Glossary of Game Terms

This page contains explanations on various terminology, words, and phrases found in Identity V. Both official terms and common player-created terms have been included.

If you are looking for a specific term, press Ctrl+F (or Command+F on Mac) to search your term.

**Note: Derogatory, Bigoted, and Sexual Terms are not allowed in this page.**

## General Terms

### **Acronyms and Abbreviations**

These are commonly used acronyms and abbreviations seen in player messages outside the game.

#### Gameplay

* 0K-4K = refers to the number of eliminations made by the Hunter (ex. 4K = 4 "kills")
* 4-man/4-man win= more specifically, refers to a flawless win by either faction (4 survivors escaped or all 4 were killed)
* AFK = Away from Keyboard
* AOM = Ashes of Memory
* BJ = Blackjack
* BT = Borrowed Time
* BW = Broken Windows - Merged and Replaced with Knee Jerk Reflex
* CC = Crowd Control
* COA = Call of the Abyss - The annual official Identity V tournament run across all servers.
* CS = Confined Space
* CD = Cooldown
* DC = Disconnected
* DT = Detention
* FH = Friendly Hunter
* FFH = Fake Friendly Hunter
* FW or FE = Flywheel Effect
* GL/GLHF = Good luck!/Good luck have fun!
* IS = Insolence
* KJ/KJR/Knee Jerk = Knee Jerk Reflex
* NE = NetEase
* NGP = Netease Gamer Premium
* OP = OverPowered
* QM = Quick Match
* TC/Trump = Trump Card
* TOR = Time of Reunion
* TP = Teleport
* TS = Terror Shock
* TT/Tide = Tide Turner
* WR = Win Rate
* WSSA/WSA = White Sand Street Asylum or White Sand Asylum (For Short)

#### Characters

* BQ = Bloody Queen
* BW = The Breaking Wheel
* DW = Dream Witch
* FD = Female Dancer
* FG = "Fool's Gold"
* GK = Gamekeeper or Grave Keeper
* LG = Lucky Guy or "Little Girl"
* NW = Night Watch
* OS = Opera Singer
* TME = The Mind's Eye
* WC = Weeping Clown or Wu Chang

### Player Terms

Archetypes of extreme player behavior characterized along observable, meaningful dimensions.

**Beggar**

* A player who begs the server chat for free items that requires Echoes (which requires real money) to gift players. It is considered as annoying by the community and is reportable.

**Cheater**

* A player who uses illegal plugins to gain an unfair advantage against an opponent.

It is against Netease Games/Joker Studio's Terms of Service to use illegal plugins to maintain a fair play.

**Hybrid**

* A player who plays both factions, Survivor and Hunter. Also known as dual faction players.

**Peak Tier**

* A player who is currently a Titan (Survivor) or Hydra (Hunter) tier. Used to describe players at the highest Tier (VIII).

**Random**

* A player that is not associated with you, this does not include players who are your friends, well known IDV Players and etc. The community sometimes joke about their incompetence and questionable decisions.

**Scammer**

* A player who sells their "so called valuable" account to gullible players for an expansive price. Once the transaction is successful, the scammer will take your money and sold you an account (mostly a new account) that doesn't match what the scammer claimed.
* An account trader that offers to trade ownership to the gullible player's account for theirs. Once the trade is successful, the victim will discover that the scammer's account doesn't match what the scammer claimed. The scammer then hijacks the account and change the login binds to prevent the victim from recovering their account.
* A scammer offers cheap Echo Transaction to the gullible player. Once the trade is successful, the scammer will take your money and will not top-up the Echoes to your account.

It is against Netease Games/Joker Studio's Terms of Service to trade/sell accounts or echoes due to the risk of scams and loss of account ownership.

**Smurf**

* A "smurf" is the name for a player's alternate account of a lower tier or level than their main. Using a smurf in Rank is looked down upon, as it creates a one-sided match where experienced players are facing against new players. Smurfs often do that to creating a profile with high win rates or to boost one's own self-esteem.
* However, using a smurf to practice new characters or techniques without embarrassing oneself is generally considered acceptable. A player is said to be "smurfing" when playing on their smurf account.
* Using a Smurf account to play with your friends from lower tier is also understandable.

**Whale**

* A player who spends a lot of money on the game, especially when opening Essences. A player is said to be "whaling" when they attempt to pull for a limited skin with both in-game currency and real money until they get it.

## Numbers

#### Persona

Numbers are mostly used to refer to a build style on the Persona Web. These numbers are typically used to communicate to others what final talents a player is bringing. However, they are not commonly used in-game anymore, as the matching interface now shows Survivors what final talents a player has with little icons. Hunters can't see these icons.

The numbers are based on the 4 major directions on a clock face, represented by the numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12. Each number corresponds to a direction on the Persona Web.

**3**

This number refers to the eastern or right side branch on the Persona Web.

* The Survivor brings Borrowed Time.
* The Hunter brings Trump Card.

**6**

This number refers to the southern or down-facing branch on the Persona Web.

* The Survivor brings Tide Turner.
* The Hunter brings Detention.

**9**

This number refers to the western or left side branch on the Persona Web.

* The Survivor brings Knee Jerk Reflex.
* The Hunter brings Insolence.

**12**

This number refers to the northern or up-facing branch on the Persona Web.

* The Survivor brings Flywheel Effect (formerly Spectator).
* The Hunter brings Confined Space.

#### Rocket Chairs

Numbers refer to elimination progress of a rocket chair.

**50%**

* The second phase of the Rocket Chair's elimination process. Once it reaches to 50%, the rescued Survivor has one last chance to contain the Hunter before the elimination, Survivors who are rescued before 50% will have 2 chances instead.
	+ Hunters will try to stall the rescue past 50% to hasten the Survivor's elimination faster during camping.
	+ Rescuers should attempt to rescue as close to 50% as possible.

**90%**

* A window of time where a rescuer may choose to approach the chair. A rescue at 90% elimination progress is usually meant to buy teammates more time to decode, especially if the chaired person no longer has items to help them kite.
	+ Approaching the chair at this time is significantly riskier, as you have less time to bait Hunters around the chair.

**100%**

* The final phase of the Rocket Chair's elimination process. Once it reaches to 100%, the Rocket Chair will take off and eliminates the Survivors hence removing them from the game.

#### Self-Healing

Numbers referring to the healing process

**99%**

* With the Exit Path, survivors can ignore the self healing limit. They usually do it to save Exit Path for future critical uses, and to get up almost instantly upon being touched by their teammates.

## In-Game Messages

*See also: Quick Messages*

During matches, players have a list of messages which they can say and which will appear to all of their teammates. Certain messages are more common than others, and certain messages have a slightly different meaning or connotation among players than might be expected which have been explained below.

