The glossary

304 words

1. +Healing

   WoW

   Spell power that only works on heals. Healers stack it; DPS casters can't use it at all.

   “That chest is +healing, useless for a shadow priest.”

   See also: Spell power, Healer

2. AB

   PvP

   Also: Arathi Basin

   Arathi Basin: 15 v 15, hold bases to gain resources. First to the cap wins.

   “Never fight on the road in AB, fight on the flag.”

   See also: Battleground

3. Ace

   Esports

   One player killing the whole enemy team in a round.

   “Ace! Five for five.”

   See also: Clutch

4. Add

   Raiding & dungeons

   An extra enemy that joins a fight — a spawn during a boss or a patrol you didn't see.

   “Adds at 50%, off-tank picks them up.”

   See also: Boss, Off tank

5. Addon

   WoW

   A player-made UI modification: damage meters, boss timers, questing helpers.

   “Which addon shows the debuff timers?”

   See also: Macro, WeakAura, Damage meters

6. AFK

   Gaming slang

   Away from keyboard. Also a verb: he AFK'd out of the battleground.

   “AFK two minutes, door.”

   “Report AFK, he's been at the graveyard the whole game.”

   See also: BRB, Bio

7. Aggro

   WoW

   The attention of an enemy: whoever it is attacking. Built up as threat; tanks want it, everyone else wants to lose it.

   “Watch your aggro, the healer just pulled it off me.”

   “Wait for the tank to get aggro before you open.”

   See also: Threat, Tank, Taunt

8. Aggro radius

   WoW

   How close you can get to an enemy before it attacks. Bigger when it's higher level than you.

   “Higher-level mobs have a huge aggro radius, hug the wall.”

   See also: Body pull, Aggro

9. Alt

   MMO

   Any character that isn't your main.

   “Levelling an alt while the raid is on farm.”

   See also: Main, Reroll

10. AoE

    WoW

    Also: Area of effect

    Area of effect: damage or healing that hits everything in a zone. Blizzard, Whirlwind, Chain Lightning.

    “AoE the trash, don't single-target.”

    “Mage AoE farming in Zul'Farrak.”

    See also: Cleave, Single target

11. APM

    Esports

    Actions per minute. A speed stat for players.

    “300 APM and half of it is spam clicking.”

    See also: Micro

12. Attack power

    WoW

    Also: AP

    The stat behind physical damage. Strength and agility convert into it differently per class; one point of AP is roughly 1/14 of a DPS point.

    “That's 60 attack power from strength alone.”

    “AP is worth more than crit for a rogue until you have a lot of both.”

    See also: Spell power, Crit

13. Attunement

    Raiding & dungeons

    A quest chain you must finish before you can enter a raid: Onyxia's is famous, Molten Core's is a short run through Blackrock Depths.

    “Get your Ony attunement done before we start clearing.”

    See also: Raid

14. Auction house

    MMO

    Also: AH

    The server's player market. Where the gold goes.

    “Check the AH before you farm it.”

    See also: Gold, Mats

15. AV

    PvP

    Also: Alterac Valley

    Alterac Valley: 40 v 40 across a whole zone, ends when a faction boss dies. Can last hours or minutes depending on the era.

    “AV weekend, honor is doubled, everyone's queueing.”

    See also: Battleground, Honor

16. Backpedal

    Gaming slang

    Walking backwards, at half speed. The mark of a new player.

    “Don't backpedal, strafe.”

    See also: Keyboard turner

17. Balance

    WoW

    How you split survival against damage: more stamina and armor, or more crit and attack power. The line PvP players argue about. This site's gear planner has a knob for it.

    “Balance for PvP: enough stamina to survive an opener, the rest into crit.”

    See also: Stamina, Equivalence points, Twink

18. Ban

    Esports

    Removing a pick from the draft so nobody can use it.

    “Ban the mage every game.”

    See also: Draft

19. Battleground

    PvP

    Also: BG

    An instanced PvP map with objectives: Warsong Gulch (capture the flag), Arathi Basin (hold bases), Alterac Valley (kill the boss).

    “Queue for a battleground while we wait for the tank.”

    See also: WSG, AB, AV, Honor

20. Beta

    Gaming slang

    A pre-release version: playable, unfinished, changing weekly. Forever is in beta as this is written.

    “Beta numbers, don't plan your whole build on them.”

    See also: PTR, Datamine

21. Bio

    Raiding & dungeons

    Also: Bio break

    Bathroom break. 'Bio' in raid chat means wait.

    “Bio after this boss, two minutes.”

    See also: AFK, Ready check

22. BiS

    WoW

    Also: Best in slot

    Best in slot: the single best item for a slot for your class, spec and goal. 'Pre-raid BiS' is the best you can get without raiding.

    “Devilsaur set is pre-raid BiS for physical DPS.”

    “That trinket is BiS until AQ.”

    See also: Pre-raid BiS, Equivalence points, Build

23. Bo3

    Esports

    Best of three games. Bo5 for finals.

    “Semis are Bo3, the final is Bo5.”

    See also: Bracket (esports), Reverse sweep

24. Body pull

    Raiding & dungeons

    Also: Face pull

    Pulling by walking too close instead of using an ability. Usually an accident.

    “Who body pulled the second pack?”

    See also: Pull, Aggro radius

25. BoE

    MMO

    Also: Bind on equip

    Bind on equip: tradable until someone equips it. The auction house's epics.

    “BoE epic dropped, selling it for the mount.”

    See also: BoP, Auction house

26. Boost

    MMO

    A high-level player killing a dungeon while low-level characters collect the XP. Mage boosting was an industry.

    “Selling SM boosts, 5g a run.”

    See also: Boosted, Farm

27. Boosted

    Gaming slang

    Levelled or geared by someone else — a dungeon boost, a paid carry — and not able to play the result.

    “Boosted 60 with no idea what Sunder does.”

    See also: Carry, Boost

28. BoP

    MMO

    Also: Bind on pickup

    Bind on pickup: soulbound the moment you loot it. Can't be traded or sold.

    “It's BoP, you can't give it to your alt.”

    See also: BoE, Soulbound

29. Boss

    Raiding & dungeons

    A named enemy with mechanics and a loot table. The point of the instance.

    “Last boss drops the trinket.”

    See also: Trash, Mechanic, Loot table

30. Bot

    MMO

    A character played by a program, usually farming gold or honor. Reported, banned, replaced.

    “Bots in Tyr's Hand again, every hour.”

    See also: RMT, Farm

31. Bracket

    PvP

    A range of levels that queue together for a battleground, e.g. 10–19, 20–29. Twinks live at the top of each one.

    “The 29 bracket is all hunters.”

    See also: Twink, Battleground

32. Bracket (esports)

    Esports

    The tournament tree: who plays whom, single or double elimination.

    “They're in the lower bracket after one loss.”

    See also: Bo3, Seed, Upset

33. BRB

    Gaming slang

    Be right back.

    “brb, food.”

    See also: AFK

34. Breakpoint

    WoW

    A stat threshold where something changes — the hit cap, enough haste for an extra tick, enough crit for a talent to matter.

    “The breakpoint is 9% hit; past that it's worthless.”

    See also: Hit cap, Theorycraft

35. Buff

    WoW

    A beneficial effect on a player: Power Word: Fortitude, Battle Shout, food buffs, world buffs. Also, in patch notes, making something stronger.

    “Buff up, ready check in one minute.”

    “They buffed Arms in the last patch.”

    See also: Debuff, World buff, Nerf

36. Buff bot

    MMO

    A player brought to a group just for their buffs. Also a character parked in a city to buff passers-by.

    “We took a paladin as a buff bot, honestly.”

    See also: Buff, Hybrid

37. Build

    WoW

    A complete plan for a character: talents, gear and how you play it. A shared build is a link.

    “Send me your build.”

    “This is the standard 31/8/12 Mortal Strike build.”

    See also: Spec, Talent, BiS

38. Burst

    PvP

    A lot of damage in a short window, usually with cooldowns. The opposite of sustained damage.

    “Rogue burst with Cold Blood and Eviscerate.”

