Welcome to the League of Legends Rune series. Every post under this series will cover each of the Rune trees in detail, even down to viable champions and playstyles. This post will focus on the Domination rune tree; a Rune commonly perceived to belong to assassins.
First of all, what are runes in League of Legends? The Runes are used to customize champions before entering into a game. They provide extra stats, effects, and advantages to champions. All of these benefits can range from Ability Haste to extra movement speed and even Omnivamp.
Runes are divided into five trees. We have the Domination, Sorcery, Inspiration, Resolve, and Precision trees.
The Domination rune tree was created for burst damage in the game. As such, champions with quick damage outputs like assassins and ADCs work well with this rune. Although certain Mages and Bruisers are known to benefit from the rune too.
It is divided into four tiers namely:
- Keystone
- Malice
- Tracker
- Hunter
Let’s take it from the top.
The Domination Rune Tree – Tier 1 (Keystones)
We have four keystones in the domination rune tree. You are only allowed to pick one from each tier and we’ve got the following:
Electrocute
Effect
Hitting a champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities within 3 seconds deals bonus adaptive damage.
Cooldown: 25s – 20s
Damage: 30 – 180 (+0.4 bonus AD, +0.25 AP) damage.
Explanation
The electrocute keystone contributes to a champion’s burst damage output and as such is really favored by assassins. The condition to activate this keystone is to hit an enemy champion with three separate attacks.
This might look daunting at first, but a mixture of auto-attacks and abilities will do to proc electrocute. However, you will have to apply it within three seconds and with assassins like Fizz or Zed, that’s pretty easy.
Viable Champions
Practically all assassins, examples:
- Zed
- Fizz
- Qiyana
- Diana
- Ekko
- Talon, etc.
Predator
Effect
Enchants your boots with the Predator active effect.
Active: Gain increased Movement Speed, ramping up to 45% Movement Speed over1.5 seconds, while chasing enemy champions. After ramping up, damaging attacks or abilities to champions end this effect, dealing 40-120 (+0.2 bonus AD)(+0.1 AP) bonus adaptive damage.
Cooldown: 90s-60s.
Explanation
This keystone allows a burst of movement speed and damage output after channeling. It synergies well with champions who lack gap closers. The movement speed enables them to get to targets faster and easier.
It is more popular in the jungle with bruisers and immobile tanks.
Viable Champions
- Gragas
- Garen
- Udyr
- Mordekaiser
- Darius, etc
Dark Harvest
Effect
Damaging a Champion below 50% health deals adaptive damage and harvests their soul, permanently increasing Dark Harvest’s damage by 5.
Dark Harvest Damage: 20-60 (based on level)(+5 damage per soul) (+0.25 bonus AD) (+0.15 AP)
Cooldown: 45s (resets to 1.5s on takedown)
Explanation
While Dark Harvest is a rune that is basically useless early in the game, it deals terrific damage if stacked right. The deals from this rune procs when you damage an enemy champion below 50% health. So, with enough stacks later in the game, the damage is very high whenever you proc the rune.
Viable Champions
This rune is mostly taken by assassins or mages.
- Qiyana
- Ekko
- Evelynn
- Zed, etc.
Hail of Blades
Effects
Gain 110% Attack Speed when you attack an enemy champion for up to 3 attacks.
No more than 3 seconds can elapse between attacks or this effect will end.
Cooldown: 12 seconds
NB: Attack resets increase the attack limit by 1. This keystone allows you to temporarily exceed the attack speed limit.
Explanation
The Hail of blades keystone helps a champion get out quick auto-attacks at the start of a trade, duel, or gank. It suits champions with passives that proc after a set of autos or low attack speed.
Viable Champions
- Pyke
- Kalista
- Xin Zhao
- Ashe
- Kai’sa
- Tristana
- Twitch
- Rek’Sai, etc.
The Domination Rune Tree Tier 2 (Malice)
Cheap Shot
Effect
Damaging champions with impaired movement or actions deals 10 – 45 bonus true damage (based on level).
Cooldown: 4s
Note: Activates on damage occurring after the impairment.
Explanation
Cheap shot allows you to deal extra damage to champions who have been CC’d. If you or a teammate impairs an enemy’s movement, any damage you deal to that enemy will proc Cheap Shot.
It’s a good rune on assassins with slows or if your team has good crowd control abilities.
Viable Champions
- Jarvan IV
- Ashe
- Zyra
- Viego
- Lulu, etc
Taste of Blood
Effect
Heal when you damage an enemy champion
Healing: 18-35 (+0.2 bonus AD, +0.1 AP) health (based on level)
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Explanation
Taste of Blood heals you when you damage enemy champions. It is good for sustain, especially when coupled with Ravenous Hunter.
Viable Champions
- Illaoi
- Ryze
- Viktor
- Aatrox
- Kai’sa, etc.
Sudden Impact
Effect
After exiting stealth or using a dash, leap, blink, or teleport, dealing any damage to a champion grants you 7 Lethality and 6 Magic Penetration for 5 seconds.
Cooldown: 4s
Explanation
From the above description, this rune is perfect for assassins and champions with gap closers.
Viable Champions
- Evelynn
- Qiyana
- Diana
- Ekko
- Quinn, etc.
The Domination Rune Tree – Tier 3 (Tracker)
Zombie Ward
Effect
Takedowns on enemy wards cause friendly Zombie wards to sprout from their corpses.
Gain an adaptive bonus of 1.2 attack damage or 2 ability power for every zombie ward spawned, up to 10. After spawning 10 zombie wards, additionally, gain 10 adaptive force.
Note: Zombie wards are visible, last for 120 seconds, and do not count towards your ward limit.
Ghost Poro
Effect
When your wards expire, they leave behind a Ghost Poro, which grants vision for 90 seconds. Nearby enemy champions scare the Ghost Poro away.
Gain an adaptive bonus of 1.2 attack damage or 2 ability power for every Ghost Poro spawned and when your Ghost Poro spots an enemy champion up to 10 stacks. After gaining 10 stacks, additionally, gain 10 adaptive force.
Eyeball Collection
Effect
Collect eyeballs for champion takedowns. Gain an adaptive bonus of 1.2 attack damage or 2 ability power, per eyeball collected.
Upon completing your collection at 10 eyeballs, additionally, gain an adaptive bonus of 6 attack damage or 10 ability power.
Note: You get one eyeball per champion takedown.
The Domination Rune Tree – Tier 4 (Hunter)
Ravenous Hunter
Effect
Omnivamp: 1.5% per Bounty Hunter stack.
Bounty hunter stacks are earned the first time you get a takedown on each enemy champion.
Note: Omnivamp is only 33% effective when dealing area of effect damage or damage through pets.
Ingenious Hunter
Effect
Gain 10 item haste plus an additional 5 item haste per Bounty Hunter stacks (include Trinkets).
Bounty Hunter stacks are earned the first time you get a takedown on each enemy champion.
Note: Item Haste affects all items with cooldowns.
Relentless Hunter
Effect
Gain 5 move speed out of combat plus 8 per Bounty Hunter stack.
Bounty Hunter stacks are earned the first time you get a takedown on each enemy champion.
Ultimate Hunter
Effect
Your ultimate gains 6 ability haste, plus an additional 5 ability haste per Bounty Hunter stack.
Bounty Hunter stacks are earned the first time you get a takedown on each enemy champion.
Conclusion
That concludes the post on the Domination Rune Tree. I hope you now understand the Runes a little better and you can now make better rune choices that suit your playstyle. The SenpAI.GG Desktop LoL App is capable of setting the right runes for any champion of your choice, you should check it out.
Thanks for reading and see you on the Rift!
