Like any insular community, it can be difficult to get into League of Legends. Riot has been trying to open up the community for awhile, to lessen the nasty reputation that League has with inter-player conflict.
However, one of the other issues that can make a new player feel unwelcome is the amount of lingo that more seasoned players throw around easily. Here’s a quick throw down of some necessary/common terms:
Note: Not all of these are specific to League of Legends, but rather to online multiplayer games in general. They still pop up in chat and are commonly used in my personal experience.
Game Modes
ARAM: ARAM is an in-game abbreviation that gets tossed around a lot. It means “All Random, All Mid.” It is exactly what it sounds like. You are assigned a random character and you must battle out over a single lane. In many ways it’s similar to other forms of League matchups, but it is decidedly different overall in tone, etc.
All for One/One for All: Though this now appears to be a defunct game type, it might someday return. In One for All, your team plays all one character against another team that is all one character. It’s an interesting mash-up, but incredibly unbalanced.
Rift: Summoners Rift is the map used for 5v5 matches, and occasionally players will call those 5v5 matches “Rift.”
Dominion: A 5v5 format on the Crystal Scar map, Dominion is a form of fast paced League play featuring capture and hold mechanics.
Riot Store
IP: IP stands for Influence Points. These are gained by playing games and are one of the two in-game currencies. These can be used to purchase Champions in the Riot shop.
RP: RP stands for Riot Points. These are the in-game currency that must be purchased with real money, and these can be used to buy anything in the Riot Shop.
Character Classifications
AD: Stands for Attack Damage, which is the physical damage of an auto attack ability.
AD Carry: Attack Damage Carry, or a champion that deals a large amount of attack damage.
Jungler: A jungler is a champion that does not stick with an assigned lane and instead stays in the jungle for experience and to aid in other lanes.
Support: A class of character whose abilities exist to support his/her allies.
Carry: An initially weaker character that as the game progresses becomes significantly stronger.
AP: Stands for Ability Power, which is a stat that increases the effectiveness of champion abilities.
General Terms
MOBA: Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, League of Legends is a MOBA.
Lane: Different maps have different types of lanes, including ARAM which features a single mid lane, Twisted Treeline which has a top and bottom, and Summoners Rift which has a top, middle and bottom lane. To be laning, you need to be responsible for your specific lane.
AFK: Common courtesy term. It means Away from Keyboard, and just means that you’re not going to be at your computer for a minute.
Auto Attack: The basic attack/default move that your character performs when you right click.
Minions: Automatic units that plunge, never ceasing, towards the enemies base.
Tower: Common term for the gun turrets that act as the defensive perimeter for either side of the map.
Babysit: Sometimes a bad thing, sometimes not. If a weaker champion needs assistance, sometimes they can be babysat by another champ. A good jungler will sometimes babysit a lane while another champ is away from their lane to stop minions from pushing the tower.
Assist: When you help hit the enemy that another teammate, minion or turret eventually takes down, you get an assist. Some champion types show their worth better in assists than kills.
Champions: In game characters are known as Champions.
Summoners: You are the summoner who has cast out his or her preferred champions.
Teamfight: Where multiple members of one team go up against multiple members of another team. It’s a common thing to see late game.
Fed: When a champ or bot gets overly powerful because of the amount of kills they have received from killing enemy champions.
KS: Kill Steal. It means taking the last hit on a champion that a fellow team-mate was intending on killing.
Gank: An ambush against an unsuspecting enemy player.
B: Like most single letter commands in chat, B stands for an actual keystroke command that allows you to teleport back to the base.
CC: It means Crowd Control, and is often used to describe containing and controlling minions.
Baron: The strongest monster in Summoner’s Rift, Baron Nasher. The Baron is in the jungle in the Rift map, and killing him results in acquiring the Red Buff (Exalted with Baron Nashor) that will grant the living champions of that team increased attack damage, ability power, health and mana regeneration.
Buffs: There are two primary buffs in the game, red and blue. These jungle kills result in an added, temporary benefit to the champion or team that kills them.
Ace: When the entire enemy team is taken out, that team has been “aced.” This means that, at least for a brief period of time, the opposing team is the only one on the field.
CS: An adapted Dota 2 term, CS stands for creep score. It’s the number of minions you’ve killed.
Last Hits: Gold is awarded in League of Legends when you “last hit” an enemy. The last person to strike the minion, champ, etc is rewarded with the kill.
Top/Bot/Mid: This is just a quick short hand for denoting which lane you are in or plan on being in. Top is the one of the top of the screen, bot on the bottom, and mid is the one running down the middle of the screen. Some maps (Twisted Treeline
GG: Good game. Unless you’ve had a really, truly awful experience, you should always say GG at the end of a game. It’s just polite.
Did I miss any terms? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.
