League of Legends has its own language. Lane assignments, ability interactions, and map calls all get compressed into shorthand that experienced players use without thinking. If you're new, returning after a break, or just tired of nodding along when teammates type something you don't understand, this is the reference.
This guide covers the essential terms organized into five categories: stats and damage mechanics, macro strategy, champion roles, in-game chat abbreviations, and ranked concepts. Each entry gives you a clear definition and enough context to use the term correctly.
You don't need to memorize all of these before your next game. Scan the categories, pick the ones relevant to your role, and come back when new ones come up.
Stats and Damage: Key League of Legends Mechanics
These terms describe how champion stats and debuffs interact with damage. Understanding them makes item purchases and fight decisions make sense instead of feeling arbitrary.
AD (Attack Damage)
AD is the stat that powers basic attacks and physical-damage abilities. A basic attack deals 100% of your total AD as physical damage before mitigation. That damage is then reduced by armor through a single formula: post-mitigation damage equals raw damage times 100 divided by (100 plus armor). 100 armor halves your physical damage; 200 armor cuts it to a third. Marksmen, AD assassins, bruisers, and AD casters all scale with this stat. Items split into base-AD scalers (Trinity Force, Sheen, Sterak's) and bonus-AD stackers (Bloodthirster, Black Cleaver). Lethality and armor penetration interact with the same armor curve to amplify burst against squishy targets.
Full breakdown of AD, items, and the armor formula →
AP (Ability Power)
AP is the stat that scales magic-damage abilities, heals, and shields. Each ability has an AP ratio that determines how much of your AP gets added to its effect. AP is countered by magic resist using the same formula AD uses against armor: post-mitigation damage equals raw times 100 divided by (100 plus MR). Mages, support enchanters, and AP assassins build it. Rabadon's Deathcap is the unique amplifier, multiplying total AP by a percentage, which makes it strongest as a third or fourth item.
How AP scales, MR math, and item timing →
Attack Speed (AS)
Attack speed is how many basic attacks per second you throw. It is a multiplier on your champion's base attack speed and is hard-capped at 3.003 attacks per second for most champions (Jhin and Graves have unique caps that prevent them from reaching it; Bel'Veth can far exceed it). AS multiplies the value of every other auto-attack stat: AD, crit chance, life steal, and on-hit effects all scale linearly with how often you attack. ADCs, on-hit fighters, and split-pushing duelists prioritize stacking it.
Attack speed formula, 3.003 cap explained, and every AS item by role →
Armor
Armor is the defensive stat that reduces incoming physical damage. The formula is: post-mitigation damage = raw damage × 100 / (100 + armor). 100 armor cuts physical damage in half; 200 armor reduces it by 66.6%. Each point of armor adds 1% effective HP against physical damage with no diminishing returns, and armor multiplies with HP so that both stats scale better together than either does alone. Tanks build directly toward armor (Thornmail, Frozen Heart, Randuin's Omen); ADCs and mages rely on base growth plus Plated Steelcaps or Zhonya's Hourglass when targeted by AD threats.
Armor in LoL: formula, items, and when to build →
Lethality
Lethality is a stat that ignores a flat amount of the target's armor when calculating your physical damage. Each point of lethality removes one point of effective armor from the target, but it cannot push effective armor below zero. It works best against low-armor targets: 18 lethality on a mage with 30 total armor removes more than half their armor value, but the same 18 lethality on a tank with 200 armor barely registers. Assassins and AD casters build it specifically to burst squishy carries.
How lethality math actually works against armor →
Magic Resist (MR)
Magic resistance reduces incoming magic damage by a percentage. 100 MR cuts magic damage in half. 200 MR reduces it by 66.6%. MR stacks additively with no diminishing returns — every additional point adds 1% more to your effective health pool against magic sources. Build MR items (Kaenic Rookern, Spirit Visage, Force of Nature, Banshee's Veil) when the enemy team is heavy on AP damage.
Magic Resist in LoL: formula, items, and when to build →
Ability Haste
Ability Haste reduces how long you wait between ability casts by increasing your casting rate linearly. The formula is CDR% = AH / (100 + AH): 50 AH equals about 33% cooldown reduction, and 100 AH equals 50%. Ability Haste replaced Cooldown Reduction (CDR) in preseason 2021 because CDR had diminishing returns and a hard 40% cap. AH has no practical cap and every additional point provides the same casting-rate benefit, giving more build flexibility.
