the minimap does. The minimap is what allows you to see the enemy JG approaching from 2-3 screens away. Wards allow you to see through the fog of war on the minimap.
My point here is that they go hand in hand. Warding without glancing at the mini does no good. Although maybe a teammate will glance at your ward.
SO, my real point, always ward even if you suck at minimapping....but try to do that too.
[sg-poppy]
I'll be honest. I've never been a ward reliance fan in 4 years. I personally path to avoid deaths, and usually am successful in doing so. And it got me to Plat III.
The thing is..... most fights should be fought in lanes. Overwarding the jungle entices teams to bottle up there, fight in a bad location and take team aoe damage. Underwarding keeps your team in lanes.
Furthermore, With the Advent of the duskblade, Zombie wards, and their synergy with champs like Lee Sin, It's often not even worth warding in jungle locations, because the enemy will get a free 30g, and a ward for you doing so, simply because of Duskblade.
Furthermore, ward builds prevent 90% of Supports from carrying. The gold cost is stupidly high for the utility, and whether you are a utility support or an aggressive support, it sets back your damage or active items that help your team much more. Furthermore, wards are part of why bot lane snowballs. At least half the time, roam wards to set up wards in a bot jungle are what results in a snowball, because a support like Soraka goes into jungle to ward, only to get drained. "But..... But..... I was warding." Well. You just fed the other team 150-300g for your warding and 50 seconds without you in lane.
Wards are basically there to compensate for bad players who don't realize that correct pathing saves 90% of lives.
Wards are more useful if you're winning. They are a problem when you are losing.
P.S. I'm not pure anti ward. I'm just measuring their utility vs how much they set back a potential carry, like Zyra, or Nami, or Sona, by forcing them to lose a power spike opportunity. I'm of the personal opinion that wards are better on a Jungler than a support. At least their jungle item isn't useless and still has the bulk of its power, even if it doesn't have the slow or on hit damage.
Wards do save lives...
