Common Terms

This is a list of Common terms used by Overwatch players when discussing the game.

General terms

Term	Definition
2CP	Short for "2 Control Points". Refers to Assault game mode.
5CP	Short for "5 Control Points". Refers to Clash game mode.
Airborne	The state when a player is not standing on a walkable surface. For example, after jumping, or being knocked up.
Air Control	A parameter that determines how much maneuverability a hero has while airborne.
Ajax	When Lúcio is killed while using his ultimate. It originates from Ajax, a Contenders player, known for getting eliminated in the middle of his ultimate.
Auto-aim	A term used in games to refer to attacks that auto-select and auto-fire at a target.
B	Short for "back"; a request for your team to return or fall back.
Back-cap	Capturing the objective behind enemy lines without them noticing.
Backline	The heroes furthest from the enemy team or objective, typically "snipers" or supports.
Booped	Knocked back, especially into an environmental hazard (i.e. Ilios Well).
Brawl	One of the three main team composition archetypes. Brawl aims to close the distance and overpower the enemy with close-range fighting power and sustain. Traditionally built around Reinhardt and Lúcio. Other heroes that can work well in brawl are Junker Queen, Orisa, Ramattra, Zarya, Mei, Cassidy, Symmetra, Reaper, Sojourn, Hanzo, Baptiste, Moira, Ana, for example. Brawl is great on maps with short sightlines and little verticality, like King's Row and Nepal.
Buff	Refers to something that has been made stronger. This can refer to both a change made to a hero/ability in a patch update, or an ability in-game with such effect (i.e., Mercy's damage beam)
C9	Losing the objective due to leaving its area, despite having the advantage. Originates from a professional team, Cloud 9 (C9 for short), making this mistake three times in one match.
Cancel	To interrupt an ability (own or enemy's) before it finishes, negating its effects.
Care	Short for "be careful"; a request that someone plays cautiously. Generally used when an enemy is missing, or the enemy team's location is unknown.
Carry	Refers to someone "carrying" the team on their shoulders. To bring your own team to victory, usually by eliminating or saving key targets or making match-winning plays.
Cart	The payload.
CC	Short for "crowd control". Refers to negative status effects applied by some abilities that limit the target heroes' ability to move, shoot or use abilities (i.e., Cassidy's Flashbang)
CD	Short for "cooldown"; the time before an ability can be used again after. Usually used in reference to an ability being "on cooldown".
Choke (point)	A narrow area on the map that the enemy has to pass through to progress the objective. These locations are advantageous for defense, as the attacking team can have multiple angles to be shot from while the defending team can concentrate their fire and attention at a more limited area.
Comp	Can either be short for "Competitive Play" or "Team Composition" depending on the context.
Crit	Short for "critical hit".
Debuff	An ability that makes an enemy weaker for a certain period of time.
D/Def	Short for "defend". Protect a place on the map, an objective or another player.
Dive	One of the three main team composition archetypes. Dive aims to collapse on a single target using highly mobile heroes. Winston, D.Va, Doomfist, Wrecking Ball, Tracer, Sombra, Genji, Lúcio, Kiriko and Moira, for example, are heroes that work well in dive. Dive is great on maps with manageable sightlines and lot of verticality, like Dorado and Hollywood
DoT	Short for "Damage over Time"; negative status effects that deal damage over a period of time, such as a burn.
DPS	Short for "Damage Per Second"; refers to how much damage something can do during one second. Also used to refer to the Damage heroes, or simply the act of doing damage.
Elim(ination)	Also called "kills." Any player who dealt any damage to an enemy hero, within 3 seconds before they died, will get an "Elimination".
Feed	When a player is dying repeatedly to the enemy, "feeding" them ultimate charge and giving them the upper hand. Getting "fed" means that one or more enemy players are giving you a lot of eliminations, giving you a greater advantage over them.
Focus	To direct all attacks to a single target or player.
Flank	To attack an enemy by surprise from behind or sidelines while they are off guard in hopes of getting a kill on them.
Flyer	A hero that can fly.
GG	Short for "Good Game".
GL	Short for "Good Luck".
GLHF	Short for "Good Luck Have Fun".
HS or Headshot	A weapon shot that hits the head area of a hero, dealing more damage than a "bodyshot," or a shot hit elsewhere on the body.
Hitscan	Generally used to refer to heroes with weapons with projectiles that don't have travel time. See Weapon for details.
HP	Short for "Hit points".
Int, Inting	Short for "intentionally feeding." See "feed"
Invuln(erability)	Abilities that grant temporary immunity from damage to the targets after casting. Also may cleanse negative effects. Some of them also reload the player's weapon. Those are: Protection Suzu, Particle Barrier, Projected Barrier, Cryo-freeze, Recall, Translocator, Burrow, Wraith Form, Immortality Field and Transcendence (only applies to the player casting it)
Juke	To dodge enemy attacks.
Killing Blow	Sometimes referred to as "Final Blow"; the last weapon shot that caused a player to die.
Kit	A hero's set of abilities.
KotH	Short for "King of the Hill". Refers to Control game mode.
KS	Short for "Kill Steal"/"Kill Stolen". Refers to another player taking the credit from an elimination they didn't really contribute to. Can also mean "Kill Secured", which is a sarcastic response to someone accusing you of previous, suggesting that it's better than not getting the kill, as in most cases who got the kill only matters on the scoreboard.
LoS	Short for "Line of Sight". Means that your hero or ability can directly see a target. Many effects require an unobstructed Line of Sight to interact with targets.
Main	The character or role a player chooses most often chooses to play. Alternatively, refers to the main entrance/path to the map's objective.
Mega	A large health pack, restoring 250 HP.
Meta	Used to refer to strategies, tactics and heroes perceived by the community as the strongest or most effective ones at the current time.
MIA	Short for "Missing In Action". Generally used to signal that someone in the enemy team is unaccounted for.
Mini	A small health pack, restoring 75 HP.
Miss	Short for "Missing". See "MIA".
Mirror	Refers to the enemy team playing the same heroes or composition as your own.
Multikill	Refered to as "killing spree" in some other games. They occur after getting multiple eliminations in a very short amount of time.
Nerf	Used when referring to something that has been made weaker or that has been downgraded through a balance patch.
No + [ability name]	A call-out to say that an enemy has used an ability that’s now on cooldown. Commonly used for escape abilities.
NT	Short for "Nice Try".
Objective	Refers to the map's win condition.
Off angle	Taking a position slightly away from your team and to the side of main sight lines. Most commonly done by damage heroes taking an "off angle" away from their tank. This can force the enemy to split their focus.
One	A callout that "[Hero] is one" means that they are low on health and likely only need one more hit to be eliminated.
One Shot	Abilities that instantly eliminates targets in one blow or combos that cannot be prevented after being hit by its first part.
One Trick or OTP	Short for "One Trick Pony", a player who only chooses one character.
OP	Short for "overpowered". Refers to something being too powerful.
Peel	To force an enemy away from an ally that is being attacked.
Pocket	Support that focuses on supporting only one hero, usually a Damage hero, in the team, enabling them to do more damage and stay longer in the fight with buffs. Mercy is commonly referred to as 'the' pocket support, whereas good pocket targets are heroes like Ashe, Pharah and Sojourn.
Point	Refers to each map's area to be captured, defended, or escorted. Payload in Escort and Hybrid, capture/control points in Assault, Hybrid, Control, Clash and Flashpoint, and TS-1 robot in Push.
Poke	One of the three main team composition archetypes. Poke aims to utilize long range heroes to wear down the enemy and get picks before they enter they engage on you. Heroes that can work well in poke are, for example, Sigma, Ashe, Hanzo, Widowmaker, Ana, Baptiste, Mercy and Zenyatta. Poke is great in maps with long sightlines, like Havana and Circuit Royal.
PUG	Short for "pick-up game" or a custom organized match
Push	Used to mean "moving as a unit with teammates in a certain direction." Can also mean moving the payload further into the enemy base; i.e. "push the cart.". May also refer to the game mode, Push.
Re	Short for "returned". Refers to a missing hero returning to the front line
Reset	When a fight is lost and someone is calling for a regroup before pushing in again as a team
Reveal	An effect available to certain heroes that allows them to see affected enemies without direct line of sight.
RG	Short for "regoup," a way of telling the team to group and go in together.
Solo Kill	Eliminations by a single player that did 100% of the damage.
Spam	Repeatedly firing at an area where you expect enemies to come in hopes of getting a kill, or to force enemies to take an alternative route. Can also refer to repeatedly sending messages, or "spamming" in text chat.
Squishy	Refers to a hero with a relatively small health pool. Most commonly seen in Damage and Support heroes.
Stealth	An effect that allows units to become invisible to their opponents for a duration.
Stagger	Dying much later than the rest of the team, causing a longer reset. Someone might unintentionally do this to themselves or a team might intentionally stagger the last remaining enemy.
Streak	Short for "kill streak," getting several eliminations without dying will start a streak.
Tick	One third of a point-objective capture where progress cannot be lost.
Touch	To enter the objective area to start or reset the overtime.
Ult	Short for "Ultimate ability", the strongest skill of every hero. It must be charged by dealing damage or healing allies before it can be used.
UP	Short for "underpowered". Refers to something being weaker than meant to be.

Areas of the map

Term	Definition
Coast	Refers to a side on certain maps where there is a large out-of-bounds drop off.
Main	The common route to the objective or the path the payload or barricades move along. Also used to mean "middle route."
Mid	Middle route.
Left	Left route.
Right	Right route.
Spawn	The room in which players spawn. Enemies are unable to enter or fire into these safe areas.

Ability descriptors

Term	Definition
Area	Area damage. It describes weapons and abilities that affect an area rather than a single target directly. Most area damage attacks will have a damage fall off that will cause them to deal less damage the further away the target is from the center.
AoE	Area of Effect. Another way of calling Area damage, but it is also used to refer to the physical area (radius) of a skill or weapon shot's explosion.
Beam	Beams are beam-looking weapons or abilities with high tickrate. The damage from beam weapons ignores Defense Matrix, Kinetic Grasp, Deflect and Javelin Spin, and is always reduced by 30% against armor health.
Channeled	Channeled abilities (e.g. Death Blossom) end immediately if the target is stunned, pinned, frozen, slept, hacked or killed. They may or may not prohibit the hero from moving while channeling. Most channeled abilities also prevent the hero from using their weapon and other abilities while they are active.
Movement	Movement abilities allow heroes to quickly travel short distances. Junkrat's Steel Trap, Cassidy's Magnetic Grenade, Sigma's Gravitic Flux Zarya's Graviton Surge, and Mauga's Cage Fight prevent enemies from using movement abilities, also interrupting any active movement abilities, when affected by them. Movement speed buffs do not count as movement abilities.
Passive	Abilities that are automatically used without player input. Each role has a passive ability assigned to it.
Transformation	Transformation type abilities (e.g. Dragonblade) temporarily change function of the hero's weapon. Unlike channeled abilities, transformations allow the hero to use their other abilities while they are active and cannot be interrupted by stun or hack.

Roles

Term	Definition
Tank	Tank heroes soak up damage and shatter fortified positions, like closely grouped enemies and narrow chokepoints.
Damage	Damage heroes seek out, engage, and obliterate the enemy with wide-ranging tools, abilities, and play styles.
Support	Support heroes empower their allies by healing, shielding, boosting damage, and disabling foes.

Ability callouts

Term	Definition
Amp	Lucio's Amp it Up
Anti'd or Purple	Players that have been hit by Ana's Biotic Grenade or Junker Queen's Rampage and are now temporarily unhealable. Their health bars have purple outlines.
Baby	D.Va when she's out of her mech.
Bash	Brigitte's Shield Bash.
Beat [Drop]	Lúcio's Sound Barrier.
Blade	Genji's Dragonblade.
Blossom	Reaper's Death Blossom. (rarely) Lifeweaver's Healing Blossom
Bubble	Winston's Barrier Projector Zarya's Particle Barrier or Projected Barrier
Cleanse or Suzu	Kiriko's Protection Suzu. Characters who have debuffs removed with this ability have been "cleansed".
Coal	Moira's Coalescence.
Coom	Torbjörn's Molten Core, especially because of its appearance when used by a home Overwatch League team.
Copy or Dupe	Echo's Duplicate.
Dash	Genji's Swift Strike Hanzo's Lunge Moira's Fade Lifeweaver's Rejuvenating Dash Pharah's Jet Dash Venture's Drill Dash
Dig	Venture's Burrow
DM	D.Va's Defense Matrix.
D.Va Bomb	D.Va's Self-Destruct.
Discord	Zenyatta's Orb of Discord. Characters to whom it's applied are "discorded".
Eat	Refers to D.Va's Defense Matrix, Sigma's Kinetic Grasp or Orisa's Javelin Spin absorbing an ability.
Flux	Sigma's Gravitic Flux.
Fox or Kitsune	Kiriko's Kitsune Rush.
GA	Mercy's Guardian Angel
Gold or Golden	Orisa's Fortify as she literally appears to be golden.
Grapple	Widowmaker's Grappling Hook. Wrecking Ball's Grappling Claw.
Grasp	Moira's Biotic Grasp. Sigma's Kinetic Grasp.
Grip or Pull	Lifeweaver's Life Grip.
Grav	Zarya's Graviton Surge.
Hinder (Grenade)	Cassidy's Magnetic Grenade
High Noon	Cassidy's Deadeye, originating from its voice line.
Hook	Roadhog's Chain Hook.
Ice Block	Mei's Cryo-Freeze.
Invis	Sombra's Stealth.
Knife	Junker Queen's Jagged Blade.
Lamp or Immortality	Baptiste's Immortality Field.
Leap	Doomfist's Seismic Slam. Winston's Jump Pack.
Mine(s)	Junkrat's Concussion Mine. Wrecking Ball's Minefield.
Nade	Ana's Biotic Grenade. Cassidy's Magnetic Grenade. Baptiste's Biotic Launcher Secondary Fire. (rarely) Junkrat's Frag Launcher projectiles.
Nano	Ana's Nano Boost. When used in conjunction with another ultimate ability, it's a prefix (i.e., Nano-Blade, Nano-Visor).
Pin	Reinhardt's Charge.
Primal	Winston's Primal Rage.
Rail(ed)	Getting eliminated by Sojourn's Railgun shot (alternate fire).
Re	Tracer's Recall.
Rez or Revive	Mercy's Resurrect.
Rock	Sigma's Accretion.
Sentry	Bastion's Configuration: Assault. Used to be called "Configuration: Sentry" before it was reworked in Overwatch 2.
Shatter	Reinhardt's Earthshatter.
Shout	Junker Queen's Commanding Shout Mauga's Cardiac Overdrive
Skill Orb	Moira's damage Biotic Orb when it gets an unintended elimination.
Slam	Doomfist's Seismic Slam. Reinhardt's Earthshatter. Wrecking Ball's Piledriver. Mauga's Overrun finishing stomp.
Sleep	Ana's Sleep Dart.
Sonic or Sonar	Hanzo's Sonic Arrow.
Spawn Nade	Ana throws her Biotic Grenade upward from a few outside the spawn room doors and it hits a group of players. Allies will get the healing boost and enemies get anti-healing. In rare instances, it gets an elimination.
Suck	Moira's Biotic Grasp Alt Fire. Sigma's Kinetic Grasp.
[Tac] Visor	Soldier: 76's Tactical Visor.
TP	Kiriko's Swift Step. Reaper's Shadow Step. Sombra's Translocator. Symmetra's Teleporter.
Trans or Tranq	Zenyatta's Transcendence. "Tranq" comes from his voiceline "Experience tranquility".
Trap	Junkrat's Steel Trap Roadhog's Pig Pen
Tree	Lifeweaver's Tree of Life.
Turret	Symmetra's or Torbjörn's turrets. Bastion in Configuration: Assault. Illari's Healing Pylon.
Valk	Mercy's Valkyrie.
Vape	Roadhog's Take a Breather.
Wall	Mei's Ice Wall. Symmetra's Photon Barrier. Mauga's Cage Fight
Walls	Hanzo's Sonic Arrow. Widowmaker's Infra-Sight.
Window or Matrix	Baptiste's Amplification Matrix.
Wraith or Reaper fade	Reaper's Wraith Form

Hero callouts

Hero	Common shorthands and nicknames
Tank
D.Va	Mech, Baby D.Va (when not in MeKA)
Doomfist	Doom
Junker Queen	JQ, Queen
Mauga
Orisa	Horse, Battle Cattle
Ramattra	Ram, Rama
Reinhardt	Rein
Roadhog	Hog, Roadie, Pig
Sigma	Sig
Winston	Monkey, Winton (when joking)
Wrecking Ball	Ball, Hamster, Hammond, Hampster (when joking)
Zarya	Zar
Damage
Ashe
Bastion
Cassidy	Cass, McCree (his name before it was changed), Cowboy
Echo
Genji	Ninja
Hanzo
Junkrat	Junk, Rat
Mei
Pharah
Reaper	Reap
Sojourn	Soj
Soldier: 76	Soldier, Legs
Sombra	Somb
Symmetra	Sym
Torbjörn	Torb
Tracer
Venture	Miner
Widowmaker	Widow
Support
Ana	Grandma, Granny
Baptiste	Bap
Brigitte	Brig
Illari
Juno
Kiriko	Kiri
Lifeweaver	LW, Weaver
Lúcio	Frog
Mercy	Moth
Moira
Zenyatta	Zen, Zenny, Monk