**Please press "Expand" to see the list of in-game messages commonly used by players.**

### Common Messages

* **"Focus on Decoding!"**
	+ Used at the beginning of a match to encourage teammates to find a Cipher Machine as quickly as possible.
	+ Also used when the speaker is going for the rescue or is being chased, or to encourage teammates to decode instead of healing.
	+ In late-game, this message can also be used as a prompt for the Survivor at the primed cipher to pop it.
* **"Decode another Cipher!"**
	+ Tells their teammates to decode a new cipher machine as there is a hunter nearby guarding it.
	+ Used to tell their teammate to not co-op decode and to look for a new cipher machine.
* **"The Hunter is nearby!"**
	+ Used by Survivors who are being chased by the Hunter, so that their teammates can stay away, and so they know they can focus on Cipher Machines without too much worry until the sender of the message is downed.
	+ Occasionally used when the Hunter is Photographer, to tell teammates to hide when the photo is taken.
* **"Beware! The Hunter has changed target!"**
	+ Used when the person being chased has done well enough that the Hunter has lost them or gives up to find someone easier to down. Start paying attention because you might be the next one chased.
	+ This message is also used by the person on the Rocket Chair, when they see the Hunter moving away from them and so it might be a good opportunity for rescue.
* **"Stay put I'm coming!"** or **"Stop decoding! I'm going in!"** or **"Open the gate! I'll save the others!"**
	+ Used by the person who is going to rescue a teammate from a Rocket Chair, so the remainder of the team knows to continue what they are doing and not go for the rescue. Do not actually "stop decoding" when the 2nd message is said.
	+ If you have almost finished your own Cipher Machine when the rescuer says this message, you can check if they left a partially-decoded machine behind and finish it off for them after completing your own (sometimes the rescuer will instead use **"Take over this Cipher for me!"** in this case). If you do move to their machine, it's usually best to send a message back so they know you are there and can help complete it or can get a heal from you.
* **"Cipher Machine primed!"**
	+ Used by the person who has the final Cipher Machine at 99% completion. This so their teammates can prepare for the machine's sudden completion, which will cause any equipped Borrowed Time and Detention traits to activate.
	+ After the last cipher has been popped, this message can also be used by someone at an open the exit gate to let teammates know it's safe to run towards the gate.
* **"I'm stuck!"**
	+ Used by someone who is lagging. They may need extra assistance with kiting the Hunter and may need to be rescued late.
* **"The Dungeon is Here!"**
	+ Used when a person founds an unopened dungeon to inform their teammates about its location if they got chased by the hunter late gate.
	+ It is also used to tell their teammates to leave so that the dungeon can be open allowing the remaining survivor to escape.
* **"The Basement is Here!"**
	+ Used when a person founds a basement to tell their teammates to avoid kiting or dying here as the basement is the most dangerous map for Survivors.
* **"Leave me!"** or **"Don't rescue me!"** or **"Save when it's critical!"** or **"Don't fall here!"**
	+ Used most often by someone who has been downed and put in a Rocket Chair.
		- This person is giving permission that they are okay being left on the Rocket Chair for longer so that their teammates can have more time to decode, heal, or even escape.
		- Essentially, do not rescue this person if you are not **completely** confident you can save them without them or you being immediately downed after, and only rescue before the orange half-way mark or right before they are eliminated. Do not rescue early and do not rescue if you are injured, do not have Tide Turner, or the Hunter has Detention activated.
		- These messages are also used as a warning that you are likely up against a Hunter who is strong at protecting a chaired Survivor (such as Guard 26, The Feaster, or Sculptor).
* **"Forget about saving! Go for the tie!"**
	+ Almost always used when there are three Survivors left and one of them is in a Rocket Chair, but the Hunter is a strong camper or has Detention, and so it is likely not worth going for the rescue.
	+ Occasionally used when 1 Survivor gets chaired early, and is used to direct teammates to finish decoding at least 1 cipher before attempting a rescue, if at all.
* **"Follow me!"**
	+ Most often used by Survivors to tell their teammates to come to them for healing. Can also be used at one of the open Exit Gates or at a Cipher Machine being worked on.
		- Harassers (Batter, Antiquarian, Forward, etc.) use this message to harass the Hunter in order to give you time to create distance and waste the Hunter's time.
		- In more casual matches, this message can also be used when you are up against a "Friendly Hunter" to tell teammates to come and see that they are friendly.

## Player Terms and Lingo

**Bad Portal**

Refers to Priestess' common mistake of placing portals where the hunter can easily reach to the other side of the object without being forced to take a long path or go through the portal and get stunned.

**Ballooning**

The Hunter action of picking up and tying to a survivor to balloons to carry them. Most Survivors prefer to stun the hunter during that animation as the survivors will not undergo the falling animation and have immediate control of their movement once freed.

**Balloon Rescuers**

Balloon Rescuers are Survivors that are capable of rescuing a Survivor before the Hunter reaches to the Rocket Chair. This is more effective than rescuing directly from the Rocket Chair as Rocket Chairs are the more practical and quicker way for the Hunters to eliminate a Survivor.

The following Survivors are capable of balloon rescuing:

* Forward
* Cowboy
* Prospector
* Wildling
* Batter
* Antiquarian
* Coordinator
* Enchantress
* "Prisoner" (to a lesser extent)
* Professor (If the hunter attacks and hits the scales)
* Thief (If he manages to blind the hunter while they're carrying the survivor)

**Ballooning**

The act of a Hunter picking up a Survivor off the ground to carry them. The term refers to the default pick-up animations for Hunters, where they tie balloons to the Survivor's waist and carry them by a string while they float.

**Basement Party**

Refers to a situation when 2 or more Survivors are chaired in the Basement.

**Blackjacking**

Unrelated to the Blackjack game mode, "blackjacking" refers to when a Survivor impedes a teammate when being pursued by the Hunter in one of the following ways:

* Dropping a pallet in front of the other Survivor
* Vaulting a window or a pallet in front of the other Survivor

This occurs most often to a Survivor trying to body-block for a teammate they have just rescued; usually this results in the Survivor following behind to be hit by the Hunter, whether in front of the obstacle or when they try to vault, resulting in a Terror Shock. It's considered good etiquette to let the person behind you be in charge of dropping pallets, and to try and not vault in front of them if you don't have to. This is also occasionally called "Sandbagging."

**Blocked Cipher**

Refers to when the cipher machine is blocked by the Persona talent, Constrain or other hunter's abilities.

**Blocked Window**

Most commonly refers to when the vaultable window is blocked by the Persona talent, Confined Space. This is to help their teammate to determine which Persona Build did the hunter bring. It is also referred to other hunters such as Wax Artist or Clerk that are capable of blocking windows using their abilities.

**Body-Blocking**

"Body-blocking" refers to when a Survivor takes damage to protect another Survivor. This is usually done right after a Survivor is rescued from a chair, especially when the rescuer is uninjured or the rescued teammate is dead-on-chair (see "Dead-on-Chair" below).

Body-blocking is also sometimes used during kiting (see "Kiting" below) to either "take the kite" or prevent a teammate from being downed too early in a match. Another, somewhat rarer use of a body-block is to initiate cipher pop (see "Primed Cipher" below).

* A common mistake by beginners is to never body-block for the teammate they have just rescued from the Rocket Chair. This can risk a Double Down (see "Double Down" below) and allows the Hunter to eliminate the Survivors faster.
* Figuring out when and if to body-block is important, and may be dependent on what characters you and your teammate are playing as, what Persona Talents and Tools you have brought to take a hit, and what Map the game is in.
* Some characters, such as Seer or Grave Keeper, can body-block using their abilities or items, letting them take the hit and force the Hunter to perform their attack recovery without receiving any damage.
* Mercenary is known for being able to take a Detention hit for teammates running for the opened Exit Gate.

**Boosted**

"Boosted" refers to a player who has reached their level or tier not by their own skill, but by others "carrying" (doing all the work) for them. With Survivors, this is mainly seen when players teaming up with people of higher skill than them for Rank. As a result, they reach a higher tier than they should, and it doesn't reflect their actual mastery of the game. For Hunters, getting somebody of a higher level or tier to play on their account will lead to them becoming boosted.

However, as in the Dead by Daylight community, in IDV people may refer to themselves or their friends as being "boosted". Among friends, this is used as a joke when one of them makes a mistake in a match, is playing a character they are notoriously bad at, or is having an "off" day. People may also jokingly call popular players, especially ones known for being pros, "boosted" if they mess up in a livestream.

**Broken**

A term which refers to a character (Either a survivor or a hunter) is too powerful or overpowering that it breaks the game's balance, waiting time, and etc. It is commonly used by new players who don't know how to counter the character yet or for experienced players who can't do anything in their power to counter that.

**Broken Hitbox**

A term which is used when Hunter's attack hits or doesn't hit at times when it should or shouldn't.

**Camping**

"Camping" can refer one of several behaviors, though it is most commonly used in relation to the Hunter remaining next to a Survivor placed on a Rocket Chair.

* Despite this tactic being hated by some Survivors, it is not a punishable offense and is commonly utilized by Hunters (certain Hunter's traits also make them far better suited for camping than chasing, making this strategy necessary to avoid a loss). A good counter to this is the persona trait Tide Turner or certain Survivors using their unique qualities or items (Mercenary, Perfumer, Seer, Grave Keeper, etc.).
* "Face camping" is when the Hunter stands not only nearby, but right in front of the chaired Survivor, even when no one else is here or Tinnitus isn't activated yet. It is commonly used by hunters with a lack of mobility or that can harass Survivors from afar while face camping.
* "Patrolling" or "Proxy-Camp" refers to a Hunter who wants to guard a chaired Survivor, but has started heading towards a Cipher Machine or patrol around the area to look for another Survivor at a fair distance away from the chair. It is generally considered to be an acceptable tactic, and is often endorsed as an alternative to camping to look out for rescuers.

