Terminology

Terms and shorthand used to describe attacks, maneuvers and other gameplay in Brawlhalla.

## Moveset Terminology

**Light Attacks**

* *(weapon) Neutral Light* - the attack performed by pressing the light attack button while standing on the ground and not pressing a direction or, in certain configurations, holding up. Ex: *Unarmed Neutral Light*, abbr. *Unarmed NLight*.
* *(weapon) Side Light* - the attack performed by pressing the light attack button while standing on the ground while holding left or right. Ex: *Hammer Side Light*, abbr. *Hammer SLight*.
* *(weapon) Down Light* - the attack performed by pressing the light attack button while standing on the ground and holding the down button. Ex: *Sword Down Light*, abbr. *Sword DLight*.

**Light Aerial Attacks**

* *(weapon) Neutral Air* - the attack performed by pressing the light attack button while airborne and either not pressing a direction or while holding up. Ex: *Unarmed Neutral Air*, abbr. *Unarmed NAir*.
* *(weapon) Side Air* - the attack performed by pressing the light attack button while airborne and holding either left or right. Ex: *Spear Side Air*, abbr. *Spear SAir*.
* *(weapon) Down Air* - the attack performed by pressing the light attack button while airborne and holding the down button. Ex: *Katar Down Air*, abbr. *Katar DAir*.

**Heavy Attacks (Signatures)**

* *Signature* – same as Heavy attack. Each Legend has six unique Signatures.
* *(Legend) Neutral (weapon) Sig/Heavy* - the attack performed by pressing the heavy attack button while standing on the ground and not pressing a direction or, in certain configurations, holding up. This will be one of the Legend's signature moves if holding a weapon. Ex: *Ada Neutral Spear Sig*, abbr. *Ada Spear Nsig* or *Ada Spear NHeavy*.
* *(Legend) (weapon) Side Sig/Heavy* - the attack performed by pressing the heavy attack button while standing on the ground and holding left or right. This will be one of the Legend's signature moves if holding a weapon. Ex: *Scarlet Lance Side Sig*.
* *(Legend) (weapon) Down Sig/Heavy* - the attack performed by pressing the heavy attack button while standing on the ground and holding down. This will be one of the Legend's signature moves if holding a weapon. Ex: *Cassidy Hammer Down Sig* or *Cassidy Hammer Down Heavy* abbr. *Cassidy Hammer DSig* or *Cassidy Hammer DHeavy*.

**Heavy Aerial Attacks**

* *Recovery* - the attack performed by pressing the heavy attack button while airborne and not holding down. This move is useful when trying to recover (get back to solid ground) after being knocked off the stage, thus the name. This move has limited uses. Ex: *Sword Recovery,* abbr. *Sword Rec.*
* *Ground Pound* - the attack performed by pressing the heavy attack button while holding down in the air. This move will typically travel straight downwards until the attack button is released or until meeting the ground or an opponent. Ex: *Spear Ground Pound*, abbr. *Spear GP*.

**Advanced Techniques**

* *Gravity Cancel* - the act of spot dodging in the air, and then quickly using either a light or heavy attack, which will then execute as the grounded version of the move. Abbr. GC.
* *Fast Fall* - holding down while in the air to fall faster.
* *Slide Charging* - performing a Signature while running off a platform and having the signature charge while you are slipping and falling off the ledge.
* *Ledge Cancel* - approaching a soft platform from the bottom and holding down as soon as you're on top of it to “land” immediately.
* *Reversal -* inputting an opposite direction quickly before a move to have your character "x-pivot" backwards. (aka x-pivoting, reverse "move")
* *See Techniques for specific details and strategy on advanced tech.*

## Gameplay Terminology

* **First Strike** - scoring the first knockout of the match. A graphic appears under the knockout notification to indicate this.
* **Dominating** - scoring 3 knockouts without yourself being knocked out.
* **Berserk** - 5 knockouts
* **Unstoppable** - 7 knockouts
* **Legendary** - 9 knockouts
* **Godlike** - 10+ knockouts
* **Double/Triple/Quadra/Multi Knockout** - scoring 2, 3, or 4+ knockouts in quick succession respectively
* **RAMPAGE!** - scoring 5 knockouts in quick succession
* **Shutdown** - knocking out someone on a knockout streak

