If you’re serious about succeeding in League of Legends, you’ll need to fine-tune a multitude of skills. While many players focus on mastering champions and their abilities, other skills get overlooked. However, if you overlook things like map awareness and vision control, you’re setting yourself up for a fall. Are you a first-time LoL player looking to polish up on the basics? Read for everything you need to know about map and vision and control.
Map Awareness
Let’s start with map awareness. Too many players focus only on what’s happening in their lane. If you’re playing alongside a well-oiled team who always has your back, this usually doesn’t present any problems. However, even a seasoned LoL pro needs to have exceptional map awareness at all times.
If you’re not practicing good map awareness, you leave yourself exposed to enemy attacks. However, it’s not just about preventing those last-minute surprises. Good map awareness will make it easier to predict an enemy’s next move, allowing you to carry out pre-emptive strikes for a hassle-free win.
One of the simplest ways to improve awareness is to mute other players. While this can take some of the fun out of the social side of LoL play, it’s a surefire way of allowing you to stay focused. Worried that hitting that mute button will mean you can’t interact with your team? Think again. You can use Smart Pings to communicate with fellow players. While these pings boil communication down to the bare minimum, they’re all you need to let teammates know that there’s danger afoot, you need an assist, or an enemy is MIA.
Vision Control
If you don’t have a firm handle on vision control, you stand little chance of climbing the ranks to Platinum and Diamond, let alone Master. Thankfully, mastering vision control is easier than you think.
To control the battlefield in League of Legends, you’ll need to get to grips with warding. When a ward is deployed, you’ll be able to punch through the fog of war that engulfs the battlefield. Although the radius of a ward is fairly small, you can still see what’s going on around you, helping you unleash attacks at just the right time and keep enemies at bay.
It’s never too early to start using wards in a League of Legends game. You shouldn’t need to use any in the first minute of play, but they become more essential as the game wears on. The closer you get to enemy towers, the more vital it is that you have vision control. Ideally, you should be placing as many wards as possible in enemy jungle territory, as well as key objectives. This way, you won’t be surprised by enemies creeping up on you.
While wards are typically used to bolster lines of defense or facilitate attacks, they can also be used more strategically. Think about setting them along choke points. If several members of the enemy team wander into the path of your wards, you can descend on them quickly, without them having a clue what’s going on until you’ve dealt the final blow.
Searching for map and vision control tips to take your game to the next level? Head to www.1337pro.com/en/lol/tournament-schedule to watch how the pros wield wards on the battlefield.
