basic ward help

I need some basic help on WHEN to use wards. I have read several guides detailing all sorts of things, but what I am looking for is a little more simple than that. Basically, what I am looking for is a basic rundown as to WHEN to place wards WHERE.

when I say WHEN, i don't mean in response to something that the opposing team is doing. I get the idea behind that. I mean at what TIME in the game. Example: Do you ward right at the beginning of a match, and if so where?

I have been leaning towards support heros, mostly using Witch Doctor and Lich, so I want to get better at the warding so I can be a better support. What I did the last couple of matches that showed some good success was to ward my lane at the beginning of the match, and ward the runes about the 10 minute mark (i ignored runes prior to this).

Also, I have seen people ward the entrances to the enemy base at the end of the game if they are winning, but I cannot remember if they were regular observer wards, or sentry wards. What do you suggest.

I hope my question is clear. What would be most helpful is a simple guide that says, place a ward here at the 5 minute mark, etc. (I know that you cannot keep to a simple guide like this, but then I can adjust my strategy as the game progresses).

Thanks in advance

what do you want to covered?

My experiance as a public player is to buy wards even as carrier and put it on the map where to cover standard ganks. As mid player i ward one rune for myself so i can dominate the runecontrole. You have a few maps with defensive/offensive/neutral warding. Those spots have been tested by ALOT players. And are stil the best spots. I never ward neutral camps in publics.

If i play full support i even try to counterward. I never found a map where the best counterward spots are. So a counter question for you is if you know a source where i can find it.

(Sorry english will proberly sucks :<)

Thanks for the quick response. I gotta admit, I didn't pay attention to the counterwarding sections of the guides, since I knew I wasn't ready for it yet.

As support, I am usually in the side lanes. I have placed wards at the lane entrance from the river, and in the jungle high ground area at the beginning of the game. The jungle seems to be a waste of a ward (at least against the current level opponents) but perhaps it is still a good thing to get in the habit of doing.

Remember the fact that in publics the first 4 minnets mostly is lane-farming. So you could save one ward by just warding enterence from river/rune.

When would you recommend warding the rune areas? WHen the players start roaming / ganking?

Shortly after 0:00 is ideal, since whether you're going to be Ganking or getting Ganked, you'll want to know where the Runes are, especially if you have a Mid who'll buy a Bottle. Never underestimate how useful a Double Damage Rune is...even on a Crystal Maiden!

Warding all depends on how aggressive your team is. If you have a farming jungle and a super hard carry, you should probably place your first two wards at defensive jungle rune and the intersection of the enemy tier 1 and the river. This way all jungle entrances minus from mid are covered, and you will always be able to see if their heroes rotate through river or lane/TP.

If you are on the aggro side and you want to take towers, you usually invest wards on offensive jungle rune and just behind their tier 1 so you can see all defensive rotations/TPs.

Towards 10min as the game focuses more on the tier 1 mid, it is frequently useful to place wards on the enemy mid cliff to watch all movements around their tier 1. As the game progresses further you should just think about what your team needs, where the enemy heroes are likely to be.

With 2 good wards, good players can infer from a glance at the minimap where all 5 enemy heroes are. So study up!

To me, warding is really simple even in low level pubs:

Place at least a ward covering a rune spot after 0:00 (so the mid gets to see the rune spot at 4:00 before the ward expires).

Place wards covering the rune spots (and maybe a bit of the jungle of your safe lane, especially on the Radiant side) or on the high ground of the mid lane if all the tier 1 towers are up.

If some of the tier 1 towers in the Radiant side are down, consider placing wards near the Radiant ancient camp or in the Radiant jungle whether you're in the Radiant or Dire team.

If some of the tier 1 towers in the Dire side are down, ward near that "rock" south of the Dire jungle (and north of the tier 1 mid tower).

If the Radiant or Dire tier 2 towers are down, ward where there are those high rocks/hills with an eye on them: near the hard camp above the tier 2 bot tower and north of the medium camp near the tier 2 top tower, respectively.

When you're attacking the enemy base try to place a ward inside their base but outside the true sight of the towers (there are many guides showing it) or simply, after you destroy a tier 3, place a ward where the tower stood.

Lastly, but more importantly, always have a ward spotting Roshan's lair.


You can basically place wards depending on the number of towers destroyed, the rest comes up with experience. If you end up with your team's tier 1 tower and the enemy tier 2 towers destroyed, for example, ward both places or choose depending on the game (ward in your side of the map if playing passively, ward in the enemy side if playing aggressively).

Place ward at one of the runespot(doesnt matter which, might be inclined towards your safelane if he lacks an escape mech) at 00:00.

Next whatever lane you are headed ward the jungle area next to that point to prevent ganks from the jungle in offlane for dire and from the mid in safelane for dire.

As for radiant ward uphill the ancient pit or the same jungle area for dire offlane to prevent ganks to your safelane.

Keep wards up always. You might skip a batch IF making an important item like mek or pipe.

As the game progresses move the wards inwards or outwards depending on whether you are behind or ahead respectively.

Buy sentries if you are expecting smoke ganks or have invis enemies or you have to deward.

Smoke ganks will NOT be detected by sentry wards. You just have to be careful if you see that the enemy are missing. But you can use it to de-ward or spot invisible enemies.