WoW terms and abbreviations — WotLK 3.3.5a

This glossary is based on the original EVOWOW English terminology article, cleaned specifically for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a.

The original article mixed useful WotLK terminology with obsolete spell names, later-expansion references, server-specific jokes and a number of low-value or derogatory expressions. Those entries have been removed or corrected here. Legacy Vanilla and The Burning Crusade terms are retained when the related content still exists in the 3.3.5a client.

Many abbreviations have more than one meaning. When that happens, the surrounding context usually determines the correct interpretation.

#

• 10-man — A raid group or raid difficulty for 10 players. In WotLK, many raids have dedicated 10-player versions.
• 20-man — A legacy raid size used by older content such as Zul'Gurub and Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.
• 25-man — A raid group or raid difficulty for 25 players. In WotLK, many raids have dedicated 25-player versions.
• 40-man — A legacy raid size used by classic raids such as Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and Ahn'Qiraj.
• 5-man — A normal party of up to five players, commonly used for dungeons.
• 1H — One-handed weapon. Depending on class and item type, it may be used with an off-hand item, shield or second weapon.
• 1v1 — A fight between two players, usually a duel or an isolated PvP encounter.
• 2H — Two-handed weapon, including large melee weapons and caster staves.

A

• AB — Arathi Basin, a PvP battleground. Depending on context it can also mean the Mage buff Arcane Brilliance.
• AD — Argent Dawn, a faction associated with fighting the Scourge and undead threats.
• Adds — Additional enemies that join or spawn during a fight.
• AE — Usually Arcane Explosion when discussing Mage abilities. AoE is the clearer abbreviation for Area of Effect.
• AH — Auction House, where players list and buy items.
• AI — Usually Arcane Intellect, the Mage Intellect buff. In general discussion it can also mean artificial intelligence.
• Alch — Alchemy, or a player who practices the Alchemy profession.
• Alt — An alternate character that is not the player's main character.
• AoE — Area of Effect — an ability or effect that affects an area and can hit multiple targets.
• AotC — Aspect of the Cheetah, a Hunter aspect that increases movement speed but can cause the Hunter to become dazed when hit.
• AotH — Aspect of the Hawk, a Hunter aspect associated with ranged attack power.
• AotM — Aspect of the Monkey, an older Hunter aspect that increases dodge.
• AotP — Aspect of the Pack, a group movement-speed Hunter aspect that can daze affected players when they are hit.
• AP — Usually Attack Power. In Mage discussions it can also mean Arcane Power.
• AQ — Ahn'Qiraj. AQ20 and AQ40 refer to the Ruins and Temple raid content.
• AR — Arcane Resistance.
• Atts — Short for attributes or stats on weapons and equipment.
• AV — Alterac Valley, a large PvP battleground.

B

• BB — Usually Booty Bay, the neutral Goblin town in Stranglethorn Vale. In chat it can also mean 'bye-bye'.
• BF — Depending on context, Blood Furnace, Blade Flurry, or Bloodfang.
• BFD — Blackfathom Deeps, a dungeon.
• BG / BGs — Battleground / Battlegrounds — instanced PvP areas with specific team objectives.
• Bio — Short for a biological break — usually a short bathroom or food break.
• BiS — Best in Slot — the best available item for a particular equipment slot under a given build or goal.
• BE / Belf — Blood Elf, a playable Horde race introduced in The Burning Crusade.
• Blues — Rare-quality items, shown with blue item names. In official Blizzard community context, 'Blue' can also mean a Blizzard staff post.
• BoA — Bind on Account / account-bound item. In WotLK this is commonly associated with heirloom items.
• BoE — Bind on Equip — an item becomes soulbound when equipped.
• BoK — Blessing of Kings, a Paladin buff.
• BoM — Blessing of Might, a Paladin buff.
• BoP — Bind on Pickup — an item becomes soulbound when looted. Players may also informally use BoP for the Paladin protection effect now named Hand of Protection in WotLK.
• BoW — Blessing of Wisdom, a Paladin mana-regeneration buff.
• BRD — Blackrock Depths, a dungeon.
• BRS — Blackrock Spire, commonly divided into Lower (LBRS) and Upper (UBRS).
• BS — Usually Blacksmithing or Blacksmith. Depending on context it can also refer to Beaststalker gear.
• Bubblehearth — A Paladin escape tactic: use an immunity effect and Hearthstone before the immunity ends.
• Burn — To spend major cooldowns or resources for maximum damage, often to kill a target quickly.
• BWL — Blackwing Lair, a classic raid instance.

