Despite the fact that the top lane is the most lonesome lane, you have probably fallen victim to enemy players throwing a party there.
And even though many reasons can cause it, this is often a consequence of nonoptimal warding practices.
Luckily there are actionable steps you can take, which will make your vision game much better. I’ll go through them and inform you about everything you need to know about warding as a top laner.
So you can expect this guide to be rewarding both in terms of LP, and game enjoyment. I will start with the most important wards for the early game, and work my way down to late-game wards.
Let’s begin.
The 5 Best Ward Locations for Top Lane
1. River Bush Ward
River bush is the bush leading up to the river, and it is the most common warding location in the early game.
Placing this ward correctly will protect you from 90% of the early ganks. The ward should be placed in the middle of the bush, as this will cover the most territory. If you place it on bush edges, you will lose out on a lot of vision.
This ward will be the most useful when you are playing in the middle of the lane. This is simply due to the fact that you will have enough time to run away if you see an enemy approaching.
If you are overextended and deep into the enemy territory, this ward will serve as nothing but a reminder of your upcoming death.
Luckily, there are some other types of wards that will offer more protection when pushing.
2. Tribush Ward
In case you are pushing, a superior alternative to the river bush ward would be a tribush ward. Tribush is the bush that connects to the Baron’s pit, the one that’s on the path from the Krugs to the top lane.
The tribush ward will give you much more time to react to ganks, as you will have much more space to run away.
A good lane vision setup consists of a control ward in the river bush, and one normal ward in the tribush.
Read Also: How to Carry as a Top Laner?
3. Herald River Bush Control Ward
A “Herald River Bush Control Ward” is a ward placed in the small bush near Baron’s pit. The ward has an unnecessarily long name since I am not good at coining bush names.
In any case, this ward will help you protect the Herald from being taken since it will notify you as soon as enemies are near it.
In my experience, the enemies will usually give up on doing Herald after passing through this ward. And even if they don’t, they will still have to clear the ward, which will give you extra time to respond.
This ward is can be absolutely game-saving. For the small price of 75 gold, you can save an objective that gives enemies 300 gold for being taken and has the ability to destroy multiple turrets.
Not to mention that in lower elos a control ward in this bush can last the entire game.
4. Warding The Enemy Jungle
The wards placed in the enemy jungle are the best ones you can have as a top laner. These offensive wards will notify you when the enemy jungler is doing his camps which is super useful because you can use the information to play accordingly.
For example, if you see that the enemy jungler is pathing down (from Krugs to Raptors), you know that he won’t gank you and you can play aggressively. But if it’s the other way around, you might want to let the wave push in.
However, where to put them will depend on which side you are playing.
If you are playing on the blue side, you’ll want to place wards in the bush in front of enemy Krugs, or in the bush next to their Red buff. If you are really going all in, you can place one that’s near the blast cone.
On the red side, you can ward the enemy blue buff or the bush that’s on the path leading to the river. All these wards will notify you of the enemy jungler’s location and they can make you safe for a long time.
If the enemy jungler has gone through your wards, and you play safe for a minute, that means they are already cleared your side of the map and they are pathing to the other side.
And if they are on the other side of the map, it will take them a while to come back to your lane, and when they do, you can just repeat the process of playing safe.
Read Also: How to Ward as a Mid Laner – Guide
5. Warding the Lane Bushes
There are a few warding spots left, and I added these as last since you will not use them quite frequently.
These are the wards you can put in any of the bushes on the lane. You will want to put them when playing against champions that like to go in and out of bushes, to poke you and avoid taking damage like Rengar, for example.
On the other hand, placing a ward in one of the lane bushes can prevent some junglers from ganking you. Especially in higher elos, many junglers will simply walk into the top lane and wait in the bushes for you to overstep.
But this way, your ward will let you spot them before that happens and you’ll know that you need to play passively instead.
Read Also: In-Depth Guide for Improving Your Teleport Usage
Conclusion
Warding is an essential thing in League of Legends, and warding well can help you significantly improve as a player. The key warding spots in the early game for top lane are the river bush and the tribush.
As the game goes on you will preferably want to put wards in the enemy jungle so that you can have additional foresight and a heightened ability to track the enemy jungler.
Additional wards you can place in the Herald river bush or in the bushes on the top lane. The Herald bush will help you prevent the enemy from taking Herald, and the wards in the top lane bushes will make trading much easier.
