5V5 Broken Myth Strategy 3

A Comprehensive Guide to Vainglory 5V5 Vision

vainglory 5v5 vision

Vainglory 5V5 vision increases your map awareness, and thus your knowledge of the enemy’s location and what they are doing. If you can see all five enemies on the other side of the map you know it’s safe to push your lane and land free hits on their turret. Conversely, if three enemies are missing, they could be coming to gank you — so it’s best to play it safe rather than be sorry. To accomplish these goals, you first must understand the Vainglory 5V5 vision system.


From Old to New

We’re used to a plenitude of vision in Vainglory 3V3, but in some ways that is unhealthy. It enables a team that is ahead to cement their lead with long-lasting vision across the Fold, knowing if the enemy dares set a foot outside of their base. In contrast, the Rise is a much darker place, with less vision available, opening up considerable strategic space to utilize the opponents’ limited information.

Vision is more limited in 5V5 than in 3V3. It also has evolved from being a job almost exclusive to the captain (AKA mine/flare bearer) to a team-wide responsibility. This means that everyone needs to understand how the system works, and how to use it efficiently.

Fundamental Concepts

vainglory 5v5 vision

At a basic level, the major changes are that flares and mines as consumable items are gone. Instead, the main vision items are Scout Cams, which everyone starts off with two of, and they recharge over time. This is supplemented by items that boost the number of cams you can hold, reduce cam recharge time, and make cams tougher with a Flare Loader — which serves as a separate item to fulfill the role of flares. As of Update 3.0, the Flare Loader upgrades into the higher forms of Scout Cams so you acquire both flares and cams from these items.

The limited nature of vision increases its importance. If you want to stay safe in your lane or aggress onto the opponent, you need to use vision effectively; a well-placed Scout Cam is your new best friend. However, wasting vision is easy, and that’s fairly unforgiving. At the base level, cams have a recharge timer of 150 seconds — so you need to treat cams royally. It also means that team coordination is important! Wasting vision hurts, as does dropping vision in the same spot another team member has.
[table id=86 /]

Scout Cams

A basic attack reduces the remaining time left for the Scout Cam by [total cam life / number of hits to destroy] seconds. For example, each basic attack of a level 1 Scout Cam removes 30 seconds from its total duration. Scout Cams will only reveal invisible objects after a short delay when you first place them — much like the arming period of a mine. Additionally, Scout Cams are visible to all heroes during their arming period.

Scout Cams provide true vision within their radius, meaning that they reveal hidden objects. However, they will only provide vision in the bush that they are placed in, and they will not provide vision where you do not have line of sight (i.e. they will not show you what is on the other side of a wall). When placed outside of a bush, they will only provide vision of the bush’s content if you or an ally are in that bush. So, they will reveal a hidden Scout Cam in a nearby bush as long as you or an ally are in that bush.

Flares

Flares provide true vision over their entire radius regardless of line of sight. If there is a bush within their radius, they only provide vision into the bush if the flare’s centre is over any part of the bush. Invisible objects revealed by a flare will regain their invisibility when they leave the radius of the flare or when the flare expires.

