The glossary

38 of 304 words for “AB”

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. Tab target

   Gaming slang

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

   “Tab-targeted the sheep, sorry.”

   See also: Sheep

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Hardstuck

    Gaming slang

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

    “Hardstuck rank 9 for three weeks.”

    See also: MMR

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. Micro

    Esports

    Precise control of individual units or abilities in the moment.

    “Insane micro, dodged every shot.”

    See also: Macro, APM

28. Patch

    Gaming slang

    A game update. Numbered, dated, argued about.

    “Patch 1.10 changed everything for priests.”

    See also: Hotfix, Nerf, Buff

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. Salty

    Gaming slang

    Bitter about losing.

    “Salty whispers after every duel.”

    See also: Tilt, Scrub

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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