League of Legends vision guide: where and when to ward

Every ward answers a question

A ward is worth what it tells you, so know its question before you place it. “Is their jungler coming to my lane?” asks for a ward on the path they would take. “Are they setting up Dragon?” asks for one near the pit or on their way to it. “Where is their jungler now?” asks for one on their side of the map.

Ward to defend, or ward to prepare

Defensive wards keep you safe. Place them on your side of the river and at the entrances to your own jungle when you are pushed in, behind, or alone in a side lane: they let you farm without fear and see an invasion coming.

Offensive wards prepare a play. Place them in the river and on the enemy’s side when you are ahead, when your waves are pushed, or before an objective you want. They show who is coming to the fight, and when nobody comes, that is information too.

The rule of thumb: ward where you are about to play, and on the path the enemy would take to stop you. Behind, your vision moves back toward your base; ahead, it moves forward with your team. Going deep alone is a risk of its own: “Before entering their jungle, ward ahead or bring an ally.”

Set up vision before an objective

Vision at Dragon or Baron is won before the objective spawns. The team that holds the area early places its wards safely, clears the enemy’s and chooses where the fight happens. Gankademy’s rule sets the timing: “Objective in a minute? Ward its area before you go.”

1. Push your waves first, so your laners reach the river before theirs — our wave management guide shows how.
2. Sweep, then ward. Clear their wards around the pit, then place yours on the paths they will take to reach it.
3. Hold the area with a Control Ward where your team can protect it: a brush by the pit, or the main way in.
4. Group before it spawns. The best vision is wasted if two of you arrive late.

If you can’t get vision in time, or you are a player down, don’t walk into a dark pit: take a tower or a camp on the other side of the map instead.

Control Wards and sweeping

A Control Ward costs gold and, unlike the Stealth Ward of your trinket, stays until someone destroys it. It reveals and disables the enemy’s hidden wards around it, and you can only have one on the map at a time. Enemies can see it, so place it where it can survive — in a brush your team walks past, guarding an entrance — rather than alone deep in their jungle.

The Oracle Lens, a trinket you can swap to at the shop, sweeps the area around you for a few seconds and reveals the wards there. It suits junglers and supports, who move around objectives the most. Sweep where the enemy likes to ward and destroy what you find: every ward you clear is a question they can no longer answer.

Read your minimap, or your wards are wasted

Look at your minimap every few seconds and ask two questions: who is visible, and who has been missing for a while? When an enemy walks past one of your wards, ask where they are heading and who they could reach.

Missing enemies matter as much as visible ones. If their jungler and mid laner both vanished, assume they are together and coming somewhere: “Two enemies missing? Take the safer path.” And when one of your wards vanishes before its time, someone probably cleared it: they are, or were, right there. It is the first habit in our solo queue guide.

Safe and deep wards, role by role

• Top. Safe: the river brush and the entrance their jungler uses to reach you. Deep, once your wave is pushed: the entrance to their jungle beside your lane.
• Jungle. Track their jungler with wards at their camps when it is safe, protect your own camps when you are behind, and sweep the objectives later in the game.
• Mid. Ganks can come from both sides: keep a ward on each side of the river when you can, and ward the side you plan to roam to.
• Bot. As the carry, ward from safe spots and never face-check a brush — walk into it without vision. Let your support lead and play on the side they lit up.
• Support. You lead the vision: river and lane brushes early, deeper wards with your jungler once your lane is pushed, and a Control Ward on every recall.

With Gankademy

Gankademy measures one vision habit straight from Riot’s match data after every Summoner’s Rift game, for free: SETUP, a ward placed in the two minutes before each objective your team played. The rules quoted in this guide are among its 22 principles.

When you ask for a coach analysis, it judges only with what your screen showed: enemy wards, purchases, items, gold and positions are removed from what the judgment receives. The film, narrated by the coach you pick, zooms on your minimap at each decision. In game, Gankademy never shows anything the fog hides: vision stays your job. What it reads, and what it never does · See the film.

Questions