This is a companion to the above video, and is not intended to be a standalone article.

Hello! This is impaKt, and Cloth5 and I are here to bring you yet another Support Guide. This time I’ll be talking about when, how and what to ward. I’ll be focusing on the reasons behind each ward and I will also be showing you the differences between warding on the blue side and on the red side. So without further due, let’s get started.

So first off, we have the laning phase wards. Your primary focus when warding should be covering the gank paths to your lane, as well as the dragon area. Your secondary focus will be to use wards to gain bush vision and control as often as possible.

First we have the first bush ward. A ward should be used in this area when you know you’re going to get pushed under your tower in order to keep vision over the enemy support. A pink ward in the first bush, however, is used for two main purposes: if the enemy team has teleport and you want to make sure you’re not ganked AND if your jungler is ganking bottom, and you want to give him a safe and sneaky path through the lane. This works the same way for both blue side and red side.

The second bush ward can be used to detect incoming lane ganks, or even for one of your team mates to teleport and assist you. A pink ward in the second bush is usually used for bush control. You’ll be able to dish out free harass and poke, with little to no chance of retaliation.

Then, we have the wards to prevent ganks. These should be laid out according to your side.

While playing in the blue team, the main wards you should be focusing on are:

• The dragon ward (that covers both the objective and the path from the enemy blue and mid lane);
• The Tri-Bush ward (if for some reason your mid doesn’t have wards on the bottom side of the river, and if the enemy jungler doesn’t have a lot of movement speed);
• The enemy Tri-Bush ward (which will give you sight over both lane ganks, and tri-bush ganks. This one however may be tricky to place. Be careful not to get caught under the enemy tower while placing this ward. Getting caught in order to grant vision is never worth it);

Easy enough, yes? Let’s go over the main wards for the red side:

• The dragon ward (yep, you can pretty much ward in the same place as you do in the blue team. However, this time you’ll only be covering the objective and the path from the mid lane. You won’t be able to see the enemy jungler as he comes out of the buff like you do on the blue side);
• The Tri-Bush ward (and this ward is contested often, as it is most of the times the main gank path for many junglers. If for some reason you lose sight over this bush, try controlling the one closest to your tower instead. Also, the way to place this ward safely is from the dragon pit. All you have to do, is make your character stand on top of the plants, press SPACE to center the camera on your character and then click on the black dot on the sign. That will make the ward drop on the bush);
• The enemy golems ward (and this is extremely tricky to place. you DO NOT want to get caught while placing this ward. Your enemies will have to go back sometime, so use that window of opportunity to place the ward, as it will give you vision over lane ganks and even over the jungler while he’s doing golems. Meaning your top laner, for instance, will be able to play agressive);

So let’s say the laning phase is done, you destroyed the enemy bottom turret and your team is doing alright. This is the perfect time to buy oracles, and a whole lot of wards. What you’ll want to do now is gather up, and push together. To do this, you’ll have to grant vision over the enemy jungle in order to see the enemy team’s movement. So let’s get started:

As soon as you destroy the middle turret, you should place a ward immediately behind it, so that the path between jungles is visible. This way, you’ll be wary of enemy rotation. This goes for both blue side and red side.

There are 6 main wards you should place in this situation. 3 on the top side of the jungle, and 3 on the bottom side of the jungle.

• The blue buff ward (grants you vision over the buff, and even over enemies that just came back from base);
• The I don’t have a name for this ward ward (I just couldn’t think of a clever name for this, sorry about that. But this ward will give you vision over the enemies that just entered the jungle from the mid lane);
• The DEEP ward (and I’m calling this one the deep ward because it will actually give you vision over the enemy’s movement behind their inner turrets. That way, you can split push, for instance, knowing if the enemy is rotating towards you or not);
• The wraith ward (covers the jungle entrance from the mid lane)
• The red ward (which covers the jungle entrance from the top lane and covers the red buff);
• The DEEP ward version 2.0 (yeah. I’m not that creative. But it’ll serve the same purpose: give vision over the movement behind inner turrets);

Notice that I didn’t mention the baron ward because by having these 6 wards up all the time, if the enemy moves toward it, you’ll know anyway since their entire jungle is warded. However, make sure you place a ward near it if you can spare one.

If you destroy the inner turrets, or if you’re sieging the enemy inhibitor turrets, placing wards inside their base walls is also a good idea. This will help a lot with skillshots, for instance.

Now let’s suppose the game didn’t go so well, and that you’re still behind in gold. In this situation, there are defensive wards you should consider. And they’re pretty much mirrors of the ones I mentioned earlier:

• The mid lane ward (for pretty much the same reason);
• Have both of the buffs warded – Both blue and red buff;
• Have the entrances to both jungles warded;

Now let’s say things are really getting out of hand and you have no inner turrets. All you can do is ward just outside the walls of your base, and pink the inside of the walls, so you can deny vision and reduce the chances of your team mates getting hit by something like a Nidalee spear.

Have in mind that after the laning phase I didn’t mention pink wards. This is primarily because you should be spending money on oracles. However, consider this: if the enemy team has any kind of stealth champions, like Twitch or Evelyn, you should invest a lot more on pink wards. Oracles gives you a limited true sight range. However, if you plant vision wards, you’ll have true sight in a much bigger area.

Denying vision will make your enemies play more passive since they won’t know where your team is. Have this in mind when warding the enemy jungle, or even in the Laning Phase.

While playing with a team, however, a whole new level of warding is required. But those ward spots should be decided with your team according to your strategy. And Level 1 warding is extremely important in this situation.

For instance: a team can go for a defensive warding level 1, by having sight over the main jungle entrances to make sure no buff is contested, or they can go for an invade. In this case, if you’re invading the enemy’s red buff, for instance, you should consider warding your own lizard before you do so. This way, you’ll know if the enemy took yours and adapt your strategy accordingly.

Also, there are often lane swaps for many reasons: to deny a specific champion, because the bottom lane is weaker, for buff control or even to get a tower as soon as possible.

When a team expects something like this to happen, they usually gather up and ward deep in the jungle, so they can see what lane the duo is going for.

I thought I should end this video by highlighting how to ward a few difficult spots. I hope it helps.

And I guess that’s all for now! And I have to say… Every day I just want to keep editing more and more content for you guys. Your feedback has been awesome, and I really hope this guide will be able to help you out as well!

Thanks for reading and until next time!