Playing League of Legends for the first time can be a very daunting venture. First you have to understand how to move and use your abilities, how to last hit for gold, knowing when to rotate or when to stay in lane - there is a lot to learn. Though, arguably one of the most important mechanics in League is communication. Effectively communicating with your teammates to work together and reach a common goal is the basis of teamwork and how to win games in League. However for new players, some of the terms used in League can be confusing and effective communication is rather mute.

This article is a quick guide to help bridge the gap for new players learning the vocabulary of League. Let's dive in!

AA: Your auto attack or basic attack.

Ace: Killing every enemy champion.

AD: Attack damage.

ADC: Attack damage carry - typically a bottom lane marksman.

AFK: Away from Keyboard.

AP: Ability power; magic damage.

AoE: Area of Effect - Abilities that hit a large area around the champion or targeted zone. (i.e. Darius’ Q or Anivia’s R)

ARAM: All Random All Mid - Fun, fast paced game mode on a single lane where all champions are chosen randomly.

Armor: Itemization to counter attack damage champions.

Armor Pen: Itemization to counter champions who build armor.

Backline: The champions that are in the back of the group during teamfights. Usually mages and marksmen.

Backdoor: Sneaking into the enemy base to destroy their nexus when they are pushing towards yours. For a clear example, Google “Xpeke”.

Baron: Monster that spawns at 20:00 mins that gives your team a large buff and gold.

Base: Spawn location and home of your inhibitors and nexus. Protect at all costs.

BG: Bad game.

BM: Bad mannered; trolling; toxic.

Bot (Lane): Short for Bottom Lane.

Build: Also known as Build Path, the order of items that you purchase during a game to progress your character’s strength.

Buff: When a champion becomes stronger due to the most recent patch.

Burst: Using your champions abilities to kill an enemy champion quickly.

Camp: When an enemy jungler comes to gank you over and over. Choosing to ignore other lanes.

Carry: When you are the fed player and can win the game for your team.

Cheese: Using tactics that are otherwise non-meta to get a lead.

Creeps: Another name for Minions.

Crowd Control (CC): Abilities that hold enemy champions in place. (i.e. stun, root, fear, slow, etc.)

Cooldown: The amount of time it takes for your abilities to recharge after use.

Counter: When you pick a champion whose abilities greatly exploit your opponent’s.

Countergank: As the Jungler, ganking a lane that has just been ganked. To either turn the fight in your team’s favor, or negate the gank entirely.

Counter Jungle: Killing the jungle monsters on your opponent’s side of the map. Stealing the enemy jungler’s farm and experience.

Crit: Short for critical hit. A critical hit is an attack that has a major damage output that is random or chance.

CS: Also known as Creep Score, the amount of minion that you have successfully last hit and gained gold from.

DPS: Damage per Second. The total amount of damage output you have at any given second. The higher the DPS, the higher the overall damage.

Dragon: The Dragon, also known as Drake, is the major monster objective that can be slain to give your team benefits during game. They spawn on the lower half of the map and harness different elemental properties: Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water.

Dragon Soul: The Dragon Soul is achieved by whichever team successfully defeats four dragons. The determination of the soul is random and will be shown in the tab menu during the game. Each Soul, corresponding to the same elements of the dragons, gives a different buff.

Diff: A contemporary method of stating which players were better during the match. Oftentimes this is due to toxic behavior, and players will state things such as, “jungle diff” meaning the enemy jungler was better.

Dive: A method of attack where you go under a tower to kill your opponent.

Elo: Elo is the rating system for ranked in League of Legends. The higher the Elo, the higher the rank. Oftentimes players who cannot progress further in the ranked ladder will use the phrase “elo hell”, because they are stuck.

Face Check: Walking into a bush that doesn’t have a ward or vision.

Farm: Another name for CS.

Feed: Giving your opponent kills.

FF: Short for forfeit.

Freeze (Lane): Lane mechanic where you are able to keep the minion wave in a certain spot to harass your opponent or set up a gank.

Frontline: Opposite of the backline. The frontline is composed of the champions that usually tankier and can soak damage to start a fight.

Gank: A surprise attack from the jungler or another teammate on your lane opponent.

GG: Short for good game.

Hypercarry: Name for a champion that has insane scalability and can out damage and kill the enemy team easily. An example of a champion like this is the ADC Vayne.

Itemization: The order of items you build to progress throughout the game, depending on the champion you’re playing.

Inhib: Short for inhibitor, the structure you destroy after the third turret. Destroying this structure will grant super minions to travel down the lane of the destroyed inhibitor.

Int: The act of recklessly going into a fight where you have a 99% chance of dying. Derived from "Intentionally Feeding".

Juke: Dodging your opponent or their abilities.

Jungler: Type of champion that primarily kills the monsters in the jungle and ganks for your team. They also are the ones who take control over the map’s objectives like Baron and Dragon.

Kill Lane: An atypical lane that uses a combination of champions that pair well together to win lane. Usually this is done in the bottom lane. (i.e. Jax/Rengar; Lee Sin/Maokai)

Kit: Reference to the abilities of a champion, the scaling of their abilities and damage type.

Kite: The ability to attack opponents or monsters while walking away from said target.

Lane: One of three paths in a game of League of Legends.

Lane Swap: The act of swapping lanes with one of your teammates.

Laning Phase: The beginning of the game.

Last Hit: The act of killing a minion and obtaining the gold from it.

Main: Used to refer to your favorite and best champion that you play.

Magic Damage: Corresponds to AP (Ability Power).

Magic Resist: Itemization that allows you to take less damage from magic damage (ability power).

Magic Pen: Itemization that allows you to do more damage with magic damage (ability power).

Meta: The current best champions and items in the game at any given time. Changes over time as players find new/better combinations.

Minion: The little laning friends that walk in a line down each lane. Also known as creeps.

Nerf: When a champion becomes weaker due to the current patch.

Nexus: The objective of the game. The nexus is the final structure to destroy to win the game.

OP: Short for Overpowered. Used to describe a champion that is “broken”, and does insane damage and is also unkillable.

Overextending: Being too far down a lane usually by chasing an enemy where you have no vision. Leaves you vulnerable to the enemy.

Peel: Dealing damage to or using CC on an enemy so that they are forced to stop attacking your teammate.

Physical Damage: Type of damage. Typically from melee champions or ADCs.

Poke: The act of dealing ranged damage to your lane opponents.

Push (Lane): The act of killing the enemy minions in your lane so that your wave gets pushed under the tower.

Recall: The act of returning to your base by pressing the default keybind of “B”. Also referred to as “going B”.

Shot Caller: The player on your team that makes play calls and objective calls during the course of the game.

Snowball: Progressively getting stronger and stronger during a game. Usually this is done after you gain an early lead on your lane opponent and can control the lane from there.

Solo Lane: Referencing Top or Middle lane.

Split Push: Specific strategy of sending a teammate to a side lane as the rest of your team pushes in another lane. This is done to gain pressure in two lanes of the map, forcing your opponents to divert their focus.

Super Minion: Stronger minions that spawn after your team destroys an enemy inhibitor. The minions will travel down the same lane of the inhibitor destroyed.

Squishy: Used to describe a champion that is not tanky and easily kill

Tank: Used to describe a champion that has a lot of health and can withstand a lot of damage.

Teamfight: A 5v5 fight against both teams.

Tilt: Used to describe when a player is getting annoyed or upset and it has a direct effect on their playing.

Toxic: Term used to describe players that are being very rude or are portraying anger unreasonably.

Trade: Used to describe the exchange of damage between you and your lane opponent.

True Damage: Type of damage that cannot be negated by armor or magic resist.

Turret: Structures that are guarding the lanes, inhibitor and nexus. There are 11 turrets in total on the map.

Ulti: Short for ultimate, which is every champion’s “R” ability.

Zoning: Using strategic placement of abilities and/or character positioning to direct, or zone, your opponent to a certain spot in the lane.

These are most of the terms that are used in League of Legends! As days go by, more and more terms develop and can be added to the lexis of League. Getting familiar with the basic terms is a sure-fire way for you to start learning the game faster and becoming an effective asset to your team's communication! Get that big brain larger and get out there on the rift!

Good luck and have fun!