dico
236 abbreviations, slang terms and expressions from LoL chat, explained by how they are used. They also power the decoder.
- 1v1abbreviationOne versus one: a duel. The numbers describe who fights whom, and 4v5 means the team is fighting a player short.
- 200 yearsslangA joke about overloaded new champions, from a Riot post that cited the team's "200 years of collective experience". Said of anything that feels unfair.
- aaabbreviationAuto attack: the basic attack every champion has without casting a spell.
- aceconceptAll five enemies dead at the same time. The window to take anything on the map.
- adabbreviationAttack damage: physical damage, reduced by armor.
- adcabbreviationAttack damage carry: the ranged champion on the bottom lane who deals sustained damage.
- afkabbreviationAway from keyboard: a player who is not moving, whether they left or lost connection.
- aggroslangThe attention of a tower, a monster or a minion wave: whoever it is attacking. Also playing aggressively.
- aheadslangAhead means more gold and levels than your opponent; behind means fewer. The two words that describe the state of a lane.
- all inconceptCommitting everything to a fight: every spell, every summoner, no way back.
- aoeabbreviationArea of effect: damage or an effect that hits everyone in a zone rather than one target.
- apabbreviationAbility power: magic damage, reduced by magic resist.
- armorconceptThe defensive stat against physical damage, and the item line that gives it.
- asabbreviationAttack speed: how many basic attacks per second. The stat marksmen and on-hit champions stack.
- assassinconceptA champion built to reach a fragile target and kill it in a second. The class that decides where the ADC can stand.
- assistconceptCredit for helping kill an enemy without landing the last hit. Worth gold, and worth counting.
- atakhanconceptThe neutral objective added in 2025, which spawns around the twentieth minute on the side of the map where the most fighting happened.
- autofillconceptBeing assigned a role you did not pick, when the queue cannot fill your two chosen positions. Usually support.
- babbreviationGo back to base. Repeated as "b b b", it is an urgent warning: disengage now.
- backdoorslangHitting the enemy base alone while the rest of your team keeps everyone occupied elsewhere.
- baitslangMaking the enemy believe something is safe to take, then punishing them for it.
- banconceptRemoving a champion from the game before champion select, so nobody on either side can pick it.
- baronconceptBaron Nashor, the major neutral objective. Its three minute buff gives the team bonus damage, a faster recall, and makes nearby minions far more dangerous.
- baseconceptYour team's side of the map, behind the inhibitors. "basing" means recalling to it, and a "base race" is both teams rushing the enemy nexus at once.
- bgabbreviationBad game. Typed at the end by someone who wants everyone to know they did not enjoy it.
- blue buffconceptThe jungle buff that restores mana and speeds up cooldowns. Traditionally handed to the mid laner after the first one.
- botabbreviationThe bottom lane, where the ADC and support play together. The only two-player lane.
- brbabbreviationBe right back: leaving the keyboard for a moment, and promising to return.
- bruiserconceptA champion built to take hits and deal damage at the same time, between a tank and an assassin.
- buffconceptA temporary bonus, or the jungle monsters that grant one. Also a patch change that makes something stronger.
- buildconceptThe set of items a champion assembles, and the verb for choosing them.
- burstconceptA large amount of damage dealt in a very short time, often enough to kill in one rotation of spells.
- bushconceptThe patches of tall grass that hide whoever stands in them. Where ganks, ambushes and facechecks happen.
- campconceptA group of jungle monsters, or the act of staying near one lane to gank it again and again.
- cannonslangThe siege minion: bigger, tougher and worth more gold than the others. It comes every third wave, every second wave from 15 minutes, and every wave after 25.
- careslangBe careful. The default warning word of LoL chat.
- carryconceptTo win the game almost alone, by being far stronger than everyone else. Also the champion expected to do it.
- catchconceptKilling an enemy who walked alone into the wrong place. The most common way a late game is decided.
