Everyone has heard the calls of VQN in their Conquest games. Teams always need to have wards, and it is easier for the laners to know where to ward. Defensively warding a lane is a great way to gain vision and increase the safety of a lane, as well as having locations to place the wards so as to not offend your teammates. The problem then becomes where to ward when you don’t need to defend a lane, such as in the jungle. While the ideal warding locations for a jungler may be more difficult to discern than for a position in a lane, it is also more flexible. The jungler roams the map, allowing them to place wards at any location. While there are a lot of places on the map that wards can be placed, there are some that are better than others.

Gold Fury and Fire Giant

While warding as a jungler can be confusing, some places should take priority. Depending on how you are playing your game, how your team is doing, and what the opposing team’s composition is, the locations that you should be warding change. Against any team composition warding the objectives is always a good idea. The Gold Fury in the early and mid-game and the Fire Giant after it spawns are both great places to ward at any phase of the game and without regard to the opposing composition. When you do ward these two places, keep in mind that you only have 2 wards to place, and that any ward you place after that will eliminate one of the ones you have previously placed. These places should also be warded by other people on the team, especially once the team fighting phase starts. By the time Fire Giant has spawned and is even remotely achievable, the teams will be rotating as 5 and warding Fire Giant together. This means that you will most likely have both of your wards free and still have both objectives warded, as the Guardian or Hunter will most likely cover the Gold Fury. By late game, everyone should have wards, both sentry and regular, in their inventory (Yes, hunters need to ward too).

Against Hyper-Carry Junglers

Junglers like Ao Kuang, Mercury and Kali were sprung into the meta in season 3. They trade early clear for incredible late game damage. This means that, if you are to counter them, it needs to be in the early game when they are weakest. This can be done by clearing out their buffs, especially their speed buff, on cooldown. Stripping this gold and experience from them makes them get to late game slower, giving your team more time to win before they come online. Great warding locations for this scenario are between the speed buff and back camp, giving vision of the opposing speed buff as well as vision of that entire corridor. Stealing the opposing speed buffs on respawn and having knowledge of which side of the map the jungler is on is a great way to safely steal their jungle, putting them behind even farther. You can even throw a ward over the wall of their speed buff, which means you cans save the time of walking all the way around, and retain a certain amount of safety.

By warding the buffs, it allows you to see their timers, allowing for you to clear it individually if you are a high-clear jungler, or rotate with your teammates and clear it together. This allows for more sharing of gold and experience among the team. By splitting the camps with your mid laner, they will also get ahead. This will help your lane immensely because, in the current meta, the mid laner is getting a lot of kills. This is because mages that are late game burst mages, like Scylla and Raijin, are in the meta. By getting this position on your team to late game faster, you enable your team to be more successful in the team fight. If the opposing jungler gets behind and your mid laner gets ahead, the team fights can effectively become a 5v3 in your team’s favor by taking two opposing gods out of the equation until the hyper late game.

Attempt to establish a line of vision roughly between the red lines.

As A Low Clear Jungler

When you are a low clear jungler, the opposite of the above section is true. You will want to ward your own buffs, your speed and your damage buff in particular. This is not so much to guarantee timers as it is to gain vision when the opposing jungler is attempting to steal your buff. With proper communication, it is possible to collapse 2 or 3 of your team onto the buff, and punish the jungler greatly for attempting to take your jungle. For example, if you are playing Hun Batz or another low-clear jungler and the opposing team has a Ne Zha as their jungler, who has significantly higher clear with his Universe Ring Toss than your Overhand Smash. If Ne Zha rotates to attempt to steal your red buff, you can see it with both the mid lane’s wards and then a ward that you placed to help spot your own red buff. If you call it, potentially you, your mid laner and your support can all collapse, creating a 1v3 in your team’s favor.

You can use this opportunity not only to pick the opposing jungler, but to split the buff experience and gold, which is in your team’s best interest. Also, as a result of this power play, the three of you can rotate back to mid to clear a wave and then pressure the opposing speed buff or blue buff as a result of the pressure gained from this one pick. Picking the jungler in the early to mid-game can result in your team gaining jungle pressure. This will probably not work multiple times, if the opposing jungler knows what they are doing, but having it work once or twice could be all you need in order to assert dominance over the opposing team’s jungle. If you can turn this advantage into taking an early tower in the mid lane, then you will permanently gain that jungle pressure, and farming to the late game will be much faster.

When warding defensively or looking for picks, ward roughly between the blue lines to look for enemies that may be out of position.

Conclusion

Warding is a huge part of any smite game. Having vision of the enemy team is something that allows your team to make plays and react more efficiently to the movements of the enemy team. Warding is what allows teams to maximize farm, whether that is by enabling picks, protecting your lane, or gaining timers on enemy buffs. However you chose to use them, remember that wards are the thing that allows you to play the game in the most efficient way. React to how your enemy is playing when you place wards, and they will provide you with vision to lead your team to victory.

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