Guild Wars Glossary of Terms
Numeric
1: Commonly used in party chat to indicate readiness.
1.5k Armor: Refers to armor that usually costs 1500 gold to craft that has the best possible stats, though a past update lowered the cost to 1,000 gold.
12v12: Twelve verses Twelve. A standard size of teams for player versus player Alliance Battles in Factions.
15k Armor: Refers to Ascended Armor and Obsidian armor that usually costs 15 platinum to craft each piece.
15^50: A weapon with a perfect "Strength and Honor" inscription, that deals 15% more damage when Health is above 50%.
20/20: A weapon with a perfect Sundering Mod, that has 20% armor penetration with 20% chance.
4v4: Four versus Four. A standard size of teams in player versus player battles
55: Refers to the Invincible Monk build, which is unique in that the monk has only 55 HP at level 20 with the proper rune and weapon set up.
A
AB: Alliance Battles, a form of pvp event available to Factions accounts featuring 12 vs 12 combat.
AC: AscalonCity. Alliance Chat.
Account: The account you use to connect to Guild Wars.
Active Prot: A monk that uses Protection Prayers but not maintained enchantments.
Adept (NPC): NPCs involved with the Oracle of the Mists in Factions.
Adept (Staff): Staff upgrade.
Adjacent: Skill range that requires you to be right next to your target.
Aeromancer: Elementalist dedicated to Air Magic.
Aftercast Delay: The time after using a skill in which your character cannot move or use skills.
Aggro: When monsters switch from passive to aggresive. Can be used as a noun or a verb.
Aggro Circle: See Danger Zone.
AI: Short for "artificial intelligence." Generally refers to the actions of henchmen and monsters.
AL: Armor Level, The amount of armor a piece of armor provides. For example an Elementalist's max AL is 60 while a Warrior's is 80 and so the Warrior will take much less damage.
Allegiance: Refers to joining either the Luxons or the Kurzicks.
Alliance: When 2 to 10 Guilds join together to work together towards a common goal that may be difficult for a single guild to achieve.
Alliance Faction: The amount of Kurzick or Luxon faction points held by an alliance. It is an indicator of an Alliance's favor with either the Luxons or the Kurzicks and is used to control outposts.
Ally: Any friendly creature. In respect to skills/spells this includes the caster unless otherwise noted. Thus a caster can place a spell to help an ally upon himself.
Alpha: An early stage of testing for upcoming Guild Wars chapters.
Annihilation: An arena and challenge game type, in which you must completely destroy the other team.
AoE: Area of Effect. Skills that can affect more than a single target.
AP: See Armor Penetration
Archer: Ranger specializing in marksmanship. Also an NPC found during Guild vs Guild battles.
Area Boundary: "Portals" from one area to another.
Arena Guard: NPCs that teleport you to arenas.
Armor: The clothing used by your characters, the AL (Armor Level rating) can vary from 0-100. Only certain headpieces
grant 0 armor AL. There are certain skills that give armor buffs which decrease the damage taken by your character.
Armor Infusion: A process done to a person’s armor to give protection against the Mursaat, Jade Armor, Jade Bow's and the spell Spectral Agony. To infuse your armor you need to bring a piece of Spectral Essence to one of the ancient Seers in the lands of Tyria.
Armor Penetration: The amount of armor that an attack or spell ignores when calculating damage.
Artisan: Crafter that combines common crafting materials to make rare crafting materials.
Ascended: Term referring to a character that has completed the Ascension process.
Ascended Armor: Armor that looks better than standard level 20 armor. The armor rating is the same, only the appearance is different. It is generally considered a status symbol to have Ascended Armor.
Ascension: In the Prophecies campaign, completing a series of quests in Augury Rock, located in the CrystalDesert, allows a character to attain legendary heroic status. Attaining this status allows the character to survive fights with certain enemies. It additionally allows the character to gain access to the Fissure of Woe (FoW) or Underworld (UW), and gives them the opportunity to change professions. In the Factions campaign, the equivalent is Weh no Sumission in Nahpui Quarter. In the Nightfall campaign, the quest Hunted!is the equivalent.
Attribute Point: Used to raise attributes.
Attribute Quest: Quest that rewards 15 Attribute Points.
Attuned: Being under the effect of an attunement spell so as to lower your energy costs.
AvA: A common name for Alliance Battles.
Avatar: (1)Representative of the Gods of Tyria. Players only ever interact with avatars, never with the gods directly; (2) A Dervish Skill or Form that allows you to become an Avatar of the gods; (3) Your Guild Wars character. You do everything in Guild Wars with your Avatar.
B
B/P: Can refer either to Barrage/Pet or Boon Prot.
Backline: Refers to line of spellcasters behind the tanks in an attack formation; your healers and support characters.
Barrage/Pet: A Ranger that uses Barrage for damage and a pet to tank.
Battery: Generally, a Necromancer who uses Blood is Power, but can refer to any number of other builds whose primary purpose is to maintain the rest of the party's Energy.
Beacon's: Beacon's Perch, an outpost in the Prophecies campaign. The Droks run starts here.
Beta: The testing stage after alpha but before public, commercial release.
Beta Weekend Event: Events that allowed players to play before the release of Guild Wars. Replaced by World Preview Events.
BiP (Blood is Power): A character using Blood is Power is sometimes called a "BiP" or "bipper". Synonymous with Battery.
Blessing: A temporary bonus, usually granted by an NPC for a price.
Blind-bot: A character spamming the Blind condition to debilitate enemy attackers (e.g. Blinding Surge, Ebon Dust Aura)
Block: Completely avoiding damage from an attack. Granted by certain skills.
Blood is Power (BiP): A character using Blood is Power is sometimes called a "BiP" or "bipper". Synonymous with Battery.
Blue Item: An uncommon item. In terms of item rarity, the most common uncommon item.
Body Block: The act of preventing other character from passing through your physical location.
Bonder: Monk that uses Life Bond and/or Life Barrier.
Bonus: In missions, refers to extra objectives that grant extra experience.
Boss: An enemy leader that is usually a higher level then their counterparts. They are surrounded by auras indicating their profession, and have additional affects that makes them more resilient or more powerful. Many Bosses drop a unique item.
Boon Prot: Monk that uses Divine Boon and Protection Prayers.
Bot: An automated program generally used to farm items. Bots are prohibited.
BR: Blood Ritual.
Buff: (1) A skill that increases the abilities of a character; (2) a change to a skill, mission, etc. that makes it better. Opposite of Nerf.
Bug: A flaw in the game that prevents it from working as intended.
Build: A template of skills and ability allocation that fulfills a role needed in a party.
Build Number: Essentially the version number of the Guild Wars release.
Bundle Tank: A defunct strategy to outwit the enemy AI using carryable items.
C
Call: Broadcasting your actions over the team channel.
Cantha: The continent in which Factions takes place.
Campaign: E.g., the Prophecies or Factions campaigns. Also known as chapters.
Cancel Stance: A stance used less for its intrinsic benefits and more to cancel another stance's downside.
Capture: Usually refers to skill capture or screen capture.
Capture the Relic: A "capture-the-flag" game mode in the Global Tournament.
Caravan: Bringing a full party of eight players across large distances to complete quests or vanquish areas with party-size limitations.
Cast: To use a spell or skill.
Caster: Any character that relies more on spells than weapons.
Celestial: In Factions, a prefix indicating something of incredible power.
Challenge: A practice player-vs.-player-style mission against AI opponents.
Char: Shorthand for Character. Not to be confused with Charr.
Character: Generally refers to the in-game representation (avatar) of other players.
Character Level: A general indication of the might of a character, ranging from 1 to 20.
Character Name: Name given to the avatar a player uses. Usually this is different from the real-world name of the player. E.g. "John Doe" is the player, "Ragnar the Mighty" is the character.
Character Slots: The allotment of potential characters that can created. Every character created on an account occupies one character slot.
Charr: A foe in Guild Wars and the main threat in part of Prophecies and Eye of the North.
Chat: To talk via the in-game channels that let players communicate with each other. The Team Channel allows only the players formed into a party to see what someone says (types). The Guild Channel allows everyone in your specific guild to see what someone says (types). These two function both in towns/outposts and in missions. The All Channel allows everyone in a particular district to see what someone says (types). This functions only in towns/outposts.
Chest Run: A form of farming in which characters run to chests in high-level areas without fighting.
Cinematic: The cut-scenes before, during, and after missions.
Class: See profession.
Clean: A weapon with no weapon upgrades, dye, or other modifiers, or an item with unwanted modifiers that would not change the price.
Collectable Drop: Loot that can be traded in at a collector.
Collectors: NPCs that give items in exchange for collectable drops .
Condition: A negative status effect.
Container: Any inventory item that can hold other inventory items.
Continent: The separate regions that each campaign takes place in.
Cooperative Mission: The missions that make up the player-vs.-environment campaigns.
Core: Term used to label any content that isn't specific to any one campaign, but applies to any/all guild War campaigns.
Corpse Denial: Corpse exploitation with the explicit purpose of preventing the enemy from exploiting corpses.
Corpse Exploitation: Utilizing a corpse for a necromancer skill.
Counter: Using one skill or build to specifically oppose another.
Cover Hex: A cheap hex placed immediately after a more expensive hex, to make removing the expensive hex more difficult.
Crafter: An NPC that converts crafting materials into something else.
Creature: Any living being in the world of Guild Wars, including player characters, non-player characters, allies, foes and neutral animals.
CTC: Central Transfer Chamber, an outpost in Eye of the North.
Customize: Customizes an item for a specific character, armor comes pre-customized, you can customize weapons for a 20% damage bonus. Some quest items are also customized. Customized equipment can only be used by the character for whom it was customized, or that character's heroes.
Cut-scene: See cinematic.
D
Damage Dealer: A party member who concentrates solely on dealing damage, as opposed to a tank or a healer.
Danger Zone: The white circle on the compass that illustrates the range at which mobs will aggro.
DD: (1) Abbreviation for Direct Damage; (2) Short term for one of three scenarios in the game (Defend Denravi, Defend Droknar's Forge and Destruction's Depths).
Death Penalty: A cumulative penalty to your maximum health and energy, caused by dying.
Debuff: A negative condition, or health or energy degeneration; something which makes characters weaker. Opposite of a Buff.
Degeneration: When the health or energy bar steadily decreases by a set amount based on the amount of degeneration used from between 1 to 10 "pips". Commonly shortened to Degen.
Direct Damage: Damage that comes in a single unit from a hit/blast.spell, as opposed to damage over time. Abbreviated as DD.
Disrupt: See Interrupt.
District: Zones within a town or outpost. Towns and Outposts are public areas to be used for selling, trading, chatting, forming adventuring parties and sometimes picking up quests and doing missions.
Divine Aura: A visual effect that owners of the Collector's Edition get while dancing.
DNKP: Short tem for the scenario DefendNorthKrytaProvince.
DoA: Domain of Anguish, a certain map in the end of Guild Wars: Nightfall containing high-end monsters. You go to DoA after defeating Abaddon; it is where you defeat Abaddon's remaining followers and "generals".
DoT: Damage over Time. Any kind of damage that doesn't take effect immediately, and usually comes in separate unit from multiple hits/blasts/spells.
DP: Death Penalty. A cumulative penalty to your maximum health and energy caused by dying.
DPS: Damage Per Second.
Droks: Abbreviation for Droknar's Forge, an outpost in Prophecies where one can craft max armor and undertake the Titan quests.
Drop: (1) term for an item (loot) dropped from a defeated opponent; (2) to lose connection to the game.
Dual Attack: A devastating type of assassin strike.
E
E: Abbreviation for either energy or Glob of Ectoplasm, depending on context.
E-Burn: Energy Burn – name of a particular spell causing energy loss and damage to opponent
E-Surge: Energy Surge – name of a particular spell causing energy loss and damage to opponent
Elona: The continent in which the events of Nightfall occur.
Energy: The amount of mana (spell points) a character has. When a character is out of energy it can no longer cast spells. To find your energy look for the blue bar above your skills. Energy rejuvenates over time.
EotN: The first and only expansion to Guild Wars players. It uses the same continent as Prophecies.
Echo Chain: A strategy involving multiple uses of Echo and Arcane Echo to duplicate a spell many times.
Ecto: Means Glob of Ectoplasm. Other commonly used term is glob.
ELC: Ember Light Camp. An outpost in the Prophecies campaign, notable for containing Dakk, a skill trainer who teaches all the skills in the Prophecies campaign. This outpost is also the only staging area from which to enter Perdition Rock, which makes it a popular place for people seeking to capture Elite skills.
Elite Mission: Missions in Factions that require alliance control to enter.
Elite Skill: A skill more powerful than other skills. Only one elite skill can be equipped at a time.
Emblem: The graphic that appears on a guild cape.
Emote: A command that causes your character to animate an action.
Enchantment: A spell that causes a positive effect for a period of time. Opposite of hex.
Energy Denial: A strategy that focuses on removing the energy of your enemy, preventing him from using skills.
Environment Effect: A spell or enchantment that takes effect upon entering a certain area.
EoE: Edge of Extinction.
EoE Bomb: A mostly defunct PvP strategy that focused on the use of Edge of Extinction.
Err 7: The error code returned by Guild Wars after a server disconnect.
EW: Energizing Wind.
Exclusive Area: In Factions, the portion of an outpost that only the controlling alliance's members can enter. Sometimes used to refer to areas which can only be reached at a certain point in the game, such as the "balcony" in KainengCity.
Experience: The mechanism by which characters gain character levels and skill points.
Exploit: A bug in the game that can be used to illegitimately benefit a character. Excessive use of an exploit can result in an account ban.
Explorable Area: The areas between outposts and cities.
F
Factions: The second campaign available to Guild Wars players. Has many relations to Asian culture.
Faction (Alliance): Kurzick or Luxon faction points used to gain alliance territory.
Faction (Balthazar): Points earned in PvP that can be used to unlock goodies on your account.
Faction Rewards: Skills and other goodies obtained by exchanging (turning in) Balthazar faction points.
Faction Transfer: Act of donating (turning in) Alliance faction points to raise your standing with either the Kurzick Faction or the Luxon faction.
Faction Farming: Methods by which to accrue faction points at an incredible rate.
Fame: Points accrued upon victory at Heroes' Ascent that eventually increase your rank.
Farming: Repeatedly killing the same things to repeatedly gain the same reward, be it items or something else.
Favor of the Gods: Reward granted to the world for noteworthy achievements in PvE.
FDH: Short for Flame Djinn's Haste, a particular skill that causes fire damage to opponents and speeds up caster.
Ferry: A player that provides transport to Elite Missions, often for a fee.
Fissure Armor: See Obsidian armor.
Flag Runner: In GvG, a dedicated player that plants his team's flag in the flag stand.
Flag Stand: In GvG, a point at the center of the map that can be controlled via a team's flag.