Friday, September 30, 2016

League of Legends - 3 Step guide to get to Diamond (or climb in general) by Bladerunner7777

Note: This is what worked for me, I can't guarantee this will work for everyone.
There are 3 steps but that doesn't mean it is ez as 123
Sorry for looking similar to every other cancer "tips on how I got to X" post

Step 1: Find Your Main

I'm sure everyone has heard this a million times before on this sub and I'll probably get flamed for saying it. In order to climb you must be consistent (see step 2), to achieve this, you will play the same champion(s) every game. 1 main and 1 backup if your main is banned/taken. If your champ has a low banrate then you don't have to be that good at your secondary; if you know your main champion really well you should know how to beat them.
You cannot "decide" your OTP
I think this is really important to know: You see lots of people on this sub that are aware that One-Tricking is effective, so they ask "who should I One-Trick". It doesn't work like that.
As a wise man (tyler1) once said:
"When you find your main, you'll just know."
If the thought of playing hundreds of games with only one particular champion hurts your brain, that champion obviously isn't your OTP. I used to aspire to be a Kha'Zix main but I could not force myself to play him too much otherwise I would get exhausted. I think everyone has a potential "One-trickable" champ depending on your personality; you might even learn something about yourself.
Be warned, the process of finding your main could potentially take a really long time. It could be years before you realize "the one"; you might have already played "the one" several times before but you didn't even realize it. Sometimes you'll have like a hundred games on a champ and one day you wake up and realize: "...this isn't fun".
Just... follow ur heart kappa

Step 2: Remove All Inconsistencies

This step is easy, but requires discipline. Now that you have your main, your "control" champion, you need to remove all the other hindering variables so you can actually climb faster. If you are consistent every game then it's easier to see what you did wrong and learn from it.
Things to do to achieve consistency in no particular order:
  • Being well rested when you play (very important)
  • Solo Q only
  • If anything in the chat fills you with negative emotions, /mute all
  • Play on settings that allow you to get consistent FPS (not choppy)
  • Have reliable internet
  • Being emotionally stable before you start a game
  • Have no distractions around you
  • Take care of everything you need to take care of before you start a match (like eating), you want to be giving your full attention to the game.
  • Don't be toxic or passive-aggressive, this requires a lot of discipline.
  • DO NOT look at op.gg/etc while the game loads. Knowing that your enemy is super good will only negatively affect your playing.
  • Let every game play out, never open mid/surrender unless your team is like 20vs0. If there is even a reasonable doubt, play it out.
  • Never worry about your team, worry about yourself
These things don't require any talent, as long as you force yourself to follow these rules (I probably missed some too) you should be able to see improvement. You can't let your emotions take over you, this is a pretty good life skill as well.

Step 3: Play lots of Ranked, stop playing Ranked when you aren't winning, play Normals and take it seriously.

Pretty straight forward. Now that you are basically a control variable, you need to play a lot of games so you can reallyiron out every mistake you make over time.
If you lose 3-4 ranked games in a row, stop playing ranked, you're wasting time. The reason you lost 4 games in a row is because you are the problem, often times when One-Tricking a champ or just playing the game you could pick up a really bad habit. Playing with a bad habit is like a sickness and you need to get it out of your system, the most efficient way to do this is to play normals until you isolate what you're doing wrong. Once you realize your mistake you should never be making it again and you will probably go back to winning (if you aren't then you have more major mistakes that need correcting, or you are forgetting the "control variable rules").
If you are constantly hovering between divisions, you also need to stop playing ranked. Fact of the matter is, if you can't easily climb to the next rank, you won't be able to ever get passed it. I'll share my own personal experience if it helps to better explain:
Once I had climbed out of Plat 2 and into Plat 1, I was ready to start climbing to Diamond. Straight off the bat I noticed that none of my games seemed consistent. I was getting super frustrated because I would get demoted to Plat 2 when I felt like I deserved Plat 1. To be honest, I wasn't even close to being ready for Diamond. Once I had climbed back to Plat 1 eventually, I stopped playing Ranked and played Normals for an entire week. After a week I learned two important things:
  • I started being more passive-aggressive in the chat once I got to Plat 1 because I felt like I was good enough that I didn't need to censor myself. I also did the same thing when I was practicing in Normals so I didn't even do well in Normals until I finally corrected myself. Being toxic is a bad habit that could always resurface no matter how many times you correct yourself; be disciplined.
  • Apparently I had piss poor knowledge about rotations. Previously I would just the follow the ADC around (support main), but riding on the tailwind of the ADC only worked for so long before I needed to step up and take initiative. Playing normals helped me learn this because I would always win lane but I didn't know how to carry the advantage to the other lanes.
These mistakes are personal; not everyone has the same weaknesses and some people might struggle with mistakes that you never have a problem with.
Play Normals until you feel very confident with going back to Ranked. You can't just think of it like, "I played 5 normal games so now I'm going to do well in Ranked". You have to play Normals and you have to feel like playing Normals has helped you improve. Also practice how you play; treat Normals like Ranked always (unless you're not trying to climb Ranked, then treat Normals how you want).

