Just like so many other games, the League of Legends community has their own language…language that newbies might not be able to understand. You can’t jump into a game and understand the slang; this is something that you will pick up on over time. To give you a boost, we’re going to walk you through some of the most popular LoL slang terms…
Champion Types
These champion types may not be slang, but these are terms you will need to know when you play LoL. You can roughly categorize the champions into one of these categories that we’re about to tell you. Mind you; there are various champions that are capable of fitting multiple roles, depending on the items and runes you choose in the game.
- Fighter – These are melee champions that have a nice mixture of defensive and damage capabilities.
- Assassin – These types of champions are usually able to deal a nice amount of single target damage and tend to be on the squishy side. Assassin’s usually have good mobility skills as well.
- Marksmen – These champions use their ranged-auto attacks to deal most of their damage.
- Mage – These are the champions that primarily deal damage using their abilities and not through auto-attacks.
- Tank – These champions have better armor and rely on massive hit points, and magic resist. They usually have extraordinary CC abilities as well.
Damage Types
There’s true damage, AP, and AD – champions and items can deal one of these three damage types.
- True Damage – This is damage that is impossible to stop or mitigate. In LoL, true damage is rarer than AP and AD damage because it’s so powerful. True damage is excellent for taking down tanks.
- AD (Attack Damage) – This is physical damage that is usually done through ranged weapon hits or melee. Armor can lessen the damage done by AD. Most champions have some armor, so you shouldn’t expect to deal all of your attack damage every strike.
- AP (Ability Power) – A mage or passive abilities usually deal magical damage. Magic resist can mitigate magic damage, and most champions have some magic resist. Just as we explained with attack damage, don’t expect to deal all of your magic damage with one hit. (unless you’re playing Veigar)
LoL Roles and Champion Positions
During the game, you will have minions spawning at each base – from there; the minions head towards the enemy base through one of the three lanes. Champions will typically focus on one of these lanes and farm minions because they are a great way to get gold.
Usually, one champion occupies the middle lane, one player that takes the top lane, and two players control the bottom lane, while the fifth player in the match roams from lane to lane, offering support to those that are in need. Which champion types work best for each position can be found below:
- Jungle – The best jungle champions have great engage and mobility potential. This is a versatile position that many champions can take part in.
- Top Lane – The top lane is also a versatile position, so many champions can take this lane.
- Mid Lane – Those champions that do great at dealing damage and carrying their team will do best in the mid lane. It’s common to find champions that are assassins and mages in mid lane.
- Bottom Lane – This is also referred to as the bot lane. You will usually have two players from each team fighting here. One of the champions is usually a support champion, while the other is a marksman.
When Someone is AFK …
AFK is a popular abbreviation – it means “away from the keyboard.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that the player isn’t at the keyboard – it can be used to describe a character that is just standing there and isn’t focusing on the game. In LoL, don’t be AFK too long, because this could get you penalized to the point that your account is suspended (if you go AFK often). If something comes up, and you’re not able to finish the game, it would be best for you to exit in the champion select – this is better than having a record of being AFK.
ADC
ADC means Attack Damage Carry. The ADC is a champion on LoL who deals a massive amount of damage and scales very well. Understand that these champions are meant to carry their team to victory. You need to help feed your designated ADC champion so that they can earn enough gold to carry the team.
CC – Crowd Control
CC stands for Crowd Control. Crowd Control is the name given to those abilities that stop you in your tracks. This is an ability that is well known for frustrating players because no one likes to be held down from what they’re doing. Some types of LoL CC include:
- Airborne – When a player is airborne, they can’t attack, move, or use their abilities. Unfortunately, you can’t remove airborne by cleaning effects, and its crowd control reduction doesn’t help. This might just be one of the most aggravating CC’s in LoL.
- Stun – This is severe for crowd control. When your champion has been stunned, you won’t be able to use any of your abilities or move.
- Blind – When your champion is blind, your vision radius will be reduced, but your abilities and spells can still be used.
This isn’t all of the crowd control abilities in LoL, goodness knows there are many more, but these three come to our mind when we think of CC in League of Legends.
What Does CS Mean?
CS is short for Creep Score. Creep Score is the amount of neutral monster or minion kills you have. If you’re comparing another player’s preparedness relative to yours, 15 CS would be equal to 1 kill. This is because 15 CS is equal to the gold granted for one kill.
