Glossary of FFXIV Acronyms, Terms, and Slang

Have you ever read something in chat and felt like you were completely out of the loop? Did it seem like everyone else understood but you just didn’t know what they were talking about?

Like most online communities, FFXIV has a large amount of lingo that you may be unfamiliar with if you’re new to the game, or even new to MMOs in general. I’m here to try to demystify some of the strange sentences you may have come across, and will cover various acronyms, terms, and slang that you’re likely to come across during your time playing FFXIV.

A Note on Job Actions

Consider that in an environment where several familiar players are speaking about a specific Job’s toolkit, they may use acronyms instead of typing out an entire skill name, e.g. ‘LD’ (Living Dead), ‘WM’ (Wanderer’s Minuet), ‘ED’ (Energy Drain). You’ll usually know it refers to a Job skill based on context, such as a conversation happening on a forum thread or discord chat dedicated to a particular Job.

There are tons of actions that could be shortened in this way, but they’re uncommon in general chat and for the most part they will not be in this list. Some Job actions are more commonly referenced by players in game and I will include some of those that you’re likely to see.

A Note on Party Finder

Since every fight has its own mechanics to handle, you’ll often see party finder recruitment messages that describe the tactics they plan on using, which sometimes only make sense if you’ve previously done that fight or watched a guide video for it, e.g. “2x2x2x2”, “Ilya”.

I’ll list some of the more common terms that pop up frequently, but fight-specific strategy terms may not all be on here. If you see a party finder group using an unfamiliar term, just ask them!

Glossary

# Chest – In savage raids, indicates how many party members have already cleared a fight that week, and thus how many rewards will appear at the end of the duty. 2 Chest: nobody has cleared this week yet. 1 Chest: 1-4 people have already cleared this week. 0 Chest: 5 or more players have already cleared this week.

A1(S), A2(S)… – One of the 12 level 60 fights in the Alexander raid series. An ‘S’ indicates the savage version of the fight. An ‘N’ indicates the normal version, but it is sometimes omitted. Want to run A8S with me for the glamour? I can’t solo it.

ACN – Arcanist, the base class of Scholar and Summoner.

ACT – Advanced Combat Tracker, the most commonly used damage parser by raiders in FFXIV. Technically using it breaks the terms of service, but there is no way to detect its usage since it just reads game files. The developers turn a blind eye to people using it (even on stream), as long as it’s not used in game to harass other players.

Add(s) – Enemies which appear partway through a boss fight. The Offtank will grab the adds and bring them over here.

AFAIK – “As far as I know”.

AFK – “Away from keyboard”. The player walked away from their game for a moment.

Aggro – Enmity. Refers to who the enemies are targeting for damage.

ALC – Alchemist, a crafting Job.

Alt – Alternate, usually referring to a player’s second (or third etc.) character or Job. I have an alt on Crystal DC because my friend plays there. I’ve been using daily roulettes and Bozja to level my alt jobs.

Animation Lock – The moment when your character is unable to move because they are performing a particular animation from a skill, e.g. Jump (DRG), Assassinate (NIN). Casting Rescue on someone after they limit break can save them from the animation lock.

AoE – Area of Effect. If the tank pulls a group of enemies, your AoE skills will do way more damage than your single target skills.

APM– Actions per Minute. Another way of saying CPM – a metric listed on FFLogs that shows how ‘busy’ a Job or player is based on the frequency of their button presses.

ARC – Archer, the base class of Bard.

ARM – Armorer, a crafting Job.

ARR – A Realm Reborn. Refers to the base game, its storyline, quests, or content which go up to level 50. You can fly in ARR zones once you beat the base game.

Artifact Gear – One of the sets of level cap Job equipment given to a player as a result of quest completion. Usually embodies each Job’s iconic fantasy aesthetic, and is shown off in expansion trailers.

AST – Astrologian, a Healer Job (Heavensward).

ATM – “At the moment”.

B – “Back”. Just letting the party know a player has returned from whatever they were doing.

BA – Baldesion Arsenal. A large-scale level 70 raid that’s part of the Eureka content and storyline.

Bene – Benediction, a level 50 White Mage oGCD that restores a player’s HP to full. I’m going to use Superbolide at that point, so it’ll help if you have Bene up.

Bio – Can refer to the Arcanist damage over time action, but is also a slang way of telling people you have to go use the washroom. brb 2 min bio.

BiS – Best in Slot. Refers to the specific equipment pieces at a given item level that result in the best performance. Check The Balance Discord to see what your job’s BiS is this tier.

Blind – Entering a duty without having watched or read a guide first. Extremely common (and perfectly acceptable) for all story content and casual raids. For savage raids and extreme trials, if you prefer to go in blind, it’s best to let the party know ahead of time. My static is running the new trial blind, should be a fun wipefest!

