Hello and welcome to my guide on a specifically (In my experience so far) great winning strategy for the new Dominion game mode.

This will only be about playing this particular strategy as well as countering it. I will make a few more guides of other viable strategies after I have had time to test them with both premades and random groups.

I hope you enjoy the guide and that it will lead you to dominating the new dominion game type!

In Asia there is a saying. "Bamboo bends but does not break."

This strategy is all about bending and being reactive to the situation.

There is already a huge wealth of information on the basic game play of dominion, but it can never hurt to have a refresher. If you are already very familiar with the Dominion game type and it's mechanics, feel free to skip this section!

Dominion
After choosing Dominion as your game mode and picking your Champions, you and your teammates will spawn at an all new map, The Crystal Scar. Unlike Summoner's Rift and the Twisted Treeline, this map contains capture points for your team to battle control of against your opposing summoners. Controlling these points and defending them against the opposition is the central focus of Dominion.

Capture Points
There are five capture points to battle over. If you control more capture points than your opponents their Nexus will begin to take damage over time. In order to win the game you and your team must get the enemy's nexus to 0 health before they get yours. The five capture points and their locations are as follows.

The Refinery: The refinery is located in the Northwest corner of the map and thus the Blue teem has the early advantage in capturing it. Often times the refinery will be called 'Mid' or 'Middle' in the beginning by the blue team.

The Quarry: The quarry is located in the Southwest corner of the map and is also easily accessible by the blue team.

The Boneyard: The boneyard is located in the Southeast corner of the map and is most easily captured by the purple team early game.

The Drill: The drill is located in the Northeast corner of the map and is purple team's initial capture. This is referred to as 'Mid' or 'Middle' early game on red side. For example 'Going mid' means they will capture the drill first.

The Windmill: The windmill is arguably the most important capture point of the game, especially early game. It is located at the top middle of the map and is an equal distance from both team's starting area. This is generally the first place fought over, and often times the team that wins here will win the game.

Capture points can be taken by right clicking on them when in range. If you are attacked by an enemy player during the capture however, you will be stopped. If an enemy controlled capture point is not being captured, it will continuously attack the closest enemy unit. (Much like towers in the classic game modes). Controlling a capture point will also cause it to spawn minions that automatically venture off to attack enemy controlled capture points. If your minions damage a tower/capture point significantly the enemy will lose it's control over it.

Dynamic Quests
In the Dominion game mode you and the opposing team will randomly be given one of two dynamic quests; To capture an enemy held point, or to defend one of your controlled locations. Completing these quests when they are up are not needed to win the game, however doing them will grant your team gold and experience as well as instantly damage the other team's nexus.

Buffs and Power-Ups
Everyone is familiar with 'red buff / blue buff' from classic game modes. In Dominion there are no neutral creeps to kill for buffs, instead buff's and power-ups are placed at respawning points on the map. There are three different types available.

Speed Boosts: Speed Shrines are areas on the map that grant a significant, yet short duration, movement speed bonus to champions that pass through them. These shrines persist throughout the entire game and can be used repeatedly by players on either team. These are shown on the minimap as winged boots and are only located in the central area of the map.

Health Boosts: Health Relics spawn on specific locations at short, regular intervals, and can be picked up to restore health and mana. Champions from either team can acquire a health relic simply by moving over it. There are several health relics in the center of the map, as well as behind each capture point where minions spawn. These are shown on the minimap as green +'s

Greater Relics: Greater Relics are a pair of powerful team specific objects that spawn at the center of the map. While the Greater Relics spawn less frequently than Health Relics, they provide powerful offensive bonuses that help assault particularly well-fortified capture points. Acquiring these Greater Relics requires a brief channel time by right clicking on them similarly to capture points. Although there are two relics, you're team can only click the one color-coded to your team.

New Items
Dominion has had ten new equippable items and one new consumable item added to it's game type. The items are as follows. (Notice that some items decrease the amount of time it takes to capture map areas).
Hextech Sweeper

Summoner Spells
Dominion also introduces two new summoner spells for your choosing.



The Map
Here is an overview graphical map of the Crystal Scar, starting areas, capture points, and the greater relic areas are all numbered.

Dominion is a very fast paced game type. Due to this things can get very very hectic very quickly. Without a plan things will go downhill very quickly. It is important to remember this is a team game. Working together and communicating is of utmost importance.

Strategy Overview
There are many viable strategies but I believe a calm and collective defensive strategy is the best. If you recall, your enemy's nexus loses health when you control more capture points than them. This strategy is all about making sure you always hold three points to your enemies 2, and only pushing for more when a great opportunity arises. Basically you make sure you hit enemies that are trying to capture one of your three controlled points so your tower can help you defend. Once you kill the enemies you are free to push a fourth while they respawn. Make sure you never overextend though and always run back to defend rather than dying capturing a new location.

Composition
I have found that with this particular strategy it is good to have tanky-dps for the most part. After the initial taking of three bases you are going to want groups that are hard to kill. Characters that are resilient in a 2v3 are great. It is also good to have champions with decent aoe. The reason behind this is it allows your tower to help you defend. If you have something that can stop several enemies from channeling a capture on your tower then it will continually shoot your attackers. Champions with powerful and long range nuking ability is great also. I will be editing this with more specific champions, builds, compositions, and more in the future as the meta game unfolds for this gametype. For now I will say that using any of these defenders are great choices at the moment; - - - - - - - -

Early Game
The early game usually consists of each team battling for control of the Windmill. It is crucial to the strategy that you control it and start out owning 3-2 points. Generally you want to buy boots and a health item and split your team as follows. One person go to the bottom base on your side, one person get your side's 'middle', and three rush top. The three you choose to go top should have as much cc and burst as possible. If the enemy sees you doing this they may decide to hit one of your single manned bases. It is important to stay mobile and be prepared to send people elsewhere. Never leave any base completely undefended unless all five opposing players are attacking a single base of yours, or they are all currently respawning.

Mid-Game
After you have (hopefully) solidified your hold on three bases it is time to dig in for the long haul. You will want two people at top middle, two at bottom, and one at 'mid'. It is important that you know where your enemies are heading so you can keep fluid and rotating. Put wards generously in the center. Usually it is best to use your most mobile team mate to run and place wards while things are quiet.

I cannot express how important it is to stay fluid and mobile with this strategy. It is the core to this strategy. The easiest way to show what to do is by an example. - You have 2 top, 2 bot, 1 mid. You see three members of the enemy team coming bottom. Your solo defender will rush to bottom to help defend. One of your members at top will go stand halfway between top and mid so they can react if the other two rush a different point. If a fourth comes to bottom then the player between mid and top will rush down and the player left at top will then stand in-between to be able to get to top or mid easily in case the 5th enemy comes in for a quick capture.

It sounds more complicated than it is. Once you get in the hang of always moving people based on where the enemy is, but always having people in range to disrupt single or dual attackers, you will see how easily things move into place.

Late Game
Late game is basically the same as mid game only now respawn times are getting longer and it is easier to push for a fourth or fifth and end the game. Defend hard and keep people from channeling your towers. Once they run at low life, chase and kill. While they are respawning push forward and capture more modes. If the enemy respawns definitely fight for your new nodes, but retreat to your main 3 if need be rather than dying. If you lose 3-5 people and the enemy does on a 4-1 or 5-0 base run it can quickly turn the tides in their favor.

Like all strategies, this also has it's weakness. Having a correctly built team and remaining very fluid and defensive will counter many things.. but what do you do if the enemy team develops a hard-counter?

Hard-Counter
The hardest counter to this guide's strategy is a Rush or Swarm strategy. Basically the enemy team will realize they cannot split up and take multiple places. You are too smart, mobile, and defensive to allow that. With your tower you can 2v3 or 3v4 easily. They will rush what appears to be the weakest point with all five members. Their goal is to kill off your 2-3 defenders and quickly capture. Without stopping to think they will rush the next point before you can respawn and regroup. If done right this strategy can be a real pain in your butt.

Counter the Counter
"Well if it is so good, why don't I use that strategy? I mean, it seems unbeatable." As I said, there are many viable strategies. Sticking to the exact same strategy no matter what is occurring will lose you tons of games.

Amyways, if you see the enemy resorting to a rush type strategy then you need to start using a cap and run strategy. If you see all 5 coming, it is futile for 1-2 people to defend it. Instead of wasting time getting everyone there to defend, you branch out and rush and cap every base you can. Go in groups of 1-2 and just cap and run to a new base to cap. You will notice your enemies will soon be breaking up to come and defend the newly capping bases. When you see this you can go back to defending 3 again.

I hope this strategy was was to understand for everyone. It is a very amazing strategy and can win you countless games. It is of course not unbeatable, but it is very strong.

I will work hard to continually update this guide as I play more and more Dominion game sets. I will also make separate guides with other great strategies and link them together.

Suggestions and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

Character Build Credits:
Warwick = http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/warwick-the-deathmaker-129710
Rammus = http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/rammus-dominion-dominator-130806
Jax = http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/jax-op-dominating-dominion-129698
Xin Zhao = http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/xin-zhao-goes-dominion-130307

Dominion Info Credits:
http://dominion.leagueoflegends.com/

9/26/2011 - Guide Created