- ccabbreviationCrowd control: any effect that stops or slows an enemy, from a stun to a slow.
- chaseconceptRunning after a fleeing enemy. The most common way to turn a won fight into a lost one.
- cheeseslangA surprising, slightly unfair strategy that works because nobody expects it: a level one ambush, a hidden invade.
- cleanseconceptRemoving crowd control from yourself, with the summoner spell or an item. What you take against a team full of stuns.
- coinflipslangA fight or a game that could go either way, with no real way to tilt the odds. Also the smite duel on an objective.
- compabbreviationTeam composition: the five champions picked together and the plan they add up to. Named by what it does: poke comp, engage comp, all ad comp.
- counterconceptA champion that beats another by design. Picking one is how the last player in draft uses their advantage.
- counter jungleconceptStealing camps in the enemy jungle to starve their jungler. A counter gank is arriving at a gank from the other side.
- coverconceptHolding a lane for an ally who is away, or protecting a player while they do something.
- critabbreviationCritical strike: a basic attack that randomly deals extra damage. The stat most marksmen build.
- csabbreviationCreep score: how many minions and monsters you have killed. The main source of gold in the game.
- dashconceptA quick movement ability that crosses a short distance, often through walls. What lets a champion escape or reach a target.
- dcabbreviationDisconnected. A teammate has dropped from the game, whether they come back or not.
- debuffconceptA negative effect on a champion: a slow, reduced healing, lower armor. The opposite of a buff.
- denyconceptPreventing an enemy from getting something: farm, a buff, an objective, vision.
- diffslangDifference: blaming the gap between the two teams on one role. Almost always an insult.
- diveconceptAttacking an enemy under their own tower, taking the tower shots to get the kill.
- dodgeconceptAvoiding an ability by moving, or leaving champion select before the game starts.
- dotabbreviationDamage over time: an effect that keeps hurting for a few seconds after it lands, like Ignite or a poison.
- downslangOn cooldown, unavailable. The opposite of up.
- dpsabbreviationDamage per second: sustained damage over a fight, as opposed to burst. Also the champions built for it.
- drakeconceptThe dragon in the bottom river pit. Grants stacking bonuses to the whole team.
- duoconceptTwo players queued together, or the ADC and support pair on the bottom lane.
- elderconceptThe dragon that replaces the others once a team has the soul. Its buff executes low enemies, so it usually ends the game.
- eloslangA player's rank, by the name of the old rating system. "low elo" and "high elo" describe the level of a game.
- enchanterconceptA support who heals, shields and speeds up allies rather than engaging. Lulu, Janna, Soraka.
- engageconceptStarting a fight. Also a noun for a team's ability to start one at all.
- executeconceptKilling a target outright once it drops below a threshold, or dying to a tower or minions with no enemy credited.
- exhaustconceptThe summoner spell that slows an enemy and cuts their damage for a few seconds. The support's answer to an assassin.
- ezslangEasy. Said after winning to mock the losing team. The most disliked word in the game.
- fabbreviationOne letter for Flash, the summoner spell almost everyone binds to F. "no f" means the enemy has no Flash.
- facecheckslangWalking into an unwarded bush to see what is inside. Usually the last thing a player does.
- fbabbreviationFirst blood: the first kill of the game, worth extra gold.
- fedslangA champion who has collected many kills and is now far stronger than everyone else.
- feedslangDying over and over and handing the enemy gold and experience. The word is literal: each death feeds them.
- ffabbreviationForfeit. Calling for, or starting, a surrender vote.
- ff15abbreviationSurrender at fifteen minutes, the earliest a normal surrender vote can be called. Only a teammate gone AFK lets a team surrender earlier, unanimously.
- ffsabbreviationFor fuck's sake. Pure exasperation, aimed at no one in particular.
- flameslangInsulting or blaming a teammate in chat. The fastest way to lose a winnable game.