    “Enough burst to kill a clothie in a stun.”

    See also: Cooldown, Sustained

39. Camping

    Gaming slang

    Waiting in one spot for a spawn, a player or a drop.

    “Camping the rare spawn for the trinket.”

    See also: Spawn, Corpse camping

40. Cap

    Gaming slang

    A limit: level cap, hit cap, honor cap. Also 'capped': you've reached it.

    “Honor capped for the week.”

    See also: Hit cap, Max level

41. Carry

    Gaming slang

    To win a fight or run for a group that couldn't do it alone. Also the service of doing so.

    “The mage carried that dungeon.”

    “Paid carries through Onyxia.”

    See also: Boosted, Hard carry

42. Caster

    Esports

    Also: Shoutcaster

    The commentator on a broadcast. Play-by-play or colour.

    “The caster called the reverse sweep before it happened.”

    See also: POV, VOD

43. Casual

    Gaming slang

    A player who plays for fun and not much time. Also an insult from people who play too much.

    “Casual guild, two raids a week, no attendance rules.”

    See also: Hardcore, Tryhard

44. CC

    PvP

    Also: Crowd control

    Crowd control: anything that takes an enemy out of the fight for a while — sheep, sap, fear, stun, root.

    “CC the healer, then burst the mage.”

    “That pack needs two CCs.”

    See also: Diminishing returns, Sheep, Sap

45. Cheese

    Gaming slang

    Winning with a cheap trick rather than skill: an exploit, a degenerate strategy, an unfair position.

    “They cheesed the boss by fighting it on the stairs.”

    See also: Exploit, Meta

46. Choke

    Esports

    Losing a game you had won, from nerves.

    “They choked a 20-point lead.”

    See also: Throw, Reverse sweep

47. Cleave

    WoW

    Damage that hits a few targets near your main one, as opposed to a full AoE. Also the warrior ability.

    “Cleave the two adds while tanking the boss.”

    See also: AoE, Single target

48. Clicker

    Gaming slang

    Someone who clicks abilities with the mouse instead of pressing keys. Slower, and everyone can tell.

    “He's a clicker and a keyboard turner, no wonder he lost.”

    See also: Keybind, Keyboard turner

49. Clip it

    Gaming slang

    Save that moment from the stream.

    “Clip it, five combo Eviscerate crit.”

    See also: VOD, POV

50. Clothie

    PvP

    A cloth-wearing class: mage, priest, warlock. Squishy and worth killing first.

    “Kill the clothies first, ignore the warrior.”

    See also: Squishy, Focus target

51. Clutch

    Gaming slang

    Winning a situation that looked lost, especially alone and at the end.

    “Clutched the flag cap at 1% health.”

    See also: Choke

52. COD

    MMO

    Cash on delivery: mail an item and the recipient pays to open it. Safe trading across the world.

    “COD it to me for 50g.”

    See also: WTS, Auction house

53. Combo points

    WoW

    Points a rogue or cat builds on a target with some abilities and spends with finishers. Up to five.

    “Five combo points, Kidney Shot.”

    See also: Energy, Finisher

54. Comp

    Esports

    Also: Composition

    Team composition: which classes or characters a team fields.

    “Their comp is two healers and three warriors, we can't out-damage it.”

    See also: Meta, Draft

55. Consumes

    Raiding & dungeons

    Also: Consumables

    Consumables: flasks, elixirs, potions, food, weapon oils. Raiders spend hundreds of gold a week on them.

    “Bring consumes or don't bother showing up.”

    “Full consumes: Mongoose, Giants, Flask of the Titans.”

    See also: Flask, World buff, Mats

56. Cooldown

    WoW

    How long before you can use an ability again. Also the ability itself when it is a big one: 'pop your cooldowns'.

    “Save cooldowns for the burn phase.”

    “Death Wish is a three-minute cooldown, use it every pull.”

    See also: GCD, Burst

57. Cope

    Gaming slang

    Making excuses for a loss. 'Copium' is the imaginary drug.

    “It's not lag, it's cope.”

    See also: Salty, Skill issue

58. Corpse camping

    PvP

    Waiting at someone's body to kill them again the moment they resurrect.

    “He camped my corpse for twenty minutes, I logged an alt.”

    See also: Gank, Spirit healer, Camping

59. Corpse run

    Raiding & dungeons

    Running your ghost back to your body from the graveyard after dying.

    “Long corpse run from the graveyard to Blackrock Mountain.”

    See also: Wipe, Spirit healer, Ghost

60. Cracked

    Gaming slang

    Extremely good, mechanically.

    “That hunter is cracked, kited three people.”

    See also: Mechanically, Diff

61. Crit

    WoW

    A critical strike: a hit or heal for roughly double. Crit chance comes from agility, intellect, talents and gear.

    “I'm at 28% crit unbuffed.”

    “That Eviscerate crit for 2,400.”

    See also: Hit cap, Attack power

62. Damage meters

    Raiding & dungeons

    Also: Meters, Recount, Details

    Addons that show live damage and healing per player. The reason every DPS knows exactly where they stand — and the name of this site.

    “Damage meters say the rogue did 40% of the raid's damage.”

    “Post meters after the boss.”

    See also: Parse, DPS, Logs

63. Datamine

    Gaming slang

    Reading a game's data files to find changes, items and spells before they're announced. Where this site's numbers come from.

    “Datamined talents show a new tier for shamans.”

    See also: Beta, Tooltip

64. Debuff

    WoW

    A harmful effect on an enemy or you: Sunder Armor, Curse of Recklessness, Faerie Fire. Vanilla bosses have limited debuff slots, so raids plan which ones go on.

    “Sixteen debuff slots, warlocks don't put Corruption on.”

    See also: Buff, Uptime

65. Desync

    Gaming slang

    When what you see and what the server sees disagree.

    “He was already dead on the server, desync.”

    See also: Rubberbanding, Lag

66. Diff

    Gaming slang

    Difference: the gap between two players in the same role decided the game. 'Healer diff.'

    “Healer diff, ours was OOM the whole game.”

    See also: Cracked

67. Diminishing returns

    PvP

    Also: DR

    Each repeated stun, fear or root on the same target within a short window lasts less, and the fourth doesn't land at all.

    “He's on full DR for stuns, save the kidney shot.”

    See also: CC

68. Ding

    MMO

    The sound of levelling up, and what you say in chat when it happens.

    “Ding 60!”

    “Grats on the ding.”

    See also: XP, Grats

69. DKP

    Raiding & dungeons

    Dragon kill points: a guild's loot currency, earned by attending raids and spent bidding on items.

    “I've saved 400 DKP for the Ashkandi.”

    “Minus 50 DKP for standing in the fire.”

    See also: Loot council, GDKP

70. DoT

    WoW

    Damage over time: Rend, Corruption, Shadow Word: Pain. Cheap damage that keeps ticking while you do other things.

    “Keep the DoTs rolling.”

    “Dotted three targets and went to drink.”

    See also: HoT, Tick

71. DPS

    WoW

    Damage per second, and by extension the damage-dealing role and the people playing it.

    “We're at 3 DPS, need a tank and a healer.”

    “His DPS is fine, his positioning is the problem.”

    See also: HPS, Parse, Rotation

72. DPS check

    Raiding & dungeons

    A fight, or phase, that is mostly about having enough damage.

    “Patchwerk is a pure DPS check.”

    See also: Enrage, Parse

73. Draft

    Esports

    Picking and banning characters before a match. The first fight.

    “Lost in the draft, they got both S-tiers.”

    See also: Comp, Ban, Tier list

74. Dual spec

    WoW

    Later feature that lets you keep two talent builds and swap between them. Not in vanilla; watch for it in Forever.

    “No dual spec means you're a healer on raid nights, full stop.”

    See also: Respec

75. Duel

    PvP

    One-on-one consensual PvP, usually outside a capital city. The oldest way to settle who's better.

    “Duel outside Orgrimmar, no potions.”

    See also: World PvP

76. Dungeon

    Raiding & dungeons

    A five-player instance. Pre-raid gear comes from here.

    “Scholomance, Stratholme and the Blackrock dungeons are the endgame dungeons at 60.”