C

• Cap — To capture an objective such as a flag, base, tower or graveyard. It can also mean reaching a limit or cap.
• CC — Crowd Control — abilities that temporarily restrict an enemy through effects such as stun, fear, root, silence or polymorph.
• Clothies — Informal term for cloth-wearing classes such as Mage, Priest and Warlock.
• CoD — Depending on context, Curse of Doom or Cash on Delivery in the in-game mail system.
• CoE — Curse of the Elements, a Warlock curse.
• CoEx — Curse of Exhaustion, a Warlock slowing curse.
• Cooldown / CD — The time before an ability or effect can be used again.
• Corpse Camping — Waiting near a dead player's corpse in order to attack them again after resurrection.
• Corpse Running — Travelling as a ghost from the graveyard back to your corpse.
• Critter — A harmless low-level creature that normally does not attack and gives no experience.
• CS — Depending on context, Mage Counterspell or Rogue Cheap Shot.
• CTF — Capture the Flag — the objective format used by Warsong Gulch.

D

• DC — Disconnect / disconnected from the server.
• DE — Disenchant, the Enchanting ability used to break eligible items into enchanting materials.
• DI — Divine Intervention, a Paladin ability. Depending on location/context, DI may also refer to Dark Iron.
• DK — Death Knight, the hero class introduced in Wrath of the Lich King.
• DKP — Dragon Kill Points — a player-managed point system used by some guilds to distribute raid loot.
• DM — Depending on context, Deadmines or Dire Maul.
• DMF — Darkmoon Faire, a recurring in-game event.
• DnD — Death and Decay when discussing Death Knights. In chat, /dnd means Do Not Disturb.
• DoT — Damage over Time — damage applied in repeated ticks over a period of time.
• Draenei — A playable Alliance race introduced in The Burning Crusade.
• DW — Dual Wield — using one weapon in each hand.

E

• EFC — Enemy Flag Carrier — the opposing player currently carrying your team's flag.
• EFR — Enemy Flag Room — the room or base area where the enemy flag is located.
• Elite — A stronger-than-normal NPC, normally marked as elite and intended to be more difficult than ordinary enemies.
• EPL — Eastern Plaguelands.

F

• Face Pull — Starting combat simply by moving close enough for an enemy to aggro, rather than using an ability.
• FD — Feign Death, a Hunter ability.
• Fear — A crowd-control effect that causes the affected target to flee uncontrollably for a period of time.
• FFA — Free For All. In loot settings it means any eligible group member can loot items.
• Fort — Common shorthand for the Priest buff Power Word: Fortitude.
• FP — Flight Point.
• FR — Fire Resistance.
• FrR — Frost Resistance.
• FTW — For The Win — chat slang used to express strong approval or enthusiasm.
• Flagged — A player whose PvP flag is active and who can be attacked under the applicable PvP rules.

G

• GL — Usually 'good luck' in chat.
• Glass Cannon — A character or build with very high damage but relatively low durability.
• GM — Game Master — a staff role used for game-server administration and player support.
• Gold Farmer — A player or automated operation focused on generating large amounts of in-game gold, often for resale.
• GotW — Gift of the Wild, the group version of the Druid Mark of the Wild buff.
• Grays — Poor-quality items, shown with gray names and usually sold to vendors.
• Greens — Uncommon-quality items, shown with green names.
• GS — Goldshire, a town in Elwynn Forest. This is the meaning used by the original glossary.
• GY — Graveyard.
• GY Run — A corpse run from the graveyard back to the player's body.

H

• Hearth — To use a Hearthstone, or the Hearthstone itself, to return to the saved inn location.
• HK — Honorable Kill, a PvP kill that qualifies under the game's honor system.
• HoP — Hand of Protection, a Paladin protective ability.
• HoT — Heal over Time — healing applied in repeated ticks over time.
• HoS — Hand of Salvation, a Paladin ability used to reduce a target's threat.
• HS — Highly context-dependent. Common meanings include Hearthstone and, for some classes, named abilities abbreviated HS.
• HW / HWL — High Warlord, the old highest Horde PvP rank. The title remains part of WoW's legacy PvP terminology.

I

• IDK — I don't know.
• IF — Ironforge, the Dwarven capital.
• Imba — Short for imbalanced; usually means something is considered unusually strong or overpowered.
• Inc — Incoming — a warning that enemies or danger are approaching.
• Inv — Invite — a request for a party, raid or guild invitation.
• IMO — In my opinion.

K

• KB — Killing Blow — the final hit that kills an opposing player.
• KDR — Kill/Death Ratio — a comparison of player kills to deaths, mainly used as an informal performance statistic.
• Kek — A cross-faction chat rendering historically associated with Horde speech; also used as laughter slang.

L

• L2P — Learn to Play — usually a dismissive or insulting chat phrase.
• LBRS — Lower Blackrock Spire.
• LFD — Looking For Dungeon. In WotLK 3.3.x it is also associated with the Dungeon Finder system.
• LFG — Looking For Group — a player is looking for a party or raid.
• LFM — Looking For More — an existing group needs additional players.
• LFW — Looking For Work — commonly used by players advertising a profession or crafting service.
• Lock — Common shorthand for Warlock.
• LoH — Lay on Hands, a Paladin ability.
• LoS — Line of Sight — whether the game considers the target visible and reachable for an ability or spell.
• LoS Pull — A pull in which the tank or group uses line of sight to force ranged enemies to move into a better position.
• LW — Leatherworking, or a player who practices that profession.

M

• MA — Main Assist — the player designated to choose the target that others should focus.
• Mara — Maraudon, a dungeon.
• Main — The character a player considers their primary character.
• Mats — Materials used for crafting, professions, recipes or other item creation.
• MB — Mana Break — a request for a short pause to restore mana.
• MC — Depending on context, Molten Core or Mind Control.
• MD — Usually Misdirection, the Hunter threat-redirection ability.
• MH — Menethil Harbor. In equipment discussions MH may also be understood as Main Hand, so context matters.
• ML — Master Looter — the player responsible for distributing loot when the group uses Master Loot.
• Mob — Common MMO term for an NPC creature or enemy, especially a hostile one.
• MOTD — Message of the Day, commonly used by guilds and also for server login messages.
• MotW — Mark of the Wild, a Druid buff.
• MT — Usually Main Tank. Depending on context it can also mean a mistell/mistype, Mana-Tombs or Magisters' Terrace.

N

• Naxx — Naxxramas, a raid instance with a major WotLK level-80 version.
• NE — Night Elf.
• Nelf — Informal contraction of Night Elf.
• Neutral AH — Neutral Auction House — an Auction House usable by both factions, traditionally found in neutral Goblin towns.
• Newb / Noob / n00b — Terms derived from 'newbie'. 'Newb' can simply mean a new player; 'noob' is often used as an insult.
• NR — Nature Resistance.
• NS — Usually Nature's Swiftness for Druid or Shaman. Depending on context it can also mean Northshire or Nightslayer.

O

• Org / OG — Orgrimmar, the Orc capital and a major Horde city.
• OL / Ony — Onyxia's Lair.
• OH — Off Hand — the secondary weapon or off-hand equipment slot.
• OOM — Out of Mana — unable or nearly unable to cast mana-based abilities because mana is depleted.

P

• Pally — Common shorthand for Paladin.
• Pat / Pats — Patrol — one or more NPCs that move along a predefined route.
• Patt — Pattern — usually a Tailoring recipe.
• Paw — Informal name for Mark of the Wild, based on its buff icon.
• PL — Usually Party Leader. It can also mean power leveling.
• PoM — Presence of Mind, a Mage Arcane talent.
• Port — A Mage portal, or a request for one.
• PPR — Points Per Run — a player-managed raid-loot distribution system related to DKP-style systems.
• Proc — An effect that triggers when a defined condition or random chance is met, such as a chance-on-hit item effect.
• PST — Please Send Tell — commonly used to ask players to send a whisper.
• PuG — Pickup Group — a group formed from players who do not normally play together, often through chat or matchmaking.
• Purples — Epic-quality items, shown with purple item names.

Q

• QQ — Chat slang representing crying or complaining; often used dismissively.

R

• Rag — Ragnaros, the final boss of Molten Core.
• Rage — The combat resource used by Warriors and by Druids in Bear forms.
• Respec — Changing your talent specialization or reallocating talent points.
• RFC — Ragefire Chasm.
• RFD — Razorfen Downs.
• RFK — Razorfen Kraul.
• Roll — Using /roll to generate a random number for loot or another decision. It can also mean creating a new character.
• RP-PvP — A server type combining role-playing rules with PvP realm rules.
• RR — Redridge Mountains.

S

• Scholo — Scholomance, a dungeon.
• Scrub — Derogatory slang for a player considered unskilled, especially in PvP.
• SFK — Shadowfang Keep.
• Sheep — To use a Mage Polymorph effect on a target. Players commonly call this 'sheeping' even when another Polymorph form is used.
• Shield — Often shorthand for the Priest ability Power Word: Shield.
• SM — Scarlet Monastery.
• Solo — To complete content or fight without assistance from other players.
• Spec — Specialization — usually the talent build or role chosen for a character.
• Squishy — Informal term for a character that is relatively easy to kill, often because of low armor or durability.
• SR — Shadow Resistance. In older group shorthand it can also mean 'Sheep Right'.
• SS — Highly context-dependent: Southshore, Warlock Soulstone, or Rogue Sinister Strike are common source meanings.
• Strat / Strath — Stratholme, a dungeon. 'Strat' can also simply mean strategy.
• ST — Sunken Temple.
• Stocks — The Stockade, a dungeon in Stormwind.
• STV — Stranglethorn Vale.
• SW — Stormwind, the Human capital.
• SW:P — Shadow Word: Pain, a Priest damage-over-time spell.
• Sword and Board — Informal term for using a one-handed weapon together with a shield, especially for tanking.

T

• TB — Thunder Bluff. Depending on context it can also mean the Thorium Brotherhood faction.
• Tick — One periodic application of a repeating effect, such as DoT damage, HoT healing or resource regeneration.
• Toon — Informal term for a player character or avatar.
• TPS — Threat per Second — a measure of how quickly a character generates threat.
• TS — TeamSpeak, voice-chat software commonly used by guilds during the era covered by the original glossary.

U

• UBRS — Upper Blackrock Spire.
• UC — Undercity, the Forsaken capital.
• UD — Undead, commonly referring to the Forsaken playable race.
• ULD / Ulda — Uldaman, a dungeon. Do not confuse it with Ulduar.

V

• Vendor Trash — Items with little practical player value that are normally sold directly to an NPC vendor, especially gray-quality items.
• Vent — Ventrilo, voice-chat software widely used by gaming groups during the WotLK era.

W

• WC — Wailing Caverns. In chat it may occasionally mean 'wrong chat'.
• WF — Windfury, usually referring to a Shaman Windfury effect.
• WG — Wintergrasp, the outdoor PvP zone in Northrend.
• Wisp — The spirit form used by Night Elves after death.
• WoW — World of Warcraft.
• WPL — Western Plaguelands.
• WSG — Warsong Gulch, a capture-the-flag battleground.
• WTB — Want To Buy — used when looking to purchase an item or service.
• WTS — Want To Sell — used when advertising an item or service for sale.

X

• XR — The Crossroads, a Horde settlement in The Barrens.

Z

• Zerg — To overwhelm a target mainly through numbers and concentrated pressure rather than careful coordination.
• ZF / Zul — Zul'Farrak, a dungeon.
• ZG — Zul'Gurub, a legacy raid in WotLK 3.3.5a.