Key Tips for Vainglory 5V5 Vision Placement

Entire Match
  • Place vision intelligently — not just because “you have it.” Think about where you could use vision defensively, offensively, and for providing team-wide information. Make it last the full duration to supply valuable information across that whole time frame. A mixture of defensive, offensive, and objective-based cam placements is ideal.
  • Do not use Scout Cams to prowl with. If you are fairly sure there is an enemy hidden in a bush, or you are not sure, do not drop a Scout Cam to find out! That’s a job for a flare or facecheck by a tankier hero. The reason for this is simple — if you drop a Scout Cam in a bush where an enemy is, they will land at least one free hit, costing you 30 seconds of vision. If they or an ally has an available Scout Cam, or one is already present, they are now free to eliminate your cam.
  • Place Scout Cams in areas you have effective control of. I typically drop Scout Cams close by me or my ally so that we can rapidly take advantage of the new information and clear any enemy vision present. If you place a Scout Cam where you cannot typically control (especially if it’s a commonly contested area like the mid lane bushes), then you open yourself up for counter-vision play.
  • Laners should hold onto a Scout Cam that they drop as the enemy engages, particularly when facing stealth heroes. In this scenario, rushing SuperScout 2000 is a must for the captain. The jungler may opt for one as well against multiple stealth heroes.
  • When you can take a hit or two on enemy cams, do it! Every hit reduces the effectiveness of their vision by about 30 seconds.
  • Captains and junglers should keep themselves to the bushes; this accomplishes two feats for your team. First, it allows you to provide vision with your body for a laner, thus preserving a Scout Cam. Secondly, it increases your opponents’ uncertainty — if they cannot see you, then you could be anywhere, which forces them to react accordingly.
  • Never assume you cannot be seen. If you are in a bush, you should only believe you cannot be seen if that has been confirmed with vision or ability usage.
  • A number of hero abilities provide vision (such as Celeste’s A) or interact with Scout Cams in ways that reveal an existing cam. Utilize these abilities to counteract vision and as a substitute for placing cams.
Early Game
  • The Scout Cam upgrades are extremely worthwhile for a captain to purchase — as are the Flare Loader in the early game. It can be traded for several vision clears in the early game fairly easily. The Super Scout Cam 2000 is so stacked in terms of its impact on the game that if your team uses vision well, it may be worth acquiring before a Fountain of Renewal.
  • Don’t waste the advantage that vision provides. If you are in mid lane and have a Scout Cam in a side bush, and you can see Krul camping there, don’t take a shot unless you can kill him. You are better to ignore him and stay safe, without revealing your knowledge and allowing him to clear the vision. When playing with a coordinated team, you could even call for a counter-gank.
  • Cams inside the enemy jungle or along the river provide you information about enemy map movement. Think about spots that provide a multitude of information all at once. Likewise, frequent points of contest (buff camps in early game, dragons in mid & late) are important to maintain vision control of.
Late Game
  • Toward the end game, Scout Cams near the enemy base can bestow other options in terms of engaging the enemy, such as buying Teleport Boots and ending up behind their front line.
  • When taking Blackclaw or Ghostwing, you must have vision inside the dragon pit, and usually across the other side of the wall if the pit is on the enemy side, or in the bush next to their crystal buff camp if the pit is on your side.
  • When split pushing, you can vastly increase your own safety and effectiveness by using cams embedded into the enemy jungle to spot flanking maneuvers. Back off if you come under threat!

Vision is only as useful as you and your team make of it. Get in the habit of checking the mini-map frequently and reacting appropriately to the information you acquire. Likewise, you can use pings or voice chat to inform your team when enemies are creeping up so that they can prepare to fight or flight. If you utilize the knowledge you can generate of the opponent well then you can translate that into a significant advantage. Catch up on other 5V5 strategy with my previous series Vainglory 5V5 on the Rise.

3 Comments

  • Reply
    Outmaneuver
    Jul 08, 2018 10:52 am

    Tips and Tricks to dominate vision in 5v5

    July 7, 2018 – Version 3.4

    Well I have been playing 5v5 from version 3.0 now, and it took a lot of time to figure it out how to dominate vision, it has been really tough. But eventually I figured it out. A lot of things that most of you haven’t known, and some that most already knew. I want to share this to players who luckily read this comment.

    Let’s get started.

    1. (Common, easily learned) Most of you have seen meta position for Cams, which is usually the hotspot for vision. I’m talking about both your allies and your enemies. Okay so you are rotating to assist your allies. Pay attention to the enemy. You are seeing him/her from a dominant to sudden flee? You are probably in their Cam’s range. Avoid the area the next time, or perform some unpredictable movements to outthink your opponent. Better yet, put a Cam in that hotspot and eliminate the other Cam (if possible).

