Warding is an easy way to keep you and your team safe… but what if it also gave up a lot of information to your opponents? It might not seem like much, but placing wards can make your team’s gameplan predictable. On the bright side, paying attention to where the enemies are warding can let you get ahead of their goals, too!
When playing any role, vision is important. Support might have the easiest time getting their vision scores up, but it’s a job for everyone. You’re going to need to know when to expect opposing Junglers or laners coming to clear out your lane or take down epic monster camps.
We can’t have vision on all corners of the map at all times because of the rules surrounding wards like timers and placement limits, so how we choose to use our limited amount of them can give away a LOT of information to our enemies.
Warding in general is normally pretty hidden from enemies. Yellow Trinket (aptly called “Stealth Wards”) disappear a couple of seconds after you place them. Enemies need to ping the wards within the time they’re visible to keep it recorded that there was a ward there. The only way from that point on is to either use their Sweeper to get within near-melee range of the ward you put (risking a fight, if you’re able) or to place a Control Ward (costing them money, but making you clear it out later).
Let’s take a look at some common botside warding spots:
Warding the pixel brush is a generally safe defensive ward to place. You get to stay on your side of the map and return without crossing through the enemy’s territory. If the enemies see it, they’ll know you’re worried about or preparing for a gank from their jungler.
Placing a ward in Drake or Baron Pit does not tell the enemy much aside from “I’m watching this objective.” At most, they may think your Jungler is considering taking it or may be close by to try and steal (if the enemy team is actively taking Drake). None of this is nearly as certain as the other couple of examples, though.
If you’re feeling a bit risky, you can cross the river and place a ward in the tri-brush that goes into their Jungle. It’s super helpful since it gives you a LOT more time to react than a pixel bush ward alone would. This is an even stronger sign to enemies that you’re worried about people coming botside. They may delay ganks until they can clear vision.
A Control Ward in your own tri bush is a pretty strong indicator that your jungler might be looking to gank bot. Not only are you clearing out their wards, you’re also making it significantly harder for them to protect themselves and prepare for ganks. This is totally safe to do, but doing it close to the time you expect your Jungler to path bot can be a double-edged sword. Giving away your Jungler’s plans can get them (and your lane) taken over quickly if you aren’t careful.
Warding can and should regularly be done at areas that you expect to get ganked from, or where you generally expect the enemy team to be OR want to be. With a little bit of time in the game, you’ll start to realize that there are generally patterns that players follow.
When it comes to defensive warding as a laner, there are some regular functions of the game to keep in mind. Think about where the enemy jungler is likely to start their farming. It’s super common for Junglers to start at blue buff if they’re heavy mana or energy users, and path to the lane on the opposite side. The laner opposite of the starting side should expect that there will be a jungler heading their way once the first sweep through the jungle has been finished. Keeping an eye on the bush(es) leading into your lane from the enemy jungle would be smart there.
Offensive warding is (most times) a lot more cut and dry. If you know there’s going to be something that the enemy team wants coming up, and you don’t already have vision of it, place a ward at the immediate area and pathing to it if possible. Drake seems ready to spawn in about 1:00? Consider placing a ward in the pit and ideally adding an extra ward to the tri bush that the enemy is likely to walk through to get there. Do note, though, that many Junglers have ways to hop over or go through walls; this is why you’ll see some people warding just over the wall at Drake and Baron.
Warding itself may not seem like the riskiest activity, but it’s actually one of the easiest ways to walk straight into a 1v3 or worse. Most of the time that you’re fishing for a chance to place a ward, you don’t have vision on an area. In order to place a ward, you’ll basically need to be facechecking (walking into or very close to a bush blind or without vision).
While most of the time during the early game, when junglers and laners have their own roles to attend to, it’s relatively safe… Doing this in the late game could get you (and anyone near you) getting caught out by a super-fed toplaner and half of the enemy team. That’s a tempo killer, and can lose the game. Keeping vision up in those key areas and regularly sweeping when with an ally can keep the chance of that lower; if they know you’re being careful, it’s riskier for the opponents to fish for a free kill.
Warding is both your best friend and your enemy if you’re trying to get a leg up on the other team. You’ll need to pay attention to your own vision and to keep the enemy’s vision in check to prevent their gameplan from happening. With time and a few of these points in mind, you’ll be sure to have an easier time planning for ganks and rotating to objectives!
