Warding is one of the most important skills in League of Legends, here’s how to get better at warding.
Information is king in League of Legends, and wards are one of the best ways to gather that information. Unlike wave management, looking to trade, and similar mechanics, its not as simple to learn. Warding is a situational skill that relies on a player’s macro knowledge of the game and their ability to read opponents’ movements.
If you’ve started to play League of Legends, or you’re a veteran of the game, there’s never a bad time to learn about warding. League of Legends’ warding and vision system have changed drastically throughout the years. When the game first began, wards were disposable items that needed to be purchased with gold. This meant that supports often became walking wallets with which their team would purchase gold. Rather than making a useful member of the team pay for the privilege of information, the support became a glorified ward dealer for their teammates.
Wards in modern-day League of Legends are very different from how they began. All but three of League of Legends’ vision systems have been brought into the umbrella category of Trinkets. Every champion gets a free trinket that they can change throughout the game. One of the trinkets places steal wards within a short range, one places visible wards at a longer range, and the third can detect other wards.
Ward placement is as much about what wards don’t see as what they do see. Many players falsely believe that wards are most useful for secretly spotting champions who don’t know they’re being observed. However, a well-placed ward telling you that nobody’s standing in a certain location can be even more useful.
The best spots for wards, at least on Summoner’s Rift, are high-traffic areas where roaming champions will be likely to reveal themselves. These locations include ‘tri-brushes’ in the top lane and bottom lane, the far end of the river brushes, and the spaces around neutral objectives. It may seem to be an oversimplification, but the primary use of wards to show where players are and where they aren’t. Wards only last for a minute, so deciding when you need the extra information is the make-or-break decision that determines the quality of your warding.
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