Vision – The One Thing I Never Got About League of Legends

There are two things I’ve never really understood in League of Legends. The first is how to jungle efficiently. Jungling in League of Legends has changed a lot over the years, with different monsters and buffs and items, but I never learned how to farm properly and when the best time to gank, help a lane or whatever. The other thing I never understood was vision.

Now, when I used to play League of Legends, I mostly played support. And support was generally in charge of applying vision to the map, as well as protecting the ADC and stopping them from dying. You’d generally do so by buying and placing Stealth Wards, which would reveal a small area of the map, even if no allies were present. But support characters never got much income and wards were expensive, so money was always spent on a Sightstone, which would give you five wards that refreshed when you went back to base. Eventually, towards the time where I stopped playing, Stealth Ward trinkets were added, meaning everyone had a free trinket, but it was still mostly up to the support to place vision across the map.

And that vision was very helpful. Wards allow you to see areas of the map where you can’t normally, like in bushes. The vision is affected by terrain, but a well-placed ward means you can spot an enemy jungler creeping up on you, or give you a heads up that the enemy team is going to attempt to fight Baron Nashor. Wards generally save lives, but they also help set up ganks and counter-attacks.

These days though, it seems that vision is much more plentiful. Not only do all the main support items give out stealth wards like candy, but everyone gets the choice to pick up an item that also gives recharging stealth wards. There are also neat plants that give out temporary and long-reaching vision when broken, and the support items are now actually useful and affordable, and upgrade more easily.

That being said, it’s not that everyone uses it. There are still plenty of people who don’t seem to ward. What, you don’t like vision? You don’t like knowing where the enemy champions are? Sure, not all deaths can be prevented, but some deaths definitely can if you place your wards smartly. And you can’t just rely on your support (or jungler) to do all the warding any more, since wards are free via the Stealth Ward trinket. There’s no excuse not to use wards.

I noticed this the most in the League of Legends world championship finals, the LCS, where T1 beat the crap out of WBG. WBG had far, far less vision than T1 did. I don’t think that was the main reason why they lost so quickly, but I don’t think it helped. Having vision of more of the map is always helpful. Wards save lives, people.

So yeah, I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t you want to ensure your own safety? Plus, these days, it’s not like wards cost anything. They have a cost of time now, being on a cooldown, rather than costing actual gold. You don’t need to face-check every bush in the game.