The full Ability Haste formula explained →
CC (Crowd Control)
Crowd control is any effect that limits an enemy's ability to move, attack, or cast abilities. Soft CC (slows, silences, blinds) reduces effectiveness without fully stopping a target. Hard CC (stuns, knockups, suppressions, airborne) prevents all action for its duration. Hard CC chains define teamfights: landing a knockup into a stun into a root is how teams convert from "we're even" to "fight over." Supports and engage tanks are the primary CC sources on most teams.
Hard vs. soft CC, every type, and how to counter it →
Tenacity
Tenacity reduces the duration of crowd control on you (stuns, slows, roots, silences) without changing its strength. 30% Tenacity turns a 2-second stun into a 1.4-second stun. Tenacity stacks multiplicatively, so two 30% sources give 51% reduction, not 60%. Sources include Mercury's Treads, Mikael's Blessing, Sterak's Gage, and the Unflinching rune; champions like Olaf and Garen have built-in tenacity in their kits. Suppressions (Warwick R, Malzahar R) and airborne effects ignore tenacity entirely — those need Cleanse or Quicksilver Sash to break.
How tenacity stacks (and what it can't reduce) →
Grievous Wounds
Grievous Wounds is a debuff that reduces all incoming healing and health regeneration received by 40%. It applies through items (Morellonomicon, Thornmail, Mortal Reminder, Executioner's Calling), the summoner spell Ignite, and a handful of champion abilities (Katarina R, Varus E, Singed Q while ulting). GW does not affect shields; shields add temporary health and are a separate system. To counter a healing champion like Soraka, apply GW to the champion being healed, not to Soraka herself.
Every source of Grievous Wounds and how to apply it →
Macro Strategy Lingo: Wave Management, Map Plays, and Objectives
These are the strategy terms you hear in coaching content and VOD reviews. Most of them describe how to use minion waves and map positioning to generate advantages even when you're not in a fight.
CS (Creep Score)
CS stands for Creep Score: the number of enemy minions and neutral monsters you've killed. Every minion gives gold (~20 each on average) and XP, so CS is the foundation of laning income. A standard cannon-included wave is six minions worth roughly 110 gold; missing five waves over ten minutes is the cost of a Long Sword. CS is also the input for almost every laning decision: how to trade (preserve last-hits), when to recall (after a wave crashes so the bounce resets), and whether to roam (only after shoving so you don't bleed CS while away).
Why every CS matters: the gold math →
Wave Management
Wave management is the deliberate control of your minion wave: pushing it, holding it near your tower, or building it into a large crash. There are three wave states (freeze, slow push, fast push), and switching between them is the foundation of laning strategy. Poor wave management means leaking CS, missing roam windows, and giving your opponent free turret pressure. Every role that starts in a lane needs to understand all three states.
Master all three wave states →
Freeze
A freeze holds the minion wave just outside your own turret range, denying your opponent CS without letting them stand safely under your tower to farm. To maintain a freeze, you need slightly more enemy minions alive than your own at the wave line, so your side stays disadvantaged and the wave doesn't advance. The payoff: opponents must overextend into dangerous territory to get any gold, setting up kills or gank opportunities. Top lane is the most effective lane to freeze because its length gives more time to maintain the balance.
How to freeze a lane (step by step) →
Slow Push
A slow push builds a large minion wave by damaging enemy minions slowly enough that successive ally waves pile on before the wave crashes. The result is a super-sized crash that the enemy turret and laner must deal with, giving you a window to recall or roam. The slow push works best when timed around cannon waves, which add a durable minion that turrets prioritize first while the rest of the wave deals structure damage freely.
How to build a slow push (and when not to) →
Fast Push / Shove
A fast push clears the enemy wave as quickly as possible, sending your minions into the enemy turret in one sweep. Also called a shove. Once your wave crashes, a brief window opens to recall, roam, or contest an objective before the bounced wave returns and costs you CS. The value of a fast push comes entirely from what you do with that window. If you shove and stand still, you accomplish nothing while your opponent gets a free recall instead.
