My favorite position to play is support. I've been playing mostly support for a couple years now but I was wondering what others opinions are on warding. I usually ward dragon and the bushes along bottom lane. But watching the world championship, I see them warding middle of lanes and all through the jungle. So which is the best way? And when/where is the best place and time to use the pink wards?
There's no "best" place, because it depends on enemy movement and where your team is at (or going).
[Being on blue side, during lane phase] If you put a Pink in your bottom tri-bush, it's a great vantage point and you'll probably deny some of the wards they try to put there, but if the enemy keeps going in there and destroying it then it's not a good spot for a visible Pink anymore. If their support keeps going in there to take out your wards, then instead I go place it behind the red camp (bush next to the ramp); that spot is good to deny counter-jungling and simply protects your tribush from further up the path. http://i.snag.gy/16ePi.jpg
If the enemy jungler has a low cooldown wall jump, then putting a ward between dragon pit and the ramp will miss them if they jump straight over the wall into the bottom river bush, so you'll want to either A) ward the bush, or B) ward the dragon/ramp and over the wall by red tri-bush.
[Red side] I like to put a Pink in the "banana" bush, which is the one near mid just above the single bush in middle of the river. This protects mid fairly well, and cuts off the river path to you while also helping against counter-jungling (you gotta put it far enough forward to see the ramp). If it can't be defended, you can place it further in (the bush to the right of the mid tier 1 turret) and it'll be of use for quite a while. You can also put it in your own tri-bush to defend from turret dive ganks from behind and a good spot to kill wards that get put over the wall (the spot I mentioned before to defend from ppl jumping over the wall). http://i.snag.gy/M0ZfX.jpg
[Laning phase over, blue side] If they keep showing up to your favorite pink spot to destroy it, simply cover a different area. Also gotta change what you're protecting later in the match. You can put them on top side too. If you're on the blue side, a good spot is protecting your mid laner from top just like red side does for them in the bottom half; the banana bush! http://i.snag.gy/9mHdb.jpg
If your team is getting pushed in, a deeper pink in your own bottom side jungle may be good.
Don't forget: Face-checking brush is dangerous! If you have no idea where the enemy is, use your skillshots to check bushes. Always assume someone is trying to gank you as you ward. If it's really dangerous, like they practically own your jungle, don't forget the Twin Shadows option.
First off, if you are solo-q, then don't try to play like you see in the professional leagues. NEVER play like you're in the professional leagues (even if your ELO is relatively high, it's a completely different game). Secondly, ask yourself--what is your job? Your job is to get vision for your team, provide cc where it's needed, and #1, keep your ADC alive. As long as all of what you are doing adds up to that playstyle, then it's not going to be critical whether your decide to ward dragon or ward slightly off to cover a jungle intersection, so much as it is important that you ward in a manner that gives useful information to the team. Also, advice on pink wards in solo q--once again, don't try to copy the pros. In LCS, etc. the team coordinates to set down wards (green and pink) and then defend them. Expecting your random team in soloq to coordinate and protect pink wards is like expecting 5 random people on a subway ride to randomly bust out in song, singing in full chords and harmony. Just pink-ward where it is safe/immediately advantageous to do so. I mostly jungle/support, and in both of those roles I save a pink to either pink an odd brush near a somewhat important objective (usually red or blue) that I don't think the enemy will walk through, or I save it to drop for baron/dragon attempts. Any other uses of a pink ward in solo-q will often net you in the quick loss of a 100 gold investment.
They ward like crazy in pro matches because they want information on EVERYTHING. They want to know who is going where, and how fast they can intercept, or be intercepted. In Solo Q we ward to defend against ganks and secure vision for objectives, in pro play, they do that AND they ward to basically read all of their opponents moves so they can react immediately in the most efficient manner.
It's not effective to ward like they ward in low elo simply because most people lack the care or map awareness to capitalize on the type of warding we see in pro play. Adjusting your playstyle to dominate low elo doesn't keep you in low elo. Its just most people cant do what LCS players can, so its useless to try. You will gain literally nothing from it
http://www.lolking.net/guides/273951
Check out this guide, under "Warding Red/Blue Team". The ward locations are all in an image of the map.
The locations change as the game progresses. For example, the pink ward placed within your base is for when the enemy is pushing up to your inhibitor turrets. Obviously you don't place it there until that situation occurs. You have to watch for where the action is happening on the map to decide where you place wards. The warding you described in your post only covers the very basics of laning phase.
The locations where you ward depends on your side of the map and how the game is being played by both team. If they camp your jungle you want vision there, if you're pushing heavily you want to ward their jungle so you see them coming, etc.
