As online games go, League of Legends certainly has its hands full of terminology and dank memes (see below). Even I have trouble keeping up sometimes, so that's why this page is being created as an ongoing list of updates to both League terminology as well as memes in general. If you see one I haven't added yet, feel free to comment and I'll drop it in. Let's jump right in!
Introduction
As online games go, League of Legends certainly has its hands full of terminology and dank memes (see below). Even I have trouble keeping up sometimes, so that's why this page is being created as an ongoing list of updates to both League terminology as well as memes in general. If you see one I haven't added yet, feel free to comment and I'll drop it in.
Let's jump right in!
Memes
1v1 me bro: Refers to a challenge given to players when they're salty about losing to enemy ganks and think they would win one-on-one
Ate an orange and it was k: Referring to Gangplank's Remove Scurvy ability where he eats an orange and escapes every crowd control effect
Auto-spacing: After losing in a game, Doublelift blamed it on "auto-spacing". Although some players agreed it could be a real thing, this meme became known for representing a random complicated sounding phrase used as an excuse.
Auto-spacing: After losing in a game, Doublelift blamed it on "auto-spacing". Although some players agreed it could be a real thing, this meme became known for representing a random complicated sounding phrase used as an excuse.
Better Nerf Irelia: After a random nerf to Irelia for no particular reason long ago, this became a popular meme used in relation to things that need fixing but have no relation to Irelia.
Calculated: Refers to when someone achieves something with a narrow margin, after which they casually say they knew it all along that it would work
Calculated: Refers to when someone achieves something with a narrow margin, after which they casually say they knew it all along that it would work
Challenjour: Refers to a player that thinks they are good enough to be in Challenger league, but are not really
Dank Meme: An ironic expression used to mock viral jokes that have exhausted their comedic value.
Doge: Referring to Nasus
Empire: Refers to a fully channeled Nunu ult in a bush
fam: Short for "family" and intended to show friendliness
fam: Short for "family" and intended to show friendliness
feelsbadman: Used when something said or done makes you feel bad
Huehuehue: Originally used by Brazilian Portuguese players, not used as mocking laughter.
Insec: Refers to knocking an enemy player back into your team by getting behind them, not to be confused with Blitzcrank or Gragas. More like Azir, Lee Sin, or Jayce.
Kappa: Used to convey sarcasm at the end of a sentence
Kappa: Used to convey sarcasm at the end of a sentence
Lag: Used whenever a mistake is made, regardless of whether it was due to network latency or not
Lucker Dog: Originally coined by Saintvicious, meant as variation on "lucker" (Origin Story)
Lucker Dog: Originally coined by Saintvicious, meant as variation on "lucker" (Origin Story)
Madlife (Hook): Refers to predicting where an enemy is going to flash to and preemptively throwing a slow skillshot in that direction
Ok: Users imitate the champion Rammus, who only says "Ok"
Real?: Shortened version of "Really" generally used to express displeasure at an action.
Report 9x: Refers to every single player other than the accused being reported
Sandbox Mode: Riot released a statement on why they didn't want to release a sandbox mode, citing it would "encourage players to get better". Used in relation to anything considered never going to happen.
Salt/Salty: Refers to someone who is upset at events in the game, indicates the presence of salt from tears
Satan: Another name for Teemo
Spin to Win: Refers to Garen or Katarina killing champions by spinning
Sucker Dog: See "Lucker Dog" for origin story, this phrase is more of a simple derogatory term
Sucker Dog: See "Lucker Dog" for origin story, this phrase is more of a simple derogatory term
Rito Pls: An intentional misspelling of "Riot Please", generally used when a gamebreaking bug or perceived unfair champion causes a loss
Wombo Combo: When teammates effectively chain together moves against enemy champions
Worth: Used whenever someone dies in the process of achieving something, whether or not it was really worth it.
Vayne-Spotting: When players do things that indicates they are stereotypical Vayne mains, generally things that are negative
xPeke: To teleport into the enemy base and backdoor with no creeps typically with enemy champions rushing back to stop you to no avail
xPeke: To teleport into the enemy base and backdoor with no creeps typically with enemy champions rushing back to stop you to no avail
In Game Terminology
1v1: Represents one player playing against one other player without outside interference
3s: Represents games played on the Twisted Treeline
5s: Represents games on Summoner's Rift, generally with a premade team of five people
AA: Auto Attack, meaning to right click on an enemy unit and have your controlled champion attack
Ace: When the entire team is dead at the same time, or as a verb to kill all five enemy champions before any respawn
AD: Attack damage, representing increasing strength to auto-attacks
ADC: Represents the person that farms bottom in a duo lane, generally a glass cannon.
