Glossary

A - E

 * Aggro : Abbreviation for aggression. The programmed aggression of AI controlled towers and creeps. Refers to getting the attention of a particular hostile unit, e.g. "I have aggro" means a hostile unit is focusing on attacking you.
 * AoE : Initialism for area of effect. It refers to a spell or attack that affects a large area instead of just a single unit. Also used to refer to the range of an area of effect attack, e.g. "500 AoE" refers to the area 500 units, in radius, around the target point.


 * B : Abbreviation for Back. Used to call for a retreat. A player saying "b" is usually suggesting that everyone pull back.
 * Barracks: Structures found in each lane that when destroyed permanently grant mega creeps to the team that destroyed it.
 * BD : Abbreviation for Backdooring. This is the act of teleporting into the enemy base whilst the outer towers are down in order to take down the remaining buildings.
 * BKB : Initialism for Black King Bar, an item that grants magic immunity.
 * Bot or Bottom : Refers to the bottom lane of the map..
 * Buff : A beneficial spell or effect placed on a unit.
 * Buffer : A hero that can use or place buffs as their primary function.
 * Burst or Burst Damage : Refers to high amount of damage dealt over a short period of time.


 * Carry : A type of hero which can overpower the enemy team in the late game. These Heroes usually require large amounts of gold and experience in order to be successful.
 * Caster : A hero whose primary function is their skills.
 * Cooldown (CD) : A period of wait time before a spell, ability, or item power can be used again.
 * CS : Abbreviation for Creep Score. This refers to the amount of last hits and denies a player has.
 * CW : Abbreviation for Clan War. Usually refers to a match between arranged teams.


 * Debuff : A detrimental spell of effect placed on a unit. Refers to the opposite of a Buff.
 * Deny : Killing your allied unit, hero or building, in order to prevent an enemy from gaining the gold and experience it gives. You can manually attack your own creeps if their health is below 50%, your own towers below if they are below 10%, and heroes affected by certain DoTs if they are below 25%.
 * Disable : A spell or ability that prevents enemy hero from moving, casting and/or attacking, leaving them helpless for a short period of time.
 * DoT : Damage over Time, generally abbreviated as DoT, or simply dot, refers to inflicting some damage which will be applied at a regular interval for a limited duration.
 * DPS : Initialism for Damage per second. A measure of the damage dealt by a hero or unit over one second.

F - J

 * Fade Time: The amount of time it takes for a unit to become invisible.
 * Farm or Farming : The process of slowly earning gold and experience by killing hostile creeps. This tactic is usually slow and tedious, but often required for Carries to reach their maximum potential.


 * Flash farming : A sub-type of farming when you farm your lane creeps until the enemy tower and then proceed to clear neutral creep camps. This is often the fastest method of farming, but it also allows the enemy to farm your creeps freely by their tower and is often extremely risky, as it allows for enemies to gank you.


 * Feeder : A player who "feeds" the enemy team gold and experience by getting killed frequently.


 * Gank : Abbreviation for Gang Kill. A strategy where a group of Heroes will try to kill one player by surprise.


 * Hard Carry : A carry hero, which scales incredibly well with items and requires a substantial amount of farm to be effective. Examples of this are Anti-Mage and Spectre


 * Jungling : The process of killing creeps in the woods between lanes.

K - O

 * Kite or Kiting: See pulling. A technique where a hero gets the attention of a hostile unit to draw them away or force them to follow. Can also be used to refer to a period of repeated hit-and-run attacks where the target is kept out of range.


 * Mid : The middle of the three lanes in the map.
 * Miss or MIA : Mentions that a particular Hero has gone missing and is probably setting up for a Gank, e.g. "Earthshaker mia" or "Earthshaker miss" means that Earthshaker isn't visible to the team. "MIA" is an acronym for "Missing In Action".


 * Nuke : A spell whose purpose is to deal a large amount of damage immediately.


 * OOM : Out of mana, indication that you're unable to cast any more spells because you're out of mana.

P - T

 * Pet : A creature that a Hero can summon or convert to their side. For example, the Quillbeast is an example of Beastmaster's pet.
 * Pull or Pulling: A technique where a hero gets the attention of a hostile unit to draw them away or force them to follow.


 * Rax : Abbreviation for Barracks.
 * Ricer : Hardcore farmer whose main goal is to be extremely beefed by the time they come out of the forest..
 * Roamer : A hero who jumps between lanes, especially in the early game, in order to Gank enemy Heroes or defend allies.
 * Roshan: A difficult-to-kill neutral creep that drops the Aegis of the Immortal when killed. Spawns at the beginning of the game, respawns 10 minutes after it is called.


 * Silence : An ability that prevents the target from using Skills and certain Abilities.
 * Solo : Being the only hero on the lane. A player may call for "solo" to prevent other players from interrupting or farming in their lane.
 * SS : See miss. Mentions that a particular Hero has gone missing and is probably setting up for a Gank, e.g. "Earthshaker ss" means that Earthshaker isn't visible to the team.
 * Stacking : A technique which allows several groups of neutral creeps to spawn at once.
 * Summoner : A Hero whose primary function is summoning or controlling Pets.
 * Support : A Hero whose primary function is to help their own team through heals, buffs, and detection, or sabotaging the enemy team through disables, slows, or debuffs.


 * Tank : A Hero that can take a lot of damage and abuse before dying.
 * Top : Refers to the top lane of the map. For the Radiant, this is the lane to the West. For the Dire, this is the lane to the North.
 * TP : Teleport, can also be used as an Initialism for Scroll of Town Portal.
 * Truesight: Anything invisible caught in truesight will be revealed. Towers, a gem of truesight,a sentry ward, Bounty Hunter's or Slardar's ultimate all provide truesight.

U - Z

 * Wards: Items that can be placed almost anywhere on the map and provide vision around the location for 6 minutes.
 * Wipe : The act of an entire team dying at once. Also known as a teamwipe.
 * WW : Initialism for Wind Walk (From DotA), or sometimes generalized for enemies who gained invisibility (through runes, items, or buffs).