Game jargon – League of Legends

Have you ever been in a match of League of Legends and been confused by some in-game terminology?

We have put together this guide to help you get to grips with callouts and terms you will most commonly hear in a League match. 

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Baron Nashor (or just Baron)

The 2nd strongest neutral objective in the game, killing it gives huge team advantages, spawns in the baron pit after 20 minutes (top river).

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Blue Buff/Red Buff

Jungle camps that provide the jungler with utility and damage buffs that last for a couple of minutes.

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Bot lane

The bottom lane of the map.

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Brush/bush

Areas of tall grass on the map. You cannot be seen by the enemy if you are standing in a brush unless they are also standing inside the brush, or an item/ability has given them vision of you.

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Dragon soul

A powerful buff that your team earns after killing 4 dragons in the same game. They have different buffs depending on the element (Cloud, Infernal, Mountain, Ocean, and Hextech).

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Drake/Dragon

Neutral objective that spawns at 5 mins, and every 5 min after that. The drakes have different elements, providing different buffs to the team that kills it (spawns in the drake pit – bot river).

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Elder Drake/Dragon

After 4 dragons have been slain by the same team, the Elder Drake/Dragon will spawn next, giving the team who kills it incredible execution power for a few minutes.

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Exhaust

A summoner ability on a long cooldown that slows down an enemy, and reduces their damage output.

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Flash

A summoner ability on a long cooldown that teleports a player a short distance towards their cursor.

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GA

An item that revives you after death (240sec cooldown).

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Gank

When multiple members of the team converge on an enemy to try and secure a kill (usually a Jungler’s job).

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Glass cannon

A full attack based item build – with no defensive items.

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Heal

A summoner ability on a long cooldown that will heal the player and a nearby ally for a small amount.

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Ignite

A summoner ability on a long cooldown that is used to try and kill an enemy on low health, dealing burn damage and reducing healing.

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Inhibitor

The defensive building that spawns waves of creeps. If you destroy an enemy’s inhibitor – your team will spawn a ‘super-minion’ in that lane for the next 8 waves.

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Jungle

(Top/bot jungle + river) – Any area that isn’t the main 3 lanes on the map.

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Lane Swap

The act of swapping lanes with an ally to surprise or change the laning phase.

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Laning phase

The first period of the game.

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Late game

When both teams are moving as a single unit using strength in numbers to overwhelm their opponent.

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Mid game

Usually when the outer turrets have fallen, and teams start to group up for objectives and single lane pressure.

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Mid lane

The middle lane of the map.

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Minion

Waves of minions that fight for your team. These are worth gold to the enemy and spawn in waves of 6/7 every 30 seconds from your nexus.

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OOM

Out of Mana

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Rift Herald

Neutral objective that spawns at 8 mins until 20 mins in the Baron pit (top river).

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River

A dividing territory that splits the map in half and houses some of the most important neutral objectives.

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Roam

When someone leaves their lane to go to another lane, or the jungle.

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Scuttles

The 2 neutral camps in the river dividing the middle of the map.

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Smite

A summoner ability on a short cooldown that is used to deal large damage to neutral objectives and jungle camps.

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Teleport (aka. TP)

 A summoner ability on a long cooldown that teleports to a friendly unit, ward or turret.

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Top lane

The top of the map.

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Turrets/Towers

defensive positions along each lane. They cannot move, and will shoot enemies within range. 

• Outer turrets (furthest from the nexus)
• Tier 2 turrets (second furthest)
• Inhib turrets (defending the inhibitors)
• Nexus turrets (2x turrets defending the nexus).
  

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Ward

A placeable item that gives vision of the area nearby to you and your allies. There are 3 types of placeable ward: Stealth ward, Control ward, Farsight ward. In addition you can also get a Sweeper, instead of a ward, which reveals nearby enemies and stealth objects.

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This is only a brief guide of the many terms you might hear during a match of League of Legends, so let us know on the British Esports Twitter if you would like to see more.