I do not believe in creating a long-ass list with a checklist of "tips" will make anyone significantly better at League.The best way to improve at this game is to learn everything naturally. I think this method of climbing minimizes those moments of Elo Surfing like when you manage to get to division 1 but then you go on a huge loss streak and end up in division 3 or something, which usually saves a lot of time as well if you can avoid this.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends - Beginner Raptor Deck v2.0 - AP Sustain by The Killer Bits


Chronicle: Runescape Legends is a free to play collectible card game (CCG) available on steam .

Recently in Chronicle, Jagex moved some cards into the start set, expanding it and increasing the options for new players. So, it seemed pertinent to update my beginner deck series to reflect the newer options, and provide better decks.

So today, we have The Raptor fitting his tanky archetype with a base attack building, healing deck. This deck is incredibly cheap with only 2 sapphire cards. All other cards are starter, or obtained by levelling the character. Perfect for new players!

Expanding on their popular RuneScape franchise, with Chronicle Jagex Game Studios are following the trend of creating their own collectible card battler. But instead battling their opponent directly players must, in part, fight their own decks across 5 chapters collecting coins to purchase weapons and utility cards.

For more information about the game visit - https://www.rschronicle.com/

Deck List:Support
Ali Morissane x2
Cabbage x2
Mimic
Adamant Armour x2
Romily Weaklax x2
Nastroth x2
Solomon Madini
Stamina Potion x2

CreatureKGP Agent x2
Black Arm Bandit x2
Zombie Crew x2
Jubbly Bird x2
Skeleton Warrior x2
Kalphite Worker x2
Ice Nihil
Goblin Flashmob x2

-------------------------

Get in touch with us on:

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/thekillerbits
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/thekillerbits
Fran's Twitch - http://www.twitch.tv/Jaggerous


Monday, September 26, 2016

World of Warcraft - How To Raid: An Introductory Primer for People Who Want To Raid by supertoned

Everyone wants to raid. Everyone knows it's hard. When you're new to the game, it can be a little overwhelming knowing just what to do and how to prepare for it. Many new raiders have a real desire to do a good job and be an asset to the team, but without any prior knowledge of just what goes into raiding, things can quickly degenerate into a frustrating and painful experience for everyone involved.
You don't have to start raiding as a clueless newbie! You can be a great raider! Anyone can be a great raider! If you're willing to put in the effort, you can really excel and be an asset to any raid team.
I don't consider myself to be an even remotely elite WoW player. Over the course of my game career, I have still managed to take down a satisfying number of bosses over many expansions. If I can raid effectively, so can you. To help people who are new to the raiding scene, I have put this short guide together. I hope it helps you, and good luck!

