User:Tanaric/Glossary

The terms used in Guild Wars are often obscure. This article exists to index all terms that a player might encounter in-game. This is not a dictionary, nor is it a list of all articles on the GuildWiki. Only terms and slang should be placed in this list.

There is a separate list dedicated to common abbreviations, if you're looking for those.

If the term you're looking for isn't on this list, you might try the system-generated glossary category index, which is often more complete but less generally useful. If you see a term in the index that isn't in this article, please come back and add it!

Index: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Numeric

• 1: Commonly used in party chat to indicate readiness.
• 1.5k armor: Refers to armor that usually costs 1500 gold to craft that has the best possible stats.
• 12v12: 12 vs. 12 player-vs.-player Alliance Battles in Factions.
• 15k armor: Refers to Ascended Armor and Obsidian armor that usually costs 15 platinum to craft.
• 55: Refers to the Invincible Monk build, which is unique in that the monk has only 55 HP at level 20.

A

• AI: Short for "artificial intelligence." Generally refers to the actions of henchmen and monsters.
• Account: The account you use to connect to Guild Wars.
• Active prot: A monk that uses Protection Prayers but not maintained enchantments.
• Adept (NPC): NPCs involved with the Oracle of the Mists in Factions.
• Adept (Staff): Staff upgrade.
• Adjacent: Skill range that requires you to be right next to your target.
• Aeromancer: Elementalist dedicated to Air Magic.
• Aftercast delay: The time after using a skill in which your character cannot move or use skills.
• Aggro: When monsters switch from passive to aggresive. Can be used as a noun or a verb.
• Aggro circle: See Danger Zone.
• Allegiance: Refers to joining either the Luxons or the Kurzicks.
• Alliance: A group of guilds banded together, usually under a faction.
• Alliance Faction: The amount of Kurzick or Luxon faction held by an alliance, used to control outposts.
• Ally: Anything that isn't trying to kill you.
• Alpha: An early stage of testing for upcoming Guild Wars chapters.
• Annihilation: An arena and challenge game type, in which you must completely destroy the other team.
• Archer: Ranger specializing in marksmanship.
• Area boundary: "Portals" from one area to another.
• Area of Effect: Skills that effect more than a single target. Abbreviated AoEs.
• Arena Guard: NPCs that teleport you to arenas.
• Armor penetration: The extent to which damage ignores an enemy's armor.
• Artisan: Crafter that combines common crafting materials to make rare crafting materials.
• Ascended Armor: Armor that looks better than standard level 20 armor. Generally considered a status symbol.
• Ascension: Attaining legendary heroic status, which allows you to survive fights with certain enemies.
• Attribute Point: Used to raise attributes.
• Attribute quest: Quest that rewards 15 Attribute Points.
• Attuned: Being under the effect of an attunement spell so as to lower your energy costs.
• Avatar: Representative of the Gods of Tyria. Players only ever interact with avatars, never with the gods directly.

B

• Backline: Refers to line of spellcasters behind the tanks in an attack formation.
• Battery: A necromancer who uses Blood is Power.
• Beta: The testing stage after alpha but before public, commercial release.
• Beta Weekend Event: Events that allowed players to play before the release of Guild Wars. Replaced by World Preview Events.
• Blessing: A temporary bonus, usually granted by an NPC for a price.
• Block: Completely avoiding damage from an attack. Granted by certain skills.
• Blue item: In terms of item rarity, the most common uncommon item.
• Body block: The act of preventing other character from passing through your physical location.
• Bonder: Monk that uses Life Bond and/or Life Barrier.
• Bonus: In missions, refers to extra objectives that grant extra experience and (in Factions) skill points.
• Boon prot: Monk that uses Divine Boon and Protection Prayers.
• Bot: An automated program generally used to farm items. Bots are prohibited.
• Buff: A skill that increases the abilities of a character.
• Bug: A flaw in the game that prevents it from working as intended.
• Build: A template of skills and ability allocation that fulfills a role needed in a party. See builds.
• Build number: Essentially the version number of the Guild Wars release.
• Bundle tank: A defunct strategy to outwit the enemy AI using carryable items.