- flankconceptAttacking a fight from the side or from behind, where the enemy's carries stand unprotected.
- flashconceptThe summoner spell that blinks you a short distance. The single most important cooldown to track in a game.
- flash inconceptFlash in: using Flash to jump onto an enemy and start a fight. Flash out: using it to escape. The same spell, two opposite decisions.
- flexconceptA champion that can go to several roles, picked early so the enemy cannot tell which. Also the ranked queue played in a group.
- focusconceptConcentrating the whole team's damage on one enemy instead of spreading it.
- fogconceptFog of war: the parts of the map your team cannot see. Where every gank comes from.
- followconceptGoing in right after an ally's engage. A follow-up is the damage or control that lands on the target they just caught.
- forceslangStarting a fight or an objective that nothing called for.
- free farmslangFarming with no enemy pressure at all: the opponent is dead, recalled or too weak to contest.
- freezeconceptHolding the wave still near your own tower by killing only what you must, forcing the enemy to overextend to farm.
- gaabbreviationGuardian Angel, the item that brings you back to life once. Tracked like a summoner spell: a carry with GA up has two lives.
- gankconceptA surprise attack on an enemy lane, usually by the jungler, to create a numbers advantage.
- gapslangThe skill difference between two players, said like "diff". A gap closer is an ability that crosses the distance to a target.
- ggabbreviationGood game. The standard end-of-match message, typed after a win or a loss.
- ghostconceptThe summoner spell that gives a long burst of movement speed. For chasing, or for running.
- gjabbreviationGood job. A quick compliment to a teammate after a good play.
- gl hfabbreviationGood luck, have fun. The polite opener of a game, typed on the loading screen or in the first seconds.
- globalconceptAn ability that reaches the whole map. A global ultimate means no lane is ever safe.
- grabconceptAn ability that pulls an enemy towards the caster: Blitzcrank, Thresh, Nautilus, Pyke. Getting grabbed usually means dying.
- griefingslangRuining the game for your own team without necessarily dying: stealing farm, refusing to play, wasting objectives.
- grievous woundsconceptThe effect that cuts the healing a target receives. Available on several cheap items.
- groupconceptBringing the team together in one place, usually before an objective or a fight.
- grubsconceptThe three void grubs that sit in the baron pit from the eighth minute. Each kill makes your attacks burn towers; all three also summon voidmites that help push them.
- handsslangMechanical skill: how well a player executes inside a fight. "hands diff" means one player simply played better.
- harassconceptHitting an enemy in lane again and again without committing, to wear them down. Poke, seen from the laner's side.
- hardstuckslangStuck at the same rank for a long time. Said about others far more often than about oneself.
- healconceptRestoring health, with an ability or the summoner spell of the same name. What anti-heal exists to counter.
- heraldconceptThe Rift Herald, a neutral monster you can release to charge into towers.
- holdconceptStay where you are and do not engage. The word for waiting under pressure: for an ultimate, for a teleport, for an ally.
- hpabbreviationHit points: the health bar. Always paired with a state or a number.
- hypercarryconceptA champion who becomes the strongest thing on the map with a full build, and needs the team to survive until then.
- igniteconceptThe summoner spell that burns a target for a few seconds and reduces their healing. The kill-securing spell.
- incabbreviationIncoming: something is on its way, an enemy or an ally.
- incomeconceptHow much gold a player earns over time, from farm, kills and items. The number behind every power spike.
- inhibabbreviationThe inhibitor, the building behind the third tower. Breaking it adds a super minion to each of your waves on that lane for the five minutes it takes to respawn.
- intslangShort for intentionally feeding: dying on purpose to make your own team lose.
- invadeconceptEntering the enemy jungle, usually at the very start, to steal camps or catch the enemy jungler.
- jglabbreviationThe jungler: the player farming neutral camps between the lanes and ganking.
- jukeslangEscaping by faking a direction and taking another, often in a bush or the fog. An old word that survived.