Blist – Blacklist. The list of players whose chat and emote messages you cannot see. Also refers to the action of adding someone to that list. If someone is harrassing you in game blist them and consider reporting them as well.

BLM – Black Mage, a Magical Ranged DPS Job.

BLU – Blue Mage, a Magical Ranged DPS Job (Limited Job).

Boost – Usually refers to a Job level skip potion, bought from the Mog Station. It levels up a Job of your choice immediately. Could also refer to the story skip potion, which progresses your MSQ automatically to a specified point. I’m pretty sure I was in a dungeon with a boosted DRK. Level 70 and they didn’t seem to know the basics of tanking at all.

Boss Relative – Usually in reference to a specific fight mechanic, players take their assigned positions in relation to the boss’ position at that time. We’re doing boss relative, so your position will be on the boss’ left.

Bot – A character or account that’s operated by a programmed script rather than a real player. These accounts are usually banned in large waves every few weeks.

Braindead – Typically refers to a party finder tactic for a fight that reduces the amount of pattern recognization required of the players. We’re doing braindead orbs for P4S. It doesn’t matter which debuff you get, you’ll always go to the same position.

BRB – “Be right back”.

BRD – Bard, a Physical Ranged DPS Job.

Breakpoint – The threshold at which substats are converted into meaningful stats or effects. My retainer’s gear is melded to reach the perception breakpoint for max yield of that item.

BSM – Blacksmith, a crafting Job.

BTN – Botanist, a gathering Job.

BTW – “By the way”.

Buff – Any beneficial effect, such as from food, an FC, or a combat skill. Also refers to a game update that strengthens a Job. I need to reset the FC buffs, just a minute. A lot of buffs for my favourite jobs in this patch: potency increases and some cooldown reductions.

Burger King Crown – The Mentor Crown icon, specifically in reference to a Mentor who is for example: rude, unhelpful, or bad at the game.

Burn – Focus attention on killing something, especially while ignoring other tasks or targets. Don’t bother with the adds, just burn the boss down.

C – May refer to Casual in reference to a static’s goals, intentions, or time commitment per week.

Cardinal – One of the four cardinal directions: North, East, South, and West. Often mentioned in the context of handling mechanics in savage or extreme content.

Catchup – The process of getting a character appropriate level equipment, either as a new or returning player. One of the catchup mechanics is the removal of time-gated drops. When that gear was new it took several weeks to get; now it can be farmed in an afternoon.

CCW – Counterclockwise. Often describes which direction players should move during a specific mechanic.

CD – Cooldown. Usually refers to skills that have a moderate or long recast time, but can also refer to the period of time during which they’re recharging. Did you use your defensive CDs (Rampart, Vengeance, etc.)? I tried to save you but Cover was on CD.

CE – Critical Engagement in The Bozjan Southern Front. Have a limited number of participants, and have a respawn timer. Could also refer to the Collector’s Edition of FFXIV or one of its expansions.

CH – Critical Hit, one of the combat substats or its associated materia.

Cheese – To ignore or simplify a fight mechanic with a particular tactic or skill usage. I’m used to cheesing the heal check in P3S with AST’s Macrocosmos, but I’ll give it a go on WHM.

Cleave – An (often untelegraphed) enemy AoE that targets a single party member but will damage anyone caught in the line of fire. It’s best to always stay away from the main tank in case the boss has a cleave.

Clip – Delaying your GCD, e.g. by being slow pressing the next button, by using too many oGCDs in between GCDs, or by moving instead of casting your next spell. I probably could have weaved that oGCD with an instant cast Aero instead of clipping my Stone cast.

Clock Positions – Refers to each party member’s assigned position during a fight, spaced around the boss like the numbers of a clock.

Comp – Composition. The makeup of a party in terms of roles or Jobs. Most 8-man raid comps like to use 2 melee DPS, but I’ve seen plenty with 1 or 3.

Congested – The World Classification of a server that currently has a much higher population than the other servers on its Data Center. New characters cannot be created, nor can characters be transferred there.

CNJ – Conjurer, the base class of White Mage.

CP – Crafting Points. A resource used to perform actions while crafting a recipe.

CPM – Casts per Minute. A metric listed on FFLogs that shows how ‘busy’ a Job or player is based on the frequency of their button presses.

Crit – Critical Hit. Could refer to the materia or the act of landing a critical hit with an attack. I love seeing the huge number from a Midare crit.

CRP – Carpenter, a crafting Job.

CT – Crystal Tower. Refers to the level 50 set of Alliance Raids, unlocked in Mor Dhona. I always seem to get the CT raids in my Alliance Roulette.

CUL – Culinarian, a crafting Job.

CW – Clockwise. Often describes which direction players should move during a specific mechanic.

CWLS – Crossworld Linkshell. A chat group with players from the same Data Center, but different worlds/servers.

DC – Data Center. A group of servers/worlds that can interact with each other through Duty Finder and World Visit. I recently transferred my character from NA (Primal DC) to EU (Chaos DC).

DD – Damage Dealer. Another way of saying the DPS role.

Debuff – Any detrimental effect, such as damage down or vulnerability. When you’re revived in combat you get a 2 minute weakness debuff. If you die again while it’s active, it becomes the more severe brink of death debuff.

Derplander – The male Hyur Midlander who acts as the player stand-in seen in game trailers.

Det – Determination, one of the combat substats or its associated materia.

DF – Duty Finder. The matchmaking system of FFXIV, through which you queue up for duties. You can queue for all your story dungeons using the DF.

DH – Direct Hit, one of the combat substats or its associated materia.

DNC – Dancer, a Physical Ranged DPS Job (Shadowbringers).

DoH – Disciple of the Hand. The crafting Jobs.

DoL – Disciple of the Land. The gathering Jobs.

DoM – Disciple of Magic. Healers and Casters.

Donut – An AoE where the safe spot is within a certain radius of the enemy casting it. Basically the opposite of a point-blank AoE.

DoT – Damage over Time. A bleed effect. Summoner and Bard have multiple DoTs to apply to the boss.

DoW – Disciple of War. Tanks, Melee, and Physical Ranged.

Downtime – Time during a fight in which you cannot damage the boss, e.g. when they are untargetable or invulnerable. Skills like Meditate (SAM) and Improvisation (DNC) are usually used during downtime to build extra resources.

DPS – Damage Per Second. Can refer to your damage output or to the collective role of melee, physical ranged, and magical ranged Jobs.  We hit the enrage timer of the fight cause we didn’t have enough DPS. I queued up for this dungeon as DPS so I expect to wait a little longer to find a group.

DR – Delubrum Reginae, a level 80 duty associated with Bozja and Shadowbringers Relic Weapons.

DRG – Dragoon, a Melee DPS Job.

DRK – Dark Knight, a Tank Job (Heavensward).

DSR – Dragonsong’s Reprise (Ultimate), a level 90 Ultimate raid.

E1(S), E2(S)… – One of the 12 level 80 fights in the Eden raid series. An ‘S’ indicates the savage version of the fight. An ‘N’ indicates the normal version, but it is sometimes omitted. E9S was easy, but my group is still working on E10S.

Egi – A minion of the Summoner Job e.g. Ifrit-Egi.

Enrage – The final attack a boss performs at the end of a fight’s mechanics, usually in extreme trials or savage raids. It immediately kills all party members, so the boss must be defeated before that point. I’ve seen enrage on this fight several times, but I’ve never been in a group that’s killed it.

EU – European. Usually refers to either the players or the Region which contains two Data Centers: Chaos and Light.

EW – Endwalker. Refers to the fourth expansion, its storylines, quests, or content which go up to level 90. The Endwalker trailer was so cool!

EX – Extreme Trial. Harder than the story mode version of the trial, but not quite as hard as savage raids. Anyone want to farm Titania EX for the mount?

EXP – Experience. Could refer to the points you accumulate to level up, or familiarity with something. I need just a sliver of exp to level up. Do you have enrage exp for this fight?

Facepull – Starting a fight with enemies by running into their aggro range, rather than by attacking them. The tank facepulled the dungeon mobs, so naturally they walked straight past him and attacked the rest of the party.

Fanta – Fantasia, the consumable item that can be purchased from the Mog Station and allows complete alteration of your Character’s appearance in the Character Creation tool. He changes race all the time; he must use 3-4 fantas a month.

Farm – Repeat an activity or duty for a specific purpose. I farmed one of the level 60 dungeons for this glamour.

FATE – Full Active Time Event, which spawns in the overworld map zones as a blue circle with an icon in the middle indicating the type of event. Has a timer and gives rewards like experience and company seals upon completion. I’m currently FATE farming for my Shadowbringers relic.

FC – Free Company. A player-run social guild that can have player housing and buffs.

Femroe – Slang term for a female Roegadyn. I took some screenshots of my femroe’s new outfit.

Fetch Quest – A boring/uninteresting quest that amounts to “Go here. Talk to that person. Come back.” The post-ARR story used to be full of fetch quests, but they toned it down a bit.

FF / FF# – Final Fantasy, the game franchise. I was a big fan of FFXI, and I’m enjoying FFXIV even more.

FFA – Free For All. Refers to Treasure Map party rules when forming a group. Everyone can select ‘Need’ when rolling for loot, as opposed to ‘Owner Needs’ rules, where only the owner of a map selects ‘Need’ when rolling for loot from that map. Zonureskin map party, FFA, bring 2+ maps.

