ESO Terminology and Abbreviations - Explained for You!

oterWitz · August 2021

ESO Terminology and Abbreviations

Thanks to the old thread and its posters. That thread has finally been laid to rest 7 years after it was originally created.
*If you are looking to bookmark this thread for future reference, click the faint outline of the star next to the title at the top of this page so it turns gold. You can also bookmark this thread from the page where all threads are posted by clicking the star there as well.*

If there is something you’d like me to add, please feel free to post it below. If there is slang that is typically used in offensive and vulgar contexts, I am going to choose to leave that out of my guide. Similarly, any abbreviations for profanity are left out to save forum moderators the trouble of deleting it later.

Table of Contents–Click each link to go to that post for easier navigation.
Chat, Group, and General Terms—Look here first if there is a term you are confused by in-game or on the forums.
Classes and the Prefixes People Put on Them
Combat Terms
PvP Terms
Cyrodiil Locations
PvE Terms
Overland Locations
Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Names
Skill Abbreviations
Item Sets
Other ESO Terms
Nonverbal Communication
Other Terms—Includes general terminology and internet abbreviations. If there is something you read in one of the other sections that confuses you, take a look to see if it is explained there. If you don’t find your answer, ask for clarification by replying to this thread and I or someone else will help you.

oterWitz · August 2021

Chat, Group, and General Terms

/w /PST/PM—Whisper, Please Send Tell, Private Message. All of these refer to the same specific type of chat which ESO calls whispers which is a direct text chat between you and another player. If you are a new player, it's generally best to talk to people in one of the other chats unless they specifically ask for a whisper reply in their message. If you whisper another player without some context they may not respond for a variety of reasons, so remember that this game also has a mail system to send messages and items for the recipient to receive and read at their leisure.
AFK—Away From Keyboard
Alt—Alternate character. This can refer to the total number of characters a person has on their account, or to any character that isn't their main, or to any character that isn’t the one they are currently playing.
Bio—If you are in a group and someone calls for a bio break, it means they need to go to the bathroom.
BiS—Best in Slot. The gear or skill that is optimal to use and forms part of a meta build.
Bot—A player character that isn’t being played by a person but is instead a program running a set of commands in game. Most often seen with characters moving unnaturally from node to node farming in low level starter zones. This is against ToS. If you see this kind of behavior, do your best to ensure it’s not a human moving like a bot, then report them if you are sure. The devs do periodic purges so you may not see results immediately.
BRB—Be Right Back
Buffs—Changes to a skill or item which increases its power and/or people’s desire to use it. Not to be confused with combat buffs, in the Combat Terms section.
Bug—Often referring to an aspect of the game that is broken in some way (ie "This boss is bugged, it won't drop any loot."). Depending on the context people may also refer to shalks (a type of creature in the game, as well as a skill from the Warden class) as "bugs", for more see the "Skill Abbreviations" section.
Carry—1) When a higher level player runs through certain types of content with a lower level one for the purpose of helping the other player gain experience points and thus level up very quickly. 2) When players who have reached a certain skill level in the game to be able to complete certain content, the sell the rewards for that content, such as skins and other cosmetics, for gold by carrying others through to complete it. As long as only gold is being exchanged, it is not against Terms of Service for the game, though it’s frowned upon by many. Additionally, the person paying for this may be called a “carry”, and 3) the term can also be used offensively against someone in a group who isn’t fulfilling their role to another person’s expectations.
COD—Cash on Delivery. When someone wants to buy or sell something and says COD, they want the exchange to happen via mail, with payment handled through the COD fee listed toward the bottom of the mail window. The other option for buying and selling via chat is to meet up with the other person and interact via the trade window.
Crown—The leader of a group. Shown by the game as the person with a crown icon next to their name. Don’t confuse it with Crowns as explained in the Other ESO Terms section.
CTD—Crash to desktop.
Daily Share—Asking for or offering a daily quest. Normally a character can only get one such quest per day but sharing different quests allows them to do multiple quests from the same quest giver in the same day.
DC—Disconnect. Contextually you’ll know whether the person means a person has disconnected or belongs to the Daggerfall Covenant.
Decon—Deconstruct at a crafting table for a few materials or destroy from your inventory to make space.
Drop—The loot which comes from dead enemies. Often used when a specific item you are looking for does or does not appear. Can also apply to ESO items acquired through watching streams on the Twich platform, which are usually Ouroboros Crown Crates but may sometimes be a non-combat pet or mount.
Exp/XP—Experience points, which is how a character progresses in level and champion points. Earned through many, many activities in the game though some people grind/farm for it.
Farming—Similar to grinding with a few different use cases. 1) Running around harvesting every resource node to acquire a lot of materials. 2) Repeatedly running a specific dungeon, trial, or arena for a specific piece of gear. 3) Killing large groups of weak enemies for the materials or experience points they provide or enemy players for AP.
FotM—Flavor of the Month. The currently favored builds based from the most recent patch, often with the expectation that they will fall out of favor soon.
GG/GGWP—Good Game / Good Game Well Played. Some people instead mean it offensively as get good or "git gud" but if they want to say that they'll usually spell it out as I have.
GJ—Good Job
GL/GLHF—Good Luck, sometimes with “Have Fun” added.
Grinding —Doing the same activity over and over again. It could be grinding for experience or for a specific piece of gear.
GTG—When grouping means Good to Go, but when someone need to leave a group means Got to Go.
Inv—Invite me
L2P—Learn to Play. Depending on the context this can be meant as an insult, or as a generic catchall term when someone asks for help and there is no easy solution except to become more experienced.
LFDG—Looking for Dolmen Group. It could also mean “dungeon” group, but this is far less common.
LFG —Looking For Group, with the content the player wants to run then specified as well as their role if needed, such as "LFG running WBs" or "DPS LFG any nTrial".
LF—Looking For. This is the broadest use of the "Looking For" type terms. One person could be looking to do a particular type of content, or a group could be looking for players of specific roles for the content they want to run. For example "healer LF group" or "LF 1 healer, all normal pledges". On EU servers, "+" may be used instead of LF in some cases, but it means the same thing.
LFM—Looking for More. The roles being looked for are typically specified, as is the type of content being run, such as "LF2M, dps and tank, vet non-DLC pledges".
Lowbie—Low level character, which may or not be played by someone who is new to the game (also see “Alt” later in this section).
LTB—Looking to Buy (less common than WTB)
Main—The main or preferred character that someone plays. What makes a character someone's main is entirely up to them, and some people don't have a main.
Mats—Materials, almost always referring to what you pick up from resource nodes.
Meta—The gear, skills, and other aspects of a character that are generally accepted as best for a certain, specific type of content. In ESO, Meta really only matters in endgame PvE and PvP where people compete for leaderboard scores, but even outside of these groups there is a lot of talk of Meta anyway.
Mule—A character whose sole purpose is to carry the rest of your characters’ burdens (i.e. help with inventory management).
Nerfs—Changes to a skill or item which decrease its power and/or people’s desire to use it.
Node—Resource nodes, such as cloth plants, logs, ore veins, and alchemy plants.
Noob/Newbie-- New player or new to whatever scenario is being described. The latter is generally considered a more polite version, though noob isn't always meant offensively.
NPC—Non-Player Character.
OMW—On my way
OP—Over Powered/Performing, usually in reference to a skill, set, or entire class. Not to be confused with the forums term “OP” found in the Other section of this guide.
PC—Several meanings: 1) Referring to playing the game on pc or mac as opposed to consoles. 2) Price Check. Someone will link an item in chat and ask for someone with an addon (only on the pc version) to post the data about the average and recommended selling price of that item on the server. 3) Player Character.
Pls/Plox—Please
Port—Teleport. You could be using a wayshrine to get to a specific location or using the “Travel To Player” command.
Pre-Made—A group of friends and/or guildmates who intentionally grouped together to play with each other.
PUG —Pick up group. A group that is composed of players who (probably) don't know each other but are seeking others to do a specific piece of content, be it a dungeon or battleground through the group finder or a group of people recruited through chat.
Pull In—When someone is added to a partially full group during an in-progress dungeon or other activity.
PvE—Player versus Environment/Everything. Refers broadly to any combat or style of play against NPCs rather than other players.
PvP—Player versus Player
PvX —Referring to playing both PvE and PvP content.
Q/Que—Queue
Randoms—The players who fill in a group that is partially pre-made, as well as the members of a pug.
Reroll/Respec—changing the role or significantly changing the build of a character. May also refer to starting or rolling an entirely new character, depending on the context.
RNGeezus—This or a similar spelling is used to personify randomness as a being one praises or prays to for luck.
RNG—Random Number Generator. A quick way of saying/bemoaning that gear drops according to a random number in a table, making it difficult to get the exact item you are looking for. Also people call ESO’s RNG “streaky” in that you may see the same item or items of a specific set/type multiple times in a row. It’s all just random though, good luck.
Roll—Creating a new character, originally from table top and old school RPGs where this process involves dice rolls.
RP—Roleplay, most often used as a label for certain types of guilds and groups who play the game as group of characters participating in a larger story which may or may not be rooted in the game's story and lore.
RQ—Rage Quit. When a person leaves a group after they or the group dies.
Sniping/Node Sniping—Running to and harvesting a node that someone is near to grab it before them. Also applies to picking a treasure chest before someone who is trying to pick it and stealing their loot. Doing either of these things is considered very poor etiquette, as is leaving treasure chests and nodes partially looted.
Sry/Srry—Sorry
Stack—The order for everyone in a group to move to a specific place and stand close together. One of the most common versions is "Stack on Crown" where everyone is ordered to move to the leader of the group. Additionally, the direction to "Hard Stack" means to stand as close together as possible, making all characters more or less clip into each other on the spot. The direction to "Soft Stack" or stack loosely, means to move together but not on top of each other, or else to spread out of a tighter stack. It's commonly seen during boss fights where mechanics create damaging aoes around players, so they must stand apart to avoid taking extra damage.
Stealth Nerfs—Changes that people notice but which aren’t listed in the patch notes.
Theory Crafting—Calculating which skills, gear, champion points, etc will perform optimally in a specific scenario. The currently favored site for making these calculations is here: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildEditor
Toon/Char—Abbreviation for a person's player character.
Trash/Junk—An item that is worthless except to sell to an NPC merchant. The item may also have the "Treasure" tag, but this only means it will sell to the NPC for more.
TYFG—Thank you for group
TYVM—Thank you very much
WB—Welcome Back. Outside of group contexts it means World Boss.
wc—wrong chat. For example, if a person means to use group chat but instead posts in one of their guild chats, they’ll probably say this so people don’t get confused.
WTB/S—Want to Buy/Sell
x—Invite me to the group. May also be followed by more information such as your role (see the PvE section for more info on roles). This is because of an addon for pc which autoinvites people if they type a specific letter or phrase, with the default being x: https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info2633-AutoInvite-Updated.html

