Thoughts on warding (gold 1 support)

Rothj·Nov 26, 2014·2 votes·1,245 views

Tbh, I hate to buy wards early game. I feel like buying an individual ward rarely pays off. I tend to just use my trinket and try to pressure my lane hard and try to make ganks not work as well in lane phase, then I rush a sightstone or chalice depending on whatever I need. I feel like if you buy pinks sometimes they will last a while but not really give you vision of anything important, or you will have to back or your adc backs and they kill your pink 20 seconds after its placed. So usually I just don't. I buy probably 0 normal wards a game and like 1-2 pinks.

Second is even after I get a sightstone, I feel like early game if you roam to place wards its pretty bad. Usually I will try to get 3 wards in bot side river but id say fairly often during this time my adc is picked off or loses a lot of hp. I feel like it's not really worth it in the first 6-8 levels to heavily ward the river even with sightstone just because the other botlane will punish you for it.

Third, I really hate to ward in irrelevant spots that are out of the way. In this case Im mostly thinking of baron. I feel like the vast majority of the time you should heavily ward areas where a fight is about to happen or your team is gonna try to press an objective. 90% of the time the enemy team will not be able to rush an unnoticed baron that you could have contested. So warding baron usually doesn't create any picks or give good information. I mostly prefer to just ward wherever I feel like the ward will maximize the information given, and I tend to heavily replace wards in an area were working on. I feel like ruby sightstone can be a bit underrated because it lets you ward more before backing.

Lastly, I think once you get mobi boots it's really good to just constantly be warding and backing when nothing is really going on. I like to just drop a lot of temp wards in an important area then back and then run out and go to wherever my team is now and then ward that area afterwards. I think people are too cautious with their sightstone charges and don't create enough value.

Anyone have an opinion?

4 Comments

LucidLunaticNov 26, 20141 votes

Disclaimer: I don't play ranked (yet), so that may explain my difference in opinion. As a support main, I strongly disagree with your approach, particularly to the early game. I always start with a green and a trinket ward. I generally place the trinket in a lane bush either immediately upon arriving in lane, or at level 2, depending on the champions involved. If I want to be poking both support and adc, or am particularly wary of their poke or cc from bush at level 1, then I'll do it immediately, or if my adc pushes lane quickly. This is to maximize the amount of useful time I get out of that trinket. If I don't care about where their support is in the bush, I don't need to be using it. I'll note, sometimes a pre-lane trinket use also effects when I can use it (such as if I warded the enemy buff).

I place my green in the river at level 3 or 4, but this can vary depending on the enemy jungle. If the enemy jungle is Warwick, then I generally don't expect a gank until he hits six. This can also depend on how mid lane is going. If lane isn't going terribly, I can usually afford Sightstone before that green goes down. Usually I can afford/will wait for Sightstone and a pink, as well as switching to red trinket.

Once I have Sightstone, I try to keep tribush, river, and the far lane bush warded at all times, though some of this varies depending on which side I am on, and how much leeway I have to place wards. If I can get away with it, I'll ward near Drake instead of river bush. However, this may change now that we have scuttle crabs. This way I know when a gank is coming. Sometimes this will not only save my adc and I from a successful gank, but we can sometimes kill the unsuspecting jungle this way, as well. When possible, during the laning phase, either tribush or river will be a pink ward, whichever location it is better for my jungle to gank from and I can maintain some control over. Having a pink ward nearly guarantees that the enemy does not have visibility, which sends a clear signal to a good jungle.

RothjNov 27, 20141 votes

Disclaimer: I don't play ranked (yet), so that may explain my difference in opinion. As a support main, I strongly disagree with your approach, particularly to the early game. I always start with a green and a trinket ward. I generally place the trinket in a lane bush either immediately upon arriving in lane, or at level 2, depending on the champions involved. If I want to be poking both support and adc, or am particularly wary of their poke or cc from bush at level 1, then I'll do it immediately, or if my adc pushes lane quickly. This is to maximize the amount of useful time I get out of that trinket. If I don't care about where their support is in the bush, I don't need to be using it. I'll note, sometimes a pre-lane trinket use also effects when I can use it (such as if I warded the enemy buff).

I place my green in the river at level 3 or 4, but this can vary depending on the enemy jungle. If the enemy jungle is Warwick, then I generally don't expect a gank until he hits six. This can also depend on how mid lane is going. If lane isn't going terribly, I can usually afford Sightstone before that green goes down. Usually I can afford/will wait for Sightstone and a pink, as well as switching to red trinket.

Once I have Sightstone, I try to keep tribush, river, and the far lane bush warded at all times, though some of this varies depending on which side I am on, and how much leeway I have to place wards. If I can get away with it, I'll ward near Drake instead of river bush. However, this may change now that we have scuttle crabs. This way I know when a gank is coming. Sometimes this will not only save my adc and I from a successful gank, but we can sometimes kill the unsuspecting jungle this way, as well. When possible, during the laning phase, either tribush or river will be a pink ward, whichever location it is better for my jungle to gank from and I can maintain some control over. Having a pink ward nearly guarantees that the enemy does not have visibility, which sends a clear signal to a good jungle.

The main reason I don't like to start ward early is because if you go gp10 item, with utility tree masteries you should have enough gold for 4 biscuits in lane. This is a lot of power for trading. if you trade blows back and forth and your side has the 4 hp pots vs their 2 you will win the lane a lot more often and their adc is gonna be forced to back or zoned from minions. Also trinket can often be enough to prevent ganks since as you said they wont come till like level 4 usually. Maybe I don't buy wards enough, I just feel like the gold is kinda "wasted" as in, I didn't gain any real power out of it for fighting.

LucidLunaticNov 27, 20141 votes

So, if you're able to successfully get a kill or two due to having more pots, then it was almost certainly worth it, since you should be able to get Sightstone before the jungler can gank.

As for whether it is worth doing it just to make them lose a trade and need to back, I am unsure. You'll certainly be able to get more CS, but you'll probably also end up pushing the lane. Then either you back, and potentially lose that CS advantage, or when they return they have the item advantage, and the lane is pushed, making you vulnerable to a gank, and you don't have the visibility to see it coming since the jungle has two or three path options (river, tribush, lane). The other danger here is that your ADC doesn't have more potions, so if they do the smart thing and focus ADC, your potions won't do much, unless you're Soraka.

The other thing to consider is that if you're first to ward, you have a much better idea of when/where the other side wards, which makes it easier for your jungle to gank them as well. So while I definitely see your point, I think it has conditional impact on the outcome of the game, where as wards always have a clear value proposition and seem like the 'safer' choice.