How to Get Better at Warding in League of Legends
Warding is an essential aspect of League of Legends gameplay that often goes overlooked. It involves placing vision wards or sightstone wards on the map to reveal enemy movement and objectives. Effective warding can prevent ganks and secure map objectives, providing a significant strategic advantage to any team. This article will explore how to get better at warding in League of Legends.
Understanding the Importance of Warding
Warding is crucial for winning games in League of Legends. It provides a strategic advantage by revealing enemy movement and objectives, preventing ganks, and providing vision around major objectives such as dragon and Baron Nashor. Warding can also help track enemy movements, allowing for easier gank set-ups and providing valuable information for your team.
Every player on the team should contribute to warding to maximize map control. Even if players don’t have the support role, players can still purchase control wards to provide vision or have sightstone wards or similar vision items. The more players who contribute to warding, the more vision the team has, which can lead to a better chance of winning.
Understanding the Vision Game
The vision game involves maintaining control over specific parts of the map by warding. It is a crucial aspect of gameplay that can be used to gain a strategic advantage. Players can use vision to establish map control, prevent ganks, set up ambushes, and secure objectives.
For instance, one great way to use vision to gain a strategic advantage as a jungler is to ward enemy jungle entrances. This provides vision on the enemy jungler’s rotations, allowing for easier beast-roaming set-ups or knowing exactly where he will most likely start pathing. Vision control can also prevent counter-ganking from the enemy jungler and let your team know when they can safely split-gank.
How to Ward Like a Pro
Warding like a pro involves more than just randomly placing wards on the map. It involves strategic placement and efficient use of resources. Here are some tips and tricks for effective and efficient warding:
- Place wards where they will provide the most vision without overlapping
- Take note of enemy champion abilities that provide vision, such as wards or traps, and avoid warding in those locations
- Prioritize control wards for objectives, such as dragon or Baron Nashor, as they cannot be revealed by enemy wards or abilities
- Use quick cast to place wards quickly and efficiently
- Coordinate with your team to protect your wards and take advantage of enemy vision gaps
It’s important to prioritize wards depending on the situation. In early game, warding is crucial to prevent cheese plays such as early invades or level 2 jungle ganks. In mid-game, warding objectives or chokepoints can prevent enemy rotations or set up easy ganks. In late game, preparing for team fights by warding in areas of high traffic is important to avoid getting flanked by the enemy team.
Warding for Different Roles
Each role on the team has a unique job when it comes to warding. Here are some role-specific warding tips:
- Toplaners: Vision around the top lane is essential to avoid ganks and prevent cross-map TP plays. Place wards in the river brush or near the enemy’s blue buff for the highest impact
- Midlaners: Midlane is the most central point of the map, making it crucial to control. Warding the entrances to the river and jungle is a great way to maintain control of the midlane
- Junglers: Jungle control is key for effectively ganking and shutting down the enemy jungler. Warding enemy jungle entrances and the dragon pit can provide valuable information for ganks and securing objectives
- ADC: Warding for ADCs involves providing safety while farming their lanes. Warding the creek brush and side bush can prevent flanking from enemies and make it easier to CS
- Supports: Supports have the primary role in keeping the team’s vision and map control. Prioritizing wards on key objectives, clearing enemy wards with control wards, and establishing chokepoints can provide the team with a major strategic advantage
It’s essential to adjust warding strategy based on the role you play on the team. Every position has a unique perspective on the map, and tailoring your vision control can provide the team with a significant advantage.
Efficient Warding Placement
Placing wards in the correct locations on the map can provide the most significant vision advantage. Here are some strategic locations to place wards:
- River brush: This location provides vision of incoming river ganks, which is crucial for maintaining lane safety and avoiding enemy ambushes
- Tri-brush: This location is perfect for defensive warding and preventing ganks from behind
- Jungle entrances: Placing wards at jungle entrances, such as the blue or red buff, can provide valuable information on enemy rotation and jungle routes. This can give players a chance to predict counter-ganks or invade cross-map
- Objective areas: Placing wards near dragon and Baron Nashor can provide valuable information for securing these objectives. Control wards should be prioritized when it comes to warding objectives to ensure their vision control is maintained. This reduces to a significant degree the likelihood of opponents safely contesting
Certain areas of the map are more important to ward than others based on objective timing, gank potential, or enemy jungle proximity. Understanding these strategic locations based on the gameplay situation is crucial to effective warding.
Timing Your Warding
Timing your warding throughout the game is essential for maintaining control over the map. Here are some guidelines for warding based on the game phase:
- Early game: Early game warding is essential to prevent early gank cheese plays. Wards should focus on the river entrances and the jungle near lanes to prevent the enemy from gaining an early advantage. This will give enough margin to prepare for early-game skirmishes to secure objectives.
- Mid-game: Mid-game focuses on objective and gank play around major objectives such as dragon or Baron Nashor. Warding should prioritize the surrounding objectives and key building areas such as the jungles surrounding the lanes, red/blue buff areas, and tri-brushes for utility and control
- Late game: During late game, team fights are inevitable and highly dependent on Vision. Warding around objectives and the flanks of the team will prevent the enemy from ambushing the team, allowing them to make decisions based on the available information, and set them up for a victory
By timing ward placement based on the game phase, players can stay ahead of the game and maintain map control effectively.
Communication and Teamwork
Communication and teamwork are crucial when it comes to warding and maintaining vision control. Here are some tips for effective communication and coordination:
- Encourage everyone on the team to contribute to warding for maximum efficiency
- Provide information for players who can’t see everything, such as a lack of info on missing champions and activity around specific objectives
- Ask for help when needed, especially in clearing enemy vision
- Coordinate with teammates to establish chokepoints and positions for wards to maximize vision control
With effective communication and teamwork, players can maximize their map control and gain a significant strategic advantage over the enemy team.
Conclusion
Warding is a crucial aspect of League of Legends gameplay. Effective warding provides vision of enemy movements and objectives which is crucial to win games. To get better at warding, players should understand the importance of warding and its benefits, as well as tips for strategic ward placement. Based on your role, utilize role-specific warding tips and prioritize important locations. Time your warding throughout the game based on the phase played while communicating with teammates and coordinate to maximize map control. By practising effective warding, you can help your team gain a strategic advantage that can lead to victory.
