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DotA2 Terms.

By Fifty-Fifty

Hello folks. Here's are some terms that been using in DotA community. This guide is created to help up DotA newcomers to get familiar of "DotA Language". Although there're maybe more terms out there, but here's are the basic ones. Hope you enjoy learning it. =D

Award

Created by

Fifty-Fifty
Offline

Category: Characters, Classes, Gameplay Basics, Maps or Levels, Secrets, Walkthroughs

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

23 Feb, 2013 @ 12:51pm

5 Mar, 2013 @ 3:57am

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Guide Index

Overview

General Terms

Map Related Terms

Role Related Terms

Hero Related Terms

Item Related Terms

Skill Related Terms

Comments

General Terms

aoe = Area of Effect skills, which means the skill will deal damage or have effects on a certain area.
b = Back, Get Back, Retreat.
bd = Backdoor. Whenever you attack an enemy structure while the structure will gain HP by itself, considered "Backdoor".
def = Defend.
gl = Good Luck.
hf = Have Fun, usually in form of "glhf".
gg = Good Game, or simply means game's over.
wp = Well Played, usually goes with "ggwp".
tp = Teleport, also referring Teleport Scroll.
gb = Gang Bang, Ganking. Grouping up allies and try to start a surprise team fight without noticed.
juke/juking = Using the advantages of Fog of War crossing the tree paths to confuse enemy.
g = Go.
gj = Good Job.
n1 = Nice One.
invi/invis = Invisible.
dd = Double Damage.
illu = Illusions.
hst = Haste.
regen = Regeneration
ks = Kill Stealing, which means stealing last hits from your allies.
lh = Last Hit. The last attack that killed the target. You earn golds by last hitting enemy units.
ult/ulti = Ultimate Skill. Your Hero's fourth skill is called Ultimate.
cd = Cooldown. After you casted a spell, you'll need to wait a period before you can cast it again.
ms/mia/ss = Missing/Missing in Action, which means the heroes of specific lane are missing on the minimap.
re = Return, calls when a missing hero coming back to the lane again.
rosh/ro3 = Roshan. The most powerful neutral creep in DotA. Respawn at 10 minutes after it was killed. Killing Roshan will drop aegis; will drop cheese too after his third respawn.
p = Push the Lane.
rax = Barracks, referring the Melee or Ranged creep production building of enemy team.
auto = Auto Attacking.
bb = Buy Back.
aggro = Meaning the Aggression of the enemy unit when you trying to attack the enemy heroes.
farm = Earn golds by last hitting creeps, nc or towers.
harass = Deal damage on enemy heroes by attacking or using abilities.
cs = Creep Score, meaning the number of creeps you killed. Same as "lh"
deny = Killing your allied units, heroes, or buildings. Denying will prevent enemy to get gold and experience.
dps = Damage Per Second. Amount of damage that the hero can deal in 1 second.
dot = Damage Over Time. Damage is dealt constantly within a duration.
burst damage = Large amount of damage is dealt by a single blow or an ability.
fade time = An amount of time before an unit goes invisible.
fb = First Blood.
feeder = Referring the player who frequently dying to enemy heroes.
fat = Referring a player's hero is well-farmed or overpower on items build or level.
nuke/nuking/spam = Constantly using abilities whenever it is cooldowned.
afk = Away From Keyboard, which means a user is idled.
jungling = Farming gold in the jungle by killing neutral creeps.
pull/pulling/kite/kiting = A technique where a hero gets aggro on creeps and force them to follow you.
stack/stacking = By pulling, you can stack the neutral creep camps if you got the timing right.
solo = Only ONE player is in the lane.
drag/drag the game = Try to delay the game to the later phase, giving room for you team mates to farm.
magic immune = Cause unit unaffected by most spells. However, there're some spells can go through magic immunity.
truesight = An ability to reveal invisible units. Towers, Gem of Truesight, a sentry ward, Bounty Hunter's or Slardar's ultimate all provide truesight.
truestrike = A passive effect granted after obtaining Monkey King Bar. Your physical attacks will never miss in any means.
babysit = Let your allied heroes to get as many last hits as they can while you are harassing enemy's heroes.
warding = A process when you placing a ward on certain locations.
rune/runes = An artifact that provides temporary buff on your hero upon picking it up. Will be spawn on either top or bottom side of the river every 2 minutes. Can be store inside and refill your bottle if you had one.
bottling = A process when you refilling your empty bottle by picking rune, going back to base or using courier to helps you refill.
rosh pit = Where Roshan is spawn.
recrow/reuse = Re-using the courier after someone is interrupted the courier movement.
block/creep block = A technique that moving your hero zig-zag in front of creep wave to block them. Thus creeps approach slower.
deward/counter warding = Attempt or succeed destroying a ward. Enemy wards can be spotted by truesight items such as Gem of True Sight or Sentry Ward.
oom = Out of mana.
up chick = Upgrade the courier.

