players saying "p" means they are either suggesting the team to push an enemy lane or asking for a pause.

PA

Initialism for Phantom Assassin.

Panda/Pandaren

Brewmaster's former title in WC3 DotA.

Pet

A creature that a hero can summon or convert to their side. For example, the Eidolons are Enigma's pets. Could also refer to the cosmetic pets that follow your hero in-game.

Pit Lord

Underlord's former title in WC3 DotA.

PL

Initialism for Phantom Lancer.

PP

Initialism for "pause please".

PotM

Initialism for Mirana, the Princess of the Moon.

Proc

Short for "Programmed Random Occurence". It refers to the triggering of effects, whether the occurence is random (such as Wraith King's critical strikes on attack) or regular (such as Bristleback's quill spray every 250 damage he takes). When these effects trigger or "process", they are said to "proc". The rate of occurence for random effects is termed the "Proc rate".

Pull or Pulling

A technique where a hero gets the attention of a hostile unit to draw them away or force them to follow. This more usually refers to "creep pulling", which involves pulling lane creeps away from their lane by aggroing nearby creep camps into the chosen lane, which attracts the lane creeps and forces them to fight the aggroed creep camp for some time, which in turn makes the enemy creeps push forward, closer to the player's tower, letting them (or their carry) gain gold and experience underneath the safety of their tower.

QoP

Initialism for Queen of Pain.

Rat

A strategy in which heroes avoid 5-man teamfights, and focus on pushing other lanes instead.

Rax

兵營的簡稱。

Recrow

To reuse the courier after it has finished performing one of its deliveries/tasks. Since the courier can only perform one task for one player at a time, this is mentioned to remind/alert other players that the courier is now free to use.

Reuse

See recrow, usually mentioned by Southeast Asian players.

Ricer

Hardcore farmer whose main goal is to be extremely strengthened by the time they come out of their farming.

RNG

Random Number Generation, referring to the proc chance of abilities and items such as Bash or Evasion.

Ro3

See Roshan, usually mentioned by Chinese players.

Roamer

A hero that jumps between lanes, especially in the early game, in order to gank enemy heroes or defend allies.

Rock

May refer to Warlock's ultimate: Chaotic Offering, Earth Spirit's Stone Remnants, the Ancient Rock and Granite Golems, or the Mud Golem's ability: Hurl Boulder.

Roshan or Rosh

Roshan is a difficult-to-kill neutral creep that drops the Aegis of the Immortal when killed (or Cheese on his second death and afterward). Spawns at the beginning of the game, respawns 8-11 minutes after he is killed.

RP

Magnus' ultimate, Reverse Polarity.

Safe lane

The lane of either faction, where the creep wave meets closest to the tower, making farming easier and less risky for those in the lane (bottom lane for Radiant, top lane for Dire). See Lane.

SB

Initialism for Spirit Breaker or Shadow Blade.

Scepter

Mostly refers to Aghanim's Scepter, although can also refer to Eul's Scepter of Divinity.

SD

Initialism for Shadow Demon or "self denial" (see suicide).

SF

Initialism for Shadow Fiend.

Sheepstick

Refers to the Scythe of Vyse, since back in WC3 DotA, it actually turned the target into a sheep (unlike in Dota 2, where the hex model is a pig).

Short lane

See Safe Lane.

Silence

The effect of preventing a unit from casting spells, but can still allows item usage and passive abilities are unaffected. See the main article for more information.

SK

Initialism for Sand King. May also refer to Wraith King in reference to his former title, Skeleton King, or Terrorblade, in reference to his former title Soul Keeper.

Skillshot

An ability that requires proper aim and timing to hit an enemy. Some examples would be Sacred Arrow and Powershot.

Smoke

Refers to either Smoke of Deceit, or Riki's ability Smoke Screen.

Snowball

The situation where a hero or team just gets stronger as the games goes on (usually through getting kills) to the point where it is very difficult to stop them, much like a snowball rolling down a hill getting bigger.

SnY

Initialism for Sange and Yasha.

Solo

Being the only hero on the lane. A player may call for "solo" to prevent other players from interrupting their lane and splitting experience and gold.

