The Path to Endgame: Abbreviations & Glossary

This is a list of common Guild Wars 2 endgame terms and abbreviations used in the guides on this website and in-game.

Mechanical Terms

• Add – an additional enemy that spawns during a boss fight; also known as ‘trash mobs’
• Aggro – to gain the attention of an enemy by approaching or attacking it, thus entering combat
• AoE – Area of Effect, refers to abilities that impact multiple enemies in a limited area, or the fields these skills leave behind
• BK – Black Kiter, a role on the raid boss Deimos dedicated to placing the Rapid Decay mechanic (black circles) in particular spots; also known as an ‘oil kiter’
• BW – Back Warg, a role on the raid encounter Siege the Stronghold responsible for slowing and killing the warg that spawns behind the squad
• CC – Crowd Control, used to describe abilities that limit or control an enemy’s movement and abilities (non-damaging conditions like Blinded or Crippled, known as ‘soft CC’) or prevent them from using skills or performing mechanics (disabling effects like Daze or Knockdown, known as ‘hard CC’)
• Cleave – refers to abilities that hit other enemies in addition to their primary target, or the act of incidentally killing enemies near a boss; also known as ‘splash damage’
• CW/CCW – Clockwise/Counter-clockwise, refers to the direction players go to drop the Residual Impact fire fields on the raid boss Qadim the Peerless
• Defiance bar – the bar below some enemies’ health bars; also known as a break bar (see Defiance Bars for more information)
• Flanking – positioning oneself behind or to the side of an enemy to attack. Some skills, traits, and upgrade components provide a damage bonus or have additional effects when performed while flanking.
• GG – Good Game, a command used in-game (/gg) to concede defeat. Commanders will often say this to indicate the squad should all resign at once and restart a fight.
• Hitbox – the space an enemy occupies, this can be roughly seen by selecting the enemy and looking at the red ring at the base of their model. Some skills are best performed inside of, or placed overlapping, as much of an enemy’s hitbox as possible to gain their maximum benefit.
• HK – Hand Kiter, a role on the raid boss Deimos dedicated to placing the Soul Feast mechanic (grasping hands) in particular spots
• ICD – Internal Cooldown, a hidden cooldown on some traits that disables them from triggering too often
• Kite – to stand away from the majority of the squad to bait attacks or prevent mechanics from occurring
• LoS – Line of Sight, a necessary condition for projectile attacks to hit their intended target. Players often use this to their advantage, standing behind obstacles to force enemies to follow them and ball up in one location.
• OoC – Out of Combat, used to request other players in a squad get out of combat, either by resigning or killing the enemies they’re fighting, so Defeated players may resurrect
• SAK – Special Action Key, an additional skill that appears over a player’s skill 5 during certain encounters, often integral to mechanics during the fight
• Tank – the player a boss faces to perform their auto-attacks. The circumstances to tank vary: they can have the highest Toughness, be randomly chosen (i.e. Fixated), or conditionally chosen (by interacting with an object or being the first to enter a room).
• Wipe – when all players in a raid are Defeated, either by failing during the fight or using one of the in-game commands to resign

