Domination

Dominated, hippie! Get a job!

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The burning you feel? It is shame. Click to listen — The Heavy

”

A Domination is a reward received for killing, or assisting in killing, one particular enemy four times in a row. If you Dominate a player, a distinct sound cue plays, and you become their Nemesis. You will see a small target icon next to the dominated player on the scoreboard, while the dominated player will see a small icon above your head. If you kill your Nemesis, or assist in killing them, they will lose their domination and status as your nemesis; this is known as a Revenge kill.

Dominations in one life are counted in your all-time stats. When dominating players, a medal symbol will appear next to your name on the scoreboard along with a number indicating how many opposing players you are currently dominating. Dominations are carried over map stages, but not over team or map changes. Team-swapping will cause all dominations for and against you to be lost.

Dominating someone may sometimes produce a special audio response from your class. Dominating several people in one round will result in increasingly enthusiastic responses from your character.

Nemesis

When a player becomes your nemesis, they sport a distinct icon above their head which allows you to identify them (unless they are currently a Cloaked or disguised Spy). Only you can see this icon. If your nemesis kills you, the Deathcam will identify them as such.

It is possible to have any number of opposing players as your nemesis at once. Upon killing a nemesis, you gain a Revenge kill, which counts towards your player stats, and the player loses their status as your nemesis.

The nemesis feature was added to promote relationships between players, creating a small negative reinforcement loop by giving players an opportunity to score extra points with a revenge kill.

Revenge

Killing your nemesis is called a Revenge kill. This is accompanied by a short sound cue, and a special kill notice on the HUD. Obtaining a revenge kill will also produce a short audio response by your class.

A Revenge kill is worth double the Points received for a regular Kill, and will remove your Nemesis' Domination against you. Revenge kills in one life, as well as in your player history, count towards your all-time stats. Players receive the Nemesis achievement upon collecting 5 total Revenge kills in their all-time stats. A Revenge kill can occur during Humiliation, which is a highly advantageous and satisfying time to get one, as your Nemesis will be cowering and completely vulnerable.

Related Achievements

General

Nemesis Get five Revenge kills.

Scarechievements

Ghastly Gibus Grab Dominate a player wearing any achievement Gibus hat to earn your own Ghastly Gibus.

 Soldier

Dominator Get 3 dominations in a single life.

Trench Warfare Kill your nemesis with a shovel.

 Pyro

BarbeQueQ Cause a dominated player to leave the server.

 Demoman

Three Times a Laddy Dominate three Engineers.

There Can Be Only One Decapitate your nemesis.

 Heavy

Icing on the Cake Get 20 kills on players that you're dominating. Lenin A Hand Help 5 teammates get revenge on their nemeses.

Red Oktoberfest Earn a domination for a Medic who's healing you.

 Medic

Doctor Assisted Homicide Assist in killing 20 nemeses.

 Sniper

Australian Rules Dominate an enemy Sniper.

Rode Hard, Put Away Wet Jarate an enemy that you're dominating.

 Spy

High Value Target Backstab an enemy who is dominating 3 or more of your teammates. Come in from the Cold Get a Revenge kill with a backstab.

The Melbourne Supremacy Dominate a Sniper.

Update history

May 27, 2010 Patch

• Fixed domination/revenge messages not using team colors for the player names.

August 8, 2011 Patch

• • Fixed Domination responses being interrupted.

Bugs

• The domination medal count occasionally mismatches with the actual number of a player's dominations.

Trivia

• Dominations were originally created to make player interactions have a more personal feel and encourage individual competition.
• Dominating enemies with kill assists will not trigger voice responses from your class, but the class who was awarded the kill.
• Killing a Spy who is using the Dead Ringer (if it is the 4th time you have killed said player) will notify you that you have dominated him. Once he de-cloaks however, he will no longer be "Dominated". The same goes for Revenges.
• No actual numerical medal will appear on the score screen next to the name of a player who has beyond 16 dominations.

Gallery

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  The domination icon that appears on the scoreboard.

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  RED Nemesis icon that appears above the head of a player's Nemesis.

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  BLU version of this icon.

Scoreboard symbols

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See also

• Dueling Mini-Game