I have noticed that a few different commentaries they say that the reason a team lost their match up was because they didn't have enough visibility of the map. Is it truly that important to see the whole map?
Can you tell me what roles are supposed to do the warding and when and how they go about it?
Apply it to real world and you'll immediately see the benefits of map visibility. How well would we be equipped for war without radars? How valuable is stealth warfare etc?
Being able to sneak up on opponents is too strong of advantage to let any team have for free. Wards allow you to prepare for incoming ganks, to move quickly on map objectives, and even for some champions provides as a way for escapes.
The most obvious understanding of this comes to bottom lane. As a support, your job is to let you carry farm as much as humanly possible without being interrupted. Wards allow you to watch for incoming jungle ganks, roamers, etc.
The other role whose main job, among clearing neutral minion camps, is warding, would be the Jungler. As the bottom lane support is, quite frankly, stuck at bot lane, the roaming Jungler has a better chance of passing through areas that could use wards that would make or break a game. Until lane phase is over and the support starts to move around, it is important for the Jungler to ward the rivers to prevent ganks on top and mid, attempts on dragon and baron, counter jungling attempts by the enemy, as well as to provide constant vision of the other team so that your own knows when it is safe to pursue certain objectives.
For example, a ward in their jungle near the Blue Buff would show you that the enemy Jungler and/or Mid is currently not killing it and it is somewhat safe to steal it. At the same time, if the ward shows you both their Jungler and AP Carry are at the Blue Buff, it is safe to do a 3/4/5vs2/1 team fight on bottom since you know they will be receiving no reinforcements.
Seeing the map just allows you to do/access/defend/attack safer, smarter, more efficiently.
You don't have to have vision on the entire map. However, there are key points on the map where you can drop a ward to see incoming ganks or to have knowledge of what exactly the enemy team is trying to do. Having vision can easily save a team member from an enemy gank or allow your own team to counter gank a lane. It also makes it much easier to take an objective, if you see the enemy jungler up top lane/jungler then it can be an easy time to dragon without fear of an enemy smite.
Here are some key points to use Clairvoyance on:
Clairvoyance is no longer mandatory on a support champion, but is a very strong alternative.
The goal of Clairvoyance is to instantly provide information from any location on the map. As such, it is important to use Clairvoyance frequently, but still at critical areas. Spamming Clairvoyance at every cooldown can be as useless as never using it and depending on the stage of the game, one would focus Clairvoyances at different areas of the map.
Pre-minions: The very first Clairvoyance should be aimed on the opposing fountain (you want to use this immediately upon connecting), this allows for any obscure items to be visible and shows how fast the enemy team is mobilizing. The second Clairvoyance should be aimed to scout out where the enemy is going.
Pre-15 minutes: The third CV is always aimed at jungling routes, but in order to do this, one must understand jungling routes, speed and pattern. This is something that only playing a few games with competent jungling players or playing a few jungle games of your own will teach. Constant CV on the opposing jungler means it is impossible for him/her to gank without some warning and with good ward placement, it can be nearly impossible to gank. At this stage, knowledge is key and that knowledge starts with where the enemy jungler is. Junglers practically control the inertia of the game as they are the ones that make ganks happen, steal buffs and secure global objectives.
15 minutes and beyond: After countless CVs and many deaths/kills, both teams will likely start to work towards upcoming Dragons/Blue buff/Red buff/Baron. Simply having a CV is not enough and it is important to supplement it with numerous wards on key points.
Source: Solomid
Here are some good locations to green/purple ward throughout the game:
Source: Flatline
You will want to place the purple ward at Baron after the laning phase. You want a purple on dragon to clear any enemy wards, but this becomes less important when you have an oracles on the team. Try to keep dragon warded early since it is one of the earliest objectives teams will group up for.
Map visibility is important to avoid ganks, or catch other players potentially out of position. If you have vision on two of three players in the top half of the map, that could give your team a free dragon or the ability to push an undefended lane without worry for a gank. Amazing vision over the map can also prevent people from juking away while chasing. Map Vision and awareness are some of the most important keys to winning in League of legends.
Map visibility is essential to winning games for several reasons:
1) It prevents ganks. If you know the enemy jungler is sneaking up on you, then you'll know to stay back. Life=saved.
2) It allows you to control your own buffs. If you have good map awareness, you can catch the enemy jungler trying to steal one of your buffs. You can then gank the jungler, netting you a kill and also setting him or her way back on their jungle.
3) It allows you to counter jungle effectively. If you see the enemy jungler messing around on the other side of the map, then you know you're clear to steal their red or blue buff. Getting that extra buff is huge because then you (assuming you're the jungler) can give your mage or carry your own blue or red buff respectively. that way your team has two buffs while their team has none.
