Warding effectively is one of the best tactics to win in League of Legends. Having a superior vision over your enemies puts you at a massive advantage at any point in this game.
When you have better vision, you can take objectives more safely, play more aggressively, and have much more control over the map.
Warding isn’t a new topic among League of Legends players but how they utilize their wards can vary from player to player.
There isn’t an obsolete answer when it comes to how and where you should put your wards, but there are few things you need to know in order to get better at it. Let’s discuss !
Types of Wards in League of Legends
Stealth Wards (Yellow Trinket or Green Wards)
Stealth wards (commonly known as Yellow Trinkets or Green Wards) are the most important ward in League. It provides 900 AoE vision of its surroundings and continues to do so until it is destroyed or its timer runs out.
It is also invisible to enemy units but can be detected by another type of ward called a Control Ward.
The best thing about stealth ward is that it is completely free to purchase so anyone can purchase it. But since every champion has only one slot to hold wards, it is generally reserved for support players.
Once purchased, it will automatically regenerate every 240-120 seconds, depending on the champion level and you can hold up to two of them at any given time. Stealth wards last 90-120 seconds.
Control Wards
While the Stealth ward is used to provide a vision of a certain part of the map, the Control ward, on the other hand, is used to deny the enemy vision. They cost 75 gold and each player can hold two of them at a time.
Control wards reveal and disable any Stealth ward placed by the enemy nearby. It also reveals invisible or camouflaged enemies that are trying to gank your lane.
Control wards take four hits to destroy and if not destroyed by enemies, they can last throughout the match.
However, they’re not invisible like Stealth wards so you should be very careful while placing them. Generally, they are placed in bushes to avoid detection.
Oracle Lens (Red Trinket or Sweeper)
Oracle Lens isn’t actually a ward but an item that reveals and disables enemy wards for a short duration. It goes into the same item slot as Stealth wards so you can only purchase one of the two.
When activated, it will hover above your champion model and reveal hidden enemies and wards for 10 seconds.
The effect of this item can be seen by both enemies and your teammates, which will alert them if they are invisible. The cooldown of this item is 90 seconds which will go down to 60 seconds as your champion levels up.
Farsight Alteration (Blue Trinket)
Farsight Alteration is a special type of ward that can be purchased from the shop once your champion has reached level 9.
It provides the vision of a small area but can play a crucial role in the match. It also goes into your 4th slot and can be placed up to 4000 units away from your champion.
It is especially useful in the later stages of the match to check if the enemy team is taking objectives like Baron and Dragon.
You can use this ward to successfully ambush your enemy team and take the objectives for yourself, then proceed to end the game. Its cooldown is very long which goes down with your champion’s level.
Zombie Wards
Zombie ward is a special ward in League of Legends as it cannot be purchased directly from the shop but needs a specific rune path to activate it.
You need to use a rune path called Domination in order to obtain a Zombie ward, that will summon them whenever you destroy an enemy ward in place of the destroyed ward.
Although they are weak and take just one hit to destroy, they do not share limits to your ward count. So, you can have as many of them as you want throughout the game. They last for 120 seconds.
How to Get Better at Warding
Get Early Wards
Buy wards as soon as you enter the match. As vision is crucial in League of Legends, it is important that you put down the wards as early as possible.
Doing this can not only alert your midlaner when he is about to be ganked but also makes dewarding very hard for enemies as they don’t have much information at the early stages of the match.
Deward When It Is Necessary
Just as how warding in the early stages of the match is crucial to ensure your cores are getting adequate farm and space, it is also equally important to deward enemy wards in the process.
As a support, you won’t have many things to do in early games other than harassing the enemy players, and there’s not much action going on on the map.
So, you can take advantage of this situation and plant some control wards to take down enemy vision. This will allow your jungler to move without being detected and get some easy kills for your team.
Place Wards Around the Objectives
Entities such as Baron or Elder Dragon give powerful buffs to the team that defeats them, so warding those areas should be your top priority once you reach the mid-late game.
As everyone is thinking of defeating these neutrals and ending the game right after, you should focus your wards around their pits and the enemy jungles, so you can predict your enemy’s movements before they even make their move.
This gives you a massive advantage as you and your team will have enough time to formulate a plan to counter their move.
Use Control Wards as Bait
You can also use Control wards to bait your enemies into a 5-man gank. As control wards disable the enemy Stealth wards placed within their range, enemy supports will usually want to deward it for some extra gold.
You can use this greedy nature of players to your advantage by placing it where your them can easily spot it, and hide in a bush to jump on anyone who tries to deward it.
With one (or more) players from the enemy team dead, you can proceed to take objectives like pushing the lanes or killing Baron and Dragon for a massive advantage.
Play More Support Roles
Although anybody can purchase and place wards in League of Legends, it is primarily a support’s job to do that. And if you want to get better at warding, there is no better role than support.
While cores are generally focused on farming, it is a support’s job to ward without having to ask specifically.
Also, when you play support, you automatically learn the best spots to place effective wards and the correct time to rotate around the map.
