A screenshot from Gunbound. On the lower-left UI, the player can select either '1', '2', or 'SS' attack.

In Filipino gaming lingo, SS refers to a character's ultimate skill or ability. This term is used in hero-based games with ultimate abilities, such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Mobile Legends, Valorant, and Overwatch 2.

This can often cause confusion among newer gamers, as SS generally means "screenshot", or, for international MOBA players, means "stay safe" or "enemy missing".

The term originated from the turn-based artillery game Gunbound, which gained popularity in the Philippines in 2005.

In Gunbound, a player can use one of three types of attacks per turn: Shot 1, Shot 2, and a limited but more powerful attack called "SS". While the latter is short for "Special Shot", the game never explicitly defines the meaning of "SS".

When the MOBA DotA-Allstars started becoming popular in the country at around the same time as Gunbound, Filipino players started to refer to the hero's ultimate ability as "SS". This is partly due to how easier and faster it is to both speak and type, the speed of which could affect the outcome of team fights.

Since the vast majority of DotA players did not know where the term came from, "SS" led to definitions like "Special Skill" and "Super Skill".

This trend followed onto other hero-based games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and mobile titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

• In the DotA-inspired Filipino song Dota o Ako (Part 2), Aikee Aplacador raps the lyrics "pagtiyagaan pa sana/intindihin na para/maglaho ang galit mo parang SS lang ni Bara".
• In the Mobile Legends-inspired Filipino song Lakas ng Pinas, Alisson Shore raps the lyrics "built like a tank/buhat ni Hilda/full load SS parang Layla".