    See also: Raid, Instance, Pre-raid BiS

77. EFC

    PvP

    Enemy flag carrier. The one everyone should be hitting.

    “EFC is in their tunnel with two healers, we need to send more.”

    See also: Flag carrier, WSG

78. Elite

    WoW

    A mob with several times the health and damage of a normal one. Group quests and dungeons.

    “That's an elite, don't solo it at 30.”

    See also: Mob, Group quest

79. Elo

    Esports

    A rating system for skill, from chess. Win against better players, gain more.

    “Lost 40 Elo to a smurf.”

    See also: MMR, Smurf

80. Enchant

    MMO

    A permanent bonus applied to an item by an enchanter. Crusader, +15 agility, Mongoose.

    “Crusader enchant on both weapons.”

    “Cheap enchants on twink gear are a sin.”

    See also: Twink, Mats

81. Endgame

    MMO

    Everything after max level: raids, PvP, reputation, alts.

    “The levelling is the game; the endgame is the job.”

    See also: Raid, Max level

82. Energy

    WoW

    The rogue's (and cat's) resource: 100 points, regenerating 20 every two seconds no matter what.

    “Pool energy for the Eviscerate.”

    See also: Rage, Combo points

83. Enrage

    Raiding & dungeons

    A timer after which a boss does far more damage, forcing the group to kill it fast enough. Also 'soft enrage': mechanics that get worse over time.

    “We hit enrage at 8%, need more DPS.”

    “Hard enrage at eight minutes.”

    See also: Mechanic, DPS check

84. Epic

    WoW

    Purple-quality item: raid loot, world drops and top PvP gear. Above rare (blue) and below legendary (orange).

    “First epic at level 60, finally.”

    “Purple doesn't mean upgrade.”

    See also: Rare, Legendary, ilvl

85. Equivalence points

    WoW

    Also: EP, Stat weights

    Stat weights: how much each stat is worth in one currency (attack power, spell power, healing, stamina) so items can be compared with one number. What this site's ratings are built on.

    “By equivalence points that ring is worth 40 AP, the other one 52.”

    See also: Theorycraft, BiS, Hit cap

86. Evade

    WoW

    When an enemy can't reach you and stops taking damage. Sometimes a bug, sometimes an exploit.

    “Boss is evading, reset the fight.”

    See also: Leash, Exploit

87. Exalted

    WoW

    The top reputation level with a faction.

    “Exalted with Timbermaw, finally.”

    See also: Rep

88. Execute

    WoW

    Warrior finisher usable under 20% health, and by extension any 'below X% health' ability or phase.

    “Execute phase, dump all your rage.”

    “Execute range at 20%.”

    See also: Burst, Rage

89. Exploit

    Gaming slang

    Using a bug to gain an advantage. Bannable when it's serious.

    “Wall-jumping into the instance was an exploit and they hotfixed it.”

    See also: Evade, Hotfix

90. EZ

    Gaming slang

    Easy. Said after winning, to annoy.

    “EZ clap, three caps in six minutes.”

    See also: GG

91. F in chat

    Gaming slang

    Also: Press F

    Paying respects, from a 2014 Call of Duty prompt. Type F when something dies.

    “Died at 59 on hardcore. F in chat.”

    See also: Pog, Hardcore

92. Faction

    WoW

    Alliance or Horde. You can't talk to, group with or trade with the other one.

    “Faction balance on that server is 70/30 Horde.”

    See also: Server

93. Farm

    MMO

    Doing the same thing repeatedly for its rewards: bosses you've beaten, mobs that drop a material, an instance for a trinket.

    “Molten Core is on farm, it's a 90-minute clear now.”

    “Farming Devilsaur leather in Un'Goro.”

    See also: Progression, Grind

94. Fear

    WoW

    Crowd control that makes the target run in random directions: warlocks, priests, warriors' Intimidating Shout.

    “Feared into a second group, classic.”

    See also: CC, Diminishing returns

95. Feed

    Gaming slang

    To die a lot and make the enemy stronger for it.

    “Stop feeding the rogue honor, stay at the graveyard.”

    See also: Inting, Honor

96. Finisher

    WoW

    An ability that spends combo points: Eviscerate, Slice and Dice, Kidney Shot, Rip, Ferocious Bite.

    “Don't waste a finisher at two combo points.”

    See also: Combo points

97. Five-second rule

    WoW

    Also: FSR

    Vanilla's mana rule: no spirit-based regeneration for five seconds after any spell. Healers cancel-cast and skip heals to get regen ticks.

    “Stop casting for five seconds and let the regen tick.”

    See also: Mana, OOM

98. Flag carrier

    PvP

    Also: FC

    The player holding the flag in Warsong Gulch. Your own is the FC, the enemy's is the EFC.

    “Peel for the flag carrier!”

    “Druid FC with speed and travel form is the classic pick.”

    See also: EFC, WSG, Peel

99. Flame

    Gaming slang

    To insult people in chat.

    “Don't flame the new tank, teach him.”

    See also: Toxic, Salty

100. Flask

     Raiding & dungeons

     The strongest consumable: a two-hour buff that survives death. Flask of the Titans, Distilled Wisdom, Supreme Power.

     “Flask for progression only, they cost 100 gold.”

     See also: Consumes

101. Focus target

     PvP

     Also: Focus

     The player everyone agrees to attack first, or the second target your UI tracks so you can interrupt it.

     “Focus target is the priest, kick every heal.”

     See also: Clothie, Interrupt

102. For the Horde

     WoW

     The Horde's battle cry. Alliance say 'for the Alliance', but less convincingly.

     “For the Horde! — typed by twenty people entering AV.”

     See also: Faction

103. Gank

     PvP

     To attack someone who can't fight back: lower level, half health, mid-fight with a mob. World PvP's favourite word.

     “Got ganked in STV three times on the way to the quest.”

     “It's a PvP server, ganking is the game.”

     See also: Corpse camping, World PvP, STV

104. GCD

     WoW

     Global cooldown: the 1.5 seconds (1 second for some abilities) after using almost anything before you can use anything else. Off-GCD abilities ignore it.

     “Bloodrage is off the GCD, weave it in.”

     “You're wasting GCDs on Battle Shout mid-fight.”

     See also: Cooldown, Rotation

105. GDKP

     Raiding & dungeons

     A gold DKP run: loot goes to the highest gold bid, and the pot is split among everyone at the end. Banned in some versions of the game for feeding gold buying.

     “GDKP for Naxx, 5,000 gold minimum bid on tier.”

     See also: DKP, RMT

106. GG

     Gaming slang

     Good game. Said at the end, sincerely or not. 'GG EZ' is the rude version.

     “GG, close one.”

     “gg ez — reported.”

     See also: GL HF, EZ

107. Ghost

     WoW

     You, after dying, walking back from the graveyard.

     “I'm a ghost, two minutes.”

     See also: Corpse run

108. GL HF

     Gaming slang

     Good luck, have fun. Said at the start.

     “glhf — gates open in 30.”

     See also: GG

109. Gold

     MMO

     The money. Epic mount 1,000 gold, respec 50, a flask 100.

     “Broke again, spent it all on consumes.”

     See also: Auction house, RMT

110. Grand Marshal

     PvP

     Also: GM, High Warlord, HWL

     Rank 14 on the Alliance side, with the best PvP weapons in vanilla. High Warlord for the Horde.

     “A Grand Marshal's Claymore on a fury warrior in 2005 was terrifying.”

     See also: Rank, Honor

111. Grats

     MMO

     Also: Gz

     Congratulations. The correct reply to a ding.

     “Ding. — Grats.”

     See also: Ding

112. Griefing

     Gaming slang

     Ruining other players' fun on purpose: pulling extra mobs onto them, training a boss, stealing tags.

     “Griefing the quest area by killing every NPC.”

     See also: Toxic, Training

113. Grind

     MMO

     Repetitive play for XP, reputation, honor or gold. Farming with less dignity.

     “Grinding Timbermaw rep for the enchant.”

     “Rank grind ruined his sleep schedule.”

