hard carry

To hard carry is to win a team game almost single-handedly, doing far more than your teammates. A player who “carries” the team is the reason it wins.

What carrying means

Wikipedia’s glossary of video game terms describes carrying as a player contributing disproportionately to their team’s success. “Hard carry” stresses just how lopsided it was: the rest of the team might have been losing badly while one person turned the game around.

In MOBA games like Dota 2 and League of Legends, “carry” is also a role: a character that starts weak but grows strong enough to lead the team late in the match.

Examples

• “I hard carried that game, my team went 0 and 15.”
• “Thanks for the carry!”
• “She’s carrying the whole squad right now.”
• “Can someone carry me through this raid?”

Outside games

People use “carry” the same way for group projects, sports teams or even TV shows: “Her performance carried the whole movie.” Being “carried” means benefiting from someone else’s effort.

Where hard carry comes from

“Carry” in this sense comes from the everyday idea of carrying a load. Its role meaning grew up in the MOBA genre, which started with Defense of the Ancients, a 2003 Warcraft III mod. Who first said “hard carry” isn’t documented.

Related terms

• Clutch: coming through under pressure.
• Cracked: extremely skilled.
• Smurf: a skilled player on a new account.
• GG: good game.

Find more gamer talk in our gaming slang dictionary.