Esports Jargon

Late game Jax is scary! Such a huge tank potential in combination with high DPS output can be deadly to any AOE-crowd-control-lacking teams. Especially if he manages to steal the Blue Buff again – his carry potential is going to snowball even further…

If you’re not actively playing League of Legends, you probably didn’t understand a single thing from the sentence above. And that could be a problem, especially if you are looking to bet on League of Legends matches.

But that doesn’t worry you – you’re going to bet on CSGO, not League of Legends. Right? WRONG! League of Legends jargon isn’t the only one out there. Basically, every eSports franchise out there has its own terminology, known only to the people in its community. So, if you are not a gamer and eSports betting seems interesting, you’re up for a tough time…

The first thing we usually recommend to beginners is watching the game they are thinking of betting on in the near future. But watching can be a bit tricky if you don’t know what’s happening on the screen. It can be even trickier if you have no clue on what the commentator is talking about. Ganking what? Farming who? What connection does the word economy have with CSGO matches? What is all this nonsense…

Well, luckily, you are at the right place! Let us introduce you to our very own eSports jargon article! The place to go for all your eSports-related terminology inquiries. So, let’s start off with the most basic term – jargon. More precisely, what does it represent!

What Does Jargon Represent

Let’s start off with the definition – Jargon represents all special words, phrases, and expressions used by a group of people (usually with the same profession) which are difficult to understand for others. With that in mind, eSports jargon represents all special words, phrases, and expressions used by gamers and people in the eSports profession. As simple as that!

So, whether we’re talking about eSports or other, conventional sports such as football or basketball, you can rest assured jargon will be a vital part of communication between fans. While we are at it – we might as well give you a couple of examples related to regular sports jargon.

Examples of Jargon Use in Regular Sports

People who bet on regular sports are well and truly familiar with the terminology. However, localization is a big part of the story here as regular sports’ jargon developed way before the internet. Thus, every nation has its own localized set of phrases and expressions used for betting on regular sports. Since we’re already talking about betting, why don’t you check out our list of the best esports betting sites!

• Man on – the call a player makes to alarm his teammate of opposing player’s presence nearby.
• Marking – trying to stop an opposing player from receiving, passing or shooting the ball.
• Feint – a move used when dribbling to deceive opposing players and win more space.

• Airball – A shot that misses the basket, the backboard, the rim… A shot that misses everything.
• Three in the key – turnover penalty after an offensive player stands in the paint for 3 seconds.
• And one – when a player is fouled while shooting and his shot goes in, result in one free throw.

Learning the Esports Lingo | Is it Difficult?

Different people will have different experiences with learning the jargon of a specific sport/industry. The most basic way to differentiate people in terms of learning the eSports lingo is the following:

Gamers

Gamers are already familiar with the general slang in the games they actively play. Even though they might not know everything there is to know on every eSports game out there, their understanding and experience in gaming will allow them to grasp on new terms much easier than non-gamers.

Non-gamers

If you are not a gamer, there’s a high chance learning the eSports lingo will be a bit more difficult. It’s not impossible, though. The most obvious way of learning would be to start playing the game you want to bet on. However, gaming is a time-consuming hobby and not everyone has enough time (or money to buy a proper PC or a console) to invest. That leaves you with just one thing – checking out our list of the most common terms and phrases of eSports jargon!

eSports Jargon | Most Common Terms and Phrases

Since we have already gone through basically everything regarding eSports jargon, it’s only logical to list out the most common ones. Of course, we have prepared their respective definitions too. We are going to start the list off with general eSports betting jargon and then make our way towards genre-specific terms. So, without further ado, let’s jump straight to the actual list:

Basic Terms

• Stands for overpowered. A common term across a wide variety of games, most of the time tied directly to in-game items which the community deems way too powerful in contrast to other items.

• Stands for underpowered. Basically, the exact opposite of OP. This term is also tied to in-game items, but this time to those which are considered too weak in contrast to other items.

• If an item is OP, it needs to be nerfed. In other words, nerfing refers to the process of lowering the quality of OP items to a desirable (read normal) level.

• Glass cannons are players who are very effective as far as killing or getting points for their teams is concerned, but lack survivability and are easy targets to kill. In MOBA games, glass cannons are usually high-dps (high damage per second) ranged heroes. In FPS games, CSGO to be more precise, glass cannons are players who buy AWP without any sort of armor.

• Griefing is a process in which a player deliberately kills his own teammates or “feeds” players of the opposing teams. Reasons behind griefing can be numerous – toxic teammates, saltiness or deliberate ELO dropping.

• Stands for Good Game Well Played. This term is often used in chat after a match ends. It’s a form of good gaming etiquette and should not be taken for granted. It’s used equally across all eSports genres.

• Stands for Good Luck Have Fun. There’s also another “extended” version GLHFMB which stands for Good Luck Have Fun Make Babies. In contrast to GGWP, GLHF is a form of gaming etiquette used at the start of the match.

• Stands for Learn To Play. This term is another form of gaming etiquette… but this time around – bad gaming etiquette. It’s most commonly used by the winning team to further annoy the losing side by using this term.

• KDA stands for Kills, Deaths, Assists. In other words, KDA ratio refers to the number of kills, deaths, and assists a certain player had in a single match. In games with no assists, KDA ration transforms to K/D ratio.

• Meta reflects the optimal way to play a certain game. Meta is usually created by the community and the professional eSport scene. In FPS games, meta represents the best ways for teams to behave on a certain map. In MOBA games, meta represents team compositions, builds and player roles.

MOBA games

As far as MOBA games are concerned, the two most popular ones are undoubtedly LoL and Dota 2. Considering the fact these 2 games are played in a similar fashion

• First blood represents the very first kill in a MOBA match and usually yields bonus gold for the killer. Keep in mind that only the first kill counts as first blood, nothing else.

• Farming reflects a player’s ability to kill and last hit minions/creeps during the laning phase. This is of crucial importance for a safe transition to the mid and late game because every creep/minion kill yields extra money and experience.

• Ultimate, also known as Ulti, is the most important skill of a particular champion in MOBA games. Usually, ultimate skills have huge cooldowns so they have to be timed correctly in order to have the optimal effect in team fights.

• In Dota 2 and League of Legends, 2 most popular MOBA games, there are 3 lanes on which players (and creeps) are supposed to go – bottom, mid, and top. Depending on meta, you will often see 4 players going directly on the lanes with the remaining player roaming around the entire map.

• Pushing reflects a team’s intention to move their creeps up the opposing team’s lane and try to destroy their towers/turrets and barracks/inhibitors. Pushes can be done by a single player or an entire team, depending on the situation and game progression.

• Players who play champions that are great killers (such as assassins, marksmen and so on) usually lack in the defensive side. This makes them squishy – very easy to kill. That’s why they have to carefully move around the map and only initiate in fights they know they can win with 1 or 2 good combos.

• Players who play defensive-minded champions (top laners, supports) might not be the fastest killing machines but are insanely difficult to kill. They have a ton of health points and an admirable amount of armor, making them a proper tank on the battlefield.

• A carry is a player with most kills in the game who is, usually single-handedly, carrying his entire team to victory. In most cases, carries are usually players who play on mid, top or marksman bottom. However, roamers and jungles can be potent carries too. It all depends on the matchup and team compositions.

• Player’s build represents his choice of items in a particular match. If a player’s build is tank-ish, that means he chose defensive items over attacking ones. On the other hand, if a player’s build is focused on physical attack damage (or magic, in case of a mage-type champion), his build is aggressive with a high DPS (damage per second) output.

• Stands for Area of Effect. If an item (or champion skill) has AoE damage, it means its effects won’t just affect one enemy player but an entire area you choose. These skills are usually very effective in team fights when lots of enemy players are located in a small area.

• Stands for Damage over Time. In MOBA games, there are various items (and champion skills) which cause damage over time. They are usually characterized by poison, burning or bleeding effects which gradually take away enemy player’s HP over a small period of time.

