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Jargon, decoded

The glossary

304 words from World of Warcraft, MMOs, esports and every game chat you have ever been flamed in — what each one means, and how people actually say it. Every entry has its own link, so you can send it to the friend who just asked what a twink is.

Word of the day

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

All words

4 of 304 words for “Threat”

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

WoW

World of Warcraft, especially vanilla, Classic and Forever.

79 words

Raiding & dungeons

Group PvE: pulls, loot rules, wipes and parses.

47 words

PvP

Battlegrounds, duels, twinks and world PvP.

31 words

MMO

Words shared by every online RPG.

47 words

Esports

Competitive play, broadcasts and the meta.

21 words

Gaming slang

What people say in every chat, every game.

79 words

Missing a word, or got one wrong? Tell us. Then go build something and use it in a sentence.