Reference · Season 42 · October 2026 · 6 min read
Mobile Legends glossary
MLBB chat moves fast and assumes you know the words. This glossary collects the terms you will see in matches, guides, streams and account listings, grouped by topic.
Updated 30 October 2026 for Season 42, patch 2.2.16a (October 2026).
Who plays what
Positions and roles
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| EXP / EXP lane / Exp laner | The side lane whose solo laner gets bonus EXP; usually a fighter |
| Gold / Gold lane / Gold laner | The side lane whose solo laner gets bonus gold; usually a marksman |
| Mid | The middle lane; usually a mage |
| Jungler / Jungle | The player who farms the jungle with Retribution |
| Roam / Roamer | The player who moves with fights; tank or support |
| MM | Marksman |
| Tank | High-HP hero who starts fights and absorbs damage |
| Fighter | Durable melee damage hero |
| Assassin | Burst-damage hero who kills single targets |
| Mage | Magic-damage hero, usually with crowd control |
| Support | Hero who heals, shields or gives utility |
| Carry | The hero expected to deal most of the damage late, often the marksman |
| Flex pick | A hero who can play more than one lane |
| Main | A player’s most-played hero or role |
| One-trick | A player who plays almost only one hero |
Places and monsters
Map and objectives
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Land of Dawn | The name of the standard 5v5 map |
| Lane | One of the three paths between the bases |
| Turret / tower | Defensive structure; three per lane per side: outer, inner, base |
| Crystal / base | The core structure; destroy it to win |
| River | The area between the two jungles |
| Bush | Tall grass that hides heroes inside it |
| Purple buff | Jungle monster that gives cooldown reduction and mana or energy |
| Red / orange buff | Jungle monster that gives damage and slows on attack |
| Turtle | River objective from 2:00 that gives the team gold and EXP |
| Lord | Big objective from 8:00 that pushes a lane for the team that kills it |
| Lithowanderer | River creature that gives a small reward to the team that takes it |
| Camps | Jungle monsters |
| Invade | Entering the enemy jungle to take their camps |
| Base / fountain | Where heroes respawn and heal |
| Battlefield variant | Map changes rotated by the annual map change, such as Golden Turret or Healing Turtle |
Fighting
Combat terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| CC | Crowd control: stuns, slows, knock-ups, silences, suppresses |
| Burst | A lot of damage in a very short time |
| DPS | Damage per second; sustained damage |
| Poke | Damage from long range before a fight |
| Engage / initiate | Starting a fight |
| Disengage | Leaving a fight or preventing one |
| Peel | Protecting an ally from enemies who attack them |
| Dive | Attacking enemies under their turret or behind their frontline |
| Kite | Attacking while moving away so a melee enemy cannot reach you |
| Gank | A surprise attack on a lane, usually by the jungler |
| Combo | A sequence of skills used together |
| Ult | Ultimate, a hero’s strongest skill, unlocked at level 4 |
| Skill shot | A skill that must be aimed and can miss |
| Face-check | Walking into a bush without vision |
| Team fight | A fight with most of both teams |
| Pick / pick-off | Killing one enemy who is out of position |
| Split-push | Pushing a side lane alone while the team is elsewhere |
| Backdoor | Destroying turrets or the base while the enemy is away |
| Wipe / ace | Killing all five enemies |
| Savage | Five kills in a row by one player |
| Maniac | Four kills in a row by one player |
| Legendary | A long kill streak without dying |
| First blood | The first kill of the match |
| Steal | Taking a buff, Turtle or Lord the enemy was attacking |
| Throw | Losing a winning game through mistakes |
Resources in a match
Farm, items and spells
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Farm | Gold and EXP from minions and creeps |
| Last hit | The final hit on a minion, which gives the gold |
| Wave | A group of minions |
| Push | Clearing waves and moving them towards the enemy turret |
| Freeze | Keeping a wave close to your turret |
| Power spike | The moment a hero becomes much stronger, often at level 4 or a key item |
| Build | The items, emblem and spell a hero uses |
| Anti-heal | Items that reduce healing: Dominance Ice, Sea Halberd, Glowing Wand |
| Pen | Penetration, which ignores part of the target’s defence |
| Retri | Retribution, the jungler’s battle spell |
| Blessing | An upgrade on boots for junglers (Ice, Flame, Bloody Retribution) or roamers (Conceal, Encourage, Favor, Dire Hit) |
| Emblem | Pre-match stats and talents |
| Talent | A perk chosen inside an emblem, such as Killing Spree |
| Battle spell | One active skill chosen before the match, such as Flicker |
| Bounty | Extra gold for killing a hero on a streak, or catch-up gold for the team behind |
Matchmaking vocabulary
Draft and ranked
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft pick | Mode with bans and alternating picks; opens at Epic in ranked |
| Ban | Removing a hero from the draft |
| Counter / counter pick | A hero chosen because it is strong against an enemy hero |
| Meta | The heroes and strategies that are strongest in the current patch |
| Patch | A game update that changes heroes, items or the map |
| Buff / nerf | A change that makes a hero stronger / weaker |
| Tier list | A ranking of heroes by strength |
| Solo queue / solo Q | Ranked alone, without a party |
| Stack / squad | A group of friends queuing together |
| Stars | Ranked progress points; Mythic tiers are counted in stars |
| MI / MG / MH | Mythical Immortal / Mythical Glory / Mythical Honor |
| Credit score | Behaviour score; below 90 you cannot play ranked |
| AFK | A player who stopped playing during a match |
| Smurf | A skilled player on a new or low-ranked account |
| GG | Good game; also used to say the match is decided |
Collection vocabulary
Skins and accounts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Legend skin | Supreme quality, the highest tier; Magic Wheel or limited events |
| Collector skin | Exquisite quality, from the monthly Exquisite Collection draw |
| Starlight | Monthly pass skin; Exceptional quality |
| Collab skin | Skin from a collaboration with an anime, film or brand; Grand quality |
| Zodiac | Skins from the monthly Zodiac Summon; Deluxe quality |
| Painted skin | Recoloured version of a skin |
| Collection points | Points every skin adds to the profile; they set the collector title |
| Collector title | Profile title from total collection points, up to World and Galaxy Collector |
| Magic Wheel | Draw for Legend skins with a pity counter |
| Pity | The guaranteed reward after a set number of draws |
| Diamonds | Premium currency |
| BP | Battle Points, earned by playing |
| Moonton account | The login that secures an MLBB account |
| Bind | Linking a login (Moonton, Google, Facebook, VK, Game Center) to an account |
| Recovery / reclaim | A previous owner getting an account back through support |
For how skin qualities and collector titles work in detail, see skins and Collector skins.
Quick messages
Chat shorthand
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BB / B | Back to base |
| Gather | Group up, usually before an objective |
| Push | Push the lane or turret |
| Def | Defend a turret |
| Missing / mia | An enemy is not visible on the map |
| Ez | Easy; often taunting |
| Noob | An insult for a weak player; best muted |
| Report | A call to report a player for behaviour |
| Feeding | Dying repeatedly and giving the enemy gold |
| Stealer | Accusation for taking a buff, kill or minion |
Quick chat buttons cover most of these, and using them instead of typing keeps your hands on the game.
Answers
Mobile Legends glossary: FAQ
What does MM mean in Mobile Legends?
Marksman: a ranged physical damage hero who usually plays Gold lane.
What does retri mean?
Retribution, the battle spell every jungler carries to farm the jungle and secure Turtle and Lord.
What is a Savage?
Five kills in a row by one player without dying, usually in a single team fight. Maniac is four.
What does CC mean?
Crowd control: any effect that limits movement or action, such as a stun, slow, knock-up, silence or suppress.
Keep reading
Related guides
Mobile Legends beginner’s guide9 min read
Mobile Legends emblems and battle spells5 min read
Mobile Legends jungle routes and objective timers5 min read
Mobile Legends economy: diamonds, Starlight and draws5 min readAll guides: Mobile Legends guides.
Sources
Written by METAMMO from the sources below and in-game checks; patch-sensitive facts are dated in the text. MLBB map guide: lanes, camps and objectives (MLBBHub, October 2026) · MLBB jungle rotation guide (MLBBHub, October 2026) · MLBB rank system 2026: tiers, stars and reset (MLBBHub) · How to raise the ML credit score (VCGamers) · Four roaming blessings and their best heroes (ONE Esports) · Project Reforge: revamped Collector and Legend events (GamingonPhone) · MLBB Exquisite Collection revamp guide (esports.gg)