Dominion

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Dominion (or League of Legends: Dominion) was a game mode in League of Legends in a 5v5 format on the Crystal Scar centering around objective control. It was released on 26-Sep-2011 and retired on February 22-Feb-2016.

Players were able to play Dominion in a nearly complete state at GamesCom (August 17–21, 2011) in Europe and at PAX Prime (August 26–28, 2011) in North America. A limited time open beta began on 21-Sep-2011 and lasted approximately two hours. Another limited beta testing started on 23-Sep-2011. Dominion was released to the public at 6:00 AM PDT on 26-Sep-2011, during patch V1.0.0.125. It was removed from the available games list on 22-Feb-2016 and removed all together with patch V6.4.

Matchmaking options included Blind Pick and Draft Pick. A Ranked matchmaking system for the game mode was planned but later scrapped.

Development

Main article: Dominion/Development

Dominion was officially announced on the main website as the new capture-and-hold game mode on League of Legends on Thursday, 04-Aug-2011. Even though there was no information about this new mode before the announcement, there was a large build-up for it during the Kalamanda storyline in the Journal of Justice.

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 1400.
• There is a constant aura on this map, granting all champions adjusted stats:
  • +2%  mana regeneration per 1% of missing mana
  • +7.2  experience per second
  • +33% Fury generation for Tryndamere and Renekton (+25% for Shyvana)
  • 「 +2  energy regeneration per second 」「 +10  energy regeneration per 5 seconds 」
• +26  gold generation per 5 seconds
• Reduced gold gain by killing champions.
• Increased gold gain by killing minions.
• Recall is replaced by Enhanced Recall (channel time reduced to 4.5 seconds from 8)
• Respawn times are reduced.

Gameplay

Dominion 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 or securing enemy kills: 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 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

Main article: Capture point

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 player's 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. Capture points will slowly return to a neutral state if they are not controlled by a team.

If a captured point is neighboring enemy capture point, 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. If the destination capture point is not captured, minions will contribute to their team's capturing of the point.

Buffs

Main article: Buff

There is a 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, mana and fury. 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

Main article: Crystal Scar

Dominion mode features unique items to complement the new fast-paced gameplay and to supplement items from the Classic mode which are not available in Dominion. All champions have had their recommended items tailor-made for Dominion, making it easy for players to adapt their builds. Ionic Spark, previously only available in Dominion, was made available in Classic as of patch V1.0.0.132 (it has now been removed and replaced in both classic and dominion).

Spells

Main article: Dominion/Spells

Dominion mode featured new summoner spells to accommodate the new gameplay. As there will be no turrets in Dominion and there are speed boost shrines the summoner spells Fortify and Teleport with their respective masteries will be replaced by Garrison and Promote. Promote has been made available for Classic mode in patch V1.0.0.129, whilst Garrison is still Dominion-only spell. (Promote was later removed from the game and replaced with the item Banner of Command.)

Quest

A quest is 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 is issued 5 minutes after the completion of the first.

Fog of War

The outer track is almost entirely revealed and is not in a fog of war, with the very important and notable exception of four thin aisles between the ramps by either spawn point and the enshrouded center area. With care, these allow summoners the option to mask their position in order to appear unexpectedly somewhere on the map, to aid a tower capture or initiate an ambush. There is no vision of the Health Relics by each tower, unless friendly minions have spawned.  In addition, the middle Greater Relics are visible to all champions, though the entirety of the Greater Relic area is not revealed.

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 Classic mode.

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 the team if they seldom leave the post.

On October 14, 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 now grants more points than before.

Points	Activities
40	Neutralize point
40	Capture point
40	Martyr (dying at turret)
30	Kill on point
25	Assisting in capture/neutralize (being close but without channeling)
10	Assist on point
5	Channel interrupt
5	Defending a turret (in every 10 sec)
3	Picking up the Storm Shield (in the center)
2	Minion kill
2	Picking up health pack
1	Assisting an ally (speed buff, heal, etc.) (only grants 1 point per spell; regardless of how many allies are affected.)

Media

• Music
• Videos
• Gallery

Related Music

Dominion - Login Screen

Dominion Draft Mode - Champion Select Music

• Dominion Logo
• Crystal Scar concept art
• Dominion Artwork 1
• Dominion Artwork 2
• Dominion Artwork 3
• Dominion Artwork 4
• Dominion Artwork 5
• Capture the Claw
• Fight at Boneyard
• Fight at Windmill
• Kalamanda Buildings
• Dominion UI concept art

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Patch History

V1.0.0.153

• Tweaked global aura:
  • Armor penetration removed.
  • Magic penetration removed.
  • Energy champions now receive 2 bonus energy per second.
  • Fury champions now benefit from the aura:
    • Tryndamere receives 33% bonus Fury for attacks, critical strikes, and kills.
    • Renekton receives 33% bonus Fury for attacks.
    • Shyvana receives 25% bonus Fury for attacks.
  • Healing reduction now only affects self-heals and regeneration.
• Reduced ranged minion base magic resistance by 5.
• Reduced super melee minion base magic resistance by 15.
• Health Relics will now grant Fury:
  • Tryndamere receives 10 Fury.
  • Renekton receives 20 Fury.
  • Shyvana receives 6 Fury.

V1.0.0.133

• Co-op vs. AI is available to Dominion with two difficulties similar to classic mode.

V1.0.0.127

• Ambient experience gain has been lowered by 10%.
• Lowered the point where Nexus health will only be affected by holding capture points (and not by Champion Kills or Neutralizes) to 100 Nexus health from 125 Nexus health.
• Health pack pickups will now grant 20% more mana.
• Personal scoring has been adjusted to more evenly reward defensive play:
  • Minion kill reward increased to 2 points from 1.
  • Channel interrupt reward increased to 5 from 2.
  • Martyr (dying on point) now gives an additional 10 points over its previous bonus.
  • Point defense bonus is granted more regularly.
  • There is now a score bonus associated with getting a Champion kill or assist while being on or near a point.

V1.0.0.126

• Ambient gold gain reduced by 7%.
• Reduced the time range of the respawns to help early winning teams finish games.

External Links

• League of Legends: Dominion
• League of Legends: Dominion - Gameplay Behind The Scenes
• League of Legends: Dominion - Art and Sound Behind The Scenes
• Dominion gameplay 1, 2
• Patch 6.4 Notes 1

References

Game Modes