     See also: Farm, Rep

114. Group quest

     MMO

     A quest meant for several players, marked as such. Solo it at your peril.

     “It's a group quest, elite at the end.”

     See also: Quest, Elite

115. Guild

     MMO

     A player organization with its own chat, bank and raid schedule. The social unit of an MMO.

     “Our guild cleared BWL last week.”

     “Guild drama, again.”

     See also: Raid, Raid leader

116. Hard carry

     Gaming slang

     Winning almost single-handedly for a team that contributed little.

     “The rogue hard carried that Warsong, eleven kills.”

     See also: Carry

117. Hard reserve

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: HR

     An item the raid organizer keeps for themselves or a friend no matter what. Said up front, or it's a ninja.

     “HR on the Eye of Sulfuras, everything else is free roll.”

     See also: Soft reserve, Ninja

118. Hardcore

     Gaming slang

     Playing a lot and seriously. Also a WoW mode where death is permanent.

     “Hardcore guild, five raids a week.”

     “Died at 47 on hardcore to a disconnect.”

     See also: Casual, Permadeath

119. Hardstuck

     Gaming slang

     Unable to climb past a rank, for a long time.

     “Hardstuck rank 9 for three weeks.”

     See also: MMR

120. Healer

     WoW

     The role that keeps the group alive. Priests, druids, shamans and paladins. Healing generates threat too, which is why healers get eaten when a tank loses aggro.

     “Two healers is enough for Stratholme.”

     “Healer is OOM, stop pulling.”

     See also: Tank, DPS, OOM

121. Hearth

     WoW

     Also: Hearthstone, HS

     Using your Hearthstone to teleport to your inn. 'Hearth and log' ends a session.

     “Hearth's on cooldown, running to Ironforge.”

     See also: Summon

122. Hit cap

     WoW

     The amount of +hit after which extra hit does nothing. 9% against raid bosses (16% for spells) in vanilla-style games; 5% against players.

     “Don't stack past the hit cap, swap that ring for crit.”

     “Casters need 16% to be capped on bosses.”

     See also: Crit, Equivalence points

123. Hitbox

     Gaming slang

     The invisible shape that decides whether an attack lands.

     “That hitbox is bigger than the model.”

     See also: Desync

124. Honor

     PvP

     Points from killing enemy players and winning battlegrounds. In vanilla they drove a weekly ranking; in Classic they buy PvP gear.

     “Honor resets Tuesday, grind while you can.”

     See also: Rank, Honorable kill

125. Honorable kill

     PvP

     Also: HK

     A kill on an enemy player of roughly your level that counts for honor. Killing greys gives nothing.

     “Twelve hundred honorable kills and still rank 7.”

     See also: Honor, Rank

126. HoT

     WoW

     Heal over time: Rejuvenation, Renew. Cheap healing that works while you cast other things.

     “HoT the tank before the pull.”

     See also: DoT, Tick

127. Hotfix

     Gaming slang

     A server-side fix applied without a patch or a restart.

     “Hotfix went in overnight, the exploit's gone.”

     See also: Patch, Nerf

128. HPS

     WoW

     Healing per second. The healer's version of DPS. Overhealing does not count.

     “Top HPS on that fight was the shaman, mostly Chain Heal.”

     See also: DPS, Overheal

129. Hybrid

     WoW

     A class (or build) that can fill more than one role: paladins, druids, shamans, priests. Also a build split across trees.

     “Hybrid tax: druids heal fine and tank fine but do less damage than a rogue.”

     “That's a hybrid build — 20 points in each tree and no 31-pointer.”

     See also: Spec, Talent

130. ilvl

     WoW

     Also: Item level

     Item level: the hidden number behind how much stat budget an item has. Higher item level, more stats, roughly.

     “The ilvl is 66 but the stats are all spirit, so it's bad for you.”

     See also: BiS, Epic

131. Instance

     MMO

     A private copy of a dungeon or raid for your group. Nobody else's group is in your instance.

     “Everyone in the instance, we're starting.”

     See also: Dungeon, Raid, Lockout

132. Interrupt

     WoW

     Also: Kick

     Stopping a cast: Kick, Pummel, Counterspell, Earth Shock. Locks the target out of that spell school for a few seconds.

     “Interrupt the heal or we lose the fight.”

     See also: Focus target, Silence

133. Inting

     Gaming slang

     Intentionally feeding: dying on purpose to lose. From 'intentional'.

     “Reported for inting.”

     See also: Throw, Feed

134. KEKW

     Gaming slang

     Also: KEK

     Laughter, from a Twitch emote. 'KEK' is the Horde-side 'lol' — the game translates Orcish 'lol' as 'kek' to Alliance players.

     “Body pulled the boss, KEKW.”

     See also: Pog, LOL

135. Keybind

     Gaming slang

     A key mapped to an ability. Clicking buttons with the mouse is the alternative and the insult.

     “Keybind everything, clicking loses fights.”

     See also: Clicker, Macro

136. Keyboard turner

     Gaming slang

     Someone who turns with the keyboard instead of the mouse. Slow turning loses PvP.

     “Keyboard turners can't kite.”

     See also: Clicker, Backpedal

137. Kite

     PvP

     To keep an enemy at range while damaging them, usually with snares: hunters, frost mages and any tank dragging a boss around.

     “Frost mage kiting a warrior across the whole zone.”

     “Kite the adds through the fire.”

     See also: Snare, Root

138. Lag

     Gaming slang

     When the game responds late because of your connection or the server. The universal excuse.

     “I lagged, that's why I died. — Sure.”

     See also: Ping, Rubberbanding

139. LAN

     Esports

     A tournament where everyone is in the same room on the same network. No lag, no excuses.

     “LAN finals in front of a crowd.”

     See also: Ping, Lag

140. Layer

     MMO

     A copy of a zone on the same server, used to spread players out at launch. Layer hopping lets you reach fresh spawns.

     “He's on a different layer, invite him to swap.”

     See also: Server, Phasing

141. Leash

     MMO

     The distance an enemy will chase you before giving up and resetting.

     “Kite it to the leash and it resets, don't.”

     See also: Evade, Kite

142. Leeroy Jenkins

     WoW

     The 2005 video of a paladin charging a room of dragon whelps while his raid was still planning. Now a verb for charging in without a plan.

     “He Leeroyed the whole pack while we were still buffing.”

     See also: Pull, Wipe

143. Legendary

     WoW

     Orange-quality item: Thunderfury, Sulfuras, Atiesh. Long quest chains and raid drops, one per guild for months.

     “Guild's second Thunderfury goes to the off tank.”

     See also: Epic

144. LFG

     MMO

     Looking for group. The message and the channel.

     “LFG Scholo, healer here.”

     See also: LFM, PUG

145. LFM

     MMO

     Looking for more: a group with open slots.

     “LFM Strat live, need tank and 1 DPS.”

     See also: LFG, PUG

146. Line of sight

     PvP

     Also: LoS

     Whether a caster can see you. Breaking LoS behind a pillar or wall stops casts and pulls enemies to you.

     “LoS the mage behind the tree.”

     “Pull the caster pack around the corner, make them come to us.”

     See also: Kite, Pull

147. Lockout

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: Raid ID

     Once you kill a raid boss, you're saved to that raid's instance until it resets: a week for the big raids, three days for Zul'Gurub and Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.

     “I'm locked to MC this week, can't come.”

     See also: Raid, Reset

148. Logs

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: WCL, Warcraft Logs

     Combat logs uploaded to a site like Warcraft Logs, where every raid's damage, healing and mistakes are ranked and public.

     “Check the logs, who died to the first breath?”

     See also: Parse, Damage meters

149. LOL

     Gaming slang

     Laughing out loud. The oldest one. Horde 'lol' shows to Alliance as 'kek'.

     “lol”

     “lol, he fell off the bridge.”

     See also: KEKW

150. Loot

     MMO

     Items that drop from enemies, and the act of taking them.

     “Loot the boss.”

     “Loot rules are in the raid description.”

     See also: Loot table, Need or greed, Ninja

151. Loot council

     Raiding & dungeons

     Loot handed out by a small group of officers deciding who benefits most. Fair when it's fair.