When and how to shove the wave →
Roaming
Roaming is when a laner leaves their lane to apply pressure elsewhere on the map. Mid-laners roam most frequently because their central position gives the shortest path to both sides of the map. Supports roam to mid when the bot lane is stable. The prerequisite is always the same: shove or slow-push your wave first so you don't bleed CS while away. A good roam that converts to a kill or summoner spell is worth several waves of missed CS.
Why roaming isn't the same as ganking →
Split Push
Split pushing means applying constant pressure alone in a side lane while your teammates focus elsewhere on the map, forcing the enemy to divert one or more players to respond. If they send one person, you win the 1v1 and take structures. If they ignore you, your team fights 4v5. Effective split pushers must be able to duel or escape defenders and need wave-clear to maintain the pressure. Hullbreaker and Teleport are the two items and spells that define the playstyle.
The 4v5 math, when to split, and failure modes →
Engage / Disengage
Engage means committing to start a fight, forcing enemies to respond or take losses. Disengage is stopping a fight or preventing an enemy engage from landing. "Hard engage" compositions (Malphite, Amumu, Leona) all-in with irreversible AoE crowd control. "Counter-engage" or disengage compositions (Janna, Braum, Lulu) use knockbacks and shields to react to enemy initiations and protect backline carries. These are team composition archetypes decided at champion select, not individual plays.
Engage vs. disengage compositions, with examples →
Tower Dive
A tower dive is attacking an enemy under their own turret, intentionally taking turret fire to secure a kill. Two mechanics make it dangerous: Reinforced Armor cuts turret damage by 80% when no enemy minions are present (bring a wave), and Warming Up stacks turret damage by 50% per consecutive hit on a champion (up to a 150% bonus). The first shot feels manageable. By the third, you're dead if you haven't secured the kill. Dive only with a minion wave and a health lead that can absorb at least two hits.
How turret aggro actually works →
Gank
A gank is an ambush on a laner, most often executed by the jungler, with the goal of securing a kill or forcing the enemy to burn summoner spells. The term comes from "gang kill," originating in MMO PvP. A successful gank does not require a kill: forcing the enemy's Flash (about a 5-minute cooldown) or sending them back to base on low health is a good outcome. Gank when the enemy is pushed past the midpoint of the lane, has no vision of your approach, and your laner has the mana and health to follow up.
Backdoor (BD)
Backdooring is attacking enemy base structures (inhibitors, Nexus turrets, the Nexus itself) without an allied minion wave present. The abbreviation is BD. All lane turrets have a passive called Reinforced Armor that cuts incoming damage by 80% (including true damage) when no enemy minions are nearby. Inhibitors and the Nexus have no such protection, which is why backdoors target them directly. The classic backdoor moment in pro play: xPeke's Kassadin at IEM Katowice 2013, surviving 1v2 to destroy SK Gaming's exposed Nexus.
The Reinforced Armor trick that makes backdoors work →
Vision Score
Vision Score (VS) measures how much vision you contributed to your team during a game. The formula is roughly one point per minute of ally ward lifetime granted plus one point per minute of enemy ward lifetime denied, with role and game-length modifiers applied. Honest benchmarks: 30+ VS as a support is solid; ADCs and mid-laners should aim for 15-25; junglers and top-laners 10-20. Vision Score is the single best individual proxy for macro contribution because it captures the invisible work that sets up objectives and prevents ganks.
Vision Score formula and honest benchmarks →
Champion Roles and Team Composition Terms
LoL teams run five roles, and each has a shorthand label. These terms also appear in team composition discussions about which role is responsible for what in a fight.
ADC
ADC stands for Attack Damage Carry. It refers to the ranged, auto-attack-focused champion who plays in the bottom lane. ADCs deal sustained physical damage from a distance and are the primary late-game damage source on most teams. They are the most vulnerable in early fights, relying on their support to create safety and opportunities. The tradeoff is raw late-game output: a fed ADC with three items can often win a fight alone if they stay positioned safely.
Bot lane fundamentals, support synergy, and positioning →
Support
The support is the second champion in the bottom lane, responsible for protecting the ADC, securing vision, and creating or preventing fights. Supports fall into two broad archetypes: engage supports (Leona, Nautilus, Thresh) who initiate fights with hard crowd control, and enchanter supports (Janna, Lulu, Soraka) who shield, heal, and peel for allies. Supports transition to a roaming and vision-control role once laning phase ends and the team starts contesting objectives.
