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Ult or Ulting, short for "ultimate," is a slang term in gaming referring to the act of using one's "ultimate ability" or most powerful move. These are strong skills and abilities that are generally only able to be used sparingly. The term presumably originates from early League of Legends or DOTA lingo around 2011 and has gained virality as slang for "strongest move" in recent years online.

Origin

The earliest known use of the term "ulting" comes from a Stack Exchange^[1] gaming forum conversation about the video game League of Legends from March 22nd, 2011, where user Delphy states, "Katarina's ult can focus invisible champs so ulting near the shroud would kit Akali." The post gathered two points in 12 years (seen below).

2 Oracle and Vision wards. But there are some spells that might not see her but could attack her or draw her out of stealth. • Shen's Taunt can draw Akali out of her shroud. • Any one with skill shots, e.g. Ezreal, Caitlyn, Anivia, Dr. Mundo... These attacks could either kill Akali or make her need to leave her shroud cause she might die inside. Katarina's ult can focus invisible champs so ulting near the shroud would kit Akali. • It's mentioned above that Corki's Phosphorus Bombs (his Q) can reveal Akali, but that was changed in a previous patch, it no longer reveals stealth. Share Improve this answer Follow Add a comment answered Mar 22, 2011 at 18:27 Delphy 747 1 05 13

The earliest known memetic use of the term is a Bad LoL Player Meme from August 27th, 2011, that reads, "Enemy Karthus Is Ulting / Too Bad Already Wasted Wish For Jungling."^[2]

ENEMY KARTHUS IS ULTING TOO BAD ALREADY WASTED WISH FOR JUNGLING quickmeme.com

Spread

Throughout the 2010s, the term "ult" came to be defined via various Stack Exchange, Reddit and Slang.net discussions, as well as memetic references in subsequent years.^[3]^[4]^[5] Though it originated in games like LoL, the term spread to additional titles like Smite, Destiny 2 and many more.

On October 17th, 2013, YouTuber LUNITY uploaded a parody song of Paramore's "Still Into You" under the title "Still Ulting You," referencing the slang term. Over the course of nine years, the parody song received over 1 million views and 13,000 likes (seen below).

As the term spread during the latter half of the 2010s, it became increasingly prevalent online entering into the early 2020s. However, its initial meaning also changed slightly in some contexts, such as in reference to streamers. For example, on September 20th, 2022, Twitch streamer Destiny reacted to fellow streamer Adrianah Lee crying, saying that she is "ulting" by doing so (seen below).^[6]

This resulted in an Urban Dictionary post on September 20th, 2022, that defined "ulting" as "when a streamer (especially a female) breaks out in tears on stream to garner the sympathy of the viewers" (seen below).^[7]

ult When a streamer (especially a female) breaks out in tears on stream to garner the sympathy of the viewers and instantly disarm adversaries because the optics are so overwhlemingly bad to continue the disagreement that it renders logic and reason moot. This originates from MOBA games where an ultimate ability (almost always shortened to ult) is the strongest move available to a given character. A streamer's crying is their "ult" because it is the most persuasive action available to them in front of an audience. Also commonly, "ulting" or "using ult" Oh god, she's ulting. This debate is pretty much over now. by greenerpotato September 21, 2022 2 410 FLAG

Various Examples

ulting from behind cover ulting to solo kill a healer ulting while on the payload ulting in the middle of the enemy team ulting to solo kill a dps ulting from spawn

Mordekaiser: *ults me* My teammates, patiently waiting for his ult to end: So are you gonna die today or make it out alive?

Gets flamed for ulting wrong champion Gets flamed for not ulting soon enough Gets flamed for ulting Gets flamed for not ulting Gets flamed for not having an ult

Reneta ulting my team to auto attack each other Me and my homies,playing 5 supports

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Stack Exchange – Gaming

^[2] Quick Meme – Bad LoL Player

^[3] Stack Exchange – Gaming

^[4] Slang – Ult

^[5] Reddit – r/ApexLegends

^[6] YouTube – Destiny

^[7] Urban Dictionary – Ulting

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Ult / Ulting