Other uses of the term:

* When there is a Cipher Machine that Survivors keep returning to work on–usually the primed cipher (see "Primed Cipher" below)–a Hunter may camp the cipher. The aim is to stall the game out long enough to down and chair the remaining Survivors.
* Survivors may hover around or behind pallets, especially in lower tiers where this isn't as risky to their safety. The Survivor will wait for the Hunter to walk or try to attack through the pallet. Then, the Survivor will drop the pallet onto the Hunter, stunning them. This is typically known as "pallet camping."

**Chair Rescuers**

Chair Rescuers are Survivors with the best chances against the camping Hunter near an active Rocket Chair. They are the top priority to rescue due to their great survivability as they can either withstand multiple hits from the Hunter or delay the rescue right before 50% or 100% to give their teammates time to decode.

The following Survivors capable of chair rescuing that are:

* Mercenary
* First Officer
* Grave Keeper

**Chairing**

Refers to the act of a Hunter tying/strapping a Survivor onto a Rocket Chair.

**Chip Damage**

"Chip Damage" refers to Hunter's abilities that are capable of dealing 1/4 damage of the Survivor's total health.

Abilities capable of dealing Chip Damage:

* Gamekeeper's Thorny Hook
* Soul Weaver's Spinning
* Guard 26's Time Bomb
* Mad Eye's Fence (If hit directly below a Survivor)
* Sculptor's Statues
* Clerk's Replays of her attacks
* "Fool's Gold"'s Unstable Ground

**Cipher Lock**

Refers to when the Survivors have finished 4 cipher machines and need 1 more to activate the exit gates, but the last 3 remaining cipher machines are located too close together which is dangerous for the Survivors as the Hunter can patrol around these areas easier to interrupt the decoding.

**Cipher Rush**

"Cipher rush" refers to when Survivors complete Cipher Machines as quickly as possible (~81 seconds per cipher). This occurs when each Survivor decodes an entire cipher alone, starting from within a few seconds of spawning in the game. Typically, one of the four Survivors will kite the Hunter (see "kiting" below) while their teammates "pop" the first three ciphers. If the Survivor kiting the Hunter can survive for at least 70 seconds (including the time taken for the hunter to chair them) or more, then there will only be two ciphers left to decode. By the time the Hunter puts the kiter onto a Rocket Chair, the rescuer can come save them while their remaining teammates can work on the final 2 ciphers.

It also refers to when all the Cipher Machines are finished within 4-5 mins or less which commonly happens if there is a decoder that hasn't been chased or the hunter fails to down a survivor as quickly as possible.

To prevent a loss and buy as much time as possible, Hunters must make sure to disrupt the decoding, though some Hunters are more susceptible to cipher rush than others. This commonly happens due to their ability kit for example, Photographer's Camera World can disrupt the Cipher Machine progress, Wu Chang's massive map pressure can teleport to cipher machines from afar, and Clerk can repeatedly block a Cipher Machine until a survivor is rescued. However, the ones who are heavily affected by cipher rush such as Guard 26 whose kit is more focused on camping, and Night Watch whose kit is heavily focused on chasing.

Traits such as Abnormal and Peepers and Persona Talents such as Constrain, Deterioration, and Panic can slow down decoding in order to help prevent a cipher rush.

Picking the hunters, traits, and persona talents doesn't guarantee to counter Cipher Rush as these builds are meant to delay the cipher rush from happening. Hence it is important to find your own gameplay style by yourself.

**Clutch Rescue**

An event in which the rescuer must rescue a chaired survivor who is about to reached to 50% or 100% of the chair's progress of the elimination while the Hunter is nearby aiming for a terror shock or buying time for the chair progress to reach to the next phase.

**Crowd Control (CC)**

Commonly used for Survivors to harass the hunters by limiting and interrupting their movements, attacks, and actions. The only way the Hunters can overcome this is the use of the trait, Excitement. Examples of CC are:

* Blocking/Trapping Hunters from moving.
* Stunning the Hunter.
* Slow the hunter's movement or interaction speed.
* Knockback the Hunter away from a survivor. (Attracting the hunter to them for Prospector's case)
* Interrupting the Hunter's actions during their animation.
* Changing the Hunters' direction as Painter using his Canvas.
* Disarm the Hunter from attacking Survivors as Antiquarian using her Mechanical Flute.
* Silencing the Hunter's Abilities as Acrobat using his Fire Bombs.
* Swapping positions with the Hunter as Novelist using his Metaphor.

It can refer to the Hunters limiting and interrupting the Survivors' movements, interactions and actions too such as:

* Blocking a Survivor from advancing to the Rocket Chair.
* Stunning a Survivor
* Slowing down the Survivors' movement and interaction speed.
* Interrupting or blocking the Survivors' interactions.
* Preventing the Survivors from using their tools and abilities.
* Using Excitement to protect themselves from CC effects.
* Pulling Survivors toward the Hunter as Gamekeeper and Night Watch.
* Preventing Survivors from seeing their teammates and their status, and can see false illusions as Wu Chang (White Guard Form).
* Reversing the Survivor's movement as Wu Chang (Black Guard Form).
* Trapping Survivors with Fences as Mad Eyes.

**Co-op Decoding**

A Survivor decoding tactic which two or more Survivors are decoding on the same Cipher Machine to finish it quickly. It is discouraged in early game as it is more efficient to finish 3 ciphers separately instead of working on one cipher together.

However, it is vital for the endgame if there is 1 cipher needed to activate the exit gate (Assuming if there are 3 or more Survivors remaining).

**Dead Hard**

A nickname for Flywheel Effect due to it similarities to the perk Dead Hard from "Dead by Daylight" before Patch 6.1.0.

**Dead-on-Chair (Last Chair)**

"Dead-on-chair" refers to when a Survivor will be eliminated the next time they get strapped to a Rocket Chair. This is either on the Survivor's second or third chair, depending on whether they were saved before the halfway line on their elimination progress. You can tell which teammates have been placed on a Rocket Chair at least once by looking at their icons in the top right; the ones with a reddish glow behind their name have been chaired.

If you're dead-on-chair, it's typically advised to avoid being found by the Hunter again. Even if you're the only uninjured Survivor, it might not be wise for you to rescue a teammate. It's preferable to either heal a teammate who hasn't been chaired yet, or to have a half-health Mercenary go to rescue.

**Death Breaker**

Refers to the survivor dropping the pallet to stop the Hunter but cause the teammate to be left on the other side of the pallet with the Hunter.

**Detention Rescue**

An extremely risky move when a survivor tries to rescue their teammate while the Hunter has Detention. This is only a potentially good move if there are 2 Survivors left in game with one being chaired and you want to turn it into a tie, or if you are collaborating with your teammates in order to execute a good rescue (for example: Coordinator will stun the hunter, Mercenary will rescue and body block). Regardless, this is only advisable under certain specific circumstances.

**Double Down**

A common survivor mistake in which both the rescuer and the rescued survivor got downed by the Hunter. This pressures the Survivors and gives the hunter more time to delay the cipher rush by forcing the survivors to ignore the cipher machines to heal their downed rescuer, or to waste their Exit Path and risk slugging if downed again.

**Double Hit**

A set of actions perform by sequence within a short time that allows the Hunter to incapacitate a survivor instantly. This is commonly achieve by using their secondary attack and than their basic/charged attack.

**Double Hunter**

A common hunter tactic in Duo Hunters in which 2 Hunters work together to chase a survivor or camp the Rocket Chair. This tactic helps them to down a survivor as quickly as possible, get an almost guarantee elimination by the rocket chair, or if there are too many survivors in one area. Some survivors find this tactic annoying/toxic as it is extremely difficult to kite 2 hunters at the same time. However, some people support this strategy, countering the argument that survivors can work together in Duo Hunters to support their teammates but gatekeep the hunters if they are doing the same thing and that this tactic is easily countered by cipher rush and double rescues.

