In a strategic multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) such as League of Legends, vision is ultimately the most important factor for a team. In any battle, the team with better intelligence will always have an upper hand on their opponents, as information on the enemy's position allows for people to make the best decisions. Whether you are in Bronze or Challenger, warding against the enemy team is essential to tip the game in your favour, as you can execute game changing plays such as organizing a flank to win a critical teamfight or calling to secure valuable map objectives.

In every game of League of Legends, warding is a battle that both teams immediately participate in from the first second to the last. Throughout the entirety of the game, players constantly attempt to set up friendly wards inside the enemy territory, all while trying to avoid the opponents’ wards to impart the least intel possible. While warding a section of the fog of war is never bad, some wards are much more effective than others in terms of efficiency. In other words, every ward’s value constantly shifts significantly based on the timing and its placement within Summoner’s Rift.

In this guide, you will be learning about three types of warding positions: offensive, defensive, and objective wards, as well as tips and unique ward placements to gain the most information out of their use. Some of the wards that will be mentioned in this article will be difficult to place, therefore players are recommended to practice them in a custom setting before heading straight into a ranked game. With that out of the way, let us begin.


OFFENSIVE WARDS

Summoner’s Rift Offensive Ward Positions

Offensive warding is risky and dangerous, but the reward that comes from a single well-placed ward can be the difference between winning and losing the game. One of the most useful methods to limit the risk of warding is to push the lane as close to the enemy turret as possible before moving into position to set up your wards. By doing this, you will have auxiliary support as your team will have the option to collapse in case of a skirmish occurring, in addition to the fact that your lane opponent(s) will have to sacrifice experience and gold to thwart your efforts. By securing vision on crucial map points, it becomes much easier to predict enemy movements within their jungle and lane, allowing your team to make offensive decisions with little penalty.

The figure above shows the most ideal locations for offensive warding represented by blue and red dots for each respective team. The fundamental concept to understand from this figure is to recognize the warding pattern relative to the design of the Summoner’s Rift. To elaborate, you already know that each team is provided with two main jungle areas referred to as the Blue Sentinel (Blue Buff) and Red Brambleback (Red Buff) jungle that are mirrored on each side of the map. Due to the nature of how the map is displayed, the bushes in Blue Sentinel jungle does not provide as much relevant vision as those in the Red Brambleback jungle, meaning it is much more beneficial to secure vision on pathways and corners. On the other hand, the Red Brambleback jungle is laid out with multiple bushes that can grant significant intel, while pathways and corners do not provide as much. Therefore, warding in the Red Brambleback jungle should primarily focus on gaining vision inside as many bushes as possible.

DEFENSIVE WARDS

Summoner’s Rift Defensive Warding Position

Defensive warding is more or less the exact opposite ontology of offensive warding. This is normally the first type of warding you learn as a player, and is much more straightforward in comparison. Defensive warding is much less risky as you are warding in your half of the map and have multiple resources for backup. The main goal you want to achieve with defensive wards is to gain as much vision as possible in order to scout where the enemy place their wards and where the champions themselves are at certain points in the game. For instance, during the laning phase, players place defensive wards near or around the river and jungle entrances to be aware of the enemy Jungler’s position. If the enemy Jungler shows up at the bottom side, your team’s Top and Mid lane will have an opportunity to play aggressively without the fear of being ganked, in addition to the fact that your Jungler can react by counter-ganking or counter-jungling to get further ahead in the game.

OBJECTIVE WARDS

Objective wards are extremely complex. These are wards that secure vision on crucial map objectives such as Dragon, Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor. While you want to gain vision on the objective itself, it is extremely difficult to prolong that vision, as these are arguably the most popular areas for teams to clear and deny enemy wards. Although you gain the most information by having your wards inside the pit itself, it is much more efficient to have lengthened vision for macro play and management. In order to avoid having your ward destroyed, here are some examples of powerful wards around neutral objectives that are difficult for the enemy team to scout.

Example Ward at Dragon

Example Ward at Baron Nashor (Entrance)

The wards shown in the examples are some of the most effective wards to gain vision around the epic monster (Baron Nashor and Dragon) area, especially when your team is lacking access to the Scuttle Crab. In most cases, the team attempting to secure these neutral objectives will almost always place a Control Ward inside the pit, but not around the entrance. This allows the ward in this position to avoid any Control Wards, granting vision on all nearby champions near the entrance of the pit.

Example Control Ward at Baron Nashor (Pit)

This warding position is also effective if your team needs fixed vision on Baron and is most placed when Baron has been started or is about to be started by the opposing team. The most ideal ward to use here is a Control Ward, as opposed to a Stealth Ward. As you may already know, Control Wards are able to disable all enemy vision from Stealth Wards, Warding Totems, and Farsight Alteration, but are unable to deny vision from other Control Wards. Due to the positioning of the ward and the Baron’s scale model, opposing players are unable to destroy it unless they pan their screen view far wide. As a result, most players are hesitant to clear the ward, as Baron fight could break out any second during the siege.

UNIQUE WARDING POSITIONS AND TIPS

Red Side Bot Lane Entrance Ward

One of the least known warding position in the game is the ward between Red side’s first and second-tier turret on the bottom lane. This ward is meant to be used on the Blue side during the laning phase and is useful to scout the Red team’s ADC, Support, and even the Jungler. As seen in the screenshot, the range of the ward covers the entire path between the two walls, meaning Junglers who are attempting to gank through the lane (including attempts to sneak by through the lane bush) are seen long before they can get in position. Furthermore, if only the enemy ADC is seen returning to lane, you can suspect that the Support is roaming around the map. This allows the Blue team to play offensively in Bot, while other lanes adjust their playstyle to defense.

Cursor Placement to Ward the Bush Over Baron Pit

This ward is one of the hardest wards to place and is often used while your team is securing Baron. Standing as close to the right wall as possible, place your cursor slightly out of bounds towards the most upper part of the bush. The ward will still place over the wall, and will grant you full vision inside the bush.

Cursor Placement to Ward the Bush Over the Dragon Pit

Similar to the tip mentioned before, you can ward the bush over the Dragon pit by standing as close to the left wall as possible. Your cursor will show a blue colour (states a player is warding the ground), but the ward will still land inside the bush, revealing all contents inside. This trick is also quite difficult to land, but is easier than the Baron ward.

CONCLUSION

Contrary to belief, I believe that there are no “bad” wards. Some wards may value more than the other, but any vision on the map is never detrimental to the team. Any methods to gain information on your opponents are steps in the right direction to winning a game. However, it is crucial to understand the significance of what wards can do if they are placed in the right position relative to the stage of the game. Warding is an essential part to winning, therefore, practice warding efficiently and learn to light up the map.

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