Views: 1984 The Forgotten Dominion and Why We Should Go Back
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With League of Legends becoming such a popular game and people from all over world are competing, we want to know where we fit in as players. Dominion is a game type within League of Legends that is seldom played amongst most players. We’re going to go in depth and see what is currently up with Dominion and why we should go back. There are many members within the League of Legends community that have found the Dominion grounds as their choice of warm up or practice on their favorite champions and we will explore just why that is.
What is Dominion?
In this small speed circle of League of Legends we have 5 capture points in what is called the Crystal Scar (may or may not have a direct reference to Skarner). We will call these 5 capture points as CP’s for short. Instead of the classic Summoner's Rift where your goal is to reach the other team's Nexus and destroy it the nexus, in Crystal Scar holds life points that slowly decay over time. How many CP’s your team controls determines how fast or slow your Nexus’ life points decay.
Both teams start evenly with 500 life points and the first team to reach 0 points loses. With recall times reduced to 3.5 seconds and death timers also reduced you can expect nothing less than a quick paced, fast action game. With strategically placed speed shrines and health relics all across the map you are sure to be racing to the next target or healing up to defend one.
What is so unique about Dominion?
There are plenty of ways to practice and play League of Legends, so what is so different about Dominion? Well some of these core differences will define the flow of this game type.
Changes to just the Crystal Scar include:
-7.2 experience a second
-Mana Regeneration Bonus, 2% mana regen per 1% missing
-Fury Regeneration increased for champions like Tryndamere, Renekton, and Shyvanna
-Energy Regeneration per second increased by 2
-Reduced Gold reward for killing champions
-Increased Gold reward for killing minions
-Champions start at level 3 and with 1375 gold
With this kind of setup, games typically go from 15-20 minutes and involve a constant battle over the Top CP known as the Windmill as well as the Quarry and the Boneyard on the bottom of the map. The current meta for Dominion consists of one player on bottom who can sustain and push the lane while the other 4 members fight for the windmill up top. Now we see this kind of start is also similar to ARAM, but how much skill and talent can really be displayed and executed with a random champion grouped with a random team composition against another team who is setup just the same? Not bashing ARAM at all but in studying Dominion we can still pick our champion of choice and even play Draft and ban some undesirable champions that we don't like playing against. So why don't we see more people playing Dominion? What is it about the Crystal Scar that seems so unappealing to a usually long and drawn out Summoner's Rift game?
Well that answer is actually quite simple. There are no tournaments out there for the Crystal Scar while for Summoner's Rift there are millions of summoners competing. Naturally as the game was released with Summoner’s Rift it is seen as the “classic” game type and the most competitive. Every competitive League of Legends player would logically want to be good where there is potential to be really good or play on a team. There are local, national, and international tournaments for Summoner’s Rift and some local and national tournaments for Twisted Treeline which features a 3v3. So in order to practice and become better at Summoner's Rift or Twisted Treeline we should only play one of those two right? Not necessarily.
Why should we go back?
With the passive experience and gold gain, smaller map size, level start at 3, and 1375 gold there is potential to play two Dominion games in the same time length as one Summoner's Rift game. But I know what you are thinking "hold on, just because the games are faster does not mean I am going to become a better player." Well with this kind of start and reaching your champion's full potential much sooner you can. Throw that into a fast paced capture point game and you'll be using all your spells more than you ever have. With small skirmishes happening all across the map in almost any combination of players and champions every 30 to 45 seconds you are bound to learn some new combos and perfect some old ones. This is something that Dominion offers as a quick window for mastering your mechanics. Players and Pros spend days and weeks learning counter picks and counter plays to other champions in order to outsmart and beat them. But if you want to be better than someone else you can't simply play a champion who should counter them if you don't know how to play them. This is something almost every ranked player has experienced. just like any sports team will warm up or prep before a game or even at a practice session. Summoners need to stretch their fingers and prep their minds too and what better place to do that than Dominion.
Here are some key points as to why Dominion can make the perfect Practice Grounds:
-Not as much fighting over lanes as there is really only two in the current meta. This also means there is not nearly as much argument over what champions you play.