     “Loot council gave the sword to the tank, obviously.”

     See also: Master looter, DKP

152. Loot table

     Raiding & dungeons

     The list of items a boss can drop, with their chances.

     “The trinket is on Onyxia's loot table at about 5%.”

     See also: Loot, Boss, RNG

153. Macro

     Gaming slang

     A short script that runs several commands from one button. Used for mouseover heals, stopcasting, one-button openers.

     “Macro Cold Blood into Eviscerate.”

     See also: Addon, Keybind

154. Macro (strategy)

     Esports

     In strategy games: the big decisions — economy, map control, timing. As opposed to micro. Not the UI macro, which has its own entry.

     “Their macro is better, they're always a base ahead.”

     See also: Micro, APM, Macro

155. Main

     MMO

     The character you actually play and raid on.

     “My main's a warrior, alts are for the auction house.”

     See also: Alt, Reroll

156. Main spec

     WoW

     The role you actually play in the raid. First in line for the loot that fits it.

     “Main spec rolls only on the tier chest.”

     See also: Off-spec, MS > OS

157. Main tank

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: MT

     The tank on the boss. The most geared, most trusted warrior in the guild, usually.

     “Main tank has the highest priority on Thunderfury.”

     See also: Off tank, Tank

158. Mana

     WoW

     The blue bar: casters' resource. Regenerates from spirit outside the five-second rule.

     “Drink after every pull to keep mana up.”

     See also: OOM, Five-second rule

159. Master looter

     Raiding & dungeons

     A loot mode where one player hands out everything. Standard in guild raids.

     “Master looter is the raid leader, whisper your rolls.”

     See also: Ninja, DKP, Loot council

160. Mats

     MMO

     Also: Materials

     Materials for crafting or for consumables.

     “Send me the mats and I'll craft it free.”

     “Farming mats for the flask.”

     See also: Consumes, Farm

161. Max level

     MMO

     The level cap. 60 in vanilla and Classic.

     “Max level in a week, then the raid grind.”

     See also: Endgame, Ding

162. Mechanic

     Raiding & dungeons

     A specific thing a boss does that you must respond to: move out of fire, spread, stack, swap tanks.

     “The mechanic is simple: don't stand in the shadow bolt volley.”

     See also: Boss, Enrage

163. Mechanically

     Gaming slang

     Skill with the controls: reaction time, precision, execution. 'Mechanically gifted' as opposed to smart.

     “Mechanically he's the best rogue on the server; his decisions are another story.”

     See also: Micro, Cracked

164. Meeting stone

     WoW

     The stone outside each dungeon. In vanilla it just found groups; in Classic it summons.

     “Meet at the stone.”

     See also: Summon

165. Meta

     Gaming slang

     What's strongest right now, and what everyone plays because of it. 'Most effective tactics available', by folk etymology.

     “The meta is fury warriors and rogues.”

     “Off-meta picks are fine if you know why.”

     See also: OP, Tier list, Theorycraft

166. Meta-gaming

     Gaming slang

     Using knowledge your character wouldn't have. In MMOs it mostly means playing what's strong because it's strong.

     “Rolling warrior because it's meta is meta-gaming, and that's fine.”

     See also: Meta

167. Micro

     Esports

     Precise control of individual units or abilities in the moment.

     “Insane micro, dodged every shot.”

     See also: Macro, APM

168. Min-max

     Gaming slang

     Also: Min-maxing

     To squeeze every last point out of a character: the best stats, nothing wasted.

     “He min-maxed his twink down to the enchant on the cloak.”

     See also: Theorycraft, BiS, Sweaty

169. MMO

     MMO

     Massively multiplayer online game: thousands of players in one persistent world.

     “WoW is the MMO everyone else is compared to.”

     See also: MMORPG, Guild

170. MMORPG

     MMO

     The role-playing kind of MMO: levels, gear, classes, a world to live in.

     “An MMORPG launch is a stampede.”

     See also: MMO

171. MMR

     Esports

     Matchmaking rating: the hidden Elo that decides who you're matched against.

     “MMR hell: every game is a coin flip.”

     See also: Elo, Hardstuck

172. Mob

     MMO

     Any computer-controlled enemy. 'Mobile object', from MUDs.

     “Ten mobs for the quest.”

     “Elite mobs hit like trucks.”

     See also: Elite, Add

173. Mount

     MMO

     Your ride. 60% speed at level 40 for 90 gold in vanilla, 100% at 60 for a thousand.

     “Epic mount at 60 is the real endgame.”

     See also: Gold

174. Mouseover

     WoW

     Casting on whatever your mouse is over, via a macro, without changing target. Healers live on it.

     “Mouseover macros for every heal.”

     See also: Macro, Focus target

175. MS > OS

     Raiding & dungeons

     Loot rule: main spec rolls before off spec. The default in most pickup raids.

     “Loot is MS > OS, one epic per person until everyone has one.”

     See also: Main spec, Off-spec, Soft reserve

176. Need or greed

     Raiding & dungeons

     The built-in roll system: 'need' beats 'greed', highest roll wins. The source of most arguments.

     “Need only if you'll equip it.”

     “He needed on a healing staff as a rogue.”

     See also: Loot, Ninja, MS > OS

177. Nerd

     Gaming slang

     Us. Said with love.

     “Spent Friday night on a spreadsheet of stat weights. Nerd.”

     See also: Theorycraft

178. Nerf

     Gaming slang

     To make something weaker in a patch. From the foam toys.

     “They nerfed Seal of the Crusader.”

     “Nerf rogues, unnerf paladins, every forum ever.”

     See also: Buff, Patch

179. Nerf bat

     Gaming slang

     The imaginary bat developers swing when they nerf something.

     “Paladins got hit with the nerf bat again.”

     See also: Nerf

180. Newb

     Gaming slang

     Also: Newbie

     A genuinely new player. Not an insult, mostly.

     “Newb here, where's the trainer?”

     See also: Noob

181. Ninja

     Raiding & dungeons

     Someone who takes loot they shouldn't — needing on everything, or a master looter giving items to themselves. 'Ninja'd' means it happened to you.

     “He ninja'd the epic and left the group.”

     “Ninja looter, blacklist him.”

     See also: Need or greed, Master looter

182. Noob

     Gaming slang

     Also: N00b

     A new player who doesn't know what they're doing — or an insult for anyone who just made a mistake. 'Newb' is the kinder version.

     “Don't pull without the tank, noob.”

     “We were all noobs once.”

     See also: Newb, Scrub

183. NPC

     Gaming slang

     Non-player character: quest givers, vendors, guards, anyone not a person.

     “Talk to the NPC by the well.”

     See also: Mob, Vendor

184. Off tank

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: OT

     A second tank for adds, tank swaps or whatever the main tank isn't holding.

     “Off tank takes the adds on Garr.”

     See also: Main tank, Add

185. Off-spec

     WoW

     A role or gear set other than your main one. Loot rules usually give main-spec priority.

     “I'll roll off-spec on the healing mace if nobody needs it.”

     “MS before OS on all drops.”

     See also: Main spec, MS > OS

186. One-shot

     Gaming slang

     Also: One-tap

     Killing something in one hit, or being killed in one.

     “Ambush one-shot the mage.”

     See also: Burst, Opener

187. OOM

     WoW

     Also: Out of mana

     Out of mana. The healer's most important sentence.

     “OOM, stop pulling.”

     “Innervate me, I'm OOM.”

     See also: Healer, Mana

188. OP

     Gaming slang

     Overpowered: too strong to be fair.

     “Twink hunters are OP in the 19 bracket.”

     See also: Nerf, Meta

189. Opener

     PvP

     The first move of a fight, especially from stealth: Cheap Shot, Ambush, Pounce.

     “Ambush opener crit for half his health.”

     See also: Stealth, Burst

190. Overheal

     Raiding & dungeons

     Healing done to someone already at full health. Wasted mana; meters show it separately.

     “70% overheal, you're spamming Flash Heal.”

