Welcome to our Guild Wars 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms guide. This guide is a comprehensive list of various acronyms, abbreviations, and terms that players will encounter in Guild Wars 2.
Guild Wars 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms
This guide is a comprehensive list of various acronyms, abbreviations, and terms that players will encounter in Guild Wars 2.
General Game
- GW2 – Guild Wars 2
- GW – Sometimes GW1. Guild Wars, the original game.
- HoT – The Heart of Thorns expansion
- PoF – The Path of Fire expansion
- EoD – The End of Dragons expansion
- LWS – Living World Season
- IBS – Icebrood Saga
- ANet – ArenaNet, the developers of Guild Wars 2
- AP – Achievement points
- DR – Diminishing returns, an anti-farming and botting measure
- GPH – Gold per hour
- IP – Internet Protocol, each instance of a map
- MO – Mike O’Brien, a former ArenaNet employee. Not to be confused with Mursaat Overseer.
- PvE – Player vs Environment
- PvX – Player versus Anything. Someone who does PvE, PvP, and WvW.
- Pug – Pick up group, a group of random players
- r – Sometimes rdy. Stands for ready.
- Rep – Representing a guild
- RP – Roleplay
- TP – Trading post
- Train – Players continuously completing a variety of objectives together as a group
- Taxi – Joining another instance of a map
- MP – Mastery Point
Open World – Guild Wars 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms
- PoI – Point if Interest map completion objectives
- HP – Hero Points map completion objectives
- Heart – Renown Hearts, or Tasks, map completion objectives
- WP – Waypoint map completion objectives
- Meta – A series of events that are connected together, generally reward a lot of items
- VB – Verdant Brink map
- AB – Auric Basin map
- TD – Tangled Depths map
- EotN – The Eye of the North hub
- LA – Lion’s Arch map
- BC – Black Citadel map
- DR – Divinity’s Reach map
- GH – Guild Hall
- Lab – Sometimes Laby, the Mad King’s Labyrinth
- Akili – An event in the Domain of Istan
- Pala – Palawadan, the meta event in the Domain of Istan
- DBS – Death Branded Shatterer world boss in Jahai Bluffs
- Gerent – The Chak Gerent meta event in Tangled Depths
- Octo – The Octovine meta event in Auric Basin
- Mat – The Wyvern Matriarch boss in Verdant Brink
- Pat – The Wyvern Patriarch boss in Verdant Brink
- Frogs – The Kill Cotoni and Huetzi boss event in Verdant Brink
- Tetrad – A boss event in Verdant Brink
- SI – Serpent’s Ire meta event
- TT – Triple Trouble world boss
- Teq – Occasionally Taco, Tequatl the Sunless world boss
- RIBA – Red, Indigo, Blue, Amber. A gold farm train in the Silverwastes.
- SAB – Super Adventure Box
- ASS – Antique Summoning Stones, an item from End of Dragons
- Ecto – Globs of Ectoplasm, a crafting material
- MC – Mystic Coins, a crafting material
- Pre – An event before a popular event
- Champ – Champion level mobs
- Vet – Veteran level mobs
- DRM – Dragon Response Missions from the Icebrood Saga
- DSD – Refers to the Deep Sea Dragon
- JP – Jumping Puzzle
- MF – Magic Find
- MF – Sometimes Forge, the Mystic Forge
- Node – A resource node, like an Ore Vein
Dungeons
- AC – Ascalonian Catacombs, the first dungeon in Plains of Ashford
- CM – Caudecus’s Manor, the second dungeon in Queensdale (not to be confused with CM – Challenge mote (below)
- TA, occasionally Arbor – Twilight Arbor, the third dungeon in Caledon Forest
- SE – Sorrow’s Embrace, the fourth dungeon in Dredgehaunt Cliffs
- CoF – Citadel of Flame, the fifth dungeon in Fireheart Rise
- HotW – Honor of the Waves, the sixth dungeon in Frostforge Sound