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oterWitz · August 2021

Classes in ESO and the Prefixes People Put on Them

-Cro/Necro—Necromancer. In the context of the forums, people also say “Necro” when a very old thread has been posted in, bringing it back to life on the front page before it is almost inevitably locked by a forum moderator.
-Den—Warden
-DK/Knight—Dragonknight
-NB/Blade—Nightblade
-Plar—Templar
-Sorc—Sorcerer

Prefixes

Bomb- —See “Bomber” in the PvP section.
Bot-/EZ/Cheese—A damage dealer that deals a lot of damage with little effort or an easy rotation.
Bow- —A character that uses a bow on both bars.
Gank- —See “Ganker” in the PvP section.
HA- —Prefix applied for a character that deals damage through a specific build optimized around DoTs and heavy attacks, rather than traditional light attack weaving.
Heal-/Healer—Healer. Sometimes they are further distinguished by a particular role in a PvE mechanic or the gear sets they are wearing, for more information see the PvE and Item Sets sections.
Ice-/Frost/Brittle—Prefix applied to a warden/den with an ice staff on one or both bars. The word brittle refers to the named debuff Minor Brittle which they provide to their group with this setup.
Mag- —Magicka damage dealer.
Pet- —Prefix applied to a sorcerer/sorc who uses both pets.
Stam- —Stamina damage dealer.
Tank- —Tank. Sometimes further distinguished into MT and OT, for more information see the PvE section.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Combat and Character Terms

AoE—Area of Effect. Describes damage or healing that happens in an area rather to one target. Players have numerous AoE abilities, but so do enemies. Don't stand in red, but otherwise you're probably good to stand in ground AoEs, as there are several sets and healing effects which are marked by brightly colored circles.
bb—Back Bar. The weapon and associated skill bar that is used in the second slot, or that isn't the main skill bar used during combat.
Buff—An effect applied to a character or the entire group which has a positive effect through either increasing their stats (health/magicka/stamina), or providing one of several named buffs ( https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Buffs). Buffs can come from numerous sources, including active and passive skills, sets, enchantments, food/drink, and potions (abbreviated as pots).
Build—the gear, abilities, and attributes of a character.
CC—Crowd Controls, typically described as stuns, roots, snares, fears, etc.
Cleave—Damage that is dealt to multiple targets in an area while one among them (such as a boss) is the focus of all attacks. Cleave is also the name of a skill in the 2h weapon line, so that may be referred to depending on the context.
Crit—Usually refers to critical chance aka crit %. Don’t confuse it with critical damage, which is the amount of extra damage done when an attack critically strikes. Heals also crit based on the character’s critical chance (almost always spell critical because healing with stamina is rare) but aren’t affected by the same critical damage modifiers.
DD/Direct Damage—Any damage that isn't damage over time. It can be single target or some shape of AoE. Don’t confuse DD with the role of the damage dealer in PvE (for more info see the relevant section).
Debuff—An effect applied to a character, group, or enemy which has a negative effect or their stats often through a named debuff (listed below the buffs here: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Buffs). Bosses and other PvE mechanics can apply debuffs, as well as skills, enchantments, and poisons.
Destro/Desto—Destruction Staff.
Dmg—Damage
DoT—Damage over Time. The opposite of direct damage, though it can also be ST or AoE.
DW—Dual Wield. The use of two one handed weapons.
fb—Front Bar. The weapon and associated skill bar that is used in the first slot, or that is the main skill bar used during combat.
Glass Cannon—A type of build that is made for dealing maximal damage but with little or no defensive capability. They may also be described as "squishy".
GCD—Global Cool Down, the delay between actions like attacks/spells. It is 1 second but there are exceptions. Most notably, a light attack can be used within the same 1 second Global Cool Down as an ability which is the basis for Light Attack Weaving.
GS—Greatsword, one type of two-handed weapon. May also refer to Godslayer, the title earned for completing veteran Sunspire’s trifecta achievement.
HA—Heavy Attack
HoT—Healing over Time.
Hybrid—A character that liberally uses a mix of skills that cost magicka and stamina, rather than one or the other. At the highest end of gameplay, some people use weapons or skills that appear to be hybrids but these are, in fact, carefully min/maxed choices not to be confused with a true hybrid character.
Kiting—moving around an enemy either in circles or erratically back and forth to make it more difficult for them to hit you.
LA/LAW—Light Attack/Light Attack Weaving
Min/Max—Optimizing for a specific role. Often seen with allocating all of a character’s attribute points into either Magicka, Stamina, or Health, though the term extends to other decisions one makes to optimize their build as well.
Parse/Parsing—Practicing one's weaving and rotation on a target dummy furnishing, which then posts your damage per second to your chat window after killing it. On PC, there are addons, most notably Combat Metrics, which give a far more detailed report of the fight/parse. Parsing is a good way to practice, especially for group PvE damage dealers, but many endgame PvE guilds have DPS requirements which are shown from the fight report of a target dummy parse, with the vast majority of these happening on a Target Iron Atronach, Trial which has all buffs and debuffs that can be applied during a raid already applied.
Resources/Resource Pools—A character’s health, magicka, and stamina, and this may specifically refer to either their current values or their maximum values.
Resto—Restoration Staff.
Rez/Res—Resurrect. Interacting with a dead player allows you to channel a revive for them over several seconds while your group is in combat. This is very important during group play, so always do it when someone goes down, especially if you are in the DPS role and one of the supports dies.
Rotation—The skills a player character uses and the order in which they are activated. A fixed rotation uses the same skills over and over in a set pattern, a dynamic rotatation uses reapplies certain skills as needed and is more difficult to use optimally.
SnB—Sword and Board. Refers to the use of a One-Handed weapon and Shield.
Spammable—A skill that deals a burst of up-front damage (with little or no lingering damage over time), typically to a single target, that many damage dealers use in their rotations between applying damage over time and buff skills.
Stats—All of the numbers associated with a character, such as attributes, weapon and spell damage, resistances, and more.
ST—Single Target, as opposed to AoE.
Telegraph—The visual (and occasionally auditory) cue of an oncoming attack or mechanic. The most basic ones in ESO are white lines around a heavy attacking NPC and red lines around a NPC performing an interruptible attack.
Tick—The frequency with which a DoT or HoT effect is applied. It can be once every half or full second. This is also used in PvP settings, see the PvP section for more info.
Ult/Ulti—Ultimate. A powerful ability which, once used, recharges during combat through passive accumulation of a resource of the same name. People will call for specific Ults to be used or not used at specific times during organized group play.
Vamp—Vampire
Weaving/Ani Canceling—The practice of activating a light attack and immediately canceling its animation by activating a skill. People mostly talk about and measure it as the number of light attacks a person does per second while dealing damage, with 1 meaning the person is only light attacking and 0 meaning they aren't light attacking at all. Within those bounds, a higher decimal is better. Alternatively, it can be reported as the time between a light attack and skill cast, in which case a lower decimal is better.
WW—Werewolf

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oterWitz · August 2021

Player versus Player Terms

AP—Alliance Points, which are earned through PvP and can be spent in Cyrodiil or at Battlegrounds Merchants outside of some cities.
GF—Good Fight. Said after a duel, small scale PvP encounter, or battleground match. Or meaning girlfriend, depending on the situation.
IC—Imperial City. The small PvP-with-some-PvE-too zone added with the Imperial City DLC, which is now free. All players can unlock it through the crown store for zero crowns. It is notoriously full of gankers so watch out!
MYM—A PvP-centered event that happens twice per year (the last couple of years) around January and June. (n.b. the name is being changed to Whitestrake's Mayhem, so I'm not sure if players will continue referring to the event as MYM in future).
RftW—Rewards for the Worthy

