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Ultimate Guide to WoW Terms & Slang
Learn to speak the language of Azeroth with our complete dictionary of jargon and chat acronyms.
What are the most confusing WoW terms for a new player? If you’ve ever jumped into a World of Warcraft dungeon or raid in World of Warcraft: Forever and seen players spamming chat with acronyms like “BL” or “OOM,” you’ve probably realized what I did. WoW has its own language. Unlike the combat pacing I noted in my Elder Scrolls Online review, this game relies heavily on community shorthand. Many players often hit a wall interpreting in-game chat and trying to decipher certain WoW terms, especially when transitioning from Retail to Classic. Following the massive WoW Forever announcement, you deserve to understand what “pop BL” or “soak” means without confusion. Whether you’re decoding a Curse of Ula’tek guide or leading a guild, this reference sheet helps immensely.
General Chat, Grouping & Basics
- AFK: Away From Keyboard.
- BRB: Be Right Back.
- WTB / WTS / WTT / WTB: Want to Buy, Sell, Trade, or Borrow.
- LF: Looking For.
- LFG: Looking For Group.
- LFM: Looking For More (e.g., “LFM 1 Healer for Mythic”).
- PUG: Pick-Up Group (a group of random players, not a guild group).
- PST: Please Send Tell (whisper me).
- TY / TYVM: Thank You / Thank You Very Much.
- IRL: In Real Life.
- DC: Disconnect.
- RNG: Random Number Generator (referring to luck with loot drops or random mechanics).
- Ding: Said when a player levels up.
- Grats / Gz: Congratulations.
- Main: Your primary character.
- Alt: Alternate character.
- Bank Alt / Mule: A low-level character parked in a city just to hold items and manage the Auction House.
Core Combat & Mechanics
- AoE: Area of Effect (spells that hit multiple targets in a radius).
- DoT: Damage over Time (spells that tick damage over several seconds, like Warlock Curses).
- HoT: Healing over Time (spells that tick healing over several seconds, like Druid Rejuvenation).
- Pull: Starting combat.
- Aggro / Threat: The “hate” a monster has for a player. The player with the highest threat gets attacked.
- Taunt: A tank ability that instantly forces the enemy to attack them.
- Cleave: Attacks that hit a primary target and splash damage to nearby enemies.
- Adds: Additional monsters that join mid-fight.
- Buff: A positive magical effect placed on a player.
- Debuff: A negative magical effect placed on a player or enemy.
- Proc: Programmed Random Occurrence (when a weapon enchantment or passive ability randomly triggers).
- Dispel / Purge: Removing magic buffs from enemies or debuffs from allies.
- Interrupt / Kick: Stopping an enemy’s spell mid-cast.
- CC: Crowd Control (Polymorph or Sap).
- LOS: Line of Sight (hiding behind objects to block targeting).
- OOM: Out Of Mana.
- CD / Cooldowns: Abilities with cooldown timers.
- GCD: Global Cooldown (the brief fraction of a second you must wait between casting spells).
- Zerg: Rushing a boss with overwhelming damage, ignoring normal mechanics.
- Enrage: A boss mechanic where they deal fatal damage after a set time limit is reached.
- Bubble: An immunity shield, most commonly referring to Paladin’s Divine Shield.
Dungeons, Raids & Mythic+
- LFR / Normal / Heroic / Mythic: The four tiers of raid difficulty.
- Key: A Mythic Keystone used to activate a Mythic+ dungeon.
- Pushing: Trying to complete a Mythic+ key in time to upgrade it.
- Deplete: Failing to finish a Mythic+ dungeon in time, downgrading the key.
- Affix: Weekly modifiers in Mythic+ that add new mechanics to the dungeon.
- Trash: Non-boss enemies in a dungeon or raid.
- Skip: Using invisibility potions or rogue stealth to walk past trash without fighting.
- Wipe: When the entire group dies.
- Rez / Res: Resurrection of dead players.
- CR / BRez: Combat Resurrection (Warlock, Druid, Death Knight, or Paladin).
- BL / Hero: Bloodlust or Heroism (asking a Mage or Shaman to cast the massive haste buff).
- PI: Power Infusion (a Priest buff that grants massive haste to one player).
- MD: Misdirection (Hunter) or Mass Dispel (Priest), depending on context.
- Stack / Spread: Group up tightly or spread far apart to handle boss mechanics.
- Soak: Purposefully stepping into a mechanic to absorb it and save the group.
- Phase / P1 / P2 / P3: Distinct stages of a boss fight.
- Burst: Using all big damage cooldowns simultaneously.
