In-Game Slang & Jargon

Unlock the secrets of Dota 2 with our comprehensive guide to in-game slang and jargon. Understand every term to dominate the battlefield and communicate effectively with your team.

This guide breaks down the common slang and jargon used in Dota 2. Understanding these terms is crucial for effective communication and strategy on the battlefield.

• GG: Good Game. Typically said at the end of a match.
• WP: Well Played. Acknowledging a good play by an opponent or teammate.
• GL HF: Good Luck, Have Fun. Said at the start of a match.
• Noob: Newbie or inexperienced player. Often used derisively.
• OP: Overpowered. Refers to a hero or item that is perceived as too strong.
• Nerf: To weaken a hero or item, usually through a game update.
• Buff: To strengthen a hero or item.
• Gank: To ambush an enemy player, usually in a lane.
• Push: To advance down a lane and destroy enemy towers.
• Farm: To kill creeps to gain gold and experience.
• KS: Kill Steal. Taking a kill that another player was close to securing.
• Lag: Delay in the game caused by network issues.
• Smurf: An experienced player using a new account to play against lower-ranked opponents.
• Carry: A hero that becomes very powerful in the late game after farming.
• Support: A hero that assists the team, often by providing healing, vision, or crowd control.
• Mid: The middle lane.
• Offlane: The lane furthest from the team's Tier 1 tower.
• Safe Lane: The lane closest to the team's Tier 1 tower.
• Roam: To move between lanes to gank or provide support.
• Deny: To kill your own creeps or towers to prevent the enemy from getting gold and experience.
• Creep Score (CS): The number of creeps a player has killed.
• Last Hit: Getting the killing blow on a creep to earn gold.
• Miss Call: Warning teammates that an enemy hero has left their lane.
• B: Back. Used to tell teammates to retreat.
• AoE: Area of Effect. Spells or abilities that affect multiple targets in an area.
• Ult: Ultimate ability. A hero's most powerful ability, usually on a long cooldown.
• CD: Cooldown. The time it takes for an ability to be ready to use again.
• HP: Hit Points. The amount of damage a hero can take before dying.
• Mana: The resource used to cast spells.
• TP: Town Portal scroll. Allows heroes to teleport to allied structures.
• Buyback: To spend gold to respawn immediately after dying.
• Rosh: Roshan, a powerful neutral creep that drops the Aegis of the Immortal.
• Aegis: The Aegis of the Immortal, dropped by Roshan, which grants a second life.
• Ward: Observer Wards and Sentry Wards, used for vision.
• Vision: The ability to see parts of the map.
• Smoke of Deceit: An item that grants invisibility to heroes who use it, allowing for ganks.
• Stack: To pull neutral creeps multiple times to create a larger camp for later farming.
• Pull: To lure neutral creeps out of their camp to draw them to your lane.
• Jungle: The areas between lanes filled with neutral creeps.
• Runes: Power-ups that spawn in the river, providing temporary buffs.
• Bounty Rune: Runes that grant gold.
• Power Rune: Runes that grant various buffs (Haste, Illusion, Invisibility, DD, Regen, Arcane).
• Courier: A unit that delivers items to heroes.
• Baracks (Barracks): Structures that, when destroyed, upgrade the enemy creeps in that lane.
• T1, T2, T3, T4: Refers to the tiers of towers on the map.
• Ancient: The main structure in each team's base that must be destroyed to win.
• Fountain: The spawn area in each team's base, with healing and high ground.
• High Ground: Areas on the map that provide a vision advantage.
• Low Ground: Areas on the map that provide a vision disadvantage.
• Kite: To attack an enemy while staying out of their attack range.
• Focus Fire: To concentrate attacks on a single enemy target.
• CC: Crowd Control. Abilities that disable or hinder enemy heroes (stuns, slows, silences).
• Dispel: To remove buffs or debuffs from a hero.
• BKB: Black King Bar, an item that grants magic immunity.
• Manta: Manta Style, an item that creates illusions and dispels debuffs.
• Linken's: Linken's Sphere, an item that blocks single-target spells.
• Force Staff: An item that pushes a target a short distance.
• Ghost Scepter: An item that makes the user immune to physical damage but vulnerable to magic.
• Eul's: Eul's Scepter of Divinity, an item that can cyclone a target or the user.
• Orchid: Orchid Malevolence, an item that silences a target.
• Scythe: Scythe of Vyse (Hex), a powerful item that transforms an enemy into a harmless critter.
