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Kwaggy's Guide to Not Sucking At Dominion

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Uncle Kwaggy
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:30 am


Hi, I'm Uncle Kwaggy. You might remember me from such threads as "Uncle Kwaggy's Better-Than-Your-Cho-Build Cho" (better known as "that other guide I posted today") and some other stuff. Now, my favorite mode is Dominion. Why, you might ask? Because I'm pretty damn good at it, if I say so myself. All those years of TF2 payed off, I guess. So, I'm going to write a general guide to the mode. Here goes:

Alright guys, let's start with something simple.

Pre-Game Prep
This basically boils down to a few simple things. Before you queue Dominion, TURN OFF ALL OF YOUR PROGRAMS YOU HAVE ACTIVELY RUNNING THAT AREN'T LEAGUE, unless you have a beastly computer. Dominion takes a lot more processing power than Summoner's Rift or Twisted Treeline. The best machine I've ever played League on was Quad-core, 4 gigs of RAM, and a surprisingly-good graphics card for an on-board. I tried running iTunes on it at the same time, and I lagged so bad I only saw roughly 1 out of every 10 seconds of on-screen action. I almost always run iTunes or Pandora in the background when I play Classic, but honestly just can't in Dominion.

If you MUST have music, an easy workaround is if you have an iPod or MP3 player just listen to music on that. You get that same music you enjoy, except now it's not eating at your computer's processor to play.

Now that that's out of the way, let's move onto...

Champion Selection
A common misconception about Dominion is that half the champion list isn't viable on it, meaning you see the same champions over and over again and that's no fun. This isn't true. Any champion CAN be good in Dominion, you just have to know that Dominion works differently than Summoner's rift. This section will cover the basic roles you can fill in Dominion.

Solo Bot: What little metagame there is in Dominion is that one champion goes bot, basically just to keep the enemy from ninja capping you, and if they're really good to push into the enemy bottom point after killing the enemy solo bot. Now, a good solo bot needs at LEAST two of these things, although having three is better:
1) Strong pusher. This isn't so much to push into the enemy point, as it is to make sure your point doesn't get pushed into. It is VERY difficult to get the enemy minions pushed off of your point once they're on it. While they ARE on it, your proverbial balls are flapping in the proverbial wind. The easiest way to avoid this is simply to not let the minions push up to your point, so champions that can clear entire waves quickly and efficiently are important. Be aware that bot lane is an old-fashioned farmfest, though. It's the equivalent of solo top in Summoner's Rift in that regard. This is the most important element of the three, and should be your first priority. Winners in this category Heimerdinger, Mordekaiser, and Sivir.
2) Above-average sustain. Some form of innate Lifesteal, Spell Vamp, or just an ability that can heal them for a fair amount. Obvious winners of this category or Nasus and Morgana, but anyone that can sustain him/herself without items can work.
3) Strong harass, or above-average ability to trade blows. The enemy can't push up to your point if they're dead or had to recall. What you should be looking for here is either very long range (Xerath, Lux), ridiculous damage (basically any conventional AP mid, no real standouts), or are named Viktor or Vladimir. (Both of their Q's mitigate the damage the opponent puts out in the trade.) Alternatively, just being so tanky you don't care about their harass works. Yorick definitely wins in that regard. Speaking of which, if you have Yorick, play him solo bot every single game ever. He's the best solo bot champion by a landslide since he excels at all three of these factors. Plus his ult is basically a "screw you I kill you anyway" button.