Soul Keeper

Terrorblade's former title in WC3 DotA.

Squishy

A hero that can only take relatively little damage or abuse before dying.

SS

See missing. Mentions that a particular hero has gone missing and is probably setting up for a gank, e.g. "Earthshaker ss" means that Earthshaker isn't visible to the team. Also refers to the ultimate of a hero ("special/super skill"), usually mentioned by Southeast Asian players. May also refer to Storm Spirit, Shadow Shaman or Sun Strike.

Stacking

May also be referred to as "creep stacking", it is a technique where a creep camp is aggroed at a certain time before neutral spawning, pulling them away from their camp's area and allowing a new set of creeps to spawn. This can be done multiple times, usually up to three at maximum, then letting their team's carry farm the stacked creeps for a massive gold and experience gain.

Static Farming

A sub-type of farming where you aim to only kill enemy lane creeps when they have low health and deny the allied lane creeps whenever possible, with the goal of maintaining an equilibrium of the lane creeps in a safe position. This is often a slower method of farming, but allows you to farm safely with little risk of dying to a gank.

Stygian

References the Desolator's former full name in WC3 DotA.

Suicide

The act of killing oneself to deny the enemy of gold and experience. May also directly refer to Techies' ability Blast Off! (formerly Suicide Squad, Attack!), or Bloodstone's active ability.

Suicide lane

See Hard Lane.

Summoner

A hero whose primary function is summoning or controlling pets.

Support

A hero whose primary function is to help their own team through heals, buffs, and detection, or sabotaging the enemy team through disables, slows, or debuffs.

TA

Initialism for Templar Assassin.

Tank

See Durable.

Tauren Chieftain (or simply Tauren)

Elder Titan's former title in WC3 DotA.

TB

Initialism for Terrorblade.

Teamwipe

The act of an entire team dying at once.

Throw

The act of giving a supreme advantage to the supposedly losing team, letting them win the match instead. This can be intentional or unintentional.

Throne

See Ancient. Remnant of WC3 DOTA in which the Scourge's (Dire) Ancient is using the Frozen Throne model.

Top

Refers to the top lane of the map. For the Radiant, this is the lane to the North. For the Dire, this is the lane to the West.

TP

Initialism for Teleport or Town Portal Scroll.

True Sight

Anything invisible caught in the radius of a True Sight source gets revealed. Towers, a Gem of True Sight, Sentry Wards, Dust of Appearance, and some abilities of certain heroes (such as Slardar's Amplify Damage and Zeus' Lightning Bolt) all provide True Sight. See the main article for more information.

Turnaround

The act of a team facing the enemy in a situation where they might be expected to run, such as when a team initiates on the other. Instead of running away, they try to turn the battle around and fight back, possibly even winning the battle themselves.

U - Z

UAM

Initialism for unique attack modifier.

Ult or Ulti

Abbreviation for Ultimate.

Veno

Abbreviation for Venomancer. Rarely used to refer to Orb of Venom.

VS

Initialism for Vengeful Spirit. Less commonly used to mean "versus".

Wards

Items that can be placed almost anywhere on the map and provide vision around the location for a few minutes. May also refer to the unit type of the same name.

WD

Initialism for Witch Doctor.

Well

The fountain from either team. Derived from its name in WC3 DotA, "Well of Eternity". May also refer to Shrines.

Wipe

See teamwipe.

WK

Initialism for Wraith King.

wp

"Well Played". Usually said by either teams when they are winning or losing and the match is either about to end or when a player did something skillful. Usually paired up with "gg".

WR

Initialism for Windranger.

WW

Initialism for Winter Wyvern. It also may refer to "Wind Walk" abilities, which is derived from the common DotA name of the invisibility spells of Bounty Hunter, Clinkz, Shadow Blade and Storm, and the invisibility spells of Nyx Assassin and Invoker (which already had unique names in DotA). All 6 of them are based on the Warcraft 3 spell named "Wind Walk".

Zoning

The act of harassing an enemy hero away from the creep zone in order to prevent them from gaining experience.