4) It can tell you when the other team is doing dragon/baron. Baron and dragon are both essential objectives for winning the game. Dragon gives your team significant gold, and baron gives an incredible buff that can be absolutely game changing. Without proper ward coverage, the other team could go in there and steal it without you knowing. Furthermore, you won't even get a timer on them, so you have no idea when they'll respawn, possibly costing you baron number 2.
5) It can help you get drag/baron. If you can see the other team on the wrong side of the map, then you know it's safe to do dragon/baron. If you can't see them, then they could be around the corner, waiting to attack in the middle of your baron/dragon fight, probably winning the ensuing teamfight and taking baron/dragon for themselves.
6) It allows you to gank. If you can catch an enemy team member out of position with a ward, then you can gank them and pick up a free kill.
So yeah, wards and map awareness are really important :D. Hope that answered your question.
Q: "Is it truly that important to see the whole map?"
A: Yes, it would be very important if you could see the whole map, however this alone is a difficult feat to achieve and you would require many wards in order to see the whole map.
Wards are an extension of your team's map visibility and placing them at key points such as objectives or paths can allow you to deduce the position of your enemies. In many games including tournament games, that is the case.
You may not be able to achieve full map visibility, but in most cases, enough map visibility is required for allies to wander the map with confidence knowing that the enemy is not sitting in the grass they are about to enter.
Q: "Can you tell me what roles are supposed to do the warding,"
A: Every person in your team is expected to do some warding for themselves. In bottom lane with a support/ad carry combination, the support is expected to do the warding in order for the ad carry to save their gold for offensive items. As you progress into the game, support should be mainly warding as well as be running around with an oracles, clearing wards with the team. Other players should still be placing wards to fit the situation.
Q: "and when and how they go about it?"
A: Wards last 3 minutes, so ideally you should always have a ward ready to place the second the one you had placed before disappears. Wards are usually placed in paths of the map where it forks, or at entrances to the jungles, and objectives such as dragon. Each 5 gold per 10 second item gives you enough gold for a ward every 2 minutes and 30 seconds. If you don't see the enemy anywhere, don't solo adventure off to ward, try to go with your team, or progressively into the fog of war.
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Map visibility is essential to help you coordinate your team's movements and attack patterns. Warding jungle entrances and exits, neutral buff camps, the river, Baron Nashor and Dragon will help you avoid ganks and perform amazing counter attacks.
It is assumed that the support champion should be the one to ward but I believe that everyone should contribute to the warding effort. A ward only costs 75g, if everyone purchases a couple of wards and distributes them effectively across the map, you will gain good map visibility while not affecting your item build, or shutting down one of your teammate's ability to fight. (Even supporters need gold)
Proper map visibility will increase the number of kills your team achieves while reducing deaths. From a financial point of view, spending a little money to see where your opponents are will net you more gold than fighting blind. Plus it'll help you win faster and that's what it's all about.
It is not important to see the whole map during the laning phase, however you do want to know where everyone on the enemy team is. When you have this information, your team is able to play accordingly. For instance, if you see the enemy jungler sitting in top tribrush waiting to gank top and you see their mid and top lane in their respective lanes, you know that you can go aggressive in bot lane and overextend without fear of being ganked. During the laning phase, every lane should ward to make sure they don't die to a jungle gank or a gank from another lane.
Top lane should ward for themselves, Support should ward for bot lane, Mid should ward for one side of their lane (then position themselves close to that side), or jungler should help ward the other side for mid. Support/Jungler should keep a ward on dragon after 6-7 minutes.
Baron spawns at 15 minutes, but usually teams are able to take it from 20 minutes on. So make sure Baron is warded from 20 minutes on.
Lastly, the job of counterwarding (with oracles) is important to deny the enemy team vision of the map. That way they have to take risks like facecheck brush where your team can kill them before a teamfight, and force them to play overly cautious because they don't know where the enemy is and must assume the enemy can be anywhere. Oracles typically go on the jungler or support depending how much extra gold they have. In the late game, tanks on the team can also get Oracles as they are usually not the focus in teamfights, thus not likely to die.
To use green ward/pink ward: Typically green ward is used to ward your lane. You wouldn't use a pink ward for lane protection unless you know the enemy just warded an area. In this case, you can use a pink ward to kill their ward, denying them vision. Pink wards are typically used for Baron/Dragon as this is a highly contested area for wards. Pink wards give you vision of their wards so is a less risky means to counterwarding than oracles. The extra 50 gold that you spend on a pink ward is saved some by the 25 gold you get from killing their ward and the difference in terms of utility is far greater as for 3 minutes, you have vision there and they do not.