How to play support: vision, roam timing, and engages →
Jungler
The jungler farms neutral monster camps between the lanes instead of holding a lane position, then uses gold and experience gained from those camps to gank lanes and contest major objectives (Dragon, Baron Nashor, Rift Herald). Junglers split into two archetypes: ganking junglers with strong early CC and gap-closers built for snowballing lanes, and farming junglers with efficient clear paths who scale into late-game carries. The jungler's map influence defines which lanes get ahead in the first 15 minutes.
Jungle pathing, ganking, and objective control →
Tank
Tanks are frontline champions built to absorb damage, initiate fights, and tie up multiple enemies with crowd control. They sacrifice damage output for high base health, armor, and magic resistance, giving carries the time and space to deal damage from behind them. Tank items (Sunfire Aegis, Heartsteel, Jak'Sho) lean into sustained durability over burst. A tank's job is to be the threat enemies focus on, not the one ending fights.
Vanguards vs. Wardens, itemization decisions, and how to play tank champions →
Hyper Carry
A hyper carry is a champion that starts weak but scales exponentially as the game goes late, eventually capable of single-handedly winning teamfights. The power comes from multiplicative stat interactions: attack damage, attack speed, critical strike chance, and on-hit effects all multiply each other, producing damage that grows faster than a standard carry's linear scaling. Jinx, Kog'Maw, Vayne, and Kayle are canonical ADC examples. AP equivalents include Syndra and Karthus. The tradeoff is an early game where they actively need protection to survive.
Hyper carry definition and canonical examples →
Peel
Peeling means protecting an ally during combat by stopping enemies from reaching them. Peel methods include body-blocking skillshots (interception), applying crowd control to threats, providing heals and shields to the ally being targeted, or dealing enough damage to force the attacker to redirect. Supports like Janna and Lulu are the best peelers in the game because their kits are built entirely around these tools. Peel is a decision, not just a mechanic: the same crowd control ability can engage or peel depending on how you use it.
Every way to peel for your carry →
In-Game Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Chat Shorthand
LoL players compress a lot of communication into a few keystrokes. These terms appear in pregame lobbies, mid-game chat, and post-game chat. Some are universal gaming abbreviations; others are specific to LoL's history.
SS / MIA
SS and MIA both mean an enemy champion is missing from their lane. SS is shortened from "miss" and was more common on EU servers; MIA stands for "Missing In Action" and was more common on NA. Both fell out of regular use after smart pings were introduced in 2013. The Enemy Missing ping replaced typed calls for most players. "Re" is the companion call, short for "reappear," meaning the missing champion has come back into view.
Where SS came from (and why some players still type it) →
QWE/R (Spell Slots)
Q, W, E, and R are the keyboard keys bound to your champion's four abilities by default. Q is typically the primary skill used most frequently, W and E are secondary abilities, and R is the ultimate. Players use these letters as shorthand when discussing abilities in chat or VOD reviews: "his Q gaps you," "her R is a global," "save your E for peel." The slot letter is faster to type than the ability name and universally understood across champions.
FF
FF stands for "forfeit," meaning surrender. When someone types "/ff" or calls for a vote in chat, they are requesting to end the game early. A surrender vote requires 4 of 5 players to pass in a standard game (3 of 5 after 20 minutes if the first vote fails at 15). Typing "ff" in all-chat after an outplay is considered poor sportsmanship. "FF15" means a player wants to surrender at the first opportunity (15 minutes).
GG / GLHF
GG means "good game," typically typed in all-chat at the end of a match as a sportsmanship gesture. GLHF is "good luck, have fun," usually typed at the start. Both trace back to early competitive gaming culture across multiple titles. Common variations: GGWP (good game, well played) adds genuine respect; GG EZ (good game, easy) is sarcastic and considered unsportsmanlike. The surrender screen often auto-generates a GG from the losing team in modern LoL.
Climbing and Ranked: Terms Every Competitive Player Needs
These terms come up constantly in ranked discussions, coaching content, and the post-game lobby. Understanding them helps you diagnose why you're winning or losing beyond the kill scoreline.