• Blade Mail: An item that reflects damage back to the attacker.
• Pipe: Pipe of Insight, an item that provides magic damage resistance to the team.
• Crimson Guard: An item that provides damage block and active damage reduction.
• Vanguard: An item that provides damage block.
• Radiance: An item that deals damage over time to nearby enemies.
• Dagon: An item that deals a burst of magic damage.
• Ethereal Blade: An item that makes an enemy vulnerable to magic damage and slows them.
• Monkey King Bar (MKB): An item that grants true strike and bonus damage.
• Daedalus: An item that provides a chance to deal critical damage.
• Satanic: An item that provides lifesteal and a powerful active ability for sustain.
• Abyssal Blade: An item that provides a stun and lifesteal.
• Assault Cuirass (AC): An item that provides armor and attack speed.
• Shiva's Guard: An item that slows nearby enemies and provides armor.
• Octarine Core: An item that reduces cooldowns and spell lifesteal.
• Heart of Tarrasque: An item that provides a large health pool and regeneration.
• Mother of all items: A colloquial term for a very powerful or game-changing item.
• Trash item: An item that is considered weak or not worth buying.
• Build: The sequence of items a player buys for a hero.
• Skill Build: The order in which a player levels up their hero's abilities.
• Talents: Special abilities unlocked at certain levels that customize hero abilities.
• Glyph: Glyph of Fortification, an ability that makes allied structures invulnerable for a short time.
• Backdoor: To attack an enemy structure without allied creeps present.
• Creep Skip: To avoid killing creeps and focus on objectives or kills.
• Split Push: To push a lane away from the main team fight to draw enemy attention.
• Team Wipe: When an entire team is killed.
• Rampage: When one player kills all five enemy heroes in a single life.
• Feeder: A player who repeatedly dies to the enemy team.
• Turtling: Playing defensively and focusing on defending your base.
• Snowballing: Gaining an advantage and continuously building on it to overwhelm the enemy.
• Comeback Mechanic: Game mechanics that allow a losing team to catch up.
• Vision Game: The strategic placement and denial of wards.
• Map Awareness: Being aware of enemy and ally positions on the minimap.
• Positioning: The placement of heroes in a fight or during laning.
• Draft: The process of selecting heroes at the beginning of a match.
• Pick: A hero that is chosen during the draft.
• Counter Pick: A hero chosen specifically to counter an enemy hero.
• Ban: To remove a hero from the draft, making them unselectable.
• Meta: The current most effective strategies and hero choices in the game.
• Cheese: An unusual or unexpected strategy or item build.
• Micro: Controlling multiple units or abilities simultaneously with precision.
• Macro: Overall game strategy, map movements, and objective control.
• Farming Pattern: An efficient route for a hero to farm creeps.
• Juke: To use the environment or abilities to evade an enemy.
• Bait: To intentionally expose oneself to lure enemies into an ambush.
• Scout: To use a hero or item to gather information about enemy positions.
• Initiation: The act of starting a team fight.
• Disengage: To retreat from a fight or unfavorable situation.
• Save: To use abilities or items to prevent an ally from dying.
• Zoning: To prevent an enemy hero from safely farming or gaining experience.
• Harass: To repeatedly attack an enemy hero to deny them resources or force them out of lane.
• Trade: To exchange kills or resources with an enemy.
• Farm Dependency: Heroes that require a significant amount of farm to be effective.
• GPM: Gold Per Minute.
• XPM: Experience Per Minute.
• APM: Actions Per Minute.
• MMR: Matchmaking Rating, a hidden number representing a player's skill level.
• Ranked Match: A match where players compete for MMR.
• Unranked Match: A match where players can play without affecting their MMR.
• All Pick: The most common game mode where players can pick any hero.
• Captains Mode: A draft mode where captains take turns picking and banning heroes.
• Turbo Mode: A faster-paced game mode with increased gold and experience gain.
• Custom Game: Player-created games with unique rules and game modes.
• Arcade: A section of custom games.
• Bots: AI-controlled opponents.
• Smurf Queue: A hidden matchmaking queue for suspected smurf accounts.
• Toxic: Players exhibiting negative or abusive behavior.
• GG EZ: