Valorant Terms That Every Player Should Know – A Dictionary

Written by: Shizza

01/12/2022

In competitive first-person shooters like Valorant, there is absolutely zero time to write a lengthy paragraph to explain everything. Players use different abbreviations and slang to quickly and efficiently communicate with others on their team.

These terms are so complicated and without context that they might leave the average player scratching their head. Valorant requires a little groundwork before you can understand what's really going on.

Most players with typical shooter experiences will have an idea of what is going on around them, but Valorant is not a typical game. In this article, we will explain every term that is used by players on Valorant.

You might even know some of the terms as well if you have played other FPS games like Counter Strike or Call of Duty! So, let’s get into it!

Valorant Terms And Slang Explained

TIP: PRESS CTRL + F AND TYPE THE TERM YOU ARE LOOKING FOR INSTEAD OF GOING THROUGH THE WHOLE ARTICLE!

Ability Trading

This is a stall tactic for defenders and a testing maneuver for attackers. Agents with abilities such as smoke flashing and damage dealing abilities can stall a push or make the defenders move from their positions. They are responsive plays used to void the advantage the enemy’s ability would have gotten.

Ace

The abbreviation for Ace is “All Clan Elimination” and is mostly used when the whole opposing team gets eliminated by a single person. When one player gets all five kills in a round, they receive an Ace.

Mostly, you see the other team members retreating to let the person get the ace instead of letting someone else get the kill. When every member of a team gets a kill during the round, this is known as a Team Ace.

Aggro

A player playing an aggro will be revealing their positioning and drawing the enemy’s attention onto them. Sometimes, it is used to open up a flanker for a play on an off angle or is used to change the outcome of a gunfight that has been going on for way longer. Most crosshairs will be on the player who is playing Aggro.

This term stands for “Aiming Down Sights.” It refers to when you use Alternate Fire on a weapon to directly look down the gun’s sights. This zooms in a little and can reduce spread and recoil, though it is mostly at the cost of a reduced fire rate.

Anti-eco

The term refers to purchasing weapons to keep a lead over a team that is resorting to saving its resources. Typically, you want to take weapons that avoid close-range fighting since a team that is saving can often afford shotguns.

ADR

This term is an abbreviation for “Average Damage per Round.”

AFK

This term is an abbreviation for “Away From Keyboard.” This is a term commonly used by players when they are away from their gaming setup for some reason and can’t play.

Aimbot

Aimbot is an illegal and bannable software that aids a player’s accuracy.

Aimpunch

Aimpunch is an expression of shaking one's screen after receiving damage.

AK

This is an alternative term for Vandal (based on its CS:GO equivalent weapon)

AWP

This is an alternative term for Operator (based on its CS:GO equivalent weapon)

Anchor

This means to play on a site as a defender so as to stall a push by the attackers. This helps you to buy time to allow team members to rotate to the site to help defend.

Angles

This is a corner on the map where a player who wishes to move past has to risk putting himself in danger in case an opponent is around the corner waiting to get a kill before the player can stop moving and fire back.

Angle Advantage

A player who is further away from an angle as compared to one who is closer to it on the opposite side due to the close player’s model becoming visible as they peek before they are able to see the further player’s model themselves.

Anti-flash

Anti-flash is a tactic in which a player takes cover from where they expect an enemy to use a flash. Then, they swing out after it is detonated to take care of any enemies attempting to play off the flash.

Bomb

Bomb is an alternative term or synonymous with the Spike in the game.

Bunnyhop

Bunnyhop is an advanced jumping technique that allows you to mix your movement and move a tiny bit faster than sprinting by buffering your jumps and air strafing. It is also known as b-hop.

Buy

The term Buy refers to the decisions a team makes related to buying guns and managing their economy. There are three additional terms related to Buy, which are:

Full-Buy

When your team has the ability to buy to be fully equipped. It is usually a combination of heavy shields and a Phanton/Vandal/Operator/Odin.