Map Related Terms

top = Top lane of the map.
mid = Middle lane of the map.
bot/btm = Bottom lane of the map.
nc = Neutral Creeps. Also referring the Jungle Region of the map.
camps = Specific locations where neutral creeps spawn in the jungle.
side lane/offlane = Referring the lanes except Middle lane.
long lane = Usually referring to Top lane for Dire, or Bottom lane for Radiant.
hard lane/suicide lane = Usually referring to Top lane for Radiant, or Bottom lane for Dire.
sight/vision = What a unit can and can't see from its current position and state.
fog/fog of war = A dark mist areas outside of your allied units' vision called fog of war. You can't see or target the units that hiding inside fog of war unless you reveal them by warding or moving to that position.

Role Related Terms

ganker = Ganker is the hero who has an ability to deliver immense damage or doing surprise damage early in the game. Giving the team an early game advantage by killing enemy heroes on the proper lanes. Ganker can also sometimes transform to Semi-Carry in the late game phase if you successfully owing large amount of gold from ganking in the early game. But as expected, not much effective like a Hard Carry.
carry/hard carry = Carry is the hero who relies very much on item building in the early game, but can deal massive amount of physical damage after finishing items in the late game phase. As a carry hero, farming for gold is the top priority because you are very item dependent, basically you can't do ♥♥♥♥ without the items.
jungler = Jungler is the hero who can farming the neutral creeps inside the jungle at the beginning of the game, rather than lane. This will provide space of two solo lanes so that your allies can gain more experience and golds.
roamer = Roamer's objectives are providing as much map control as possible to the team by warding and patrolling between the lanes. They are also responsible for creep pulling and stacking camps for their team mates. Most crucial shutting down enemy Junglers.
supporter/lane support/babysitter = Babysitters are the heroes who help their team's Carry control the lane thus providing more space for Carry to farm. They are focus on harass enemy heroes out of the range to deny their exp and golds.
initiator = Initiators are the heroes who have an ability to start a team fight. Usually they may have at least one or more aoe damage skill or disable skill.
disabler = Disablers are the heroes who have one or more skills that can disable enemy's movement or the ability of casting spells.
tank/tanker = Tankers usually have a decent amount of HP, HP regeneration, armor, or magic resistance, making them more durable in team fights. They can sustain large amount of incoming damage from the enemy.

