Using wards is more than a support's job in League of Legends. Every champion in every lane will benefit from the use of all types of wards. Let us begin our detailed guide into warding by starting at the top, quite literally, with toplane.

Toplane Warding

You might feel isolated from the rest of the team as you sit in the toplane, but you still have an important impact on the game and using wards will only help you achieve your victory. You will start the game with your standard Warding Totem trinket and you will want to use this once the laning phase begins. Depending on which side you start the game on determines where you will want to place wards.

You will want to use your standard wards to open up vision in the river and entrances to the enemy jungle to keep track of where the enemy team may try to engage you from. You will want to place Control Wards in the opposite locations; anywhere your enemy might be trying to keep vision of is where you will want to place Control Wards. This will prevent them from having control of the area and they will be more vulnerable to things like your team rotating on them, which will allow you to secure kills.

As a toplaner specifically, you will want to ward in the topside jungle you will want to ward in the topside jungle entrances and throughout the river. You can catch an enemy jungler moving through the river to secure the Scuttle Crab or catch them before they move to gang against you or your allies. It is possible that your jungler could get invaded by the enemy jungler, and if you can get vision of them in time, you and your team can react to prevent any casualties, and you may even secure a kill.

Toplaners are more than likely the split pushers of the team, and as you go to push against the enemy's base, you will want to ward in the surrounding jungle to see them coming. Getting surprised by the enemy team can be very punishing; keeping up with vision will help alert you to where the enemy may be located so that you can safely escape or organize an engage against them. Warding and vision are important factors in making decisions for you and your team.

Jungle Warding

Warding is important for everyone on the team, and the jungler is no exception from this. You should always keep a Control Ward with you to help secure the vision around objectives and the paths you take to go into lane. The enemy team may use wards to keep vision in the entrances to the jungle so they can escape from when you try to come and gank. The best trinket for junglers to use is the Oracle Lens for this same reason, shutting down the vision the enemy may have in the river. You will not be able to gank and secure kills if your enemy can see you coming. If you approach the brush outside the lane and it has been warded, use a Control Ward or Oracle Lens to clear the vision so that you can return to gank for your allies once the enemy believes you are gone.

Shutting down vision is especially important if you decide to steal camps from your enemy's jungle, you do not want them to see you, as they can easily rotate and engage on you. You will want to use Oracle Lens inside their jungle as you steal their camps, and you can always leave a hidden Control Ward behind to see when they return to their jungle. Do not be afraid to carry multiple Control Wards with you to clear enemy vision throughout the jungle, river, and other brush. Knowing where the enemy jungler is, is extremely important to the course of the game, as it helps you decide your next plan of action. If a ward spots the enemy jungler in the top side of the map, you can then rotate to Dragon and secure the objective. The same idea goes for securing the Rift Herald; you can also use this opportunity to gank for your team since the enemy jungler would not be able to counter-gank if they are on the opposite side of the map.

Midlane Warding

Midlane can be difficult to maintain in terms of vision, since you are placed right in the middle of map and have multiple sides to keep an eye on. However, you can still manage these areas by a quick use of a Control Ward or a standard Warding Totem trinket. It is best to play on the side of the lane that you have vision over, so that you can see when the enemy is coming to gank you. You can then place a Control Ward on one side to prevent the enemy from seeing your allies, and you can easily set up a gank here. Be careful when using Control Wards to clear vision, as your enemy laner may try to stop you and it can lead to a fight. If there is a side of the lane you cannot keep vision control of, try to stay away from that side or have your jungler come help gain control. Any dark area of the map can be potentially dangerous and can lead to your enemies gaining a kill.

Botlane Warding

As an ADC (or APC), it is still important that you place wards. You do not want to leave all the vision control to your support. You can help by buying Control Wards to use on areas like the Dragon Pit or the brush outside your lane to keep your enemies in the dark. As the game goes on, you can pick up the Farsight Alteration trinket to drop wards around the map to help open up the jungle, especially around objectives. You can then use Control Wards around these said objectives to help shut down vision. At the end of the day, each and every team member should be utilizing Control Wards, vision is not only the support's responsibility.

Supports do in fact have an easier time warding since their Support Item will keep charges of wards. Once the Support Item has been upgraded through it's quest, you will want to pick up the Oracle Lens trinket to make clearing vision much easier. Even though you have Oracle Lens, you still want to keep Control Wards with you to shut down as much enemy vision as you can. When in the botlane you may face characters who utilize Stealth, so placing a Control Ward in the brush of your lane can help reveal these enemies so they cannot surprise you and secure any kills. If you are against junglers like Evelynn or Shaco, having a Control Ward by the river in the brush can reveal them before they can enter your lane.

As the game goes on, you will want to leave wards within the enemy jungle to constantly keep track of where your enemy is located. As the support, you have access to more wards than your allies, so it is important you use them frequently. Before you return to base, it is a good habit to make sure you have placed the maximum amount of your wards so that no ward is going to waste. Do not worry about going over the maximum limit of wards, as you should be moving vision throughout the entire map. Certain areas will be more important to keep vision of as the game goes on, especially when objectives start to spawn. Another good habit to keep is leaving wards behind when you push against the enemy's base, whether it is in lane or in their jungle. This will help you keep track of the enemy's every movement and will ultimately help you and your team make smart decisions.

To Summarize

As important as it is for you to have vision, you also need to make sure your enemy has as limited vision as possible. Without vision, either team can easily be rotated against and shut down. As the game goes on, a dark jungle can be very dangerous, as you will not be able to tell if the enemy is hiding in wait for you. Try not to ward completely alone, and if you do, try casting abilities into dark brush before approaching too closely, as you could quickly be ambushed and slain. Moving through the jungle and securing objectives will be dangerous if your enemy has vision of you, so always make sure to plant Control Wards down and use Oracle Lens every opportunity you get. If your enemy is watching you engage Baron Nashor, for example, they can decide on how to engage on you and easily turn things around for the worse. It is also good to keep in mind that if a teammate has Teleport, they can cast this on one of your team's wards, so it gives you yet another reason to have wards nearby when securing objectives.

Vision is one of the most important features of League, and having control over it will be difference between victory or defeat. It is up to every member of the team to do their part when it comes to warding and clearing the enemy's vision.