Warding is certainly important in League, especially for supports. Proper knowledge of where and when to ward early on can help you both maximize leads and minimize deficits, levelling up your game and helping you climb up those ranks.
Loading onto Summoner’s Rift, you should have an idea as to how your lane will look. Is your bot-lane carry strong in lane? Are you playing a melee support or a ranged one? How do these champions compare to those of your opponents? Identifying the matchup early on can give you an educated guess on which way the lane will push. This type of expectation for the lane’s trajectory can help you determine where your temporary stealth wards will be needed, and where you can place your control wards to maximize their value and longevity. Let’s take a look at a couple of different scenarios: one in which your team is ahead as the aggressor in the bot lane, and one in which your team is behind as the defender. We’ll examine how a support can play each one smartly and effectively—both from the blue side as well as the red.
Let’s begin with blue side, and we’ll start from the aggressors’ perspective. Since the aggressors will have the push early on, it’s fairly likely that the enemy jungler will try to come help out the defending laners. As such, it is pivotal that you attempt to track the enemy jungler’s movements as much as possible so that you can know when it’s safe to push and when you have to show restraint.
A good starting point for this can be found before the lane even starts. Level one, placing a trinket ward either in the bot-side river’s pixel brush (see location one on the map below), or directly between the dragon pit and the entrance to the red-side jungle (see location two below), can protect your team from early level one invades and level two ganks from the opposing jungler towards the mid or bot lanes. However, it can also give your own jungler some much-valued information as to which quadrant of the jungle his opponent is in, which matters greatly for his or her early pathing and gank/counter-gank setup. Unfortunately, this ward won’t last very long, but when playing ahead from the bot lane it can be refreshed somewhat easily on roams to the mid lane or when helping your jungler contest the bottom scuttle crab.
After your first back, leaving the base through mid and using a control ward in that same pixel brush on your way back onto the map is another good way to do this, and will likely earn some appreciation from your mid-laner in the process. As your team gets ahead this ward will be easier to guard, and even if it’s cleared it will provide valuable information in the process. Maintaining this ward can leave your lane a little unguarded, however, so be sure to drop a stealth ward over the wall just above bot lane (see location three below) and destroy the blast cone so it can’t be used against you.
Finally, be wary when returning to lane after backing or roaming as a bot duo; it’s possible that the opponents may have placed a deep ward in your lane to threaten a teleport play. Use a trinket sweeper and check around so you can clear out any pesky flanks!
As the lane progresses and you gain more of a gold lead over your opponents, your ward line can naturally start to edge forward—that is, you and your team can start to move your wards further into the opponents’ side of the map to apply more pressure around certain objectives. That said, dragon control is incredibly important in League, and much of the early vision setup required for this will be dependent on the support working in tandem with the jungler.
It’s generally a good idea to recall at least a minute before the dragon actually spawns if you’re expecting a fight, but the vision and pressure that naturally can occur from being ahead in bot can occasionally net the first dragon on its own. To help ensure the latter, accompanying your jungler to secure the scuttle crab and placing stealth wards in the jungle entrance brush above the dragon pit (see location four below) and just past the bottom entrance behind the wall (see location five below) can help you track the enemy’s approach and keep them boxed out of contesting early dragons (bonus points for getting rid of their blast cone too!).
As for the pit itself, being on the blue side means that you have better access to it, so your opponents can’t put wards into it if they’re effectively boxed out. Therefore, just using a trinket sweeper to clear it out before starting the dragon is perfectly fine, granted you don’t put yourself at risk while doing so. With a solid early lead and a couple of early dragons, you’ll be well on your way to a successful midgame!
Looking at the same scenario from the red side, being the aggressor from the bot lane can be harder to punish by the enemy jungler, but dragons become a bit trickier to secure. As for the former, thankfully you won’t need to worry as much about the red-side blast cone, but the river pixel brush does still apply. The ward between the dragon pit and red-side jungle entrance is still nice for noticing mid-lane roams and catching if the enemy jungler tries to sneak down through the dragon pit (or just sneakily take the dragon itself) via a dash over the wall or using the blast cone over it. However, primarily you’ll need to cover the bottom blue-side entrance to ward off early ganks.