    Let’s switch roles now. You are the dominant, and you took complete advantage against the enemy. Then from a sudden, he/she rush to you and fight? Run if you are alone. The enemies are in the bushes and ready to pin you down and knock you out.

    2. (Common, easily-to medium learned) Fog of War in 5v5 isn’t really perfect. If you have played for some time now, you can probably figure it out that some abilities will display animation even if you don’t have vision there (such as Grace’s Perk and A with the ground slam, Krul’s B with the visible sword or Baron’s Ult with the location of the detonation). Use this as an indicator, especially if lack of vision, to find out enemies current location and ping your allies or react, if necessary.

    Still respawning? Good. If you have done your shopping? Take a look at the whole map and see where those indicators are. If they are closed by your allies or objectives, ping them to prepare.

    You fight more, you have more experience. Seeing is believing.

    3. (Uncommon) Keep your eyes on the game. Rarely, but not never, does this happen, but if it does, you don’t need an eye check anymore. Sometimes, you don’t have vision on the area like in the bush or at the other side of the bush or the wall, if an enemy is approaching, his/her health bar will splash, become visible in a blink of an eye, literally. I understand if it doesn’t make sense to you at all, but at I hope that you can see it on the Rise one day, if you are lucky.

    4. (Common but mostly unknown) Do you have a Scout Cam outside the bush, doesn’t matter if it is accidental or intentional, but this will be great to check out if there is another Scout Cam nearby. Simply look at its health bar. It doesn’t fade? That means another Scout Cam is in one of the bushes close to your Cam, if you want or must, find it and destroy it. The same rule applies on stealth heroes. If your health bar doesn’t fade even when you are marked “Stealth”, it means you are visible. Avoid this area if you want to make surprise to your opponents without being counter-ganged first.

    That’s it. These tips are now still viable to use, but who knows what it will be in the next updates. And, maybe these tips are still rookie, but these are the best one I have so far. If you can, please reply to fix of add more.

    Outmaneuver

  • Reply
    idmonfish
    Feb 24, 2018 2:39 pm

    Great question thanks!

    So broadly speaking one of the things that is making VG 5v5 so exciting at the moment at least for me is that it is evolving rapidly and one of the places that is apparent is in terms of vision.

    Mid lane bush cams can still have some useful functions in terms of keeping your carry safe – however its a spot where people commonly cam, and its a hard one to keep control of – if the enemy brings their roam and jungle into mid they can and will clear your vision with impunity. So thats why I recommend placing vision in the river instead – it shows people moving towards and out of the bush, as well as other river based movement (ie are they coming into our jungle? Rotating to top etc) but is less likely to be cleared. If I am mid laning I do typically place vision in one of the side bushes – I then try to stay near that bush so I can defend the vision and keep myself safe from ganks.

    Heading to mid and being able to move to reinforce (if your team isn’t making a more aggressive play) is still a great start for the roam – I’d just hold onto that vision. I now tend to use it to provide high impact information or to compensate for my carries deficiencies in placing vision usefully… Two spots I am frequently dropping vision in first are in the little bush between the enemy cp treant and the lane (not the river one, but the little one right next to lane) – that provides a lot of information to mid about enemy movements – I am also going into the top dragon’s pit and dropping vision across the wall between their healing treant and the wp buff. Helps top stay safe and tells them when an invade to steal the enemy heal might be in order.

    Placing vision after the opponent has is usually advantageous.

  • Reply
    Lilli0n
    Feb 22, 2018 2:12 pm

    Great article. Some questions:
    Are we saying that we shouldn’t waste the cams on mid lane bushes at all? Is there a situation where that would be the best move? (Like after you’ve taken their first mid turret or after capturing Blackclaw)
    The rotation article suggests captain’s should head to mid first and plant vision (Vainglory 5V5 on the Rise: Early Game Rotations and Jungle). Is that the best move now? And fi som where should the Captain consider placing vision initially?

Leave a Reply to idmonfish Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *