Quick definition:The waiting time after using an ability, weapon or item before it can be used again, shown to the player as a timer, a fading icon or a refilling bar.
Meaning
A cooldown is a built-in rest period for an action. After a player uses a skill, throws a grenade or drinks a potion, the game blocks the same action for a set time, which stops the strongest options from being repeated endlessly.
Cooldowns give designers a simple way of balancing power. A mighty attack may have a long wait, while a weaker one has a short wait, so players must decide when to use each and plan around the gaps. In team games, opponents can also track the timer to exploit moments of weakness.
Items and abilities can change the length of the delay, and some games share one timer, called a global cooldown, between several actions to control the pace of combat. A visible countdown helps players judge when to attack, retreat or save a skill for a more important moment.
Origin:Cooldown comes from the ordinary English sense of cooling down, as a hot engine or weapon must rest between uses. Online role-playing games popularised the idea of timed ability restrictions, and the word spread to nearly every genre. It is spelled as one word, two words or with a hyphen, depending on the game or writer.
Example:Anya presses the button for her strongest spell and watches a clock sweep around the icon. Thirty seconds must pass before she can cast it again, so she switches to weaker attacks and retreats behind a wall. When the icon lights up, she steps out and finishes the enemy.
Did you know?Cooldowns limit how often a player can use powerful moves without paying a resource cost. Many games also include cooldown reduction effects, which shorten the wait, and balancing these can be hard, because too much reduction lets players use abilities almost constantly.
