Warding in League of Legends is something that many people do not do. Many players forget to buy Control Wards or just never end up placing their wards down. Wards are essential to victory in League of Legends.

Vision in League sets up the game for your team. Without knowing the whereabouts of the enemy jungler, how would you know when to gank your top laner, invade the enemy jungle, or go after an objective? Everyone has to do their fair share of warding to secure vision for the team, and hopefully secure the win.

Introduction

To begin with, what is a ward? A ward is a totem you can place anywhere on the map, and it will provide a range of vision. Wards give vision in the fog of war until they time out or are destroyed.

Warding Totem

Now there are 3 types of wards and 3 warding trinkets you can use in League of Legends. The first being the Warding Totem. The Warding Totem is a trinket item that you have at level one. It stores up to 2 charges, one every 240 seconds to 120 seconds based on champion level, but try not to have 2 charges and ward as often as you can. The ward is also invisible to the enemy team.

Control Ward

The next type of ward is a Control Ward. Control Wards are wards that stay on the map until destroyed. They deny vision of any enemy ward and reveal invisible items/champions. Control Wards are so important in League that I recommend that everyone should try to buy Control Wards when they have inventory space.

Control Wards are essential to taking objectives, as they deny enemy vision and allow you to spot enemies approaching. Placing them in high traffic areas such as the river brushes and buff spawns, can pay off big time. I’ll be going into the best areas to ward later on in detail.

Farsight Alteration

The second trinket item and third type of ward is Farsight Alteration, the blue trinket. This ward is often recommended for mid laners, top laners, and the ADC. This ward is only available once you reach level 9. Farsight Alteration is called Farsight for a reason, the ward can be placed to up to 4000 units away and enemies hit will be revealed for 5 seconds. A visible ward is then placed after the effect.

Farsight has a smaller vision range than other wards and only 1 health. The cooldown is 198 to 99 seconds based on the average of all champion levels. The downside is that it is visible and has 1 health, but the massive range is great for warding objectives to see if the enemy has started them.

Oracle Lens

The third trinket item is Oracle Lens, the red trinket. Oracle Lens, when activated, scans the area around your champion for 10 seconds, revealing and disabling any wards. The trinket also reveals hidden traps and displays a silhouette of invisible champions. Below are the cooldowns for red trinket.

This trinket is usually taken by supports and junglers, but it is not recommended to take it at level one. This trinket helps junglers gank more successfully as they can clear out the wards. One of the support’s duties is to control the vision on the map, and Oracle Lens is a great way for them to spot out enemy wards and clear them. Supports should switch to Oracle Lens once they complete the quest on their support item and have the wards from it.



Warding Runes and Items

Ghost Poro

Ghost Poro is a rune in the Domination tree. When you enter a bush, a Ghost Poro will be put in the bush and give vision to the team. This is great on junglers, as they are always roaming around the map. When an enemy enters the bush that the Poro is in, it is scared away and goes on a 60 second cooldown.

Zombie Ward

Another great rune for junglers and also supports is the Zombie Ward rune. This rune gives you the ability to put up a Zombie Ward up in the place of a dead enemy ward. When you kill an enemy ward with this rune selected, a ‘Zombie Ward’ will be placed where you killed it. This rune is great for supports and junglers, as they are constantly killing wards throughout the game. These wards last 120 seconds and do not count towards your 3 ward limit.

Duskblade of Draktharr

Duskblade of Draktharr is usually taken on assassins and high burst AD champions. It is a great item as is grants attack damage, cooldown reduction, and lethality. The passive also makes the item great for the champions that take it. When you walk past an enemy ward or trap, you spot it out and disable it.

The cooldown is long but worth it. You can disable wards and traps around for 8 seconds and kill them with a single auto attack. You can clear many wards with one proc of the item if your champion is very mobile.





Early Game Warding

Warding as a top laner early is pretty simple. You will either put a ward in your tri-brush on your side of the jungle if you’re on blue side, the top lane river brush, and the brush by Rift Herald/Baron Pit. These places provide vision of the areas the enemy jungler will gank from. Warding the brush by Baron will help you control Scuttle. They also provide safe wards for you to Teleport to.

You should put a Control Ward in the top lane river brush or tri-brush, as you will want to control the vision here so you can get ganks from your jungler.

When playing from behind, you will need to put wards in your jungle.

Warding as a mid laner is difficult as it requires you to have priority. Mid lane is the center of the map and requires the most attention. You can’t ward the entire middle portion of the map by yourself, so you will need the help of the jungler and support. Many supports roam to ward and so does the jungler, as warding is one of the main purposes of their role.

There are many places that need to be warded as the lane is more prone to ganks with so many directions to gank from. Below is a map of locations that need to be warded and the locations to ward when you’re behind in your matchup. Supports should know some of these locations also.

When you're behind you will be putting more wards in your jungle and on your side of the map. Try your best to ward and stay safe from more ganks.

Warding in bot lane requires you to have vision in not only your lane, but in the river. Since the support wards around the mid lane, the ADC will have to help the support ward bot lane. The bot lane river consists of Scuttle and Dragon, so maintaining the control of vision here is very important. Both mid lane and jungle roam bot, so Control Wards are very helpful when placed in the river. Below is the map of warding positions.

Blue side has more warding locations due to having more brushes, so you will need to ward more often to protect yourself. Below is a map of locations to ward if you are behind.

Warding after Laning Phase

Now that laning phase is over, let’s look at the blue side control ward locations after the laning phase. These wards will give you vision over common areas and will help your team roam the map safely. They will also provide vital information of where the enemy jungler is and if they are invading your jungle. Below is a map of Control Ward locations when the game is even.

Now we will look at the blue side control ward locations when you are playing behind. When you are behind, the enemy team will look to go into your jungle and take control of your side of the map. It is important to maintain vision so you can come back from your deficit. These wards provide great information on when the enemy is moving around your jungle. Below is a map of the ward locations.

Lastly, we will be looking at the blue side control ward locations when you are ahead in the game. Depending on the focus of your team, there are many places to ward when ahead. You will be in their jungle and on their side of the map, so it is best to control vision to keep your control on the map. Below are the locations you should consider warding.

Red side’s wards when in an even matchup are very similar to blue side’s. Warding in these areas will give your team a lot of protection and information. Below is a map of the locations.

Next is the warding locations for when the red side is behind in the match. These are defensive wards and prevent the enemy from invading your jungle and establishing control of it. This will also give you vision of objectives and keep you from surprises. Below is the map of the defensive ward locations.

To round up the warding locations after the laning phase, we will be looking at the red team control ward locations when ahead. These wards will allow you to control the enemy jungle and deny them vision. They will also allow you to set up plays, ambushes and siege the enemy objectives. The map of these locations is below.

Conclusion

That concludes this guide on warding. Warding is very situational and important. Without it, your team will be wandering blind into enemy areas and into danger. Now you know the basics of warding and should be ready to take on the rift.

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