**Double Pop**

A rare occurrence which 2 survivors finish the last 2 cipher machines at about the same time. It can be coincidental due to poor communication but if done right, this tactic is useful for preventing Cipher Lock situations where the last 3 ciphers are close to one another which allows the hunter to easily patrol the ciphers and Hunters such as Wax Artist or Clerk who specialize in blocking cipher machines. This can cause the hunter to overestimate their time they have left before the Exit Gates are activated until the last 2 Cipher Machine are popped at the same time.

**Double Rescue**

A common rescuing tactic for Survivors which 2 Survivors will attempt to rescue their teammate with one of them trying to distract the hunter and the other one rescuing or they both go at the same time to apply pressure to the hunter. This commonly happens if the survivor is chaired in the Basement, the last cipher machine is almost ready, or the rescuer is unable to rescue their teammate. Double rescues are also viable if the hunter is a strong camper or all potential rescuers are injured.

**Eagle Eye**

An advanced hunter tactic used to locate the Survivors far away from them using the game's short draw/view distance to their advantage or using keen observation.

**Fake Friendly Hunter/FFH**

When a Hunter is merely pretending to be a Friendly Hunter, this is called a "Fake Friendly." They will act like a friendly Hunter in the beginning of the game, but will suddenly betray the Survivors once the final Cipher Machine is completed (and their Detention is activated as shown by glowing red eyes), they can score a free terror shock on a gullible Survivor, or if all four Survivors are close enough to hit them all (especially if they are carrying someone and so do not have the attack recovery animation).

**The developers will not take action against FFHs as they consider it a legitimate strategy.**

* In general, always ensure at least 1 Survivor (even if it's just you) is keeping their distance from a friendly Hunter at all times, so that they can't down all four Survivors at once. This will leave you a chance to recover the game, or at least allow one person to escape through the Dungeon.
* Additionally, the Survivors should distance themselves at least a little bit from a friendly Hunter if they are carrying someone, or if the final Cipher Machine is about to be completed. Only after a Hunter has demonstrated that they won't attack (even when carrying someone or even when Detention is active) should the distance be closed.

**Fall Hit**

A move in which the hunter has successfully hits a survivor during a fall. The hunter's fall animation is prioritized over the hunter's attack recovery animation, allowing them to skip the attack recovery animation and continue to pursue the survivor.

For charged attack, Hunters must deal damage before falling in order to skip the attack recovery animation.

**Fan Hit**

A common hunter's tactic to counter against body-blocking. The hunter needs to position their hitbox by staying close to the body-blocker and turns sideways to hit a survivor farther away while ignoring the body-blocker.

This works for hunters with a fan-shaped hitbox such as Bloody Queen, "Disciple", and Geisha etc. and the player must fully understand the hunter's hitbox to execute this tactic properly. You can see this move in action here.

**Farming**

A common survivor mistake in which the survivor rescues their teammate without Tide Turner, stunning or delaying the hunter, or bodyblocking their teammates to give them time to kite or decode. This allows the hunter to get a free down on a rescued survivor and quickens their elimination progress and a higher chance of double down.

The only exception is that if the Survivor's Rocket Chair phase has almost reached to 50% to prevent the survivors from being eliminated quickly and to get a second chance on rescuing.

**Fast Rescue (Instant Rescue)**

"Instant Rescue" is when a Survivor rescues their teammate immediately, this is commonly used if the Hunter is away from the Rocket Chair, the hunter is on the attack recovery animation, the hunter is stunned, rescuing a Hunter with Detention or a Survivor is too close for elimination.

However, it is not advised to rescue a survivor quickly as Hunters can use this (See Forced Rescue below) to their advantage to gives Survivors less time to decode freely and allows them to eliminate the survivor quicker.

**Feed (Feeding) Presence**

A term used to describe when the Survivors fill the Hunter's Presence extremely quickly in order to avoid getting incapacitated, examples such as Mechanic body-blocking with her doll or Perfumer recklessly using her perfume. While it might seem good to extend the kiting time (and there are times where it is), in some cases it is more likely that you will get hit even after using your ability, which will give the Hunter even more presence. This can be troublesome to most teams as it makes it even difficult for them to contain, rescue and decode while going against hunters who severely improve at full presence such as Breaking Wheel, Sculptor, or Naiad.

**Footprints (Scratch Marks)**

Footprints or Scratch Marks are left behind by the Survivors when they are running or injured, they can only be seen by the hunters which helps them to locate and find the Survivors.

**Forced Rescue**

When a Hunter intentionally hits a survivor going for a rescue, forcing them to do so immediately in order to not waste time and give the hunter a free down (or to activate Tide). The Hunter might do this if the survivor has barely (or just) passed 50% on the rocket chair and they are confident in their ability to down them again (and the rescuer as well) and want to speed up the elimination process and prevent future rescues to get an upper hand.

**Free Hit**

Used when the Hunter has successfully hit a survivor due to the survivor's kiting mistake or their poor decisions, and not the Hunters own talent. This can also occur if a survivor is lagging or their game has crashed.

**Friendly Hunter/FH**

A "Friendly Hunter" (or "FH" for short) refers to a Hunter that gives a free win to the team of Survivors, usually by refusing to attack or refusing to put them in Rocket Chairs.

The reasons they are doing this is either because:

* The hunter is in a good mood.
* One of the Survivors is a close friend of the hunter.
* A Survivor requests the hunter to help on their deduction quest and the hunter accepts their request.
* One of the Survivors is AFK or Early Quit, so the Hunter goes friendly or give the Survivors a draw to compensate that.
* The hunter just wants to complete the hunter's character day quest as fast as possible and get it over with.

It is not considered as toxic by most of the survivor community as it is a free win for them, but some Survivors find them as a waste of their time or feel like they didn't earn a win if they want to play the game seriously.

Hunters will signify that they intend to go friendly through frequent use of emotes and graffiti, and most notably spinning in a circle.

* These hunters frequently bring accessories that give them a Unique Carrying Animation, and might down Survivors just to let them struggle free in order to let the animation play out.
* When a hunter downs a survivor, either by accident or to cause chaos, they might pick up and put down the survivor multiple times in order to speed up the healing process by letting them struggle free faster.
* Sometimes, the Hunter will act normally in the beginning of the game by attacking and downing the Survivors, but will either not put the Survivors in any chairs at all or, or will only chair each survivor once. Then in the end game they will let them crawl out of the gate while they're knocked down or surrender the moment it is available to save their time. This is called an "abusive friendly" which is a loophole for the friendly hunters to prevent the developers from applying penalties to the player for idling.
* The Survivor equivalent, when all Survivors agree to give themselves up to the Hunter, is called a "Suicide Team" and is much rarer. This only applies when ALL FOUR Survivors agree to give the Hunter the win. (see: Sui/Sui Team/Suicide Team)

**Gate Waiting**

Refers to survivors who are waiting at an opened Exit Gate either to assist their teammate to escape by harassing the Hunter, bodyblocking their teammate to safety, and bait the Hunter to teleport to the open exit gate and ping their location before leaving.

In an unnecessary situation, Survivors wait at the gate just to taunt the Hunter which is usually seen as Throwing (see below) if they got caught by the Hunter when they should have leave or if the Survivor is kiting the hunter and is waiting for the dungeon to be opened as it can only open if they are the last survivor remaining. In Chinese Terms, they are refereed to as The Emperor of the Door/Dungeon.

**God Pallets/Windows**

An extremely safe pallet or window where Hunters are forced to break/vault it to continue the chase and is near impossible for them to mindgame Survivors with and find another path to go through. God Pallets and Windows are rare and wasting them when not absolutely necessary removes an important obstacle to the Hunter's chase for the rest of the match in that specific area.

**Heal Stall**

Refers to when a knocked down survivor is being healed by teammates to prevent the hunter from picking them up. The hunter is then forced to knock down everyone else, therefore going into attack recovery several times. This technique is often used when the knocked down survivor is dead-on-chair, or to buy time for the last cipher to be primed. Survivors like Perfumer, Psychologist, Mercenary, or Mechanic excel at this technique due to the fact that they have items or abilities allowing them to buy enough time to heal up their teammate or stall long enough for the primed cipher.