     See also: HPS, OOM

191. Parse

     Raiding & dungeons

     Your damage or healing on a fight compared to everyone else's logs for that fight and class, as a percentile. 'A 99 parse' is elite; 'a grey parse' is embarrassing.

     “Orange parse on Patchwerk, screenshot it.”

     “He parses 95 and stands in everything.”

     See also: Logs, Damage meters, DPS

192. Patch

     Gaming slang

     A game update. Numbered, dated, argued about.

     “Patch 1.10 changed everything for priests.”

     See also: Hotfix, Nerf, Buff

193. Patrol

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: Pat

     An enemy that walks a route rather than standing still. The reason pulls go wrong.

     “Wait for the pat to pass.”

     See also: Pull, Add

194. Peel

     PvP

     To get an enemy off a teammate: stun, snare, fear or just hit them until they switch.

     “Peel for the healer, she's got two rogues on her.”

     See also: Flag carrier, CC

195. Permadeath

     Gaming slang

     One life. Dead is deleted.

     “Permadeath makes every elite scary.”

     See also: Hardcore

196. Phasing

     MMO

     The world showing different things to different players depending on their quest progress — a burned-down town for you, a normal one for your friend.

     “We can't see each other, it's phasing from the quest.”

     See also: Layer

197. Ping

     Esports

     Also: Latency

     Your latency to the server in milliseconds. Low is good. Also: marking a spot on the map.

     “Playing on 200 ping, every interrupt is late.”

     See also: Lag, LAN

198. Pog

     Gaming slang

     Also: Poggers, PogChamp

     Excitement. From the PogChamp emote. 'Poggers' is the same, sillier.

     “Thunderfury dropped, pog.”

     See also: KEKW, F in chat

199. POV

     Esports

     Point of view: a stream or recording from one player's screen.

     “Watch the POV of the flag carrier, it's chaos.”

     See also: VOD, Caster

200. Pre-raid BiS

     Raiding & dungeons

     The best gear available before you set foot in a raid: dungeons, crafting, reputation, PvP and the auction house.

     “Farm pre-raid BiS before you apply to a guild.”

     See also: BiS, Dungeon

201. Premade

     PvP

     A battleground group formed beforehand, usually on voice chat, against random queuers. Not a fair fight.

     “We ran into a premade, 0–3 in eight minutes.”

     See also: PUG, Battleground

202. Priority list

     WoW

     A rotation written as 'use the first thing on this list that is available'. Handles procs and cooldowns better than a fixed sequence.

     “Priority list: keep Slice and Dice up, Eviscerate at 5 points, otherwise Sinister Strike.”

     See also: Rotation, Proc

203. Proc

     WoW

     A random effect that triggers off something else — a weapon's chance on hit, a trinket, a talent. Short for 'programmed random occurrence'.

     “Wait for the trinket proc, then Mortal Strike.”

     “Ironfoe procs extra swings.”

     See also: RNG, Priority list

204. Progression

     Raiding & dungeons

     Fighting bosses you haven't killed yet, as opposed to farming ones you have.

     “We're on progression for Nefarian, expect wipes.”

     See also: Farm, Wipe

205. PTR

     Gaming slang

     Public test realm: where patches are tested before going live.

     “It's on the PTR, so the numbers will change.”

     See also: Beta, Datamine, Patch

206. PUG

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: Pickup group

     Pickup group: strangers found in chat rather than a guild. Pug a dungeon, pug a raid.

     “Pugging Stratholme was a mistake.”

     “Pug tanks are the hardest to find.”

     See also: LFG, LFM, Guild

207. Pull

     Raiding & dungeons

     To start a fight by getting the enemy's attention. Also the group of enemies you pull.

     “Tank pulls, nobody else.”

     “That's a big pull, sheep the mage.”

     See also: Body pull, Aggro, Trash

208. PvE

     MMO

     Player versus environment: quests, dungeons, raids. Fighting the game, not each other.

     “PvE server, no ganking, just questing.”

     See also: PvP, Raid

209. PvP

     MMO

     Player versus player: duels, battlegrounds, world fights.

     “PvP server, expect to die in STV.”

     See also: PvE, Battleground, World PvP

210. Pwned

     Gaming slang

     Also: Pwn

     Owned, beaten badly. A typo that stuck around 2004.

     “Got pwned by a twink.”

     See also: Rekt

211. Quest

     MMO

     A task from an NPC with XP, gold and gear at the end.

     “Quest is bugged, the NPC isn't there.”

     See also: XP, Group quest

212. Race to world first

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: RWF

     The streamed competition between top guilds to clear a new raid first.

     “The race to world first for Naxx lasted five days.”

     See also: World first

213. Rage

     WoW

     The warrior's (and bear's) resource, built by dealing and taking damage. Starts empty every fight.

     “No rage, can't Sunder.”

     See also: Energy, Mana

214. Rage quit

     Gaming slang

     Leaving mid-game out of anger.

     “Rage quit the battleground at 0–2.”

     See also: Tilt, AFK

215. Raid

     Raiding & dungeons

     A large-group instance — 20 or 40 players in vanilla — and the group itself. Weekly lockouts, big bosses, epic loot.

     “Raid is Tuesday and Thursday, be on by seven.”

     “Molten Core was the first 40-man raid.”

     See also: Dungeon, Lockout, Tier set

216. Raid leader

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: RL

     The person calling the pulls, the strategy and the loot. Usually the one who spent all week reading strategies.

     “Raid leader says stack on the left.”

     See also: Raid, Ready check

217. Rank

     PvP

     The vanilla PvP ranking, 1 to 14, based on weekly honor against everyone else on the server. Rank 14 — Grand Marshal or High Warlord — took months of near-full-time play.

     “He hit rank 14 in 2005 and never got a job.”

     “Rank 10 weapons are pre-raid BiS for a lot of specs.”

     See also: Honor, Grand Marshal

218. Rare

     WoW

     Blue-quality item: dungeon drops and good quest rewards. Most pre-raid gear.

     “Blues from Scholo and Strat carry you into Molten Core.”

     See also: Epic, Uncommon

219. Ready check

     Raiding & dungeons

     The raid leader's 'are you ready?' prompt before a pull.

     “Ready check, bio breaks over.”

     See also: Raid leader, Bio

220. Rekt

     Gaming slang

     Wrecked. The 2010s' pwned.

     “Rekt in the opener.”

     See also: Pwned

221. Rep

     MMO

     Also: Reputation

     Reputation with a faction, from hated to exalted, unlocking gear and recipes.

     “Exalted with Argent Dawn for the enchant.”

     See also: Grind, Exalted

222. Reroll

     MMO

     To start a new character, usually a different class, and make it your main.

     “Rerolled priest because the guild needed healers.”

     See also: Alt, Main

223. Reset

     Raiding & dungeons

     When an instance's lockout ends and the bosses are back. Also: leaving a dungeon and re-entering to respawn everything.

     “Reset is Tuesday morning.”

     “Everyone out, we're resetting the instance.”

     See also: Lockout, Instance

224. Resilience

     PvP

     A PvP stat from later expansions that reduces damage from players and crit chance against you. Not in vanilla; Forever may add its own version.

     “No resilience here — stamina is the PvP stat.”

     See also: Stamina

225. Respawn

     Gaming slang

     Coming back after dying, or an enemy reappearing after being killed.

     “Trash respawns in two hours.”

     See also: Spawn, Trash

226. Respec

     WoW

     Paying the trainer to reset your talents. The price rises each time, up to 50 gold in vanilla.

     “Respec cost is 50g now, I'm staying fury.”

     “I respec'd to tank for the raid.”

     See also: Talent, Spec, Dual spec

227. Rested XP

     MMO

     Also: Rested

     Bonus experience you earn while logged out in an inn or city: kills give double until it runs out.

     “Log out in the inn to get rested.”

     See also: XP, Alt

228. Reverse sweep

     Esports

     Losing the first games of a series and winning all the rest.

     “Down 0–2, reverse sweep, crowd lost it.”

     See also: Bo3, Choke

229. Rez

     WoW

     Also: Res, Resurrect

     Resurrection: bringing a dead player back with a spell. Priests, paladins, shamans; druids once every 30 minutes in combat.