Force-Buy

When your team is close to losing or both sides are close to switching so you spend the rest of your remaining credits and buy whatever you can, that might benefit you in the round. Force-Buy is also known as an “all-in.”

Half-Buy

A half-buy is done when your team chooses to buy something but cannot afford the Full-buy, and it isn’t a force-buy.

Battle Sage

This term is a mocking term that is used for any player who plays Sage in an aggressive manner. Battle Sage is also known as Duelist Sage.

Baiting

Baiting means allowing a teammate to enter an entry frag without the intent to trade for them in case they are killed by an enemy. Usually, this wastes the entry fraggers utility, and information is gained as the opponent can reposition or recover without being punished or traded, thus leaving the team at a disadvantage.

Baiting Utility

This term means to force your enemies to use their abilities to get an advantage in the round.

Bottom Frag

Bottom Frag refers to the player with the least amount of kills on a team or for the match.

Callout

Callout refers to a player indicating a place on a map by a particular name such as “Heaven” or “Elbow.”

Camp

Camp means to wait for an enemy to come out rather than seek them out by defensively holding onto an area for a long time.

CD

The full form of CD is “Cool Down.” For example, “My heal is on CD.”

Clear/Clear Site

The attackers use this term after thoroughly checking the site before planting the Spike to reduce the chances of a hidden defender sneaking up on them. It is usually used to let their teammates know of this information, and they can continue with planting. For example, “The back site is clear.”

Counterstrafe

Counterstrafe is an advanced firing technique allowing players to shoot accurately in case they simultaneously fire when strafing in the opposite direction.

CT

CT is a term that was brought over to Valorant from Counterstrike and refers to “counter terrorists,” which are equivalent to Valorant defenders. Mostly, it is used in callouts such as “CT spawn,” referring to when an opponent is coming from the defender’s spawn.

Cubby

Cubby refers to a specific part of the map with a deep corner that players can use to peek from behind or simply use to hide.

Crossfire

Crossfire occurs when two team members position and fire, so they are on opposite sides of an enemy, thus trapping him in the middle.

Car

This is an alternate term for Raze’s Boombot ability.

Carry

A player with significantly more kills than the rest of his team members.

Clutch

Clutch is a circumstance or situation in which one player is left alone against his enemies.

Crosshair Placement

Crosshard placement is where a player positions their crosshair as they move across the map or hold angles. Good crosshair placements keep it in the most likely position where an enemy’s head might appear in. This helps to easily shoot and kill the enemy in as little time as possible.

Default

Default refers to when a player is on the attacking side, and their team plays a neutral or non-committal strategy to gain information and/or look for picks.

Default Plant

Default Plant is the most common location on the map where the Spike is usually planted.

Dink

Dink refers to a headshot that does not kill an enemy and is usually used to indicate that the target is close to dying. Dink is also known as “gooshed.”

Double Up

The term Double Up tends to have two different meanings, one of which is to position yourself with an ally to set up for a trade. The other meaning is to stack a site with an additional defender for when there is usually one.

Drop

Drop refers to buying a gun for your teammate, for example, “Can you drop me a Vandal?”

DM

DM is short for Deathmatch.

Dog

Dog is an alternative term for Skye’s Trailblazer ability.

Dry Peek

Dry Peek refers to a player peeking without using any abilities.

Double Swing

Double Swing refers to two players swinging simultaneously to overwhelm an enemy and make him decide which player to shoot at, usually ending in a trade.

EZ

EZ is short for “Easy.”

Eco/Eco Round

When one team decides to save credits to have the ability to full-buy during the next round and to destabilize the opponent’s economy is known as an Eco/Eco Round.

Eco Frag

Eco Frag is a kill that is scored during the opposing team’s eco round.

Entry Fragger

Entry Fragger is the player or Agent who looks to start a fight when attacking by entering first and getting the opening kill as well as gaining information about the opponent’s positions.

