10% limit/10% cap — The rule preventing feats from being more than 10% of your total build limit.

Activation Click — A significantly lower-powered click than the one that follows it. Usually appears on the starting click of characters who transform from a weaker form to a more powerful one (e.g. Bruce Banner to Hulk).

AE —Alter Ego, a type of Special Power. Also used to denote figures that use this game mechanic.

AP — Armor Piercing, a Golden Age feat that prevents damage from being reduced to 0, rendering damage reducers less effective.

Armor — Blanket term for damage reducing powers and abilities. Also a common generic keyword.

ATA — Alternate Team Ability/Additional Team Ability. Originally a feat card that changed a set of characters’ team ability to a new one, ATAs later became their own mechanic, adding to a character’s existing roster of team abilities (if any). 

AV — Attack Value.

BCF — Blades/Claws/Fangs, a standard attack power. Not to be confused with BFC.

Beat stick — A powerful attacking character. AKA Beastick.

BFC — Battlefield Condition, a tactic played at the beginning of a Golden Age HeroClix game that alters one or more rules of the game for that game only. Not to be confused with BCF.

Bizarro — An unofficial game format in which characters start on their final click and damage and healing click the opposite direction from normal.

Brick — A powerful attacking character with damage reducing powers.

Bush — Generic term for any hindering terrain. (Example: “My Batman’s using Stealth to hide in a bush.”)

Cardboard — Optional card elements of HeroClix, especially Feats and Battlefield Conditions and sometimes including Special Objects and Bystanders.

CCE — Close Combat Expert, a standard damage power.

Chase — An ultra-rare figure pulled only from boosters.

Cheese — a slightly derogatory term for highly effective characters, feats or other game elements.  See also “min/max” or “meta”

Con Ex — Abbreviation for convention exclusive. 

CR — Combat Reflexes, a standard defense power.

CUR — Acronym for Common/Uncommon/Rare in the set configuration since the 2007 Avengers release. A full CUR set nets one all the non-Super Rare/Limited Edition/Chase figures.

Don’t Die — A meta play style involving figures that do not KO easily, usually though a unique special power or trait.

DV — Defense Value.

EB — Earthbound/Neutralized, a standard speed power.

EE — Energy Explosion, a standard attack power.

ESD — Energy Shield/Delfection, a standard defense power.

EW —Exploit Weakness, a standard damage power.

FB — Force Blast, a standard speed power.

FCBD — Free Comic Book Day. Sometimes HeroClix figures are released for this annual event and are identified with this acronym.

Feat — a Golden Age tactic in which cards could be attached to characters to enhance their effectiveness for extra point cost.

F.U.N. — What this site’s all about.

Generic — A figure that doesn’t represent any individual person and could thus be played in multiples in the Highlander format. (See “Highlander”)

Golden Age — An official game format in which all characters and tactics are allowed.

Highlander — An unofficial game rule in which only one copy of any character can be used in a force unless the judge rules that the character is a generic character. (See “Generic”)

HSS — Hypersonic Speed, a standard speed power.

ICWO — In Contact With Oracle, a once-popular feat card. Also the most broken piece of rubbish cardboard crutch ever made for this game of which every existing copy should be burned with everlasting hellfire. (Wait, did I type that out loud? I don’t feel nearly so strongly about it anymore)

IM / IT — Improved Movement / Improved Targeting, usually followed by whatever type of terrain or effect it ignores.

Incap — Incapacitate, a standard attack power. Also, the act of using this power.

Killbox — A formation, usually much closer to one’s own starting area than the opponent’s, that allows multiple attacks on an enemy figure without significantly repositioning the formation.

LAMP — An acronym for Lockjaw/Armor Piercing/Mastermind/Poison, a Golden Age strategy in which a character damages opponents for free using Poison and the Armor Piercing feat. Opponents’ counterattacks are shunted to a long-lived taxi (the Lockjaw character being the most efficient example), who chases down opponents that manage to flee the Poison trap. 

L/C — Leap/Climb, a standard speed power.

LE — Limited Edition, a figure not available in boosters but only as tournament prizes or other promotions.

LOF — Line of Fire, a HeroClix game term. Often mistakenly referred to as Line of Sight.

LOS — Line of Sight, a Batman Alphaclix game term. Often mistakenly used instead of the correct term Line of Fire in the true HeroClix game.

Medic — A character that can use the Support power. Usually only on the team for this healing ability.

