==================
1. VERSION HISTORY
==================
Version 1.0 - 4/28/04
Well first version done and sent to GameFAQs. Let's wait and see if it
gets up or not.
Version 1.01 - 5/2/04
Yay, another website asked to host.
Version 1.1 - 5/10/04
A few more terms (IMO, IMHO, Imba... etc), along with better
explanations for certain terms (AoE). Enjoy!
Version 1.11 - 5/12/04
One or two more things.
Version 1.2 - 6/15/04
Yay. Some new stuff, along with some more comments. New terms: Nerf,
buff, dispel, caster, anti-caster, and a few more that I forgot. It's
a list of words, what do you expect me to add?!
Version 1.21 - 6/18/04
Now featured on www.ign.com!
Version 1.3 - 7/21/04
More stuff: Tank(ing), Wagonmancing, Chippo, Chobo, AFAIK, Noob Elf,
along with a Neutral Terms section for stuff that didn't fit anywhere
else. And some other random stuff.
Version 1.4 - 7/27/04
Some more battle.net terms like "BRB", "AFK", Lag, Lagger... etc. Also
some gameplay things like BO.
Version 1.45 - 8/7/04
Just a few more things. Some more background on Chobo, along with more
emoticons which I got an e-mail asking about. Also I added Cooldown
which I felt might be needed.
Version 1.5 - 8/16/04
Mostly terms for the awesome new heroes. :D
Version 1.6 - 8/20/04
Some typo corrections, and a few terms I've never heard before like
"GLHFDDDSKA". Also Bats, and some more neutral hero stuff.
Version 1.65 - 10/6/04
Added Kiru (A common question on GameFAQs!), along with a Common Terms
section for quick reference for a newb just starting battle.net. Also,
RoS update! :D
Version 1.75 - 5/15/05
A couple of add-ons thanks to Icy Rebirth (Check out the Common
Questions thread on GameFAQs!):
DPS, mathcraft, dhawk, rifles, and rax added.
Version 1.76 – 7/31/05
Added "HUNTLAR" simply because I was tired of people asking about it on
GameFAQs.
===============
2. INTRODUCTION
===============
Ahoy hoy! My name's Dandude, and this is my 3rd finished FAQ (My other
2 are the Warcraft III: Frozen Throne: Undead FAQ, and the Enter the
Matrix: Boss FAQ)! Anyway, I don't really know what to say here... so
maybe you're wondering why I wrote this. Maybe you're not wondering
why I wrote this. But too bad, because I'm going to tell you anyway. I
was looking around the GameFAQs Warcraft III: Frozen Throne message
board one day and noticed a couple of newbies posting topics and
asking what some terms meant. I thought to myself "Wouldn't it be
great if there was a great FAQ full of terminology, and definitions
for Warcraft terms?" So here's what I did: nothing. And then a few
weeks later (Today to be exact) I had a few hours until the movie I
was waiting to see stated, so I decided to scribble down a Terminology
FAQ. And here it is. Enjoy! Hopefully this can help a few newbies who
played their first game of WC online and had no idea about what was
going on, or pros who didn't know what something meant but were too
ashamed to ask. I'm just trying to make the board a better place.
NOTE: I've tried to group these terms into categories, but a lot of
them don't really fit anywhere. I've done my best, so e-mail me if you
have a suggestion of any kind. Also if you want the definition of one
term, press Ctrl+F on your keyboard to open up the Find box. Then type
in the word, and see if it pops up. If not, either you misspelled it,
I misspelled it, or it's not here. E-mail me and I'll add it in.
DOUBLE NOTE: Seeing as how a lot of these are made up words, or have
developed multiple meanings, don't complain that my definition is
"wrong". People give different definitions to the same word. I just
picked the most common meanings.
===============
3. COMMON TERMS
===============
These are pretty much the essential terms to know if you're just
starting battle.net, and also the most commonly asked. SO here they
are!
AOE
AoE stand for Area of Effect, or the area where the effect of the
spell occurs. Many spells with AoE either damage or cause a special
effect of buff to units within the AoE. Most AoE are either aimed with
an aiming beacon (Creates a large circle representing where the area
is), occur immediately around the hero, or use a single-target cursor
to select one unit or spot, and all nearby units take effect. There was
a debate about this on GameFAQs, so here's my description: AOE SPELLS
ARE SPELLS THAT EFFECT MULTIPLE UNITS, AND THE AOE OF THE SPELL IS THE
AREA OR GROUP OF UNITS THAT ARE EFFECTED.
-EXAMPLES- BEACON AOE: Blizzard, Death and Decay, Cluster Rockets
WAVE AOE: Carrion Swarm, Shockwave
SPLASH AOE: Frost Nova, Drunken Haze, Acid Bomb
IMMEDIATE AOE: War Stomp, Thunder Clap, Fan of Knives
PASSIVE/AUTO ONCE ACTIVATED: Burning Oil, Immolation
C&C
The opposite of rushing (See below), C&C entails creeping and teching
while waiting to either attack late game with a powerful, high-tier
army, or defending when the enemy attacks before countering them.
CONTROL-GROUP
Control grouping your units is very important. To control group a
units, building, or group of units, select the unit(s)/building. Now
hold down the Ctrl key, and press a number from 0-9. Now whenever you
press that number, you'll auto-select the grouped unit(s)/building.
Control-group your unit-producing buildings so you can select them and
train units without looking back at your base, and also groups of your
units (Heroes, ranged, casters... etc)
CREEPING
Creeping is killing the neutral hostile creatures like Trolls, Ogres,
Gnolls, and Dragons throughout the map. Killing Creeps gives heroes
experience (And thus, levels), many creeps drop items, and many creeps
guard neutral buildings and shops. After a hero reaches level 5, he no
longer gains experience from creeping.
CREEPJACKING
Creepjacking is attacking someone while they are creeping. It can be
very powerful, as the enemy will be pinned between you and the creeps.
Most of the time you can use scouts to spot enemies and creepjack
them, early game an enemy will usually creep near their base so you
can rush over and jack them early, or you could just get lucky.
GOSU
Gosu means pro, or expert. I've heard numerous reasons for the origin
of this word, such as many people saying that it's Korean for "high
hand" and later evolved to mean pro. I've also heard that it
originated in Starcraft, when Korean players couldn't type the Korean
for pro, so they spelt it out in English phonetically and got "gosu"
(Go-sue). Then a bunch of people thought it sounded cool and adopted
it as pro.
MACRO/MACROMANAGEMENT
Macro is the art of resource/army/base management. It includes stuff
like expanding, managing your army to counter the enemy, building your
base well... etc.
MICRO/MICROMANAGEMENT
This is really key to winning, so pay attention. Micro is basically
the art of controlling individual parts of your army, instead of just
giving vague commands and hoping to win. Instead of just selecting
your army and telling them to attack-move to the enemy base, try the
following:
-Move injured units out of the line of fire. Either use a unit to heal
them, have them use a move like Cannibalize, or just let them sit. You
don't want the enemy getting experience for killing your units.
-Dance your heroes around. Never let them get surrounded or cornered.
-Use the Alt key a lot to show health bars, and focus on killing
injured enemy units.
-Try to surround the enemy
-Use spells.
Stuff like that. Practice until you can micro very well and try to
never use a unit (Or at least limit it).
NUKE/TRI-NUKE
Nukes are powerful direct damage spells. Tri-nukes are 3 nukes cast on
one enemy in an effort to severely damage or kill them (Usually used
on heroes).
-EXAMPLES- Nukes: Frost Nova, Shadowstrike, Storm Bolt
Tri-Nukes: Frost Nova + Death Coil + Impale
Shadow Strike + Entangling Roots + Mana Burn
Banish + Storm Bolt + Holy Light (When facing UD)
=========================
4. GAMEPLAY/GENERAL TERMS
=========================
Let's get straight to the good stuff: These are all terms that are
used in general when describing strategies or just about anything, and
it's important to know these if you want to play well. So learn them!
Or else... *shakes fist*
AA
AA stands for anti-air, or units/spells made for damaging flying
units.
ANTI-CASTER
Units made for killing spellcaster units. They typically have dispels,
spell-immunity, and other abilities to destroy spells and/or the
people that cast them.
-EXAMPLES- Spellbreaker, Destroyer, Faerie Dragon, Dryad, Spirit
Walker
BO
Build order. This is the order and setup of your base. For instance a
"Fiends BO" would entail building a Graveyard and Crypt early so you
can get Crypt Fiends quickly. There are different build orders for
different strategies.
C&C
The opposite of rushing (See below), C&C entails creeping and teching
while waiting to either attack late game with a powerful, high-tier
army, or defending when the enemy attacks before countering them.
CASTER
A unit with mana who casts spells. Usually physically weak, but it's
spells are powerful.
-EXAMPLES- Priests, Banshees, Shamen, Druids of the Claw
CONTROL-GROUP
Control grouping your units is very important. To control group a
units, building, or group of units, select the unit(s)/building. Now
hold down the Ctrl key, and press a number from 0-9. Now whenever you
press that number, you'll auto-select the grouped unit(s)/building.
Control-group your unit-producing buildings so you can select them and
train units without looking back at your base, and also groups of your
units (Heroes, ranged, casters... etc)
CREEPING
Creeping is killing the neutral hostile creatures like Trolls, Ogres,
Gnolls, and Dragons throughout the map. Killing Creeps gives heroes
experience (And thus, levels), many creeps drop items, and many creeps
guard neutral buildings and shops. After a hero reaches level 5, he no
longer gains experience from creeping.
CREEPJACKING
Creepjacking is attacking someone while they are creeping. It can be
very powerful, as the enemy will be pinned between you and the creeps.
Most of the time you can use scouts to spot enemies and creepjack
them, early game an enemy will usually creep near their base so you
can rush over and jack them early, or you could just get lucky.
DPS
Damage per second. This basically refers to two different things:
1. The average damage done by a unit per second. IE, a Tauren's DPS is
greater than a Grunt's DPS.
2. A spell effect, or the damage done per second by a spell. This
includes things like the Warden's Shadow Strike, and the Dryad's Slow
Poison.
EXPO/EXPANSION
An expansion is a secondary base at another gold mine. Expos are
usually used only for the extra resources and usually consist of just
a Town Hall, Peasants to mine and collect lumber, and some towers,
although some people like to build some buildings there.
FAST-EXPANDING
Fast expanding is killing the creeps guarding a gold mine very early
in the game, and quickly expanding there. It used to be commonly done
by human players who could quickly clear a mine by turning many of
their Peasants into Militia, and then having 5 Peasants speed build a
Town Hall for early mining.
FOCUS-FIRE
Focus-firing is having all of your ranged units aim for one enemy.
This is good if you spot an enemy hero with low HP, and want to pick
them off before they get away.
HARASSING
Harassing is when you attack the enemy early with either just a hero,
or a hero and a few units, with the effort to disrupt their economy
and teching. Usually harassing involves just killing a few workers,
and then either hiding or running off when the enemy army comes,
before harassing again, and it is usually used to slow down the
enemy's teching while you upgrade in your base and attempt to reach
tier 2/3 quickly. Certain common types of harassing include
Blademaster harassing (Run in, kill some workers, when enemy comes
just Windwalk to turn invisible, and when they leave repeat), Far Seer
harassing (Run in, summon wolves, when enemy comes run Seer away while
Wolves attack workers, summon wolves again and repeat), and Warden
harassing (Run in, Shadowstrike and attack workers to kill them, and
Hide when the enemy comes. When they leave, repeat, and once at level
2 you can get Blink to easily escape if the enemy corners you).
HOTKEY
Hotkeys are extremely important to learn. Every command and spell in
the game has a hotkey letter, which is whatever letter is highlighted
in its name. Pressing that button will automatically select the
corresponding command. Learn the hotkey's for any command you perform
often, like "A" for attack, "S" for stop, and moves like "C" for Death
Coil or "E" for Impale.
HP
HP is health, hit points, whatever you want to call it. Run out of HP
and you are dead. HP slowly regains (For most units), but there are
many healing spells and items.
MACRO/MACROMANAGEMENT
Macro is the art of resource/army/base management. It includes stuff
like expanding, managing your army to counter the enemy, building your
base well... etc.
MICRO/MICROMANAGEMENT
This is really key to winning, so pay attention. Micro is basically
the art of controlling individual parts of your army, instead of just
giving vague commands and hoping to win. Instead of just selecting
your army and telling them to attack-move to the enemy base, try the
following:
-Move injured units out of the line of fire. Either use a unit to heal
them, have them use a move like Cannibalize, or just let them sit. You
don't want the enemy getting experience for killing your units.
-Dance your heroes around. Never let them get surrounded or cornered.
-Use the Alt key a lot to show health bars, and focus on killing
injured enemy units.
-Try to surround the enemy
-Use spells.
Stuff like that. Practice until you can micro very well and try to
never use a unit (Or at least limit it).
MP
MP is mana, magic points, whatever you want to call it. Spells require
mana, and mana is regained over time (For most units). You can use
items like Mana Potions, or spells to regain faster.
TANK
-Contributed by Jothki-
A tank is a unit that is meant to soak up damage. Examples include the
Crypt Lord, the Beastmaster's Bears, and the supreme example: The
Mountain Giant. If you're using Mountain Giants to tank for Archers,
the MGs are absorbing the damage and drawing attention while the
Archers do their attacking.
TIERS
The tiers are your tech level. Tier 1 is all units/buildings/upgrades
that require a Town Hall (Or racial equal). Tier 2 is all
units/buildings/upgrades that require a Keep (Or racial equal). Tier 3
is all units/buildings/upgrades that require a Castle (Or racial
equal). Then, for example, Crypt Fiends are tier 1.5 units because
they require a Necropolis, but also a Graveyard.
ROC
Reign of Chaos. Warcraft III!
RUSHING
Rushing is what it sounds like: Attacking early on with a hero and low
tier units. Do-or-die rushes are powerful rushes that could result in
a win, but if they fail you usually have no way to make a comeback.
SEIGE
Seige units/spells are made for destroying buildings
TECHING
Teching is upgrading. Teching to tier 2 (See above) would be upgrading
your Town Hall into a Keep. Teching to Frosties would be upgrading to
tier 3, building a Sacrificial Pit, and building a Boneyard.
TOWER-RUSHING
Tower-rushing is a strategy of rushing normally but bringing along
workers to start building in the enemy base. The enemy will have to
either deal with your hero and army
TFT
The Frozen Throne! Warcraft III expansion!
TP
Town Portal. Your first hero always starts with a Scroll of Town
Portal, an item which teleports the hero and nearby friendly units to
the selected friendly Town Hall, or the nearest Hall if you double-
click the icon. You should always carry a TP incase your base is
attacked, and if your playing multiplayer and an ally starts shouting
"TP! TP Noob!!" They want you to teleport to their base, and try to
help them defend.
TURTLING
Turtling is a strategy of holing up in your base, surrounding yourself
in towers and defense, and slowly trying to amass a powerful army. It
doesn't work well against a competent opponent who will use siege or
use hit-and-runs with flying units from the back.
==============
5. SPELL TERMS
==============
Okay, these are all terms which refer to spells and abilities.
AOE
AoE stand for Area of Effect, or the area where the effect of the
spell occurs. Many spells with AoE either damage or cause a special
effect of buff to units within the AoE. Most AoE are either aimed with
an aiming beacon (Creates a large circle representing where the area
is), occur immediately around the hero, or use a single-target cursor
to select one unit or spot, and all nearby units take effect. There was
a debate about this on GameFAQs, so here's my description: AOE SPELLS
ARE SPELLS THAT EFFECT MULTIPLE UNITS, AND THE AOE OF THE SPELL IS THE
AREA OR GROUP OF UNITS THAT ARE EFFECTED.
-EXAMPLES- BEACON AOE: Blizzard, Death and Decay, Cluster Rockets
WAVE AOE: Carrion Swarm, Shockwave
SPLASH AOE: Frost Nova, Drunken Haze, Acid Bomb
IMMEDIATE AOE: War Stomp, Thunder Clap, Fan of Knives
PASSIVE/AUTO ONCE ACTIVATED: Burning Oil, Immolation
AURA
An aura is something that certain heroes release, giving beneficial
side-effects to nearby units. It is passive, meaning that it is
automatically in effect, not activated.
-EXAMPLES- Unholy Aura, Brilliance Aura, Command Aura, Healing Ward
Aura
AUTO-CAST
Auto-cast spells are spells that can be set to automatically activate
right-clicking on them (You can deactivate them by right-clicking
again).
-EXAMPLES- Slow, Carrion Beetle, Frost Armor, Phase Shift
BUFF
A buff is any good special effect on a unit. Buffs are either
permanent as long as the unit is near the unit radiating the buff, or
given for a limited time.
-EXAMPLES- Inner Fire, Any Aura, Anti-Magic Shell, Divine Shield
CHANNEL(ING SPELL)
A channeling spell is any spell in which the caster must stand still
for a set amount of time, and either charge up for the spell to occur
when he's done channeling, or the spell occurs as long as the unit
channels. If the channeling unit is given an order, dies, or is
interrupted (See below), the spell stops.
-EXAMPLES- Death and Decay, Flame Strike, Starfall, Possession, Big
Bad Voodoo.
COOLDOWN
Most spells have cooldown, which is the time you have to wait after
casting a spell, to cast it again. After you cast a spell, the
cooldown is represented by the shadow unraveling in a clockwise
direction around the icon. Once the shadow moves all the way around
and the icon is bright again, the cooldown is over and you may cast
again. Cooldown varies between spells, with most auto-cast spells
having short cooldown, and ultimates having longer cooldown.
DE-BUFF
De-buffs are negative buffs on units. Bad effects.
-EXAMPLES- Curse, Drunken Haze, Doom, Slow, Faerie Fire, Burning Oil
DISPEL
A dispel is a move which removes buffs and/or damages summoned units.
Some dispels are Area of Effect, while others are single target.
-EXAMPLES- Dispel (Duh), Devour Magic, Abolish Magic, Purge,
Disenchant
INTERRUPT
Interrupts are stunning spells that can be used to stop channeling
spells.
-EXAMPLES- Storm Bolt, the fall from Infernal, War Stomp, Entangling
Roots
PASSIVE
Passive abilities are abilities that are not activated and either
always have their affect occurring, or automatically occur on certain
circumstances.
-EXAMPLES- Any Aura, Spiked Carapace, Reincarnation, Permanent
Immolation
NUKE/TRI-NUKE
Nukes are powerful direct damage spells. Tri-nukes are 3 nukes cast on
one enemy in an effort to severely damage or kill them (Usually used
on heroes).
-EXAMPLES- Nukes: Frost Nova, Shadowstrike, Storm Bolt
Tri-Nukes: Frost Nova + Death Coil + Impale
Shadow Strike + Entangling Roots + Mana Burn
Banish + Storm Bolt + Holy Light (When facing UD)
ULTIMATE
Each hero has an ultimate spell which is only available once at level
6. Ultimates vary between heroes, but are all very powerful.
-EXAMPLES- Mass Teleport, Stampede, Robo-Goblin, Animate Dead, Charm
===================
6. BATTLE.NET TERMS
===================
These are all terms used on battle.net. Read these well so you'll
understand what your enemy is actually saying when he tries to insult
you. ^_^ Also, please note the difference between "newb" and "n00b".
1337
As strange as it may sound, someone actually asked me the meaning of
this. It's "elite". See the "1" is an "L" or "El", the "3"s are "E"s,
and the "7" is a "T".
AFK
"Away from keyboard". If someone says this it means that they're
leaving for an indefinite amount of time, so either don't bother
talking to them if they're in a channel, or take over if they share
control in a game.
AFAIK
-Contributed by Ndssai-
"As far as I know"
AMM
Anonymous-match-making system. Blizzard's system for randomly matching
you with people to play against.
AoS
AoS stands for Aeon of Strife, a custom game on battle.net. It was the
first game in which you choose one from a group of heroes, and are put
on one of two teams. Each team has computer-controlled spawned units,
which auto-attack to the enemy base. The heroes on each side try to
fight through with the spawnies, and destroy the enemy base (Like a
tug of war). Now, any custom game with this style is referred to as
having AoS style gameplay.
APM
Actions per minute. You can download some Actions per minute counters
to clock your average actions per minute, and see how much you're
doing. Some people say that Actions per minute is proportional to
skill, but it really depends. Some people have 250 Actions per minute
by just doing lots of useless actions and spamming rally points, while
other players have 100 AMP but make lots of great micro moves and are
very good.
AT
AT stand for Arranged Team, a game-type on battle.net where you select
your allies and fight other arranged teams.
AT ABUSE(R)
AT Abusers are people who play lots of AT games with lots of people,
but only a few games with each ally (Or the ally repeatedly makes new
accounts. As each new team will start as a level 1 team, the AT Abuser
can get a great record by playing against newbie teams over and over
again.
BRB
"Be right back"
BS/TK
Backstabbing or team killing. If you play random-team, you can be sure
that eventually you'll be stuck with a backstabber who will either
idle (Sit and do nothing), actually attack you and other allies, or do
something stupid like mass Acolytes.
BUFF
When Blizzard buffs a unit in a patch they are making it stronger.
This can be anything from increasing its damage, to reducing it's
cost, to making it take less time to train, to having it's spells cost
less mana. The opposite of a NERF.
CHANNEL
Once on battle.net you can enter a channel which is pretty much a
lobby to hang out and talk, set up games, or look at people's records.
There are lots of channels including the Blizzard channels which
appear on the channel list and Clan channels which are named as
channel "Clan *NAME OF CLAN*". You can type in anything in the channel
box to enter a channel even if no-one's inside, so if you want to play
with one person, invite them to your own channel and talk there.
CHOBO
-Contributed by Ndssai-
Newbie. Not sure how it developed, why (I know I've seen some Korean
players use it), and if it's a Final Fantasy reference. So don't ask
me.
***According to Blade (His friends actually, but he sent me the email),
Chobo is used by Koreans to mean "worse than newbie", and is taken
extremely harshly by some players.***
CLAN
A clan is a group of players who play together, are members of a
group, or something else. A clan is comprised of 10 or more members.
Now with the 1.15 patch, there is a clan-ladder, so playing games will
contribute to your clan's record, lowering or raising the clan
standing. You must be invited into a clan to join, or create one
yourself and get 9 other people to join. A clan consists of ONE
Chieftain who can close the clan and pretty much runs it, up to FIVE
Shamans who are appointed by the Chieftain to assist, Grunts who are
appointed by the Shamans or Chieftain and contribute to the clan
ranking, and Peons who do not contribute to the ranking and can be
upgraded to Grunts by the Shamans or Chieftain.
CUSTOM GAMES
Custom games are what they sound like: Games that are hosted by normal
users and are not Blizzard approved. Once logged onto battle.net,
press the Custom Game button to open up a list of currently-hosted
customs, and either join a public game, or create your own (Make it
private and give the people you want to join the game name). Losing or
winning custom games will not affect your record.
"DD"
"Don't die"
"D
D
D..."
Some people type this in over and over again when someone's lagging,
and I've heard a few reasons for it. Some people just say that the D
stands for drop and they're just typing it over and over again, some
people think that the enemy computer processing all the Ds will lag out
(Yeah right), and other people just have nothing to do while they wait
for the lagging opponent.
DotA
DotA is Defense of the Ancients, a custom game on battle.net. In it
each team has the computer controlling waves of forces to fight through
to the enemy fortress. You and your allies control only heroes and gain
experience as you attempt to tilt the battle in your favor. It plays
out like a tug of war. Most people say that the original RoC Defense of
the Ancients is awesome, while the newer Allstars editions are
unbalanced pieces of crud.
"DS"
"Don't suck"
ENFO'S
Enfo's Team Survival is yet another custom game on battle.net. You and
a group of allies choose a single hero each from a large group, and
try to fend off waves of attacking enemies.
FFA
FFAs are free-for-alls, a game-type on battle.net with multiple
players, and each person on their own team.
GATEWAY/SERVER
There are 4 gateways (Sometimes 5 whenever Westfall opens up for beta
testing): Lordaeron, Azeroth, Northrend, and Kalimdor, corresponding to
US West, US East, Europe, and Asia. You must create a new account if
you want to go on a different gateway, and records do not carry over.
"GG"
Good game. If you've lost, it's a nice, honorable way to go out.
Instead of saying "Abuser!" say "GG. You were really good" or something
like that. If you've won, it's usually best to wait for your opponent
to say GG before you do; otherwise you may be perceived as arrogant.
"GL HF"
"GL HF" stands for "Good luck, have fun". It's a nice way to start a
game.
GOSU
Gosu means pro, or expert. I've heard numerous reasons for the origin
of this word, such as many people saying that it's Korean for "high
hand" and later evolved to mean pro. I've also heard that it
originated in Starcraft, when Korean players couldn't type the Korean
for pro, so they spelt it out in English phonetically and got "gosu"
(Go-sue). Then a bunch of people thought it sounded cool and adopted
it as pro.
HUNTLAR
A dumb skewed version of "Huntress" used by trolls on GameFAQs. It
means nothing, and is just used for bad joke topics, and posters
screaming about how 7 Huntlars equal instant win.
"IDK"
"I don't know"
"IIRC"
"If I recall/remember correctly"
IMBA
Stands for imbalance. For example, if someone says "Footies is imba!!1"
they mean that Footies are unbalanced.
"IMO/IMHO"
"In my opinion" or "In my humble opinion"
"KA"
Kill all"
"KIRU!"
It has no real meaning, it's just a "warcry" of sorts used by some
users before they post. As far as I know, popularized by Filip Nyman.
LAG
Lag is when a computer's internet access isn't fast enough and can't
keep up, so the game starts sputtering, the animation gets choppy,
some units some moving to their destination instantly, the game
briefly freezes up, and a screen pops up with the person who is
lagging's name, a countdown, and the button "Drop Player" at the
bottom. Basically if that player cannot catch up before their
countdown hits, everyone can press Drop Player to boot them out of the
game. It is difficult to play with a lagger, as it makes micromanaging
nearly impossible.
LAGGER
Someone who lags a lot and slows the game down.
"LOL"
"Laugh out loud", or sometimes "Lots of luck". According to Blizzard's
glossary on the Warcraft 3 website, it is "uncool" to use "Lol".
Hahaha.
MATHCRAFT
Mathcraft refers to thinking about/talking about the game
theoretically, in that you're basically discussing situations AS IF
they happened in the game. Things such as talking about why one units
is statistically better than another due to HP, speed, spells, DPS, and
so on, but really assuming that both units are played by players of
equal skill, and both utilized to the best they could be.
MH
Map hacking. Not a good thing to see online. Some people download bad
map-hack programs that reveal the map for them in their games,
allowing them to easily counter or creep-jack you. DO not map-hack (Or
use any hack, for that matter). Hacking is bad!!
NERF
The opposite of a buff. When Blizzard makes a unit weaker in a patch.
This can be anything from making it do less damage, to being more
expensive, to taking longer to train, to moving more slowly.
NEWB/NEWBIE
Newbies are people who are new/inexperienced/bad at the game, but are
still nice, write in understandable sentences, nicely ask for help,
take criticism well, and honestly want to get better. Also, it's
pretty much lost most of it's meaning, so people currently use Newb as
an insult.
NOOB/N00BIE
Noobs (n00bs) are people who are new/inexperienced/bad at the game,
but think of themselves as better then everyone else, don't take
criticism, are mean, like to flame, and are generally not nice people.
People will also use Noob to insult you.
NOOB ELF
-Contributed by John Jackson-
A derogatory term for Night Elves or Night Elf players. : )
ROS
Reign of Satire, the hilarious and awesome map that I've been working
on for over a year. The original Classic of Satire can be downloaded at
http://maps.worldofwar.net/maps.php?id=5949. After that came out, the
general consensus was that it was bad, so it went back into production.
The sequel, Redux of Satire, was beta tested to some bad reviews, and
was never released. Currently, Reign of Satire III is in production.
You can view the current photo gallery at
http://img154.exs.cx/gal.php?g=yayglitch9vr.jpg
RotW
Replay of the week. Used on some Warcraft replay websites.
RT
RT stands for random team, a game-type on battle.net of either 2vs2,
3vs3, or 4vs4, where your allies are chosen randomly.
SC
I don't know, you might hear it in an argument going on. SC is
Starcraft, the game that Blizzard made before Warcraft III, which some
people enjoy arguing about (Whether SC or WC is better).
SMURF
Smurfs are pros/people with good high level-accounts who make new
accounts so they can pound newbies into the ground with ease and
quickly get a nearly-perfect record. Also the little blue guys from
that old TV show.
TD
Tower Defense games are custom games in which the players build towers
to defend against swarms of enemy creeps.
ToB
ToB stands for Tides of Blood, another custom game on battle.net. It
uses the standard AoS style, but each level has 18 levels, it's
actually fairly well balanced (Compared to some other custom games),
and can be a blast.
TT/tt
This is supposed to mean crying/sad. I've yet to find out an exact
reason, but I've heard from numerous people that it's supposed to be
two eyes (The top line of the T) with a stream of tears running down
(The bottom of the T), as this is how people crying look like in a lot
of anime cartoons. Or so I've heard.
XD
Tilt your head to the left. It's a smiley of a face cracking up (The X
is the eyes closed, and the D is the mouth). It' just like :D but
laughing harder.
^^
This is pretty much a shortened ^_^, which is supposed to be a happy
face (The "^"s are eyes, and the "_" is a mouth).
=========
7. HEROES
=========
This section lists abbreviations for heroes. They are grouped
according to race. Note that there are four heroes who are commonly
referred to as "BM"s. Usually you can figure it out according to the
context. If a human player says that they're going BM+AM, it likely
means Bloodmage + Arch Mage. If someone says that they're being wind-
walk harassed by a BM, it's the Blademaster. If someone says that a
drunken BM just split into 3 smaller, multi-colored BMs, it's likely
the Brewmaster.
------
HUMANS
------
-AM-
Arch Mage, a Human wizard. Good at summoning and supporting the army.
-BM/BLM-
Blood Mage, a Blood Elf wizard. Good at mana-draining and pounding
weak units.
-MK-
Mountain King, a Dwarven warrior. Good at pounding weak units and
nuking heroes.
-PALLY-
Paladin, a Human supporter. Good at supporting and healing the army,
and nuking the Undead.
----
ORCS
----
-BM-
Blade Master, an Orc assassin. Good at harassing and hunting down
enemy heroes.
-FS-
Far Seer, an Orc wizard. Good at summoning and harassing.
-SH-
Shadow Hunter, a Troll supporter. Good at supporting and healing the
army, and for anti-air.
-TC/MARN-
Tauren Chieftain, a Tauren warrior. Good at pounding weak units and
tanking.
------
UNDEAD
------
-CL-
Crypt Lord, a beetle warrior. Good at pounding weak units and tanking.
-DK-
Death Knight, an Undead supporter. Good at supporting and healing the
army, and nuking.
-DL-
Dreadlord, a demon supporter. Good at supporting the army, and
summoning.
-----------
NIGHT ELVES
-----------
-DH-
Demon Hunter, a Night Elf warrior. Good at pounding weak units and
mana-draining.
-KotG-
Keeper of the Grove, a Night Elf wizard. Good at supporting the army,
summoning, and harassing/nuking.
-PotM-
Priestess of the Moon, a Night Elf archer. Good at supporting the
army.
-------
NEUTRAL
-------
-BM/BEM-
Beastmaster, a half-Orc half-Ogre warrior. Good at summoning.
-BM/BRM/PANDA-
Pandaren Brewmaster, a Pandaren warrior. Good at disrupting the enemy
army.
-DR-
Dark Ranger, an Undead archer. Good at disrupting the enemy army, and
summoning.
-GT/TINK-
Goblin Tinker, a Goblin mechanic. Good at fast siege.
-NAGA/SW-
Naga Seawitch, a Naga archer. Good at disrupting the enemy army, and
pounding weak units.
-PL/PITTIE-
Pit Lord, a demon warrior. Good at disrupting the enemy army, pounding
weak units, and tanking.
-GA/ALCHIE-
Goblin Alchemist, and uber powerful (But slow, and badly armored)
monstrosity. Good at healing, tanking (With support), and making money.
-FL-
Firelord, an awesome being of pure flame. Good at summoning an army,
nuking, and harassing.
==============
8. HUMAN TERMS
==============
These are terms that refer to all things human. Human units, human
spells, common human strategies... You name it. If it involves the
Humans, and it's abbreviated, it's here.
HU
Human!!
AV
Arcane Vault, the Human shop
BA/BRILLIANCE
Brilliance Aura, the Arch Mage's aura which increases nearby mana
regen.
BREAKER
Spell Breaker, the Human anti-caster
DHAWK
Dragon Hawks, Human air units with Cloud (A tower blocking spell) and
Aerial Shackles (An anti-air spell)
DS
Divine Shield, the Paladin's invincibility spell.
FOOTIES
Footies are Footmen, the Human tier 1 melee (And possibly range
counter, with the new Defend).
FS/FP
Flame Strike, the Blood Mage's AoE spell. I've heard a few players
refer to it as FP, and call it Flame Pillar, but it's the same thing.
GRYPHANK
: ) It's Gryphon Riders + Siege Engines
HL
Holy Light, the Paladin's healing spell.
MILITIA RUSH
Turning a bunch of Peasants into Militia and rushing early game.
MT
Mass Teleport, the Arch Mage's ultimate.
RAX
Barracks, the Human (And Orc!) tier 1 unit producing building. It can
produce Footmen, Riflemen, and Knights, along with providing some
upgrades for the respective units.
RIFLES
Riflemen, the Human tier 1 ranged units.
SB
Storm Bolt, the Mountain King's nuke/stun move.
SORC
Sorceress. The Human secondary spell caster girl with Slow,
Invisibility, and Polymorph.
SORCLEMAGE
A strategy that some Human players like to use which is pretty much
Riflemen + Sorceresses + Arch Mage. The enemy gets Slowed and then
blasted by Rifles.
WE
Water Elemental, either referring to the Arch Mage spell, or the Water
Elemental that the spell summons.
===============
9. UNDEAD TERMS
===============
These are terms that refer to all things undead. Undead units, undead
spells, common undead strategies... You name it. If it involves the
Undead, and it's abbreviated, it's here.
UD
Undead!!
ABOM
Abomination, the Undead's heavy tier 3 melee
ACO
Acolyte, the Undead's worker unit.
AMS
Anti-Magic Shield, the Banshee's Adept spell which renders a unit
resistant to spell damage.
BLIGHT
Blight is that purple-brown dirt stuff that appears under Undead
buildings and quickly spreads, much like the Zerg's (Starcraft) creep.
You can only build Undead buildings (Besides the Necropolis or Haunted
Gold Mine) on blight, and all buildings extend the blight in a radius.
CF/FIEND
Crypt Fiend, the Undead's tier 1 ranged unit.
COIL/DC
Death Coil, the Death Knight's nuke/healing spell. Extremely useful.
CS
Carrion Swarm, the Dreadlord's AoE wave spell
DAG
Dual Aura Ghouls. Using Ghouls along with a Death Knight and Dreadlord
for Unholy Aura and Vampiric Aura, which really power up the Ghouls.
DESTRO
Destroyer, the Undead's tier 3 flying anti-caster
DP
Death Pact, the Death Knight's spell which kills a friendly unit to
restore health.
FROSTY/FW/WYRM
Frost Wyrm, the Undead's heavy tier 3 air.
GARG
Gargoyle, the Undead's light air.
HotD
Halls of the Dead, the UD Keep.
NECRO
Necromancer, the Undead's primary caster
NOVA/FN
Frost Nova, the Lich's uber-nuke
OBSIDIAN/STATUE/STAT
Obsidian Statue (^_^), the Undead's mobile healer. Should be in every
army.
ToR
Tomb of Relics, the Undead shop
UF/FRENZY
Unholy Frenzy, the Necromancer's Adept spell which causes a unit to
attack faster but take damage.
UNHOLY/UA
Unholy Aura, the Death Knight's great aura which increases
regeneration and speed.
VAMP/VA
Vampiric Aura, the Dreadlord's great aura which causes melee units to
steal health with each hit.
WAGONMANCER
-Contributed by John Jackson-
Going Meat Wagons and Necromancers. Use the Skeletons!
============
10. ORC TERMS
============
These are terms that refer to all things orc. Orc units, orc spells,
common orc strategies... You name it. If it involves the Orcs, and
it's abbreviated, it's here.
BATS
-Contributed by Falxon2-
Bat Riders, the flying Orc siege
CL
Chain Lightning, a Far Seer spell which zaps multiple enemies with
bolts of lightning.
CS
Critical-strike, the Blademaster's passive, random-super-attack move.
DEMO
Demolisher, the Orc siege weapon.
ENDURANCE/EA
Endurance Aura, the Tauren Chieftain's speed aura.
FS
Feral Spirit, the Far Seer (Also FS) spell which summons two Spirit
Wolves.
GRUNTAPULT
A common Orc strat of going Grunts and Demolishers.
HH
Headhunters, the Orc tier 1 ranged units.
HW
Healing Wave, the Shadow Hunter's chain-healing spell.
KODOs
Kodo Beasts, the massive support/hungry units.
MI
Mirror Image, the Blademaster's illusion spell.
RAX
Barracks, the Orc (And Human!) tier 1 unit producing building. It can
produce Grunts, Troll Headhunters, and Demolishers, along with
providing some upgrades for the respective units.
SHAMS
Shamen, the primary Orc casters.
SW
Spirit Walker, Tauren caster. Also Serpent Ward, the Shadow Hunter's
serpent summon.
VL
Voodoo Lounge, the Orc shop.
WDs
Witch Doctors, the secondary Orc casters.
WW
Wind-walk, the Blademaster's invisibility spell.
ZERKERS
Berserkers, the tier 3 Headhunter upgrades.
===================
11. NIGHT ELF TERMS
===================
These are terms that refer to all things Night Elf. Night Elf units,
Night Elf spells, common Night Elf strategies... You name it. If it
involves the Night Elves, and it's abbreviated, it's here.
NE
Night Elf!!
AoW
Ancient or War (NE tier 1 production), Ancient of Wind (NE aerial
production), or Ancient of Wonders (NE shop)!
AoL
Ancient of Lore, the NE tier 2 production.
CHIPPO
-Contributed by Jothki-
A strategy of going Chimaeras and Hippogryph(rider)s
CHIM
Chimaera, the NE tier 3 heavy flying.
DotC
Druid of the Claw, the NE caster/tier 3 melee.
DotT
Druid of the Talon, the NE caster/light air.
ER/ENTANGLE/ROOTS
Entangling Roots, the KotG's stun/nuke.
FD
Faerie Dragon, the NE anti-caster
FoK
Fan of Knives, the Warden's AoE spell.
FoN
Force of Nature, the Keeper of the Grove's summon.
HIPPO
Hippogryph, the NE anti-air flying.
HIPPO-RIDER
A Hippogrygh mounted by an Archer.
HUNT
Huntress, the NE tier 1 anti-melee.
IMMO
Immolation, the Demon Hunter's fire defense spell.
MB
Mana Burn, the Demon Hunter's nuke/mana drainer.
SS
Shadow Strike, the Warden's nuke.
ToL
Tree of Life, the NE Town Hall.
=================
12. NEUTRAL TERMS
=================
Stuff dealing with neutral heroes and shops and stuff.
AB
Acid Bomb, the Goblin Alchemist's nuke/AoE poison spell.
BoF
Breath of Fire. The Brewmaster's AoE torch spell.
BoS
Boots of Speed. An item which increases your movement speed.
CoN
Circlet of Nobility. An item which gives +2 to all your hero's stats.
CR/CHEM/RAGE
Chemical Rage, the Goblin Alchemist's power-up move.
GM
Goblin Merchant. Sells various items.
HoT
Howl of Terror. The Pit Lord's AoE de-buff spell.
HS
Healing Spray, the Goblin Alchemist's AoE healer.
LT
Usually used to refer to the map Lost Temple.
MERC
Mercenary. Neutral units hired from Mercenary Camps.
RoF
Rain of Fire. The Pit Lord's AoE spell.
SB
Soul Burn. The Firelord's nuke/debuffer.
SEF
Storm, Earth & Fire. The Brewmaster's ultimate.
TR
Usually used to refer to either the map Two Rivers, or the map Turtle
Rock.
====================
13. CONTRIBUTOR INFO
====================
Okay! Obviously, there are a lot of WC terms, and I'm sure I forgot a
few. E-mail away! My e-mail address is:
Dandude776@aol.com
Be sure to make the topic something like "FAQ", "Warcraft",
"TERMINOLOGY"... etc. Something that will let me know it has something
to do with this. I get a ton of spam, and if I don't know what your e-
mail is, into the trash it goes. I have 2 other FAQs, and I have
gotten numerous good contributions, that I trashed just because the
sender didn't put a good subject! Anyway, try to only make
contributions or ask questions about terminology. If you have a
question regarding the game (Like you want to get better as a certain
race or something), I guess you could read my Undead FAQ if it has to
do with Undead, but otherwise, avoid asking other stuff.
******VERY IMPORTANT*******
Please do not Instant Message me via AOL. I really like getting e-
mails about my FAQ, but IMs are just not good. If it's a contribution,
it's too easy for me to accidently close the IM box or delete your
good idea, or anything else. Also, from my Undead FAQ and Enter the
Matrix FAQ, a few people told other people what my screen name was and
they started harassing me. Needless to say, I easily used my super
powers to make their computers explode, but just do not IM me or tell
other people to harass me. I'm not afraid to hurt you. : )
Stuff to e-mail me:
-Maybe you were playing a game and someone said something you didn't
understand. Maybe I can help, or at least I'll add it here.
-If there's a common term I missed.
-Thanking me for writing this (^_^)
-If you find a website other than the one's listed in the Legal Stuff
section hosting this!
-If you want to host this on your website! I'd be happy to let you,
but you must ask first!
Stuff not to e-mail me:
-Spam. Honestly. Do I have to explain?
-Flames. Do you think I really care that you hate my Terminology FAQ
so much that you use it as toilet paper? If you have constructive
criticism, say something. If you have no reason, don't.
-Please don't ask me to help you beat that level in the
campaign/counter gruntapults/get better at starcraft.
===========================
14. CONTRIBUTOR RECOGNITION
===========================
*Crickets chirping*
Yep. Almost all empty right now. If I missed something, or you're a
newbie who doesn't understand something, ask away and get your name in
here! You're guaranteed to become famous! (Not a guarantee)
-Jothki, for reminding me of Chippo, and Tanking
-Ndssai, for reminding me of Chobo, and AFAIK
-John Jackson, for reminding me of Wagonmancing, and Noob Elf
-Blade, for telling me his friends' definition of Chobo
-mjfloyd0, who asked what XD meant and got me to put it in the FAQ.
-Falxon2, for suggesting I add Bats
-Icy Rebirth, for pointing out that I wrote AMP in the APM section, and
then on a later date for linking to this in his router/net/other stuff
FAQ, and suggesting I add rax, dhawk, rifles, mathcraft, and dps
==========
15. THANKS
==========
Some people/stuff I'd like to thank:
-To anyone who read this
-To Blizzard for making the awesome Warcraft series
-To all the psychos on battle.net who make up their own terms for
things which become so common that I have to write an FAQ about it.
-To the folks on the GameFAQs Warcraft III: TFT message board, for
being cool (Most of them) and for sometimes helping me clarify stuff.
-Me, I guess...
-Any website that hosts this
===============
16. LEGAL STUFF
===============
This FAQ is copyright, Danny Markowitz, 2004. All rights reserved. It
may only be used on the following website(s):
www.GameFAQs.com
http://dlh.net
www.ign.com
Just note that GameFAQs will always have the latest version.
Do not use any or all of it without my permission. All of the text is
owned and was written by Daniel Markowitz. You may print it out if you
want, but don't turn it into a strategy guide and sell it, unless you
send me the profits! That would be okay! If you are want to use my FAQ
on your website, you must ask my permission first, and you may not
alter or change the text in it anyway. All in all, if you really want
to use it for something (litter box for your pets... whatever.)
besides just a personal FAQ, ask me first.
