Animation Cancel
Interrupting a skill's recovery animation early to act faster than normal.
Animation canceling means cutting a skill or basic attack's recovery animation short by immediately moving or issuing another command, letting a skilled player act faster than the full animation length would normally allow. Marksmen use basic-attack canceling to squeeze out extra DPS while kiting, and some heroes have recognized skill-cancel tech at high-level play. The gap between a mechanically strong player and an average one on the same hero often comes down to animation-cancel consistency.