     “Rez the tank first.”

     “Mass rez isn't a thing here, walk.”

     See also: Spirit healer, Corpse run

230. RMT

     MMO

     Also: Gold buying

     Real-money trading: buying gold or items with actual money. Against the rules, everywhere, always.

     “Half the server's gold came from RMT and everyone knows it.”

     See also: Gold, Bot, GDKP

231. RNG

     Gaming slang

     Random number generator: luck. 'RNG' explains every drop that didn't and every crit that did.

     “Three weeks, no trinket, RNG hates me.”

     “Won the fight on RNG, three crits in a row.”

     See also: Proc, Loot table

232. Root

     PvP

     An effect that stops movement completely but not casting: Entangling Roots, Frost Nova.

     “Root and run, root and run.”

     See also: Snare, CC

233. Rotation

     WoW

     The order you use your abilities for the most damage or healing. In vanilla it is usually a priority list rather than a fixed loop.

     “The rogue rotation at 60 is basically Sinister Strike, Slice and Dice, Eviscerate.”

     “Follow the priority list on the rotation tab and the numbers take care of themselves.”

     See also: Priority list, GCD, Cooldown

234. RP

     MMO

     Role-play: speaking and acting as your character. RP servers have naming rules and in-character chat.

     “Taverns on RP servers are actually full.”

     See also: MMORPG

235. Rubberbanding

     Gaming slang

     Being pulled back to where the server thinks you are after lag.

     “Rubberbanded off the bridge into the enemy team.”

     See also: Lag, Desync

236. Salty

     Gaming slang

     Bitter about losing.

     “Salty whispers after every duel.”

     See also: Tilt, Scrub

237. Sap

     WoW

     The rogue's out-of-combat crowd control: puts a humanoid to sleep from stealth.

     “Sap the patrol and walk past.”

     See also: CC, Stealth

238. Scrub

     Gaming slang

     A bad player who blames everything but themselves.

     “Scrub lost the duel and blamed lag.”

     See also: Noob, Salty

239. Seed

     Esports

     A team's ranking going into a tournament, deciding who they play first.

     “Top seed gets the weakest opponent in round one.”

     See also: Bracket (esports), Upset

240. Server

     MMO

     Also: Realm

     The world copy you play on. Also 'realm'. Your friends have to be on the same one.

     “Which server are you on? — Faerlina, Horde.”

     See also: Faction, Layer

241. Set bonus

     WoW

     Extra effects for wearing several pieces of the same item set: Tier sets, dungeon sets, PvP sets.

     “Five-piece Bloodfang gives the energy proc, that's the bonus you want.”

     See also: Tier set, BiS

242. Sheep

     WoW

     Polymorph, the mage's crowd control that turns a target into a sheep (or a pig, or a turtle). Damage breaks it.

     “Sheep the caster, tank the rest.”

     “Don't hit the sheep!”

     See also: CC, Sap

243. Silence

     WoW

     An effect that stops all casting for its duration. A stronger interrupt.

     “Silence the healer and go.”

     See also: Interrupt, CC

244. Sim

     WoW

     A simulation of a fight to estimate DPS for a gear set or rotation. Later WoW has SimulationCraft; vanilla relies on spreadsheets and logs.

     “Sim says the dagger is a 2% upgrade.”

     See also: Theorycraft, Equivalence points

245. Single target

     WoW

     Damage to one enemy. What most boss fights measure.

     “Best single-target spec is still combat swords.”

     See also: AoE, Cleave

246. Skill issue

     Gaming slang

     The reply to any complaint: you lost because you're worse.

     “Rogues are OP — skill issue.”

     See also: Cope, Scrub

247. Smurf

     Gaming slang

     A skilled player on a new account, playing against beginners.

     “That level 19 was a smurf, nobody moves like that at 19.”

     See also: Elo, Twink

248. Snare

     PvP

     Also: Slow

     A movement-speed reduction: Frostbolt, Hamstring, Wing Clip. The counter to melee.

     “Keep the snare on him and he never reaches you.”

     See also: Root, Kite

249. Soft reserve

     Raiding & dungeons

     Also: SR

     A pickup-raid loot rule: everyone names one item; if it drops, only those who reserved it roll.

     “SR the trinket and roll on the rest.”

     See also: Hard reserve, PUG, MS > OS

250. Soulbound

     MMO

     Bound to your character; can't be traded, mailed or sold to players.

     “Soulbound, so the ninja can't even sell it.”

     See also: BoP, BoE

251. Spawn

     Gaming slang

     Where or when an enemy, item or player appears. Respawn is the return after death.

     “The rare spawns every four hours.”

     “Spawn camping the graveyard is bad manners.”

     See also: Respawn, Camping

252. Spec

     WoW

     Also: Specialization

     Your talent specialization: the tree you spent most points in, and the way the character plays because of it.

     “What spec are you? Fury, mostly.”

     “Frost spec for PvP, fire for raids.”

     See also: Talent, Build, Hybrid

253. Speedrun

     Gaming slang

     Finishing something as fast as possible, timed and ranked.

     “Speedrunning Molten Core under an hour.”

     See also: Split run, World first

254. Spell power

     WoW

     Also: SP, Spell damage

     Bonus damage or healing added to spells. Written on gear as 'increases damage and healing done by magical spells' or per school (fire, shadow, frost).

     “I'm at 380 spell power, ready for BWL.”

     “+healing is spell power that only heals count.”

     See also: Attack power, +Healing

255. Spirit healer

     WoW

     The angel at the graveyard who can resurrect you on the spot for durability damage and resurrection sickness. The alternative to a corpse run.

     “Took the spirit healer, gear's at 40%.”

     See also: Corpse run, Rez

256. Split run

     Raiding & dungeons

     A guild running several raids with alts to funnel loot to the main roster.

     “Split runs are how top guilds gear so fast.”

     See also: Speedrun, Alt

257. Squishy

     Gaming slang

     Dies fast. Low armor, low health.

     “Rogues are squishy without evasion up.”

     See also: Clothie, Tanky

258. Stamina

     WoW

     Also: Sta

     The stat that gives health: 10 HP per point past the first few. The survival stat.

     “More stamina, more HP, more time for the healer to reach you.”

     “Twinks stack stamina and agility.”

     See also: Twink, Balance

259. Stealth

     WoW

     Being invisible to enemies until you act. Rogues and cat druids. Stealth lets you choose every fight.

     “Opened from stealth with Cheap Shot, he never saw it.”

     See also: Sap, Opener

260. STV

     PvP

     Stranglethorn Vale: the level 30–45 jungle zone where every PvP server's ganking happens.

     “Levelling through STV on a PvP server is a rite of passage.”

     See also: Gank, World PvP

261. Summon

     WoW

     A warlock and two helpers pulling a player to the instance with Ritual of Summoning. Saves twenty minutes.

     “Summon please, I'm in Ironforge.”

     See also: Hearth, Meeting stone

262. Sustained

     WoW

     Damage you can keep doing all fight, cooldowns aside. What raid DPS is measured on.

     “Fury has better sustained than Arms, Arms has the burst.”

     See also: Burst, DPS

263. Sweaty

     Gaming slang

     Trying very hard, especially where it's not needed.

     “Full consumes in a normal dungeon, sweaty.”

     See also: Tryhard, Min-max

264. Tab target

     Gaming slang

     Cycling targets with the Tab key. How WoW-style combat picks enemies.

     “Tab-targeted the sheep, sorry.”

     See also: Sheep

265. Tag

     WoW

     The first hit that claims a mob's XP and loot for you or your group.

     “Tagged the rare, it's ours.”

     See also: Mob, Griefing

266. Talent

     WoW

     A point you spend in one of three class trees every level from 10. Rows unlock as you spend more; the 31-point talent at the bottom defines the spec.

     “Put your first five talents in Cruelty.”

     “He spent talents in all three trees, classic hybrid mess.”

     See also: Spec, Build, Respec

267. Tank

     WoW

     The role that holds the enemy's attention and takes the hits, so everyone else can do their job. Warriors, druids in bear form and paladins in vanilla-style games.