Speed Tank: These are champions that build tank or tanky DPS, but either through their abilities or your build are also very, very fast. Singed, Teemo and Tankcrank are very good at this, since they have large natural MS steroids. Their job description is basically to either ninja cap to try to force the enemy team to deal with them while the rest of the team recaptures a defensible position, or to be the first on the scene if the enemy is trying to cap your point. They run in, and JUST DON'T DO FOR LIKE 30 SECONDS UNDER FIRE. That's your only job. This is another reason Singed, Teemo and Tankcrank are good at this. They both kite like bosses. If you're defending a point as this guy, don't try to actually get kills. Just hold out for backup to arrive and sweep the enemy team up. Autoattack enemy champions trying to cap, then move to the next guy trying to cap and repeat. You probably WILL die doing this, but you buy a lot of time. Enough that your team can save the situation, and often come out ahead. I can't tell you how many times I've held out on a point for a full minute as Singed, with the enemy team blowing all their ults on me because they want to get the point, then when their ults are all down my team comes in and kills all of them then takes one of their points while they're all dead. It's beautiful. One warning before you pick up this class of champion: This champion gets blamed for things going wrong almost as often as junglers. You WILL catch flak from your teammates, because to them it looks like you're dicking around doing nothing. This is the one time I'll EVER tell you to not listen to a word your teammates are saying. You're providing a necessary service to them, and they're just being ungrateful.

The Duelist: This one's very simple. A champion who isn't your solo bot, and excels at 1v1. These are your Jaxes, your Xin Zhaos, your Vaynes, your LeBlancs, you get the idea. Your job is to find enemy players by themselves, kill them, and repeat. If they were defending a point, you cap it after you kill them. This role is actually more difficult than it sounds, though, since the enemy team will tend to run in 2's and 3's. Wait in the fog of war for one to be alone if you have to. You can't survive against more than 1, maybe 2 if you're fed, champions. If you get thrust into a teamfight, stay on the fringes as much as possible, poking at the highest value target. (Hint: It's the next guy down.)

The Nuke: This guy is to AoE damage what the Duelist is to single-target burst. They hurt a lot, but not quite as much as the Duelist. The difference is, they do it to the entire enemy team. These champions are guys like Cassiopeia, Brand, Kennen, Gragas, Talon, etc. They stay on the edge of teamfights like the Duelist, BUT they just care about hitting stuff. They don't need to pick targets anywhere near as cautiously as the Duelist does.

Your last slot is a wild card, but you should probably fill it with another Nuke to maximize your damage.

So that's team composition, now let's get down to the meat of it. Let's talk...

Strategy
Strategy in Dominion boils down to one statement. This is your prime directive:
HOLD THREE POINTS, PREFERABLY THE THREE CLOSEST TO YOUR OWN BASE.

That's it. You're not there to get kills, win fights, earn more e-peen points than your teammates (although I admit that is fun and feels nice), you're there to watch the red health bar at the top of the screen tick towards zero. Now, making that happen in Dominion is like having controlling stock interest in a company. You need to hold more than 50% of the available assets. The way you do this is by sending all of your champions that aren't your solo bot to the Windmill (the middle point on top of the map), and capture it. Have your fastest guy capture the point between the base and the Windmill on the way. No, not the slowest. The fastest. Do you know why? Because that way they'll reach the fight in time to make a difference. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone start with a Catalyst no boots feeling all smug and smart on their way towards an early RoA, then realize their entire team died while they were truckin' their slow a** to the Windmill because they were man-down, so now the enemy has it and has established defensive positions. I've literally seen a guy with Revive die and make it back to the fight before our guy capping our middle point could get there.

Now, let's assume you're holding that sweet, sweet Windmill. Anyone above half health STAYS there. You do NOT get to recall because you're almost bloodied. If you're below half health, walk up to the bush above the windmill, take the health relic, and stay there if that brings you above half. (Also, a fun trick that always works at least the first time you do it is if you have blink abilities or ranged CC, stay in that brush with nothing standing on the point until an enemy tries to cap. Pop out and cornhole them until they either run or they die.) If not, continue recalling. Despite what Riot tells you, you should actually spend large amounts of time literally just standing there doing nothing. Stay on or very close to the point at all times unless you're forced not to. Now, be aware that Dominion turrets do a metric ****ton of damage. Always interrupt anyone neutralizing the point, because otherwise you're letting them deny you a turret. Don't leave the turret's range voluntarily for ANY REASON. Let the enemy come to you. Kill the champions that do the most damage first, and let the turret do most of your heavy lifting. If possible, try to aim any AoE skills you have at both champions AND creeps, since creeps actually take a point down really quickly and the last thing you want is to suddenly have the Windmill get captured in the middle of defending it.