**Hiding**

A tactic for Survivors to avoid detection and evade the Hunter to waste their time or to force them to change targets. The survivors must try to stay out of the Hunter's sight and remain as quiet as possible to not attract attention and expose their location. This is commonly done by crouching behind objects.

However, this strategy is impractical for kiting or evading chases as Hunters can use their abilities, traits, persona talents, and keen observation to find and expose survivors hiding. Secondly, survivors who are hiding may indirectly led their teammate into danger as the Hunter may give up searching and change to another target to chase. Thirdly, survivors hiding in Lockers make a loud sound, allowing the Hunter to determine their location. Fourth, injured survivors make more noise than healthy survivors and leaves a blue scratch mark behind. In most cases, survivors who are caught will guarantee a free hit for the Hunter, reducing their chances of survival. The only exception is Explorer, due to his kit focusing on hiding and evading hunters and is needed to find password pages.

Despite that, Hiding is only useful for rescuing as it forces the Hunter to camp the Rocket Chair and wait for the right moment to expose themself to rescue, and buy more time for the team to decode. Hiding is also necessary for waiting for the dungeon to open. It is also serves as an extremely risky last resort, if you are injured, on Last Chair (see below), and have nowhere else to run to kite or defend yourself with tools from the hunter.

**Hunter Bullying**

A term used to describe Survivors trying to Crowd Control the Hunter continuously by trying to kite the hunter, support their teammates, or for toxic reasons by using Stuns, Knockbacks, or any other ways that can make it difficult or inconvenient for the Hunter.

Hunters can counter this through Excitement, Desperate Fight, and Addiction.

**Idling**

"Idling" is when a survivor runs around the map instead of decoding a Cipher Machine even if they aren't chased by the Hunter. This is extremely impractical and unproductive to the team as it is often seen by the community as Throwing.

The only exceptions are if the Hunter is nearby, the Cipher Machine is blocked by Constrain, the Cipher Machine is already occupied by another survivor (Unless it is the last Cipher Machine needed), or harassing the hunter to assist/balloon rescue their teammate.

**Infinite Loop**

"Infinite Loop" is when a survivor manages to loop kite the hunter for an extremely long time without damage due to the map design favoring the Survivors (via God Pallets/Windows) or the Hunter refuses to break the pallet, didn't have Confined Space to block the window or refuse to use their abilities to end the loop.

**Juggling**

"Juggling" or "Item Juggling" is when a Survivor with a non-Exclusive Tool picks up another non exclusive Tool and carries both by constantly switching which one they are holding as they run. This used to be a common technique for Lucky Guys as he is a survivor which gains his skills from items, before the Lucky Guy Trait was buffed to give him two item slots.

**Juking**

"Juking" is when a Survivor tricks the Hunter into missing an opportunity to get a hit on them. This is typically done by looping a Hunter in one direction for a time before suddenly switching directions and running past the Hunter. Alternately, a Survivor may simply anticipate when the Hunter is going to attack and quickly spin around to get behind the Hunter's hitbox (the range in which a Hunter's attack will land). Survivors may also juke the Hunter into hitting at an open pallet so they can stun them, or trick the Hunter by running at a pallet or window to make it look like they're going to vault.

**Jumpscare**

"Jumpscare" refers to when a Survivor has a sudden heartbeat and a tense pursuit music being played almost immediately. This gives the survivor less time to react and prepare for the chase which will more likely to give a hunter a free hit unless the Survivor is prepared or had their guard up prior to the Jumpscare.

This usually happens if the hunter has high mobility such as Wu Chang or Geisha, or can conceal their Terror Radius such as Photographer and Dream Witch. Hunters use this tactic to ambush the survivor by surprise.

**Kiting**

"Kiting" is the more commonly-used term for what the game calls "containing the Hunter". Survivors kite the Hunter by using the environment and their unique items or abilities to keep the Hunter from being able to hit them. Smart pallet and window use are vital in kiting, as is predicting the movements of the Hunter. It's recommended that players learn how to look behind themselves while kiting, since it will provide early warning for the Hunter using their ability or charging up an attack with a longer reach.

There are two types of kiting: tight-kiting and transition kiting. Tight-kiting occurs when a Survivor keeps the Hunter in a one area of the map, looping the Hunter around obstacles and juking. Transition kiting occurs when a Survivor keeps moving through the map, never staying in one area long enough for the Hunter to catch up to them. Note that aspects of both forms of kiting are typically used together for maximum effectiveness.

**Late Rescue**

"Late Rescue" means that the survivor must rescue their teammate after the Rocket Chair's progress reaches above 50% to waste the camping hunter's time and gives the Survivors more time to finish their cipher machine. This usually happens if a survivor is downed early in the game.

**Lead the Hunter**

A common survivor mistake to which the kiting survivor has accidentally lead the Hunter to another survivor who is a decoder, injured, was on the Last Chair before elimination, decoding the last cipher machine, and healing their teammate etc. This forces the hunter to change their objective and focus on a more vulnerable survivor or to interrupt their progress that can help benefit the Hunter and turn the tables around.

**Loop/Tight Kiting**

A common kiting technique for the Survivors with which the Survivors have to loop around the kiting area until they drop the pallet or find a safe moment to move to another area.

**Match Fixing**

Another term of throwing, the throwing player has arranged with the Hunter before the game starts. This allows the throwing player to easily rank up, get badges, meet inexperienced players, and etc. while giving the hunter a free win in return.

This is considered a toxic practice and is a reportable offense to both the throwing survivor and the hunter.

**Midnight Trick**

A theory created by IDV Youtuber GeishaGaming where the player has to open their Essences at the server time of 12:00 am to get a higher chance of getting A or S rarity skins.

**Note: There's no compiling nor statistical evidence that this actually works. Check the Essence Rates for more details.**

**Mind-game**

A term used by both Hunters and Survivors referring to when they convince the other player they are about to do something which they aren't, causing a reaction out of them which the other team can anticipate in order to get another hand. An example of this would be a Hunter holding down their ability button to trigger the startup animation, only to cancel it last second and land a hit on the survivor. For the Survivors, it could be running in a specific way that gets the hunter near a pallet in order to pallet stun them.

**Overwound**

A term used to describe a Survivor under Tide Turner taking too much damage from the Hunter and fall once the effect ends due to excessive damage even if Borrowed Time is activated.

**Pallet Camping**

A common kiting technique for Survivors. If the kiting survivor is running towards their teammate, the teammate will wait at the pallet for the hunter to cross and stun them, allowing the kiting survivor to escape or gain distance from the hunter.

It can be also used to provoke a chase if the hunter is looking for a survivor and walks towards a pallet to give a survivor a chance to distance themselves from the hunter.

**Pallet Eater**

Referring to when a Hunter continuously gets stunned by Pallets due to their poor observation skills or lack of experience with mind gaming.

**Pallet Hit**

In Survivors' Term, it refers to a successful pallet stun on the hunter.

In Hunters' Term, it refers to a successful hit on a survivor during their pallet dropping animation.

**Pallet Rescue**

When a survivor pallet stuns the Hunter while the Hunter balloons/carries a survivor. If done correctly, the Hunter is stunned and the survivor is freed from the hunter's grasp.

**Pallet Spamming (Disrespect Pallet)**

A kiting technique which a survivor drops every pallet they encounter when kiting the Hunter. It is commonly used against Hunters with weak chasing, slow pallet breaking and slow movement speed.

However, this technique makes it harder for other Survivors to kite later in the match as pallets that are already destroyed by the hunter are considered useless leaving them defenseless and the pallets that are already dropped but not destroyed by the Hunter can be an obstacle for the survivors as they may risk terror shock if they vault and block them, allowing the Hunter to corner them.

As for the Hunters, they see pallet spamming as cheap kiting technique to extend the kiting survivor's time for their team to cipher rush them. This is technique is looked down upon by both factions.

**Pallet Tricking**

For the Survivors' Term, it is a kiting technique where a Survivor baits the Hunter into walking through the pallet before doubling back to the pallet and stunning the Hunter.

For the Hunters' Term, it is a chase technique where the Hunter pretends to walk into a pallet and double back if the survivor tries to pallet stun them. This causes the survivor to waste a pallet and might allow the hunter to get a free hit on the survivor.

