VISION. An in depth article on how to improve Vision and the quality of our matches.

Hey there folks, Jaymc here, long time board veteran and top 1% player. Some of you folks may remember a little ole thread I posted more than 2 years ago now that had to do with vision changes: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/9H4KqONg-please-for-the-love-of-god-bring-back-stealth-wards-in-the-shop .

In it I make some rather bold predictions about the future evolution of the game state including the likelihood of increased trends in snowballing and shorter games as well as meta shifts for popular and effective champion picks in both solo q and pro play, as well as stagnating strategic diversity. In this thread we'll address how those things have impacted the game and possible solutions for the negative impacts.

Most of my proposal's potential changes are going to be updates to the current vision tools to allow more build options for each class and role when it comes to assisting the team in the vision war. A special thanks to Linna Excel for inspiring me to complete my thought exercise from many months back in this thread here: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/t4VXQyhm-can-laners-please-regain-control-of-laning-phase?show=flat&page=6

As a final aside, I must inform everyone there will be no TLDR for this thread, the contents are too complex to be distilled into one. You'll have to dive on in and read the whole thing to get a clear picture.

What is the goal of this thread and the proposed changes?

Well that's relatively simple, we want to create an updated roster of vision tools that can help alleviate some of the extreme snowballiness in the game by offering options for early vision that don't break the bank, nor offer too much excess vision for cheap. We want these items to be geared towards being purchased in lane phase when behind to prevent falling further behind, and offer scaling utility into the late game that doesn't make you hate using the item slot on something that isn't as combat efficient as other late game combat tools as a trade off for the items supplying a more reliable way to reach the later stages of games. We also need these items to offer potential new strategic choices in terms of build as well as playstyle, so we will also likely want some new types of wards.

Why are these the goals for the potential changes?

What we want to do with this update is give players the tools to implement more strategic options in game and to have games last long enough again that these strategic choices are meaningful as opposed to the current game state where there is no meaningful choice to be made for, say, a jungler, in the early game between farming, racing for early objectives, or ganking to try for a snowball. Snowballing is just too easy and it's the default, so we need to implement some changes that will spice it up a bit.

Ok, we get why, but now what? Like, these things you're talking about, what would they do?

Well, I've got loads of ideas, some bound to be fruitful, others maybe not so much. I saw a piece a while back about riot potentially wanting to add some new cool wards into the game, I liked the idea, and I think using that as a foundation for the rest of the changes that we will build up from here is acceptable. So let's start with the new types of wards and redistribution of power among existing wards.

What I've got in mind is a series of wards that serve similar but slightly different functions. We'll start with the most basic type.

Stealth ward: this will be the standard ward, as it has for years, and will still make up the core of your vision tool kit. New ward stats: Duration for stealth wards is 60 seconds. They have 2 hit points that can only be removed by auto attacks. They turn invisible after 2 seconds and grant standard vision with the new sight radius staying the same as it has always been. A maximum of 3 may be placed per player.

Anti stealth ward: this ward is meant as a counter to stealth wards. Like stealth wards they have 2 hit points and turn invisible after a delay of 15 seconds. During this 15 second window Anti stealth wards also reveal and disable vision for enemy stealth wards. After this initial 15 second window anti stealth wards function as stealth wards with an identical vision radius and inability to spot stealthed champions. They have a duration of 90 seconds. A maximum of 2 may be placed per player and the team may have no more than 4 out at one time.

Alarm or Siren ward: this ward provides no vision, but has a detection range equal to the range of Evelynn's camoflage detection radius. Enemy champions that walk into the detection range of an alarm ward trigger the wailing sirens that alert the team to an enemy presence in that area. The pitch and frequency of the alarm increases the closer an enemy champion is to its placement and decreases as an enemy champion moves away from it. If an allied champion is in vision range when the alarm rings, enemy stealthed champions in the alarm ward's detection radius will be revealed with the maroon/red overlay the same as it works with oracles trinket until the enemy champion moves out of the ward's detection radius. These wards have 2 hit points and are visible at all times. It is important the detection radius for this ward is smaller than a champions vision radius so champions can see the ward at the extreme edge of their vision and check the remaining duration before deciding to pass by or attempt to clear the alarm ward. A maximum of 2 may be placed per player and a maximum of 4 per team at a time.

Sentry sweeper ward: this ward is a tall tower with a rotating field of vision. It is visible at all times, even when placed in the brush as the tower must be very tall to adequately project its vision cone. The radius of the vision for this ward is 1500 units, it will reveal stealthed champions and wards similar to how the jungle vision plant works. The cone of vision detected by the tower is restricted to a 60 degree arc that rotates once around a full 360 degrees every 6 seconds. These wards have 2 hit points and an indefinite duration. 1 may be placed per player at a time and 2 per team at a time. Allied Sentry Sweeper Wards show a vision cone that is whitish blue in tint, red in tint for opposing teams. Allied champions within range of a team sentry ward gain the same movement speed buff as point runner without requiring an item with point runner, it is an aura buff given by the sentry sweeper itself to allied champions in the applicable range.

Bait ward: bait wards are visible at all times and have 1 hit point. They provide similar vision to a stealth ward and have a duration of 90 seconds. Bait wards are intended to interact with neutral monsters and your team's cannon minions for various strategic purposes. We'll discuss these more later. A maximum of 3 bait wards may be placed per player and a max of 6 per team at a time.