Exit Frag

Before a bomb detonates, players will run away so they can survive and save their guns. Looking for exit frags refers to positioning yourself in such a way that you can kill the players rather than trying to defuse the Spike.

Flick

Flick means to move your crosshair and shoot quickly, usually killing a target in just a single shot.

Flank

When a player, mostly a defender, sneaks around to attack the enemy team from behind

Flash

Flash is short for “Flashbang” and is often used in reference to Reyna’s C ability, Phoenix’s Q ability, and Breach’s Q ability.

Flawless

When a team wins a round by killing all the enemies and does not suffer any casualties.

Frag

Frag refers to a kill and is used in two situations:

Top Frag

Top Frag is the player with the most kills on a team or for a match.

Bottom Frag

Bottom Frag is mentioned above.

Feeding

Feeding is used for a player who is playing very aggressively.

FF

FF is an abbreviation for “Forfeit.”

Fake Defuse

Fake Defuse means to pretend to defuse the spike in order to force the attackers to peek as an attempt to defend the spike from being defused.

Faking

It refers to pretending to attack a site to make the defenders rotate away from other sites. This allows the attackers to take the undefended site easily.

Game Senses

A player’s intuitive ability to predict the actions and positions of opponents.

GG

GG is an abbreviation for “Good Game.”

GH

GH is an abbreviation for “Good Half.”

Glass Cannon

Glass Cannon means to buy an expensive weapon without any shields.

GLHF

GLHF is an abbreviation for “Good Luck Have Fun.”

Griefing

Griefing means that a player is making the game more difficult for their team.

Habibi

Habibi is an Arabic word that means “My love.” It is mostly used for ironic flirting on the in-game chat box.

Hip

Firing from the hip or without using some other fire to zoom (ADS).

Heaven/Hell

This is a callout term that is mostly used to describe a high location where snipers and long-ranged weapons are used from. Hell refers to the location directly below heaven.

HF

HF is an abbreviation for “Have Fun.”

HS

HS is an abbreviation for “headshot.”

IGL

IGL is an abbreviation for “In-Game Leader.”

Instalock

When an ally quickly selects and locks in their agent choice is known as Instalock. It is often associated with players who pick Duelists because of their popularity.

Jiggle Peek

Jiggle Peek means to rapidly peek out and return to cover in order to gain information or to bait an enemy into shooting at you.

Jumpthrow

Jumpthrow refers to the movement of jumping and throwing simultaneously, often used with smoke or grenade abilities.

Lineup

Lineup is a specific positioning set up to guarantee that your ability lands in a certain way.

Lit

Lit is often used to describe when an enemy has taken tons of damage and is close to dying.

Long

This term refers to long alleyways and pathways where snipers might be present and hiding to sneak up on you and kill the first chance they get.

Lurk

To position yourself in such a way that you can look out to catch flankers and is usually done on offense.

MB

MB is an abbreviation for “My Bad.”

MM

MM is an abbreviation for “Matchmaking.”

Molly

Molly is short for Molotov that refers to an ability that lingers in an area and deals damage, such as Brimstone’s Q ability, Viper’s C ability, and Phoenix’s E ability.

NT

NT is short for “Nice Try.”

Ninja Defuse

Ninja Defuse refers to when a defender sneaks past attackers and defuses the Spike without the attackers noticing.

No Scope

It refers to shooting with a sniper rifle without zooming in.

NP

NP is short for “No Problem.”

NS

NS is short for “Nice Shot.”

N1

N1 is short for “Nice One.”

One-Tap

One-Tap means to headshot someone with a single shot, such as with a Guardian, a Sheriff, or a Vandal.

One-Shot

One-Shot is exactly like “Lit.”

One-Way

One-Way is a smoke grenade through which players gain the ability to see enemies but the enemies are unable to see them.

OP

It is an abbreviation for “Overpowered.:

OT

This is an abbreviation for “Overtime.”

