We've all had those games where you're 0/3 at 10 minutes and it feels like the enemy jungler has spent more time in your lane than your opponent. Today I'll be showing you the basics to warding and avoiding ganks, as well as anticipating when those ganks will come your way.

Firstly, let’s run down the list of reasons for being ganked.

You're pushed too far up

As probably the most common reason for being ganked, being pushed up too far in lane is like dropping a bucket of chum in the ocean, ringing the dinner bell, and expecting a shark to not show up. Being ganked while mispositioned is essentially guaranteeing the jungler a successful gank and at least burning your flash for a repeat gank later.

You're playing a very squishy or immobile champion

Let's say you decide to pick Nasus for a game. Knowing how weak Nasus is early, you decide to alter your play style from harassing your lane opponent to a passive, farm style. The thing is, your opponent knows this too. Your opposing jungler will always look to exploit the weaknesses of weak or immobile champion picks because you're essentially a free kill, given that you're mispositioned or lack proper vision control.

Enemy jungler ends his jungle clear near your lane

This reason is definitely most common (and most telegraphed) in the early game when the enemy jungler will finish his buffs after getting level 3 and come gank top around 3:00-3:25. A well placed trinket ward and/or some fast reflexes will help remedy the situation.

Enemy toplaner is playing a champion that needs to snowball in order to carry

Similar to the 2nd point, the enemy jungler not only wants to play around your team's weaknesses, but also their team's strengths. Knowing that their toplaner has a high chance to solo-carry if they're ahead is more than enough reason to try and make your life a living hell.

Your jungler shows on another part of the map

When this type of situation occurs, this lets the enemy jungler know that any ganks or dives onto you will not be answered by a countergank, thus making them more decisive and more likely to succeed.

You're in a position to be tower dived

As a personal pet-peeve of mine, I hate it when a toplaner sticks around at 200hp when their wave is getting pushed into the turret, with the enemy toplaner and/or jungler moving in. After getting dived rather easily, the usual "well, I was under my tower" or "I can't do anything, he just dives me" excuses arise. The general rule of thumb for times when this happens is to simply leave and Teleport back (if you have it) to catch the wave of experience at the very least. Staying around and greeding for extra CS is incredibly risky to say the least, especially when you're unsure of the enemy jungler's whereabouts. These types of mistakes can even be seen in professional play, where after swapping back to traditional lanes, the jungler and support will roam up to set the opposing toplaner that much more behind.

Now, let’s look at ways to prevent these ganks from occurring or being successful

Warding

This is THE most important aspect when talking about jungle pressure. Knowing where the enemy jungler is not only keeps you safe from being caught off-guard and dying, but also makes it so your team can freely exert pressure on other parts of the map and make plays. Shown below are the most common and successful spots for you to ward when playing toplane. In certain cases where the enemy jungler is playing ZAC, Rek'Sai, or a champion with similar gap-closing abilities, a ward in the enemy's tri-brush is also acceptable.

Positioning

Generally speaking, as long as you're on your side of the river, you are pretty safe from ganks (given, that you aren't in danger of being tower dived). When you extend from this position to farm or harass, make sure you have a clear escape plan for getting ganked if you lack vision in the area.

Playing safe when necessary

Sometimes you won't have perfect vision on the jungler, but that's totally okay. Through practice you can learn to pick up on trends and time patterns certain junglers will follow when they rotate up to the top side to try and gank. When the enemy jungler is missing and you feel extra vulnerable, it's okay to miss a few CS and try to get the minion wave pushing towards you. When learning to notice these patterns, take note of where you were in the lane as well as the position of your other lanes.

No matter how skilled of a player you might be, there will always be incidences where ganks will be inevitable no matter how hard you try to prevent them. When that time comes, you can make it out alive or even turn the fight in your favor with the right mindset and knowledge.

We've all seen those highlight plays where pros or high-elo streamers manage to dodge every skill when getting ganked or manage to use their Flash at the perfect moment to avoid what seemed to be certain death.

To further add onto the points made about being tower dived, there is definitely counterplay when being dived by two or more enemies. Any type of hard CC on an enemy champion who has tower aggro makes for a very very difficult dive to pull of cleanly and can result in one or more summoner spells being used, or even a turn-around kill for your team.

In the event that your jungler shows up to countergank, make sure to both focus on the same target (usually the one with the highest damage threat or lowest health). On top of this, layering your CC so that slows and stuns dont overlap can help immensly in turning a close get-a-way into 300 gold in your pocket. As far as engaging when your jungler shows up, you should generally engage and CC your target right before your jungler gets to them. This ensures that you have "the element of suprise", giving you a few extra seconds where the enemy is caught off-guard. Being the first initiator also makes it easier for your jungler to properly layer their CC with yours. Through these tricks and tips you can find more consistency in your play, as well as aquire more game knowledge and foresight in League of Legends.

Good luck and happy climbing!