The Big Bad Ward Battle.

Warding is important to me; as I main Support, it is key that the wards I place are going to have their optimal effect in the game.  It got me thinking though if there is any link between elo rank and how people use wards; League is a team game, and I think that correct ward placement is an important facet of good teamwork.

                                                                                                                                          

I conducted a small questionnaire within my friends list, and asked 40 of them two questions:

• Who's job do you think it is to ward the Summoners Rift?
• What are the main issues you face about warding when playing Ranked? 

Here are the top comments I received and the rank they are currently in.

Silver:  "Mostly I see every lane not warding and the jungler doesn't ward enough."

              "Wards? but I need to buy my DFG." (Known troll)

Gold:  "I tend to not buy that many wards"

            "I ward as much as I can but I think a lot of people forget about it or don't care"

Plat:  "Mid lane is a usual suspect for not warding, and usually the first to get caught."

           "Usually the jungler and support buy most of the wards"

         

Diamond:  "Every game is different. Some people ward and some don't.  Mostly people ward, then overextend, then die."

" It's everyones job to ward, although Support should be doing the majority of it"

When I asked one of my friends in the Diamond league the second question, the reply I got was "none really, if people are playing serious".  It made me think about the potential link between how seriously people take the game and warding.  So the pattern I have thought about is: 

Serious gaming - Higher elo - More use of wards.

Not so serious gaming - Lower elo - less use of wards. 

Although it isn't quite as clear cut as this (there are always outliers on either end of a scale), there does seems to be a potential pattern.  If you take the game a little more serious than others, would you be of a higher elo and therefore using advantage of all the games resources, such as wards? 

I scanned the LoL forums and any other pieces I could find on warding.  Almost every post or website that give you tips about raising your elo explains about good use of warding.  It's been noticed in an anecdotal fashion that there is a link between high-elo and proper warding, but not enough research to say it is factual.

                                                                                                                                            

When I started playing support I was directed to ward and I didn't ask why, I just did what I was told. When I took more interest in the game and began my journey to become a better player, I started to look at the vital places for warding and when it was or wasn't needed.  For example: it is likely that a Fiddlesticks jungler will start at their blue buff, proceed to red then try to gank the top lane or mid. This has been a reoccurring pattern which I have noticed in my climb to Platinum this season.  If I knew that the jungler in the opposite team was stronger than my own early in the game, I would try to ward their own red or blue buff to give my jungler some insight to whether their buff was about to be stolen.  It's a small thing to place a ward for your jungler, or to ward for yourself, but the ultimate reward for doing so will grossly outweigh the cost of doing so.

The World Championships has been a great example this season of the early ward battle between teams.  Pink is in, and there has been a consistent pattern of team members buying vision wards in the game.

So let's look at the pros and cons for buying vision wards, for a measly 125 gold:

•  You can save yourself from a potential gank.
•  You deny the other team vision of both your jungle and their own, depending on where you ward.
•  You can gain objectives such as Drake, Baron and the opposing teams red or blue buffs.
•  You can catch a member of the opposing team out, killing them and giving you a huge advantage.

What's that you say?  All that for 125 gold?  WORTH.

In the World Championships, it was clear that there were some decisive ward battling in games

Gambit vs Samsung Ozone in the group stages Diamond's Evelynn was able to contribute and pressurize both the jungle and lanes.  The analyst desk ripped apart Ozone for the lack of vision wards in the game.  In the semi-finals with Gambit vs Najin Black Sword Diamond again played Evelynn jungle.  At one point there were 6 vision wards amongst the mid lane and bottom.  Evelynn was denied almost every chance to successfully gank in between, leaving Gambit struggling and giving Najin Black Sword a decisive advantage.  It is a small example of the big bad ward battle but it shows how much a jungler or anyone roaming into a warded area will be so limited, having only a remote chance of a successul gank instead of a certain one.

Your Thoughts!

I would like to gather a bit more data on this, so I have popped the ward questions onto the EU League of Legends Forums.  It would be great to have your opinion!

http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?p=13381572&posted=1#post13381572

Pad.