AoE meaning: What’s the meaning of AoE in games?

Within the RPG universe, there is a set of codes of great importance. If you haven’t seen the acronym AoE, or never got to know any AoE meaning until now, you probably haven’t gone very deep into any game.

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1. Area of Effect

From grenades to bloodthirsty spells throwing meteors from the sky! AoE meaning stands mainly for “Area of Effect”. It is a set of codes organized with their names and functions that define the range of attacks or spells.

In other words, an attack, spell or function of your character affects an area, rather than just affecting one or more targets specifically or randomly.

This term is an essential part of many role-playing games that have revolutionized the world of video games, due to their accessibility, graphic capacity, historical/fantasy contexts and the virtual effect of interacting in a parallel reality.

AoE Meaning, Area of Effect

© Riot Games

Area of Effect VS Splash Damage and Split Damage

There is a common misunderstanding when it comes to splash damage attacks in games. Many players (especially new ones) can be confused as both terms imply that some or several enemies are damaged. In this regard, splash damage can be considered a type of AOE meaning gaming while the “splash area” is the “Area of effect”.

On the other hand, we have split damage, which usually consists of targets sharing a damage count. Despite this concept being centered on the idea of hitting multiple targets, it doesn’t need to be part of an AOE to happen.

For example, the move “Surf”, as well as all other moves that hit all the enemies in Pokémon games of the 3rd Generation did split the damage among the targets. On the other hand, this didn’t happen with moves that hit all Pokémon in battle (such as Earthquake or Explosion). Note that this was fixed in Generation IV and forward. So now such moves only have a 25% reduction in multi-battles.

As for an example of non-AOE split damage, we have the Arcane Missiles card in Hearthstone, which deals 3 damage among random enemies.

non-aoe split damage arcane missiles card hearthstone

© Blizzard Entertainment

In which games you can use AoE?

There are too many games in which a good AoE can save your life, however, some of the most influential at the moment are the following:

Overwatch

It’s a first-person shooters game that consists of a 6 by 6 framing of teams fighting in different missions.

Among the AoE that stand out in this game is Mei, with her spell called “Blizzard” works for both Crowd Control and AoE damage and Lucio’s Sound Barrier AoE meaning an extra-life shield buff to allies in a 30m range near him. – Read here more Overwatch News.

League of Legends

LoL is a MOBA-type game, and the only one to compete with Dota2 after a reign of years as the only MOBA with worldwide recognition.

In this game, the AoE are very varied and you can execute them based on visible or invisible areas depending on the type of skill. For example, chain AoEs affect enemies randomly within an area of effect after hitting a specific target (such as Brand’s Pyroclasm).

On the other hand, there are also AoE that are born from your character attacking those who are nearby (like Amumu’s iconic “Curse of the Sad Mummy”) or that affect an area in front of you in a linear or cone way or designated.

In the League of Legends Wikia you can see how much each rank measures, the meaning of AoE and types within the game, and how they increase based on the points you distribute during the game. However, the best way to measure the rank of an AoE is to see how much you have to run so that the aura of the “Fury of the Sands” of the enemy Nasus does not reach you. – Read here more League of Legends news.

Fortnite

It’s a transcendental game and an important part of the world of Esports that perfectly handles the AoE codes.

In this game AoE are especially useful in PSD6-10 or SSD9-10 formats, where minion waves are usually affected by a funnel and grouped. Here area attacks, especially arson attacks, tend to be worth much more than the best DPS. – Read here more Fortnite news.

Dota 2

This game is the continuation of DOTA, which was the pioneer in the MOBA style gameplay and one of the first games (along with starcraft) to bring esports to stadiums.

As in LoL the AoE meaning gaming plays a fundamental role in the team strategy of this game, especially those that carry an extra effect (As the Instantly pulls of Magnus that pull and stun enemies that are nearby, making it easier for a partner with better DPS to make a massacre). – Read here more Dota 2 news.

Clash Royale

AOE meaning in games doesn’t vary, even when the game’s nature does. But, what does Clash Royale AOE meaning? Well, the best example is Wizard, which can swipe an entire minion group upon one spell.

Just as well, dragon attacks can affect a set area. But Clash Royale offers few control regarding this. – Read here more Mobile Games news.

Hearthstone

Mostly found in Mage decks, the AOE attack is all over hearthstone decks. Cards such as “Flamestricke” cover a side of the field damaging the enemy minions. – Read here more Hearthstone news.

World of Warcraft

As you may imagine, the grandfather of MMORPGs has some AOE damage available. The mages in WOW have so many options that there are WOW classic mage AOE leveling guides out there.

This way, while warriors must kill one by one their target or get some splash damage moves in exchange for insanely reduced DPS (acronym abbreviation for Damage Per Second) output, mages grind up like crazy with AOE skills such as Blizzard, making mage AOE leveling quite faster.

But mage AOE leveling is not something exclusive of WOW, almost all MMORPG games offer mages a wide range of AOE and multiple target attacks. This includes TERA, AION, Blade and Soul, Perfect World and even old ones like MU online and both Lineages. – Read here more Blizzard news.

Mobile Legends

AOE meaning in mobile legends does not change much compared to DOTA2 and LOL. The best example is Aurora’s ultimate skill, which launches a giant ice rock to a designated area, thus damaging and slowing the enemies.

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2. Amateur Oceanic Esports

By managing tournaments such as “AAOL” and “Rise Up Invitational”, AoE are the primary hosts of low-end esports tournaments in Oceania.

Spaces and technology are set up for more than 800 players from different categories to participate in a high-end connectivity environment and serve as a springboard for players wishing to develop in the middle.

For the “AAOL” an event is prepared annually that brings together more than 500 Overwatch players regardless of whether they have teams or not and settles for about 10 weeks of competition with free associations between teams and players.

In this way, AOE is a supportive community in which it seeks to support. At the same time, it supports observers and directors so that they can complement their knowledge.

AoE meaning: Amateur Oceanic Esports

© Amateur Oceanic Esports

3. Age of Empires

The meaning of AoE can also be “Age of Empires”, a highly emblematic real-time strategy game.

Set in an era between the Stone Age and the Iron Age, this game includes the possibility of choosing to play in any of the civilizations of these eras, adding special skills and abilities.

Age of Empires esports wasn’t flying so high until Microsoft offered a $60,000 prize to the winner of a local tournament in the USA.

Thus, although Age of Empire does not have the same fame – or prize money – as Fornite, the game has an importance within the Olympics of electronic sports, as well as being one of the pillars of strategy games of the 90s.

AoE isn’t such a confusing term now that you know its meanings, is it? Now all that’s left is for you to understand how to measure it in the specific game you’re looking for.

AoE meaning: Age of Empire

© Microsoft Corporation,

AoE  Meaning FAQ

In which games you can use AoE?

There are too many games in which a good AoE can save your life, however, some of the most influential at the moment are the following esports titles: Overwatch, League of Legends, Fortnite, Dota 2.

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