How do i balance deep vision with early kills around dragon spawn as support?

[AbigailBM]

I’ve been trying to improve my map control as a support in pro-level scrims, but I keep getting caught out when warding the river near the first dragon spawn. My team says I’m not tracking the enemy jungler’s clear properly, but even when I think I have, their mid laner rotates faster. How do you balance deep vision with not giving up early kills there?

[DavidTT]

I’ve been using a two ward pattern by the river before 5:00. One control ward at the river mouth to catch early river pathing, and a second ward in the tri bush angled toward mid. It buys a few seconds to react if the enemy jungler starts on your side. If I see their path, I ping and tell the team to stay safe rather than chase, so we don’t give up a cheap kill there.

[AdamL]

I tried to track their first three camps and expected paths for three scrims. When I saw a fast mid rotate, I still got punished at the river. We did land a few plays on bot after, but the dragon timing never felt safe. The habit I’m trying is to reset the map at 4:50 and again at 5:00, but it’s hard to keep it consistent.

[Jeffrey.L]

Are you sure the issue is the river warding and not your mid’s roams or the enemy’s timings? It might be that the pressure comes from elsewhere and the river vision is compensating.

[DonaldUT]

Sometimes I overcorrect and waste a ward on a phantom path. Other times I under-commit and miss a collapse. I’ve found that a small, quick ward also gives the team something to react to, but I never feel totally safe around 5:00.