Cyrodiil PvP

1v1—A one-on-one fight between two players, either in a PvP instance or through a duel.
1vX—A solo player in a PvP environment who fights against larger enemy groups.
AD/Yellows/[any item that is yellow in color] —Aldmeri Dominion, one of the three alliances, or any player character of that alliance.
AvAvA—Alliance versus Alliance, the type of large scale, three faction PvP that ESO offers in the Cyrodiil zone.
Ball Group—A highly coordinated group of players with optimized and synergistic gear and skills. Oftentimes, ball groups are referred to by name and you’ll learn to recognize the most active ones in your particular campaign.
Blood Port—Intentionally dying to transport to a different area of the map, such as back to your alliance's main gate.
Bomber—A person waiting in stealth to deal a large burst of AoE damage to a group of enemy players.
Cryo—Cyrodiil. The large PvP zone.
Cut—When a keep or outpost with a key location in the transitus network is under attack, preventing traveling to or respawning in that location as well as locations down the line from it. This can also happen when a keep itself is not under attack but it’s resources have been captured, which may also be called “Wrapping”.
DC/Blues/[any item that is blue in color] —Daggerfall Covenant, one of the three alliances, or any player character of that alliance.
Emp—Emperor. If an alliance holds all of the keeps which form a circle in the center of the map, one of their most active players will be crowned emperor for brief period of time.
EP/Reds/[any item that is red in color] —Ebonheart Pact, one of the three alliances, or any player character of that alliance.
FC—Forward Camp. A respawn point that can be placed near a battle.
FD—Front Door. If followed by "Inner" it means the enemy have breached the outer walls and the situation is dire.
Flagged—1) When an objective that is just starting to be under attack, people may call out that it is about to be flagged as such and thus prevent transport to or resurrection in that keep or outpost. 2) When an objective which has been under attack is about to be or has bust been lost due to the enemy capturing its flag(s).
Flipping—Capturing a resource, town, or other objective.
Ganker—A person waiting in stealth to pick off an unsuspecting target before they have time to react.
Green Team—Used by EP players to refer to a battle against both DC and AD.
Hammer—The Elder Scrolls artifact Volendrung, which periodically spawns into Cyrodiil and allows one wielder to do massive amounts of damage to enemy keeps walls and players. It can be difficult to use properly, but there is a tutorial quest found at the main gate of each alliance.
Inc—Incoming. Usually followed by a location.
LM/Mill —Lumber Mill.
LoS—Line of Sight. Moving around in the terrain while fighting another player to make it more difficult for them to successfully land attacks on you. This is a form of kiting that is more erratic and takes the terrain into account. In ESO, LoS mechanics to not work or apply in PvE content.
Orange Team—Used by DC players to refer to a battle against both AD and EP.
Purple Team—Used by AD players to refer to a battle against both EP and DC.
Push—An order to go attack a certain objective or alliance, or else the general statement that an objective is under attack or enemy groups is attacking.
Roll/Steamroll/Faceroll—Attacking or being attacked with little opposition. Not to be confused with the term for creating a new character in the General Terms section.
RSS —Resources. The Lumber Mill, Mine, and Farm surrounding each keep.
Scroll—Elder Scroll. Each alliance possesses two elder scrolls, which provides their players with certain buffs. An ojbective of Cyrodiil PvP is to capture enemy Elder Scrolls and protect them in home keeps.
Smurf—A character which belongs to an alliance other than the one they typically or is a low level alt rather than their main PvP character. It may also refer to DC players because smurfs are blue.
Tick—1) The time it takes to capture the flag at an objective may be referred to as “ticks”. 2) (more common) The subsequent awarding of AP for capturing an objective or successfully defending it. In other contexts may be the time measurement described in the Combat Terms section.
UA—Under Attack
Zerg—A large group of players, typically composed of several twelve-player groups working together to overwhelm an objective. The players in this group may be called “zerglings”.

Battlegrounds

BGs—Battlegrounds. Small-scale 4v4v4 PvP matches.
DM—Deathmatch. Referring to the team deathmatch mode in battlegrounds.
MMR—Matchmaking rank. ESO doesn't have a specifc or overt MMR system right now, but groups players based on the number of battleground matches they've played.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Cyrodiil Place Names

Ales—Aleswell, but sometimes they mean Allessia. Best to ask for clarification if unsure.
Alles—If someone is trying to type Allessia but gets cut off. Best to ask for clarification in case they meant Ales.
BB/CBB—Castle Black Boot
Bleaks—Bleaker's Outpost
Blood/CBM—Castle Bloodmayne
BRK—Blue Road Keep
Chal—Chalman Keep
Crops—Cropsford
Dclaw/Dragon/Drag—Fort Dragonclaw
Drake/DLK —Drakelow Keep
Fare/CFG—Castle Faregyl. Don't get it confused with Farragut!
Farra—Farragut Keep
KC/Kings—Kingscrest Keep
Roe—Castle Roebeck. If you see this outside Cyrodiil, it is usually referring to the valuable commodity Perfect Roe, which rarely drops from fish when you fillet them.
Sej—Sejanus Outpost
Vlas—Vlastrus
Winters/WP/WPO—Winter’s Peak Outpost

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oterWitz · August 2021

Player versus Environment/Everything Terms

Adds—Additional enemies that spawn during boss fights, which can sometimes be quite tough as well and need to be the focus of damage dealers, but other times can be treated as regular mobs and ignored.
Aggro—Aggression. Taunting the boss does this, and while a tank has an enemy taunted they “have” or “hold” aggro. When the taunt expires, they “lose” aggro. Not that occasionally certain enemies will become immune to taunt or are designed to attack a random player, and this can also happen if two players attempt to taunt the same enemy (which can be called “stealing” aggro).
Arena —Instanced content designed for either 1 or 4 players, depending which tend to be longer than dungeons and posess several rounds or stages.
Bashing/Bash Picking—1)Attempting to open a treasure chest by forcing the lock rather than playing the minigame with the tumblers. 2) Bashing in combat is done by simultaneously attacking and blocking to interrupt an oncoming attack.
Boss—The enemies in dungeons, trials, and arenas with massive health bars and set mechanics to their attacks and defenses. The “final” or “end” boss is typically, but not always, the most difficult.
Chest—Treasure Chest. While not only a PvE occurrence, this callout is most often seen in dungeons and trials to alert party members that there is a treasure chest for everyone to loot. This callout is common enough that on EU servers it may be done in other languages, so if you play in PuGs frequently you'll learn to recognize non-English terms for it.
CPM—Casts per Minute. Though this rarely comes up on the forums or in normal gameplay, CPM is occasionally tracked in high-tier endgame play with the help of addons on PC. It shows how active a player is in performing skills and LA weaving.
DG/Dung—Dungeon. Instanced content designed to be completed by 4 players.
DPS/DD—Damage per Second/Damage Dealer, both refer to the role of dealing damage. ESO was designed for there to be 2 of these per four player dungeon or arena and 8 per twelve player trial.
Fake Healer—Someone who queues as a healer in the dungeon finder without healing or buff/debuff skills slotted, and wearing gear that doesn’t buff/support their team They do this to get faster queue times, at the expense of their group mates.
Fake Tank—Someone who queues as a tank in the dungeon finder without having a taunt or other tank skills and gear. They do this to get faster queue times, at the expense of their group mates.
GH—Group Healer. In trial groups where there are two healers each may be distinguished by role, with this being one of the most common across all trials, while in each individual trial the other role is often determined by a specific mechanic. In other contexts, GH may instead stand for Gryphon Heart, the title earned for completing veteran Cloudrest’s trifecta achievement.
Group Boss—The term used in the endeavors system which seems to refer to a World Boss (often abbreviated WB). There is also a similar term "Group Event"/"Group Event Boss" which refers to a specific boss in each Public Dungeon that awards a skill point and achievement the first time it is killed per character, but does not count as a "Group Boss" for the sake of the endeavors system. Bosses in 4-player dungeons may count as a "Group Boss" (still needs verification). This is a term that will most often be seen with the endeavors system and rarely (if at all) used by players as slang.
Healer—The role of providing heals, group buffs, and certain enemy debuffs. ESO was designed for there to be 1 healer per four player dungeon and 2 healers per twelve player trial. If the two healers need to be distinguished from each other in trial, it is done based on the specific trial mechanic the healer is responsible for or else which gear sets each is wearing.
Hidden Boss/Side Boss—A boss which isn’t necessary to kill in order to progress through and complete a dungeon or arena. In some cases, these may reward a buff or other mechanic which makes an upcoming boss fight easier, but in other cases the only reward is extra loot.
HM—Hardmode, typically stated alongside vet to refer to an dungeon or trial run in veteran mode where boss fights have Hardmode (the most difficult version) activated when applicable. This is usually done by reading a scroll on the ground or activating a certain object near the boss. Note that none of the arenas have hardmode versions.
Holding—Using taunt and movement to place an enemy in a specific spot, then not moving so that the damage dealers can do their jobs more effectively.
HS—Heavy Sack. While not only a PvE occurrence, this callout is most often seen in dungeons and trials to alert party members that there is a heavy sack for everyone to loot. This callout is common enough that on EU servers it may be done in other languages, so if you play in PuGs frequently you'll learn to recognize non-English terms for it.
Keys—Undaunted pledge keys, which are used to purchase/open the monster set coffers from the undaunted pledge givers. Completing a pledge on normal mode gives one key, while completing it on vet HM gives two. When people in chat say they are looking for a run for a certain number of keys, they mean doing that day’s pledges in a particular configuration. The most common are 6 key runs (all three pledges done in vet HM), 5 key (the two base game pledges run in vet HM, but the DLC only in normal or vet but not HM) and 4 key (meaning the 2 non dlc pledges only).
Mobs/Trash Packs—Regular enemies which are often clumped together and easy to kill.
MT—Main tank. The tank who is responsible for tanking the boss in a twelve player trial.
n-/norm—The prefix applied to a dungeon, trial, or arena to refer to the normal (easiest) version of it.
OT —Off tank. The tank who is responsible for tanking any additional enemies that spawn during a boss fight in a twelve player trial. They may also perform additional mechanic-specific roles depending on the specific trial.
Overland—Content that doesn't happen in an enclosed instance (a 4-player dungeon is instanced, for example), or in a PvP zone. All zones and their associated quests and enemies are considered overland, as are things like delves and public dungeons.
Prog—Progression. Most often used as prog-group or progging, when a consistent (or "core") group of people are working their way through completing a dungeon/trial/ arena in vet, Hardmode, and/or trifecta.
Pull—Initiating combat. Ideally this is only done when a tank taunts a group of enemies or boss.
Reset—The call to restart a fight, either through wiping or running far enough out of range of the enemies that they go back to their original positions.
RND—Random normal dungeon. Queuing for and completing one through the group finder provides a daily reward, including transmute crystals. As such, people who ask for these often do so with the expectation of speeding through it as fast as possible.
Spawn—The place, and sometimes time of an enemy appearing in an instance for the first time, especially when an add only appears part way through a boss fight. In other contexts, this may be short for “respawn” after a character has died.
TanknSpank—When a tank holds a boss or other enemy facing them so that the rest of the group can stand behind the enemy to deal damage more easily and safely.
Tank—The role of taunting the boss to only attack you and not the rest of the group, as well as clustering enemies to be killed more efficiently by the damage dealers. Tanks also provide group buffs and debuffs, so are classified as one of the two support roles. ESO was designed for there to be 1 tank per four player dungeon and 2 tanks per twelve player trial.
Trial/Raid—Large group endgame PvE instances. In ESO they are designed to be completed by 12 players and are called Trials.
Trifecta – Speedrun, No Death, Hardmode of a dungeon/trial or Speedrun, No Death, No Sigil in arenas without HMs. Grants an achievement with a title and sometimes a cosmetic as well.
v-/vet —The prefix applied to a dungeon, trial, or arena to refer to the veteran (more difficult) verson of it.
Wipe—When every player in the group dies. Sometimes this is an intentional callout to reset the enemies in fight.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Overland Locations

Crag—Craglorn, the zone that was originally designed as the “endgame zone” for ESO.
CWC—Clockwork City. May refer to the zone or the DLC itself.
Dolmens—World events at set locations in base game (non-DLC) zones at which one (or often more) players kills waves of spawning enemies for a reward chest. They also provide a large chunk of easy experience.
Geyser—Abyssal Geyser. The world events found in Summerset. There is almost always an abbreviated location to go with it, and sometimes only the location is given and described as “Up”. The locations are: Corgrad, Direnni/Dir, Rellenthil/Rellen/Rel, Sil-Var-Woad/Sil/SVW, Sunhold, Welenkin/Welen (also the nearest to Alinor, so may be referred to as such).
HS—Harrowstorms. The world events found in the Western Skyrim and The Reach DLC zones. Not to be confused with Heavy Sack.
NE/N Elsweyr—Northern Elsweyr
SE/S Elsweyr—Southern Elsweyr
Shrine—Often referring to the shrines in The Rift, Bangkorai, and Reaper’s March where players can give/receive vampire and werewolf bites. As such, which shrine and bite is often specified with “WW” or “Vamp”. Occasionally it is also an abbreviation for wayshrine, context should make it clear.
Skyrim—Often short for Western Skyrim, though contextually may refer to the entire Skyrim region, or TES V:Skyrim.
SR—Skyreach. A instanced dungeon (though not fully a public dungeon nor a four-player dungeon) in Craglorn which is popular for experience grinding.
VC—Vivec City
Vvard/Vard--Vvardenfell
WB—World boss. Contextually may instead mean Welcome Back.
WS—Wayshrine

World Boss Abbreviations by Zone
*Note: if you don’t see a zone listed, it is because I don’t see callouts or confusingly abbreviated callouts there often. If you’d like a boss or zone added, let me know.*

Bangkorai

Ice Atro Boss/Nomeg/Nilata—Nilata Fall.
Spriggan Boss/Blighted—Blighted Isle.
Summoners—Sumoner’s Camp.

Deshaan

Bittergreen—Caravan Crest.
Ritual Alter/Druitularg—Druitularg’s Ritual Altar.
Sharpfang—Dire Bramblepatch.
Short Tusk—Short Tusk’s Hillock.

Eastmarch

Giant and Mammoth Boss—Dragon’s Hallow. There’s also a world boss here called Dragon Mound, so don’t get the two “Dragon” locations mixed up. This is also why people refer to the Hallow as the giant and the mammoth as opposed to the location name.
Ratmaster—Ratmaster’s Prowl.
Sabre Cat Boss—Ammabani’s Pride.
Swiftblade—Swiftblade’s Camp.
Werewolf Boss/Rageclaw—Rageclaw’s Den.

Glenumbra

Balefire—Balefire Island.
Lurcher Boss—Western Overlook. This boss is located very close to the major city of Daggerfall, and is one of the easier bosses to solo, so callouts for it are fairly common.
North Shore—North Shore Point.
Trapjaw—Trapjaw’s Cove.
Werewolf Pack Boss—The Wolf’s Camp.

Malabal Tor

Pirates Boss/Drowned Pirates/Bitterpoint—Bitterpoint Strand.
Strangler Boss/Grappler/Bone Grapplers—Bone Grappler’s Nest.
Tallatta/Jagged—Jagged Grotto. As of U31, this is known to have a long standing bug where you receive no loot after killing the boss.

Reaper’s March

Nereid Boss /Waterdancer—Waterdancer Falls.
Srenja—Old S’ren-ja Docks. There is also a town called S’ren-ja, but if people ask for help with S’ren-ja or Srenja, they probably mean the boss.

Rivenspire

Keep Boss/Kalgons Tower --Old Kalgon’s Keep.
Spider Boss/Hatespinner—Aesar’s Web.
Valeguard—Valeguard Tower.

Southern Elsweyr

Iratan/Lightbringer—Shrine of the Reforged.
Ri/Ri Atahrashi/Training Grounds—Ri’Atahrashi’s Training Ground.

Stonefalls

Dreugh Boss—The Matron’s Clutch.
Mudcrab Boss/Shipwreck—Shipwreck Strand.
Netch Boss—The Brahma’s Grove.

Wrothgar

Edu/King Chief—King-Chief’s Throne.
Mad Ogre—The Mad Ogre’s Altar.
Nursery—The Accursed Nursery.
Nyz—Nyzchaleft Falls.
Poachers—Poacher’s Encampment.
Unf Dol/UD—Unfinished Dolmen.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Names
*If there isn’t a chapter or DLC specified then the content is from the base game.*
*For info about the terms Arena, Dungeon, and Trial, see the corresponding entries in the PvE section*
Dungeons

Arx—Arx Corinium.
BC—Banished Cells (I&II). Note that Blessed Crucible also has the same abbreviation, but is rarely if ever abbreviated.
BDV—Black Drake Villa (Flames of Ambition DLC).
BRF/Bloodroot—Bloodroot Forge (Horns of the Reach DLC). I see this abbreviated rarely if ever.
CoA—City of Ash (I&II).
CoH—Crypt of Hearts (I&II).
CoS—Cradle of Shadows (Shadows of the Hist DLC).
CT—Castle Thorn (Stonethorn DLC).
DC—Darkshade Caverns (I&II). Note that Daggerfall Covenant, Disconnect, and The Dread Cellar Dungeon have the same abbreviation, but this dungeon will almost always be specified as DCI or DCII and also normal or vet.
DC—The Dread Cellar (Waking Flame DLC). Darkshade Caverns has the same abbreviation, but is often specified as I or II, and dungeons are also specified as normal or vet.
DoM—Depths of Malatar (Wrathstone DLC).
EH—Elden Hollow (I&II).
FG—Fungal Grotto (I&II). FGI is the first dungeon unlocked at level 10, and is thus considered the easiest and quickest to run.
FH—Falkreath Hold (Horns of the Reach DLC).
FL—Fang Lair (Dragon Bones DLC). I see this abbreviated rarely if ever.
FV—Frostvault (Wrathstone DLC). I see this abbreviated rarely if ever.
ICP—Imperial City Prison (Imperial City DLC, now free for everyone).
LoM—Lair of Maarselok (Scalebreaker DLC).
MF/MGF—Moongrave Fane (Scalebreaker DLC).
MHK—Moon Hunter Keep (Wolfhunter DLC).
MoS—March of Sacrifices (Wolfhunter DLC).
RoM—Ruins of Mazzatun (Shadows of the Hist DLC).
RPB/RP—Red Petal Bastion (Waking Flame DLC). The abbreviation shares the same letters as Blackrose Prison, so don’t get them confused.
SCP—Scalecaller Peak (Dragon Bones DLC).
Spindle/SC—Spindleclutch (I&II).
Tempest/TI—Tempest Island.
UG—Unhallowed Grave (Harrowstorm DLC).
VoM—Vaults of Madness.
WGT—White Gold Tower (Imperial City DLC, now free for everyone).
WS—Wayrest Sewers (I&II).