     “We still need a tank for Scholo.”

     “Tank pulls, DPS waits three seconds, healers keep the tank up.”

     See also: Healer, DPS, Aggro

268. Tank swap

     Raiding & dungeons

     Trading who tanks a boss mid-fight because of a stacking debuff.

     “Tank swap at three stacks.”

     See also: Off tank, Mechanic

269. Tanky

     Gaming slang

     Hard to kill. The opposite of squishy.

     “A stamina-stacked warrior in AV is properly tanky.”

     See also: Squishy, Tank

270. Taunt

     WoW

     An ability that forces an enemy to attack the tank for a few seconds and sets their threat to the top: Taunt, Growl, Hand of Reckoning. The tank's emergency brake.

     “Taunt it off the mage!”

     “Taunt is on cooldown, that's why the priest is dead.”

     See also: Aggro, Threat, Tank

271. Theorycraft

     WoW

     Working out the math of the game — stat weights, rotations, breakpoints — from data and testing instead of feel.

     “The theorycraft says agility beats crit for you until 30% crit.”

     “He theorycrafted the whole build in a spreadsheet.”

     See also: Equivalence points, Sim, Min-max

272. Threat

     WoW

     The invisible number every enemy keeps for each player. Damage and healing raise it; the highest threat gets attacked. Tanks generate it on purpose.

     “I'm at 90% of the tank's threat, holding back.”

     “Sunder Armor is more threat per rage than Heroic Strike early on.”

     See also: Aggro, Taunt, Tank

273. Throw

     Gaming slang

     To lose a winning position through mistakes — or on purpose.

     “That was a throw, they had it.”

     “Stop throwing and just play it out.”

     See also: Choke, Inting

274. Tick

     WoW

     One pulse of a damage- or heal-over-time effect, or of mana regeneration.

     “Corruption ticks for 140 every three seconds.”

     See also: DoT, HoT

275. Tick rate

     Esports

     How many times per second the server updates. Higher is fairer.

     “Low tick rate is why your interrupt didn't land.”

     See also: Ping

276. Tier list

     Gaming slang

     A ranking of classes, specs or picks from S to F. Never agreed upon.

     “S tier is warrior, rogue, mage; nobody puts paladin above B.”

     See also: Meta

277. Tier set

     Raiding & dungeons

     The class armor sets that drop in each raid tier: Tier 1 in Molten Core, Tier 2 in Blackwing Lair, Tier 3 in Naxxramas.

     “Eight-piece Tier 2 and a Chromaggus trinket, he's done with BWL.”

     See also: Set bonus, Raid

278. Tilt

     Gaming slang

     Also: Tilted

     Playing worse because you're angry. From poker.

     “Two losses and he's tilted, log off.”

     See also: Salty, Rage quit

279. Tooltip

     Gaming slang

     The box that appears when you hover over an item or ability. The numbers in it are the ones that matter.

     “Read the tooltip: it says 'chance on hit', not 'on every hit'.”

     See also: Datamine

280. Toon

     MMO

     A character. Older word, from EverQuest.

     “Logged onto my rogue toon.”

     See also: Alt, Main

281. Touch grass

     Gaming slang

     Go outside. Said to someone who's been online too long or is too angry.

     “Eight hours in AV, touch grass.”

     See also: Hardcore

282. Toxic

     Gaming slang

     Behaviour that makes the game worse for others: flaming, griefing, quitting.

     “Toxic pug, left after the first wipe.”

     See also: Flame, Griefing

283. Training

     Gaming slang

     Dragging a line of enemies onto other players. Verb: to train.

     “He trained the whole graveyard onto us and Vanished.”

     See also: Griefing, Aggro

284. Trash

     Raiding & dungeons

     The ordinary enemies between bosses. Trash drops, trash pulls, trash respawn timers.

     “Two hours of trash for one boss, that's Blackwing Lair.”

     “Trash respawns in two hours, keep moving.”

     See also: Boss, Pull

285. Trinket

     PvP

     The PvP trinket that breaks you out of crowd control on a two-minute cooldown. 'Trinketing' is using it.

     “He trinketed the sheep, re-sheep!”

     “Don't blow your trinket on a Hamstring.”

     See also: CC

286. Tryhard

     Gaming slang

     Someone who takes it too seriously. Insult or compliment depending on who's saying it.

     “Tryhard twinks camping the 19 bracket.”

     See also: Sweaty, Casual

287. Twink

     PvP

     A low-level character kept at the top of a battleground bracket (19, 29, 39…) with the best gear, enchants and consumables money can buy.

     “Level 19 twink rogue with Shadowfang, welcome to Warsong Gulch.”

     “Twinking is a whole economy.”

     See also: Bracket, Battleground, Stamina

288. Uncommon

     WoW

     Green-quality item: random world drops and quest rewards with a stat suffix — 'of the Monkey', 'of the Eagle'.

     “Greens of the Bear are fine tank gear while levelling.”

     See also: Rare

289. Upset

     Esports

     The lower seed winning.

     “Biggest upset of the year, the qualifier team beat the champions.”

     See also: Seed

290. Uptime

     Raiding & dungeons

     How much of a fight an effect was active: a debuff, a buff, a DoT, or you actually hitting the boss.

     “90% Sunder uptime, nice.”

     “Low uptime because of the knockbacks.”

     See also: Debuff, Parse

291. Vendor

     MMO

     An NPC that buys and sells. 'Vendor it' means sell it for nothing.

     “Grey items go to the vendor.”

     See also: NPC, Vendor trash

292. Vendor trash

     MMO

     Items whose only value is what a vendor pays. Grey quality.

     “Bags full of vendor trash, need to hearth.”

     See also: Vendor

293. VOD

     Esports

     Video on demand: the recording of a stream or match.

     “Review the VOD and see who pulled early.”

     See also: POV

294. WeakAura

     WoW

     An addon framework for custom on-screen alerts and displays. Half of raiding UI is WeakAuras.

     “Import my WeakAura for the Sunder stacks.”

     See also: Addon

295. Whale

     Gaming slang

     A player who spends a lot of money in a game. Not really a vanilla WoW concept; the store didn't exist.

     “Whales keep free-to-play games running.”

     See also: RMT

296. Wipe

     Raiding & dungeons

     Everyone dies. Then the corpse run, the buffs, and the second attempt.

     “We wiped at 2%.”

     “Wipe it, the tank's dead and the healers are OOM.”

     See also: Corpse run, Progression

297. World buff

     Raiding & dungeons

     Zone-wide buffs from events — Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer, Warchief's Blessing, Songflower, Dire Maul tribute — that vanilla raiders collect before a raid and lose when they die.

     “Full world buffs and a flask, don't you dare die on trash.”

     See also: Buff, Consumes

298. World first

     Raiding & dungeons

     The first guild in the world to kill a boss. The race that top raiding is about.

     “World first Ragnaros went to a guild nobody expected.”

     See also: Race to world first, Progression

299. World PvP

     PvP

     Fighting other players out in the zones rather than in battlegrounds. Anything from a duel outside Orgrimmar to a 200-person Tarren Mill raid.

     “Southshore vs Tarren Mill was world PvP before battlegrounds existed.”

     See also: Gank, STV

300. WSG

     PvP

     Also: Warsong Gulch

     Warsong Gulch: 10 v 10 capture the flag. The twink bracket's home.

     “Three caps to win WSG, and someone has to defend.”

     See also: Battleground, EFC, Flag carrier

301. WTB

     MMO

     Want to buy.

     “WTB Devilsaur set, paying well.”

     See also: WTS

302. WTS

     MMO

     Want to sell. Trade chat's grammar: WTS, WTB, WTT.

     “WTS Arcanite Reaper, 200g.”

     See also: WTB, Auction house

303. XP

     MMO

     Experience points. Kill, quest, ding.

     “Two bars of XP to 40 and the mount.”

     See also: Ding, Rested XP

304. Zug zug

     WoW

     What orc peons say. Now: charging in and hitting things, especially as a warrior.

     “Fury warrior, no plan, zug zug.”

     See also: Leeroy Jenkins