Warding In League of Legends: Using Vision Control to Win Lane

Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do when you’re losing a game. Maybe they had champions that countered you, or maybe the enemy players just had better mechanics. What is less easy to determine in the moment, is whether or not your enemy was more aware of the situation than you were. Lack of information plays a much bigger role in losing games than people realise, and all too often having an information advantage is the key to victory. So how do you gain an information advantage, after all it’s not like you can look over and peek at what your enemy is doing. Unless you can read minds (in which case I think there are several professional teams that would like to have a chat), the only way to get a better grasp of the situation is to see what your opponent is doing, whilst also hiding what you are doing. Hence, the importance of warding.

Top Lane

When it comes to the top lane, too many people make the assumption that it’s an island, totally cut off from the rest of the map and an area that should be ignored until later in the game. The truth is, top lane, and the champions that inhabit it, can have a huge impact on the game and how it plays out, especially when your top laner is running Teleport or has some way to get around the map quickly (looking at you Shen, with your sneaky ganks post level six. Stop killing my AD Carry dangit!). Top lane might be isolated from the rest of the action, but that doesn’t mean people can’t pay them a visit every now and then, and trust me, junglers love to punish over-pushing to planers. Here are some areas that you should keep an eye on when you’re looking for vision around the top side.

The two red circles are your primary defence areas. If the enemy jungler is making a move, he’s probably going to come at you through these two zones, unless he’s making a lane gank. If he does decide to come at you through the lane, then aside from warding all three brushes in the top lane itself, you’re going to have to just trust your instincts and look to any changes in your lane opponent’s behaviour. The red circled areas will provide you with hopefully enough warning to help you get out of dodge, and also catch your lane opponent if they try to sneak away to do something nefarious. The yellow circled areas are a lot more opportunistic in nature. If you can get an early ward there, you might be able to catch your opposing jungler in his first clear, and knowledge of where they are on the map is always a valuable resource. Your enemy will also be looking to place wards in these locations, so keep an eye out for that too.

Mid Lane

The mid lane is where everyone expects you to outplay your enemy. Doesn’t matter if you playing a scaling mage against an assassin, your team wants you to win lane, or at the very minimum, not lose lane. So how do you make sure you can gain an advantage when all eyes are on you to begin with?

Once again, the red circles are your primary defence from sneaky ganks. It’s a natural habit when trying to approach for a gank to want to hide in a brush, so chucking a ward in there is an easy way to see danger coming. The yellow circles are a little more advanced, or at least, a little more suited to the mid and late game. Warding in these locations allows you to spot out the enemy when they make their rotations towards objectives. The little isolated brushes near the Baron and Dragon pits are great hiding spots for control wards as they deny key vision in the area. The other small bushes near the wolf pits are also well used hiding spots for junglers that feel safer diving turrets to get kills, so keeping vision in the area for defence is never a bad choice.

Bot Lane

The bot lane is dangerous these days. With AD Carries as important as ever in the late game, many teams will devote a ton of resources to shutting them down early. This is compounded by the fact that the AD Carry and Support are often very fragile early on, so getting caught out of position or off guard can mean losing valuable summoners, or even handing kills over to the enemy.

The red circles are again your primary defence wards. They’ll see enemies wandering down to gank the lane, and they’ll spot if your lane opponents decide to move to secure buffs or attack other lanes. The yellow circles in the bot lane proper will help in laning phase, stopping any lane ganks from junglers and help keep track of your lane opponents. The yellow circle around Dragon, which can be supplemented by securing the scuttle crab, will keep track of any attempts to secure the Dragon, as well as provide an early warning for any potential ganks from the mid lane.

Special Case – The Baron Pit

This area in particular deserves a bigger breakdown, as securing the Baron buff can often signal the end of the game entirely. Important things to look out here are over-warding, or putting too many wards down in a single location, as well as the importance of Control Wards and other vision denial methods.

The red circles are areas that should be considered a high priority when warding out Baron. The circle to the left of the pit is often untouched by Sweeper Trinkets, and can provide vital information if the enemy team tries to sneak the Baron. The upper red circle is very useful for when you are trying to secure Baron for yourself, as you can see if the enemy jungler is going to try and leap in and steal it away. The yellow circles are all common warding locations, and can and will be used for split pushing champions to teleport to if they can, so keep an eye out there for any surprise arrivals.

Hopefully this has been helpful for you in planning your moves in lane. While there is literally hundreds of places you can place your wards, these are the key areas that will help you establish vision control and catch out your enemies as they move around the map. For more guided content, check out our recent Fortnite Challenge guide, located here. If you aren’t currently playing League of Legends but want to give it a try, more information can be found on the Official Website, here.