- kdaabbreviationKills, deaths, assists: the three numbers next to a name. Read as a ratio, and used as an argument far too often.
- kiteconceptAttacking while moving away, so the enemy chasing you takes damage without ever reaching you.
- knock upconceptSending an enemy into the air for a moment. The one crowd control nothing can cleanse, and the one Yasuo needs.
- ksabbreviationKill steal: taking the killing blow on an enemy that a teammate did all the work on.
- lagslangWhen the game stops responding to you in time: connection or computer. The excuse nobody believes and everyone has used.
- laneconceptOne of the three paths minions walk down, and the phase of the game spent on it. A side lane is top or bot.
- lane gankconceptA gank where the jungler walks in through the lane, behind the enemy, instead of coming from the river. Harder to see, easier to land.
- lane swapconceptTwo laners trading lanes, usually top and bot, to dodge a bad matchup or answer the enemy's swap.
- last hitconceptLanding the killing blow on a minion, the only hit that gives gold.
- leashconceptHelping the jungler kill their first camp at the start of the game, so they finish it faster and healthier.
- lethalityconceptFlat armor penetration, the stat assassins build. Magic penetration is the same for mages.
- lifestealconceptHealing for a share of the damage you deal with basic attacks. What makes a fed marksman impossible to kill without anti-heal.
- limit testslangTaking a risky fight on purpose to learn where your champion's limits are. What a death looks like when it was planned.
- lowslangLow on health. A call to finish a target, or a warning that you cannot fight.
- lpabbreviationLeague points: what a ranked win adds and a loss removes. The number the whole ranked game is about.
- lvlabbreviationChampion level. Almost always followed by a number marking a power spike.
- macroconceptMacro is the big picture: rotations, objectives, waves. Micro is the hands: mechanics inside a fight.
- mainslangThe champion or role a player plays most. Also a verb: to main something.
- map awarenessconceptLooking at the minimap often enough to know where the enemies are. What separates a player who gets ganked from one who does not.
- map controlconceptOwning the map: vision in the enemy jungle, waves pushed, objectives taken on your terms. What a lead is for.
- matchupconceptThe specific champion-versus-champion fight on a lane, and how favourable it is.
- mbabbreviationMy bad. A quick admission that a mistake was yours.
- meleeconceptA champion who attacks at close range, as opposed to ranged. Melee versus ranged decides how a lane is played.
- mentalslangA player's state of mind during a game. "mental boom" is the moment it breaks: the player stops playing to win.
- metaslangWhat is strongest in the current patch: champions, builds, strategies. "off meta" is anything else.
- midabbreviationThe middle lane, and by extension the player on it. The shortest lane, so the quickest to rotate from.
- mmrabbreviationMatchmaking rating: the hidden number that decides who you play against and how many points a win is worth.
- mrabbreviationMagic resist: the defensive stat against ability power.
- muteconceptBlocking a player's messages so you no longer see them. The only reliable answer to flame.
- nerfslangA patch change that makes a champion or item weaker. The opposite of a buff.
- nexusconceptThe structure at the heart of each base. Destroying it wins the game, defending it is the last thing a losing team does.
- npabbreviationNo problem. Used to reassure, or to answer a thank-you or an apology.
- nvmabbreviationNever mind: forget what I just said.
- objabbreviationAn objective: drake, baron, herald, grubs or a tower. Anything that wins the game rather than the fight.
- omwabbreviationOn my way. Followed by a lane to say where.
- oomabbreviationOut of mana. No spells available, so no fight possible.
- opslangOverpowered: a champion or item far too strong in the current patch.
- otpabbreviationOne trick pony: a player who only plays one champion, and plays it very well.
- out of positionconceptStanding somewhere you can be caught: too far forward, alone, or away from the team. Most deaths start here.
- outfarmslangHaving far more creep score than your opponent. Winning a lane without a single kill.
- outplayslangWinning a fight you should have lost, through better mechanics or a better decision.
- overextendconceptBeing too far from your tower with no vision and no escape. How most early deaths happen.
- passiveconceptThe ability a champion has without pressing anything. Some passives change how the whole team has to play.
- peelconceptProtecting a teammate by pushing away or disabling the enemies attacking them.
- pentaslangPentakill: one player killing all five enemies in a row. The rarest thing in the game, and the one everyone screenshots.
- pickconceptCatching and killing an isolated enemy, or choosing a champion in draft. Two meanings, two moments of the game.
- pingconceptA map signal sent with a click, or the delay between your click and the game. Both are called ping.
- pinkslangA control ward, which reveals and disables enemy wards around it. Named after its old pink colour.
- play safeconceptAvoiding all avoidable risk: farming, holding position, refusing fights you do not need.
- plsabbreviationPlease. Turns any order into a request, which is the difference between being listened to and being ignored.
- pokeconceptDealing damage from range without committing to a fight, to wear the enemy down before it starts.
- power spikeconceptA moment when a champion suddenly becomes much stronger: a level, an item, an ultimate.
- premadeslangA group of players who queued together and usually talk in voice chat. They vote together, too.
- prioslangLane priority: being able to leave your lane first, because you are pushing and your opponent cannot follow.
- procslangTriggering an effect that only fires under a condition: an item passive, a rune, a stack.
- proxyconceptFarming the wave between the enemy towers, behind the enemy laner. Very risky, very annoying to play against.
- pullconceptDragging the wave back towards your tower, or dragging an enemy towards you with a hook. Also helping the jungler on a camp.
- pushconceptKilling the minion wave fast so it advances towards the enemy tower. The opposite of freezing.
- qssabbreviationQuicksilver Sash, the item that removes crowd control on use. Bought against ultimates that lock a target.
- rangeconceptHow far an attack or ability reaches. The difference in range between two champions decides who trades for free.
- red buffconceptThe jungle buff that makes basic attacks burn and slow. The jungler's first target on the bottom side.
- remakeconceptCancelling a game in the first minutes because a player never connected. No loss for the team, no wait for the next one.
- reportconceptFlagging a player for bad behaviour at the end of the game. Threatened far more often than done.
- resetconceptA group recall to buy and heal before the next objective, or an ability whose cooldown refreshes on a kill.
- roamconceptLeaving your lane to create pressure elsewhere on the map.
- rootconceptA crowd control that pins a champion in place but lets them cast and attack. Weaker than a stun, still enough to die.
- rotateconceptMoving from one part of the map to another as a group, usually towards the next objective.
- scaleslangTo get stronger over time. A champion who scales is weak early and strong late.
- secureconceptTaking an objective cleanly, with the pit under control and Smite ready for the last hit, so the enemy cannot steal it.
- shieldconceptA layer of temporary health that absorbs damage before it reaches you. Given by supports, and lost when it expires.
- siegeconceptAttacking a tower from range as a team, without diving. Slow, safe, and what poke compositions do best.
- skillshotconceptAn ability you have to aim, which can miss. The opposite of a targeted spell.
- slowconceptA crowd control that reduces movement speed. The weakest one, and the one that starts most kills.
- slow pushconceptKilling only part of the wave so it builds up and crashes into the enemy tower later, while you are elsewhere.
- smiteconceptThe jungler's summoner spell, which deals heavy true damage to a monster. It decides who takes drake and baron.
- smurfslangA strong player on a low ranked account, playing far below their level.
- snowballslangTurning a small lead into a bigger one, kill after kill, until the game is out of reach.
- soloslangAlone: a solo kill is a kill with no help, solo queue is ranked without friends.
- soulconceptThe permanent team-wide bonus earned by killing four drakes. Soul point is the state of being one drake away from it.
- split pushconceptPressuring a side lane alone while the rest of the team occupies the enemy elsewhere.