Micro vs Macro
Micro is your individual champion mechanics: combo execution, last-hitting, animation cancels, dodging skillshots. Macro is your strategic decision-making: when to recall, what to ward, which objective to contest, when to group versus split. Both matter, but the climbing leverage shifts as you rank up. In Bronze through Gold, micro mistakes (missed CS, dying for nothing, fumbling combos) are the bottleneck. From Platinum onward, mechanics flatten out and macro decisions decide games. The path forward depends on which gap is bigger in your replays.
How to know whether micro or macro is your bottleneck →
Tilt
Tilt is the mental state of playing worse because of frustration, anger, or emotional carryover from previous games or moments. A tilted player makes worse decisions, communicates poorly, and often tunnels on outcomes (like kills) instead of process. Tilt is self-compounding: a bad game leads to a worse mental state leads to worse decisions leads to another bad game. Recognizing the signs early (forcing fights, flaming teammates, not listening to pings) is the first step to managing it.
Three types of tilt and how to stop each one →
MMR
MMR (Matchmaking Rating) is the hidden number that determines who you're matched with in ranked. Your visible rank and LP are a separate display layer that lags behind your actual MMR. LP gains are larger when your MMR is higher than your rank, and smaller when it's lower. Two players sitting at Gold II can have very different MMRs and get matched in very different game qualities. MMR is based purely on win/loss record against opponents of known skill level; KDA and other stats do not factor in.
How to check your hidden MMR →
Elo
Elo is a chess rating system invented by Arpad Elo and used in League of Legends prior to 2013, when Riot replaced the visible Elo number with the current tier-and-division ranks. Players still use "Elo" as a synonym for skill level: "low elo," "high elo," "Elo hell." Behind the scenes, the MMR system that replaced visible Elo is mathematically very similar — both adjust your hidden score based on the expected vs. actual outcome of each game. The visible rank is a translation layer; the underlying math is still Elo-shaped.
Elo, MMR, and what "low elo" actually means →
Inting
Inting is short for "intentional feeding": dying to enemies repeatedly on purpose to give them kills and gold, usually to grief teammates or throw the game. Riot classifies it as a bannable offense with automatic detection through the Instant Feedback System. The term has expanded in community usage to also describe any reckless, dive-first play that results in repeated avoidable deaths, even without clear malicious intent. That grey area (sometimes called "soft inting") is harder to detect and actively being worked on by Riot as of 2025.
Hard vs. soft inting, plus Riot's 2026 LP refunds →
Smurfing
Smurfing is when a high-skill player creates a low-rank account to play against weaker opponents. The term originated in Warcraft II in 1996 — two top players signed up as "Papa Smurf" and "Smurfette" to disguise themselves — and spread to every competitive game since. Riot's stance: smurfing for fun is tolerated; boosting (paying or being paid to climb someone else's account) is banned outright. The Disruptive Behavior Repair system flags accounts with anomalous win rates and accelerates their hidden MMR upward to surface them out of low-rank queues faster.
Where the term came from and what Riot allows →
Kiting
Kiting means maintaining distance from a pursuing enemy while continuing to deal damage, retreating as they close the gap. The mechanics: issue a basic attack, immediately move as the attack fires (canceling the recovery animation), stop to issue the next attack, repeat. This is called stutter-stepping. ADCs like Ashe and Vayne rely on kiting to deal damage safely from range. Assassins with gap-closers (Zed, Akali, Kha'Zix) are designed specifically to counter kiting by closing the gap faster than it can be reopened.
How to kite (stutter-stepping basics) →
Snowballing
Snowballing describes an early lead compounding into an ever-larger advantage, the way a snowball rolling downhill gathers more snow and momentum. A snowballing player or team converts kills and objectives into gold and items that make winning the next fight more likely, which generates more resources, and so on. The game has anti-snowball systems (shut down gold, objective bounties, XP catch-up) to slow this loop. "Snowball champion" describes a champion that needs an early lead to stay relevant; contrasted with hypercarries, who scale regardless of early game.
How leads compound (and how Riot stops them) →
That covers the core vocabulary. Every term above will come up in normal ranked play, coaching content, or teammate communication. The ones with full guides go deeper on mechanics and how to apply them. For everything else you'll hear in chat — abbreviations, slang, and pro-play concepts that don't need a deep dive — the quick reference below has you covered.
