Every game has its own lingo or slang , and knowing the key Dota 2 terminology can help a lot when making your first steps in the game. In fact, there are a lot of old-school players who may not be familiar with some of the terms you are about to find out. Learning them will help you navigate better while playing and allow you to be more successful, so let’s begin.
Image Credit: Valve
Before reading more about the key Dota 2 terms, remember that the list does not include everything. Instead, we at esports.net will focus on some key options everyone needs to know:
Aggro – Abbreviation of aggression. People use it when to describe the attacking behavior of creeps and other non-hero units in the game.
Blocking – This refers to players’ movement that “blocks” (slows down the movement speed) creeps.
Bottle Crow – When you hear someone say “bottle crow,” it means giving the bottle to the courier so that the latter can go back to the fountain to refill it.
Dieback – Dieback is when a player uses his buyback after dying and dies again.
Dive – This is when a player runs at a given hero, even when a tower or other heroes enemy are in between them.
Flash Farming – A fast farming technique that allows players to kill the creep wave as fast as possible and then move to the jungle camps.
Guinsoo – This is Scythe of Vyse’s name in the original DotA (some players still use it today).
Miss – Miss is Dota 2 jargon used to describe a situation where a given hero is absent from the lane (it is usually used
APM – The short form of actions per minute, meaning all of the clicks and keyboard hits you make per minute.
Fog of War – Describing the parts of the map you don’t have vision over.
Pulling – Pulling is when you lure your own creep wave into attacking a neutral camp.
Stacking – This Dota 2 term describes the situation where you increase the number of creeps in a neutral camp. This is achieved by pulling them a few seconds before their spawn time.
Harass – Harassing is when you attack an enemy hero to lower their health without killing them
Roaming – Roaming is when you do not stay in the lane because you wander around and try to secure kills around the map.
Rat – One of the popular Dota 2 terms on Reddit describes a game in which one team tries to win by avoiding fights. This is usually achieved when playing specific heroes that can split push.
Juking – This is when you move in a specific way that allows you to dodge certain attacks and/or abilities.
Oom – This means out of mana, and people Usually use it when they should have used a certain ability.
Throwing – This Dota 2 term describes a game where a team that had a big lead starts losing several teamfights in a row. In some cases, people also use it for players who sell/destroy their items and start dying for no reason.
KS – Among the most popular Dota 2 terms is the short version of kill steal, or kill secure. The first use is when a hero steals the kill from someone, even though that person did everything to get the kill.
Manfight – Manfight in the Dota 2 terminology is used when two heroes start attacking each other without backing down – usually in a win-or-die situation.
Recrow – This is when a player has to reuse the courier after someone else “stole it” from him.
Snowballing – Another key Dota 2 term describes a situation where a hero or even the entire team becomes stronger as the game progresses. In most cases, people use it when someone gets more kills in a row.
Static Farming – This is a farming technique that focuses on securing last hits and denying as much as possible. Usually, the goal is to maintainaround the current creep equilibrium.
Turn – It is used when a team that is supposed to run from the enemy team in a given situation decides to take on the fight.
WW – A Dota 2 term used to describe several things. Some people use it for Winter Wyvern, but it can also mean Wind Walk (abilities that allow you to become invisible).
Kite – When you kite someone, you do the “hit and run” tactic and make that enemy hero/unit focus on you instead of the rest.
RNG – It stands for Random Number Generator, but in Dota 2, people use it when some of the passive abilities proc. It is usually used for things like Evasion or Bash/Stuns.
These were just some of the Dota 2 terms and meanings you should be aware of. You will most likely come across many other things once you start playing, so don’t be afraid to ask what they mean.
Stick with Esports.net for more Dota 2 news, guides, and more
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