AFK: Away from Keyboard
AFK: Away from Keyboard
Aggro: Represents targeting priority of in-game artificial intelligence units
AOE: Represents damaging abilities that cover a specific area, generally able to fit more than one champion
AP: Ability Power
ARAM: All Random all mid, a specific game mode
Arpen: Armor penetration
Assassin: Someone who is meant to sneak past the front line and take out squishy back line champions
ASPD or AS: Attack speed
Aura: A passive that applies to a variety of heroes in a given range
B: pressing B to recall back to base, or to back off from an area
Babysitting: When someone (usually the jungler) continuously ganks a single lane with high frequency
Babysitting: When someone (usually the jungler) continuously ganks a single lane with high frequency
Backdoor (BD):To kill enemy structures without your own creeps there
Baron: Baron Nashor
Baron: Baron Nashor
Base: The area where your Nexus, inhibitors, and shops are located on the map
Bird: Anivia
bg: Bad game
Blue: Refers to the blue sentinel, which will provide whoever kills it with a buff that is a blue circle
BM: Bad-Mannered
BM: Bad-Mannered
Boosted: Someone else won games on behalf of another player, who should not be at their current division
BoTRK: Blade of the Ruined King
Bot Game: A game played against AI champions
BRB: Be right back
BT: Bloodthirster
BT: Bloodthirster
Buff: To make something stronger
Burst: Ability to deal large amounts of damage in short time frames
Carry: The ability to be responsible for a team's victory
CC: Crowd Control, which limits the ability of an enemy champion to move, attack, or cast spells
CDR: Cooldown reduction
Chickens/Wraiths: Raptor camp
Chickens/Wraiths: Raptor camp
Clutch: The ability to make good plays under pressure
Countergank: Engaging as an immediate response to an enemy attacking an ally
Counter Jungle: Jungling on the enemy team's side of the jungle
Cover: To hold an ally's lane while they're not there
CS: Creep score, which is the number of neutral or enemy minions you've last hit
DC: Disconnected from the game
Dive: To attack behind an enemy turret
Dog: Nasus
DPS: Damage per second
DoT: Damage over time
Drake: Dragon objective
Duo: Refers to two players that queued up together
Drake: Dragon objective
Duo: Refers to two players that queued up together
Egg: Refers to Anivia's passive
Elo: An old version of the ranked ladder system
Elo Hell: Being stuck in a division as a result of external factors outside your control (more here)
Elojob: When a high division player boosts a low division player's account to a higher division
EZ: Easy
Ez: Ezreal
EZ: Easy
Ez: Ezreal
Face check: A champion walking into a bush to see if someone is in there
Farm: Last hitting minions for gold
FB: First blood, being the first person to die in a game
Fed: Someone who has gained a lot of gold off killing enemy players
Feed: Dying and giving gold to the enemy team
FF: Forfeit
FoTM: Flavor of the month, what is popular at a given time
Freelo: Refers to when you think a game is so easy that it's a free win
Freelo: Refers to when you think a game is so easy that it's a free win
Freeze: To kill minions very slowly so that the place where your own minions and enemy minions are fighting does not change
Gank: To attack an enemy lane as someone who has not been in that lane for the majority of the time
Gap Closer: An ability that allows a champion faster than usual movement
Ghosting: Someone who is watching an enemy's stream and able to see their actions that are normally hidden
gg: Good Game, generally used for when the game is over or perceived to be over
gj: Good job
gl hf: Good luck, have fun
Going Ham: Stands for going hard as a motherf*cker, as in fully committing to a kill or objective as much as possible
Going Ham: Stands for going hard as a motherf*cker, as in fully committing to a kill or objective as much as possible
GP10: Passive gold generating items
Harass: To hit the enemy champion a little for pressure, but without the intent to kill
Hard CC: CC that disrupts channeling spells
Hard Leash: Doing enough damage to the first jungle camp that the jungler doesn't have to use smite to prevent dying.
Honor: Refers to the ability to give players honor in the post-game lobby
Hypercarry: Refers to a champion that has a weak early game but scales extremely well into the late game if they get enough farm.
Honor: Refers to the ability to give players honor in the post-game lobby
Hypercarry: Refers to a champion that has a weak early game but scales extremely well into the late game if they get enough farm.
IE: Infinity Edge
Inc: Incoming
Inhib: Short for Inhibitor, the structure minions spawn out of
Inhib: Short for Inhibitor, the structure minions spawn out of
Inner: Refers to inner turrets
Instalock: Refers to when players pick a champion and instantly lock without waiting for feedback from teammates
Instagib: Instantly one shot a champion
Instagib: Instantly one shot a champion
Invade: To go into the enemy jungle
J4: Jarvan IV
Juggling Aggro: To switch AI targets between players to prevent one from taking too much damage
Juggling Aggro: To switch AI targets between players to prevent one from taking too much damage
Jungle: Represents a player who generally only farms neutral camps for gold and is responsible for ganking lanes.