Off-Angle

It is an unexpected and uncommon position from where a player can hold an angle to surprise enemies and decrease the effectiveness of their crosshair positioning. It also forces them to utilize more skill and aim intensive flicking to try to quickly and accurately shoot at the player.

Peek

Peek means to poke out of cover to look for any opponents.

Peeker’s Advantage

As a result of technical lag time from the game, an aggressive peeker will see an enemy behind cover a few seconds before the enemy sees them.

Pick

Pick means to safely get a kill on an enemy that is standing apart from his team.

Penned

Penned is short for “Penetrated.” Check out “Wallbang” for the complete definition.

Play for picks

It means to play passively and wait to punish enemies that push out aggressively.

Play slow

“Play Slow” means to passively play and to delay the match instead of searching to make aggressive plays to gve your team time to rotate before you die.

Plant for “____”

This refers to planting the Spike toward a specific location that your team has command over.

Pocket Sage

This basically refers to a player who plays Agent Sage passively.

Pre-fire

This term means to preemptively fire at an area or angle where enemies are often present. This can allow you to surprise an enemy without having to react to seeing them there in the beginning. However, it can reveal your location, especially if you have a gun without a silencer.

Pistol Round

It refers to the first round of each half where all players have just enough credits to purchase Sidearm guns.

Retake

In order to regain control of a site that was conceded by the defenders, the attackers need to regroup and coordinate. This is known as a “Retake.”

Rez

Rez is short for “Resurrection.”

Roomba

Roomba is a community term that refers to Raze’s Boombot.

Rotate

Rotate is when a player or team decides to move across the map to an entirely new location. For attackers, it is mostly when you try to attack a site and realize that it is heavily guarded by the defenders. For defenders, it might be after realizing that the attackers are committing the spike to a site, so the remaining defenders try to rotate in time to help defend the spike or defuse it.

Rush

When the attackers attempt to overwhelm the defenders with their superior numbers or speed by quickly running onto the site before the defenders can muster a reaction or send help.

Rage

Rage is another term that is used within the game for experiencing frustration.

Rage hacking

This is used when someone resorts to using illicit software like the aforementioned Wallhack and Aimbot, after losing some rounds.

Rage quit

This means to leave a match because you are frustrated.

Spawn

Spawn refers to the starting location where players spawn at the start of a round.

Stick

Stick is used when a player commits to defusing a Spike instead of just tapping it to fake out an enemy.

Stack

Stack means to have many team members attack a site or defend an area, for instance, if the defenders have a feeling the attackers will choose a specific site, they can stack it with more defenders than they would normally do.

Save

Save means to avoid potential contact with the enemy team to retain weapons because of the low chances of winning the round.

Shoulder Peek

Shoulder Peek refers to peeking in which the shoulder of a player is exposed. It is done in order to bait an enemy into firing so that it would give up its position. This is usually done when an opponent is using an Operator to force them into a state of vulnerability.

As they are chambering their next bullet, this puts them at a disadvantage when they are re-peeking as their position is now known.

Shift walk

This means to move without making any noise at all.

Smurf

Smurf is a player who has great skills and plays at low tanks on purpose.

Swing

Swing refers to when you quickly peek at a wider angle to catch an enemy holding the expected angle by surprise.

T

Like CT, T is a term that refers to “terrorists,” which is the attacking side in the game Counter Strike. For example, “Omen is lurking in T-Spawn.”

Team Ace

When each member of your team gets a single kill and suffers no casualties, your team is termed “Team Ace.”

Thrifty

A team is “Thrifty” when they win an eco round against a team with superior resources.

TP

The term TP is short for “teleport,” and is usually used in reference to taking a teleporter in Bind. For example, when Omen is about to use their Ultimate, “I am going to TP to their spawn.”

Tracking

Keeping your crosshair on a target for an extended period of time is what crosshair control is all about, usually when either you or your target is moving.