**Percy Mode**

A term which the Hunter prefers to put Survivors in an incapacitated state to bleed them to death than chairing Survivors on the Rocket Chair (see: Slugging)

Sometimes happens when the hunter who got too used to playing the hunter "Undead" (who eliminates Survivors through bleeding them out) has a momentary lapse in logic and forgets that other hunters can eliminate survivors through rocket chairs.

Some people will troll like this in order to waste the Survivors time by trying to down as many of them as possible so nobody can heal, and forcing the game to revolve around healing rather than decoding. It also happens because Youtubers or Streamers are forced to do that due to their viewer's challenge.

**Pinging**

A common Survivor tactic where Survivors ping their location to their teammates through Quick Chats. This is very useful to help in decision making and knowing what their teammates are doing (Example: Decoding a Cipher Machine, insist on rescuing their teammate, the hunter's location, and assisting their teammate etc.).

**Power Creep**

A common problem in Identity V relating to the game's balance. It refers to the situation where new content released such as new Survivors and Hunters tend to get more powerful than the older ones as time goes on. This leaves out older characters to become more obsolete or irrelevant to the current meta which results to the lack of diversity in games, change in fraction waiting times, characters getting continuously banned in Rank or 5v5 Matches for being too powerful, and creating imbalance between the fractions.

These common examples are:

* Older Survivors/Hunters having trouble countering with the Newer Survivors/Hunters.
* Newer Survivors having less/no debuffs than Older Survivors.
* Newer Survivors' debuffs are not impactful to the game and doesn't compensate their powerful abilities.
* Newer Survivors/Hunters not getting punished for making a mistake and can avoid it with minimal effort by performing their "get out of jail card" abilities.
* Survivors knowing how to adapt and counter Older Hunters overtime and vice versa.
* Survivors and Hunters' buffs may indirectly weaken the characters.
* Characters that never got their own adjustment for years.
* Older Hunters having an outdated kit as Newer Hunters have superior abilities due to having a better early game, map pressure, chasing, and camping which they lack.

While the developers have continuously releasing balance patches by the end of the season, some players felt that these adjustments aren't enough to keep up with the current meta or the developers have completely neglect the character for years until feedback is heard by the community.

**Primed Cipher**

A "Primed Cipher" means that the last remaining Cipher Machine is 99% complete. It is common practice to not complete the last cipher until someone has been hit or downed, or they ask the team to finish the last cipher, as most of the Survivors will have the persona trait Borrowed Time equipped.

**Red Puppet Tricking**

A precise technique where a Hell Ember can swing during the switching animation with his Red Puppet, hitting the first Survivor in between him and the Puppet if timed successfully. Several conditions must apply for the trick to work. To learn more about this, please visit this page.

**Rage Quit**

Refers to when a Hunter or a Survivor abandons the game out of frustration or failure. Most often seen when the player goes AFK or surrenders.

**Redemption Kite**

When a survivor who is rescued from the rocket chair has managed to contain the hunter for quite a decent amount of time for the Survivors to turn the outcome into a draw or a win.

**Red Light Trick (Sometimes "Moonwalking")**

Refers to when a Hunter holds down their ability button in order to cause the ability startup animation to activate, and then walks backwards. Their character won't turn, causing a survivor that might be looking for the red light as a sign that the hunter is close (ex. in order to execute a pallet stun) to miss the hunter.

**Red Ping**

Refers to when the connection of a player is really bad and they are lagging.

**Regulator**

An alternative term for Hunter used in China/HK/Macau/Taiwan servers.

**Reset Attack Recovery**

A common survivor mistake which the survivor stuns or repels the hunter using their tools during the Hunter's attack recovery animation. This allows the hunter to skip their attack recovery animation and perform their actions more freely which gives the Survivors less time to escape and a chance for a quick incapacitation.

For example, Enchantress used her Ape Curse (1 Stack) just as the Hunter hits her. Because of this, the hunter undergo their Ape Curse stun animation instead of their attack recovery animation and downs her quickly.

In Chinese Servers, this term is called Eraser, Eraser or Unwipe.

**Scourge Hook**

A nickname for the Hunter's talent, Nostalgic due to it similarities with Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage from Dead by Daylight.

**Secondary Attack**

Hunter's abilities that are capable of damaging a survivor without triggering their attack recovery animation.

Examples are:

* Hell Ember's Infernal Soul
* Smiley Face's Rocket Dash
* The Feaster's Nightmare Attack
* The Violinist's Terrifying String

**Slugging**

"Slugging" refers to when a Hunter leaves a Survivor on the ground, usually in order to focus on chasing someone else for a time before returning to chair the other person. Some Hunters play a lot using this concept, especially Smiley Face players (as his Modified Drill greatly increases healing time).

A second, more specific meaning of slugging is when a Hunter leaves Survivors who have already used up Exit Path to bleed out while they incapacitate and slug the rest of their teammates. They may or may not come back to chair the incapacitated Survivors.

"Undead" is the only Hunter whose mechanics require slugging to eliminate Survivors.

**Spraying**

"Spraying" refers to when a player spams Graffiti. Typically, this means they are continuously placing and re-placing graffiti in the area around them. This is most often used when talking about a Hunter repeatedly putting down graffiti around a Rocket Chair with a Survivor on it. While usually just being harmless fun, constant spamming can cause the sound effect made by the graffiti to get repetitive and even uncomfortable, as the noise lingers past the action of using the graffiti, meaning that they can stack on top of each other and increase the volume.

**Standoff**

A situation in which neither the Hunter or the Survivors will make a move until the opposing team makes a move. Examples are, the Hunter waits for the Survivors to pop the last cipher machine so that the Hunter can activate detention and down one of them or in opposite case, the Survivors are waiting for the Hunter to hit someone so that they force the attack recovery animation to pop the last cipher safely.

**Star-Absorbing Pallet**

Similar to Broken Hitbox (see above), it refers to the Hunter getting stunned by the pallet even if their model is not under the pallet.

**Stuffing**

Used when the Hunter successfully manages to hit, and potentially even down, a rescuing Survivor on their way to the Rocket Chair before they're close enough to use the recovery time to rescue. This action may force the rescuer to retreat to avoid being downed, and the team will be required to either send another Survivor to rescue or leave their teammate to be eliminated. Particularly effective from Hunters with high mobility and the capacity to quickly return to their Rocket Chairs, such as "Nightmare", Geisha, Hell Ember or Wu Chang.

**Stun Reset**

An uncommon survivor mistake which a Survivor uses their ability to stun the hunter for a long duration but their teammate use their ability to overlap their stun animation by using a short duration stun, knockback etc. This potentially wastes the former survivor's ability as the Hunter's stun animation is cut short due to poor team coordination and carelessness.

For example, Coordinator uses her flare gun to stun the hunter but a careless Batter hit a hunter with his cricket ball which overlaps the hunter's flare gun stun animation to a knockback animation hence wasting Coordinator's item for nothing.

**Sui/Sui Team/Suicide Team (Dice Team)**

A Suicide Team refers to when a team is formed with the intention of throwing a match and giving the hunter a free win. It is like the "survivor version" of a friendly hunter. When looking for a Suicide Team, the term is often abbreviated to a Sui Team or simply a Sui, because of the word "Suicide" being banned in the Global Chat. They are commonly found in the end of the Season as they need to grind up to 100 dices for the next season and to take advantage of Dash Hit which gives double the Logic Points earned.

This practice is a reportable offense to all the survivors part of the Sui Team.

**Taunting**

"Taunting" refers to a Survivor trying to get the Hunters attention by challenging them to chase them before the match starts by emoting and spraying graffiti which some people consider it as annoying and/or toxic. A lot of people support this strategy, because it can be useful to get the hunters attention on you if you know you are a strong kiter.

It also applies to Hunters taunting Survivors to provoke them by spraying or emoting. Sometimes they may do impractical moves such as switching to Listen (A useless trait for experienced players and the current meta) using Trump Card, using abilities needlessly, and using the Visit Standby Motion to intimidate Survivors.

**Temporary Windows/Roof Tile Window**

Refers to the some of the Chinatown' windows made of roof tiles. If both the Survivors or the hunter vault over the window for at least 4 times, the roof tile window will break permanently and form into an open path for the rest of the match.