- DPS Check: A phase in a boss fight where failure to deal enough damage results in a wipe.
- Pre-pot: Using a combat potion just before the tank pulls the boss.
- Parse: A performance ranking via logs like Raider.io or WarcraftLogs.
- DBM / BigWigs: Essential raid addon mods that announce boss mechanics.
- WA / WeakAuras: A highly customizable UI addon used to track buffs, debuffs, or mechanics.
Loot, Gear & Economy
- BiS: Best in Slot (the singular best piece of gear for a character at that level).
- Ilvl: Item Level (the numerical value determining how powerful a piece of gear is).
- BoE: Binds on Equip (can be sold or traded until someone equips it).
- BoP: Binds on Pickup (becomes permanently yours the moment you loot it).
- BoA / Warbound: Binds to Account (can be mailed to your other characters).
- Tier: Class-specific armor sets that grant powerful bonuses when multiple pieces are worn.
- AH: Auction House.
- Mats: Crafting materials (herbs or ores).
- Transmog / Tmog: Transmogrification (changing the visual appearance of your armor without changing the stats).
- Vendor Trash: Gray items that have no use other than being sold to NPCs for gold.
- Need / Greed / Pass: The standard loot rolling options.
- DKP / Loot Council: Guild-specific systems for distributing raid loot fairly.
Roles & Classes
- Tank: Takes and holds aggro.
- Healer: Keeps the group alive.
- DPS: Damage Dealers.
- Melee: Characters that deal damage from close physical range (Warriors or Rogues).
- Ranged / Caster: Characters that deal damage from a distance (Mages or Hunters).
- Squishy: A class or player with very low defense that dies easily.
- Glass Cannon: A player who does immense damage but has very low survivability.
- Peel: Pulling an enemy off a vulnerable teammate (often the healer).
- Lock: Warlock.
- Pally: Paladin.
- Spriest: Shadow Priest.
- Boomie / Moonkin: Balance Druid.
- Resto: Restoration (Druid or Shaman).
- Feral: Cat Druid.
- Enh: Enhancement Shaman.
- Ele: Elemental Shaman.
- Disc: Discipline Priest.
- DK: Death Knight.
- DH: Demon Hunter.
- Dev / Pres: Devastation or Preservation Evoker.
Open World, Quests & Travel
- Mob: Any computer-controlled monster or enemy.
- NPC: Non-Player Character (vendors or quest givers).
- FP: Flight Path.
- Rep: Reputation with a specific faction.
- WQ: World Quest.
- Dailies / Weeklies: Quests that reset daily or weekly.
- Farm / Grind: Doing the same activity repeatedly for gold or experience.
- Camp: Waiting at a specific spot for a rare monster to spawn.
- Lore: The backstory and story of the Warcraft universe, like the tale of Medivh or the Ashbringer.
Player vs Player (PvP)
- BG: Battleground.
- Arena: Smaller scale 2v2 or 3v3 PvP fights.
- MMR: Matchmaking Rating (the hidden number determining your opponent’s skill level).
- CR: Current Rating (your visible ranking).
- FC: Flag Carrier.
- EFC: Enemy Flag Carrier.
- Inc: Incoming (used to warn the team that enemies are approaching a base).
- Ninja Cap: Stealing an objective quietly while the defenders are distracted.
- CC Chain: Chaining crowd control spells perfectly so the enemy can’t move for a long time.
- Burst Window: Timing your cooldowns perfectly to kill an opponent before they can heal.
- Trinket: Using the PvP trinket item/spell to break out of crowd control.
- Juke: Faking a spell cast to bait out the enemy’s interrupt, allowing you to cast freely afterward.
- Gank: A high-level player attacking and killing a low-level or distracted player.
Join the Conversation!
What’s Your Favorite Term?
Did I miss any of your favorite acronyms? Let me know in the comments below!
What does BL mean in World of Warcraft?
BL stands for Bloodlust, and players also call it Heroism on the Alliance side. It’s a massive haste buff cast by a Mage or Shaman that speeds up everyone’s attack speed.
What is a PUG in WoW?
A PUG is a Pick-Up Group, meaning a group of random players that join together for a single dungeon or raid rather than a pre-made guild group.
What is the difference between BoE and BoP gear?
BoE means Binds on Equip, so you can sell or trade it on the Auction House until someone puts it on. BoP means Binds on Pickup, so it becomes permanently yours the moment you loot it.
About the Author: Jess
Jess is a gamer, writer, hobbyist developer, and virtual world business owner. She has built a brand based in gaming and virtual worlds over the past 5 years.
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