C

• Call: Broadcasting your actions over the team channel.
• Campaign: E.g., the Prophecies or Factions campaigns. Also known as chapters.
• Cancel stance: A stance used less for its intrinsic benefits and more to cancel another stance's downside.
• Capture: Usually refers to skill capture or screen capture.
• Capture the Relic: A "capture-the-flag" game mode in the Global Tournament.
• Cast: To use a spell or skill.
• Caster: Any character that relies more on spells than weapons.
• Celestial: In Factions, an suffix indicating something of incredible power.
• Challenge: A practice player-vs.-player-style mission against AI opponents.
• Character: Generally refers to the in-game representation of other players. "John Doe" is the player, "Ragnar the Mighty" is the character.
• Character level: A general indication of the might of a character, ranging from 1 to 20.
• Character slot: Every character created on an account occupies one character slot.
• Chest run: A form of farming in which characters run to chests in high-level areas without fighting.
• Cinematic: The cutscenes before, during, and after missions.
• Class: See profession.
• Clean: A weapon with no weapon upgrades.
• Collectable drop: Loot that can be traded in at a collector.
• Collectors: NPCs that give items in exchange for collectable drops .
• Command line: A method of changing the way Guild Wars runs.
• Competitive online role playing game: What Guild Wars is. Not quite a MMORPG.
• Condition: A negative status effect.
• Container: Any inventory item that can hold other inventory items.
• Continent: The separate regions that each campaign takes place in.
• Cooperative Mission: The missions that make up the player-vs.-environment campaigns.
• Core: Used to label any content that isn't specific to any one campaign.
• Corpse denial: Corpse exploitation with the explicit purpose of preventing the enemy from exploiting corpses.
• Corpse exploitation: Utilizing a corpse for a necromancer skill.
• Counter: Using one skill or build to specifically oppose another.
• Cover hex: A cheap hex placed immediately after a more expensive hex, to make removing the expensive hex more difficult.
• Crafter: An NPC that converts crafting materials into something else.
• Creature: Anything with a health bar that isn't dead.
• Customize: Customized equipment can only be used by the character it was customized for.
• Cutscene: See cinematic.

D

• Damage dealer: A party member who concentrates solely on dealing damage, as opposed to a tank or a healer.
• Damage over time: Any kind of damage that doesn't take effect immediately. Abbreviated DoT.
• Danger Zone: The white circle on the compass that illustrates the range at which mobs will aggro.
• Death penalty: A cumulative penalty to your maximum health and energy for dying.
• Debuff: A negative condition, or health or energy degeneration.
• Direct damage: Damage that comes in a single unit, as opposed to damage over time.
• Disrupt: See interrupt.
• District: An instance of a public area, to be used for trading, chatting, and forming parties.
• Divine Aura: A visual effect that owners of the Collector's Edition get while dancing.
• Drop: Usually refers to loot from mobs, but can also mean to lose connection to the game.
• Dual Attack: A devastating type of assassin strike.

E

• Echo chain: A strategy involving multiple uses of Echo and Arcane Echo to duplicate a spell many times.
• Elite Mission: Missions in Factions that require alliance control to enter.
• Elite skill: A skill more powerful than other skills. Only one elite skill can be equipped at a time.
• Emblem: The graphic that appears on a guild cape.
• Emote: A command that causes your character to animate an action.
• Enchantment: A spell that causes a positive effect for a period of time. Opposite of hex.
• Energy denial: A strategy that focuses on removing the energy of your enemy, preventing him from using skills.
• Environment Effect: A spell or enchantment that takes effect upon entering a certain area.
• EoE Bomb: A defunct PvP strategy that focused on the use of Edge of Extinction.
• Err 7: The error code returned by Guild Wars after a server disconnect.
• Exclusive area: In Factions, the portion of an outpost that only the controlling alliance's members can enter.
• Experience: The mechanism by which characters gain character levels and skill points.
• Exploit: A bug in the game that can be used to illegitimately benefit a character.
• Explorable area: The areas between outposts and cities.

F

• Faction (alliance): Kurzick or Luxon faction points used to gain alliance territory.
• Balthazar Faction: Points earned in PvP that can be used to unlock goodies on your account.
• Faction Rewards: The NPC type used to exchange faction points.
• Faction Transfer: The NPC type used to donate alliance faction points.
• Faction farming: Methods by which to accrue faction points at an incredible rate.
• Factions Campaign: The second chapter of Guild Wars. See Guild Wars Factions.
• Fame: Points accrued upon victory at Heroes' Ascent that eventually increase your rank.
• Farming: Repeatedly killing the same things to repeatedly gain the same reward, be it items or something else.
• Favor of the Gods: Reward granted to the world for noteworthy achievements in PvE.
• Ferry: A player that provides transport to Elite Missions, often for a fee.
• Fissure Armor: See Obsidian armor.
• Flag runner: In GvG, a dedicated player that plants his team's flag in the flag stand.
• Flag stand: In GvG, a point at the center of the map that can be controlled via a team's flag.
• Flavor of the Month: Refers to a build that is extremely popular, but dies out as soon as a counter is made well-known.
• Flawless victory: In PvP, a victory in which no members of the victorious party died.
• Fleshy creature: A creature that leaves a corpse and that can be afflicted with all conditions.
• Focus swap: A technique involving changing your equipment to avoid energy denial.
• Frame rate: Simply speaking, the speed at which Guild Wars graphics appear to update.