Looking for Group (LFG) Terms

• AH – Aetherblade Hideout, an End of Dragons strike mission
• Air – Cardinal Sabir, an air djinn and one of the first two bosses in Wing 7
• BS – Boneskinner, an Icebrood Saga strike mission
• CA – Conjured Amalgamate, the first boss in Wing 6
• CM – Challenge Mode/Mote, an optional hard mode in raids and strike missions, enabled by interacting with a mote (orb) before the encounter begins
• CW – Cold War, an Icebrood Saga strike mission
• Earth – Cardinal Adina, an earth djinn and one of the first two bosses in Wing 7
• Escort – Siege the Stronghold, the first encounter in Wing 3
• Exp – Experienced, indicates that a group is looking for someone experienced with the encounter(s) or raid wing(s)
• FC – Full Clear, expresses the intent to kill all the bosses in one or more wings
• FS – Forging Steel, an Icebrood Saga strike mission
• GitV – Gazed into the Void, an achievement and title granted for defeating Ankka in the Xunlai Jade Junkyard strike mission while she has 6 or more stacks of Power of the Void; often used as kill proof
• HT – Harvest Temple, an End of Dragons strike mission
• KC – Keep Construct, the second encounter (first boss) in Wing 3
• KP – Kill Proof, usually refers to the decoration tokens earned for killing a boss for the first time each week; often people will only ask you to ping the final boss’ tokens. Other forms of kill proof include raid titles, raid currency, legendary armor, or the legendary trinket, Coalescence.
• KO – Kaineng Overlook, an End of Dragons strike mission
• LI – Legendary Insight, the currency gained for killing Heart of Thorns bosses for the first time each week; used to craft legendary armor and as a form of kill proof
• MO – Mursaat Overseer, the second boss in Wing 4
• QtP/QP/Q2 – Qadim the Peerless, the third and final boss in Wing 7
• River – River of Souls, the second encounter in Wing 5
• SH – Soulless Horror, the first boss in Wing 5; also known as Desmina
• Statues – Statues of Grenth, the third encounter in Wing 5
• TC – Twisted Castle, the third encounter in Wing 3
• Trio – Bandit Trio/Prison Camp, the second encounter in Wing 2
• VG – Vale Guardian, the first boss in Wing 1
• VitV – Voice in the Void, an achievement and title granted for killing Dhuum on challenge mode; often used as kill proof
• WoJ – Whisper of Jormag, an Icebrood Saga strike mission
• W# – denotes the raid wings in the order they were released, as follows:
  • Wing 1: Spirit Vale
  • Wing 2: Salvation Pass
  • Wing 3: Stronghold of the Faithful
  • Wing 4: Bastion of the Penitent
  • Wing 5: Hall of Chains
  • Wing 6: Mythwright Gambit
  • Wing 7: The Key of Ahdashim
• XJJ – Xunlai Jade Junkyard, an End of Dragons strike mission

Profession & Skill Terms

• Alac – Alacrity, or any build intended to provide permanent uptime of it
• Bubble – usually refers to a Revenant's Ventari skill, , but can describe any dome-like AoE such as
• AotJ/Ashes – Epilogue: Ashes of the Just, a skill from the Firebrand's that enables allies to cause Burning when they strike an enemy
• CA – , a Druid's profession mechanic which may be used when the player has accumulated enough astral force by healing themselves or others
• CS – , a Chronomancer's profession mechanic which creates a ‘save point’ and then reverts the player back to that original point with their previous health, endurance, and skill recharges after a time
• Epi – , a Necromancer skill that spreads conditions on one target to all nearby enemies
• FGS – , the Elementalist's elite conjured weapon, known for its high damage
• FMW – ", a Guardian elite skill that provides Fury and Quickness
• GotL – , a Druid trait that allows them to quickly stack Alacrity
• HAM – Heal Alacrity Mechanist, a versatile healing build that provides permanent Alacrity to one subgroup as well as Barrier and high break bar damage
• HAT – Heal Alacrity Tempest, a healing build that provides permanent Alacrity to one subgroup and has unique access to auras
• HFB – Heal Firebrand, a flexible healing build that provides permanent Quickness to one subgroup as well as many other boons
• HS – Heal Scourge, a build with Alacrity, a lot of utilities, good Barrier output and revivability
• IP – , a Thief trait that allows them to effectively sustain health as long as they’re attacking
• Port – portal, usually refers to a Mesmer's , but can also refer to a Thief's
• QB – Quickness Firebrand/Quickbrand, a build that provides permanent Quickness to one subgroup
• RR – , a Renegade trait that allows them to provide permanent Alacrity to one subgroup
• S&R – , a Ranger skill that enables them to teleport Downed players out of danger and passively resurrect them using their pet
• StM – , a Chronomancer trait that allows them to provide permanent Quickness to one subgroup
• SYG – , a Guardian shout that provides Stability; often taken to easily manage timed mechanics that would CC players