- CoE – Crucible of Eternity, the seventh dungeon in Mount Maelstrom
- Arah – The Ruined City of Arah, the eighth dungeon in Cursed Shore
- p, commonly seen as p1, p2, p3, or p4 – Path, refers to specific versions of dungeons in explorable mode
- Story – The story mode version of the dungeon, done to unlock explorable paths
- U, sometimes upward, forward/upward, or u/f – the first path in Twilight Arbor
- F, sometimes forward, forward/forward, f/f – the second path in Twilight Arbor
- Aetherpath, sometimes Aether or AP – the third path in Twilight Arbor
- Quick, sometimes speed or fast – Going through a dungeon quickly, generally done by experienced players
Fractals of the Mist – Guild Wars 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms
- FotM, sometimes frac or fractals – Short for Fractals of the Mist
- Fractal – Refers to individual levels, such as Urban Battleground
- Scale – Refers to the difficulty level in FotM
- T – seen as T1, T2, T3, or T4 – FotM Tiers of difficulty
- rec – recommended, the daily recommended fractals
- CM – Challenge Mode or Mote, commonly seen as CM 98, 99, or 100 for the CM of those specific fractals
- AR – Agony Resistance, armor upgrades necessary for high level fractals
- F&P, sometimes P+F – Potions and Food
- UF, sometimes UFE – Unstable Fractal Essence, rewarded from CM 98, 99, and 100
- ess – Unstable Cosmic Essence, reward from CM 100, used as kill proof
- DoD – Defier of Doubt, title earned from completing CM 100, used as kill proof
- DwD – Dance with Demons, title from an achievement in CM 100, used as kill proof
- LNHB – Leaves No Heroes Behind, title for completing CM 99, used as kill proof
Raids
- W, commonly seen as W1, W2… W7 – Wing, specific raid maps including certain bosses
- Wing 1, W1 – Spirit Vale
- Wing 2, W2 – Salvation Pass
- Wing 3, W3 – Stronghold of the Faithful
- Wing 4, W4 – Bastion of the Penitent
- Wing 5, W5 – Hall of Chains
- Wing 6, W6 – Mythwright Gambit
- Wing 7, W7 – The Key of Ahdashim
- VG – Vale Guardian, first boss of Wing 1
- Gors – Gorseval, second boss of Wing 1
- Sab – Sabetha the Saboteur, third boss of Wing 1
- Sloth – Slothasor, sometimes referred to as Cave Monster, the first boss of Wing 2
- Trio – Bandit Trio, referred to officially as Protect the caged prisoners, prisoner camp, and occasionally “Berg, Zane, and Narell.” The second boss of Wing 2
- Matt – Matthias Gabriel, the third boss of Wing 2
- Escort – Sometimes keep escort, Glenna escort, Siege the Stronghold, or McLeod. The first boss of Wing 3
- KC – Keep Construct, the second boss of Wing 3
- TC – Sometimes castle, an encounter in Wing 3
- Xera – The third boss of Wing 3
- Cairn – Cairn the Indomitable, the first boss of Wing 4
- MO – Mursaat Overseer, the second boss of Wing 4
- Sam – Samarog, the third boss of Wing 4
- Deimos – Occasionally referred to as Saul, the fourth boss of Wing 4
- SH, Desmina – Soulless Horror, the first boss of Wing 5
- River, RoS – River of Souls, the first encounter of Wing 5
- Statues – Statues of Grenth, the second encounter of Wing 5
- Dhuum – The Voice in the Void, VoiV, the second boss of Wing 5
- CA – Conjured Amalgamate, the first boss of Wing 6
- Largos – Twin Largos, Nikare and Kenut, the second boss of Wing 6
- Q1 – Qadim, the third boss of Wing 6
- Adina – Cardinal Adina, the first or second boss of Wing 7
- Sabir – Cardinal Sabir, the first or second boss of Wing 7
- Q2 – Also referred to as Qadim 2, QtP, or QTPie – Qadim the Peerless, the third boss of Wing 7
- LI, occasionally LD – Legendary Insights or Legendary Divinations, rewards from killing raid bosses. Not to be confused with Low Intensity.