Trials

AA—Aetherian Archive.
AS—Asylum Sanctorium (Clockwork City DLC). This trial only drops ability altering weapons, rather than the usual 5-piece sets, and running the trial in vet awards perfected versions.
CR—Cloudrest (Summerset Chapter). Running this trial in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this trial in parenthesis in the Item Sets section. This trial has optional additional bosses that can be added to the final boss fight, so is referred to as (n or v)CR+0, 1, 2, or 3. In +0, only a weapon drops from the boss, in +1 an additional body piece drops, in +2 an additional blue (normal) or purple (vet) jewelry piece drops, and in +3 the jewelry piece that drops is upgraded to purple (normal) or gold (vet).
DR—Dreadsail Reef (High Isle Chapter). Running this trial in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this trial in parenthesis in the Item Sets section
HoF—Halls of Fabrication (Morrowind Chapter, which is now included with purchase of the base game).
HRC—Hel Ra Citadel.
KA—Kyne’s Aegis (Greymoor Chapter). Running this trial in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this trial in parenthesis in the Item Sets section
MoL—Maw of Lorkaj (Thieves Guild DLC).
RG—Rockgrove (Blackwood Chapter). Running this trial in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this trial in parenthesis in the Item Sets section
SO—Sanctum Ophidia.
SS—Sunspire (Elsweyr Chapter). Running this trial in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this trial in parenthesis in the Item Sets section

Arenas

BRP—Blackrose Prison (4 person arena, Murkmire DLC). Running this arena in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this arena in parenthesis in the Item Sets section.
DSA—Dragonstar Arena (4 person arena). Running this arena in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this arena in parenthesis in the Item Sets section.
MA—Maelstrom Arena (solo arena, Orsinium DLC). Running this arena in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this arena in parenthesis in the Item Sets section.
VH—Vateshran Hollows (solo arena, Markarth DLC). Running this arena in vet awards perfected sets, for more information see entries for the sets with this arena in parenthesis in the Item Sets section.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Skill Abbreviations
Weapon Skills

Cloak—Blade Cloak (Dual Wield skill line). The Deadly Cloak morph tends to be used more often. Also don’t confuse this with the cloak skill that Nightblades have. You’ll probably know based on context, or else the person will spell out which one they mean.
Dizzy/D-swing—Dizzy Swing (morph of Uppercut, Fighter’s Guild).
Ele Drain—Elemental Drain (morph of Weakness to Elements, Destruction Staff).
Regen—Regeneration (Healing Staff). The Radiating Regeneration morph tends to be used, especially for larger group content.
Wall—Wall of Elements (Destro Staff). The Unstable Wall morph tends to be used by dps specs, the Elemenal Blockade by supports.

Other Non-Class Skills

DBoS—Dawnbreaker of Smiting (morph of Dawnbreaker, Fighter’s Guild skill line).
Horn—War Horn (Assault PvP skill line). Aggressive Horn is used the vast majority of the time by supports in PvE content.
Orbs—Necrotic Orb (Undaunted skill line). Magicka DPS use the Mystic Orb morph, while Healers use Energy Orb, which turns the ball pale gold rather than blue.
Precog—Precognition (morph of Undo, Psijic Order skill line). This is used in endgame solo PvE to get out of sticky situations that would normally require a group to clear.
Rapids—Rapid Maneuver (Assault PvP skill line). The Charging Maneuver morph tends to be used when this skill is slotted and used to gain a burst of speed.
RaT—Race Against Time (morph of Accelerate, Psijic Order skill line). This is commonly used in PvP, whereas the other morph, Channeled Acceleration is used in PvE by DPS.
Trap—Barbed Trap (morph of Trap Beast, fighter’s guild). There is also the Soul Trap skill from the Soul Magic skill line, but that (and its morphs) is almost always spelled out.

Dragonknight

Chains—Fiery Grip and/or one of its morphs: Unrelenting Grip and Empowering Chains.
Leap—Dragon Leap and/or one of its morphs: Ferocious Leap and Take Flight.
Poo Rock—Stonefist and/or one of its morphs: Stone Giant and Obsidian Shard. Sorry but that’s what people call it.
Scales—Protective Scales and/or one of its morphs: Dragon Fire Scale and Protective Plate.
Talons—Dark Talons and/or one of its morphs: Burning Talons and Choking Talons.
Whip—Lava Whip and/or one of its morphs: Flame Lash and Molten Whip.

Necromancer

Bbs/BB—Blastbones and/or one of its morphs: Stalking Blastbones and Blighted Blastbones. Often spelled out, but occasionally abbreviated.
Colo—Frozen Colossus and/or one of its morphs: Glacial Colossus and Pestilent Colossus. If you play a necromancer in PvE, especially in a trial, you will be on Colossus/Colo Duty.
Siphon –Shocking Siphon and/or one of its morphs: Mystic Siphon and Detonating Siphon. There are a couple other siphon abilities/morphs, but in reference to Necromancers it will almost always mean this skill.
Skulls—Flame Skull and/or one of its morphs: Ricochet Skull and Venom Skull.
Tether –Restoring Tether and/or one of its morphs: Braided Tether and Mortal Coil.

Nightblade

Bow –Grim Focus and/or one of its morphs: Relentless Focus and Merciless Resolve.
Cloak—Shadow Cloak and/or one of its morphs: Dark Cloak and Shadowy Disguise.
Incap—Incapacitating Strike (morph of Death Stroke).
Shade—Summon Shade and/or one of its morphs: Dark Shade and Shadow Image.

Sorcerer

Atro—Summon Storm Atronach and/or one of its morphs: Greater Storm Atronach and Summon Charged Atronach.
Bird/Flappy—Summon Winged Twilight and/or one of its morphs: Summon Twilight Matriarch and Summon Twilight Tormentor. It is considered polite to put pets away in cities and other places when not in use.
Frags—Crystal Fragments (morph of Crystal Shard).
Monkey—Summon Unstable Familiar or its morph Summon Volatile Familiar. The Clannfear morph is typically called by the actual name. It is considered polite to put pets away in cities and other places when not in use.

Templar

BoL—Breath of Life (morph of Rushed Ceremony).
Jabs/Sweeps—Biting Jabs/Puncturing Sweeps. The stamina and magicka morphs of the iconic Templar skill Puncturing Strikes.
Jesus Beam—Radiant Destruction or one of its morphs Radiant Glory/Radiant Oppression.
potl—Power of the Light (stamina morph of Backlash).
Shards—Luminous Shards (morph of Spear Shards). Note that there are numerous “Shard” skills, but when people talk about shards and “throwing out shards” they always mean this one.

Warden

Bear—Feral Guardian and/or one of its morphs: Eternal Guardian and Wild Guardian. It is considered polite to put pets away in cities and other places when not in use.
Netch—Betty Netch and/or one of its morphs: Blue Betty and Bull Netch.
Shalks/Bugs—Scorch and/or one of its morphs: Deep Fissure and Subterranean Assault. The latter may also be abbreviated as Sub Assault.
Slabs—Crystallized Slab (morph of Crystallized Shield). The other morph, Shimmering Shield, tends to be spelled out.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Item Sets
*Note that some sets are said to have a Perfected version. This drops in the relevant veteran trial or arena and contains an extra five-piece bonus line, such as providing extra magicka or weapon damage.
*Note that so-called “selfish” sets are those which help the character stay alive and/or help with resource management as opposed to providing a group benefit. Sets that help a tank stay alive or provide a healer with more magicka may be labeled this way, for example.
Healer

Blue Balls—Worm’s Raiment (Vaults of Madness dungeon). Sometimes tanks wear this instead.
Green Balls—Sanctuary (drops in the Banished Cells dungeons). So called because of the glowing green balls that float around your character with this set equipped. Note that the set Hircine’s Veneer also has this visual effect but is used less often.
Hitis—Hiti’s Hearth (Icereach dungeon).
Jo/Jorvuld’s—Jorvuld’s Guidance (Scalecaller Peak dungeon).
MK—Way of Martial Knowledge (Craglorn zone). This set can also be worn by tanks or a dps, depending on the needs of the group.
Olo—Vestment of Olorime (Cloudrest trial), also has a Perfected version.
Ro/Roaring—Roaring Opportunist (Kyne’s Aegis trial), also has a Perfected version.
SPC—Spell Power Cure (White-Gold Tower dungeon).
Sentinel/RGM—Sentinel of Rkugamz (monster set, head drops from vet Darkshade Caverns I, the shoulder from Maj’s Undaunted chest).
ST—Stone-Talker's Oath (Rockgrove trial), also has a perfected version.
Zens—Z’en’s Redress (Lair of Maarselok dungeon). This is also commonly worn by a Dragonknight DPS to allow healers to run another set and because the plethora of flame damage abilities for DKs allows them to maintain good uptimes on this set's proc.

