Glossary

A categorized glossary of common terms used in hack-and-slash ARPGs, such as season, league, ladder, SSF, and Paragon. When you encounter these terms in guides or game pages, you can check their meaning here.

Basics

Hack and Slash: A style of action gameplay built around rapidly defeating large numbers of enemies in repeated combat. It is the signature feel of ARPGs, centered on the satisfaction of clearing screens full of monsters.ARPG beginner guide
ARPG (Action RPG): A subgenre of RPG that combines real-time action combat with character progression and item collection. Diablo, Path of Exile, and Last Epoch are flagship titles, and most of the seasonal games this site tracks belong here.ARPG beginner guide
Build: The blueprint of a character, combining skills, passives, and gear. Even within the same class, the skills and stats you center on can create entirely different playstyles. Beginners are advised to start with a proven starter build.ARPG beginner guide
Farming: The act of repeating specific content to accumulate items, currency, and experience. It is the core loop of an ARPG: defeat monsters, gain rewards, strengthen your character, and repeat.
Meta: The prevailing trend of builds and strategies considered most effective at a given time. Because balance changes each season or league, the meta shifts too, making the early days of a new cycle an exciting time to discover it.
Buff / Nerf: A buff is a change that strengthens a skill or item, while a nerf weakens it. The buff and nerf list in pre-season patch notes is key information for gauging the direction of new builds.
Leveling: The early-to-mid progression phase of raising a character's level. Since everyone starts from leveling when a season begins, a fast and stable leveling route is central to early competition.

Seasons & Leagues

Season: A recurring content cycle that opens a fresh server at fixed intervals so all players start together with new characters. Used by Diablo III and IV, it typically runs on a roughly three-month cycle with a season theme and exclusive rewards at its core.Season vs league guide · Diablo IV schedule
League: Path of Exile's term for its recurring cycle, the same concept as a season in other games. Each league introduces one major mechanic, and popular mechanics get permanently integrated into the core game.PoE league cycle guide · PoE schedule
Ladder: The periodically resetting competitive mode in Diablo II: Resurrected. It resets about every six months and notably features ladder-only runewords and items obtainable nowhere else.Hardcore, SSF, ladder guide · D2R ladder schedule
Cycle: Last Epoch's term for its recurring cycle, identical in concept to a season or league. When a cycle ends, characters transfer to the Legacy realm.Last Epoch schedule
PTR (Public Test Realm): A separate test server for trying upcoming updates before a season's official start. It usually opens two to three weeks ahead, letting you preview new mechanics and balance, though the content can change before release.Diablo IV season prep guide
Season Pass: A progression-based reward track that grants tiered rewards as you play through a season. It is often split into free and paid tracks, and rewards must be claimed before the season ends.
Season Journey: A list of staged objectives to follow during a season. Used in the Diablo series, it is designed so that completing objectives earns rewards while naturally teaching you the season's content.
Standard League (Permanent Realm): The permanent realm where characters and items transfer after a season or league ends. It never resets, allowing long-term accumulation of assets; Diablo's Eternal realm and Last Epoch's Legacy realm serve the same role.Season vs permanent character guide
Legacy Realm: The permanent realm in Last Epoch where characters move after a cycle ends. It serves the same role as Standard or Eternal realms in other games, a space for continued, accumulated play without cycle-exclusive content.

Modes

Hardcore: A mode where a character cannot be revived after death. Depending on the game, the character is permanently deleted or demoted to the standard realm, making every fight tense and putting careful builds and survival play at the center.Hardcore, SSF, ladder guide
Softcore: The standard mode where characters revive after death. The opposite of hardcore, it is the default choice for most players and lets you enjoy content without the same pressure.
SSF (Solo Self-Found): A mode that blocks trading and cooperation with other players, requiring you to farm every item yourself. It is slower but offers a self-sufficient experience that fully conveys the game's drop system.Hardcore, SSF, ladder guide

Items

Affix: The individual modifiers (prefix and suffix properties) attached to weapons and armor. Which affix combination an item rolls determines its value and build fit, and finding good affixes is a core goal of farming.
Runeword: A powerful item system activated by inserting runes into gear in a set order. A signature feature of Diablo II: Resurrected, some runewords are offered as ladder-only content.D2R ladder schedule
Set Item: A group of gear pieces that grants extra effects when worn together. Set bonuses often become the heart of a build, so collecting a particular set is frequently an early-season goal.
Unique / Legendary Item: Rare-tier gear with fixed special effects. Unlike common items, it provides powerful build-defining effects and is called unique or legendary depending on the game.
Crafting: A system that uses materials to add, change, or enhance item modifiers. In games where crafting is central, like Last Epoch, deliberately producing the affixes you want becomes a major pillar of the endgame.
Mastery: A specialization branch within a class. Grim Dawn's dual-mastery system, which combines two masteries, is central to its identity, and Last Epoch also branches from a base class into masteries.Grim Dawn schedule

Endgame

Endgame: The phase of endlessly repeatable content after finishing the main story at max level. Its form varies by game — rifts, maps, abysses — but the shared goal is pushing your gear to complete your character.
Paragon: An additional leveling system that lets you keep growing after reaching max level. Used in the Diablo series, raising your Paragon level to accumulate stats and special bonuses is a long-term endgame goal.Diablo III schedule
Rift / Greater Rift: Diablo III's signature endgame content of speeding through randomly generated dungeons. Higher tiers are harder and more rewarding, making your highest cleared tier a measure of competition.
Maps / Atlas: Path of Exile's endgame system where you consume 'map' items to open dungeons and expand along a progression tree called the Atlas. Most league mechanics operate on top of this map system.PoE league cycle guide
Elite Monster: Elite enemies that are stronger than normal monsters and carry special abilities. They drop better rewards but pose greater danger, so reliably defeating elites is a measure of endgame efficiency.
Boss / Pinnacle Boss: Powerful enemies placed at the peak of a zone or content. In particular, top-tier endgame bosses (pinnacle bosses) offer the best rewards and challenges, serving as a final test of how complete your build is.

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