How To Raid

BEFORE YOU JOIN A RAID GROUP:
  • Want to raid enough to put effort into it.
BEFORE THE DAY OF THE RAID:
  • Get the Gear (you want to be at least 840)
  • Get the addons
  • Get a headset and get into VOIP
  • Set up your keybinds
  • Learn your class
  • Enchant and gem your gear
  • Get your flasks and foods
  • Know the fights
THE DAY OF THE RAID:
  • Show up on time
  • Pay attention
  • Try to do a good job
That's it. If you have the fortitude to check off each of these items, you will be a successful raider, and that's just all there is to it. If you feel that some of these items are not important, or can be skipped or glossed over, you are never going to be as effective as someone who has this entire toolkit.
Raiding in a nutshell is all about pushing yourself as close to your personal best as possible, and doing it in a group environment where you rely on everyone else to do the same. It's a great feeling when you know your teammates are trying as hard as you are, and you are all in it together. Raiding really is a lot of work, but it's a great community experience and many of us feel it is worth the effort.
I don't assume every player to know just what goes in to each of these steps, so let's go over them one by one:

THE SPECIFIC MEANS AND METHODS OF BEING A RAIDER
  • Want to raid enough to put effort into it.
This is the biggest single element you need to raid. As Koonts says 'You just have to want it'. Almost any serious raid group will take on anyone who shows the initiative of wanting to get better. It's the most important element in a raider, and no one can successfully raid without it.
  • Get the Gear
Here is a crash course in how to get gear in Legion.
  • Hit 110.
  • Start leveing your nightfallen rep right away. Take every opportunity to get nightfallen rep.
  • Do every PvP world quest. The higher your PvP rank, the higher ilevel gear you can get from these quests.
  • Keep your eye on the world quests daily. As your ilevel increases, so do the world quest rewards.
  • Do as much of your class hall questline as you can.
  • Nightfallen rep and class hall progression open up your class gear. Class gear can be upgraded to 840 using order resources.
  • Stalk the Auction House. Quite frequently people list very good good at bargain basement prices, either through error or sloth. Take advantage!
  • If you have proven committed to a raid group, get your team to pull you through heroics or mythics. This is probably the fastest way to gear.
  • As a last resort, you can run normals and hope for an upgrade
  • Check out gearing guides online
  • Optimally, you want to be at least 840 to start raiding. You can make it work with less if you are really good and on a hot FotM class, but honestly, 840 is easy, there is no excuse not to hit it. If you can't climb this high, you probably don't have the time or energy to raid anyways.
That's it, you can gear up to raid level in one week if you put a lot of time in, two weeks if not quite so much.
  • Get a headset and get into VOIP
(VOIP stands for 'voice over internet protocol', and means vent, mumble, discord, or whatever you use to talk voice to voice with other players)
If you want to raid, you absolutely must be able to communicate. While the raid leader and lieutenants will be doing most of the talking, eventually your role will require you to communicate something to the raid, and you have to be ready for this. If you can't talk, you make it that much harder for your team to raid. Get a headset with a mic, download whatever VOIP program your group uses, and get into the chat.
  • Set up your keybinds
"But that's such a hassle, I do just fine without keybinds." - No. No you don't. "No really, I've been clicking since Wrath, and I have cleared all these bosses!" - Even if this is true, and you are an amazing clicker, you are still no where near as good as you would be if you soldiered up and made some keybinds.
If you are manually clicking your buttons with your mouse, no matter how good you are, you are wasting every moment your mouse spends moving from one button to the next. Your mobility and raid attention will also suffer, as your physical and mental resources are being focused on correctly manually clicking the buttons.
If you really want to be a good raid team member, you have to realize: You are never going to be nearly as good as you can be if you are still clicking buttons manually. Keybinding is a big initial investment in time and concentration, but I promise you: Once you get an effective keybind system up and running, you will be absolutely amazed at your results.
There are many methods of keybinding. I recommend this excellent guide to get started, but if you want a really down and dirty crash course, here is what I do:
Really down and dirty keybind crash course
  • Get a mouse that has at least two thumb buttons that are programmable.
  • Bind one to shift, and one to CTRL
  • Get in game, press escape, and select 'keybindings'
  • Follow this handy image
