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Friday, November 26, 2010

No, your turn to buy ward.

For most games, warding has always been the determining factor in winning and losing a game. We all know the importance of buying wards, but most of the time for one reason or another, we forget. By reading this, you can understand your teammates' (and your own) frustration when it comes to warding and take necessary actions.


Lets start with an example.
typical argument for ward buying (player A,B,C,D,E):
You are player A.


player C: HOLY FK GUYS, we are getting facerolled lololol wtf.
player B: ya cause u noobs dont call mia, i keep getting ganked in mid -_-
player C: guys get some wards...
player D: na man i cant afford..no gold
player B: i just bought a ward kk someone else do it plox
(silence...notice how player E never said anything. Apparently farming in the bottom lane requires tons of concentration)
(game ends 20 minutes later after getting aced 5 times due to failure of knowing where the other team was)


I am pretty sure all of you have encountered this situation before. So, what are the problems here? How could have you responded and led your team to victory? 

Here you have a typical team where none of the players recognize the importance of temporary self-sacrifice in order to contribute to the team. Player C brought up an important point that his team is getting owned without knowing why. Player B and D responds with typical answers.


1. Player B was furious due to the lack of mia calls that caused him his early game. He most likely read somewhere on the forums that warding is important, therefore, he responded by warding the two sidebushes in mid. While this did solve the ganking problem, player B wrongfully thought his job of buying wards was done and someone else should buy them. (heck, 180 gold is costly!)
2.Player C probably doesn't care about his team or doesn't know what to do. Someone should buy wards, but that someone probably isn't him.
3.Player D might have had a bad laning phrase and is behind in farming. His logic would be saving every extra penny in his pocket and maybe one day he can afford a BF sword.
4.Player E simply doesn't give a fk.
Whats wrong with this picture?
Recently, I have played a game where my team dominated the entire early game: shutting down the jungling Warwick, getting killing sprees (2 double kills for me before 15min). We thought the game was won so we relaxed and farmed/pushed at a steady pace. However, we eventually noticed that even though we were leading by 10 kills, the enemy team was fighting back, more successful each time. Soon, the terrible truth was revealed: the enemy team has been getting dragon 5 times in a roll at least! We were never that ahead at all. After a few more fail teamfights, we lost. 

If we had spent an extra 90 gold to ward dragon, this would never have happened!

The morale of this story is, the more your team is winning, the more important is to buy wards to SECURE your victory. Of course, if you are losing and no wards have been placed...well... 


Everyone has excuses for not buying wards, here are the most common ones:
  • I already bought 5! Great! But if no one else in your team is going to buy wards, you need to step up and take action.
  • I don't have gold! A sight ward costs 90 gold. Farm a creep wave or jungle for a min or two. This is by far the least legit excuse.
  • Enemy X has oracle! Great for noticing that! Now just try to hunt him down or place wards in locations he won't look for.
  • (no response) Wonder why you are in elo hell?
You might have noticed that convincing some stranger over the internet to do something is very difficult. Therefore, it's time to take matter into your own hands and get some wards!


Here i will be showing a few basic tips on warding locations. There is one epic warding guide I use, but I have to find the link to show you guys.


1. place wards at spots that cover the view of multiple entrances. look for choke points and place the ward at where all the choke points converge
Which one is better?
2. always place vision wards at dragon and baron. This is for detecting and destroying your opponent's wards. vision wards can be placed at wherever you think the enemy is warding, as long as benefit > cost.
3. always pick up one when you have spare change. waiting for a BF sword but only have 500 gold saved? pick up a ward! benefit > cost.
4. never go into a "who-should-buy-wards" argument with your teammates. If you buy some, your teammates will follow later on (even though sometimes they will place them at the most ridiculous places).
5. Offensive warding (ward enemy's jungle) if your team is pushing hard past the first row of towers. Defensive warding (warding your own jungle) when your team is being pushed past the first row of towers.
Ta-Da!
I will upload images and links ASAP.


RYZE BOT OP MUCH

2 comments:

  1. It's a lucky day when you get players B, C and D. The majority are E, and he cannot be persuaded. :P

    Anyway, nice blog. :) I'd just like to point out that, while there are some optimal spots, there aren't bad wards. No matter where, it's gonna provide some vision and any bit helps.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pssht. I was in a game once where Master Yi bot got a quadra. You want a screenshot?

    ReplyDelete