This article is part of our Basics of eSports series.
While LoL and Dota 2 can be easy sports to watch, it can be a little challenging decoding all of the different terminology and jargon used within a chat or stream. While the strategy behind the two games is remarkably similar, the jargon used in each game can be a bit confusing to understand. Hopefully these terms can help you better understand Dota 2.
Locations of Interest
Ancient – A building that must be destroyed in order for a team to win. The Fountain, which acts as the spawn point in Dota 2, is located directly behind the Ancient. It also doubles as the initial spawning point for a player.
Bottom lane/Bot lane – A path located along the lower and east portions of the map.
Mid lane – A path in the center of the map that creeps and players travel through.
Safe lane – A path next to the jungle, that depending on whether the player is on the Dire side or the Radiant side will determine where the safe lane is located.
Jungle – An area in between the lanes where neutral creeps are found, players can kill those neutral creeps to gain additional gold and experience for the team as well as themselves.
Forest – Similar to the jungle, the forest is an area in between the lanes where neutral creeps are found. Players can kill those neutral creeps to gain additional gold and experience for the team as well as themselves.
Tower – One of several buildings on a map that have the ability to attack enemy units.
Barracks/Rax – A building that generates creeps at a given time. Those creeps will then file down their lane in an attempt to destroy enemy objectives.
In Game Terms
Buff/Debuff – A power boost or beneficial status that is given to a character upon an achievement or discovery of an item. A buff could be stacked multiple times to improve a character's basic statistics.
Burst/Nuke – A character who deals a large amount of damage all at once. Large amounts of damage are generally applied through the use of spells or a heroes' ultimate ability.
Creep Score (CS) – The amount of times a player last hits or denies a creep.
Deny – The act of killing your teammate or an allied creep in order to prevent an enemy gaining gold and experience.
Early Game/Laning Phase – The opening period of a match that can last anywhere from five to 15 minutes. Players during this phase will work to earn experience and gold through last hitting creeps.
Farm – Systematically last hit/kill creeps in order to gain experience and gold.
Feed – A player who "feeds" an enemy team experience and gold when he or she is killed repeatedly, while simultaneously losing bits of his or her own gold reserves.
Gank – A strategy where a group of players team up to kill enemies by surprise. This can be an effective play when the enemy is caught off-guard and cannot regroup in time.
Gold – The total amount of money a hero possesses, which can be used to purchase items.
Harass – A strategy meant to damage an opposing player, but not necessarily to kill him or her. The objective is to make it difficult for enemy player to get last hits, thus taking away his or her chance at gaining additional gold.
Jungling – Farming neutral creeps in the woods, jungle or forest.
Mana – A resource used to cast spells and use skills. It can be drained quickly through the use of said spells.
Mid Game – The phase of the game during which team fights are more likely to occur, and teams will attempt to destroy key defensive objectives, like towers or barracks.
Late Game – The phase in which most heroes have maxed out their levels and are specifically focused on destroying the Ancient.
Pull – The strategy where a player will attempt to pull neutral creeps from his or her camp. By doing so, the neutral creeps will be forced to battle against the player's creeps, resulting in more opportunities for gold gain and denying opportunities for the opponent to benefit from destroying the neutral enemies as well as lane creeps.
Split Push – Splitting up heroes in attempt to destroy a tower while attempting to avoid a team fight.
Ultimate – A hero's last and usually most powerful ability, that generally synergies well with the hero's other abilities.
Rune – A powerful boost that spawns alongside the river at a given time. A rune will be one of the following: Double Damage Rune, Regeneration Rune, Illusion Rune, Haste Rune, Invisibility Rune.
Positions
Carry – A hero that could become incredibly powerful late in the game. However in order to become powerful, it generally needs a large amount of gold and experience to reach its true potential.
Support – A hero that is more focused on utility and protecting the team by utilizing their abilities, rather than accruing mass amounts of gold and experience.
Hard Carry – A specific group of heroes who are distinctively weak in the early portions of the game, but can become incredibly powerful if they gain the necessary items and experience.
Jungler – A character that can effectively farm neutral camps in the jungle and forest early in the contest.
Roshan – A large neutral creep, that drops powerful items when defeated. Teams will generally try to avoid taking Roshan until they become a bit stronger.
Solo – Being alone in a lane, a strategy used to gain more experience and gold considered it's split with nearby allies.