Quick Reference: Other Terms You'll Hear in Game
A
AFK. Away From Keyboard; an unresponsive teammate, usually grounds for a surrender vote.
All-in. Committing to a fight with no intent to disengage, usually after burning summoner spells on both sides.
ARAM. All Random All Mid; the casual single-lane game mode on the Howling Abyss map.
Auto-attack reset. Using an ability mid-attack to skip the recovery animation, sneaking in extra damage faster.
B
B / Back. Recall; typed shorthand for "going to base."
Backline. The fragile damage dealers (ADC, mage) protected behind the team's frontline.
Bait. Feigning weakness or overextension to lure enemies into a fight you're set up to win.
Baron / Nashor. The buff-granting epic monster in the river pit on the top side; team buff empowers minions and structures.
BM. Bad Manners; taunting or unsportsmanlike behavior, usually the dance-on-corpse variety.
Bruiser. A durable damage dealer that fights in the front line (Renekton, Camille, Aatrox).
C
Cannon minion. The durable siege minion that anchors a wave; arrives every third wave early, every second wave after 14:00, and every wave after 25:00. Tanks turret shots best for dives.
Cheese. A gimmicky, hard-to-prepare-for early strategy (Teemo top, level-1 invades, smite-steal lanes).
Clutch. A high-pressure play that swings a fight or a game in your team's favor.
Coinflip. A game where the outcome feels determined by random factors (autofill, smurfs, troll picks).
Collapsing. Multiple allies converging on an enemy to outnumber and burst them down.
Counter-jungle. Invading the enemy jungler's camps to deny them resources and tempo.
D
Diff. Chat shorthand declaring one role outclassed the other ("mid diff," "jg diff").
Drag. Dragon; the elemental epic monster on the bottom side of the river. Soul and elemental buffs reward stacking dragons.
Drain tank. A champion that sustains through fights via lifesteal, healing, and shielding (Aatrox, Warwick, Vladimir).
E
Effective HP (EHP). Your real durability against a damage type after armor or magic resist scaling — the metric tank players actually optimize for.
F
Face check. Walking blindly into a brush without vision; a common death sentence.
Fall off. A champion losing relative power as the game scales (early-game lane bullies often fall off).
First Blood (FB). The first kill of the game; awards a 100-gold bonus on top of the standard kill gold.
Fed. A player who has accumulated kills and gold leads, now significantly stronger than expected for the game state.
Flank. Attacking the enemy team from the side or rear, bypassing the frontline to reach carries.
Flash. The iconic short-range blink summoner spell on a 5-minute cooldown; nearly every champion takes it.
G
Gap closer. An ability that closes distance to an enemy quickly (Riven Q, Camille E, Lee Sin Q).
Global. An ability that affects anywhere on the map (Karthus R, Pantheon R, Ashe R, Senna R).
H
Hardstuck. Repeatedly stuck at the same rank despite playing many games; usually a self-applied diagnosis.
Harass. Chip damage in lane, gradually pushing the opponent out without killing them.
Hook. A long-range ability that pulls a target toward the caster (Blitzcrank Q, Thresh Q, Nautilus Q).
Hover. Placing your cursor on a champion in champ select to communicate intent before locking in.
I
Inhibitor (inhib). The structure behind the second turret in each lane; destroying it spawns super minions in that lane and respawns 5 minutes later.
Instalock. Locking your champion immediately in champ select, often without confirming the team's needs.
Invade. A level-1 or early aggressive entry into the enemy jungle, often to steal a buff or pick off a laner.
J
Juke. Feinting your movement to dodge a skillshot or trick a chaser into mispositioning.
K
Kit. A champion's full set of abilities (passive plus Q, W, E, R).
KS / Kill Steal. Taking the killing blow when an ally would have done so; usually accidental but always blamed.
L
Lane bully. An early-game-strong champion that wins the laning phase against most matchups (Renekton, Pantheon, Draven).
Leash. Assisting your jungler at their first camp by tagging it, helping them clear faster without taking the buff.
Lethal threshold. The HP at which a target is killable by your remaining damage; "he's lethal."
Lifesteal. A percentage of damage dealt returned as healing, mostly on basic attacks (Bloodthirster, Doran's Blade).