On the subject of creeps, creeps are actually MORE important in Dominion than it is in Summoner's Rift. If you've got nothing that nees doing, push a lane a little. (Don't walk more than halfway down the lane away from your point, though. Otherwise you're open to ninja-caps.) If your wave and their wave have met dead center of a lane, kill their wave then go back to your point. If they've snowballed a little and are coming towards you, walk out a ways in front of your point to take their aggro, then kill them as fast as possible. Try to last-hit, but it's not imperative. And most importantly, anyone saying that you're bad for farming is an idiot. Tell them you're not farming, but that you're pushing the creep wave so they might distract enemies or even cap points.

At some point, the enemy will retake the Windmill, or maybe even ninja cap one of your back points. At this point, go in groups (1 more than current defenders for ninja-capped points, whole team except solo bot for Windmill) to take back your points. If possible, CC them in some way that drags them off the point they're defending. Once you retake the point, resume business as usual. If the enemy ninja-capped, keep at least 1 defender on the Windmill, unless the entire enemy team is on the ninja-capped point. That 1 defender should ideally be your Speed Tank, by the way.

And on the subject of ninja-capping, the enemy team is GOING to try it. The better you are at holding the Windmill, the more likely they are to do it. If you have players that just respawned, have them go interrupt it since they'd be going through that way anyway. Usually they'll run off the moment their capture is opposed. If they don't... well... kill them. They're fighting under your turret, so you have the terrain advantage. If you don't have any spawns incoming, send an equal amount of players to what they have have ninja-capping, and have them deal with it. If they fail, wait for respawns (your nexus can take a few points, trust me), then respond in greater numbers. If that fails, send your Speed Tank to go ninja cap their point, which will hopefully distract any defenders on your point long enough to take it back, then resume defense of the Windmill.

Another thing to keep in mind that no matter how low the enemy gets, you should NOT chase into the center of the map. The only time you want to be there is when you're capturing the Greater Relic (by the way, the Greater Relic is an awesome buff and I wish that's what Red buff did) or when you want to get to a point. If the enemy goes in there, let them keep running. Go back to your nearest point, and resume defending. They have to recall then walk all the way back, which wastes their time. Time is not something you can afford to waste in Dominion.

There is exactly one other thing to remember that I haven't yet covered in this guide: Don't worry if your nexus is at low health. Comebacks are totally possible, and in fact common. Just keep a level head, execute the same strategies you would if your nexus wasn't hurting, and play as defensive as possible. On the flip side of that, don't go doing stupid things like trying to four- or five-cap if you've got a cushy lead. That just spreads yourselves thin, making for an easy ace into a turnaround.

So, yeah. That's all I've got. Play by this simple guide, and you'll do well in Dominion. That's all there is to it.
PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 6:02 am


So, I figured that since I have a guide, might as well have a tier list, too. So here's a tier list! All tiers are arranged in alphebetical order within the tier, and I'll explain the logic behind who's in tier 1 specifically below.

Kwaggy's Dominion Tier List
Tier 1 - Alistar, Anivia, Ashe, Brand, Cassiopeia, Ezreal, Fizz, Gangplank, Heimerdinger, Karthus, Kog'Maw, Lee Sin, Lux, Nocturne, Rammus, Shaco, Singed, Talon, Twitch, Vayne, Yorick, Ziggs

Tier 2 - Ahri, Akali, Amumu, Caitlyn, Evelynn, Galio, Garen, Gragas, Jarvan IV, Jax, Kassadin, Katarina, Kennen, LeBlanc, Leona, Malphite, Malzahar, Miss Fortune, Morgana, Nidalee, Pantheon, Poppy, Riven, Shen, Sivir, Teemo, Twisted Fate, Udyr, Veigar, Wukong, Xerath

Tier 3 - Blitzcrank, Corki, Irelia, Janna, Maokai, Master Yi, Mordekaiser, Nasus, Nautilus, Nunu, Olaf, Orianna, Renekton, Rumble, Ryze, Sejuani, Shyvana, Sion, Skarner, Swain, Tristana, Tryndamere, Viktor, Vladimir, Volibear

Tier 4 - Annie, Cho'Gath, Dr. Mundo, Karma, Kayle, Soraka, Sona, Taric, Trundle, Urgot, Warwick, Xin Zhao, Zilean

Tier 5 - Fiddlesticks. Yup that bad in Dominion.