Trap wards: these wards have different effects based on the last elemental drake your team secured, which we will give more in depth attention to in a moment. The intent of trap wards is to offer new universal zoning tools to control the space of an engagement. Attempting to clear a trap ward or sometimes even moving into its engage range will trigger its defensive capabilities. These wards are meant to be dangerous to low hp targets attempting to clear them or when used as a surprise element of an engage, but to be relatively weak against high health targets. All trap wards are visible at all times and a maximum of 3 may be placed per player at a time and a maximum of 4 placed per team at a time. Trap wards have a duration of 120 seconds and an arming duration of 5 seconds so you can't plop one down mid fight for immediate damage. Default trap wards that have yet to be upgraded by an elemental drake have 2 hit points and fire teemo style poison ranged attacks with an engage radius of 500 units. These attacks automatically target the nearest enemy champion in engage range and deal 20+(1% missing hp per champ level) damage over 2.5 seconds as magic damage. They have a vision range similar to stealth wards.

Control Ward: these are the standard pinks we know and love and not much will change. They will have 4 hit points, last an indefinite duration, have the same placement limitations as currently, while revealing stealthed champs and wards as well as disabling any and all ward types revealed in its detection radius (except enemy control wards) where the anti stealth ward only reveals and disables stealth wards. These wards can be purchased in the shop for 75 gold.

Ok, cool, you've designed some new wards, but what do trap wards and bait wards do exactly besides provide vision while being visible to the enemy?

We'll start with bait wards and some of the possibilities I have in mind. What I'd like from these wards is a way to utilize neutral mobs or lane minions for a tactical or strategic advantage. The cannon minion upgrade is perhaps the easiest to understand so I'll start with it. A bait ward placed in an allied lane will provide vision of the area, and this can be useful. But bait wards have the lowest hit point total (are easiest to destroy) and are always visible to enemy champs. So using a bait ward for just vision is an option, but there are also some nifty and more efficient things you could do with it. Dropped in an allied lane, a bait ward will attract the next cannon minion traveling down the lane to consume the bait, pick up the ward, and enjoy a slight buff. A Bait Buffed Cannon Minion has the same engage range as a baron buffed canon minion, just none of the extra damage or durability. It can be used as a potential wave pressuring tool. Whenever a bait buffed cannon minion dies it drops the bait ward it was carrying, minus the bait, and the ward remains visible for another 30 seconds while displaying vision of the area where the cannon minion died before fading, and it can be attacked and destroyed in this time frame.

Another use of the bait ward is as an interaction with jungle mobs. A jungle mob dragged to a bait ward with careful aggro management will consume the bait and become very docile and partial to the allied team that fed it. It will remain by the ward until the ward expires preparing for an ambush on any enemy champion that walks within engage range. Half the exp for killing the mob is awarded equally among the champion aggroing the mob to the bait ward and the placer of the bait ward, the other half is awarded to the player who secures the last hit. Baiting and taming different mobs has different results. A brambleback or blue golem will lie in wait for an enemy champion for as long as the bait ward duration lasts and when an enemy champion enters engage range the golem will grab and throw the nearest enemy champion into the golems spawning area, a displacement affect that deals 30+(2 per champion level) physical damage to them and knocks them 300 units toward the golem pit over .5 seconds. If the golem throws the enemy champ into a wall the terrain further stuns them for .25 seconds and then the golem dashes to the champion which further stuns enemy champ for .25 seconds if again knocked into impassable terrain and dealing an additional 10+(1 per champion level) physical damage. After this the golem then becomes enraged and gains 20% attack speed, and 20% damage output, but it takes 35% more damage.

Each unique mob will have a unique bait interaction with enemy champions they encounter while baited. Some will become dense like a rock and very tough to kill but won't deal much damage as it follows you around slapping you wet noodle like. Some will chase an enemy all over the map as they provide vision of the enemy for a duration of time (kind of like how the wolf spirits used to work). Some will simply sit waiting until the bait duration timer runs out then next they will charge down the nearest lane and kamakaze the enemy tower.

Baiting the drake makes it more passive and docile, it will stop attacking members of the allied team for 15 seconds. Double baiting a drake after the enemy has already baited it enrages it and grants it 40% reduced damage taken, 35% increased damage and attack speed, removes the ability for it to reset aggro, and causes it to attack the nearest champion for 20 seconds. Allied teams that secure a drake while it is baited only by their team recieve a mini morde drakeling that's controlled by the slaying player for 30 seconds.

Baiting a scuttle crab causes it to perish and grant the securing player gold and exp, but instead of the scuttle crab buff spawning in its normal location, this buff spawns centered on the bait ward the scuttle crab ate, allowing it to be strategically repositioned based on game situation.

Bait wards will grant these types of unique interactions that open up new strategic possibilities in game as champions are able to set up solo plays using jungle mob help for picks with a proper investment ahead of time.

Ok, so we've covered the basics of the new wards. How exactly are we going to use them? What items will have ward slots?

Here is were I think we make the real changes that will improve this game down the road. Currently we have a jungle item and sightstone that provide wards as part of the item active ability. Sight-stone has some upgrades but they all revolve around the support role and additional HP. I think we need to include some options for other roles who would like to assist in warding.

What I envision is about a dozen items that branch from small cheap items that combine in a new fashion to create a warding item. Instead of having just a ruby crystal upgrade into sightstone, we could have a long sword item upgrade for a similar price that includes one of these new wards as an active ability. Same for things like cloth armor, null magic mantle, and amplifying tome. This way any role will be able to branch into utility at the expense of raw power and damage out put creating more potential strategic choices in game.

What I don't have are great items with good numbers to give examples of and this is where I ask for community help. What kinda of new ward item branch trees can we think up to help utilize these new tools in each role?

*Right on, we've got a gameplan now. What's next?

Well the next step is to brainstorm potential ideas for items we can fit these new wards into and see if we and Riot, working together, can come up with some nifty ideas.

So have at it folks, give me your thoughts, opinions, ideas, criticisms, whatever's on your mind in relation to this topic. What can we do about vision?