Flares – Often refers to a mechanic where certain party members are marked with proximity markers, dealing raidwide damage to each player based on how close they are to the marked teammate. The tanks are going to move to the corners of the arena for their flares, while the rest of the party stacks south.

FPS – Frames per Second. A higher frame rate results in smoother video motion.

FSH – Fisher, a gathering Job.

Gaol – Jail. Could refer to a fight mechanic which stuns and immobilizes a specific player. Could also refer to the special time out placed on a player by a game moderator for breaking ToS in some way.

GATE – Gold Saucer Active Time Event, which spawns every 20 minutes in the Gold Saucer and allows you to earn a chunk of MGP. There’s only 1 min left until the next GATE.

GC – Grand Company. Sort of a story-based guild, and there’s one for each of the three starting cities. You join one early on in the story, and may change later if you wish. Associated with several features such as squadrons, hunts, and PvP.

GCD – Global Cooldown. Weaponskills and Spells. These skills have a shared recast time (base 2.5 seconds) that decreases with Skill Speed or Spell Speed. Keep your GCD rolling to maximize combat efficiency.

GG – “Good Game”. Common phrase at the end of a duty.

GJ – “Good Job”.

GLA – Gladiator, the base class of Paladin.

Glam – Glamour. The equipment appearance you have on display. I love your glam! What chest piece is that?

GM – Game Moderator. The people who review reports and punish players for breaking rules.

GNB – Gunbreaker, a Tank Job (Shadowbringers).

GP – Gathering Points. A resource used on skills to give bonus effects while gathering.

Greed – Risk being hit by damage in order to squeeze in an extra attack, such as by staying in melee range to land one more weaponskill, or finishing a spell cast before moving. I was playing too greedy and I paid the price.

Grind – A long or tedious endeavor. FFXIV has lots of achievements and cosmetics that are very grindy to get. I have a few long term goals I’m slowly working on.

GSM – Goldsmith, a crafting Job.

GZ – “Congratulations”.

Hardcast – Cast a spell with a castbar, i.e. without the use of Swiftcast or Dualcast. My swiftcast was down, so I slapped a regen on the tank and started hardcast raising people.

HC – Hardcore, often referring to a static’s goals, intentions, or time commitment per week.

HoH – Heaven on High. A deep dungeon located at Onokoro (The Ruby Sea).

HoT – Heal over Time. A regen effect. I prefer playing Dirunal Sect Astrologian because HoTs are really efficient for healing.

HP – Health Points. You’ll be KO’d once they reach zero.

HPS – Healing per Second. A metric similar to damage output, but for healing. If you’re parsing don’t worry about your HPS, just keep the party alive.

HUD – Heads-Up Display. The arrangement of visual information on your screen. You can customize your HUD by going to System > HUD Layout.

HW – Heavensward. Refers to the first expansion, its storylines, quests, or content which go up to level 60. You can’t unlock HW Jobs until you reach Ishgard in the story.

IGN – In Game Name. The name of your character.

iLVL – Item Level. A quick indication of relative equipment power. Certain duties have an average iLVL requirement you need to meet before you can enter.

IMO – “In my opinion”.

Instaqueue – When you queue for a duty and the queue pops immediately because there was a group just waiting on someone from your role. Tanks and Healers frequently enjoy instaqueues for expert and raid roulettes.

Intercardinal – One of the ‘corner’ compass directions: Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. Often mentioned in the context of handling mechanics in savage or extreme content.

Interrupt – Prevent certain enemy attacks through the use of Interject (Tank role action) or Head Graze (Physical Ranged DPS role action). When you see the enemy cast bar blinking red it means you can interrupt that cast.

Invuln – A Tank’s defensive skill that provides some form of invulnerability, completely preventing either damage or death. Paladin’s Hallowed Ground is a great invuln, but it has a very long cooldown.

Jobstone – Soul Crystal. The thing you equip that makes you a certain Job (e.g. WHM). Without it, you will only have access to Class actions (e.g. CNJ). After completing the level 20 MSQ ‘Sylph Management’, you can do your level 30 Class Quest for your Jobstone.

JP – Japanese. Usually refers to either the players or the Region which contains four Data Centers: Elemental, Gaia, Mana, and Meteor.

Keeper – Referring to Keepers of the Moon, one of the two Miqo’te racial clans. Notable for their fang-like teeth.

Knockback – A mechanic that pushes players in one direction or away from a single originating point. You can either pre-position in anticipation of the knockback, or use arm’s length/surecast for knockback immunity.

KO – Knockout. Your character cannot move or perform actions and must either be revived by another player or use Return to be sent back to your current home point.

Lala – Lalafell, one of the races in FFXIV.

Landslide – An infamously iconic attack from the Titan trial where players are knocked backwards off the arena platform.

LB / LB# – Limit Break. A party-shared resource that is spent to achieve a different effect depending on the user’s role (Tank, Healer, Melee DPS, Physical Ranged DPS, Magical Ranged DPS). If a number is stated, it indicates how many bars were filled when used. Few fights need the Tank LB to mitigate group damage, but most of the time the Melee LB will be used for high single-target damage, or the Healer will LB3 to revive multiple party members at once.

LNC – Lancer, the base class of Dragoon.

LFG – “Looking for group”. Commonly used in shout chat; indicates you want to join an existing party. “LFG hunt train”.

LFM – “Looking for more”. Commonly used in shout chat; indicates you are forming/building a party. “LFM fate farming”.

Lockout – The duty timer on a fight, after which you will be kicked out automatically. We practiced E10S for 2 lockouts yesterday.

Logs – Referring to FF Logs. Summaries of a fight and its party members’ performances, relative to other players on their Jobs. Obtained by using a damage parser like ACT.

LoS – Line of Sight. A character needs to have sight (no walls/obstacles) of an enemy or ally to use actions on them. The healer was too far behind the tank and didn’t have LoS around all these corners.

LotA – Labyrinth of the Ancients, the first level 50 Alliance Raid in the Crystal Tower series. Surprise, surprise, alliance roulette dropped me in LotA again.

LS – Linkshell. A chat group with players from the same world/server.

LTW – Leatherworker, a crafting Job.

Mainstat – The statistics used to calculate HP (Vitality) and your damage output (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Mind, depending on the Job). Mainstat is usually the most important, so choose the equipment with the highest item level.

MC – May refer to Main Character, as opposed to a player’s alternate characters. May also refer to Midcore, referring to a static’s goals, intentions, or time commitment per week, somewhere between Casual and Hardcore.

MCH – Machinist, a Physical Ranged DPS Job (Heavensward).

Meld – Adding materia to your equipment, which grants extra substats. Your gear should be melded if you’re going to be doing Savage raids.

Meteors – Typically refers to a mechanic where one or more circles on the field must be occupied by players in order to prevent party-wide damage and/or debuffs.

MGP – Manderville Gold Saucer Points. A currency used in the Gold Saucer mostly to buy cosmetic items like mounts, minions, glamours, and orchestrion rolls. There are events every so often where you earn double MGP.

MIN – Miner, a gathering Job.

Miqo – Miqo’te, one of the races in FFXIV.

MMO – Massively Multiplayer Online. Describes a type of video game. FFXIV is an MMORPG.

MNK – Monk, a Melee DPS Job.

Mob – Any insignificant enemy, usually fought in groups at a time. Someone dragged a bunch of mobs over to where I was and I got caught up in the fight.

Mog Station – The website where you manage your account settings, buy subscription time, and purchase things from the cash shop like Job boosts, cosmetic items, and gift codes.

MP – Mana Points. A resource used to cast Spells.

MRD – Marauder, the base class of Warrior.

MSQ – Main Scenario Quest. A linear series of quests with a special meteor icon. Many things in the game are locked behind this quest progression. My friend has to catch up on MSQ before he can join us in the new raid.

MT – Main Tank. The Tank currently holding the boss’ attention.

NA – North American. Usually refers to either the players or the Region which contains three Data Centers: Aether, Primal, and Crystal.

Nerf – A game update that weakens a Job, or (rarely) a piece of content. Aw, they nerfed SMN a little this patch. Eureka became a lot easier later on after they nerfed it.

NIN – Ninja, a Melee DPS Job.

NM – Notorious Monster. Refers to the FATE-like bosses on the map in Eureka zones.

O1(S), O2(S)… – One of the 12 level 70 fights in the Omega raid series. An ‘S’ indicates the savage version of the fight. An ‘N’ indicates the normal version, but it is sometimes omitted. I hated O11S because I always died to the ‘larboard’ mechanic.

o7 – It’s a little person with their arm raised in a salute. Usually used as a greeting.

o/ – It’s a little person with their arm extended above their head in a wave. Used as a greeting or farewell.

OCE – Oceanian. Usually refers to either the players or the Region which contains one Data Center: Materia.

oGCD – Off Global Cooldown. Any skill that is not on the Global Cooldown. These are ‘weaved’ in between GCDs while they are on cooldown. White Mage doesn’t get many oGCDs at early level.

OOM – “Out of mana”. I was oom from raising so many people that fight.

Orb – A ball of some kind that appears during a fight mechanic. Often these need to be ‘popped’ by running into them, and the effects vary significantly depending on the fight. In E5S, grab an orb or you won’t survive the Fury’s Bolt mechanic.

