Lesson 5 of 6 · 5 min

Vision Basics: The Three Phases

are not decoration. Each phase of the game has one job for your vision, and most deaths in low elo are a that was never placed.

// What you will be able to do

Name the one job vision has in each phase of the game
Place a ward for a reason instead of on cooldown
Explain why a ward that has expired is worse than no ward at all

Vision is the cheapest defensive item in the game. It costs a charge and four seconds of walking, and it prevents the single most expensive event in League: dying to something you could not see. If you are dying more than four times a game and cannot say why, this lesson is the one that moves your number.

// The two you will use in every single game

Your trinket
Free, on a cooldown, and in your inventory from the moment the game starts. Nothing in this lesson costs you gold, a charge you did not spend is not saved, it is wasted.
Control ward, 75 gold
Bought, permanent until somebody kills it, and the only one that also removes theirs. Buy one on every back you can afford it on; the Vision track is largely an argument about this item.

// Where the

goes and why

Phase	Where	The question it answers
0–14 min	The river bush or tri-bush on your jungler-facing side	Is the enemy jungler coming for me right now?
14–20 min	The enemy approach to the next or pit	Can we start this objective safely?
20+ min	Chokepoints between you and the objective you want	Is it safe for five people to walk here?

The early-game is the one that changes ranks. It goes down before you push past the middle of the lane, not after, a placed while you are already overextended is a that tells you about a gank you cannot escape. Place it on the side the enemy jungler started, and refresh it when your comes back and you are about to push again.

// Common mistake: Warding on cooldown instead of on intent

The comes up, you throw the at the nearest bush without looking, and it expires 90 seconds later having shown you nothing. Your vision score goes up. Your deaths do not go down.

The fix
before you do something risky, not after the cooldown notification. The trigger is 'I am about to push past the river', not 'my is up'.

There is a subtler point about expired . A you placed two minutes ago and have forgotten about is actively dangerous, because you are playing as if you have vision when you do not. This is why the timer on your minimap matters and why , which stay until killed, are worth the 75 gold in exactly the places you cannot afford to be guessing.

// Decision

5:20. You have priority in lane and want to shove the wave to set up your recall. The enemy jungler started on the bottom side and has not been seen for 50 seconds. Your is up.

You have wave priority and want to push
Enemy jungler started bottom side, unseen for 50s
Trinket available
Your jungler is on the top side of the map

// The vision habit that fixes deaths

Before pushing past the middle of the lane, the river on the jungler's side
Buy a on every recall where you can afford it without dropping an item threshold
When your expires, treat the map as dark again, do not keep playing off a memory
If you cannot , do not push. Those are the only two options.

// On the map

You are mid at 6:00, about to shove the wave past the middle of the lane. The enemy jungler was last seen taking their own -side buff. Click where the goes.

4 spots are live on the map. Pick one.

// Check

Why is a forgotten expired worse than never having warded at all?