This location can be a bit tricky, due to how far up you need to go to ward that entrance’s tri-brush (see location one on the map below). As such, make sure that you know for certain where the enemy is when you do it (enemy jungler included), and that you ping for help from your bot-lane carry if you aren’t sure you can do it safely. When warding the tri-brush from the red side, place your ward on the northern tip of the brush—it can be either a simple stealth ward, or a control ward if you want to clear opponents’ vision in the process. Placing it more towards the top of the brush forces your opponents’ bot-lane duo to physically move up farther towards the brush to clear it, making it much easier to threaten punishing them for doing so from your side.
Unfortunately, it may not be reasonable to have both the tri-brush ward and the river wards at the same time. In that case, a simple stealth ward can be placed on the corner of the northern wall just to the right of the tri-brush (see location two below). While it isn’t perfect, if you’re short on wards, then this location can cover both the lower river approach to the bot lane to combat roams, as well as the area just outside of the tri-brush to somewhat ward off more straightforward ganks while you’re pushed up. Just be aware that certain champions can very easily exploit and avoid this ward, such as Thresh using a lantern or Kayn going through the wall to get around it and catch you off guard.
Finally, while backing your enemies may try to set up a trap for you, so keep an oracle lens or control ward handy and safely check lane bushes with champion abilities if you suspect your opponents are up to something fishy!
As for dragon setups, the red side’s vision control can be a bit difficult due to the pit being attached to the blue side’s jungle. When playing from ahead, however, you still want to try and pressure the early dragons—taking them is nice and luring the opponent into contesting while your team is stronger can blow the game open with a decisive teamfight victory. For starters, using a control ward in the pit is quite useful; unfortunately, this time the opponents can somewhat easily just place a ward over the dragon pit wall to see your team take the dragon otherwise, so just sweeping the pit isn’t enough to prevent a contest. Instead, bringing your team with you to use your sweeper in the river above the dragon pit and just into the entrance to the blue side jungle can help you clear out some of the opponents’ vision as you drop a ward in the brush opposite the wall to the red buff (see location three below).
Next up, you’ll want to make sure your team doesn’t get flanked from below. To ensure this, another ward will be necessary, either in the tri-brush below the pit (if you can manage it), or outside the corner of the pit in the river area just above the bot lane (see location four below). Finally, dropping a stealth ward just over the wall between the blue-side jungle and the dragon pit (see location five below) will let you see any opponents that want to hop over and steal the dragon, and will let you destroy their blast cone to make the attempted heist much harder. Cap it all off by pulling the dragon outside of the pit while taking it, and your opponents will have a much harder time contesting your team without getting dragged into a fight against your stronger members.
Knowing how to play with a lead and keep it is certainly very important, but in reality, nobody wins lane every single game. As bad as it often feels to have to play from behind, it’s absolutely pivotal to learn how to do so effectively. Stopping the opponents’ gold lead from growing too large too quickly—and making it difficult for opponents to leverage the lead they have—are both necessary components of every legendary comeback.
Looking back over at the blue side, playing from behind can feel quite oppressive. Due to the vision control that the opponents likely have, it can be very difficult to find avenues for teammates to help out, meaning that often times the lane comes down to simply trying to survive. To do this, you must utilize the vision you have access to, preventing your lane from getting dove under tower. Fortunately, you do have access to the tri-brush above your tower, but due to the innate pressure of the lane pushing into you constantly, it can be very easy for your opponents to contest your vision there. As such, using regular stealth wards here is preferable; no point in using control wards that cost gold if they’ll just get cleared out immediately. That said, placing your ward in the left side of the tri-brush (see location one on the map below) will force your opponents to walk a small amount further out of position to clear it, giving you a small yet precious amount of leverage.
The same advice is applicable for the line of brush to the top-left of the tower (see location two below). This is a common brush opponents will use for tower-dives; keeping it warded will help you prepare for and/or avoid these maneuvers and waste the enemy jungler’s time, allowing for the rest of your team to find success elsewhere.