OT – Offtank. A Tank not currently holding the boss’ attention.

Owner Needs – A Treasure Map loot rule (honor system), where the owner of the current map is the only one who may select ‘need’ when rolling for loot, and all other party members should select ‘greed’ or ‘pass’.

P1(S), P2(S)… – One of the 12 level 90 fights in the Pandaemonium raid series. An ‘S’ indicates the savage version of the fight. An ‘N’ indicates the normal version, but it is sometimes omitted. Some people have a hard time seeing the AoE markers in P3S because everything is orange.

Pack – A clustered group of enemies in a dungeon, usually tied to each other through aggro lines so that if you aggro one of them, you aggro all of them. If the healer is competent, even a new tank can survive pulling two packs at a time.

Parse – Track and/or record combat data to view damage output and skill usage by each party member. There’s no in-game damage parser, but lots of raiders use ACT.

Patch – A large game update. Even numbered patches bring new 8-man raid tiers and combat gear while odd numbered patches bring new 24-man alliance raids and crafting/gathering gear.

PF – Party Finder. The in-game recruitment board where people put parties together before beginning a duty or other activity. I’m going to put up a practice party in PF and do some crafting while I wait.

PGL – Pugilist, the base class of Monk.

Ping – Latency. The delay between the server and your game client, which affects how quickly your character responds to your input, and how much time you have to react to things happening on screen. I live in NA but play on EU servers, so I have high ping; playing certain jobs with lots of weaving feels uncomfortable.

PLD – Paladin, a Tank Job.

Point-blank – An AoE that hits anyone within a certain radius of the enemy casting it. Point-blank coming up, move away.

Pop – Activate. Could refer to something like using a cooldown or running into an orb on the field. Pop sprint and move to your position before the mechanic goes off. You have to wait a few seconds between popping your assigned orbs so that the healers can heal us up.

Popoto – FFXIV’s version of a potato. Also a slang term for a Lalafell.

Positional – A skill that gives a bonus (usually damage) if attacking an enemy from either the rear (back) or the flank (side). Only Melee DPS have positionals.

PotD – Palace of the Dead. A deep dungeon located at Quarrymill (South Shroud).

Powerlevel – Level quickly through focus and efficiency. Powerlevelling Tanks and Healers is easy by hitting your daily roulettes and then queuing for the highest levelling dungeon you can enter, running EXP buffs if you’ve got ’em.

Preferred – Could refer to the World Classification which indicates a world has a lower population than other worlds on that Data Center, and there is an experience boost for newly created characters there. I made my character on a preferred world for the xp boost; I can’t transfer for at least 90 days.

Prog / Progging – Progression. When you’re still learning how to perform the mechanics of a particular fight, and have not yet cleared it.

PUG / Pugging – Pick up group. Players who didn’t know each other before hand, but are joining a party for a specific goal, e.g. a group in party finder for a savage raid.

Pull – Begin a fight by getting the enemy’s attention. Also refers to a single attempt at a fight, or a round up of enemies in a dungeon. It’s nice when tanks give a countdown before pulling a boss. Last pull I messed up, but now I think I know where I’m supposed to stand. I’m going to do the whole corridor of enemies this pull, get ready.

PvE – Player versus Environment. The primary type of content in the game, where players fight computer-controlled enemies either alone or with a party.

PvP – Player versus Player. A relatively small (compared to other games) type of content in the game where players attack each other in teams to accomplish objectives during specific duties. FFXIV is not known for its PvP scene, but it does exist.

QQ – An emoticon for ‘cry’ or ‘crying’. He’s QQing over the WAR nerf.

Queue – Could refer to the waiting period when trying to enter a duty or be matched with other players. Could also refer to skill queuing, which is a ~0.5s grace period where you can press your next action (usually a GCD) before it’s ready and the game will perform it as soon as possible.

Raidwide – An enemy attack that hits the entire player group. Many fights begin with a raidwide and a tankbuster.

RDM – Red Mage, a Magical Ranged Job (Stormblood).

Regen – Regeneration effect. Heals a player over a duration. There’s no raidwide attack coming up for a while, so let your regen tick instead of casting another GCD heal.

Release – After being KO’d, holding the button to return back to the start of the dungeon/fight instead of waiting for a raise. Could also refer to new things being created or made available to players. I died to trash, so I just released to avoid the weakness debuff. There was a new feature released last patch that I’m quite enjoying.

Relic – A weapon with many upgrades that typically takes a long grind to obtain. There’s one in each expansion. Anything older than the current expansion is only useful for glamour, since the upgrades are often shiny/glowing. I’m still working on my paladin ARR relic. It’s quite a grind.

