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An urban dictionary for Dota 2
Watching Dota 2 but baffled by the lingo? Here’s a handy glossary to help you out...
An urban dictionary for Dota 2
© Valve
If you’ve just taken the first tentative steps into the world of Dota 2, you’ll have probably grasped the rules – there’s only one map and one goal, after all. You’ll have caught some of that adrenaline rush already too, but there’s probably lot of MOBA talk that’s still a mystery to you. No problem: here’s our handy guide to all the terms, slang and tactics you’re likely to encounter in the chat. GLHF!
Aghs
Short for Aghanim's Scepter. There are a handful of exceptions but Aghs generally upgrades the power of a hero's ultimate ability. In case you're interested in Dota lore, the character Rubick is the son of Aghanim and has some cute voice lines if he picks up Aghs as an item.
Base race
Where each team is frantically attacking the enemy base trying to land the final blow first. Terrible for spectators hoping to avoid high levels of stress.
Bottle crow
Bottles are used for storing healing charges and collecting the helpful runes which spawn in the river. You can recharge your bottle by picking up runes. Alternatively you can bottle crow which means putting the bottle on the courier (sometimes referred to as a crow) who can then make a round trip back to base and refill the bottle without you having to leave the lane. For fastest results send it back home with one bottle charge left – an empty bottle slows the courier down.
Crow
The crow is another name for the in-game courier – generally when you call it a crow you mean the flying form.
CS
CS stands for 'creep score' and means the number of times you struck the killing blow on the little creeps which spawn in the woods or run down the lanes. Killing them gives you gold which lets you buy items so a high creep score is really useful, especially when your character is item-dependent.
Denying
Denying means striking the killing blow on your own creeps in order to deny gold and XP to the enemy team.
Dire
The name given to the team whose base is on the top right of the map.
Diving
The art of extending dangerously far into enemy territory. Spying enemy heroes on low health attempting to make a getaway or hiding under their tower are common causes of diving (in this case called tower diving), as is getting cocky while finishing off the enemy base and attempting to stroll into their fountain to pick up a few quick kills (fountain diving). Usually there's a strong YOLO component to the decision-making process behind diving.
Donkey
Another name for the courier. Its default form is a donkey and so, rather than trying to keep track of which custom courier a team happens to be using, commentators will often just call it the donkey. See also 'Crow', because Dota can be confusing.
Farming
Collecting gold needed to purchase items. Some heroes, like Anti-Mage, need to farm harder than a medieval peasant to pick up the items required for maximum effectiveness. That's why they'll spend a lot of their time killing creeps, particularly early in the game.
Furion
Some of the heroes get referred to by their original DotA names. Furion was Nature's Prophet's name in the original but it was dropped by Valve in Dota 2 due to copyright issues with Blizzard.
Ganking
A mishmash of a word, ganking means gang killing. It's what happens when heroes roam the map to assist allies in picking up kills on (hopefully) unsuspecting foes.
Initiating
Starting a teamfight. Heroes like Tidehunter are great for this – Tide's ultimate ability involves an eruption of tentacles which damage and stun the enemy, setting the fight up nicely for the rest of the team.
Juking
Using environment, items and skills to stage a getaway. Ducking into trees to lose line of sight, changing direction and taking advantage of high ground all help with juking. Pro players can pull off mind-boggling jukes thanks to their in-depth game knowledge and quick reactions.
Jungling
Using the jungle creep camps as the main source of XP and gold rather than going to a lane.
Last hitting
Striking the final blow on a creep to collect their XP and gold. It's by getting the last hit that you'll earn gold from the creep which is why last hitting is such an important skill.
Micro
Short for micromanagement, this means a player's ability to control multiple units, items and abilities at once. Some heroes like Meepo and Visage need you to control several units for maximum effectiveness so good micro is vital.
N'aix/Nyx
Two different heroes who can sound similar in match commentary. Naix is Lifestealer who crawls about munching on enemy life force. Nyx's full name is Nyx Assassin and he's a killer scarab beetle.
Offlane/safelane
The offlane is also called the hard lane. It's the one where the creeps naturally meet on the enemy side of the map's river and thus makes farming here a bit more dangerous. The safelane is the one where the creeps naturally meet on the ally side of the river and the tower furthest from the base is. It's safer to farm here.
POTM
Pronounced to rhyme with 'bottom', POTM is another way of referring to Mirana and stands for 'Princess of the Moon'.
Quas-Wex and Quas-Exort
One of the flavours of Invoker. Invoker uses three types of reagent – Quas, Wex and Exort – and combines them to create different spells. Specialising in Quas-Wex means being able to disable opponents while Quas-Exort is more damage oriented.
Radiant
The name given to the team whose base is on the bottom left of the map.
Rosh
Short for Roshan. Roshan is the gigantic neutral creep who lives in a pit on the Dire side of the map. Killing him yields an Aegis of the Immortal which resurrects its holder on death.
Sheepstick
Another name for the Scythe of Vyse. It turns the target hero into a pig for several seconds. The 'sheep' part of sheepstick is a leftover from DotA where it used to turn the target into a sheep.
Ulti/ultimate
The last ability to be available for a hero to pick up. These can have a massive effect on the game and if active rather than passive often have a long cooldown period.
Wombo combo
Devastatingly effective team ability combinations.
Zoning
Freaking out opponents so they back off leaving ally heroes the space they need to farm.
