In League of Legends, Warding is one of the most important mechanics to master. At the highest levels of play, summoners never joke with its importance, right next to farming. As such, this post will cover the rules of warding for players who want to improve that aspect of their gameplay.
To understand these concepts better, you need to know the various types of wards available in the game. We’ve got four types of wards in League of Legends, they are:
Stealth Wards
These wards are commonly known as Yellow Wards and they become available for free from the start of the game. However, stealth wards only grant normal vision in an area; they do not reveal invisible units. You can only destroy a sentry ward before it goes invisible or if you reveal it using a control ward or an oracle lens.
Control Wards
While you can get control wards from the start of the game, they are not free. You can buy them from the shop for 75 gold coins and they do not expire, although they are visible to everyone and can be destroyed.
Control wards grant vision in an area and also reveal invisible units and wards.
Oracle Lens
You can not place oracle lenses in an area. They activate in an area around you and reveal invisible units and wards. Oracle lenses are available from the start of the game for free although you have to choose between them or sentry wards.
They are particularly useful for clearing enemy wards or evading vision as they deactivate nearby enemy wards.
Farsight Alteration
This type of wards only become available at level nine. Also known as Blue Wards, you will find them often on ADCs, Midlaners, and sometimes Top laners. They reveal an area and any unit there for some seconds.
However, while you can place them at about 4000 units away, they are visible to the enemy and can be destroyed. Farsight Alteration helps prevent face-checking bushes.
Rules of Warding
Longevity vs Utility
This rule simply tells you to weigh how long your ward will last against the information it will provide. There are warding hotspots on the map that every attentive player checks for enemy wards so placing one there means it won’t last long.
On the other hand, there are certain spots on the map that yield good information and escape the enemy’s notice. The decision will always be yours in every scenario; make the right one.
Denying Enemy Vision
While this rule of warding explains itself, there are ways to make it optimal. Since control wards and oracle lenses can reveal invisible units and wards, they are important for destroying enemy wards. The Zombie Ward rune spawns a zombie ward whenever you destroy an enemy ward. It is good when clearing enemy vision.
Removing enemy wards is always a good call at every point in the game as it reduces the information they get to use against you. A good habit to learn is buying control wards every time you go to base. Doing this ensures that you have a ward handy in case you need vision quickly.
Don’t do it because you want a good vision score at the end of the game.
Preparing for Objectives
When getting ready to take objectives like a dragon, the rift herald, or Baron, ensure to ward before it even spawns. Also, remember to check for enemy wards and clear them while placing yours.
As one of the rules of warding, following this one ensures that your team can always take the objective safely while the enemy team tries to be cautious because of little vision and information.
Remember that this rule extends to ganking too. Does your teammate want to gank your lane? Set up good vision while denying the enemy’s own and you will increase the success rate of the gank.
Aggressive Warding vs Defensive Warding
Last but not least of the rules of warding, always place your wards based on your team’s position in relation to the enemy.
If you are always getting invaded, ward the entrances of your Jungle and check for enemy wards (defensive).
Your team is sieging the enemy’s side of the map or invading, ward your flanks and the enemy’s side of the Jungle (Aggressive).
Following this rule ensures that the enemy will find it hard to outflank your team. Also, the information your team will gather from these wards will always tip fights in your favor. Although, you should always try to check and remove enemy wards too.
Conclusion
I hope you got to learn a new thing or two from reading through the rules of warding. You should understand that these guidelines are only there to help you. The final decision should always be yours to make as every game will never be the same.
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Good luck on the Rift!