- FC – Full clear, killing every boss in a wing
Strike Missions
- Strike – Shorthand for strike mission
- EZ3 – Easy 3, referring to the three easy Icebrood Saga strike missions: Fraenir of Jormag, Voice of the Fallen and Claw of the Fallen, and Shiverpeaks Pass
- Pass – The Shiverpeaks Pass strike mission
- Bears – Sometimes Koda, Claw, Voice: The Voice of the Fallen and Claw of the Fallen strike mission
- Fraenir – Fraenir of Jormag strike mission
- WoJ – Sometimes whisper, the Whisper of Jormag strike missions
- Aetherblade – Sometimes Aether, the Aetherblade Hideout strike mission
- Junkyard – Sometimes Annka, the Xunlai Jade Junkyard strike mission
- KO – The Kaineng Overlook strike mission
- HT – The Harvest Temple strike mission
Cross Content – Guild Wars 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms
- CM – Challenge Mode or Mote, a harder version of a fight
- KP – Kill proof, an item or title that proves you have completed a boss before
- Daily – Daily achievements that change every day that will reward bonus loot for completing specific objectives
- EXP – Experienced
- LFG – Looking for group
- LFM – Looking for more
- LFT – Looking for team
- LFR – Looking for raid
- adds – Weaker enemies who fight with a boss
- trash – groups of enemies in between bosses
Skills and Traits
- DPS – Damage per second
- CDPS – Condition damage per section
- Boons – Sometimes buffs. Temporary, beneficial, positive effects
- Conditions – Sometimes DoTs. Temporary, harmful, negative effects
- Condi – Shorthand for conditions
- Quick – Quickness, a boon that increases ability speed
- Alac – Alacrity, a boon that decreases ability cooldowns
- Stab – Stability, a boon that prevents crowd control abilities
- CC – Crowd control. Abilities that slow, knockdown, etc
- Res – Sometimes rez, resurrect
- Precast – Casting abilities and skills in advance, normally to stack boons
- CD – Cooldown, the recharge time for a skill
- AA – Autoattack
- ICD – Internal cooldown, the time between attacks of an ability that attacks multiple times
- Boonstrip – Skills that remove boons from enemies
- Veil – Mesmer’s Veil ability that grants stealth
- AoE – Area of Effect
- AotJ – Ashes of the Just Firebrand skill
- AP – Assassin’s Presence (not to be confused with Achievement Points)
- CA – Celestial Avatar, a Druid mechanic
- EA – Empower Allies, a Warrior trait
- Epi – Epidemic, a Necromancer ability
- FA – Fresh air, an Elementalist trait
- FGS – Fiery Greatsword, an elementliast elite skill
- GotL – Grace of the Land, a Druid trait
- Port – Portal Entre, a Mesmer ability
- PS – Phalanx Strength, a Warrior trait
- RI – Righteous Instincts, a Guardian trait
- RR – Righteous Rebel, a Renegade trait
Specializations
- Spec – Specializations for specific professions
- Professions – The official Guild Wars 2 name for class
- dh – Dragonhunter
- fb – Firebrand
- wb – Willbender
- slb – Soulbeast
- vindi – Vindicator
- holo – Holosmith
- dd – Daredevil
- de – Deadeye
- chrono – Chronomacer
- virt – Virtuoso
- harb – Harbinger
- bsw – Bladesworn
Builds – Guild Wars 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms
- LI – Low Intensity, not to be confused with Legendary Insight
- Alacrage – Alacrity Mirage
- Alacrigade – Sometimes AlacRen, Alacrity Renegade
- BS – Banner Slave
- CFB – Condition Firebrand
- CQB – Condition Quickbrand
- HB – Sometimes HFB, Healbrand
- CFB – Condition Firebrand
- Chronotank – Chronomancer tanking build
- HK – Hand Kiter
- HS – Sometimes HSc, Heal Scourge
- Hmech, sometimes hm – Heal Mechanist
- ham – Heal Alacrity Mechanist
- hcata – Heal Catalyst
- hat – Heal Alacrity Tempest
- qharb – Quickness Harbinger
- qcata – Quickness Catalyst
- alacmech – Alacrity Mechanist
- miralac – Alacrity Mirage
- alacren – Alacrity Renegade
- psb – Power Soulbeast
- charb – Condition Harbinger
Player vs Player
- PvP – Player vs Player
- SPvP – Structured Player vs Player
- HotM – Heart of the Mists, the PvP lobby
- Spawn – Where your team starts in a map
- Conquest – 5v5 with 3 capture points
- Node – The capture points in Conquest maps
- Home – The closest node to your team’s spawn
- Far – The farthest node to your team’s spawn
- Mid – The middle node in a map
- Beast – Svanir or Chieftain Utahein in the Forest of Niflhel map
- Lord – The Red or Blue lord in the Legacy of the Foefire map
- Orb – The orb you capture in the Spirit Watch map