Replica – Refers to the repurchaseable level 1 version of an item (e.g. Relic weapons), used for glamour purposes rather than combat.

Reset – When all party members purposefully KO themselves to try again from the start of the fight. Both healers messed up and died to the first mechanic, let’s just reset.

Rez – Revive. Any of the skills that picks a KO’d player up off the ground.

Rez Immunity – The brief period of time after accepting a revive during which you are immune to taking damage. Lasts for about five seconds, but ends early if you take any action (moving is fine). I had rez immunity, but that didn’t protect me from the knockback mechanic.

Rez Mage – Slang for Red Mage, because of how quickly/frequently they can revive people when needed.

RMT – Real Money Trading. The exchange of items or currency in game for real world money. It’s against the Terms of Service.

Roe – Roegadyn, one of the races in FFXIV.

ROG – Rogue, the base class of Ninja.

Rotation – A sequence of skills, usually referring to the order or priority system that optimizes a Job’s damage output, but can also refer to the management of defensive cooldowns. I powerleveled to 80 but I’ve just been winging it; what’s my rotation?

RP – Role Play. Playing the role of your character with other players.

RPG– Role Playing Game. A genre of entertainment.

SAM – Samurai, a Melee DPS Job (Stormblood).

Savage – The more difficult version of a normal raid.

SB / StB – Stormblood. Refers to the second expansion, its storylines, quests, or content which go up to level 70. The SB zones are split between Gyr Abania and The Far East.

sC – Semi-Casual, in reference to a static’s goals, intentions, or time commitment per week. Somewhere between Casual and Midcore.

SCH – Scholar, a Healer Job.

Seeker – Referring to Seekers of the Sun, one of the two Miqo’te racial clans. Notable for their narrow cat-like eyes.

ShB – Shadowbringers. Refers to the third expansion, its storylines, quests, or content which go up to level 80. Norvrandt is where all the ShB zones are.

sHC – Semi-Hardcore, in reference to a static’s goals, intentions, or time commitment per week. Somewhere between Midcore and Hardcore.

SkS – Skill Speed, one of the combat substats or its associated materia.

Slidecast – Moving just before your spell’s castbar is complete. If timed correctly the spell will still cast because of latency.

SMN – Summoner, a Magical Ranged DPS Job.

Spam – Repeat an action quickly or back to back. As a WHM I usually start a dungeon pull with some Holy spam. To get a housing plot I stood there spamming the placard for ages.

Spin – Turn the boss so it faces a different direction. Often used negatively, when the boss is not supposed to be turned. The tank is spinning the boss for no reason, and I keep missing my positionals.

Spread – Move away from party members to avoid overlapping player targeted AoEs.

Sprout – A new player, typically with a green sprout icon next to their name indicating the New Adventurer status. There were a couple sprouts in the trial so I quickly explained one of the tricky mechanics.

SpS – Spell Speed, one of the combat substats or its associated materia.

Squadron – A group of Grand Company NPCs under your command. Can run certain dungeons with you, or be sent on missions and earn items.

Stack – Group up with party members, often to share damage from a specific AoE mechanic or make it easier to heal the whole party at once. May also refer to a ‘stacking’ buff or debuff, which gets progressively stronger the more times it is applied. You were a bit far away, stack with the party for that mechanic. I had a few vuln stacks so I was taking really high damage.

Static – A group of players formed with the intent of learning, practicing, and clearing one or more fights over many gaming sessions. I’m looking for a static to learn savage raids this tier.

Strat – Strategy, tactic. How a party plans to handle a specific fight mechanic.

Substat – As opposed to Mainstat. Players have some control over these statistics: Critical Hit, Direct Hit Rate, Determination, Skill Speed, Spell Speed, Tenacity (Tanks only), and Piety (Healers only). The augmented tomestone gear and the raid gear are the same item level, but the raid gear has more useful substats.

Sync – Adjusts your Job level and/or item level set to a specific maximum for a duty. Duty Finder roulettes always sync you to the duty.

Tank Privilege – When a Tank survives mistakes due to their high health and defenses. “We all messed up, how is he still alive?” “Tank privilege.”

Tankswap – When an Offtank takes over the boss’ attention and becomes the Main Tank, usually because of specific fight mechanics.

Tanxiety – The unease or fear of messing up when queuing for content as a Tank. I want to do the DRK storyline, but I have bad tanxiety…maybe I’ll ease into it through squadrons and deep dungeons.

TBN – The Blackest Night, a level 70 Dark Knight defensive oGCD that creates a 25% HP shield on a player and restores mana if the shield breaks.

TEA – The Epic of Alexander (Ultimate), a level 80 Ultimate raid.

Tether – A mechanic where your character is connected to something, often another player. Moving away from each other breaks the tether.