**Throwing**

Throwing is when a single player (usually a survivor, but could be a Hunter in Duo Hunters) intentionally plays badly and doing unproductive to the team in order to lose the game for the sake of entertainment (trolling) and entitlement. This often causes an unbalanced team and will usually result in a loss, unless the team is really good. Even so, it still makes the game harder and the outcome will result in less points in a ranked match, so this is considered a toxic practice and is a reportable offense.

When a Hunter intentionally throws a match, they are considered a friendly Hunter, unless they are doing so in Duos without the approval or knowledge of the other Hunter (see: Friendly Hunter). When a team of Survivors decide to throw together, they are called a Suicide Team (see: Sui/Sui Team/Suicide Team). The community sometimes use that term if their friends make a mistake as a joke.

**Tight Kiting**

One of two kiting techniques used by Survivors. Tight Kiting requires Survivors to loop around one area, often using Juking (see: Juking) and Mind Gaming (see: Mind-Game) to keep the Hunter contained in the same place for a long time. When Tight Kiting fails, Survivors might choose to transition to another area, and continue to Tight Kite there.

**Transition Kiting**

One of two kiting techniques used by Survivors. Transition Kiting requires Survivors to perform a transition to another area to for better kiting spots and to conserve pallets in the future. Transitioning is often done when a Survivor cannot loop an area any longer, has speed boost abilities such as Knee Jerk Reflex, or if the Hunter is good against Tight Kiting.

**Tunneling**

"Tunneling" refers to when a hunter heavily focuses on one survivor, ignoring all others until the tunneled one is eliminated. This generally happens to Decoder characters, though a Hunter may also choose to tunnel a Survivor for more personal reasons, like the character having an ability that directly counters the Hunters. In late game, tunneling is frequently used in order to eliminate a survivor who is dead on chair. Depending on the skill levels of the Survivor and Hunter involved, tunneling can either be an effective way for the Hunter to remove the biggest threat to winning, or it could lead to the Hunter getting cipher rushed and losing.

### Toxic

"Toxic" refers to rude or cruel behavior. Below is a list of behaviors generally seen as being toxic, but bear in mind that toxicity is a subjective measurement of another player's behavior, and what may be considered toxic to one person may seem benign to another. Rather than a conclusive list of that is toxic, see this as a list of what some members of the community might get offended at, and there's no need to stop doing certain actions unless they directly lead to a disadvantage for your team (like throwing the match).

**Please press "Expand" to see the list of behavior generally considered toxic.**

#### Generally Considered Toxic

Some of these examples could be accidental, they may have a rough day in real life, or not intended to be hurtful, but are considered bad practice by some. They are sorted into two categories: toxic but harmless, and toxic and harmful (referring to the game itself, not its real-world impact).

###### Harmless:

* Survivors using in-game messages such as "You're on your own!" while on the rocket chair. Previously, a message saying "Thank you!" was also used sarcastically when teammates made mistakes.
* Survivors emoting at the Hunter while kiting. Some emotes might be seen as taunting, but there is a genuine strategy to it because some emotes might look like an ability activation which can be useful with mind-gaming.
* Survivors waiting at the open Exit Gate or Dungeon when they are the last player or all other players are chaired instead of escaping. Since they do not intend to rescue (or there's nobody to rescue), staying there is a waste of everyone's time. Please note that when there are still free-moving survivors, staying by the exit gate is okay because they might need your help, and that this can be harmful in different situations
* Hunters repeatedly hitting a chaired Survivor.
* Hunters repeatedly spraying graffiti around a chaired or incapacitated Survivor (a few amount of times is generally harmless)
* Hunters repetitively emoting at a chaired or incapacitated survivor (with the exception of Salute, as that can signify good sportsmanship)
* Using Just Deserts unethically such as camping (see above) or forcing survivors to make a move during chasing. It is only acceptable if a Survivor is exploiting a map bug where the Hunters cannot reach them, as that is the ability's intention.
* Being mean or rude in chat before or after matches.
	+ Accusing others of cheating because you lost (Unless you do have proof of them cheating or silently report them to the developers to investigate if on doubt).
	+ Calling people derogatory or bigoted terms, slurs, etc. which is a punishable offense.
	+ Gloating over a victory or insulting players over a loss.
	+ Pressuring teammates into switching characters without their consent (asking to with the intention of better team composition is harmless, this is only an issue when there is threats or rudeness involved)
	+ Sending them a friend request using insults or threats mentioned above.

###### Harmful:

* Threatening other players/wishing for terrible things to happen to them.
* Not healing a survivor when they are asking you to and there is no present reason not to.
* Not rescuing a survivor when there is no present reason not to.
* Intentionally throwing a match without permission from their teammates (as a survivor, or as a hunter for Duo Hunters).

#### What to Do About Toxic Behavior

* Ignore them.
* Stop playing the game if you are feeling angry or emotional as it increases the likelihood of engaging in a toxic behavior.
* Use the "Surrender" option from the settings menu if you need to get out of a toxic game. Survivors can Surrender when all are downed or chaired, so long as all remaining players accept the Surrender. Survivors can also surrender when 2 teammates are left in the game. A Hunter can Surrender after a certain amount of time has passed in a game.
* You can enable "Hide Post-Match Likes" if you are offend by players liking you.
* If someone is being rude or aggressive in the post-match chat, you can exit it by pressing the red X at the top of the chat box or "Disable Post-Match Chat". Keep in mind that your teammates and/or opponents are real people as well, and it would be a waste of your time to try and start a fight.
* If you think a persons behavior is worse than toxic and is genuinely harmful, you can report them through the in-game system or by sending screenshots to Netease.

**Yellow Bird**

"Yellow Bird" refers to when Seer gives his teammate an owl right after they got hit during Tide Turner which turns the teammate's outline to yellow due to the mix of colours between the Tide Turner and the Owl's Outline. Using an owl to protect an injured Survivor who got hit during Tide Turner is pointless as they will be downed even if the owl is protecting them.

## Non-competitive Terms

This section mainly includes non-competitive terminology and references commonly used by players.

### Nicknames

A familiar, simpler or humorous name given to a character or a thing.

**Aero**

A shorter term for Aeroplanist.

**Asian Mum (Parent)**

A community nickname frequently used in China/Japan/SEA Servers for Antiquarian.

**Baby/Child Orpheus/Mini Orphy**

A community nickname for the illusions Journalist uses.

**Big Bird**

A community nickname for "Nightmare" due to his bird-like appearance.

**Brightwoods**

A community nickname for Darkwoods after its brightness adjustment which massively increases the overall brightness of the map and its surroundings.

**Cat**

A community nickname for the hunter, the "Disciple".

**Chad Eyes**

A community nickname for the Hunter Mad Eyes referencing that he is one of the most difficult but powerful Hunters once mastered. It is an honor of respect for players who are trying to learn or have mastered Mad Eyes.

**Clicker**

A community nickname for Geisha before her dash mechanic was reworked.

It is also a nickname for Enchantress as the players can simply activate her ape curse with a short cooldown for 4 seconds and can stun the Hunter without any way to avoid it besides Excitement.

**Clown**

A shorter and simpler nickname for Smiley Face.

**Dog**

A community nickname for Patroller or the Postman's dog, Wick.

**Grandpa**

A community nickname for Mad Eyes as he is the oldest non-supernatural/non-mythical Hunters in the game. Sometimes used to refer to Photographer as well.

**Jonathan**

A nickname for Photographer based on a running joke in the Identity V Stage Play.

**Lizard**

A shorter and simpler nickname for Evil Reptilian.

**Mama (Mama Geisha)**

A community nickname for the hunter, Geisha.

**Mother**

A community nickname for Dream Witch. It is used to distinguish between she and her Followers.

**Nun**

A community nickname for the hunter, "Disciple".

**Octopus**

A community nickname for the Feaster.

**Ow**

Commonly confused with pain, it is actually a shorter term of Owl commonly used in Voice Chats. It is used to signal Seer to give them an owl instantly as the Hunter is almost close to them for a hit.

**Papa**

A community nickname for Hell Ember. This is a reference that Hell Ember is the lost father to one of the Survivors, Gardener.

**Roach**

A community nickname for Priestess.

