League of Legends is one of the most popular battle arena games on the planet. Every month, this beloved multiplayer title brings in more than 75 million players. With a packed LoL schedule and ever-expanding player base, the future looks bright for League of Legends. While LoL is one of the more accessible battle arena games out there, getting to grips with in-game terminology can prove confusing. Read on for 10 essential terms you’ll need in your glossary to make competitive LoL gameplay easier.

ADC (Attack Damage Carry)

ADC is almost always applied to marksman roles, especially long-ranged carry ones. An ADC is primarily relegated to farming tasks. Once farming has been completed and items have been acquired, an ADC is expected to transport said items to teammates as quickly as possible. First-time players may resist taking an ADC role as there’s little scope for bolstering stats to start with. However, while you’ll have to sacrifice strength initially, you can look forward to serious boosts later on.

Area of Effect (AoE)

Area of Effect, commonly abbreviated to AoE, refers to the effective range of an ability or attack. An AoE ability is generally considered one of the most powerful in the game, especially as it can strike several targets at once. In rare cases, deploying an AoE ability can flip the tide and change the outcome of a match.

Blind Pick

Blinding picking isn’t recommended for entry-level players. It refers to when you select your champion ahead of an enemy laner. Blind picking isn’t always recommended as an enemy can subsequently select a champion to counter the skill set of your own.

Creeps

Creeps is used to refer to the number of jungle monsters or lane minions a player has slain. Monitoring a creeps tally is very important as it gives you a clear picture of how well you’re faring. A high creeps score is a pretty clear measure that you’ve won a lane.

Tower Dives

A tower dive is a commonly encountered LoL maneuver that sees a group of players target a single enemy player that’s sheltering in the vicinity of their tower. During a tower dive, the attacking team will undoubtedly experience considerable damage. Generally speaking, a tower dive should only be attempted if the target of your attack has limited HP reserves remaining. You’ll also need to be confident in your abilities and those of your teammates to pull a tower dive off successfully.

Lane Freeze

Lane freeze refers to when a laner actively slows down a wave of minions by actively influencing which minions attack which. You’ll need to deploy last-hitting tactics to keep an enemy locked into a frozen position.

ELO

ELO is an informal ranking system that’s used to establish the skill level of an individual player. The average skill level of the general playing population is used as a benchmark here. Ranked difficulty changes from time to time so it’s important to be aware of the start and end of LoL seasons.

Flash on D

Flash on D refers to a particular point of contention within the LoL community. Namely, which key you use to play the ‘Flash’ summoner ability. There are no hard and fast rules on which key is better to deploy this ability, with the Flash on D argument becoming something of a joke at this point.

All Random, All Mid (ARAM)

All Random, All Mid refers to a mode of play where only one lane is played. In ARAM mode, competing champions can acquire gold easily and level up far more quickly. Furthermore, ARAM mode sees everyone starting at the same level. As such, there’s no protracted lead-up to the fighting itself.

1-4 and 1-3-1

These refer to commonly encountered configurations. 1-3-1 sees three players push the mid lane, while the remaining two players tackle the bottom and top lanes independently. Provided your bottom and top laners have teleport abilities to hand, this tactic can prove very effective. In the case of 1-4 configurations, tactics are somewhat different. In a 1-4 configuration, four teammates occupy the mid lane, while a solitary team member tackles a lane independently. The aim here is for the solitary teammate to serve as bait, allowing the resat to launch a more aggressive attack elsewhere on the map.