Glossary

League has its own vocabulary, and most of it is never explained in the client. Here is what players mean.

A to K

ADC

Attack damage carry: the ranged champion in the bot lane, usually a marksman.

Aggro

The attention of a turret, minion or monster. "Taking aggro" means becoming its target.

All-in

Committing every ability and summoner spell to kill a target, with no way back out.

AoE

Area of effect: an ability that hits everything in a zone rather than one target.

AP

Ability power, the stat most magic abilities scale with. Also short for a champion built around it.

Auto

A basic attack, short for auto-attack.

Backdoor

Destroying structures while the enemy team is busy elsewhere, often without minions.

Bait

Showing a tempting target to draw enemies into a trap.

Bounty

Extra gold on a champion or objective. See gold and experience.

Buff

A positive effect on a unit, or a balance change that makes something stronger.

Burst

Dealing a large amount of damage in a very short time.

Cannon

The siege minion that joins every few waves. Worth more gold than the others.

Carry

The player expected to deal most of the team's damage and win the game late.

CC

Crowd control. See crowd control.

Cheese

An unusual early strategy meant to catch the enemy off guard.

Comp

Team composition: the five champions a team picked and how they fit together.

Counter

A champion or item that is strong against another one.

CS

Creep score: minions and monsters killed. The main measure of farm.

Dive

Attacking an enemy who is standing under their own turret.

Engage

Starting a fight, usually with crowd control from a tank or support.

Execute

Damage or an effect that kills outright below a health threshold.

Farm

Killing minions and monsters for gold and experience.

Feeding

Dying repeatedly and giving the enemy gold and experience.

Flash

The blink summoner spell almost every champion takes.

Focus

Several players attacking the same target.

Freeze

Keeping the minion wave near your turret by last hitting only, so the enemy must overextend to farm.

Gank

A jungler or roaming laner arriving in a lane to catch an enemy out.

GG

Good game. Said at the end, or early when a player thinks the result is decided.

Hard CC

Crowd control that stops all actions, such as a stun.

Invade

Entering the enemy jungle to fight or steal camps.

KDA

Kills, deaths and assists, and the ratio (kills + assists) ÷ deaths.

Kite

Attacking while walking away so a melee enemy can never reach you.

L to Z

Last hit

Landing the killing blow on a minion, the only way to get its gold.

Leash

Helping the jungler with their first camp before going to lane.

Lethality

Flat armor penetration. See damage and mitigation.

Meta

The champions, items and strategies currently considered strongest.

Nerf

A balance change that makes something weaker.

Objective

Anything on the map worth taking besides kills: turrets, drakes, Voidgrubs, Herald, Baron.

Off-tank

A fighter durable enough to take some of the tank's job.

OOM

Out of mana.

Peel

Protecting a teammate by pushing, slowing or stunning the enemies attacking them.

Poke

Chipping enemies from range before a fight, without committing to one.

Power spike

The moment a champion becomes much stronger: a level, an item, an ultimate.

Proxy

Farming a wave behind the enemy's turret, between their turrets and base.

Push

Killing a minion wave quickly so it moves towards the enemy turret.

Recall

Channelling back to your base. Interrupted by damage.

Roam

Leaving your lane to help another one.

Scaling

How much stronger a champion gets with levels and items. A late-game champion scales well.

Skillshot

An ability aimed at a spot that can be dodged, rather than one that locks on.

Slow push

Letting your minion wave build up slowly so it crashes into the turret as a large wave.

Snowball

Turning an early lead into a bigger and bigger one.

Split push

Pushing a side lane alone while the team holds elsewhere, forcing the enemy to answer.

Squishy

A champion with little health or resists.

Sustain

Healing or regeneration that lets a champion stay in lane or a fight longer.

Tank

A durable champion who absorbs damage and starts fights.

Teamfight

A fight involving most or all of both teams.

Tower dive

Killing an enemy under their own turret. Same as dive.

Trade

Exchanging damage with your lane opponent, ideally taking less than you deal.

Wave

A group of minions sent down a lane together.

Wave management

Controlling where the minion wave meets: freezing, slow pushing or crashing it.

Zone

Threatening an area so the enemy cannot walk into it to farm or contest an objective.