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The state of control wards

VaalAlves·3/6/2020, 8:49:01 PM·1 votes·2,851 views

Control wards have 3 functions: Being a permanent ward, disabling and allowing the destruction of enemy wards and granting vision on invisible enemy champions. Their downsides are the fact that they're visible and the 30 gold reward they give. Most of the times they're destroyed within 1 minute of being placed since their warding locations are the exact same as every other ward, making it a waste of 75 gold (more than half a Faerie Charm) and free 30 gold to the enemy. With everyone starting the game with a trinket that grants 2 wards for free and the supports getting 4 rechargeable wards around the 10 minute mark, the control wards' vision is simply outclassed. The blue trinket allows the placement of a permanent ward up to 4000 units away from the caster, allowing for safe warding and granting only half the bounty control wards give, the main downside being that they too are not invisible and require level 9. The red trinket allows the user to see invisible units for 10 seconds, allowing easy dewarding and the possibility of dewarding multiple wards with one use since it follows you, the main downside being that you lose the ability to place the trinket wards. While normal wards can grant vision multiple times until they time out, control wards are destroyed the moment they're seen, making them inefficient. Control wards are useful in two scenarios: Revealing if the enemy team is about to do baron/dragon(and even then, the blue trinket does it even better since it allows you to see the area without being there) and giving vision so you can see eve/shaco ganking you. With all that and considering that as a support you have to pay 75 gold to give 30 to your enemy team, i don't see why control wards are bought at all. I could kind of see why a jungler/top laner would buy them to reveal the baron/dragon pit but it's mostly supports and ADCs that buy them for the river bushes. As a support main, i get an average of 120 gold per lane phase from people putting control wards on the bot lane's river bush, that gold allows me to reach redemption about a minute before i would normally.

With all that i ask you, what do you think of control wards the way they are at the moment? I personally believe they need a buff to actually be worth the 75 gold and the risk of a 30 gold reward, making them invisible would certainly make them worth it.

10 Comments

Leon41673/6/2020, 9:40:04 PM2 votes

The point of the control ward is too gain extra vision while also denying it to your enemies and it's best used during the mid to late game when taking objectives. They're temporary yes even seeing an enemy clearing the ward gives you information that could tip the scales to your favor. They're also good for wasting your enemies' time because if they do choose to clear it it takes 4 hits to wipe out. Now alone that doesn't sound like much but if there are say 3 or even just 2 in the baron pit that's 8 autos someone has to spend clearing it out which grants you and your team a few extra seconds to push lane or even start a teamfight 5v4 since they're not with their team. Also dropping proper control wards in certain points can really give you free objectives. If you got 3 control wards at Baron pit, just outside Scuttle Crab's Speed zone away from the pit, and one in the bush below Red Team's Red Buff and cleared any of your enemy control wards that whole side of the map is dark. Your enemy has no idea what you're doing there. You could be taking Baron, or you could be hiding in the river bush waiting to ambush the first person checking it, or you could all just be resetting to regain health, mana, or buying items. Not knowing where you guys are will make them pause and rethink pushing your lanes meanwhile if they do clear the wards you know exactly where at least one of them is for the next few seconds and this game hinges on a single second sometimes to turn it around. It shouldn't ever always be the support's job to be using their 4 wards to light up the map. If everyone is using their yellow wards and a control ward (aside from ADC who should be switching to blue and maybe the top laner if they're a Tank and needs to grab Red Trinket to help the clearing) you can effectively light up an entire side of the jungle and know exactly how and where your enemy is approaching and that helps cause it tells you how you want to react to their approach whether to just back off or how to set up your position to counter react to their engage or simply catching the leader of pact and wiping them out in an instant or flanking them and catching their backline. These are all things people should be taking into account when they have vision in the jungle cause sometimes vision can and will dictate how and fight is started and how it's ended.

Kai Guy3/7/2020, 12:54:18 AM1 votes

My early game control wards are invade control. If they die fine it's to keep my jungle relevant.

Most games I get the longevity ward buff on a control.

Such a dope easter egg.

Bronzsuo3/7/2020, 6:27:04 AM1 votes

The control wards are fine as they are now. Noob can't see it but the difference between a team who buy the control ward and a team who don't are night and day. Ask any pro high Elo and everyone will tell you that if you want to win more game, buy more control ward.