So here's my explanations on Tier 1.
Alistar: Tosses you around like no tomorrow. You will never cap a point while Alistar is standing on it unless you 3 or 4v1 him.
Anivia: One of the best things you can bring to the game in Dominion is area denial. Anivia does area denial well, especially since two points in her wall makes it big enough to block off anything at all. You can technically get around it if she's trying to block a lane, but the effort it takes to get around means it's basically blocked.
Ashe: Arrow. Do I really need to say anything else?
Brand: Well, besides the fact that Brand's OP as all hell, he brings huge AoE damage, and his ultimate guns down entire teams, letting you cap at your leisure.
Cassiopeia: She brings about as much AoE as Brand, except instead of a stun, she brings the most retardedly-spammable nuke ever. Also, her ult is AN AOE stun.
Ezreal: Let me get one thing straight. AP Ezreal is better in Dominion than AD, because he has better burst damage and is much less squishy since there's a lot more health+AP items than health+AD. That said, AD Ezreal is Tier 1 material too, because of the ult and mobility.
Fizz: Fizz is one of the most maneuverable AP Carries in the game, which is even more important in Dominion, and his ult is a death sentence for anyone that gets tagged by it. Combine that with 8% of the enemy's health on hit in a metagame rife with tanky DPS, and he's solid gold.
Gangplank: Cannon Barrage, oranges, huge-AoE speed buff, on-hit stacking slow, and an ability that can crit. *salivates*
Heimerdinger: Heimer pushes the living hell out of a lane. Drop however many points in his Q it takes to have two turrets out (I think that's three points, but I don't recall), then level your other skills first after that, and you'll never be outpushed. Plant him solo bot, and the only way you'll lose the point is if he gets killed like four times. And even then, he can absolutely destroy a point because he actually has really good burst damage.
Karthus: AoE's really hard, and his ultimate is a real game-changer.
Kog'Maw: His range is incredible, and he has an AoE slow to boot. This champion is a demon to play against.
Lee Sin: Highly mobile, good damage, very tanky. Resonating Strike will often get you kills you otherwise wouldn't.
Lux: Really long range, and laser is amazing.
Nocturne: His ult completely counteracts the fact that the entire outer ring is visible while active, and he does huge damage.
Rammus: If I have to explain why Rammus is in Tier 1, you don't know how Dominion works.
Shaco: Shaco's just god tier right now. That's all that is.
Singed: Very fast, punishes chasing hard while simultaneously being so annoying that people WILL chase you, goo locks down anyone without blinks, Fling forces enemies to be where they don't want to, and the bonus CC reduction on his ult is stupidly good.
Talon: Talon does HUGE damage, amplifies it further on CC'd targets, and his ult stops most counterattacks.
Twitch: Pops out of stealth and instagibs you. His burst potential is huge, and there are no proactive stealth counters in Dominion so you can't really STOP him from doing it.
Vayne: %-health true damage in a tanky DPS meta is too juicy.
Yorick: He's the best solo bot in the entire game. Period.
Ziggs: Remember how I said on Anivia that area denial was huge? Well, Ziggs has CRAZY area denial. Minefield and Satchel Charge force your opponents' blinks right before the fight even actually starts, controls the very narrow choke points all over the place. And range is a big thing. Well, Ziggs has that, too. His bomb can be thrown from basically anywhere on the map. I'm not sure on the exact range, but I challenge you to find an important situation in Dominion that you CAN'T bomb.

Uncle Kwaggy
Crew

Super Genius

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