Warding enemy wraiths

Daddy Deep Dives·Dec 5, 2014·39 votes·3,364 views

So an idea came to me the other day, not sure if this has been said before so sorry if this isn't anything new.

Ward the enemy wraiths! You could even just pop your trinket there. Put it in the bush if you want for a little extra vision.

Why? Because when they go to smite it for the ward clearing buff, it pops it immediately! It completely wastes their smite and they still won't have any idea which lanes are warded without conventional methods. It's like denying their oracle's with a trinket or ward. Your lanes will remain safe.

Sounds pretty OP to me. How do you think this affects gameplay balance?

32 Comments

ForMyNextTrickDec 5, 201412 votes

Or just kill them at the wraiths early on, those chickens peck you alive!

GundayMondayDec 5, 20149 votes

You are the devil. I hate mid laners that do this >:) Almost as bad as the enemies that see they're going to die to a gank and drop a random trinket in the middle of it to pop your oracle passive. (It's a pretty solid strategy, especially if you want to do dragon soon and don't want the jungler to clear it!)

BallisticMouseDec 5, 20145 votes

It doesn't really affect gameplay balance.

You waste a ward placement, that could be placed somewhere much more useful, to waste their ward-seeing buff, that could also be used somewhere much more useful.

It balances itself out.

Hyrum GraffDec 5, 20144 votes

It's useful if you want to do something like ward their red, without them knowing.

Nepetian QCDec 5, 20141 votes

Well, you could place it on the edge of the trees toward the river so you get vision and they are still almost sure to pop it, giving you vision + pops oracle.

Blazing TenshiDec 5, 20144 votes

Usually when I ward their birds I just want a cheeky kill. Still works sometimes but not as great.

ArdunoDec 5, 20143 votes

wraiths?

You mean the rocs?

and if the enemy jungler smites the rocs they get a free oracle which will pinpoint to your ward very fast

Lumus AvatarDec 5, 201437 votes

I think that's the point. It only reveals one ward, so you immediately waste their smite buff by showing them a now useless ward

EdbwnDec 5, 20142 votes

It's also just good to know when the enemy jungler is there! :)

Apex CitavistaDec 5, 20142 votes

It's a common strategy. good for dragon control, and time placements. However that also is a free ward to kill, whihc gives them gold still. So you're making it easier for them to get gold, instead of having to find a ward.

QuephaDec 5, 20142 votes

that's dumb, you're spending a ward so the jungler doesn't find another ward, that means you're spending an extra 75 gold to ward one area. you could instead use your 'decoy' ward in the useful spot and use that second ward that you paid for in a second useful spot, doubling your ward coverage. in the event that the enemy jungler finds one of your wards, the other is still alive in a useful position and you would be in exactly the same place as your plan with the chicken decoy, only now there is also a possibility for you to be better off than either scenario beginning with the chicken decoy plan.

your plan is basically to act dumb so that the enemy playing smart doesn't really matter because you weren't doing anything useful anyways.

Leti the YetiDec 5, 20141 votes

eh, the odds that the top/bot laners roamed all the way to the weird birds camp is low most likely it would be the mid laner unless they buy green wards, which they often dont in low elo, you can assume the bushes arent warded cuz it ws already used on your jungle camp

Skia AsteriDec 5, 20141 votes

Even if they never take the smite buff (low elo where people do not believe in wards and vision mattering), it is still worthwhile knowing which part of the map they are on. Especially against stealthy junglers like Evelynn.

NoDiscussionDec 5, 20141 votes

I guess it might not be worth it to take chickens now then, since instead of being able to get rid of enemy vision you give them enemy vision.

Mikal PikalDec 5, 20141 votes

For another OP ward idea that I saw an enemy Yi do is to place a pink ward right ON TOP of the dragon. It was literally under the beast and could not be hit without hitting the dragon (i'm not sure if he placed it before or after the dragon swooped down). I doubt this was intended to be possible, it was hilarious and genius,

Drunk RummateDec 5, 20141 votes

early on its expensive and dangerous to put a 180s ward there

i'd say its worth getting there purely because you'll know when enemy is doing wraiths, and less because it immediately consumes the vision buff. if you put a 180s ward at his wraiths then he knows at least 1 of your 2 wards is already consumed, and he knows which side you were roaming to ward on. so its still pretty telling. unless of course you buy 3 wards on your first back, which is super expensive and not really advisable unless you're getting super camped.

SummonerSquidDec 5, 20141 votes

Good idea, I didn't really think about that. If you know which buff they started you could estimate around what time they would be at the raptor camp, ward ~10 seconds before they get there, and then they lose the buff and you still gain information about where they are.

