Warding- A Guide to EFFECTIVE Warding

FedAsFuk·Mar 6, 2015·2 votes·33,132 views

So this is a guide to EFFECTIVELY ward. This is assuming you know the primary spots for your lane to ward. I will not be covering that to try to keep the length of this post shorter.

First a quick Do's and Don'ts of warding

Do:

Keep your gank paths warded
Buy ATLEAST one ward one first back. Don't back with just enough for first item and a health pot (if possible)
Ward according to game timer. Timer when used with knowledge of which side the enemy JG started on is actually very important. Example top lane (red team) should not ward at 630-730 game timer because the enemy JG will not be on their side of the map. Personally I want to place a ward into the blue teams blue buff around 745-800 to 1) Get timer for blue buff for a potential steal/contest 2) Have deep wards throughout the blue side JG, letting me know whenever the enemy JG is on that half of the map.
Have a defensible pink ward at all times. For example top red side in tri bush, Top lane blue side river bush. Mid I generally place it in the bush between river and blue, it protects the path you will generally walk to get blue handed off to you. This INCLUDES ADCs. Pink wards NEED to be placed by everyone.

Don'ts:

Ward when the enemy JG shows on opposite side of map. Warding in relation to last known position of JG is extremely important.
Ward when you are pushed in, you forfeit gold and XP which if the lane is pushing you are likely behind because of # of minions.
Ward right before you back...seriously, I shouldn't have to say this but it is something I see alot.

Now that we have some of the basics of warding covered lets go into the last part of this post. Warding in relation to game timer and Jungle clear speeds.

Top Lane:

First ward at 330 (trinket), assuming the enemy JG started bottom.
First ward at 230 (trinket). This should be done ONLY with KNOWLEDGE that the enemy JG started at the buff closest to you Blue buff (Blue team) Red buff (Red team).
Try to get deep wards when possible. Generally you want to push the lane into the enemy tower then use Fog of War pressure (not being on map makes the mid and bot (if running TP) be aware you might show up. This will do both and place wards. I like to place one in the Raptor bush and one of the bushes by Red buff (typically ACROSS from the Red, this lets me see both sides of the wall across red buff). The other side of this I place a ward in bush near wolves (INSIDE BLUE JG) and at crossroads (where all the paths meet by blue buff)

Mid Lane:

Dade ward, note the timing has changed from previous seasons. I now place this ward at 330~. The ward is placed on the side of the ENEMY red buff, seeing both into river and the path from Raptors to river.
Ward cross from mid to ENEMY blue, if differences in spawn timing you may be able to get a free kill on either the enemy JG or the mid lane as they walk to lane (or recall depending on JG Hp). Also good to get the timer of enemy blue spawn.
Make sure you ask your JG to help you ward one side, they SHOULD help you ward the side with the winning side lane. One of the JG commandments is to help ward for winning lanes. If they don't you just have to invest more into close wards to lane, relying less on deep vision.

Bot Lane:

Both sides should ward blue teams tri bush. Generally blue team wants to pink ward it to deny vision of their tri bush.
Bot lane is responsible for dragon control, make sure one of you has infront of drake warded. This is because the JG usually needs to commit to helping one of the solo lanes ward. Making them unable to ward drake properly.

5 Comments

thomasb1215Mar 6, 20151 votes

I found this actually very helpful. I'm High Plat right now trying to make it into diamond, and I think one of the things I'm lacking in is, as you said, effective ward coverage. One of the problems I have is getting my wards down safely (if I run into the enemy jungler trying to place a deep ward I get screwed), which generally causes me to place more precautionary and less aggressive wards. Any idea on how to improve this?

FedAsFukMar 6, 20151 votes

Yes and no. Which lane specifically? There are things that can be done in relation to side as well as lane. As a general thing though knowing their Jg clear speeds, which I am sure there is a google doc somewhere floating around listing this. For example I one trick pony Riven, and when going for a deep ward I try to place it 20 seconds BEFORE the buff spawn. Gives me the most grace period, typically the JG isn't going to sit at the buff waiting for it to spawn. Also make sure you have an escape plan. Typically for me this is jump over baron pit or one of the blue buff walls. If you gave a more specific situation I might be able to help with a more direct answer

thomasb1215Mar 7, 20151 votes

Sometimes when I'm playing support I make one large warding run to their red buff, to raptors, and then down to the river to have basically all of bot side covered. Usually I do this after we've managed to kill one or two of them to be safe, but sometimes I end up getting caught out and dying. I guess it really is about timing, but sometimes I find it hard to accurately assess where the enemy jungler is. Is it just a matter of intuition, or is there a way I could teach myself?

ErrantblazeMar 7, 20152 votes

Depends at what stage of the game. In the early game if you know what buff they started, you can somewhat guess where they will be. This though can be more difficult if the jungler does not show himself for a while. In that case I usually go for the deep wards when I can confirm the enemy jungler is in another lane.

FedAsFukMar 7, 20151 votes

Easiest way to teach yourself is know the clear speeds. Go to customs and time the clears of the meta Jgs without a leash, gives you the slowest possible time. And alot of it is intuition, knowing where the enemy JG should be and if very deep wards are safe. and that comes from how the map looks as well as game timer

Example what just happened to Altec in TSM vs WFX game....really bad timing of deep ward made him lose his flash