Teams often times live and die by their ability to get vision on the map. Warding is one of the earliest skills outside of champion mechanics and last hitting that summoners learn to really play the game. A single good ward can mean the difference between walking into an unfavorable trade and that sweet sweet freelo we're all chasing. If effective warding were as simple as getting a pink ward on your first back and placing it in the nearest bush, we'd all have much easier games. Unfortunately, there's an unspoken art to properly warding. I've noticed in Bronze to Gold, a lot of players will robotically ward the nearest bush to river, simply to avoid ganks. While this isn't a bad habit to get into, your wards can be used much more efficiently than just to upset the enemy jungler. Wards are used for much more than just alerting us when the enemy team is near. If used correctly, vision can be used to set up picks, counter jungle, and to set up roams. But, because there's a limit to the number of wards we can actively use, players must ultimately decide where and how to use the wards they have. In order to figure out how to use the vision you have, let's first define the difference between offensive and defensive warding. For the context of this guide, everything will be done from the perspective of blue side. If you're playing on red, just mirror image everything.

Defensive Ward Locations

Ideal defensive ward locations on blue side

Defensive warding is usually the first type of ward placement a player will learn. After getting killed by the enemy jungler multiple times in a game, players learn the importance of having vision. Good defensive vision will allow your team to be alerted when an enemy champion enters your side of the map to counter jungle, gank a lane, or place their own aggressive vision. Use your defensive vision to protect yourself from incoming gank attempts and to prevent counter jungling. With coordination and good map awareness, your vision should allow you to punish enemy champions who over extend into your side of the map by flanking them with your jungler and getting a free pick.

Offensive Ward Locations

Ideal offensive ward locations on blue side

Offensive warding is, in my experience, less straightforward than it's defensive sibling. Getting offensive vision can be risky at times because in order to do so, you have to leave the comfort of your lane and enter the enemy team's jungle. But, because of the risk involved, the payoff is very worth it. The kinds of plays that aggressive wards allow you to do have been described to me as "all the plays you should never be allowed to get away with but still pull off". To get aggressive wards placed onto the map, my go-to technique is to push your lane out as fast as possible. Then, sneak away to place a deep ward. Return as soon as possible so you don't miss out on lane experience and farm. Another good technique to get deep vision is to recall, and then enter the enemy's side of the map before returning to lane. By getting deep vision, it becomes much easier to predict the enemy jungler's pathing, steal their buffs, and perform 2-3 man pincers when you see anyone walking alone. If you or your team has the advantage, look to use your offensive vision to push your lead further and to continue snowballing.

Now that we've clearly defined a difference between offensive and defensive vision, it's time to determine what you want to be doing with your vision, and how you want to place your wards. Games are dynamic and will unfold differently every time you play. For that reason, your warding patterns and your goals should continue to change and adapt to the pace of the game.

Things to consider early game:

Are you playing an aggressive early game champ that has kill potential? Is the enemy laner playing passively or actively? Is the enemy jungler looking to gank at level 2-3 or waiting to hit level 6? Generally, I recommend a defensive ward at 2:45 to 3:00, at your nearest river bush. This is generally the time in the game where junglers are finishing clearing their second buff, and are looking to make a play. Beyond that initial ward, ask yourself what exactly you're trying to accomplish in the early game. If you're playing a tank, immobile mage, a farm heavy champ, or a champ that hits their power spike at a later level, consider to continue using extra wards defensively. Other instances in which you would ward defensively include playing against champions that enjoy counter-jungling such as Nunu, Nidalee, and Kindred.

On the other hand, if you're playing an aggressive early game champ that has a strong level 3 power spike, try to push your lane out and get aggressive vision. By doing so, you can figure out enemy jungle pathing, and maybe get a free kill. Even just cheesing the enemy jungler and making them recall can be a huge boost to your team. Knowing that their jungler will be MIA for a bit, allows your team to push up and make aggressive plays in lane without fear of counter initiation.

Things to consider mid game:

Are you winning lane/jungle? Are your other lanes winning? How open is the map? Who in the game has started to snowball? Have other champs just begun to hit their power spikes? What neutral objectives are more important to your team? Again, consider what you're trying to achieve in the mid game and what's happened up until now. Did your top laner get solo killed twice sub 10 minutes, flame the jungler, and then AFK? If so, I hope you bought an extra pink ward on that last back. If your team is playing from behind, continue warding defensively for your lane and your jungle. A small exception to the rule is if you as an individual are big, but the rest of your team is not. If things are looking grim for the home team, but you are fed, try and get a single aggressive pink ward into enemy territory. A single aggressive ward can help you snowball harder and may allow you to solo carry your team. Remember to use your trinket wards defensively though. If you're fed, chances are you're worth extra shut down gold and the enemy team will try to make a play around you.

When your team is ahead, place aggressive wards at their buffs and the entrances to their jungle. Also try to place flanking wards close to or behind enemy turrets to force teleport skirmishes. As an individual player, try to continue your advantage by impacting other lanes. Some of my favorite places to ward are the river bushes. While these are a very generic place to ward, they enable lane to lane roams. Nothing feels worse than pushing out your lane to roam, walking through river, only to find the enemy jungler taking scuttle crab. Make sure the way is clear by warding, and then help your other lanes snowball as well.

NOPE

Things to consider late game:

At this point in the game, you have hopefully identified a clear win condition. The big things to explore are neutral objective control, how open the map is, and as always if you're ahead or behind. If you're behind, by now your team should have Farsight trinkets and be able to ward safely without face checking bushes. If not, I implore you, upgrade your trinkets. Begin to ward the entrances to your jungle and on every cool down, begin to expand your vision line backwards as things get worse, or forwards as things get better. Now that neutral objective timers have been implemented into the game, be sure to keep track of dragon and baron timers. If you can't contest baron/dragon, having vision in those areas at least lets you know you can pressure other areas of the map. This will give you windows of opportunity to safely push, and hopefully tax the enemy team for a tower.

If you're ahead, start by establishing a vision line starting at their jungle entrances. Like before, as the map continues to open, continue pushing forward your vision line. If you have someone who excels at taking towers and can 1 v 1 sufficiently, consider split pushing. If you aren't familiar with this strategy, there are great guides on how to split push on the Team Dignitas site.

Split Push Ward Locations

Ideal split push wards for blue side

These are the common places to ward when split pushing top and bottom. While other players may prefer other locations. I generally feel the safest while split pushing with this vision pattern. When it finally comes time to breach the gates, throw a ward over the enemy team's wall. Nobody likes having their siege come to a halt because their ADC got burst 100-0 from behind a wall.

Siege Ward Locations

Ideal siege ward locations

When I first started playing ranked, I was incredibly guilty of just dropping wards wherever I could. While I thought I was helping, my vision wasn't doing anything for my team. I've seen so many games where teams have massive leads, but lack vision control and get run around the map. Eventually, the other team catches up in gold and wins through having better rotations and clutch picks. I cannot stress the idea that every game is different enough. A good player will always change their play patterns to fit what's happening in their game. A good place to ward early may not be a good place to continue dumping your wards 45 minutes into the game. Ward proactively, and ward in alignment with what your team is trying to do. Ward defensively when you're trying to stay alive, and get aggressive wards down to make snowballing easier. Learn to give your wards some love.

Image courtesy of paperflowerdianev.deviantart.com