Meta — An adjective describing a top-level competitive element of the game.

Metagame — Basically, the aggregation of tactics, figures and strategies in a game that lead to the best chance of victory. (Not really Heroclixin’s thing.)

Min/max — A team or the act of building a team with minimal weaknesses and maximum effectiveness. Usually not even slightly thematic or fun. (Not really Heroclixin’s thing.)

MM fodder — Short for Mastermind fodder. A figure or figures whose chief purpose on a team is to be chosen by a friendly character using the Mastermind power.

Mod — Short for modification. A figure whose factory-made sculpt or paint job is altered or customized by a fan.

Modern Age — An official game format in which only characters with character cards and elements from roughly the past two years are legal to play. Check with win.wizkids.com for the official list. 

MOE — Masters of Evil team ability.

OOTS — Acronym for “Out Of The Shadows,” a Special Power belonging to Justice League Batman #001. Used to identify this popular and powerful Batman figure. Also frequently applied to any newer character with a similar ability to be placed into or out of hindering terrain before or after acting.

OP — Overpowered. Also an acronym for Organized Play, an official WizKids event furnished with Limited Edition prize figures. 

Oreo — Term for the larger, newer style of HeroClix figure bases on figures produced from late summer 2011 to present.

PB / PPB — Psychic Blast (also Penetrating/Psychic Blast), a standard attack power.

Pick A Power — A trait or special power allowing choice of a standard power or ability (See also: Swissblade)

Pit crew — A group of characters on a force that collectively supply 3 or more of the following powers: Telekinesis, Outwit, Probability Control, Perplex, Support.

Pog — Bystander character.

Prob — Short for Probability Control, a standard damage power.

P/T — Phasing/Teleport, a standard speed power.

PW — Pulse Wave, a standard attack power. Also, the act of using this power.

RCE — Ranged Combat Expert, a standard damage power.

Reducers — Blanket term for any power that reduces damage taken such as Toughness or Impervious.

Restricted — An older official format allowing, roughly, only the past 2-3 years of sets in a game.

Retal — Colossal Retaliation, a common trait or special power found on meta teams that allows free attacks against enemies that hit your force last turn. 

REV — Acronym for Rookie/Experienced/Veteran, the chief designation for figures prior to the 2007 Avengers set and character cards. No longer relevant in the modern game.

RS — Running Shot, a standard speed power.

Rollouts — a blanket term for powers such as Super Senses, Shape Change, and Impervious that grant a chance of either evading, avoiding or negating damage from attacks, especially when more than one of the above is available. 

SE — Steal Energy, a standard attack power.

Short-clicking — A cheating method in which players do not click their characters the proper amount of damage taken. Don’t be the scumbag who does this.

Silver Age — A popular term for any unofficial format meant to bridge the gap between the official Modern Age and Golden Age formats. Every venue’s is different.

SP — Special Power.

SR — Super Rare.

STOPP — An acrostic for the five supporting powers of Support, Telekinesis, Outwit, Probability Control, Perplex, the five “pit crew” powers used to buff and back up a core of more powerful attackers or to maximize the potential of a well-balanced team. See also: TOPPS

Swarm — A large team of low-cost figures.

Swing — maximum number of squares away that a character can make an attack. For example, an 8 Speed figure with Charge has a 5-square swing while a 6 Speed figure with Running Shot and 4 range has a swing of 7.

Swissblade — A figure with a trait or special power allowing it to choose a standard power or ability (See “Pick A Power”)

TA — Team Ability.

Taxi — A character whose role is to carry other characters. Also the act of doing so.

Tentpole — A figure that either takes up around half the build total or costs significantly more than other characters on the force and would deal the majority of the damage.

Tie up — The tactic of deliberately becoming adjacent to an enemy to prevent it from moving freely or firing. Also a character used for this tactic.

TK — Telekinesis, a standard attack power. Also, the act of using this power.

TOPPS — An acrostic for Telekinesis Outwit Perplex Probability and Support, the five “pit crew” powers used to buff and back up a core of more powerful attackers or to maximize the potential of a well-balanced team. inspired by Topps, the original owner of WizKids. (See also STOPP)

Unrestricted — An older official format allowing all characters and elements.

WC —Wild card, a type of character that can use the team abilities of friendly characters.

WP — Willpower, a standard defense power.

WizKids — The company that produces HeroClix. 

BA: Batman Alpha