• If a player constantly dies at the hands of an enemy player, it won’t be too long until his teammates start calling him a feeder. Keep in mind though, this rarely happens in competitive matches but it’s still an important term to know. In other words, by constantly dying, the player in question effectively “feeds” enemy players with extra experience and gold.

• Ganking has become Meta in both Dota 2 and League of Legends for quite some time already. It is basically a process of roamer/jungler going in behind enemy lines to trap laners with the man advantage on their side.

FPS games

Considering the fact CSGO is, by far, the most popular FPS eSports franchise, we’ve decided to list only CSGO-based terms here. So, here they go:

• When CSGO players start writing Kobe in chat, it means a player (usually their teammate) killed an opposing player with a long-distance grenade. This term originates from the first name of Kobe Bryant, arguably one of the best NBA players in recent years.

• Represents one of the 5 types of grenades in CSGO. To be more specific, Molly refers to Molotov cocktail, although it’s often used to describe incendiary grenade as well. This grenade type is most often used to block enemies from reaching a certain point on the map or making them leave their safe spot behind cover.

• When a team’s economy is bad (after losing the first or several consecutive rounds), they will not buy anything for 1 or 2 rounds. These rounds are called eco rounds and are the main money-saving strategy in CSGO.

• When a team knows their opponents are going on an eco round, they might end up buying weapons that yield more money per kill. The usual weapon choices for anti-eco rounds are SMGs and Shotguns because they offer 200% and 300% money multipliers.

• When a player is lit, it means that it has received damage in the current round. The amount of damage can vary but if the player is very low on health points, instead of “he is lit”, the call will be “he is low”.

• Boosting refers to 2 (or even 3, in some cases) players working together to overcome an obstacle and get terrain advantage over their opposing team. This is a useful tactic that’s a very common occurrence in top-tier professional matchups.

• If a player doesn’t have enough money to buy Kevlar, armor, grenades and a proper weapon, his teammates will usually “drop” him something. Depending on the situation (and team economy), drops can range from mere pistols all the way to rifles and even AWPs.

• Rotations represent players’ movements across the map during which they leave one location to defend/attack another. Rotations are crucial part of every CSGO round Knowing when to initiate, predict and stop potential rotations can make or break a match.

• Trading kills is a teamplay aspect that is crucial on top-tier professional matches. Here’s how it goes – player A kills player B in a shootout. Player C (teammate of player B) moves in the line of fire and kills player A. This is the definition of a good trade in CSGO.

• A frag represents a successful kill of an opposing player, not just in CSGO but virtually all FPS and MOBA games. Furthermore, top fragger is the player who is most effective as far as kills and points are concerned. If the top fragger of a team isn’t having a good game, chances are high his team will lose.

• Shot caller is the person who makes in-game decisions such as economy management, rotations, map control and more. They are also known as in-game captains which are not to be confused with the coaching staff as they are 2 completely different roles in a professional CSGO team.

• If a team has a bad economy, it means their low on money. This usually happens after several lost rounds or after a reset by the opposing team. For those of you who are not familiar with the term reset, you can find more info about it right down below this one.

• Resetting occurs when a team deliberately loses a round after winning several consecutive rounds in a match… only to win the next round right after the deliberately lost one. This will ensure their opponent’s economy remains bad as a result of their lost round bonus money being reset back to level 1.

Wrapping Things Up

With those last few esports lingo terms, we’re afraid our little journey is all done. To summarize – knowing each and every single one of the terms portrayed above can definitely make or break your esports bets. The more you know, the better you will understand the content you’re researching prior to placing your bets.

This goes for all esports genres and titles but is most tighly connected to MOBA games which are really complex for beginners. Not just to play but to watch and bet on too. With that said, if you are still having issues with this and you would like to improve your chances of winning bets, make sure you refer to the list above and start getting a hang of it.

In the end, we would like to thank you for reading and hope to see you again soon!