So lets take a look at the game from
start to finish to
give you an idea of what you can expect
once you get your hands on League
of Legends Dominion, which is playable at PAX and Gamescom
this year. The name
of the game is capture and hold,
with 5 points in a star formation, with the team strongholds lying at 3
and 9 oclock. For
you WoW veterans out there, its
cutthroat Arathi Basin with powerups galore!
Before the match even starts, youll
notice a set of major
differences.
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You
have a lot more gold to start, 1375 in the
build we played
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You
start at level 3.
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You
cannot leave the spawn area until the
platforms connecting your spawn to the battlefield form, which is about
the
same time it takes for minions to spawn in Summoners Rift.
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Fortify
has been replaced with Garrison, a
similar single target skill, and Promote is back to create super creeps
for a
push.
The first two are a great way to kick
start the action, and
the third is to ensure a fair fight for the slow loaders and people who
are
wishy washy or just new to the Dominion item set, which has a few
distinct
differences well get into later.
Once people roll out, there are only
two lanes, and they
really dont matter nearly as much as the other modes.
This might shock those of you that play the
game religiously, but now the first 10 minutes of a game arent just
about last
hitting minions! As
your team leaves the
spawn, youll scatter to the 5 points and make your initial claims.
style=""> Those with Ghost or other
rapid movement
skills can attempt to grab points closer to the enemy base,
Capturing a point takes a solid 15
seconds or so, and your
hero will use their unique channeling animation to do so.
style=""> Creeps will not interrupt
it, but any hero
attack or damage will instantly stop what youre doing.
The channel does not need to start from
scratch though, so every little bit you can capture during a standoff
will
help!
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When youre in control of more points
than your opposition,
their life counter will decrease at a rate of the difference.
style=""> There are no ways to
increase your life
counter, so control of the points determines the victor of the game.
style=""> Killing another player
reduces their total by
one, but taking a point has the potential to reduce their total by one
every
few seconds!
Scattered throughout the map are a
variety of powerups. These
range from speed boosts to health and
mana packs, and theyre great for keeping yourself healthy and
dangerous as you
traverse the map. In
the very center are
two crystals, one for each team. For
a
shorter channel, you can claim a very strong single buff that does not
transfer
on death like the other modes.
Note
that you cannot claim the other teams powerup, nor can you destroy it.
style=""> You have visibility of it
though, so you know
when the other team is claiming theirs.
This buff gives a very large shield and a damage boosting
lightning bolt
on all offensive abilities, as well as making your champion huge and
imposing. A giant
Nocturne is no laughing matter!
Note that when youre clashing with
the enemy at their
points though, that the point itself is a threat.
It functions as a turret, but it can be
disabled by capturing it which you can do just barely outside of the
turrets
range. This is to
make it so an undefended
point can be taken with no resistance, but if youre there, you can
kite people
around it or just use it as a stronghold to make a stand on a push.
style=""> If a creep wave is quite
large or has a
promoted unit or two, it is more than capable of taking down a point
with no
hero assistance. This
doesnt happen
often though, so dont count on it to save you from the jaws of defeat!
The middle of the map is full of
little debris that can be
kited around, and often times have tall grass at least on one side of
it. Many shortcut
paths are available here, but
both teams have sight of the middle area due to the power ups.
style=""> You can cut through there
to fake out
opponents with various feints and capture other points or ambush heroes
on the
offensive.
Note that the heroes themselves are
untouched, so when it
comes to balance, the items and the map itself will be the ones tweaked.
style=""> Items that
promote passive play such as
Banshees Veil, which blocks a spell once every 45 seconds, and
Bloodthirster,
which becomes one of the strongest attack weapons over time but loses
power
after a death are both out the window.
New items such as the Prospectors set of items which
grant several cheap
and basic bonuses, but a unique passive of +200 health to make you more
survivable while not making them stackable for a quick way to massive
durability.
If youre worried about stealth, fear
not. There
is a new physical and a new magical
tool for killing those pesky rats.
Take
for instance, the attack damage version:
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+50%
attack speed
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+20%
life steal
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Passive
: Reveal target for 8 seconds on hit.
This wont just help you kill stealth
fightersitll help
you keep track of people as they navigate tall grass, teleport, or
otherwise
cut your line of sight to evade. Itll
also completely ruin Akalis Twilight Shroud!
If they dont stealth, you can still use other new items
such as the
Frozen Warhammer to slow them to a crawl to avoid being kited.
style=""> This
beast gives:
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+70
damage
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+275
HP
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25%
chance for a 3.5 second slow, and an active
that jacks it up to 100% for 5 seconds on a 90 second cooldown
Now weve got options for slowing
that dont involve a bunch
of extra HP like the Frozen Mallet!
But, do you really need this extra
attack power? Every
game on dominion has a passive aura
that affects all players. In
the current
build, it gives 10% bonus armor penetration, 5% spell penetration, -20%
healing
received, and increased mana regeneration.
That means there are going to be a lot of powerful spells
flying, and
less mitigation of them. Thisll
lead to
skirmishes being decided much quicker than the other two gameplay
modes, and
prevent stalemates at points.
I say skirmishes, and not team
battles for a reason. You
will rarely if ever see 3+ heroes for a
team on the same screen because there simply are 5 focal points on the
map that
need to be attended to, and roving around as one big angry mob simply
doesnt
work if the other team has the brains to avoid engaging you and go for
the
points youre nowhere near.
The balance is still being figured
out, but mobility,
blinkers, and stealth have a slight advantage over the rest.
style=""> Ezreal and Karthus have
great stopping power
in their ultimates to maintain control of points for a brief stint
longer, or
to buy time for the cavalry to arrive.
Rammus is back in action with great mobility and the
ability to drag
people out from under the turrets via his taunt.
Even Brackhar would tell me that after
thousands of games internally, theyre still discovering dangerous new
strategies.
Even if all seems lost, there are two
paths out of your base. You
can leave via either and reach points
quickly, so even when being beaten badly, a team can push out quickly.
style=""> A painful defeat doesnt
mean a fed team
eitherreduced gold on kills and a massive xp/gold flow for all players
keeps
the battlefield evolving and fresh.
Games will rarely, if ever, go beyond the 25 minute mark.
style=""> This is intentionalthis
mode is about
action!
Its quite fun and quite near being
finished. Dominion
mode is not meant to replace the
traditional gameplay, but it adds a new flavor thats much more
endearing than
just a new map! If
you have any specific
questions, be sure to comment or drop by our forums Ill be more than
happy
to answer them!
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