Glossary

Combat terms

Airburst / Airdet

When a Demoman detonates his stickies while they are in mid-flight.

Amby

Another name for the Ambassador.

Airpipe / Airpill

When a Demoman hits someone on the enemy team in midair with one of his grenades.

Airshot

When a player hits someone on the enemy team in midair with a projectile. Usually used to refer to a Soldier hitting someone in midair with one of his rockets. Also known as a "middie".

Buff

The excess health granted (up to 150% base hp) by any of the medic's Mediguns when he continues to heal a player after they already have full health.

Bomb

The act of using explosive jumps in order to propel yourself towards the enemy. The resulting speed and height advantage is then usually used in an attempt to take out key targets such as the Medic or Demoman. Bombing is generally done by the roaming soldier.

Clutch

Adjective used to describe risky plays that save a team from certain round or match loss.

Crit Heals

A term used to describe the Medigun's mechanic of healing faster based on how long it has been since a player has taken damage; after not taking damage for 10 seconds or more, the target will be healed at the max heal rate (72 hp/s) thus being healed to max health quickly.

DH

Direct Hit. This refers both to the Soldier primary The Direct Hit and the act of directly hitting someone instead of using splash.

Drop

A drop is when the Medic dies with his ÜberCharge ready. It can also be used to refer to a Med letting a player die during an uber fight by not flashing uber on him.

Focusing, Focus Damage

As a combat class, focusing means intentionally targeting a single player to prioritize kills on the most important players. Usually, multiple players focus targets together to kill them faster.

Gun, SG, Mini, Mini SG, Level 1/2/3

An Engineer's sentry. Players often refer to them by their level. Ex: "Level 3 on cliff right side" Or by type of sentry (mini/normal). Ex: "Mini on left, behind the point"

Hardscope

When a Sniper stays scoped for enough time to fully charge his shot.

Hurt, Lit, Destroyed, Hit, Tagged, Wrecked

Used to describe players who have taken a lot of damage. The ambiguity of these terms emphasized the importance of calling the specific amount of health a player has.

Juke

A dodge.

Kritz

An abbreviation for the Medic's weapon Kritzkrieg. Often used as a verb to mean using the uber of this weapon.

Meatshot

A close range shot with a Shotgun or Scattergun where all pellets hit the target, doing over 100 damage. The term was popularized by ESEA-Invite Scout player carnage.

Peeking

When someone looks into an area but is not planning on pushing into it, usually to gain information on the enemy's positioning.

Pill/Pipe

A Demoman's grenade.

Pop

The act of deploying ÜberCharge.

Quickscope

When a Sniper scopes in and fires without charging his shot.

Roller

A Demoman's grenade after it hits the ground / wall.

Spam

Repeated shooting at chokes for the purpose of area denial, usually by Soldiers and Demomen due to the splash damage property of their projectiles.

Splash

The property of the explosion of rockets and grenades to damage players near the explosion without making physical contact with the projectile.

Trickstab

A term used to describe maneuvers in which a Spy stabs an enemy that is aware of his presence (ex. stairstab, cornerstab).

Über pop(ped)

When a Medic activates his ÜberCharge.

Über Force

When a player forces an enemy Medic to activate his ÜberCharge earlier than desired by presenting an immediate threat to the Medic's life.

Wipe

A wipe occurs when the entire team dies at once.

Metagame terms

Backcap

When a player, typically a Scout, gets behind enemy lines and starts capping a point behind the front line thus forcing some members from the team to go back or, if the backcapped point is last, winning the round.

Called

The act of using the voice command "Ubercharge Ready!" This voice command is automatically called when a Medic gains full Ubercharge if another voice command is not already in use. This command can also be called manually by a Medic in an attempt to trick the enemy team into thinking that he has full Ubercharge. For this reason, it is important to differentiate between hearing the enemy Medic "Call" and seeing that the Medic has Ubercharge.

Coast to Coast Push

The term referring to the process where the team that was pushed to their last point pushes all the way to the opposing team's last point, subsequently resulting in a capture and round win.