Against junglers that can gank at level 2 this might not be a good idea. I wouldn't try this against a Shaco or Jarvan.

youngjake93Dec 5, 20141 votes

It is a little harder in the new jungle, but I would always counter jungle their wraiths as Malz and ward near it to kill them when they came to look for the wraiths. I guess it is harder to clear them yourself now, but easier to kill a jungler trying to clear them.

junglerboy16Dec 5, 20141 votes

it seems like a good strategy, but not unfair, since your trinket is only up roughly every other respawn. It may be a real waste though, since then they are still clearing your trinket ward, which you could use when counterjungling, put it down for a laner, ward your's or their buffs, etc.. It definitely could be really annoying, but it might not be the absolute best use of a ward.

MrBuffingtonDec 5, 20141 votes

It actually sounds pretty good in theory; helps preserve vision in the blue side river of your mid lane, as well as wards in top and bot. There could be a couple difficulties I think:

As a jungler, this is just getting me extra gold.
If I have a fast attack speed, the oracles could last long enough for me to clear the ward and still check my surroundings for wards
It's most likely going to be the mid laner that wards this spot, maybe the other jungler, at least in the early game. If it's harder for me to clear vision around top and bottom, it might just make me want to camp mid more.
Raptor spawns are 100 seconds; if you use a trinket ward soon after I take the camp, the strategy won't work.

I think it's still a strong strategy and it's still generally a good idea to get a ward in that area (ie the Dade ward); i don't think it's really game-breaking or anything. Junglers got by fine without these extra buffs before; for the most part you'll still have a sweeper or pink wards. It'd be smarter if you notice the jungler is hanging on to yellow trinket or bought blue trinket or something and is relying on the raptor sweeper, but honestly, the raptor sweeper isn't so much of "i'm going to strategically sweep this location" so much as "hey, I just passed by a ward, free gold!", since it just procs on the first ward you pass by.

Teridax68Dec 5, 20141 votes

I'm not sure how this would affect gameplay balance, but it definitely sounds like a genius idea. As a jungler, the Raptor buff tends to be the single most important buff for me, and in the late game it's the only non-epic monster I still smite. It's probably the most powerful buff around, especially during the laning phase, so having the enemy gank jungler waste it immediately will deny them a huge vision advantage.

Nepetian QCDec 5, 20141 votes

You could even go as far as use it for counter-jungle.

You ward their raptors.
They go to kill them.
You see it and go toward them.
They manage to take before? No oracle.
They don't? You probably have it.
And then it's a jungler brawl which you might win since you had the upper end in knowing their location.

Teridax68Dec 5, 20141 votes

When I'm jungling, even as a farm-heavy jungler who's weak early I try to make a point of smiting or completely clearing my opponent's raptor camp. It gives me two Oracle's from the start and allows me to continue using my yellow trinket a little longer, whereas my opponent ends up not being able to gank as well. I generally try not to counterjungle unless I'm sure that I'm significantly stronger than my opponent, and strong enough to kill them before the lanes collapse on me, and it a lot easier for the enemy mid laner to come up to the raptor camp if their jungler's at risk than it is for mine.

BudupopsDec 5, 20141 votes

facepalm

SilverthaneDec 5, 20141 votes

lol thats nice

Leaf of the lakeDec 5, 20141 votes

This is silly. You're going to place your ward in either that wraith bush or at the entrance to river, anyway, which will still spot them when they go to clear it. Your ward has still achieved its purpose (show you where the enemy jungler is), even if only briefly. May as well put it in a more useful place than directly at the wraith camp, which won't let you know which direction they're going in.

tl;dr: You should be warding high traffic areas regardless of the wraith buff.

Yandere CarryDec 6, 20141 votes

Umm sir, I think you mean the chicken camp.

ChaoticPineconeDec 6, 20141 votes

even without popping the oracles passive, i always warded wraiths/wolves. it gives jungler vision early game, prevents ambushes from filddle/kha/leblanc/anybody with jump when taking the outer middle towers.

and its not OP or a waste of the passive. it finds them a ward, which is what its meant to do. and it gives you vision before its cleared, which it is meant to do.

ImHerVoiceDec 6, 20141 votes

to be honest. I really don't clear wraiths that much in the new jungle. I'd rather smite frog and clear it and walk bot. Smite golems clear it and walk top.

LlaniteDec 6, 20141 votes

So you manage to piss their jungler off, give them gold and let them know you short a ward, all at the same time. Uh, congratulation?

ThighlanderDec 6, 20141 votes

even ignoring the ward buff consumption, it's vision of a very important area. it's something that should be done in general

DarkwindDec 7, 20141 votes

Burning a ward just to pop the smite reward is probably not worth it. But if you're playing Jayce mid and can both waste their smite reward and snipe the wraiths with shock blast... that's extremely worth.