THM – Thaumaturge, the base class of Black Mage.

Tier – Refers to a specific set of raids or equipment, typically lined up with even numbered patches. Could also refer to substat breakpoints if discussing gear. This tier’s savage fights feel harder than the last one. Melding skill speed materia on that piece is only useful if it moves you up a tier.

TNC – Tenacity, one of the (Tank) combat substats or its associated materia.

Tomes – Tomestones. Refers to one of the currencies used in FFXIV such as Tomestones of Poetics, Revelation, etc. You can run this roulette on a lower level job for exp or a max level job for tomes.

Tooltip – The explanation window that appears when you hover over a UI element (action, item, attribute, etc.) that contains detailed information. If you’re picking up a new Job, it’s a good idea to read your tooltips so you know how your skills work.

ToS – Terms of Service. The rules of playing the game; breaking these could lead to punishment by a game moderator.

Towers – Typically refers to a mechanic where one or more circles on the field must be occupied by players in order to prevent party-wide damage and/or debuffs.

Trap / Trap Party – A party (in party finder) that is not performing well in a fight and seems unable to progress, especially if the party has overstated their capabilities/competence. I think this is a trap party. The description said to have enrage experience but half the party is dying in phase 2.

Trash – In dungeons (or some raids), refers to the numerous easy enemies encountered in between boss fights. As a Tank, don’t save all your defensive cooldowns for the boss; the trash usually hits harder.

True North – Can refer to the Melee DPS role action. Can also be in reference to a specific fight mechanic, where players always take their same assigned positions on the map/arena regardless of where the boss happens to be standing/facing. We’re using true north strat, so always head to the NE corner for that part.

Trusts – NPC party members who can join you in specific dungeon runs (Shadowbringers only), with you as the only human player.

TT – Triple Triad. A minigame associated with the Gold Saucer where you use cards obtained from duties and challenge NPCs or other players. I need the TT card from the newest fight to complete my collection.

TYFP – “Thank you for party”. A common phrase after a duty.

UCoB – The Unending Coil of Bahamut (Ultimate), a level 70 Ultimate raid.

UI – User Interface. The stuff on the screen that you click on or look at.

Unsync – A duty finder setting that does not adjust your Job level or item level when entering a duty. Often used to complete older content with ease at a higher level.

Uptime – Can refer to time spent actively damaging the enemy (especially autoattacks for Melee DPS), or time spent keeping up a buff or debuff. Melee Jobs keep good uptime by staying within range to hit the boss. Try to keep 100% uptime on your damage buff by reapplying it before it falls off.

UwU – Ultima Weapon Ultimate, referring to The Weapon’s Refrain (Ultimate), a level 70 Ultimate raid. Could also be used as a simple cutesy emoticon (kind of like :3)

Voke – Provoke, the Tank role action, which puts the user at the top of an enemy’s aggro list. The SAM has aggro, voke the boss please!

Vuln – Vulnerability up debuff, which increases damage taken and can stack. Getting hit by certain avoidable attacks will inflict one. The tank had so many vuln stacks by the end of that fight, I was having a hard time keeping them alive.

WAR – Warrior, a Tank Job.

Wall to Wall – When the Tank pulls as many enemies as possible in a dungeon, usually stopping when forced to, by a wall or a boss chamber. You can pull wall to wall, I’ll be able to heal through it.

WB – “Welcome back”.

Weave – Use an oGCD in between two GCDs. Double weaving is when you press two oGCDS in the time between two GCDs. I have a lot of buttons to press during that tankbuster, so I’ll weave my mitigation a couple GCDs earlier.

WHM – White Mage, a Healer Job.

Wipe – When all party members are KO’d. We keep wiping at that part of the fight. Let’s talk about how that mechanic works.

WoL – Warrior of Light. You, the hero of the game (in game lore, also others who are champions of Hydaelyn).

WoD – Warrior of Darkness. Still you, but in the Shadowbringers storyline. Could also refer to World of Darkness, the third level 50 Alliance Raid in the Crystal Tower series.

WT – (Khloe’s) Wondrous Tails. A weekly challenge where you complete specific duties (either synced or unsynced) to earn rewards on a bingo-style card. I’m about to run Ridorana Lighthouse for WT.

WU/T – Walk Up/Tell. A Role Play term indicating that a player is open to being engaged in Role Play by someone initiating conversation in character.

WVR – Weaver, a crafting Job.

XD – A laughing emoticon.

XP – Experience, usually referring to the points you accumulate to level up.

There are undoubtedly more terms and I’m sure I’ll think of more to keep adding to the list over time. Have you ever heard someone say something in game and not known what they were talking about? Let me know about any other puzzling lingo you’ve seen in chat.