NA and EU LCS Vision Ward Analysis

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With the Season 4 vision changes securely set, each player can only place one Vision Ward at a time. This change has forced teams to intelligently coordinate many aspects of vision including when, where and why to buy a pink ward as they last forever until spotted by an opponent and destroyed. Even taking the time to destroy Vision Wards comes with choices and consequences of their own.

 

(EU) Gambit v Alliance

In the first EU LCS match of week 4, both Alliance and Gambit bought a few Vision Wards, but more heavily so on Alliance. They especially were put in a situation where they needed to be able to have vision on Alex Ich’s Kha’Zix and on Diamond’s Evelynn.

Around 15 minutes, Gambit placed a ward in the island bush by dragon pit. Rather than placing it directly at dragon, Gambit tried to stay one chess move ahead of their opponents by being able to destroy any wards Alliance placed at the objective. Once dragon spawned, Alliance placed their own Vision Ward in front of dragon not only to clear wards Gambit may have placed, but to stop Eve from freely running up to the objective and stealing it.

Alliance’s later Vision Ward purchasing fell off substantially. When it came to later skirmishes in their jungle and at Baron, Alliance repeatedly lost. Of course this wasn’t just because they didn’t purchase Vision Wards. Gambit had a substantial gold lead, but getting vision control to avoid EDward flashing with a Tibbers stun, Alex Ich engaging with his ultimate and Diamond flanking with Evelynn would have helped them mount a comeback.

 

(EU) Supa Hot Crew v SK Gaming

In Supa Hot Crew’s game against SK Gaming, both teams placed Vision Wards in their wraith bushes, at around 20 and 25 minutes. At this point the game was transitioning from mid to late, and both teams were beginning to roam into either jungle. While SHC placed theirs preemptively, SK was put in a position that forced them to spend extra money on Vision Wards or be easily hunted down in their own jungle.

In the situation shown below, nRated wanted to deny Moopz vision in order to reclaim some of his jungle and ease some of the pressure off of their gold deficit. By destroying that Stealth Ward, nRated would force the present members of SHC to either commit to destroying to the Vision Ward or relinquish their confidence while roaming in enemy territory.

Due to SHC’s gold lead and map control, their Vision Ward turned from a necessity to a safeguard should they find themselves on the back foot. In both situations, that particular bush is a commonly used point of entry or exit and a Vision Ward can easily be worth the 100 gold. 

 

(NA) Team Solo Mid v XDG

Around the mid game of the week 4 match between TSM and XDG, Bloodwater placed a Vision Ward in the bush right next to XDG's blue buff. He puts it as far in the corner of the bush as possible, to try and catch as many of TSM's Stealth Wards as possible, while still keeping it relatively hidden. At this point in the game TSM is widening their lead and forcing XDG to relinquish control of their jungle.

In the photo Bloodwater and XDG are trying to reclaim some of their territory from an encroaching Elise and a roaming Riven. By placing a Vision Ward in that specific spot, XDG hoped to eliminate any wards that Bjergsen placed so that he wouldn't get caught splitpushing bot lane. The Vision Ward was also placed towards protecting their blue buff, which was coincidentally being taken by TheOddOne at that moment.

By increasing the risk factor to Riven's splitpushing, it deterred her from sticking around secured buffs and the jungle in general. Placing the Vision Ward at that spot did help force TSM from the bot lane and jungle, but what was important about that move was the positioning for dragon, which XDG could have used to mount a comeback. However TSM was on top of the dragon timer while XDG attempted a risky Baron that lost them two turrets.

 

(NA) Cloud 9 v Coast

In Cloud 9's game against Coast, Hai bought a Vision Ward to protect himself from ganks initiated by Wukong's (NintendudeX) Decoy. It was also there to deny Shiphtur vision and reduce the avenues of escape for his Katarina Shunpo. 

In the moment captured in the screenshot, Meteos hoped to capitalize on the Vision Ward by counterganking Wukong. Once NintendudeX discovered the Vision Ward, he tried to destroy it, allowing Meteos on Lee Sin and Hai on LeBlanc to set up a countergank. Unfortunately for NintendudeX, he was silenced into a stun and caught by a Lee Sin Q. Of course NintendudeX must have known he would be visible if passed through the bush to escape, but when being chased by a Lee Sin and LeBlanc, there aren't many paths you can take as a wounded Wukong.

This play helped Hai extend his gold lead, it temporarily allowed other lanes the knowledge that they wouldn't be ganked by Wukong, and it temporarily opened up NintendudeX's jungle to Meteos and Hai. As for why Hai placed the Vision Ward in that particular bush, it may have been a result of Hai taking time to study NintendudeX's ganking patterns, or he may have just guessed the correct side of the coin.

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