As a result of the increased pressure from your opponents, their support will likely roam mid on occasion. Following them to prevent a death (and plenty of rage) from your mid-laner is nice, but not always possible, so placing a control ward either in the river’s pixel brush above the dragon pit (see location three below), or in the brush to the left of it opposite the red buff (see location four below) can sometimes warn your mid-laner of impending roams from the most dangerous support angles.
Going out of your way to refresh these wards can be very costly in terms of experience, so doing so at more convenient times, such as right after a recall or when following an opponent’s roam, is recommended. Playing from behind rarely feels good but making sure it doesn’t become the rest of your team’s problem is the best way for you to help the game stabilize.
When the opponents recall back to base, spend a few extra seconds to place a ward or two in their absence as you help your carry push the wave back out. Place a ward that threatens a teleport play, either deep in the lane or in the lower river and pay attention to whether they clear them or not. Even if they all get cleared, forcing your opponents to respect the potential help by using resources to clear your vision means that they in turn have fewer vision resources to devote toward offensive-minded maneuvers. Hunker down, don’t move out too far without vision, and help your carry farm under tower so they can scale for later!
Unfortunately, taking dragons and being behind in the bot lane don’t really fit well together. However, the good news is that since you’re on blue side, the pit is much easier to check! Simply dropping a stealth ward in the pit from behind the back wall can give you the information on if the enemies are taking the dragon or not, but make sure not to approach the darkness too closely without help from teammates.
Contesting the dragon isn’t recommended when you’re significantly behind, but making sure to rotate in a timely manner when the opponents’ bot-lane duo does the same can help you threaten them off of the drake in coordination from your teammates. Maintain control of the tri-brush, try to keep a ward in the dragon pit, and don’t get caught out, so that your team can try to play with what little space you can command. While contesting dragons from behind is often not recommended, that doesn’t mean that you can just spend all of your time being a turtle in the bot lane. Consider preparing in advance to make a play across the map, such as moving up to take the rift herald with your team or pressuring the top-lane tower.
When compared to the blue side, defending while behind on the red side can feel a little bit less oppressive due to the slightly higher difficulty in being dove. Placing a control ward in the tri-brush to the left of your tower (see location one on the map below) is usually enough to avoid successful dives early. Placing the ward near the bottom of the brush can help see ever-so-slightly farther around the adjacent corner, but not by much.
If you’re still feeling unsafe with this control ward, an extra stealth ward can be placed in one of two places: in the small brush right next to the blue buff (see location two below) or near the lower entrance to your own jungle (see location three below). Both of these extra safety wards can double as wards in the jungle to track enemy invades, so consider using them if the opponents are exerting excessive pressure across your half of the map.
Placing a ward in the brush just inside of the bottom of the river (see location four below) can be helpful if you’re not too far behind, as it’s more towards your side of the map than that of the opponents but be careful not to waste too many wards there if your opponents start placing control wards to counter them. When playing from behind, getting as much value as possible out of your wards is pivotal!
On the red side, roaming up to the mid lane can be quite difficult, since you must either take a very long route along the blue buff wall or walk at least somewhat along the river. In the latter case, this can leave you very vulnerable, so take care not to overextend yourself with no help in the vicinity. As with the blue side, placing wards in the river’s pixel brush can be useful to your mid-laner, but due to the danger in doing this outside of regular back timings, placing an alternative ward in the brush to the bottom-right of the mid-lane tower (see location five below) can be somewhat safer, albeit less effective. Protecting your fellow laner is important but losing your life in the process will only make it harder for them, so be careful!
As for dragons, contesting from behind on the red side is very difficult, but sometimes it must be done. In these cases, try to stay more towards your own jungle rather than approaching from the bot lane; this will make it harder for you to get caught out alone where your teammates can’t assist you. It will likely feel very inefficient and costly to move all the way around past your turret to get safely into position in your jungle but following the opponents into the river is often an invitation to being engaged on or poked out, so only do this if it’s absolutely necessary or you have assistance from a stronger member of your team.