Combo

The Medic and the players that play near him. Their job is to use Uber to spearhead pushes and secure main areas to control objectives on offense and to deny access to the objectives and shut down Ubers on defense. In 6v6, the combo is usually a Medic, the Pocket Soldier, and the Demoman. In Highlander, the combo varies but is most often made up of the Medic, Heavy, Demoman, and sometimes Pyro.

Flank

In 6's, the flank consists of the roaming Soldier and the aggressive Scout. In many situations, the roamer uses his Scouts as bait to lure the enemy into the roamer's hiding spot for an easy pick. If plays are made on the flank and the team secures a positional or number advantage (in 6s and Highlander) the flank classes can push forward to hold territory and create a buffer for the combo classes to push in and capture points.

In Highlander, the flank composition can vary between teams, but generally consists of the Soldier, Scout, Engineer, Pyro and Sniper (both occasionally) and the Spy. Soldier plays a roaming role to distract the enemy and secure picks. Spy attacks with the help of a distraction, such as a bombing Soldier or Über push. When the Scout is not pushing the Payload cart, he watches the flanks and ensures no one flanks his own team, by putting out damage and/or getting key picks, for instance, shutting down the enemy Sniper. Ocassionally, Pyro may choose to make flanking plays if he does not stick to the combo, and the Engineer can choose to patrol a flank on maps with his sentry guns. In addition, the Sniper normally hangs far back behind friendly lines to get picks, but if he chooses, he may roam around on the flank to secure better sightlines on enemy players, especially the enemy Medic who is building Über.

Flank classes assist the combo classes by watching the entrances that the combo isn't during holds and stalemates, and create openings and advantages via bombs, picks and off-pushes.

Distraction

When one or more players openly present themselves to engage on the enemy in an attempt to draw their attention away from key targets, objectives or positions.

Domino Cap

When a point is lost because the previous point was taken with such force that a defense of the next could not be set up in time (ex. after a wipe on a 5CP map, a team is likely to lose two control points before they are spawned and ready to fight back).

Double Overtime

In King of the Hill, when both teams have dropped their timers to 0 and the attacking team has capture time on the point, triggering Overtime.

Leapfrogging

When the two Medics have übers out of sync, the medic who has full über first can get a free push into the other Medic without much risk since the enemy doesn't have full charge. However, if the push doesn't result in an enemy Medic pick, then the other team will have advantage and can push back in the same manner. This is called Leapfrogging. The occurs commonly on midpoints of 5CP maps when the team that loses their Medic wins the Midfight.

Pick(s)

Kill on a player who is on the other team. Generally used to indicate the kill obtained when the enemy team was off guard.

Main

The Class somebody almost always plays in a competitive team (e.g. Roamer Soldier, Scout, Medic, Sniper). The class one mainly plays in public servers and other non-competitive formats does not contribute towards the concept of a main, although PUGs and Matches that one has merced/rung for would.

Main Caller

The person who decides, communicates, and organizes, or calls, all the team's plays. In lower levels, the task is often delegated to the Medic but higher level play usually is the Pocket or Demoman.

Medigun Checking

When one player on a team changes class to Spy and disguises as the enemy Medic to determine whether the Medic is running the Kritzkrieg or the stock Medi Gun. Many Medics now rename their secondary weapons making it impossible to tell.

Midfight

The initial battle that takes place on the central control point in a 5CP or King of the Hill match at the start of each round.

Offclass

In 6v6, an offclass is a player of any class apart from the standard line-up of Scout, Soldier, Medic, and Demoman. These are situational classes, most often switched to by a Scout or Roamer when holding or pushing last in 5CP.

Pocket

As a noun, it's the player (usually a Soldier in 6v6 or a Heavy / Demoman in Highlander) who protects the Medic and gets the most heals.

As a verb, it's the act of taking lots of heals from the medic and protecting him from any threats.

Push

The act of a team moving forward onto the enemy team.