-The fact that there are not really lanes eliminates a lot of 1v1 situations and instead you’re jumping right into team fights. This allows for a lot of practice with other champions and timing of your skills and even landing your skills because these fights are so frequent.
-The match starts at 1:20 (in-game time) and this allows for a small prep and strategy time. You are holed up in your base for just over a minute, depending on when your screen loaded and you logged in. This is the perfect time to move around and throw around some skill shots and practice your recalling skills.
-Much like ARAM Dominion also has special items specific to it that you cannot purchase in Summoner’s Rift.
-Great teaching of objectives over kills. You can pick an assassin like Kassadin, Fizz, or Le Blanc but if you can’t hold the capture points, you won’t win the game. As every League of Legends game type is about destroying an objective this is great training for how to play out your future games. Even if your team is behind on kills and minion kills but have the objectives you can still win the game. Any team in any game type will have trouble securing a win if they can’t play objectively.
-With a jungle-like middle and speed shrines, Junglers rejoice because it just screams for a gank. Seeing opportunities when someone is out in the open with no turret to help defend them or seeing a team over push one point you can go behind them and steal one of their now unguarded points.
-Great potential for a turn-around or a come-back because of the small map size, short respawn times, and speed shrines to get back into the fight. This can help keep players thinking positively when no matter the score you can be aggressive and stealthy to steal capture points and turn the tides.
-Constant combat chips away at your mechanical flaws. Group fights in a 20 minute match in the Crystal Scar are almost the same as the amount of fights in a drawn out 45-50 minute match in Summoner’s Rift. Knowing this, you’ll be fighting more often, landing more skills, and button mashing more combos.
-Even the relative shortness of the matches reduce the chance of any leavers since by the time you would surrender in a Summoner’s Rift game the game would actually be over whether you like it or not.
We spend our time playing League of Legends trying all sorts of things. We may end up spending 70 minutes in a long and drawn out game in Summoner’s Rift or 30 minutes in a stalemate ARAM. Dominion has a lot of positive and reinforcing concepts that can help with playing other game types. Will you keep doing what you always do or will you try something new?
PS: I wrote this originally for Dignitas as a Guest Editorial and I own all rights to this post and images.
What is Dominion?
In this small speed circle of League of Legends we have 5 capture points in what is called the Crystal Scar (may or may not have a direct reference to Skarner). We will call these 5 capture points as CP’s for short. Instead of the classic Summoner's Rift where your goal is to reach the other team's Nexus and destroy it the nexus, in Crystal Scar holds life points that slowly decay over time. How many CP’s your team controls determines how fast or slow your Nexus’ life points decay.
Both teams start evenly with 500 life points and the first team to reach 0 points loses. With recall times reduced to 3.5 seconds and death timers also reduced you can expect nothing less than a quick paced, fast action game. With strategically placed speed shrines and health relics all across the map you are sure to be racing to the next target or healing up to defend one.
What is so unique about Dominion?
There are plenty of ways to practice and play League of Legends, so what is so different about Dominion? Well some of these core differences will define the flow of this game type.
Changes to just the Crystal Scar include:
-7.2 experience a second
-Mana Regeneration Bonus, 2% mana regen per 1% missing
-Fury Regeneration increased for champions like Tryndamere, Renekton, and Shyvanna
-Energy Regeneration per second increased by 2
-Reduced Gold reward for killing champions
-Increased Gold reward for killing minions
-Champions start at level 3 and with 1375 gold
With this kind of setup, games typically go from 15-20 minutes and involve a constant battle over the Top CP known as the Windmill as well as the Quarry and the Boneyard on the bottom of the map. The current meta for Dominion consists of one player on bottom who can sustain and push the lane while the other 4 members fight for the windmill up top. Now we see this kind of start is also similar to ARAM, but how much skill and talent can really be displayed and executed with a random champion grouped with a random team composition against another team who is setup just the same? Not bashing ARAM at all but in studying Dominion we can still pick our champion of choice and even play Draft and ban some undesirable champions that we don't like playing against. So why don't we see more people playing Dominion? What is it about the Crystal Scar that seems so unappealing to a usually long and drawn out Summoner's Rift game?
