Vision is an integral part of League of Legends, and understanding where to ward can win you a lot of games.
League of Legends is a MOBA where your goal is to destroy the enemy ‘Nexus’ to win the game. But that’s not as easy as it sounds. You need to do a lot of things along the way. Laning, team fighting, objective control, vision, etc., are some of the core parts of League of Legends.
Besides, there are also many other aspects to League of Legends. League can be hard to master, but it is easy to get into and start having fun. New players should not feel pressured to learn everything at once. And you should just pick up the game and learn as you go.
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One of the most critical parts of League is vision control or warding. Teams with good vision control will win more games just by having more information at their disposal. Though many players still think that only the support should ward, which is not true, every player must have good vision control. This is why you will see all pro players buy control wards and work as a team to secure vision.
What are Wards in League of Legends
In a League of Legends match, most of the map will be covered in the fog of war. Friendly champions, minions, and towers remove the fog of war and give you a vision of that area. But to gain vision of parts of the map covered by the fog of war, you must place some type of wards.
Wards are stationary objects that you can place on the map. Wards give you visions of the area as long as they don’t expire or the enemy destroys it. Also, if the enemy places a control ward near it, your ward will lose vision in that area.
Different Types of Wards
At the start of the game, players can choose from 2 different free wards. One is ‘Warding Totem,’ and the other is ‘Oracle Lens.’ At level 9, another free ward becomes available, the ‘Farsight Alteration.’
Warding Totem is a ward you can place near you. It becomes stealth after 2 seconds of being placed and lasts for up to 2 minutes. After supports have upgraded support items, they can place ‘Stealth Ward,’ which works the same as the Warding Totem but lasts 2 and a half minutes. You can have a maximum of 3 stealth wards or warding totems placed at a time. This number increases by 1 with the ‘Vigilant Wardstone’ item.
Oracle Lens is used to clear out vision. By turning it on, you summon a sweeping drone. It will then follow you for 10 seconds and reveal wards and traps. Oracle Lens also obscures stealth ward vision when over them.
Farsight Alteration can be placed from a far distance. So you can gain vision of an area without having to go into the fog of war. The drawback is that the enemy can see the farsight ward even without control wards. The vision it provides is also lower than other wards. It does not expire unless an enemy destroys it.
Control Ward: There is another type of ward you can purchase for 75 gold called ‘Control Ward.’ This not only gives you visions of an area but also reveals enemy wards and traps. Moreover, they can reveal ‘Camouflaged champions’ as well. Each player can only have one control ward on the map, but the limit increases by one if you have the ‘Vigilant Wardstone’ item.
Best Warding Locations for League of Legends
Knowing where to ward at different stages of the game is crucial, and most of the time, it determines which team will win in the early game.
Warding Locations During Laning Phase
In a solo queue match, warding an area right as you get out of your base is usually not worth it, as the information it will provide will not be of much use to you.
Warding around 1:30-2:00 minutes in the river can help against eager junglers who want to gank at level 2. You can also ward around the 3-minute mark if you know where the enemy jungler started.
Top Lane Warding Locations
In general, you would want to ward in the following areas. Whether you are a blue or red team, your control ward position will change.
If you are winning the matchup, you would want to push up your vision into the enemy jungle to help out your team more. If you kill the enemy laner or push them into their tower, try to utilize the time by getting some aggressive vision.
On the other hand, if you are losing the matchup, it is not safe for you to walk up into enemy territory and ward. You will also not be able to defend your control wards in enemy territory if you are weaker than the opponent. In this case, try warding defensively to protect your own jungle from getting invaded.
Mid Lane Warding Locations
Mid Lane has so many areas you can get ganked from that it is not possible to cover all areas most of the time.
As a mid laner, you should always play toward your strong side or towards your jungler. If your jungler is focusing on the top lane more, ward around your top side of the map and position yourself around that side. So if you get ganked from the top side, you will be able to see the enemy jungler coming to your lane and back away, or if they gank from the bottom side of the map, you can just walk toward your top side.
Many players make the mistake of warding heavily on one side and standing on the opposite side of the lane where they don’t have any vision.
If you are winning the matchup in the mid lane, you should always push up your vision the same as the top lane.
And when in a losing matchup, you defend your jungle by warding defensively.
Bot Lane Warding Locations
For bot lane, your general ward placements should look like this.
When you have an advantage over your opponent in bot lane, you should push up your ward line in the following manner.
If you are losing your lane at bot, ward defensively to help protect your jungle.
Support and Jungle Warding Locations
Top, mid, and bottom laner should try to ward as much as possible in the necessary areas. But they don’t have an infinite number of wards to place. As a result, there will be gaps in the vision even if the solo laners and ADC ward properly. The job of the jungler and the support should be working together to ward the gaps in vision. If the whole team wards properly, you can have a good line of vision.
Warding After Laning Phase
Vision control changes as the laning phase end. After the landing phase, the teams focus more on objectives, set up vision control near the dragon before it spawns, and deny the other team’s vision.
You should realize if you are stronger than the opponent or not and try to set up vision in that way. If you are winning, try to set up vision inside the enemy’s jungle and clear their wards. If your opponent wants to contest an objective, they have to walk through the fog of war, and you will be waiting to kill them.
However, as a losing team, if you have no vision inside your jungle, wait for the enemies to show up on the map near your minions. It would be best to move into your own jungle to try to regain some vision control.
This is just an example of how the blue team’s vision can look like if they are sieging the enemy tier 2 or inhibitor turrets. Optimal warding positions change depending on what is the next objective. So try to ward as much as you can and deny enemy vision.
Warding Tips for League of Legends
Sneaky Baron Ward
Before doing baron, the enemy team will likely have a clear vision around it. But there is a place near the baron, which often gets overlooked. You can place a ward there, and you will know when the enemy is starting the baron.
Clearing Wards before they go invisible
Stealth wards and warding totems stay visible for 2 seconds after placement. You can clear the wards before that if you are fast enough.
In the early game, most champions cannot clear the wards fast enough, but with champions that have auto-attack reset abilities like Leona or Sivir, you can kill a ward right after the enemy places it. This is even easier in the bottom lane, where both ADC and Support can auto-attack to clear the ward.
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