Hero Related Terms

alche = Referring Alchemist.
aa = Referring Ancient Apparition.
am = Referring Anti-Mage.
x = Referring Axe.
bat = Referring Batrider.
bm = Referring Beastmaster.
bs = Referring Bloodseeker.
bh = Referring Bounty Hunter. Sometimes referring Black Hole, the ultimate of the Enigma.
panda = Referring Brewmaster (Because it used to be a panda model in Warcraft 3).
brood = Referring Broodmother.
cw = Referring Centaur Warrunner.
ck = Referring Chaos Knight.
bone = Referring Clinkz (Bone Fletcher).
clock = Referring Clockwerk.
cm = Referring Crystal Maiden.
ds = Referring Dark Seer.
sp = Referring Dazzle (Shadow Priest).
dp = Referring Death Prophet.
fs = Referring Disruptor (Far Seer).
dk = Referring Dragon Knight.
dr/drow = Referring Drow Ranger.
es = Referring Earthshaker.
enchant = Referring Enchantress.
enig = Referring Enigma.
fv/void = Referring Faceless Void.
gyro = Referring Gyrocopter.
invo = Referring Invoker.
jak/jaki/thd = Referring Jakiro (Twin Head Dragon.
jug/jugg = Referring Juggernaut.
kotl = Referring Keeper of the Light.
kk/coco = Referring Kunkka.
ts/lesh = Referring Leshrac (Tormented Soul).
naix = Referring Lifestealer.
bear/syllar = Referring Lone Druid (Syllar).
moon = Referring Luna (Moon Rider).
lycan = Referring Lycanthrope.
mag = Referring Magnus.
medu = Referring Medusa.
potm = Referring Mirana (Priestress of the Moon).
morph = Referring Morphling.
naga = Referring Naga Siren.
np/furion = Referring Nature's Prophet (Furion).
necro = Referring Necrolyte.
ns = Referring Night Stalker.
na/nyx = Referring Nyx Assassin.
om/orge = Referring Orge Magi.
omni = Referring Omniknight.
od = Referring Outworld Devourer.
pa = Referring Phantom Assassin.
pl = Referring Phantom Lancer.
butcher = Referring Pudge (Butcher).
qop = Referring Queen of Pain.
sa = Referring Riki (Stealth Assassin).
sk = Referring Sand King or Skeleton King.
sd = Referring Shadow Demon.
sf/nvrmore = Referring Shadow Fiend (Nevermore).
ss/rhasta = Referring Shadow Shaman (Rhasta).
sldar/sg = Referring Sladar (Slithereen Guard).
spec = Referring Spectre.
sb/bara = Referring Spirit Breaker (Barathrum).
raijin/storm = Referring Storm Spirit (Raijin Thunderkeg).
rk = Referring Sven (Rogue Knight).
ta/lanaya = Referring Templar Assassin (Lanaya).
tide/th =Referring Tidehunter.
timber = Referring Timbersaw.
tk = Referring Tinker.
roof/treant = Referring Treant Protector (Rooftrellen).
troll = Referring Troll Warlord.
vs = Referring Vengeful Spirit.
veno = Referring Venomancer.
vp = Referring Viper.
ant = Referring Weaver.
wr = Referring Windrunner.
wd = Referring Witch Doctor.

