The glossary

30 of 304 words for “Boss”

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Single target

    WoW

    Damage to one enemy. What most boss fights measure.

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

    See also: AoE, Cleave

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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