Keeping track of the objectives in Summoner's Rift over the course of the game is important as it can help you and your team set up more strategic engages. So, how exactly can we time objectives in League of Legends in an easy and efficient manner? This article will explain how!

Chat Time Stamps

One easy trick is to enable time stamps on the chat log in your settings. This is a really helpful tool for multiple reasons; it will give a time whenever something is typed or pinged and can used to track both objectives and general ability cool downs. Whenever you ping an ability or a summoner spell that an enemy has used, you will now have the timestamp of approximately when it went on cool down and you can track when it will be available again. This information can be used to set up an engage while the enemy has a disadvantage and can be very helpful when securing the next objective.

Another quick and easy-to-use tool for tracking objectives is the bar located at the top of the screen that automatically tracks when they will be spawning next. You can ping these numbers to alert your team when they are about to spawn so everyone can prepare for the objective. It is good to start backing and getting your items, control wards, and replenish your mana and health pools within a minute of the objective spawn. This should give everyone enough time to regroup after resetting at base, as well as allowing an opportunity to control the vision of the area. Showing up to the fight with low health or mana, or items that have not been upgraded, can really hurt your chances of securing the objective and winning the fight.

If someone backs too late and does not arrive in time, it can be really difficult to win the engage at the objective with a missing member. On the other hand, you can prevent your enemy laner from backing to reset by poking them whenever they begin to back, as long as you do not waste all your resources. Pinging your own cool downs is also helpful to let your team know what you can and cannot use during the fight and whether or not you and your team can safely engage.

When to Place Vision

Pinging when an objective is about to spawn is a quick and easy way to communicate to your team and get everyone ready for the engage. Other things you can do before the objective spawns is push out your wave of minions, and / or start controlling the vision of the area. You will want to use Control Wards or Oracle Lens to clear whatever vision your enemy may have in the objective's location. Control Wards are more effective here, as you can place one, for example, directly in the Dragon Pit to prevent your enemy from warding over the wall. Having wards in the area also gives your team, whoever has Teleport, the ability to quickly arrive to the fight from a close ward instead of all the way in a lane. Remember that the enemy can do this as well, making clearing vision even more beneficial to you.

After clearing the vision, you will want to make sure you have vision of the area and vision of where your enemy will be coming from. Supports will usually be the ones with the standard wards to spare for this part of the task, but they could get stopped by the enemy, so it is a good idea to stay close to them as they place vision. Keep in mind that your enemy can gain control over the vision of the area at any time with their own Control Wards, so fights will frequently break out here.

Having vision will always give you an advantage, as it helps you and your team figure out exactly what to do before the enemy gets close. If you have no vision of the area, you have no idea if the enemy has engaged the objective or where they might be hiding and waiting for you to come. It is a good idea to keep vision up regularly, and to place vision from safe distances like over walls. You can also cast abilities into the brush before getting close to make sure no one will come out to surprise you.

If you are pulling Dragon, Baron or the Rift Herald, it is a good idea to place a ward over the wall to where the blast cone is located so you can see the enemy jungler if they try to jump over and steal. The best time to start the objective is when your enemy lane is either pushed under their turret, are too low to contest, or have returned to base. If your jungler decides to solo the Dragon or Rift Herald, it is a good idea to apply more pressure in lane so that the enemy laner doesn't have a chance to check the Dragon pit or ward further upriver. In any case, it's risky to not have vision on either objectives, and can really cost you and your team in the long run. All these details should be accounted for within about a minute before the objective spawns.

Creating Pressure

Pushing out your wave before you head to the objective is helpful as it will apply pressure against the enemy. The enemy will either take an extra moment to clear your wave, or, the wave will deal decent damage to the enemy turret as the objective is being fought over. Summoning the Rift Herald here is another good example of applying pressure before the objective begins, forcing the enemy to make a quick decision, or suffer the consequences. On the other hand, if the pressure is pinned against you, you will have to communicate who will deal with something like an enemy Rift Herald, and who will go to contest the objective. If your team is too spread out or separated for an objective, it will be too risky to try and contest, so always keep track of when the objective is up and where everyone is on the map to make the best decision.

You can ping respawn timers of both you and your enemies to show up in chat, and with your time stamps enabled, you can keep track of all the information being pinged and typed in comparison to when the objective is ready. If more of your enemies are alive than allies, they could easily come and contest the objective, win the fight, and take it for themselves. The same could be true if their jungler is alive, as they could sneak in and Smite the objective away if your jungler is not careful. If your enemies are mostly dead, keep an eye on their respawn timers, since they could respawn before you defeat the objective and come to contest it. You can also keep track of your teammates and their respawn timers, to see if anyone will be alive in time to help secure the objective.

Rift Herald and Baron Specifics

Timing Rift Herald can be done through the top bar of the screen just as any other objective but having vision in the area is still very important, as the enemy jungler can easily solo it without anyone noticing. Keeping up with river vision is key here, whether you place a Control Ward in the pit or defeat the Scuttle Crab monster. It is important for the top laner and mid laner to rotate if the jungler needs assistance with the Rift Herald.

Another important factor to consider is how the lanes are being pushed. If you have the advantage over midlane, and your minions are sieging on the enemy's turret, then it is the perfect window of time to engage the Rift Herald or Baron. Your enemies will have to choose between stopping you or saving their turret, and this is especially effective if it is an inhibitor or an inhibitor turret. If you do not have this advantage, your enemies may move up to push against your turrets, and you may lose valuable resources as you try to defeat Baron. If you were able to defeat any of the enemy team during the Rift Herald or Baron fight, you could use this opportunity to rotate down and secure the Dragon. If you got Baron here, it is usually better to reset and then push down the lanes, so this tip is specific to a Rift Herald fight more than a Baron fight. You could even summon the Herald and give the enemy an even harder time if they try to contest the Dragon. If your jungler secured the Rift Herald alone, you can use this time to push against your enemy laner so they are preoccupied with the pressure rather than worried about the Rift Herald. Keep in mind that Baron takes much longer than the Rift Herald to defeat, so timing here is incredibly important, as well as vision control. Things like seeing the enemy jungler botlane, shutting down a key member of the enemy team, or seeing an enemy back to base, are all good times to engage on objectives.

Conclusion

Timing objectives is an important and easy habit to pick up to help improve your game play. It is useful for both you and your team mates to track objectives so that you can be there at the right time to help secure it. Pacing the game around the objectives is also important, like pushing your lanes forward, rotating on the area with your team, and setting up vision.