K6: Kha'Zix
Kill Lane: Refers to a two person lane whose main objective is to kill the enemy laners
Kill Lane: Refers to a two person lane whose main objective is to kill the enemy laners
Kite: To hit enemy champions while moving and backing away between animations to prevent damage being taken.
KS: Kill steal, to take someone else's kill without doing much damage to it by being the last person to hit it
Lag: Refers to slow responses from the network due to latency issues, also a meme (see above)
Lag Spike: Refers to a sudden increase in latency
Laner: Players that follow the path that minions take and stay there during the early game
Last Hit: To hit something once so that your hit instantly drops their HP to 0
LB: Leblanc
LB: Leblanc
Leash: To help damage the jungler's first camp so it dies faster
Leaver: A person who leaves a game before it finishes
LW: Last Whisper
Main: A person's most played champion
Man Drop: Pantheon's ultimate
Map Control: Having control over the map, generally due to warding
MB: "My bad"
MF: Miss Fortune
MB: "My bad"
MF: Miss Fortune
mia: Missing in action, refers to when an enemy champion isn't visible on the map
Mid: Represents a solo player in mid lane
Metagame: The game's current playstyle based on strategy and champion selection
Mpen: Magic Penetration
MR: Magic Resist
MR: Magic Resist
MS: Move speed
Newb(ie): A new player
Nerf: To make something weaker
Noob: An unskilled player
Normals: Refers to a game that does not impact your recorded division
Nuke: A single ability that deals a large amount of damage
OMW: On my way
One shot: To kill an enemy champion from 100 to 0 in a single spell
Overextending: Playing far enough to place your champion in danger of dying
PBE: Public Beta Environment, a place that Riot uses to test out new changes before going to the live server
Peel: The ability to keep champions from killing other champions, generally with crowd control
Penta: Killing five enemies within a short amount of time and getting the last hit on all of them
Poke: Long range damage that isn't meant to kill, but with the anticipation of following up for kills
Pot: Referring to a variety of consumables from the shop
Proxy: To farm enemy minions between enemy turrets without destroying either turret first
Push: To clear minions rapidly so that your minion wave moves forward faster
QSS: Quicksilver sash
Rage: To display frustration in game
Ragequit: To be come frustrated and leave the game as a result of it
Ranked: Refers to the ladder where players are assigned a division based on skill
Riot: The company responsible for developing the game
Rot: Zz'Rot Portal
Rot: Zz'Rot Portal
Salty: Refers to someone who is upset
Scuttle or Crab: Scuttle Crab
Scuttle or Crab: Scuttle Crab
Skillshot: Refers to a spell that can miss its target (see guide on how to hit more skillshots)
Smurf: A player who is playing on an account that is far below their true skill level
Snipe: Refers to shooting an enemy from very long range
Snowball: Situation where a team gains and advantage and uses it to gain more advantages
Split Push: Where one or more people advance continuously in one lane and the rest of their team advances in a different lane
SS: Summoner spell or also used the same as MIA in certain countries, also used the same as a champion's R move
Submarine: When Shen ults onto an invisible champion and they dive the enemy backline (like Rengar or Evelynn)
Submarine: When Shen ults onto an invisible champion and they dive the enemy backline (like Rengar or Evelynn)
Support: Represents someone who goes bot lane with another player, but generally kills no creeps when the other person is in lane.
Susan: Nasus backwards
Susan: Nasus backwards
Tank: A champion designed to take large amounts of damage
Team Comp: Team Composition
Teamfight: To fight with the majority of the players in the game in a single battle
TF: Twisted Fate/Trinity Force
TF: Twisted Fate/Trinity Force
Throw: To lose an advantage for an easily avoidable reason
Tilt: To play different from usual as a result of losing (See: Top 10 ways to tell you're on tilt)
Top: Represents a solo player in top lane
Tower Hug: To stay close enough to the turret so that enemies approaching are in range of its damage
Toxic: Players with attitudes that negatively influences the game for his teammates
TP: Teleport
Troll Pole: Refers to Fizz's playful trickster
Trolling: Intentionally making the game difficult for your team
Troll Pole: Refers to Fizz's playful trickster
Trolling: Intentionally making the game difficult for your team
Turret: Stationary AI structures that deal damage
Ulti(mate): Generally refers to the ability on a champion's R key
Ward: Items that grant vision in a small location
Ward jump: A move where certain champions are able to use gap closing abilities to jump to a ward
Wombo Combo: When effectively teammates chain together abilities on enemy champions
WP: Well played
WW: Warwick
Zoning: Tactics that prevent enemy champions from getting close to an objective, generally minions to farm