Hunters commonly used it to express their hatred against her due to having no cooldown for each use, her infamous long portal which guarantees the chase to end unless the hunter has map pressure abilities, and is infamously dangerous in most maps with buildings.

**Spider**

A shorter and simpler nickname for the Hunter Soul Weaver.

**Takoyaki**

Another community nickname for The Feaster.

**Tie Queen**

A Community nickname for Bloody Queen as she lacks of Cipher Control, and Camping but exceeds in chasing with her only chasing ability having a lengthy cooldown of 15 seconds which give the Survivors time to finish their cipher. Her abilities are impressive and can be hard to counter, but she is weak against Cipher Rush, making it easy to score a tie against her.

**Uwu Chang**

A community nickname for the Hunter Wu Chang.

**Wu Chungus**

A nickname for Wu Chang due to their last name, Chang spelled similarly to an iconic meme, Big Chungus.

**Wu Wu**

A community nickname for Wu Chang.

Ironically, the name of the giant panda Netease has adopted for the Panda's Protector event.

**Yima**

A community nickname for Dream Witch's Follower.

### Memes

This section mainly includes parodies, satire, jokes, and cultural items (Art, Behavior, Idea and Style) used by the community.

**Australian Emma**

In Reddit's r/place 2022 event, a group of Identity V fans worked to build pixel art of Emma Woods on the canvas. Their space was next to Australia, who at first wanted to replace Emma, but instead decided to form an alliance with her community. They built their artwork around Emma, which depicted Uluru behind her and Gatorade bong next to her. After this space was wiped by a streamer, a smaller version of Emma was moved to a different area controlled by Australia. She was granted the title of honorary Australian citizen and became their mascot. In r/place 2023, Emma was once again incorporated into Australia's artwork.

Emma's First Location in 2022Emma's Second Location in 2022Emma's Location in 2023
**Elon Musk buys Identity V**

An infamous incident that happened on September 11th 2022 in which the Official Identity V Youtube Channel got hacked by Russian crypto-scammers after one of the social media managers had fallen for a phishing email. Their channel name was renamed to Tesla with all their videos being replaced by a livestream of Elon Musk advertising crypto. During this, the live chat was also set so only subscribers who have been subscribed to the channel for 20 years or longer, despite YouTube being around for only 17 years, as per 2022. About 40-50 minutes later, all of the channel's videos were unprivated then but quickly got switched to being unlisted and the channel's name got changed to "GIVE US STREAM AND WE DONT DELETE YOUR CHANNEL".

Fortunately, Netease has worked with Youtube to regain their ownership and their videos back.

The notification the subscribers gotA screenshot of the channel when the incident occuredA screenshot of the channel as seen on mobileSubscribers-only mode live chatThe name of the channel got changed again and all the videos were unprivatedA still from the live stream as seen on the Brave browser
**Frederick with a gun**

An infamous scene where Composer holsters his gun and points at "Orpheus". It is joked by the community due to its similarities with a Hand Pointing a Gun meme.

A screenshot of the scene where Frederick holsters his gun.
**Gravekeeper-Syndrome**

A term originating from IDV Youtuber Bleber encountering Gravekeeper first for most of his matches. It can also apply to Hunters who keep meeting the same type of Survivor a lot other than Gravekeeper.

In the Chinese community, "Gravekeeper-Syndrome" instead refers to the Gravekeeper using all of his shovels at 5 cipher machines remaining, leaving him with no items to rescue teammates with.

**Helena beheaded Tracy**

A groundless lie started on TikTok as a joke. Helena and Tracy never meet in the main story, and Tracy is not confirmed dead.

**Holy hicky picky cipher machine primed**

A line by Bloody Queen from YouTuber Howdybii's video Who is taller? [Identity V] at 2:20. Commonly used to express shock, disbelief and surprise.

**Identity V is a Dress-Up Game**

A common joke by the community due to the amount of skins and lighthearted moments the developers have produced instead of focusing on the dark lore and the horror aspects of Identity V.

**Identity V Mobile Ads**

This often confuses people who do not know about Identity V since they are the target audience. These ads are obviously inaccurate to the current gameplay of Identity V and are laughed at by the community due to their quality being so bad it is good charm.

**I'm sorry to say that I'm French**

An infamous and hilarious quote from Composer from Ashes of Memory Episode I due to how cheesy and awkward it is executed for a scene that is supposed to be taken seriously.

**Jack the Stripper**

Refers to Tuberose exposing his chest in court during The Shrouded Bélóstáin event to prove his admission of guilt.

**Lawyer is OP**

A common joke in the community due to Lawyer's exclusive ability to ignore Terror Shocks. It was originally a joke, but Lawyer is now considered meta due to his Take Notes buff.

**Melodeez nuts**

A phrase used in reference to members of the Mélodis family, especially "D.M."

**Melodilf**

Commonly used to refer to Salvatore Mélodis, former patriarch of the Mélodis Family.

**Mercoder**

Refers to Mercenary having the highest decoding progress in the match compared to their teammates. Because of this, players jokingly call him the best decode-type character.

**Norton Eating**

An infamous scene from Ashes of Memory Episode II where Norton voraciously ate his bread and milk.

**O'Hare Skin**

Refers to Wu Chang's skin, Celestial Cycle due to its ridiculous hairstyle. Fans commonly compare it to Aloysius O'Hare from the 2012 animated movie, The Lorax.

**Opera Singer is the most balanced Hunter**

A sarcastic remark against Opera Singer due to her lack of counterplay against her as she can easily manipulate her skill's cooldown through most interactions to enter her Shadow Realm, allowing Opera Singer to catch up to survivors easily and the player (Opera Singer) is easily forgiven for their mistakes. For example, if Opera Singer Shadow Dash is under cooldown due to her mistake for dashing into the open area, she can use Shadow Dance to the Remnant and enter into her Shadow Realm again and restart the cooldown.

Overall, this results to her being the top banned Hunter in rank matches and tournaments making it extremely difficult for players to earn points for badges and almost unplayable due to continuous bans from survivors unless they play Quick Match where are no ban systems.

**Peter Ratri is the best skin (aka Konbanwa)**

Peter Ratri is considered as one of the worst skins (or crossover skins) in Identity V due to its visibly rushed and low-quality model thanks to the short development time for The Promised Neverland crossover which made it a laughing stock in the Identity V community. Fans also commonly joke about how good-looking/scary Peter is and how they should lock the skin modeler responsible for this skin.

Konbanwa (Translation: Good Evening) is a reference to Peter Ratri's skin showcase and is often joked by the fanbase each time the skin is mentioned.

**They call me the Merc**

Refers to the infamous song made by IDV Youtuber Perswayable about Mercenary.

**Tonight and Always**

A nickname for the Perfumer's costume Tonight or Never due to the costume always winning the annual costume voting contest every year for the skins to be re-released to the shop for a limited time.

**Took me like 30mins to upload that shit**

An infamous Instagram (now deleted) post made by the Official Identity V Instagram Page. It was intended to cheer for the South East Asia teams for the Call of Abyss 5 (COAV) event but due to uploading problems, the social media manager had put "Took me like 30mins to upload that shit" in the post to express their frustration but forgot to remove it before uploading. It was quickly deleted and re-uploaded without that quote.

A screenshot of the Instagram Post prior to its deletion.**Tram is an OP Hunter**

Refers to one of Eversleeping Town's interactive feature, The Tram. Survivors/Hunters caught by the Tram will get stunned which gives the opposing team a chance to turn the tables. Survivors can ride on the tram to waste the hunters' time unless their ability can attack Survivors riding on it but Hunters can go to the next stop and get a free hit the moment you leave the Tram.

**Welcome to Identit**

An infamous line originated from an unfinished Patch Note with the phrase leaving just "Welcome to Identit". It was fixed soon after.

A screenshot of the unfinished Patch Note before it was fixed.**Wu Chang is banned from Spain**

A misinterpretation of a comment made regarding the lore connection between First Officer and Wu Chang's umbrella. This led to the mistaken belief that Wu Chang was banned in Spain, as this does not actually occur.

**What the actual Detention Terror Shock**

A line by Perfumer from YouTuber Howdybii's video, Who is taller? [Identity V] at 1:41. Commonly use to express shock, disbelief and surprise.