Even though map awareness is one of the most important skills to pick up when playing League of Legends, not everyone has it mastered. This can really hurt your chances at victory, so it is a good idea to pick up on these tips and tricks.

Utilizing Pings

One of the easiest ways to improve your map awareness is to listen to your teammate's pings and to notify them with your own pings. If your ally has pinged their enemy laner is missing, be sure to keep a look out for them to rotate to your lane, using this time to place a quick ward or to simply retreat to your turret if you were pushed out into the lane. On the other hand, if you do not have vision of your own enemy laner, it is a good idea to ping that they are missing, so your teammates will not get surprised by a gank.

If your allies miss your pings or simply ignore them, remember that it is not your fault, and you can only do your part by giving them the heads-up. Alternatively, do not rely solely on your allies to warn you with Enemy is Missing pings, because they might not be paying attention or they merely aren't using this ping well. Because of this, you should always be on the lookout for when an enemy might not be seen on the map, and whether or not they could be headed your way. Before pushing against the enemy turret, going in for an engage, or starting an objective, always take a moment to check the map for where everyone is located.

Knowing where the enemy is, is one of the biggest advantages you could have, as you can make many different plays based off of where they are positioned. For example, if you are in bot lane and you see the enemy jungler on the top side of the map, whether they are ganking or passing through a jungle ward, you can use this information to engage on the enemy laners, since their jungler will not be there to help. On the other hand, if you are close enough, you can rotate up to help your ally top laner with the enemy jungler to make the fight even. You might even be able to invade the enemy jungle and catch them off guard if you saw them pass a ward to clear their monster camps.

Always be sure to communicate with your team that you are going to make a move against the enemy, which can easily be done with a quick ping. This can help your allies be more aware of the situation and hopefully allow them to react and assist you. If you fail to make your presence known or to communicate your plans, it can make it hard for your allies to guess what you are trying to do, especially if they are focused on another part of the map.

Utilizing Vision

As mentioned above, having vision of your enemy is extremely advantageous, and the easiest way to achieve this is to regularly ward around the map. Even if you are not the support, you can use your wards to help open up the map and catch the enemy moving through the jungle. Placing a quick ward in the brush outside your lane, clearing out the vision on an objective with a control ward, or simply using the Scryer's Bloom plant can all improve your control of the map. However, while clearing out vision and placing wards, your enemy can see you and use this information against you by making a play on the opposite side of the map. At the end of the day, it is always better if your enemy can not see you while you are still able to see them, so always be sure to keep up with wards so you do not get an unwelcome surprise.

Here are some examples of different situations where map awareness can help you secure victory.

• You see a single enemy top side while you and your team are placing vision around Baron; the rest of the enemy team has been spotted mid and bot, giving you and your team the chance to rotate up and catch the lone enemy by themselves, shutting them down and giving you an advantage if you engage the rest of the team in a fight.
• You see the enemy jungler has just defeated the Rift Herald early on in the game, and since the rest of the enemy is in lane, the jungler defeated the objective alone, and will probably need to return to base. You can rotate with your jungler to then engage on the Dragon and secure it before the enemy jungler returns to the bot side of the jungle. This information can also be used the other way around, to rotate onto Rift Herald if the jungler has just defeated Dragon.
• The enemy jungler has been spotted moving up the river to gank your ally; you can follow the enemy and meet them in your ally's lane, countering the engage.
• The enemy jungler or another key member of the enemy team is dead and the Dragon or Rift Herald is up; you can rotate onto the objective and secure it before the enemy team has it's members back up.
• Your ally is being attacked in their jungle by the enemy jungler, giving you a chance to meet up with your ally and either push them out of your jungle or secure a kill.
• The enemy team has grouped together and has either moved in on one of your team mates on the opposite side of the map or to secure an objective. If you cannot get there to assist or contest, you can use this opportunity to secure a different objective or push against the enemy's turrets.
• If you are pushing against the enemy turret and see that the enemy laner in a different lane has been missing, it is a good idea to leave and return to your turret before that missing enemy appears behind you and shuts you down.

Keep in mind that you want to be sure you have track of all the enemy targets before making a decision. If you can not find one or more enemies, try to establish vision before following through with your engage or rotation. Remember that placing a ward in a dark brush can lead to an ambush, so it is a good idea to try and cast an ability into the brush to see if you hit any enemies before closing in. It is a good idea to leave wards behind after leaving the enemy's jungle or after pushing into the enemy's base. This will keep an eye on your enemy even after your minions have left the area, and also gives any allies with Teleport an easy access point if an opportunity presents itself.

Movement and the Mini-map

The mini-map is going to give you a constant glimpse of information across all of Summoner's Rift, so be sure to look at it every chance you get. It is a good habit to develop to glance at the mini-map in between minion CS or jungle camp clearing so that you are always feeding your brain information. If you are pathing back to lane from base or waiting to respawn, you can get a better view of the game by clicking over to where your allies are, especially if they are engaging on the enemy.

Keeping track of how your allies are doing can help you decide if you need to use something like Teleport or a global ultimate ability like Senna or Ashe. You can easily turn a fight around if you act on these plays and utilize map awareness to your advantage. While you do not have all the time in the world to think through whether or not you should use these abilities, it is always a good idea to take a quick moment to weigh in the pros and cons of the play. The fight can always go wrong or your ability can simply go to waste, leaving you and your team vulnerable during the next engage. Map awareness can still help you with this decision, especially if you have been keeping up with throughout the entire game. If you know for certain that your enemy is spread out or is not able to turn around the fight if you arrive, then the decision is a lot easier to make, and this is all thanks to map awareness.

Conclusion

Map awareness is a key skill to master no matter what elo you are in. Keeping track of where your enemy is at all times will make it so that you will not be easily caught off guard and will help you shut down your enemies and secure victory. Remember that not everyone will utilize the map to their advantage, so be sure to always help yourself out by communicating and double checking the area before making any big plays.