50 League of Legends Terms Every Player Should Know

League of Legends is without a doubt one of the most iconic and popular games in the world, with millions of players competing daily.

Whether you're curious about the game or aiming to level up your knowledge and impress your friends, you're in the right place.

This guide provides a breakdown of 50 essential League of Legends terms and concepts that every player should know, from Silver I to Challenger. Enjoy!


A

Attack Damage Carry (ADC): a champion that relies on his attack damage as the primary damage dealer

Ability Power Carry (APC): a champion that relies on his ability power as the primary damage dealer

All-in: engaging in a fight with all available resources in order to kill an enemy

Area of Effect (AoE): a characteristic of an ability that allows it to affect multiple enemies simultaneously

Autofill: getting assigned a role you don’t play or didn’t queue for


B

Baron Nashor: a neutral monster located on the top side of the map that grants a powerful buff to the team that defeats it

Blind pick: picking early in champions select, when you don’t know which champion you’re playing against

Blue Buff: the temporary buff granted after defeating the Blue Sentinel or the enemy holding the buff

Burst: a large amount of damage dealt in a short period of time


C

Camp: to gank the same enemy multiple times in a short amount of time

Champion pool: the select group of champions that a player typically prefers and regularly plays

Crowd Control (CC): abilities or effects that disrupt a champion’s movement or actions

Creep Score (CS): the number of minions and jungle camps a player has killed


D

Damage per second (DPS): the amount of damage dealt per second by a champion

Dragon (or Drake): a neutral monster located on the bottom side of the map that can spawn as various elemental types, each granting different buffs to the team that defeats it

Dive: attempting to kill an enemy while they are within range of one of their turrets


E

Elder Dragon: a neutral monster that spawns in the same location as the regular Dragons, granting a significant buff that enhances any elemental buffs the team has acquired

Early game: the first 10-15 minutes of the game, typically focused on the laning phase


F

Farm: last-hitting minions or jungle camps to earn gold and experience

Fed: when a champion is significantly ahead in gold, experience, and items, making them much stronger than their opponents

Freeze: controlling the minion wave to keep it in a fixed position in the lane, denying the enemy laner gold and experience


G

Gank: to ambush an enemy laner, usually with a numbers advantage, with the goal of securing a kill


I

Inting: intentionally dying, usually to feed the enemy team or disrupt the game


J

Jungler: the role focused on clearing jungle camps, securing objectives, and assisting other lanes by ganking


L

Late game: the final stages of the game, where champions have completed most of their item builds, and death timers are longer

Leash: to assist a jungler in clearing their first camp by dealing damage to it

Last-hit: the killing blow on a minion, monster or champion


M

Main: a player’s primary role or champion

Meta: the optimal champions, item builds, and strategies that are most effective in the current state of the game

Missing in Action (or SS): a warning given when an enemy champion is not in their lane and is unaccounted for on the map

Mid Laner: the role responsible for the middle lane


O

One-shot: to take down an enemy with a rapid combo of abilities and attacks, making it seem the enemy died instantly

Overpowered (OP): a term used to describe a champion or item that is considered too strong


P

Pathing: the route a player takes across the map, usually referring to the jungler’s movement

Peel: the use of abilities to protect a teammate, preventing an enemy from disabling or eliminating them

Poke: dealing damage to an enemy from a safe distance, typically using ranged attacks or abilities

Powerspike: the point in the game when a champion becomes significantly stronger, typically after acquiring key items

Priority (or Prio): when a minion wave is pushing towards the enemy base, giving the laner control over the lane


Q

Quickcast: a keybind setup that allows an ability to be cast instantly as soon as the key is pressed


R

Red Buff: the temporary buff granted after defeating the Red Brambleback or the enemy holding the buff


S

Scaling: the process by which a champion becomes progressively stronger as they gain gold, experience, and items throughout the game

Split-push: pushing multiple lanes at the same time, splitting the enemy team

Smartcast: a keybind setup that displays an ability's range when the key is held down, firing upon release

Summoner Spells (or Summs): the spells that each champion can choose at the start of the game (like Flash, Ignite, etc.)

Support: the role that is paired with the ADC in the bottom lane


T

Teamfight: a large fight involving all members of each team

True damage: a type of damage that ignores all defensive stats, such as armor and magic resistance

Trading: the exchange of damage between enemy laners during laning phase

Top Laner: the role responsible for the top lane


Z

Zone: to control a specific area of the map by exerting presence, forcing opponents to stay away


We hope this guide has helped you improve your game and gain a deeper understanding of League of Legends and the complexities of Summoner’s Rift!