Tank

Alkosh—Roar of Alkosh (Maw of Lorkhaj trial).
CoR/Crimson—Crimson Oath’s Rive (Dread Cellar dungeon).
Dragon/Dragons—This can either refer to Akaviri Dragonguard (Eastmarch Zone) or Dragon’s Defilement (Lair of Maarselok dungeon). There are other “Dragon” sets too, but they are less commonly used and would rarely be worn by a tank.
Drakes—Drake’s Rush (Black Drake Villa).
EW—Eternal Warrior (Craglorn base game trials).
Leeching—Leeching Plate (Imperial City Prison dungeon).
Red Balls—Ebon Armory (Crypt of Hearts dungeons). So called because of the glowing red balls that float around your character with this set equipped.
Sax—Saxhleel Champion (Rockgrove Trial), also has a Perfected version. Sometimes healers wear this instead.
Torugs—Torugs Pact (3 trait, base game crafted set). This is run to enhance the effect of the Crusher enchantment, and healers may sometimes wear it instead if a tank needs to wear a more selfish set.
Yolna—Claw of Yolnakriin (Sunspire trial), also has a Perfected version.

Magicka DPS

Bahsei/Bahsei’s—Bahsei’s Mania (Rockgrove trial), also has a Perfected version.
BSW—Burning Spell Weave (City of Ash dungeons).
Dusa—Medusa (Arx Corinium dungeon).
EC—Elemental Catalyst (Stone Garden dungeon).
ES/Succession—Elemental Succession (Maelstrom Arena).
FGD/PFGD—False God’s Devotion (Sunspire trial), also has a Perfected version.
IA—Infalible Aether (Sanctum Ophidia, Hel Ra Citadel, and Aetherian Archive trials). This is a confusing set because gear is galled Infalible Aether, but the set is called Infalible Mage. A few of the sets from the base game trials and arena (Dragonstar) are like this, so watch out.
Julianos—Law of Julianos (6 trait crafted set from Orsinium DLC/Wrothgar zone).
MA/vMA staff—Crushing Wall (destruction staff from Maelstrom Arena). This item now drops in a perfected version from running the arena on vet, but this was not always the case and it may still be referred to as the vMA staff, though the non-perfected version can be obtained in normal mode. Also, people mean the flame/”inferno” staff unless otherwise specified.
MA—Master Architect (Halls of Fabrication trial). MA is more often seen as the abbreviation for Maelstrom Arena and its popular staff, so pay attention to context and ask for clarification if you are unsure which they mean.
Master’s Staff—Destructive Impact (Dragonstar Arena). A perfected version now drops in vet, the base non-perfected on in normal, although previously this weapon only dropped in the vet version, similar to the MA staff.
Maw—Maw of the Infernal (monster set, the head drops in Banished Cells II, the shoulder from Maj’s undaunted chest).
MS—Mother’s Sorrow (Deshaan zone).
Necro/Necra—Necropotence (Rivenspire zone). This set is written in shorthand less often after the release of the necromancer class, but is still included just in case.
Siro/Siroria—Mantle of Siroria (Cloudrest trial), also has a Perfected version.

Stamina DPS

AY—Advancing Yokeda (Hel Ra Citadel trial). This is particularly confusing because the gear is called Advancing Yokeda but the set is called Berserking Warrior, and many people just say AY. A few of the sets from the base game trials and arena (Dragonstar) are like this, so watch out.
BRP DW/BRP Daggers—Spectral Cloak (Blackrose Prison arena), also has a Perfected version. People often say daggers, but any one-handed weapon type can drop. The daggers are just most desirable at the time of this writing.
Hundings—Hunding’s Rage (6 trait base game crafted set).
Kinras—Kinras’s Wrath (Black Drake Villa dungeon).
Levi—Leviathan (Crypt of Hearts dungeons).
Lokke—Tooth of Lokkestiiz (Sunspire trial), also has a Perfected version.
MA/vMA Bow—Thunderous Volley (Maelstrom Arena), also has a Perfected version. This item now drops in a perfected version from running the arena on vet, but this was not always the case and it may still be referred to as the vMA bow, though the non-perfected version can be obtained in normal mode.
Rele—Arms of Relequen (Cloudrest trial), also has a Perfected version.
Spriggans—Spriggan’s Thorns (Bangkorai zone).
TFS—Twice-Fanged Serpent (Sanctum Ophidia trial).
Tzovgvins—Tzogvin’s Warband (Frostvault dungeon).
Veli—Velidreth (monster set, the head drops in Cradle of Shadows, the shoulder from Urgarlag’s undaunted chest).
VH 2H/Momentum—Frenzied Momentum (Vateshran Hollows arena). Especially popular/hated among PvPers.
VH DW/Vateshran Daggers—Executioner’s Blade (Vateshran Hollows arena). People often say daggers, but any one-handed weapon type can drop. The daggers are just most desirable at the time of this writing.
VO—Vicious Ophidian (Sanctum Ophidia, Hel Ra Citadel, and Aetherian Archive trials). This is a confusing set because the gear is called Vicious Ophidian but the set is called Vicious Serpent. A few of the sets from the base game trials and arena (Dragonstar) are like this, so watch out.

PvP Sourced (though PvPers often use gear listed in other sections as well)

Cowards—Coward’s Gear (Battlegrounds rewards). Unless the speaker is actually calling someone a coward, also possible.
Deadly—Deadly Strikes (PvP gear merchant in Bruma, Cyrodiil). Also used by stamina dps in PvE sometimes.
Leech—Vengeance Leech (PvP gear merchant in Bruma, Cyrodiil). Not to be confused with Leeching/Leeching Plate from the tank section.
PA—Powerful Assault (Tel Var gear merchant in the Imperial City Sewers). Sometimes worn by PvE tanks.
Potentates—Blessing of the Potentates (PvP gear merchant in Vlastarus, Cyrodiil.
VD—Vicious Death (Rewards for the Worthy or bought with AP from Elite Gear Vendors at Alliance Main Gates in Cyrodiil)

Other (sets used by more than one of the above groups)

Acuity—Mechanical Acuity (6 trait crafted set from Clockwork City).
Chudan—Mighty Chudan (monster set, the head drops in Ruins of Mazzatun and the shoulder from Urgarlag’s undaunted chest).
DDF—Death Dealer’s Fete (mythic item acquired through the antiquities system and Blackwood chapter).
DV—Diamond’s Victory (5 piece crafted set from Blackwood).
Encratis—Encratis’s Behemoth (monster set, the head drops in vet Black Drake Villa, the shoulder from Urgarlag’s undaunted chest). This set is typically seen on supports in trials, though a dps could wear as needed.
Gaze—Gaze of Sithis (mythic item acquired through the antiquities system and Blackwood chapter).
Kilt/Harpooners—Harpooner’s Wading Kilt (mythic item acquired through the antiquities system and Blackwood chapter).
NMA—New Moon Acolyte (9 trait crafted set from Dragonhold DLC/Southern Elsweyr zone). If written as nMA it means normal Maelstrom Arena, and if written without any caps you may have to use context to figure out which is meant.
Pelinals—Pelinal’s Wrath, which used to be Pelinal’s Aptitude prior to U31.
RotPO—Ring of the Pale Order (mythic item through the antiquities system and Markarth DLC).
Seducers—Armor of the Seducer (3 trait base game crafted set).
Stuhns—Stuhn’s Favor (5 trait crafted set from the Greymoor chapter/Western Skyrim zone).
TBS—Twice Born Star (9 trait base game crafted set).
Thrassians—Thrassian Stranglers (mythic item acquired through the antiquities system). It is known as one of -if not the- first mythic item to be OP when first released then nerfed to uselessness within a year.
Whitestrakes—Whitestrake’s Retribution (4 trait base game crafted set).

