Effective communication is the backbone of any successful DotA match. After years of playing in competitive lobbies and coordinating with teammates, I have found that mastering the shorthand used in chat is essential for quick decision-making. When a fight breaks out, you don't have time to type out full sentences; understanding these abbreviations allows you to process information instantly and react to game states like "MIA" or "OOM" without missing a beat.
Below is a curated list of the most frequently encountered abbreviations in DotA. While some are general internet slang, others are highly specific to game mechanics, item builds, and lane management.
General Communication & Chat Slang
- AFAIC As Far As I'm Concerned
- AFAICS As Far As I Can See
- AFAICT As Far As I Can Tell
- AFAIK As Far As I Know
- AFAIR As Far As I Remember
- AFK Away From Keyboard
- AFN that's All For Now
- AISB As I Said before
- AISI As I See it
- AIUI As I Understand it
- AKA Also Known As
- AOTA All Of The Above
- ASAP As Soon as Possible
- ASL Age, Sex, Location?
- ASLP Age, Sex, Location, Picture?
- ATM At The Moment
- ATYS Anything You Say
- AWA As Well As
- AYR As You Requested
- AYOR At Your Own Risk
- B Back
- B& Banned (BAnd)
- B/C Because
- B4 Before
- B4N Bye For Now
- BAC Back At Computer
- BAK Back At Keyboard
- BBIAM Be Back In A Minute
- BBL Be Back Later
- BBS Be Back Soon
- BCNU Be Seeing You
- BD Big Deal / Back door
- BF Boyfriend
- BFF best friends forever
- BFN Bye For Now
- BG Battle-Ground
- BR Best Regards
- BRT Be Right There
- BRB Be Right Back
- BRH Be Right Here
- BTW By The Way
- CFV Call For Votes
- CG Computer Graphics
- CMIIW Correct Me If I'm wrong
- CnC Comment and Critique
- COZ because
- CU See You
- CUL See You Later.
- CUL8R See You Later
- CUOL See You On Line
- CWOT Complete Waste Of Time
- CWYL Chat With You Later.
- CYA See Ya
- CYL8R see ya later
- CYM Check Your Mail
- CYO See You Online
- CYT See You Tomorrow
- DEGT Don't Even Go There
- DHYB Don't Hold Your Breath
- DIAF Die In a Fire
- DIKU Do I Know You?
- DIS Did I Say
- DIY Do It Yourself
- DL Download
- DND Do Not Disturb
- DOA Dead On Arrival
- EM E-Mail
- EMA E-mail Address
- EOD End Of Discussion
- EOF End Of File
- EOL End Of Lecture
- EOM End Of Message
- EOT End Of Thread
- EZ Easy
- F2F Face To Face
- FA First Aid
- FAAK Falling Asleep At Keyboard
- FAQ Frequently Asked Question
- FC Fingers Crossed
- FCOL For Crying Out Loud
- FFS For F**** Sake
- FISH First In Still Here
- FOC Free Of Charge
- FOCL Falling Off Chair Laughing
- FTASB Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
- FTL Faster Than Light / For The Loss
- FTW For the win / F*** the world
- FTS F*** This S***
- FU F*** You
- FUD Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
- FWIW For What It's Worth
- FYA For Your Amusement
- FYE For Your Entertainment
- FYI For Your Information
- G2G Gotta go / Got to go
- GA Go Ahead
- GAFIA Get Away From It All
- GAL Get A Life
- GDI God Damn It
- GF Girlfriend
- GFN Gone For Now
- GG Good Game
- GGN Gotta Go Now
- GGOH Gotta Get Outta Here
- GIGO Garbage In, Garbage Out
- GIWIST Gee, I Wish I'd Said That.
- GJ Good Job
- GL Good Luck / God Learner
- GLHF Good luck, have fun
- GLP Good luck partner
- GM Good Move / Game Master
- GMTA Great Minds Think Alike
- GOSU Got Owned and needs to Shut Up / GOD of Starcraft Universe / Expert or PRO
- GR Gotta Run
- GR8 Great
- GTFO Get The F*** Out
- GTG Got To Go
- GTR Got To Run
- GTRM Going To Read Mail
- GW Good work
- H/O Hold On
- HAGD Have A Good Day
- HAGO Have A Good One
- HAND Have A Nice Day
- HB Hurry Back
- HCIT How Cool Is That?
- HF Have Fun
- HH Ha-Ha
- HH Holding Hands
- HHOJ Ha Ha, Only Joking
- HHOK Ha Ha, Only Kidding
- HHVF Ha-ha, Very Funny
- HIWTH Hate It When That Happens
- HOAS Hold On A Second
- HTH Hope That Helps
- IAC In Any Case
- IAE In Any Event
- IB I'm Back
- IC I See
- ICQ I Seek You.
- IDC I Dont Care
- IDGADv I Don't Give A Damn.
- IDGI I Don't Get It
- IDK I Don't Know
- IDN I Don't kNow
- IDTS I Don't Think So
- IGSR I'm Gonna Solo Roshan
- IGTG I got to go
- IHNC I have no clue
- IIRC Internet Relay Chat
- IIRC If I Remember/Recall Correctly
- IK I Know
- IKWUM I Know What You Mean
- ILU I Love You
- ILY I Love You
- IM Instant Message
- IMAO In My Arrogant Opinion
- IMBA Imbalanced
- IMBO in My Biased Opinion
- IMCO In My Considered Opinion
- IME In My Experience
- IMHO In My Humble/Honest Opinion
- IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion
- IMO In My Opinion
- INPO In No Particular Order
- INRS It's Not Rocket Science
- IOH I'm Outta Here
- IOW In Other Words
- IRDK i really dont know
- IRL In Real Life
- ISTM It Seems To Me
- ISTR I Seem To Recall
- ITA I Totally Agree
- IYO In Your Opinion
- J Joking
- JAM Just A Minute.