  • Okay, so don't use my exact keys. I recommend q, e, z, x, and c as initial keybind start points.
  • I should also mention I have rebound A and D to left and right strafe rather than turn. Who keyboard turns?
If you can keybind just your main rotation, you will instantly become a god compared to whatever mythic creature you once were before keybinding. Eventually, you will find yourself keybinding EVERYTHING, and never click another virtual button with your mouse pointer again.
  • Learn your class
Learning your class is a process that never seems totally finished. There is almost always another level of polishing you can do. Getting started is pretty straightforward though, do what almost everyone who raids does:
  • Type in to google 'your class' 'your spec' + guide
  • Most of us use icyveins.com
  • Read the guide.
  • Practice what you have read on a target dummy.
If you at least know your basic rotation, and have all these keys keybound, and know your stat priority, you are already closing in on an acceptable level of performance. The next level is looking at captured raid data and going over it with someone better than you at the class. There are a lot of small things you can tweak, and these pay off in big dividends in terms of overall effectiveness.
Read your guide, know your role. Drop the bosses.
  • Enchant and gem your gear
Enchantments and gems upgrade your gear, and are actually very VERY important to your overall raid performance. Fully gemmed and enchanted, you are profoundly more powerful than someone with 'naked' armor.
For your very first raid, still in 840 gear, you don't need to have cutting edge super expensive legion enchnantments or gems, but you should at least have WoD stuff applied. You can move to the more expensive stuff once more serious current end-level gear comes in, but never raid 'naked'. You're cheating yourself and your team out of a sizeable and easy to obtain performance boost.
All you have to do is go to your class guide, and look at the gems and enchants section. Make sure any gem slots you have open are filled, and make sure you have enchantments wherever it says to have enchantments. Again, these do not at first have to be the most expensive current tier upgrades. For your entry level gear, it is fine to use last expansions best stuff.
  • Get your flasks and foods
Similarly, know which flasks you need and which food is best for your class and role. This information will all be in your class guide, which presumably you are already familiar with. These items make a really big difference, and are almost like a full set of enchants all over again. Often there will be feasts going around the raid, but never rely on this. Always show up with your own supply of food and flasks.
Until you get to heroics or mythics, WoD food and flasks are fine, but don't come empty handed. Be prepared to buff yourself at least some.
Remember, raiding is all about being prepared and putting in the effort. If you come with your own stacks, you'll never be unprepared to perform at peak effectiveness, and you'll never be a burden on your team.
  • Know the fights
Obviously, the only real way to learn a fight is through doing it. However, the more prepared you are before the fight begins, the fewer pulls your team will need to get the job done. At a minimum, have read the dungeon journal for each boss you plan on fighting.
Optimally, you also want to watch a video by a successful raid team, and brush up on a guide from the internet.
Fatboss are popular for the videos, and Icyveins is a good place to start for guides.
  • Show up on time
Raiding is a team sport, and when you waste time, you are wasting at least nine other people's time. You've gone through all this effort to get ready, and so has everyone else. The leaders even more so. Everyone knows when they are expected to show up, and yet, almost every raid there is some yahoo that just needs five more minutes, which always stretch into 15 or 30. Please don't be this yahoo. If you commit to raiding, commit to showing up on time and being ready to go.
  • Pay attention
Once you have done all the prep work needed to get ready for the raid, this is one of the most important things you can possibly do to help your team (and therefore yourself) be a success.
  • Pay attention when the raid leader is explaining the fight. Don't space out and try to catch up later, please offer them the same level of effort they are extending to you.
  • Pay attention each fight to the mechanics. Observe the environment. Note small important details. Each time you do a pull, you are better prepared for the next one, but only if you pay attention!
  • Try to do a good job
If you have a good attitude and put yourself in the mindset of 'get this done', you're already 90% of the way there. If you have an earnest desire to be an asset to your team, you already have the most important element of being a good raider. This is probably the most important element of all raiding, as without it, well... It's not pretty.