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oterWitz · August 2021

Other ESO Terms

Account Bound—Something which can’t be traded with another player, but which can be put in your bank and used by your other characters.
AWA—Account Wide Achievements.
BoE—Bind on Equip. As long as you don’t wear or use it, you can trade it with anyone else.
BoP—Bind on Pickup.
Bound—When an item can't be traded with another player or, in rare cases, from a character's inventory to the bank. Set gear must be bound by being worn, deconstructed, or selecting the "Bind" option in order to appear in the stickerbook.
Chapter—The main DLC pack released each year. From oldest to newest they are currently Morrowind, Summerset, Elsweyr, Greymoor, and Blackwood.
Character Bound—Something which can’t be traded with another player, or even put in the bank or used by another one of your characters.
Chievo/Cheevo—Achievement
CP—Champion Points. In this game there are levels 1-50, then the champion point system for endgame. The max level for gear is level 50 cp 160, and the current max level for cp is 3600.
Crates—Crown Crates. The loot boxes of ESO.
Crowns—The currency that is bought with real money and spent in game. People also "sell" crowns by gifting items from the crown store in exchange for in-game gold, which is safest when done between friends or guildmates, or through a broker service.
CS—Crown store, ESO's place to buy game items such as cosmetics and DLCs with crowns bought for money.
ESO/TESO/ESOTU—Elder Scrolls Online/The Elder Scrolls Online/Elder Scrolls Online:Tamriel Unlimited. This game.
ESO+ —ESO Plus. The optional subscription service added to the game after it adopted the buy to play (B2P) model in 2015.
G,GP—Gold, the main currency that is earned and spent in game.
Gems—Short for Crown Gems. The currency that specifically comes out of and is used for crown crates (and recently has been applied to other high-value cosmetics released in the crown store).
GB—Guild Bank
GM—Guild Master
Gold Sink—A game system designed to reduce the amount of gold floating around the game world. The Golden and Luxury vendors are two well-loved gold sinks because the money spend there goes to an NPC rather than ending up in a different player’s inventory.
Guild—Large player-run organizations. Other games may have different terms for this but ESO calls them guilds. The player limit is 500.
Lux—Zanil Theran, the Luxury Furnishing Vendor, who appears in the Hollow City in the Coldharbor zone during weekend to sell specific furishings that are optainable through no other source in game, though people can and do resell items through guild traders in subsequent weeks at a steep markup. For more details see: https://benevolentbowd.ca/category/games/esotu/eso-news/luxury-furnisher/
Proc—Procedure or Process. This forum post explains how it could mean Procedure, while certain text in game (notably the description of no-proc Cyrodiil campaigns) defines Proc as Process. Regardless, it refers to sets or skills with an effect only generated when certain conditions are met or actions performed.
Sets—Armor, weapons, and jewelry which, when worn together, provide special benefits depending on the number of total pieces worn. There are 2,3, and 5-piece sets. This is a key aspect of ESO, which does not have a gear score system, only a max level for gear (level 50, cp160) and a whole bunch of different sets providing a wide variety of bonuses.
SoE/Seals—Seals of Endeavor. The currency that is acquired through gameplay (specifically the Endeavors system) that is used for the same items as Gems, but without the need to buy and gamble with crown crates.
Stickerbook—The term players have given to the collections system for armor and weapon sets, found in the Collections UI. Once a piece of gear is worn, deconstructed, or if it is Bound on Pickup, it is "Added to Collections" and can be reconstructed at any point in the future. Because drops are now weighted to pieces not yet collected, the stickerbook system makes it easier to acquire acquire and manage full item sets, as well as help with inventory management because once a piece is added to the stickerbook it will remain there after the item is deconstructed or sold.
The Golden—A specific vendor who appears in Cyrodiil during weekends to sell certain randomized set pieces of the highest quality at the cost of a lot of gold or AP. For more details see https://benevolentbowd.ca/category/games/esotu/eso-news/golden-vendor/
ToT—Tales of Tribute. The deckbuilding card minigame added to the game with the High Isle chapter.
Transmutes/Mutes—The currency to reconstruct (or "recon") items from specific sets in your stickerbook, or else to transmute an existing item to give it a different trait.
UESP—Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. A wiki that contains a ton of information on all Elder Scrolls games, including ESO.
ZoS/Zeni/devs—Zenimax Online Studios. The company and people who make this game.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Nonverbal Communication

A person starts circling you while you're afk/standing still—They are probably admiring your outfit or costume.
An enemy spots you and either stands still holding block or emotes (such as /wave) in Imperial City Sewers/Cyrodiil—This generally means a person is indicating they won't attack you if you don't attack them, and is most often used by a person asking not to fight. Can you trust them? Do you even want a truce? The choices are yours, the consequences are not real, the deaths are not final. This is your judgement, Judge Judy.
An enemy shoots a light attack near you, then starts jumping and holding block in Imperial City/Cyrodiil--As opposed to the above section, this more often means the person wants to fight you one-on-one, but only if you are willing/ready.
Jumping—A person may jump in a large group, especially a trial group, to help show where they are. Supports may do this or emote at the beginning so people know who to look for mid-fight if one dies or must perform special mechanics. Or at the end a person may jump to show where they are if they have something to trade.
Light Attacking—When someone light attacks you or near you, it is usually to catch your attention or to draw it to something like a heavy sack which they are letting you loot. Templar characters may also throw a shard down using one of their abilities, which has the same effect. Alternatively, if you just did something to make a person angry, they’ll start light attacking and possibly send angry whispers so try to be polite and practice good MMO etiquette.
Mud Balls/Cherry Blossoms—These are two event-related collectible mementos that people use when bored. If you’re screen goes muddy brown at the edges and your character appears to be covered in mud, don’t worry, you were randomly hit by a mud ball and the effect will wear off in a few seconds. Similarly, if you are now wearing a pink flower petal crown with flower petals on the ground around you, someone randomly used the Cherry Blossom Branch on you. Most of the time it has nothing to do with you and you can either opt to ignore it or throw one back if you have these mementos collected.
Repeatedly Crouching—If you are idling and someone starts crouching and uncrouching near you, they are doing it to catch your attention and be annoying. If there is no context for this, moving away from them typically signals that you aren’t interested in whatever they are doing. If they don’t catch on, ask them to stop and if that fails, you may opt to report them (stuff like this is very rare though). If someone is crouching on your dead body, they are doing the immature gaming practice known as “Tbagging,T-bagging, or Teabagging”. If this happens to you try to be the bigger person and ignore it, but if the same person does it to you repeatedly and doesn’t stop when you ask them, report them for harrassment.
Someone comes up to you and starts dancing or playing an instrument while you're both waiting for something—This person is bored and wants to interact with you. Play them a melody or dance along with them, if you want. Alternatively, if there is a person playing an instrument at a boss that has spawned, it may mean they went afk while waiting for it to spawn, in which case it's polite to move around them to try and catch their attention. If they don't respond, they aren't there and it's polite to either wait or kill the boss very slowly so they have a chance to return.
Standing with two fingers in the air and a hand over the heart—This is the /blessing emote. On pc there is an addon called “Custom Idle Animation” which allows you to change your idle pose from the default to one of the game’s emotes, and /blessing is a popular choice. If you see this it generally means the person is afk or having a conversation in their guild or group chat.
Wiggling/WASDing—Moving around a little bit aimlessly shows that a person is present (as opposed to afk) and not typing in chat. This is most often seen at World Bosses or other large group content like trials where people show their readiness most easily by wiggling around.

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oterWitz · August 2021

Other

Addon—A freely downloadable file made by a player(s) which provides some feature not normally in the game, such as changing the appearance of the user interface. Only available on PC. Find them here: https://www.esoui.com/addons.php
afaik—as far as I know
ATT—Arkadius’ Trade Tools (addon). A lightweight version of MM.
AU/AUS—Australia.
Blue Screen--Short for Blue Screen of Death, a type of crash that occurs on consoles which requires a full reboot.
CMX—Combat Metrics (addon). The main addon for analyzing combat and target dummy parses. For more info on parses, see the relevant section in Combat and Character Terms.
Datamining—The process of finding traces of upcoming content in recent patch files, often related to upcoming cosmetic items, but occasionally also upcoming DLC or Chapter information. I don’t know how they do it, but that is what datamining in ESO means.
DLC—Downloadable Content
EHT—Essential Housing Tools (addon). A major addon for housing enthusiasts. Really, it’s a life changer.
EST—Eastern Standard Time. The game developers are located in this time zone in the eastern part of the United States.
EU—Europe. One of the game’s two megaservers.
FPO—For Positioning/Placement Only. On the PTS you may see images that are black with the red letters FPO. This is a graphical design term for a placeholder image while the final product is still being worked on.
FPS/Frames—Frames per second. Broadly speaking, this indicates how smooth and responsive the game will feel. More is better, as is a stable number. It is also tied to the refresh rate of your monitor or TV.
GMT—Greenwich Mean Time. Equivalent to UTC; often used in EU as a reference point.
Hotfix—An unplanned patch for a specific issue. In other games hotfixes may be applied while the servers are up but in ESO they are always done in window of approximately 3 hours during which the servers are brought offline.
iirc—if I recall correctly
imo/imho—in my opinion/in my honest opinion
irl/rl—in real life/real life, as opposed to anything that happens in or relates to the game.
Lag—Generally refers to latency between your computer and the game server, which is noticed when you activate a skill or some other input but then experience a delay before the game registers it. Input lag based on the quality of your computer and monitor is hardly discussed in this game because server latency has a much more prominent effect.
Live—The regular, non-PTS servers. Or else when an update or hotfix has been applied to these servers.
mb—my bad
MM—Master Merchant (addon). A pricing addon with functions to track an individual player’s sales within their trade guild.
MMO—Massively Multiplayer Online
MMORPG—Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game.
NA—North America. One of the game’s two megaservers.
Natch Potes—What ESO players lovingly call Patch Notes as they wait in the forums for Gina (our amazing community manager) to post them.
ngl—not gonna lie
OCE—Oceania.
OP—Opening/Original Post or Opening/Original Poster. A forums term to know.
Patch—An incremental game update.
PSA—Public Service Announcement.
PST—Pacific Standard Time, not to be confused with PST, meaning Please Send Tell, as discussed in the General Terms section.
PTS—Play Test Server, where content for an upcoming patch is released to be tested by the players. Some also call it PTR for Play Test Room.
QoL—Quality of Life
SA—South America (or South Africa)
SEA—Southeast Asia
tbh/tbqh—to be (quite) honest
ToS—Terms of Service
TTC—Tamriel Trade Centre (addon). The main pricing addon used on PC. There is an associated website found here to see all of the different item listings: https://tamrieltradecentre.com/
UI—User Interface
UTC—Coordinated Universal Time.
U—Update, usually followed by a number. At the time of this writing, U31 is just about to go live.
Vanilla—In other games it refers to an unmodded version of the game, but in ESO can sometimes refer to playing without addons, either entirely or in a specific context (such as a vanilla UI but using addons for other things).