- squishyslangA champion with little health and no armor, who dies in a few hits. The target every fight starts with.
- sryabbreviationSorry. The three-letter version, typed when there is no time for the whole word.
- ssabbreviationThe enemy on that lane is out of sight and could show up anywhere. It is a warning, not a status update.
- stackconceptA charge that accumulates on a champion or an item, making it stronger. Also standing on top of each other as a team.
- stealconceptTaking an objective the enemy team was killing, by landing the last hit, usually with Smite. Baron and dragon are the classic targets.
- stealthconceptBeing invisible to the enemy until a ward or an ability reveals you. What makes Evelynn and Twitch dangerous.
- stunconceptA crowd control that stops a champion from doing anything for a moment. The one that wins fights.
- sumabbreviationSummoner spell: the two spells chosen before the game, like Flash or Ignite. Tracking them is half of laning.
- supabbreviationThe support: the player who protects the ADC and controls vision.
- sustainconceptThe ability to recover health in lane through healing, lifesteal or regeneration, so trades cost nothing.
- sweeperconceptThe trinket that reveals and disables enemy wards around you. What you take to clear vision before an objective.
- tankconceptA champion built to absorb damage and start fights, standing in front of the team.
- tauntconceptA crowd control that forces an enemy to attack the caster. Also mocking an opponent with an emote.
- teamfightconceptA fight where both whole teams are involved. What the mid game is about, and what compositions are built for.
- tenacityconceptThe stat that shortens crowd control on you. Built against a team full of stuns.
- throwslangLosing a game that was already won, through one bad decision or a series of them.
- tiltslangLosing your composure after a setback, and playing worse because of it.
- topabbreviationThe top lane, and the player on it. The most isolated lane on the map.
- towerconceptThe defensive structures on each lane. Taking them is how a lead turns into map control.
- toxicslangA player who insults, blames or sabotages. The word the game itself uses for it.
- tpabbreviationTeleport, the summoner spell that carries a champion to an allied structure, minion or ward after a channel.
- tradeconceptA short exchange of damage in lane, without going for the kill. Winning trades is how a lane is won.
- trinketconceptThe free ward or sweeper every champion carries. Using it is the minimum vision a player owes the team.
- trollslangDeliberately ruining the game for your own team, from a nonsense pick to refusing to play.
- true damageconceptDamage that ignores armor and magic resist. Nothing reduces it, so tanks fear it most.
- tryhardslangPlaying at full effort, with the safest champion and no fun allowed. A compliment or an insult depending on the mode.
- turtleslangDefending under towers and refusing every fight, waiting for the enemy to make a mistake or for your team to scale.
- tyabbreviationThank you. Usually after a gank, a save or a leash.
- ultabbreviationThe ultimate ability, bound to R and unlocked at level six for almost every champion. The spell that decides most fights.
- upslangAvailable, ready to use. Said of a spell, a summoner or an objective. The opposite of down.
- wardconceptA placed item that reveals an area of the map. Also used as a verb: "ward baron".
- waveconceptThe group of minions walking down a lane. Managing it is most of the laning phase.
- waveclearconceptHow fast a champion can kill a whole wave. What decides who can roam and who has to stay.
- win conslangWin condition: the one thing your team has to make happen to win. Usually a player, sometimes a plan.
- wombo comboslangSeveral area ultimates chained on a grouped enemy team, killing everyone at once. What some compositions are built for.
- wpabbreviationWell played. A compliment to the other team or to a teammate.
- xpabbreviationExperience, the points that raise your level. Minions and kills give it; two allies standing near the same minions split it.
- ywabbreviationYou're welcome. The answer to a thank-you, when there is time for one.
- zhonyaslangZhonya's Hourglass, the AP item whose active puts you in stasis for 2.5 seconds: invulnerable, untargetable, but unable to move or act.
- zoneconceptKeeping an enemy away from something, the wave or an objective, by threatening them rather than fighting.