If you can tick off every item on my list, I promise you, no matter who you are you can be a success at raiding. If a drunken ne'er-do-well like me can make it happen, so can you.
Good luck, and happy raiding!
POST SCRIPT:
I wrote this guide for the members of the <reddit> guild on Sargeras, but I feel it turned out well enough to share with the whole community. Shameless plug: <reddit> is the best guild in the universe, and if you love WoW and love reddit, you will fit right in. Check us out at /r/redditguild

League of Legends - How to get kills with Orianna. Short commentary by lemonlemon74

Hope this is helpful! This is my first time doing a commentary like this, where I talk over a League clip of mine, so if you have any feedback/thoughts, whether it's criticism or praise, please feel free to comment! :D

If you are curious, this is mid diamond elo. Around d3. I just started actually grinding ranked for the first time this season, gonna try to get back into Master tier as soon as I can :D

https://www.twitch.tv/plasma_lemon - my stream.


Saturday, September 24, 2016

Dota 2 - Warding Objectively: A guide to giving your team relevant vision by SerFluffywuffles

">We need wards!"
You've heard that one before, right? Maybe you dropped the ball and have fallen behind on getting wards up for your team. But sometimes you're being told that even when you do have wards. It probably irks you some. Maybe you start pinging your wards on the map in response. But here's the thing, sometimes what people are saying isn't just "> We need wards!". Sometimes it's more like "> We need relevant vision because what we have lets us use about 5% of the map!". Hopefully, I can help.
I recently made a thread on this subreddit, letting people ask general questions about climbing the ranks as a support. Warding was discussed some, but there are a lot of things I find lower-ranked support players do with their vision that could be addressed. Note that this guide will focus mostly on the use of observer wards. I can struggle with being too long-winded, so I'd rather focus on one.
Why do you need wards?
Here's the simply answer. We ward because their are 10 players in the game who each have some sort of goal. Some are about killing. Some about pushing out creep waves. Some want to have a respite in the jungle (friendly or enemy jungle). Some want to take down objectives such as towers or Roshan. You ward because you want to facilitate your teams goals while also denying the other team their own.
As such, your vision is objective oriented. How you ward should be informed by how you think the game is going to be played out over the next six minutes. But not every team composition approaches the game exactly the same, do they? That's where you, the support, have to use your head a little bit. You need to ask yourself, "What are we going to be doing, and what will the enemy team be trying to do?". So let's break it down.
Laning Wards
Wards during the laning phase tend to be more defensive in nature, though there are plenty of exceptions to this. One observer will often be used by the offlaner(s), either to block a neutral camp in the enemy jungle from which an opposing player could pull and deny your team some xp, or to provide vision to spot the supports as they come around for kill attempts. These wards are useful, though they often are very short-lived if the enemy supports are competent and (1) have sentries to deward and (2) are perceptive enough to notice blocked camps.
Your second ward at the start of the game could be used in a few ways, but again the purpose is generally defensive. Usually, you're either going to be protecting your mid or your safelane with this ward. When to use which depends on the enemy composition. If the enemy heroes are a high threat of roaming to gank your mid, you should provide vision to protect him. Rune vision isn't AS important as it was a few years ago (when only one rune spawned, it is was random whether it'd be top or bottom), but it can be good to place a ward that both provides vision to spot enemy support movement while also seeing a rune at the same time. If you're up against a dual offlane and need to keep an eye on things like the enemy pulling from your hard camp or an enemy Pudge who sits in the fog threatening to throw out a hook, you're going to probably want a safelane ward to track their movements.
There are some cases where you can maybe do without either a mid or safelane ward. Maybe the enemy has a jungler and you want to keep on eye on him so you can maybe go kill him or notice other movements (if a jungle Ursa isn't showing, you can guess that he's taking Rosh. If a level 6 jungle Bloodseeker is missing, you can guess that he's ganking).
So time passes and new wards are in stock. This is where things become more dynamic (and it only gets more and more so as time passes). What are your goals now? In the safelane, you may be at a point where you're ready to leave your carry to solo. This is one of the more crucial times to provide a lane ward for him. He's accrued an advantage, but is still susceptible to enemy rotations. So you put down a ward so you can see them coming first.