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oterWitz · August 2021

The copy pasting is over. If you'd like to post with something to add do it below. If you'd rather the lists be all alphabetical, let me know. Right now only location, set, and skill lists will be.

I plan to complete the lists of locations, skills, and sets when I have time over the coming days. Thank you for your patience.

Finally, if you see a typo I missed you can let me know if it's really bothering you.

Edit: Oh, and I'm still remembering how to post forum links by a specific post number, so that part's still a tad messy-- Now Done! Let me know if you experience any issues with it.

spartaxoxo · August 2021

I think it should all be alphabetical.

Also have something to add to non-verbal communication

*An Enemy spots you and stands still holding block in Imperial City Sewers/Cyrodiil and walking towards you in a quest area.

This generally means a person is indicating to you that they won't attack you if you don't attack them. Can you trust them? Do you even want a truce? The choices are yours, the consequences are not real, the deaths are not final. This is your judgement, Judge Judy.

*Someone comes up to you and starts dancing while you're both waiting for something.

This person is bored and wants to interact with you. Play them a melody or dance with them, if you want.

*A person starts circling you while you're afk/standing still.

They are probably admiring your outfit or costume.

oterWitz · August 2021

Thanks for the suggestions, I added them to the Nonverbal section

I've also added a few other things that occurred to me today (and will continue to do so), as well as the entire Item Sets section. If there's something you'd like added there or anywhere, let me know.

All sections are now sorted alphabetically as well! Let me know what you think, or if you have an idea for an even better listing system.

Danikat · August 2021

Thanks for the very comprehensive lists!

It reminds me of when I started playing modern MMOs after a long break from the genre and was very confused by people talking about 'farming' when as far as I knew the game had no way to tame and raise animals or grow crops (things which were possible in some games). Even stranger they'd talk about "farming" things like goblins or zombies which I was sure you couldn't keep on a farm even in a fantasy world.

I worked it out eventually (and many other terms), but a topic like this would have been very helpful!

vsrs_au · August 2021

One term that could be added is "blue screen", one I'm very familiar with when I take on more than I can handle, LOL. Actually, maybe not a good idea, I just did a forum search, and the term seems to refer more to some game graphics problem than to the death screen.

AcadianPaladin · August 2021

Great job. I'd urge that this thread be pinned and, possibly moved to the guides section of the forum.

@ZOS_Kevin

oterWitz · August 2021

Thanks, I was deciding between here and the Guides section but figured PHP seems to have more traffic from newer players. If Kevin or a mod decides that Guides is the best home for this, then I will of course defer to them (especially if it includes a sticky

).

I added Blue Screen (reminds me of the dreaded Red Rings on old Xbox 360s) and a few other things. The remaining sections are still in progress as well. Part of me is waiting for a maintenance that I feel is coming for the bugs that persist after U31, but I may also try to push for completion before the event starts in a couple days.

fred4 · August 2021

OMG that's a lot. Amazing!

I would add that AD are almost exclusively called bananas, but maybe that's just PC EU, eh?

When someone holds block in PvP that IMO means they're not interested in a fight right now. It could be an experienced player who may be capable of killing you and will do so, if you attack. More often than not, however, I see it used by PvEers in IC. It's as much asking for mercy / lenience as it is practical, because if you don't block, you may just be overrun. However, if someone is blocking and jumping, that typically means they are ready for a duel. A duel request typically starts with a single light attack until the target or both players block-jump to indicate they are ready. This is most frequently seen late at night among players having gotten tired of sieging in Cyrodiil or who are small-scalers only there to fight in the first place, not to siege.

The LF section could possibly be expanded. First of all LFM means "looking for more" players to join a group and do something. Then, for example, something like this is a common one:

LF 1 tank, 1DD 5 keys = Looking for a tank and a DD to join a group doing the daily Undaunted pledges for 5 Undaunted keys, e.g. the 2 non-DLC dungeons in veteran hard mode and the DLC dungeon in normal mode.

Have you covered all the abbreviations used for trials and arenas in Craglorn? I don't think I've seen them, such as:

LF1M nAA = Looking for 1 more (a DD if not specified) to join a normal Aetherian Archives group
nDSA / vDSA = normal / vet Dragonstar Arena
nBRP / vBRP = Blackrose Prison
nHOF / vHOF = Halls of Fabrication
MOL = Maw of Lorkaj
SS = Sunspire
KA = Kyne's Aegis

And so on.

vsrs_au · August 2021

I got a reply from ZoS_Bille regarding pinning the thread / making it sticky, he said the moderators will discuss it and get back to me.

etchedpixels · August 2021

On EU at least it's common to see "+" or "+something" in chat when people are putting a group together (eg +dolmen +wb +dd etc)

Others

bot - a toon that is part of an automated farming setup (against the TOS)

DC - also used for disconnected. So when you see 'tank has DC'd' it means they've crashed out not gone to Cyrodiil
CTD - crash to desktop

Also missing

fake tank - someone who queues as a tank to get a short dungeon queue but has no tank skills
fake healer - ditto as a healer

There isn't a section for this but on EU in dungeons it's useful to know a few non-English forms of chest and heavy sack not sure they fit here but knowing the Russian for chest is worth it 8)

For timezones GMT - Greenwich mean time (used by a lot of EU folks as a reference point) - same as UTC

Gear Hitis -> Hiti's Hearth

dunno if you want hidden boss/side boss in there ?

oterWitz · August 2021

Thanks to those who suggested things, most have been added and the rest are on my list to be added soon. I also finished the Overland Locations section, which includes subsection with world boss name abbreviations. The next thing I'll be doing is the alphabet soup rundown of dungeons, trials, and arenas, though this may get delayed a bit because of the event.

Even if I pause the edits for a couple of days, I'll keep up with the thread's comments and add any suggestions you make to my list for the next editing pass, so feel free to post if you think of anything

vsrs_au · August 2021

oterWitz wrote: »

[*] CMX—Combat Metrics (addon). The main addon for analyzing combat and target dummy parses.

Newbie question: what's a "parse", and can this be added to the lists?

Reverb · August 2021

vsrs_au wrote: »

oterWitz wrote: »

[*] CMX—Combat Metrics (addon). The main addon for analyzing combat and target dummy parses.

Newbie question: what's a "parse", and can this be added to the lists?

That would be a good one to add. A parse is a dps test on a target dummy to measure the effectiveness of your build and rotation. Without addons this is done with basic dps information in your chat box after ending combat with a dummy in any player home. On PC it’s preferred to have a full breakdown of your stats in a Combat Metrics report. Most end game guilds have build and minimum dps requirements require members to post CMX when joining, and after major balance patches.

oterWitz · August 2021

Okay, I just finished adding the final two sections "Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Names" and "Skill Abbreviations". As usual, if there's something you'd like added, please feel free to post it. Especially if there are any skill abbreviations I missed or entries where more info would be helpful. Dragonknight and Templar skills are two areas where this is particularly appreciated because I play these classes the least at the moment.

I also made all edits that have been suggested: the final bits from the old batch of suggestions and changed "Parsing", which is in the Combat Section, to "Parse/Parsing" as well as adding more info to it based on Reverb's post, plus modifying the relevant CMX entry to point to it (more suggestions on entries that ought to point to each other are very much appreciated)--thank you all! And I added several more entries which occurred to me while playing as well as a small QoL feature: a "Return To Top" link at the bottom of each section that takes you to the original Table of Contents post.

All in all, this means that the initial form of this guide/thread is finally complete. I will continue checking in and updating every few days/weeks as needed depending on what I think of or if new suggestions have been posted. I'll also do my best to add terms and abbreviations for new content that is added to the game in future updates.

Hope you enjoy

etchedpixels · September 2021

Awesome - three more:

Glass Cannon - a toon built entirely to deliver maximal damage but with little or no defensive capability

potl - power of the light
Jesus beam - ditto

Not sure if troll tank is common enough to be worth sticking in pvp, especially as the rebalancing this year seems to have made most of them go away ?

r3turn2s3nd3r · September 2021

Stack—The order for everyone in a group to move to a specific place and stand as close together as possible. One of the most common versions is Stack on Crown, where everyone is ordered to move to the leader of the group.

You could probably make the distinction between "Hard Stack" (stack as a single toon) and "Soft Stack' (a fairly tight stack but not on top of each other).

oterWitz · September 2021

Thanks for the most recent suggestions, they have just been added (how could I forget Jesus Beam?!). I'll hold off on "troll tank" until people start using it more again, I haven't seen it discussed lately. And good input on differentiating hard vs soft stacking! That's been added to the "Stack" entry