Dominion

Dominion (or League of Legends: Dominion) is a game mode in League of Legends. Champions battle in a 5v5 format on a new map called the Crystal Scar. Players were able to play Dominion in a nearly complete state at GamesCom (August 17th - 21th) in Europe and at PAX Prime (August 26th - 28th) in North America. A limited time open beta began on Sept 21th, 2011 and lasted approximately two hours. Another limited beta testing started on September 23rd, 2011. Dominion was released to the public at 6:00am PDT on September 26th, 2011.

Match team can be made via either Blind Pick or Draft Pick. Currently there is no A.I. controlled champion available to this mode. Ranked game is also unavailable but it is likely planned, judging from the greyed tab in player's stats overview page.



Development
Dominion was officially announced on the main website as the new capture-and-hold game mode on League of Legends on Thursday, August 4th, 2011. Even though there was no information about this new mode before the announcement there was a large build-up for it on the Kalamanda storyline on the Journal of Justice issues.

Main differences
The Dominion game mode allows for a fast-paced match averaging 15 to 20 minutes involving many small skirmishes. There are several differences from the other game modes:
 * Champions start at level 3 with 1375 gold.
 * There is a constant aura on this map granting all champions adjusted stats:
 * 12% armor penetration.
 * 5% magic penetration.
 * 20% healing reduction. (this stacks additively with other healing reduction effects and affects all types of healing)
 * mana regeneration bonus.
 * A fixed experience gain over time.
 * Increased gold gain over time. (26 gold per 5 seconds)
 * Reduced gold gain by killing champions.
 * Increased gold gain by killing minions.
 * The spell is replaced by  that requires only 4.5 channeling time instead of the original 8.
 * Respawn times are reduced.

Gameplay
Dominon is a capture-and-hold game mode where two teams of five players compete on the Crystal Scar Field of Justice to destroy the enemy nexus. The nexus is untargetable and has 500 life points. These life points can only be diminished by controlling more Capture points than the enemy team: the more points you control, the faster life points are lost by the enemy nexus. When both teams have the same amount of capture points, neither nexus will be damaged. Killing an enemy champion also reduces their nexus' HP by 2. The nexus' HP will stop depleting life by champion kills once it reaches 100 HP to avoid victory by "ninja capping" (Capturing points just to deplete the health of the nexus instantly) or by "winning kill" (Associating victory by finishing off enemy champions)

Capture points
There are five capture points in Dominion which start out as neutral points on the map that players must capture. The capture points must be captured by right-clicking on the capture points' tower. Once the players Champion is within range of the tower, he/she will begin channeling for a set amount of time to capture the control point. The more Champions that are channeling, the faster the control point is captured. When a point has already been captured by an opposing team you will need to channel twice: once to make it neutral and once more to capture it for your team.

Once captured and the neighboring capture point is under enemy control, two minion spawn points behind it will start spawning minion waves, in the formation of two regular minions plus one super minion, alongside the outer ring to contend against the enemy minion wave and neutralize the enemy capture point once they reach there. Any minion in Dominion would not travel beyond the neighboring capture point, which is their programmed destination. If there is no enemy unit around or the capture point has already been captured, they will disappear at the destination.

Buffs
There is also a brand new set of buffs exclusive to Dominion: Greater Relics, Health Relics, Speed Shrines, and Capture Quests. Greater Relics are consumable resources located in the middle of the map that yield an individual benefit and respawn at fixed intervals. Health Relics are items that provide champions using them with an instant burst of HP and mana. These were placed to counter the advantage that sustainable champions had. Speed Shrines provide a short bonus to any champion who enters their sphere of influence and cannot be exhausted. Additionally, after successfully completing a capture quest, the entire team (minus those presently dead) is granted "Mark of the Conqueror", which grants 10% increased damage.

Items
League of Legends: Dominion will feature new items to complement the new fast-paced gameplay and also, lots of items from the other maps will not be available on Dominion. All champions have had their recommended items tailor-made for Dominion, making it easy for players to adapt their builds.

Spells
League of Legends: Dominion will also feature new Summoner Spells and Masteries to accommodate the new gameplay. As there will be no Turrets in Dominion and there are speed boost shrines the summoner spells and  with their respective masteries will be replaced by  and.

Quest
A quest will be issued to both teams after the 5 minute mark. This involves capturing an enemy-held point and defending a capture point you control. Completing these quests will end the quest set, sap 20 enemy nexus health, and bestow a buff "Mark of the Conqueror," granting 10% bonus damage. A new quest will be issued 5 minutes after the completion of the first.

Scoring system
Because capture and hold is not meant to be kill based, Riot introduced a scoring system, not to be confused with the health of nexus. Though kills are still there, they are not as significant as in Summoner's Rift or the Twisted Treeline. The more points earned by completing quests, defending, neutralizing nodes or capturing them, the more IP and Exp Points.

However, the final score does not necessarily represent a player's overall performance. Since any action can stack the score, it is merely telling how active the player is. A player can be strategically passive but still contributes a great part in their victory. Also players who lane by the bottom capture points, namely Quarry and Boneyard, usually accumulate the lowest score within team if they seldom leave the post.

On October 14th, 2011, Riot expressed the necessity to adjust the scoring system to better reflect a player's actual contribution to the team. Defending owned capture points or killing enemy minions will now grant more points than before.

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