And the other ward? Well...this can go anywhere. Maybe you protect your mid again. This is going to be around 4-10 minutes, so think about what's happening. The enemy players are getting their critical levels. Some heroes use this point to attempt ganks. Others (like Sven, Tidehunter, or Alchemist), are preparing to ramp up their farm by stacking or even taking stacks that supports have prepared for them. Again, it's your job to look at the enemy team and decipher how it makes sense for them to be playing at this point. The laning phase is coming to an end and you need to have the foresight to see what's coming next.
Post-Laning Phase Wards
I want to be very clear at the start of this section. Dota is a very dynamic game. I don't think it's possible for me to cover every scenario. Part of the point of me making this guide is to encourage you to put more thought into where you're putting up vision and to not rely on comfort spots and habitual or over-reactive wards. However, one concept in Dota will always be at the forefront: Map control. This isn't just a buzzword that people like to use. Map control is a substantial part of what determines who has an advantage in a game. After all, it's all about killing buildings in the end. So in a general sense, you should be thinking of how you wards allow you to both protect your map control while also taking away the enemy's. So let's talk about how you do this.
  • Pushing wards: One thing less experienced supports don't do is to ward around where their pushes will be. Part of the problem is they generally avoid aggressive vision in general aside from obvious spots (plopped down right in the middle of Radiant jungle, or one of the various hill wards). But a ward that provides vision behind the enemy tower can do wonders for your team while you're pushing. It makes everyone's job easier. Your initiator knows when to go in. Your tower-hitters know when they are safe or not. Everyone else can position themselves better. The vision they provide in the long-run may not spot as much as some other wards, but they help you take objectives. And even the lane vision they provide later on is useful.
  • Aggressive wards: The point of these wards is to spot out isolated enemies while they are farming or otherwise moving around their side of the map. Afterwards, they provide deep vision that allows your teammates to occupy that space relatively safely (except for invisible enemies or smokes). These wards are generally situated in various spots around the enemy jungle or ancients area, and tend to see larger parts of the map the the pushing wards, or at least multiple pathways that the enemy can approach from. As a downside, these wards are also often dewarded. So I encourage creativity. Hitting that sweet spot on top of the hill by the large camp in Radiant jungle might provide a lot of vision, but it's also very obvious and easily dewarded. One trick you can do is to ask yourself how you would deward there if you were on the enemy team. Try to place a ward that would be just outside of your own sentry range in that case. Creativity is a great thing to have when the enemy supports are countering your vision. These wards are very important to have as the game goes on, though. One of the critical jobs of most cores in the mid to late game is to push lanes. Your vision in this case allows them to do this more safely. These wards facilitate split-pushing, discourage the enemy from farming their own woods, and allow you to accrue a gold and xp advantage by taking way resources from the other team.
  • Defensive wards: These are basically the opposite of the last category. If your carry is not survivable or capable of occupying enemy territory, then these wards should serve as an early warning when the enemy comes to invade. In general, I prefer less defensive wards and more aggressive wards. Aggressive wards allows your team to apply more pressure and take the game into their own hands. Defensive wards simply let you know when it's time to leave. You're rarely going to be as five heroes farming your own woods (or at least I hope that's not the case in your games), so the effect of these wards is on average going to be lesser than ones that allow your carry to take enemy jungle camps while also pushing out lanes. I'm not saying to not have any defensive wards. I'm saying the ratio should be more favored towards aggressive ones. Also, try not to ward too shallow in your own jungle (for example, Radiant supports will commonly place a ward on that hill by the large camp near mid lane. But that ward doesn't really provide much useful vision. In some cases, it might not even give your heroes enough time to get away. I hate that defensive ward spot, honestly). The best areas to get vision of are going to be around the various entrances to your jungle. This is harder to cover on Radiant than if you're on Dire. But the goal is for it to be sort of an alarm system for invaders. It's also good a lot of times to see around your own secret shop/ancients area, especially if you have a hero that stacks ancients and farms them. In many cases, these wards will be needed to spot enemy split-pushers so you can track them down and kill them off (so you can go for an objective without the threat of them being in the fight or pressuring your side of the map).
