Objectives are crucial in helping you defeat the enemy team, and the king of those objectives is none other than Baron Nashor. Setting up Baron properly is key in your success, as much can go wrong very quickly. You will have to keep in mind where every player is to determine when is a good time to engage the objective.

As laning phase begins to end and turrets crumble to the ground, the Rift Herald will despawn and out from the void will come Baron Nashor. Defeating Baron is important as it will grant your teammates with a buff that will empower your minions, effectively aiding in destroying turrets.

Keep in mind that there are some important questions you should ask yourself before engaging Baron.

How Many of My Teammates Are Alive?

If most or all of your team is alive, you should be able to defeat Baron in a timely manner. If your jungler is not alive, you are at risk of losing Baron to the enemy jungler's Smite if they show up to contest. Be sure to remember that any of your teammates still waiting to respawn will not receive the Baron buff if they are still dead when Baron is defeated. This fact alone can make this objective less impactful overall, as less members of your team will be able to push with the buff.

Be sure you have enough allies to defeat Baron, as he can easily overwhelm your team. The jungler can usually tank the Baron better than others on the team, but if they started at low health, you might want to rotate the damage between each other. Keep in mind that more damage is done in the back of the pit, behind Baron, than the rest of the pit. As you fight Baron, it is a good idea to have a teammate who is effective at engaging on the enemy, to be zoning out towards the entrance of the enemy's jungle. Champions like Malphite or Nautilus can position themselves here to quickly engage on the enemy to keep them away from the Baron Pit.

How Many of My Enemies Are alive?

If more of your enemies are alive than allies, they could easily come and contest the Baron, winning the fight, and defeating Baron themselves. The same could be true if their jungler is alive, as they could sneak in and Smite the Baron away if your jungler is not careful. If your enemies are mostly dead, keep an eye on their respawn timers, since they could respawn before you defeat Baron and come to contest.

Whenever Baron is up, it is important to keep the area warded in case the enemy decides to engage the objective. Having vision is just as important as limiting your enemy's vision, so be sure to Oracle Lens or Control Ward the area to keep it clear of enemy wards. This is especially important when you engage Baron, as you do not want your enemy to have vision of you, so always bring a Control Ward with you to objectives. Capturing the Rift Scuttler here is also key, as it will grant vision of the area directly outside the pit, and could deter the enemy from engaging.

Positioning is also really important when doing objectives. You might have someone split pushing while the rest engage Baron, splitting the pressure across the map and forcing a decision to be made. Fully committing to Baron here may result in losing something as an important as an inhibitor if you do not stop the split pusher. However, committing to the split pusher could also result in losing the Baron, so you always want to make a quick decision to avoid giving your enemy an easy advantage.

If you want to apply pressure during a Baron engage, you could have your top laner push the bottom lane of the map, furthest away from the Baron Pit, as long as they have Teleport available. If they do not have Teleport, they will not be able to quickly come to your team's aid during the engage if a fight were to occur. You could potentially push without having Teleport if the enemy team does not have all their members alive, since your team should be able to survive a fight at Baron.

An Opportune Moment

When making your way to Baron, try to avoid making it obvious if you want to sneak it out from under your enemy's radar. Remember that enemy minions will grant vision of you if you walk too close to them, so be sure to path away from waves of minions and over to Baron's pit. If you or your allies are noticed, you may want to rethink your decisions and either leave the vicinity or bait out a fight. You can bait a fight in the river by hiding in the bush, springing onto your enemies once they get close. Be sure that you can actually win the fight if multiple enemies show up and be sure to have the area Control Warded so they do not see you hiding. Be wary as this could happen to your team as well, and you should never walk straight into a bush without having vision, especially if your enemies were recently sighted in the area.

Another important factor to consider is how the lanes are being pushed. If you have the advantage over midlane, and your minions are sieging on the enemy's turret, then it is the perfect window of time to engage Baron. Your enemies will have to choose between stopping you or saving their turret, and this is especially effective if it is an inhibitor or an inhibitor turret. If you do not have this advantage, your enemies may move up to push against your turrets, and you may lose valuable resources as you try to defeat Baron.

If a fight does occur during a Baron engage, keep in mind that Baron will continue to damage you as long as you remain in range. Keep track of the enemy jungler during any fights here, since they can easily steal the Baron away if given the opportunity. If Baron is still at high health, remove your focus from him and onto the enemy team. If you are able to defeat your enemy here, then you will have a much better chance at securing the objective, as long as the fight did not take too much of you and your team's health. Once the Baron is secured, it is best to immediately return to base here, unless your team has high health and mana resources, and can push against a weak enemy team. If your resources are low, it is best to return to base and regroup, especially if some of your teammates are waiting to respawn. Pushing with Baron is much more effective with multiple allies, so the enemy team cannot easily move up to contest you.

When receiving the Baron buff, you will want to push as much as you can, so that you do not waste it. If you were behind prior to defeating Baron, you will want to use this time to catch up and destroy enemy turrets or clear super minions that might be filling your base. If you were ahead prior to defeating Baron, use this time to spread your pressure across the map, forcing your enemies to try and defend in multiple lanes; you could also use this time to secure an inhibitor, if you have not already done so. Keep in mind that if you get caught out and your team gets aced, you could be giving your enemy ample time to catch up and/or finish off your base. Always prioritize destroying inhibitors over engaging in team fights once you have Baron buff, as a fight can easily turn in your enemy's favor and completely waste your efforts. You will want to weave in and out of lanes to apply the Baron buff and force your enemy to focus the minions rather than your allies. Cannon minions are extremely powerful during Baron buff, as they have increased attack range, so you can apply the buff without being too close to the enemy's turret.

Stealing Baron

A huge turning point in any game could very well be a Baron steal. This can be done in multiple ways, whether a Lux uses her Ultimate from afar, or a jungler quickly sneaks in and Smites it away. When attempting to steal Baron, you want to try and secure vision of the pit to properly gauge the situation and get a feel for how low Baron's health is. It is best to steal Baron by getting over the pit's wall whether you use the Blast Cone or champions with wall moving or jumping abilities like Kayn or Tryndamere. Since junglers have Smite, it is much easier for them to steal Baron than other members of the team, but this does not mean you cannot attempt a steal with multiple people; of course, this could lead to both of you failing and inevitably being defeated by the enemy team. However, this can potentially go very well if you can immediately engage on the enemy with your team, shutting down the enemy jungler and moving on the rest of the team.

If the enemy jungler is a rather tanky champion, try to use crowd-controlling abilities like stuns to keep them off of Baron as he nears low health, you could then use Smite while the enemy jungler is unable to act. Always keep track of just how much damage your Smite will do, so that you can properly time it with Baron's health. Once successfully stealing Baron away, try to return to base as quickly as possible to regroup, especially if the enemy team is ahead of you in resources. In the off chance that you die during a Baron steal, but still manage to steal it, it can still be beneficial in preventing the enemy from pushing and ending the game.

Conclusion

To summarize, Baron Nashor is one of the key components to defeating your enemy and destroying their Nexus. Always keep track of the enemy team and what they might be doing, whether they are all headed to Dragon, or they are up and ready to contest you. Vision is extremely important in the Baron pit and in the surrounding area, so always keep Control Wards at the ready and never leave this area in the dark. Stealing Baron can very well steal the win, so always be wary of opportunities that may leave windows open for your team or your enemy's team to contest the objective. Finally, be sure to always communicate to your team when deciding to engage Baron, as you do not want your team split all over the map with different intentions in mind.