Placing a ward in the dragon pit will likely be impossible and/or will simply get cleared out immediately, so avoid trying to do so. Instead, look to place a ward in the river towards the wall of your own jungle between the bot-side entrances (see location six below). This ward, while not perfect, will at least give you a bit of somewhat-stable information on whether your opponents have gathered around the dragon and/or are posturing for a fight around the objective.
While ways to counter the dragon-take itself are very limited, at the very least your opponents will likely have limited space to work with, as they can only back into the dragon pit itself. If cornering them in the pit with the dragon is not possible, then trying to poke out the members that move up to prevent you from advancing, and possibly catching out someone that moves up too far, are about the most that one can reasonably expect to be done from behind, barring a large mistake by the enemy team. Instead of contesting the dragon, consider making a cross-map play, if possible!
Whether you’re ahead or behind coming out of the laning phase, there are many concepts that remain consistent throughout the game. Learning to develop good habits and cut out bad ones is a great way to iron out some of the inconsistencies with your play. While these practices aren’t always the most noticeably impactful aspects of the game, coming to understand and master them will only help your win rate moving forward.
When playing from behind, getting killed in a gank can often break the game wide open. However, ganks don’t always happen from the jungle or the river; oftentimes, they can occur from within the lane itself. These can be especially devastating, and with the opponents pushed so far up in the lane, preventing them can be extremely difficult. During a lane gank, the opposing team will attempt to use sweepers and control wards to set up an area in the lane where it is impossible for you to have vision behind where their bot-lane duo is playing. Another player then hides in the brush behind them, and their duo will either engage on you in an attempt to initiate a three-on-two numbers gap, or bait you into walking forward, where their teammate lies in wait.
The ways to combat this type of maneuver differ based on the champions in the game, however there are a few general things you can do. First of all, avoid naturally walking up when your opponents move back or play a bit more passively for brief periods of time if you don’t have vision of the brushes behind and beside them. Mirroring the movements of your opponents can be very tempting, but it’s also incredibly dangerous. Make sure you’re wary of breaks from their normal pressure, and don’t get baited into a vulnerable position. Next, try to play as far from the lane brush as possible.
Staying near the top of the lane and hesitating to move past any brush you haven’t had vision of can make it ever-so-slightly more difficult for your opponents to utilize a numbers advantage, due to the increased distance between you and their extra member. With that in mind, refrain from walking up to put vision in a lane brush unless you are certain there is no one inside of the brush itself. Understandably, you cannot simply refrain from approaching any blind spot whatsoever without losing more and more gold. However, picking and choosing when to approach with a cautious mind will help minimize the risks of having the door slammed shut on your chances to survive. Missing two or three minions in the process feels painful, I know, but dying to a gank for those few minions feels even worse, and can legitimately lose your team the game.
Simply speaking, placing a ward in one of Summoner’s Rift’s many brushes will allow you to see both inside and out of it, and will make any control wards placed within them invisible from the outside. This makes them prime locations for vision control, but where you place them within the brush matters. Just like your champion has a designated range of vision that moves with it, wards have a specific circle of sight that they can view (nine-hundred units, to be precise). When a ward is placed in a brush, this circle is drawn out in relation to the ward itself, rather than from the center of the brush. While the inside of the brush itself will always be completely visible regardless of where the ward is inside of it, placing a ward on the very edge of a brush rather than directly in the middle of it will award a slightly farther sight range to that side of the brush, while sacrificing a small amount on the other.
Sometimes, these small differences in range can be incredibly significant. For example, in the bot-side river’s pixel brush, placing a ward in the middle of the brush versus on the far-left edge of it can be the difference between noticing a mid-lane gank coming or having your ward avoided altogether, which can put your mid-laner at risk. In the bot lane’s blue side tri-brush, placing a ward to the left edge of it can help notice an enemy mid-laner’s roam a little bit faster, giving you more time to move defensively. The examples go on and on, but what’s crucial to remember is that when placing a ward within a brush, you should always try to place it on the edge towards the direction that you want to see more of, if there is one.
Next up, let’s talk value. More specifically, that sweet, sweet seventy-five gold that all supports know so well: the control ward. To see a freshly-placed control ward get mercilessly cleared after five seconds of life is a very painful experience, certainly. Taking steps to avoid this will not only save you from witnessing such horror, but it’ll also be pretty good for your wallet throughout the game. All joking aside, saving money on control wards is a big deal for supports that often goes unnoticed. Supports already get very little gold throughout the game, meaning their item builds are more often than not quite stunted. As such, spending seventy-five gold for a ward that lasts five seconds is costly, to say the least.
Placing control wards to clear out vision (or to prevent vision from your opponents) means that sometimes they’ll be in risky locations that get cleaned out somewhat quickly; this is unavoidable, unfortunately. However, there are always multiple places at once that need to be covered by wards. Using the free, temporary stealth wards in the more hotly-contested areas while saving control wards for the pillars of your vision setup that aren’t as easily accessible can ensure that your control wards last a bit longer than normal. For example, using a control ward to secure vision of your own bot-side jungle during the laning phase, or placing a defensive control ward in a brush near your tower to prevent a dive are both situations in which this tactic can be utilized. Just be aware that you can only have one control ward out on the map at a time!
This leads into another somewhat similar ward-value topic: placing wards at opportune times so as to not waste them—whether they’re control words or simple stealth wards. This one can seem more straightforward at first; place wards where you need wards, and don’t place wards where you don’t need wards. However, in practice it can feel a bit more complicated. For example, it can be very tempting to keep vision in the vicinities of the Baron and dragon pits at all times, but it’s not always a complete necessity. If the game is close and the dragon spawns in thirty seconds, with Baron spawning in three minutes, then wards near the dragon are far more important. If one team has just taken Baron, then what good will a ward in the baron pit accomplish?
Of course, every situation and scenario is different, and there literally is not enough space to go through them all. At the very least though, being able to identify where the teams will meet up with a bit of foresight can help you recognize where to place wards so that they hold meaningful vision at meaningful times. Make sure you don’t place them so early in advance that the enemy team gets a chance to clear them before they’re relevant, though. Either give yourself enough time to back and restock your inventory while they clear your vision, or don’t put your wards down until the objective is about to spawn!
Last but not least (in fact, it might be the most important), warding with teammates nearby is highly recommended in most scenarios. As the support player, you are likely the least threatening member of your team, meaning that running into enemy players while warding alone can oftentimes be fatal if you’re overextended. To avoid this, you must do one of two things: bring additional members of your team with you to help protect you while you ward (and hopefully place wards themselves in the process), or make sure you know for certain where all of the threatening enemy champions are on the map so you can move safely. Preparing and utilizing vision control properly can help prevent you and your team from dying, but dying to gain that control defeats the purpose altogether! Ping for assistance from your bot-lane carry when warding the forward brushes in and immediately around your lane early, and seek help from your jungler or mid-laner when attempting to place wards towards the opponents’ jungle while roaming mid.
Finally, when setting up for vision around objectives, make sure not to split up too far from your teammates so they can help you if enemies approach—and so you don’t get ambushed and killed off before the fight even starts! Make sure to keep an eye on the map and mentally mark where opponents are so you can ward as aggressively as possible without putting yourself at risk. Learning how to track where you can and can’t ward is a key step to not only keeping you and your teammates alive, but also to establishing necessary vision in increasingly difficult situations—a necessary skill, both for climbing in solo queue and for successful organized play as a support player.
As can hopefully be seen from all these ramblings of mine (Sorry, not sorry!), an incredibly large amount of nuance goes into learning the ins and outs of vision control. Understanding how to identify situations where you’re ahead or behind—along with learning when and where to ward in those scenarios—will already help skyrocket your vision score and win rate alike. Throw in a good understanding of the map, successful team coordination, and thrifty ward placement, and you’ve got a recipe for success that’ll serve you well! Support players are always trying to find new ways to push the boundaries of when and where they can ward without being punished, and I certainly encourage you to do the same. Don’t let trial and error get you down. Test and learn your own limits, seek to expand them through higher levels of play, and unleash your skills in a torrent of vision! See you on the rift!