The Meaning of FF
In League of Legends, when someone types “FF,” they’re saying “ForFeit.” This is a slang used when someone would like to surrender. Surrender can be initiated by typing ‘/surrender’ in the chatbox during the game – when you see a player do this, they are asking you to vote to surrender the match.
What Does OMW Mean in LoL?
This stands for on my way. When someone types OMW, this means that they’re on their way to the objective or you. This usually means that help is on the way, or you should wait for them to arrive before making a drastic move.
Additional Terms and Their Meanings in League of Legends
- Baron (Baron Nashor) The Baron is a neutral monster that lives in the baron pit in the river at the top of the map. When Baron is killed, a massive buff is granted to the team that killed him. He has a large number of hit points, so take caution when engaging.
- ARAM (All Random, All Mid) – This is a PvP mode where players fight via a single lane on their randomly assigned champions.
- Drag (Dragon) – The dragon (Drake) is a neutral monster that lives in the big dragon pit at the river on the lower side of the map. A permanent bonus will be granted to the team that slayed the dragon when a dragon is killed. The bonus granted will depend on the dragon that was slain. When the elder dragon is killed, it will temporarily increase the power of the other dragon buffs the team may already have. There are four types of elemental dragons:
- Ocean – Increases regeneration
- Infernal – Increases damage
- Cloud – Increases movement speed
- Mountain – Increases objective damage
- Farm – While a champion is farming, they are trying to kill monsters and minions to increase their gold.
- Gank – This occurs when a champion comes along with their ally to another lane to attack an enemy with overwhelming force.
- First Pick – This is the term given to the first champion chosen during the bans and picks phase.
- KS (Kill Steal) – This is when another champion takes the credit and takes the gold away from someone on their ally, even though they did most of the work killing the enemy. It’s rude and unsportsmanlike to steal kill in a match, so unless you really need that gold, if your ally has done most of the work taking an enemy down, let them have it.
- Inhib (Inhibitor) – Minion waves come from this base structure. On Twisted Treeline, in each base, you have two inhibitors. On Summoner’s Rift, in each base, you have three inhibitors. The Inhib can be destroyed temporarily, but after five minutes, it will respawn. The team that has destroyed the enemy’s inhibitor will have super minions spawn for them. For the Nexus to be destroyed, at least one inhibitor will need to be temporarily destroyed.
- LoL – This stands for League of Legends – the game we’re talking about right now.
- Leash – To help the jungler on your team kill a neutral camp by damaging the monster and distracting it from damaging the fellow teammate.
- MR (Magic Resist) – This is resistance to magical damage.
Even More LoL Terms
- Newb – An individual that is new to playing the game.
- Ult – The champions Ultimate ability
- Rage Quit – When a player gets so angry that they quit the game.
- Q – First champion ability.
- TF – Twisted Fate
- Enchanter – A champion that tries to increase the effectiveness of the team
- DOT – Damage over time
- Vent – Ventrilo
- BD – Backdoor
- Tank – A strong character that is capable of taking a lot of damage.
- DFG – Deathfire Grasp
- Mob – A monster
- Disruptor – A champion that locks down his/her opponents
- Dunking – Owning another enemy player
- Metagame – Outside game strategies and preparation
- BP – Blue pilling
- WP – Well played
- GG – Good game
- HP – Health points
- GL – Good luck
- Noob – Newbie
- TP – Teleport
- eSports – Electronic sports
- Pot – Potion
- Nerf – Weaken
- GG no re – Good game, no rematch
- DC – Disconnect
- Fail – Failure
- Nuke – An ability that can deal a large amount of damage
- OOM – Out of mana
- PVP – Player versus Player
- AS – Attack Speed
- Buff – Strengthen
- CD – Cooldown
- Kiting – Avoiding attack while moving
- Jungling – Killing neutral monsters that are in the jungle
- MLG – Major League Gaming
- Carry – A MOBA player role
- FTW – For the win
- Ace – Solo winner
- MOBA – Multiplayer online battle arena
- LCS – League Championship Series
- BG – Bad game
- Pwn – To dominate another player
- Deeps – Damage per second
- BO3 – Best of three
- Smurf – A hidden alternate character
- ADAM – All drift all mid
We hope you enjoyed learning the LoL slang terms and their meanings. If you have an LoL slang term you didn’t see on this list, feel free to drop it in the comment section below.
For similar content, you may check out our guide on how to completely change the language in LoL.