Sac

Short for sacrifice, when you purposely get yourself killed to help your team (ie. killing yourself to touch payload cart)

Stock

Stock weapons are the vanilla weapons available in the game, which were present in the game at launch. The opposite of unlocks.

Trade

When one person from each team kills each other; also when an offclass such as a Spy or Sniper kill a class of equal value like a Scout or Soldier.

Tunnel Vision

Originally a reference to camping Snipers who look down their scope too much and have no peripheral vision (as if looking through a tunnel), in Team Fortress 2 it usually just refers to a player who focuses too much on an objective or player and fails to notice other players around him, which usually results in death to ambushers or flankers.

Uber Advantage

When a Medic is significantly closer (usually ~20% or more) to having a full uber or gets his uber before the other team's Medic.

Unlocks

Unlocks are the non-vanilla weapons available in the game, which were added to the game after its launch. The opposite of stock weapons.

Map terms

Choke

General term applied to several maps referring to narrow hallways, rooms, or entrances.

Flank(ers)

The Flank is any area where the combo isn't. The Flank can also refer to the players who watch those areas. They are the players that don't rely on their Medic for heals and who prevent enemy flankers from getting into any positional advantage from which they can ambush the Medic. They tend to spark pushes by forcing Uber or securing significant picks. In 6v6, the flank typically consists out of the roamer and both scouts.

Last

The final control point. Used to refer to the 1st control point on either side of a 5CP map, or the bomb site in payload.

Mid

The 3rd (or center) point. Usually where the fighting begins at the start of a round after players complete their rollouts. Can also refer to the point in KOTH.

Rollout

The sequence of jumps and paths each class takes to the mid point. While there are many different strategies and rollouts employed for each map, the general objective is for each team to have the fastest rollout to the middle point that leaves everyone with a full buff, as that gives immediate point presence and area advantage to the faster team.

Shutter

General term applied to several maps referring to areas with grey shutter doors that open when players are near them.

Spire

A control point with a large height advantage (ex. Badlands 2nd). Gives jumping classes an advantage and is usually the second control point on a 5cp map.

General Terms and Abbreviations

DM

Short for "deathmatch", a term used to describe a player's individual ability to kill enemy players.

Fatkidded

Commonly used term to describe not being picked in a PUG, referring to playground pickup sports, where the fat kid is always picked last (or not at all).

GG

"Good Game".

GL HF

"Good Luck, Have Fun".

GR

"Good Round".

LAN dodger

A term referring to someone who is unable to attend their team's LAN matches.

LFT

An abbreviation for Looking For Team. A person who wishes to join a currently active team.

LFP

An abbreviation for Looking For Players. A person whose team is in need of players.

Lobby

A lobby is a semi-competitive game played on a matchmaking website such as tf2center. Lobbies are often not taken seriously, and PUG's are generally better for practicing. The most famous lobby site, tf2lobby, stopped being maintained in early 2013, and continued to run without any maintenance until late 2013. Stats from TF2lobby can still be seen on the website.

MGE

A gameplay mod which allows for 1v1 matches, typically on 6v6 classes, often used to practice DM.

Mix

A match in which the teams consist of friends.

RUP

"Ready Up"

PCW

An initialism for Practice Clan War. A practice match between two teams. A European term; see Scrim.

Pub

Commonly used term to describe public games and/or servers.

PUG, Pickup

An abbreviation for Pick-Up Game. Usually employed as a way to practice in a competitive environment as close as possible to an official competitive game, in which players sign up for classes they wish to play. Some pickup systems/sites also have a captain system in which two players are then assigned as "Captains" and pick their teams.

Scrim

An abbreviation for scrimmage match. A practice match between two teams or two people.

Solly

Commonly used term referring the Soldier.

VOD

An abbreviation for Video-On-Demand. An uploaded recording of a match.

Ringer / Merc / Sub

A name used to describe players who are playing as a substitute for a team due to missing players, while not actually being on that teams roster.