M
Map awareness. Paying attention to the minimap to predict and react to enemy movement and threats.
Map control. Controlling vision and territory to force enemies into bad positions and free your team's movement.
Marksman. A ranged auto-attack damage dealer; the wiki-canonical class for ADCs.
O
One-shot. Killing a target before they can react; the assassin's promise.
OOM. Out Of Mana; you can't cast abilities, often a kill window for the enemy.
Open mid. The surrender behavior of standing in mid lane and letting enemies push for the win — usually after a failed FF vote.
OP. Overpowered; the patch tier of "needs nerfing yesterday."
OTP / One-trick. A player who plays one champion almost exclusively to climb, accepting the matchup tradeoffs.
P
Path / Pathing. The route a jungler takes through their camps; clear order matters for level timings and gank windows.
PBE. Public Beta Environment; the test server where upcoming patches preview before going live.
Penta / Pentakill. Killing all five enemies in one fight without dying; very rare and bragworthy.
Pink ward. Legacy term for the Control Ward, a pink-colored stationary ward that disables enemy vision in its zone.
Poke. Long-range chip damage to soften up the enemy team before a fight (Nidalee Q, Ezreal Q).
Powerspike. A moment when a champion gains a major power increase: level 6, first item, two-item, etc.
Prio (priority). The laning state of having the freedom to leave for an objective; usually requires a shoved wave and a winning matchup.
Proxy. Farming the enemy minion wave between their turrets, originally a Singed strategy and still a Singed staple.
Q
QSS. Quicksilver Sash; the active item that breaks ongoing CC including suppressions like Warwick R or Malzahar R.
Queue dodge. Leaving champ select to avoid a bad matchup, taking an LP and queue-time penalty.
R
Re. Chat shorthand for "reappeared," the companion call to SS/MIA when a missing enemy is spotted again.
Rotation. Moving your team across the map to a new objective or lane.
S
Scaling. How strongly a champion improves over the course of the game; scaling champions trade lane weakness for late-game power.
Scrim. A practice match between organized teams, usually pro or amateur tournament prep.
Scuttle. The river crab whose kill drops a Speed Shrine (movement speed plus a vision pulse); jungle priority fight at 2:55.
Shotcaller. The team member who makes split-second decisions for the group, usually a support, jungler, or veteran teammate.
Siege. Slowly pushing into a tower under wave pressure, usually with poke and shielding from a backline.
Skirmish. A small fight (2v2 or 3v3) over scuttle, vision, or a roam — not a full teamfight.
Smite. The jungler's mandatory summoner spell for clearing camps and securing major objectives.
Spacing. Kiting fundamentals: maintaining the right distance to deal damage but stay out of enemy threat range.
Squishy. Low-HP, low-resistance; applies to most carries who trade defense for damage.
Stat check. A fight outcome decided by raw item or level lead, not by mechanics or outplay.
Steroid. A temporary self-buff (Tristana Q attack speed, Vayne Q damage, Lucian E reset) that defines a champion's combat windows.
Sustain. Passive HP recovery during lane via items, abilities, or potions.
T
Team comp. The team's champion mix and how it's expected to win (engage, poke, scaling, pick, split).
Teamfight. A 5v5 fight; the climax of most macro plays and usually decisive for objectives.
Throwing. Losing a winning game through avoidable mistakes; distinct from inting, which is intentional.
TP / Teleport. The global summoner spell that channels you to a turret, ward, or minion. Upgrades to Unleashed at minute 10.
Trade. A brief skirmish in lane where both players exchange damage; the laning currency for lane priority and kill setups.
Tunnel vision. Focusing too narrowly on one target or play, missing the rest of the map and getting collapsed on.
W
Ward. The foundation of vision; placing wards to see enemy movement, set up ganks, and prevent your own death.
Wave clear. The rate at which a champion can clear minion waves; defines split-push and siege capability.
Win condition. The specific scenario your team needs to manufacture to win (e.g., "our Vayne hitting three items," "landing Malphite R into Yasuo R").
Wombo combo. A chained sequence of CC and AoE burst across multiple champions (Malphite R into Yasuo R into Orianna R).
Z
Zone / Zoning. Using positioning or threat to deny an enemy access to an area, like the wave or a low-HP target.