Item Related Terms

mana pot = Referring Clarity. (50 golds, Consumables)
pot/hp pot = Referring Healing Salve. (100 golds, Consumables)
smoke = Referring Smoke of Deceit. (100 golds, Consumables)
tp scroll/tp = Referring Town Portal Scroll. (135 golds, Consumables)
dust = Referring Dust of Appearance. (180 golds, Consumables)
chick/courier = Referring Animal Courier or Flying Courier. (150/220 golds, Consumables)
ward/ob ward = Referring Observer Ward. (150 golds, Consumables)
sent/blue ward = Referring Sentry Ward. (200 golds, Consumables)
hammer = Referring Mithril Hammer. (1600 golds, Armaments)
boot = Referring Boots of Speed. (450 golds, Arcane)
gem = Referring Gem of True Sight. (700 golds, Arcane)
dagger = Referring Blink Dagger. (2150 golds, Arcane)
gs/ghost = Referring Ghost Scepter. (1600 golds, Arcane)
pb/phase = Referring Phase Boots. (1350 golds, Common)
pt/tread = Referring Power Treads. (1400 golds, Common)
oblivion = Referring Oblivion Staff. (1675 golds, Common)
midas = Referring Hand of Midas. (1900 golds, Common)
BoT = Referring Boots of Travel. (2450 golds, Common)
urn = Referring Urn of Shadows. (875 golds, Support)
vlad = Referring Vladmir's Offering. (2050 golds, Support)
meka/mek = Referring Mekansm. (2306 golds, Support)
pipe = Referring Pipe of Insight. (3628 golds, Support)
cyclone/euls = Referring Eul's Scepter of Divinity (2700 golds, Caster)
necro book = Referring Necronomicon. (2700 golds, Caster)
scepter = Referring Aghanim's Scepter. (4200 golds, Caster)
refresher = Referring Refresher Orb. (5300 golds, Caster)
hex/sheepstick/guisoo = Referring Scythe of Vyse. (5675 golds, Caster)
crystal = Referring Crystalys. (2150 golds, Weapons)
sb/lothar = Referring Shadow Blade. (3000 golds, Weapons)
bf = Referring Battle Fury. (4350 golds, Weapons)
eb/eblade/shotgun = Referring Ethereal Blade. (4900 golds, Weapons)
rad = Referring Radiance. (5150 golds, Weapons)
mkb = Referring Monker King Bar. (5400 golds, Weapons)
cannon = Referring Daedalus. (5550 golds, Weapons)
butter = Referring Butterfly. (6000 golds, Weapons)
dv/dr/divine/rapier = Referring Divine Rapier. (6200 golds, Weapons)
abyssal = Referring Abyssal Blade. (6750 golds, Weapons)
van = Referring Vanguard. (2225 golds, Armor)
bkb = Referring Black King Bar. (3900 golds, Armor)
ac = Referring Assault Cuirass. (5350 golds, Armor)
HoT/heart = Referring Heart of Tarrasque. (5500 golds, Armor)
HotD = Referring Helm of he Dominator. (1850 golds, Artifacts)
MoM = Referring Mask of Madness. (1900 golds, Artifacts)
mael = Referring Maelstorm. (2700 golds, Artifacts)
sny = Referring Sange and Yasha. (4100 golds, Artifacts)
deso = Referring Desolator. (4100 golds, Artifacts)
skadi = Referring Eye of Skadi. (5675 golds, Artifacts)
RoH = Referring Ring of Health. (875 golds, Secret Shop)
aegis = Referring Aegis of the Immortal. Dropped by Roshan. This item is unique, cannot be transfer or drop once you pick it up. When the hero who holds an Aegis is died, it will resurrect with full life and mana on where it dies after 5 seconds.

Skill Related Terms

bh = Black Hole, ultimate of Enigma.
rp = Reverse Polarity, ultimate of Magnus.
stun = An ability to disable enemy movement and cause them unable to cast spell, use item or attack for a moment.
silence = An ability to make enemy unable to cast spell.
slow = An ability to decrease enemy's movement speed or attack speed for a moment.
net = An ability to lock enemy on his position, causing them unable to move.
rav = Ravage, ultimate of Tidehunter.
snake = Serpent Wards, ultimate of Shadow Shaman.
hex/voodoo/sheep = An ability to transform enemy into little animal, causing them move at 100 movement speed, but cannot attack, use item or cast spell.
finger = Finger of Death, ultimate of Lion.
blink = An ability to jump to a location of some distance.
wall = Wall of Replica, ultimate of Dark Seer.
hook = Referring Pudge's Meat Hook or Clockwerk's Hookshot.
shackle = Windrunner's Shackledshot.
ss = Invoker's Sunstrike.
backstab = Dealing damage to enemy unit from behind, referring Riki's 3rd skills.

47 Comments

< >

Styke 19 Oct, 2016 @ 11:22pm

you're missing some key terms like SS = Missing and Crow = courier.

💖 Officer Hotpants 💖 13 Dec, 2013 @ 8:56am

I always wondered what some of those meant. Asking usually just gets me mockery and an assholish refusal to explain that is invariably followed by bitching that I don't know what I'm doing (I'd know if you'd just tell me what you meant, jackass).