- JAS Just A Second
- JIC Just In Case
- JK Just Kidding
- JMO Just My Opinion
- JW Just Wondering
- JWG Just a Wild Guess
- K OK
- KIR Keepin' It Real
- KISS Keep It Simple, Stupid
- KIT Keep In Touch
- KWIM Know What I Mean?
- L Laugh
- L2P Learn To Play
- LF Looking For
- LFG Looking For Group
- LFM Looking For More
- L8R Later
- LMAO Laughing My @** Off
- LMK Let Me Know
- LOL Laughing Out Loud
- LOLLOL Little Old Lady Laughing Out loud
- LTNS Long Time No See
- M8 Mate
- ME2 Me Too
- MMA Meet Me At...
- MMAMP Meet Me At My Place
- MYOB Mind Your Own Business
- N/C Not Cool
- NAA not at all
- NBD No Big Deal
- NE1 Anyone
- NFW No F****** Way
- NGH not gonna happen
- NM Nevermind
- NO1 No-one
- NP No Problem
- NRN No Reply Necessary
- NT No Thanks
- NTL Never The Less
- NVM Nevermind / Nothing Very Much
- NW No Way / No worries / Nice work
- OAO Over And Out
- OBTW Oh, By The Way.
- OFC Of Course
- OIC Oh, I See
- OJ Only Joking
- OK Only Kidding
- OKW/E ok what-ever
- OMW On my way
- OP Original Post / Original Poster / Over Powered
- OOTB Out Of The Box
- ORLY O Really
- OT Off Topic
- OTE Over The Edge
- OTOH On The Other Hand
- OTT Over The Top
- OTW On The Way
- Pat Patrol
- PLZ Please
- POV Point Of View
- PP Pull plug
- PPL People
- PRO Professional
- QFE Quoted For Excellence
- QFT Quoted For Truth
- RFC Request For Comment
- RL Real Life
- ROFL Rolling On Floor Laughing
- ROFLMAO Rolling On Floor, Laughing My A** Off
- ROTF Rolling On The Floor
- ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing
- RPG Role Playing Game
- RSN Real Soon Now
- RTFAQ Read The FAQ
- RU Are You?
- RUOK Are You OK?
- RW Real World
- S/B Should Be
- SFSG So Far So Good
- SH Same Here
- SIF As If / Secret Internet Fatty
- SITD Still In The Dark
- SOS Same Old Stuff
- SPST Same Place, Same Time
- STFU Shut The F*** Up
- STR8 Straight
- STW Search The Web
- SY Sincerely Yours
- SYL See You Later
- SYS See Ya Soon
- TAFN That's All For Now
- TBC To Be Continued
- TBH To Be Honest
- TBFU Too Bad For You
- TC Take Care
- TGIF Thank God It's Friday
- THX Thanks
- TIA Thanks In Advance
- TLDR Too Long, Didn't Read
- TM Text Message / Top Miss
- TMA Take My Advice
- TMI Too Much Information
- TNT Till Next Time
- TNX Thanks
- TPS Totally pointless stuff
- TTFN Ta-Ta For Now
- TVM Thanks Very Much
- TWIMC To Whom It May Concern
- TY Thank You
- TYP Thank you partner
- TYT Take Your Time
- TYVM Thank You Very Much
- U2 You Too
- W/ With
- W/E Whatever
- W/O Without
- W2F Way Too Funny
- W8 Wait
- W8AM Wait A Minute
- WB Welcome Back
- WC WelCome / Wrong Channel
- WD Well done
- WDMB Will Do My Best
- WDP Well Done Partner
- WFM Works For Me / Wait for me
- WOW World Of Warcraft
- WPP Well Played Partner
- wWPO Well Played Opponents
- WTB Want To Buy
- WT? What The ...? or Who the ...?
- WTF What The F***?
- WTG Way To Go
- WTH What The Hell
- WUBU2 What you been up to
- Y Why?
- YR Yea, Right.
- YRG You Are Good!
- YVW You're Very Welcome
- YW You're Welcome
- YWSYLS You Win Some, You Lose Some
- ZZZ Sleepy, bored or tired
- 2L8 Too late
- 2U2 To You Too
- 4EVER forever
- 4GM Forgive me
- 4RL? For Real
DotA-Specific Gameplay Terms
- AoE Area Of Effect
- AP Attack Power / All Pick
- APM Actions per minute
- BAT Base Attack Time
- BLP Bad Luck Partner
- BM Bottom miss
- BOT Back On Topic / Boots Of Travel
- BS Backstab
- DPM Damage Per Mana
- DPS Damage Per Second
- DR Damage Reduction / Divine Rapier
- DOT Damage over time
- EOS End Of Show / Eye Of Skadi
- HoT Heal over time / Heart Of Tarrasque
- HPM Healing Per Mana
- HPS Healing Per Second
- IAS Increase Attack Speed
- IMBA Imbalanced
- KS Kill Steal
- LOM Low on mana
- MIA Moron in action! / Missing In Action
- MM Middle miss / Mirror Match
- MT Main tank
- OOM Out Of Mana
- ROSH Roshan
- TM Top Miss
- WW Wind walk