Well that answer is actually quite simple. There are no tournaments out there for the Crystal Scar while for Summoner's Rift there are millions of summoners competing. Naturally as the game was released with Summoner’s Rift it is seen as the “classic” game type and the most competitive. Every competitive League of Legends player would logically want to be good where there is potential to be really good or play on a team. There are local, national, and international tournaments for Summoner’s Rift and some local and national tournaments for Twisted Treeline which features a 3v3. So in order to practice and become better at Summoner's Rift or Twisted Treeline we should only play one of those two right? Not necessarily.
Why should we go back?
With the passive experience and gold gain, smaller map size, level start at 3, and 1375 gold there is potential to play two Dominion games in the same time length as one Summoner's Rift game. But I know what you are thinking "hold on, just because the games are faster does not mean I am going to become a better player." Well with this kind of start and reaching your champion's full potential much sooner you can. Throw that into a fast paced capture point game and you'll be using all your spells more than you ever have. With small skirmishes happening all across the map in almost any combination of players and champions every 30 to 45 seconds you are bound to learn some new combos and perfect some old ones. This is something that Dominion offers as a quick window for mastering your mechanics. Players and Pros spend days and weeks learning counter picks and counter plays to other champions in order to outsmart and beat them. But if you want to be better than someone else you can't simply play a champion who should counter them if you don't know how to play them. This is something almost every ranked player has experienced. just like any sports team will warm up or prep before a game or even at a practice session. Summoners need to stretch their fingers and prep their minds too and what better place to do that than Dominion.
Here are some key points as to why Dominion can make the perfect Practice Grounds:
-Not as much fighting over lanes as there is really only two in the current meta. This also means there is not nearly as much argument over what champions you play.
-The fact that there are not really lanes eliminates a lot of 1v1 situations and instead you’re jumping right into team fights. This allows for a lot of practice with other champions and timing of your skills and even landing your skills because these fights are so frequent.
-The match starts at 1:20 (in-game time) and this allows for a small prep and strategy time. You are holed up in your base for just over a minute, depending on when your screen loaded and you logged in. This is the perfect time to move around and throw around some skill shots and practice your recalling skills.
-Much like ARAM Dominion also has special items specific to it that you cannot purchase in Summoner’s Rift.
-Great teaching of objectives over kills. You can pick an assassin like Kassadin, Fizz, or Le Blanc but if you can’t hold the capture points, you won’t win the game. As every League of Legends game type is about destroying an objective this is great training for how to play out your future games. Even if your team is behind on kills and minion kills but have the objectives you can still win the game. Any team in any game type will have trouble securing a win if they can’t play objectively.
-With a jungle-like middle and speed shrines, Junglers rejoice because it just screams for a gank. Seeing opportunities when someone is out in the open with no turret to help defend them or seeing a team over push one point you can go behind them and steal one of their now unguarded points.
-Great potential for a turn-around or a come-back because of the small map size, short respawn times, and speed shrines to get back into the fight. This can help keep players thinking positively when no matter the score you can be aggressive and stealthy to steal capture points and turn the tides.
-Constant combat chips away at your mechanical flaws. Group fights in a 20 minute match in the Crystal Scar are almost the same as the amount of fights in a drawn out 45-50 minute match in Summoner’s Rift. Knowing this, you’ll be fighting more often, landing more skills, and button mashing more combos.
-Even the relative shortness of the matches reduce the chance of any leavers since by the time you would surrender in a Summoner’s Rift game the game would actually be over whether you like it or not.
We spend our time playing League of Legends trying all sorts of things. We may end up spending 70 minutes in a long and drawn out game in Summoner’s Rift or 30 minutes in a stalemate ARAM. Dominion has a lot of positive and reinforcing concepts that can help with playing other game types. Will you keep doing what you always do or will you try something new?
PS: I wrote this originally for Dignitas as a Guest Editorial and I own all rights to this post and images.
Meh a great author and player once told me Dominion games are completely random.
+rep