## Community Terminology

**These are terms commonly used by the community to describe certain events or situations in the game**

* **BMG** is Blue Mammoth Games , developers of Brawlhalla.
* **Community Color**, or **CC**, is a special color (blue, gray, and orange-yellow) only unlockable with codes given at developer giveaways, for great contributions to the community (finding bugs, creating tutorials or fanart, and more), or as award for winning certain tournaments.
* **Metadev** is a skin unlockable only with codes given away at events that involve the developers of Brawlhalla in the flesh (thus the name, “**Met A Dev**”). Currently, the only such skins are the Metadev Orion, Metadev Ember,  Metadev Brynn, Metadev Bödvar, Metadev Asuri and Metadev Fait.
* **Malhalla** is the built-in Brawlhalla store, where you can unlock Legends and purchase skins, taunts, and avatars.
* **Salt** is frustration and anger caused by gameplay or gameplay events. A losing player who becomes angry with the winning player is often called “salty.” This term has its own taunt, which tends to induce this emotion in many players.
* **Tilt** is when a player enters a continual losing streak. Often self-perpetuating, tilting is typically caused or exacerbated by impatience, frustration, and anger during play (the “tilted” state), which usually leads to even more losses. A typical piece of advice for a tilted player is to calm down and take a break if possible.
* **Spam** is when a player uses the same move over and over. Most commonly used for players who repeatedly use a single signature attack over and over which is commonly considered a poor fighting strategy. Many losing players tend to accuse their opponents of “spamming,” sometimes without any actual reason.
* **Calculated** is a remark often said to describe an amazing combination of skill and precision, often involving Gadgets. More often than not, a “calculated” moment is just lucky positioning: however, experienced players sometimes try to *actually calculate* such combinations with careful mine placement or bomb throws.
* **Black hole** is a combo executed by two players to juggle a third player back and forth between them continually, most often using the same moves over and over with good timing. After the 4.00 patch black holes cannot contain an exact move more than once since the opponent could DI. If spaced correctly, the trapped player has no opportunity to dodge or move away between the hits, and continues to accumulate damage until a final strike with a different move knocks the doomed victim off the stage. A black hole requires a significant degree of coordination between the two players, and therefore most commonly seen in 2v2 matches.
* **Weapon Starving** is when a player throws weapons off the map and/or keeps players away from dropped weapons in an effort to make their opponent barehanded.
* **Russian Mafia** is a peculiar and very effective Hammer combo where you lift the opponent in the air with the stomp (dLight), jump and grab them in mid-air with Recovery to bounce them off the ground. Followed by grabbing the rebounding enemy with reversed dAir to launch them up in the sky, which often results in a knockout. Named by Diakou after feeling like he was getting robbed out of his stocks by the russian player Dobrein (The creator of the Russian Mafia).
* **Bread-and-butter attack** is a term used in this wiki to describe an attack (usually a Signature) that is versatile enough and can be used in a variety of situations.
* **Lingering attack** is when an attack (usually a Signature) “hangs” in the air for some time after the initial burst or swing, and can still damage enemies who happen to run into it (unlike the attacks that can hurt the enemy only for a frame or two). The most noticeable lingering attacks in the game are Azoth's Forward and Down Bow Signatures, which can damage enemies with fading-out flames.
* **Active Frames** is the duration of your attack’s hitbox (i.e. the number of game frames during which the attack can hurt you). Active frames are preceded by start-up frames (**charge-up time**), and followed by recovery frames (**recovery time**) -- the character is vulnerable and usually cannot hurt/move during charge-up and recovery times.
* **Cooldown** is additional delay between using the same move two or more times in a row. Makes spamming a single attack over and over a very bad idea.

## Tournament Terminology

* **BCX** is the **Brawlhalla World Championship**. More details here.
* A **game** is defined as the instance of combat where the outcome is determined by a team/player losing all their stocks.
* A **set** is defined as the best-of-3 or best-of-5 games that is played until a team/player has won a majority of the set. (Multiple sets are only played in the case of the lower seed team/player winning a set in the Grand Finals.)
* A **match** is defined as the set or collection of sets wherein a team/player has officially lost and the winning team/player advances to the next round of the Tournament.

## External Links

* Proper Move Terminology by ModernShoe
* Brawlhalla Lexicon by BMG