Perhaps one of the most talked about topics of all time in League of Legends is how to effectively use vision. Many people seem to understand that the power of vision is important for victory, but it’s the “how to” part of it that seems to be lacking amongst the player base. Understanding what vision is and how to use a ward will greatly increase the quality of your games and provide you with that sweet feeling of seeing the enemy Nexus explode.

What Is Vision?

Vision is the power to light up certain areas you choose in order to see everything that comes in contact with it. This can be created and controlled by yourself, your teammates, and items. These items include trinkets, control wards, and the support starting items.

Why Is It Important?

Vision is crucial, not just for victory, but to have a good time as well. Using vision will help prevent enemy ganks, as well as set up potential ganks for your team. Ganks will help maintain your lead or to keep the enemy in check throughout the laning phase. Being able to see the enemy gank before it happens can also lead to catching them out and build and even greater lead for your team.

Objectives across the map such as Dragon, Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor provide a huge advantage throughout various points in the game. Having sight over these monsters will help prevent the enemy team from taking those buffs and give more motivation to grab them yourselves.

Trinkets

Trinkets are the most common form of vision control. Thankfully, trinkets can be used immediately when you hop into the game as they will be part of the first items you get since they are free and can be swapped out at any time in the game. There are three types of trinkets in total: the Warding Totem, the Oracle Lens, and the Farsight Alteration. Knowing the value and uses of these items will help you better understand the importance behind vision.

Warding Totem

The Warding Totem is the Trinket everyone will start off with as you buy your first items. These are extremely useful because they give you up to two charges of stealth wards at a time to place anywhere you want. Placing one of these will light up anything covered in the fog of war, so spots such as tri-bushes, river bushes, or even objectives are ideal spots for them.

Oracle Lens

The Oracle Lens works a bit differently as Supports and Junglers usually go for this Trinket after their 2nd or 3rd buy. This Trinket scans wherever you are on the map and detects any enemy units in stealth such as Wards, Traps, and even champions. Using this trinket will help clear the map so ganks can be easier to pull off. Taking vison away from major objectives can also hinder the enemy team, so it is always wise to have someone with a sweeper when going for them.

Farsight Alteration

Now the Farsight Alteration is unique because this can only be used once you hit level 9 in-game and usually is grabbed by carries or champions with global abilities. With an increased cast range of 650%, The Farsight Alteration lights up the surrounding cast area temporarily and places a visible ward that lasts forever but has limited sight range and just takes a single auto attack to kill. These can be useful to grab quick vision on objectives or get deeper sight into enemy territory safely.

Control Wards and Support Items

Control Wards are not just items for the Supports to get but should be prioritized amongst all the positions as something to get once you back and buy your items. They are a visible ward that can be placed anywhere and can not only light up the surrounding area, but also detect any enemy stealth units. Having 4 hit points and lasting indefinitely shows that they can bring a lot of use throughout the entire game. Objectives should always have a control ward on them, since they provide the best of both worlds by giving vision to your team and keeping the enemy in the dark. Keep in mind that you can only place up to one at a time on the map so place wisely.

For those playing Support, that starting item you buy is built not only to give you gold but to maintain the bulk of the vision for the team. Once you reach 500 gold on you item, you will receive up to 3 charges of stealth wards that refresh upon going back to the base. These can be placed just like the trinket wards, except they last for 150 seconds. If you upgrade your support item again then there will be 4 wards to use upon backing, but the goal is to be constantly placing these wards since they are free to use.

Where to Use Wards

Finding the right spot to ward can be tough sometimes but there will always be places where you will likely need to ward, the ward will be Effective. Putting a stealth ward, control ward, or Farsight Alteration ward in any of these spots will provide a lot of use given the area its in. Notice how most of the ideal spots for warding are in the river and often near Dragon. This is because Dragon is a consistent objective that gets attention due to how easy it is to kill as a group, and the buffs it grants for the whole team. A lot of fights can break out here because of this, so having that vision to pick off an enemy or find a way to start the fight can easily change the pace of the game. Keep in mind that you can only have up to 3 wards on the map at a time.

Where to Use Oracle

Similar to the map on warding, using Oracle Lens in these spots will get you the most use out of it. The larger circles used to show where to use Oracle's is because it covers a large range and lasts up to 10 seconds so a lot of ground can be covered with it. The larger areas are also there to compensate for the enemy and the random locations of their wards.

Understanding the map and where to control vision will add a whole new aspect to your gameplay. This will add a new level of caution to how you play in order to safely secure objectives and kills that will lead to taking the enemy’s base. Whether it be a professional game or that continuous grind in ranked, the team with the better control over vision will win.

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