  • Roshan wards: There's less to say about these, as it's pretty obvious. These wards let you see around the Rosh pit, either so you can see the enemy going for it, or so you can take it while being able to spot the other team should they try to contest it. These wards will often die VERY fast, as there are little ways to be creative about it while also providing relevant vision. Nevertheless, they are often times necessary anyway. All I'll say about placing vision here is to try to not place the same ward twice if you get dewarded (that goes for all wards, actually). The hill next to the pit is sort of an exception. Sometimes you just need it while you're trying to take Rosh. It can also be good to place wards that spot the approach of the enemy to the pit, rather than around the pit itself.
  • Turtling wards: This is a "last resort" kind of situation in most cases, as the vision they provide is not so useful outside of defending your base. They will be placed up the lane were the enemy is pushing (usually at the top of the ramps near your base in the side lanes). They are the opposite of pushing wards, but accomplish some of the same things. They let you position or initiate more easily. They can give you vision of a crucial back-line support (obvious examples being like a Warlock, Silencer, Oracle, or Dazzle) and let your team jump on and hopefully kill them before they can get their abilities off. They also give you great information when you successfully defend your base and the enemy begins their retreat. Those side lane ramps can be scary to go near if you're chasing and don't have vision up them.
  • Celebratory wards: If you're taking down the enemy throne and and have some wards left for whatever reason (not judging you...ok, maybe a little), then it's crucial to place some wards outside their fountain to establish dominance. Maybe get some sentries too and try to make a smiley face.
Miscellaneous warding tips:
  • Try not not be over-reliant on the same spots. Mix it up, especially if you get dewarded. Don't place an obs in the same spot that got dewarded before. There are definitely some "prime" spots that give superior vision, but those spots are also obvious and get killed off easily. Sometimes all you need to do is go slightly off a common spot and you still have good vision, and it's less obvious to get dewarded.
  • Don't get into "warding battles". This is where two opposing supports repeatedly ward and deward the same area and whoever runs out of money first loses. This is just dumb, but it happens sometimes. The real way to outplay them is to both kill their vision and find a different spot where they won't kill yours.
  • When planting both sentry and an observer, place the sentry first. You sentry first so you can see if there is vision in that area. You never want to be seen by the enemy when you're placing an observer ward. Also, if your sentry does spot an enemy ward, then you should avoid placing your own obs there after you've dewarded. The enemy support is likely to check for your ward there later.
  • If you're having trouble getting vision out (due to threat of dying), then ask for help. Request for your team to go with you while you ward, or at least one or two heroes on your team.
  • Similarly, use smoke ganks as an opportunity to get wards out. Smoke ganks. You guys do those, right? In the early game, if you're moving around smoked alone or with 1 other hero, you can also use that time as a chance to get some vision out while knowing you're not seen.
  • A very special kind of ward is what's called a "Tinker ward". These are on the cliffs at the edge of the map in the side lanes, and spot enemy heroes who like to hide in the trees (commonly a Tinker, hence the name). These spots tend to jut out a little bit, but you can just hover over the with the ward selected to find valid spots. If you need more help finding these, I can post some screenshots (or you can Google it!). They don't provide much useful vision outside of this specific purpose, but can be game-wining in the right scenario.
  • Using an obs ward to block a camp (such as the ancients if you're against a Sven) is a nice thought, but you're losing out on potentially better vision. And since it's pretty easy to notice when a camp is blocked, it's likely you'll lose what vision it does give you anyway. I prefer to use a sentry for this purpose. It costs more (especially since sentries last less time). But you have to weigh what it costs you vs what it costs the enemy to have that camp blocked and make the judgment yourself.
  • Rune wards are generally not that great as the game goes on. Don't let them be a crutch.
  • Some good spots to place wards that don't generally get dewarded are where enemy towers used to be.
  • Getting wards inside the enemy base can be tricky because it's often very obvious. If you've won a fight at their base and are taking down their buildings, you can try placing an obs further into their base (as opposed to right at the top of their ramp). They're probably too busy tilting and blaming each other to notice you do so. Just mind their tier 4 tower sight range.
Closing
That's all! Hopefully, this is helpful. If you're interested in some screenshots of the kinds of wards I talk about, then say something and I can look into adding them into the post. I'm a bit wary about it, because I don't want you to be like "Oh, so I just ward that exact spot in this picture every time!". The idea, again, is to get you to ward situationally and in a more objective-focused manner. And I'm also lazy. But I can add some screenshots if you think it'll be helpful. Again, I apologize for my long-windedness. There's no way to tl;dr this, though. I'm happy to hear any questions, thoughts, or criticism. Thanks, guys!

Heroes of the Storm - Stutter Step Micro by Tetcher