- Meditation – The Meditation of Stillness and Meditation of Tranquility channeling objectives in the Temple of the Silent Storm map
- Treb – The trebuchet in the Battle of Khylo map
- Laser – Sometimes cannon or Skyhammer, the special capture point in the Skyhammer map
- Bell – Sometimes cannons, the special capture point in the Revenge of the Capricorn map
- Sword – The Sword of Reaping special item in the Eternal Coliseum map
- Shield – The Shield of Life special item in the Eternal Coliseum map
- Champ – The Mist Champions in the Battle of Champion’s Dusk map
- Ninja – Capturing a point without the other team noticing
- Group – The entire team coming together
- Rotate – Moving from one capture point to another
- Defend – Sometimes bunker, sitting on one capture point to hold it
- Cap – Capture a capture point
- AT – Automated tournaments
- Decap – Remove a capture point from enemy control without full capturing it for yourself
World vs World – Guild Wars 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms
- WvW – World vs World
- Bomb – The squad using every skill on the enemy
- Bait – Tricking enemy group into using bomb
- Juke – Quickly moving in a direction and going back to original location
- Water – Putting down water fields and bursting them with abilities
- Smoke – Thieves blasting smoke fields to grant stealth
- Stealth – Cast stealth abilities on the squad, such as Mesmer Veil
- Pull – Using pull abilities to grab enemy players
- Lines – Guardians using Staff skill 5
- Stack – The entire group forming tightly on top of each other
- Pirate ship – The group using entirely ranged characters
- Flip – Capturing an objective
- PvD – Player versus door, players attacking gates
- Outer – The outermost or first set of walls in a keep
- Inner – The innermost or second set of walls in a keep
- Bay – Sometimes fire. The westernmost keep on WvW maps.
- Hills – Sometimes air. The easternmost keep on WvW maps.
- Garri – Garrison, the northernmost keep on WvW maps
- Camp – Supply Camps
- Yak – Supply Dolyaks
- NWT – Northwest Tower
- NET – Northeast Tower
- SWT – Southwest Tower
- SET – Southeast Tower
- NWC – Northwest Camp
- NEC – Northeast Camp
- SWC – Southwest Camp
- SEC – Southeast Camp
- SMC – Stone Mist Castle in the Eternal Battlegrounds
- EBG – Eternal Battlegrounds
- BL – Borderlands
- DBL – Desert Borderlands
- ABL – Alpine Borderlands
- EotM – Edge of the Mists
- GBL – Green Borderlands
- BBL – Blue Borderlands
- RBL – Red Boderlands
- OS – Obsidian Sanctum
- Fog – The fog tactivator that applies chill to enemies in an objective
- Airship – The airship tactivator that bombards enemies in SMC
- EWP – The emergency waypoint tactivator that spawns a temporary waypoint
- AC – Arrow Cart siege equipment
- Ram – Flame Ram siege equipment
- Cata – Catapult siege equipment
- Treb – Trebuchet siege equipment
- Bal – Ballista siege equipment
- Golem – Siege Golem siege equipment
- Sup – Supply, used to build and repair
- Zerg – Groups of players usually 20+ and unorgained
- Blob – Groups of players usually 20+ and organized
- Havoc – Smaller group of players that focus on capturing smaller objectives
- Roamer – A single player roaming around the map
- Duel – Two players fighting eachother
- RI – Righteous Indignation, invulnerability that an objective boss has after recently being captured
- CT – Contested
- OJ – Orange swords
- CD – Cool down
- Tag – The commander
- Rally – Regroup at a specific location
- Push – Attack a specific location
- Wipe – Completely killing an entire enemy group
- Rush – Running to a specific location without stopping
- Snipe – Target an enemy and burst them down by range, usually done be rangers focusing longbow attacks on an enemy commander (looked down upon)
- Inc – Incoming, an enemy group is running towards your group
- GvG – Guild vs guild, usually organized and planned fights
- Bag – Bags of loot that drop from killing enemies
- PPT – Points per tick
- PPK – Points per kill
Gaming Culture
- afk – Away from keyboard
- brb – Be right back
- gtg – Sometimes g2g, got to go
- wb – Welcome back
- bio – Leaving the computer to go to the bathroom
- Disc – Discord, a popular VoIP program
- TS – TeamSpeak, a popular VoIP program
- Mat – Materials, used for crafting
- FPS – Frames per second
- DLC – Downloadable Content
- HUD – Heads up display
- UI – User Interface
- NPC – Non-Playable Character