What Does AOE Mean In Gaming? (Explained!)

AOE stands for “area of effect” in gaming. This refers to certain attacks or abilities which cover a wide area of the game environment, rather than being targeted at a particular enemy. It is used to describe spells, explosive weapons, or just about anything which has an “effect” over a wide “area”.

AOE is a term that gets very wide application in gaming because a huge majority of games in particular genres feature these kinds of abilities.

From hack and slash RPGs to first person shooters and MMOs, all sorts of different games have them.

Let’s find out more.

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What does AOE stand for in gaming?

AOE stands for “area of effect” in gaming.

This refers to a fairly wide range of spells, abilities, attacks, weapons, or just about anything which can cover a wide area of the game.

The majority of abilities in games, whether it’s a gun you can shoot, a spell you can cast, or anything is typically a targeted attack that will hit one enemy or one other player.

AOE attacks usually cost more in some way to use than these other abilities but have the advantage of covering a wide area and potentially hitting a great deal more enemies or enemy players.

These can be used very tactically to get rid of large areas of enemies all in one go, or at least to do a great deal of damage to them in one go.

Let’s take as an example a game with magic and spellcasting.

Most spells might be directed and targeted, incapable of hitting more than one enemy or another player.

But you will also have some, with a higher cost of casting, that can hit many enemies at once—often simply as many as are in its range.

“If I can get them all grouped together, I can hit them with an AOE spell and get them all!” for example.

They’re often a very tactical choice since you are sinking more cost into using them.

But when you do get them off, they work incredibly well and do a lot of damage.

Whoever is standing in the area will get affected by the ability or spell.

Where does this come from?

Where does AOE come from in gaming?

We don’t know for sure when this term started being used.

It does seem, though, that it was first used by gamers themselves rather than developers describing their own games.

In forums and discussion boards online, terms like AOE arose naturally out of a desire to shorten down useful terms for things.

AOE as a term was already firmly in use by the early 2000s, so it is most likely a term almost as old as gaming.

It’s simply very hard to tell if a slang term was in wide use before the advent of the internet, although we can say with reasonable certainty that this one was.

Since then, it has been adopted by developers, too, who will now use the term to describe abilities within their games.

This is not a universal feature, of course, but it is nonetheless fascinating when a term coined by fans makes its way into the development lexicon.

What is AOE damage?

So, you’ll often hear talk about AOE damage as well as just an AOE.

AOE damage simply refers to whatever damage you do with that AOE ability.

It means that you are affecting things over a wide area, and AOE damage refers to the total damage you did to all the enemies within that area.

Given that, in the right circumstance, these AOE abilities can be the difference between failure and success, AOE damage can often be very high.

It’s a tactical choice a lot of the time—especially in games like Elden Ring.

What does AOE mean in Elden Ring?

Elden Ring, and indeed all of the so-called “souls” games developed by From Software, are a great example to look at.

There are many kinds of AOE ability in these games.

You have spells which cover a wide area and hit many enemies at once, but you also have special weapon abilities and even items which can hit many enemies at once.

AOE in Elden Ring simply refers to any of these abilities which can hit multiple enemies at the same time over a wide area.

In this context, this could even just include some of the bigger weapons in the game!

This is really true of Elden Ring’s whole genre, too.

What does AOE mean in League of Legends?

Given the nature of League of Legends, the meaning here is slightly different—though only slightly.

Most AOE abilities in LoL tend to simply chain to multiple targets, rather than affecting a wide area which may or may not have anyone standing in it.

This is not universally true, of course—there are some more typical AOE abilities.

However, they are not as common as the ones which work as I describe above. So, you might say it has a slightly different sense.

So, while it can mean something subtly different depending on the particular game in question, its broad sense is the same.

AOE means anything which covers a wide area or hits multiple enemies at once.

Whether the spectacular spells of Elden Ring in the Lands Between or the tense multiplayer environment of League of Legends, AOE is a very useful term to describe these abilities.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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