Diablo 3 Glossary of Terms

Welcome to the Diablo 3 Terminology Page!

For many new players, all of the abbreviations and new terms can be a bit confusing. This page is here to help acquaint you with some of the terminology used in Diablo III.

;

Terms

Affix = A magical property of an item. Used to correspond to the actual terms Prefix/Suffix/Affix which were, quite literally, the suffixes and affixes attached to a magical item. i.e. Giant Hammer of the ___. These words, on blue items, generally always do the same thing. Seeking, for instance, always grants increased magic find to magical items. Now it’s just a generalized term for “this is a magic stat on an item”

AH – Auction House. A place in game where items can be bought and sold using either gold or real money.

AOE – Area of Effect – This refers to attacks or abilities that affect multiple targets instead of just one.

ARPG – Action Role Playing Game. A genre of role-playing game characterized by a quicker pace, more enemies, and slightly simpler mechanics.

Build – An array of complementary skills and abilities chosen by a player to be used by their character in combat throughout the game.

Crafting – The process of creating items for use in the game such as gems, weapons, or armor. In Diablo 3, this is done with the Jeweler and the Blacksmith.

D3 – Diablo 3 / Diablo III

DoT – Damage Over Time. Refers to any ability that puts an effect on an enemy that takes away its health over a set period of time.

DPS – Damage Per Second. The higher your level and more powerful your weapon, the higher your DPS. The more DPS you have, the quicker you are able to kill your enemies.

Grinding – The process of killing enemies over and over for a long period of time to gain experience and level up.

IAS/AS = Increased attack speed/attack speed

Leveling – The act of increasing your character’s level or relative experience and power in the game.

LoH = Life on Hit, “each hit adds life” on items

MF/GF = Magic Find/Gold Find, a stat found on items that increases either the chance for an item that drops to be magical, or in the case of gold find, it simply increases the amount of gold that you get when the game decides to drop gold for you.

Melee – Refers to items or attacks used in close proximity of your target.

Party – A group of players that work together to complete quests and kill enemies in the multi-player version of Diablo 3.

Ranged – Refers to items or attacks that are used at a distance from your target.

Res = Resistance, as in Arcane Resistance, Cold Resistance, Poison, Lightning, Fire, etc.

RMAH – Real Money Auction House. A new feature in Diablo 3 which allows players to exchange real currency for in-game items.

Skills – Unique abilities learned by your character to be used for fighting, defending, crafting, and everything in between.

Spec – Another term for “Build”.

Stat = Statistic. A numerical value which represents a certain ability of your character or an item. Dexterity is a statistic, Armor is a statistic, etc.

Taunt – Any non-damaging ability that causes an enemy to attack a player or pet.

XP / Experience – Points gained by killing enemies. A certain amount of XP is required to increase from one level to the next.

Continue reading a Complete Diablo 3 Guide.

;