Every League of Legends player has his own story where a Dragon or Baron fight totally changed how the game was going. Being it the notorious "Baron throws" or just the opposing team approaching Dragon without much caution, eventually leading to them getting decimated. Now more than ever, the name of the game has been about the Legendary creatures and their influence they have over the way teams approach a matchup.

Dragon control

It shouldn't need much explanation that dragon control is extremely important in every single game. Prior to Patch 4.20, there used to be an extremely high focus on Dragon in the early to mid-game, but usually , as the game progressed, teams started to neglect the Dragon control and was often considered a consolidation price for the team that lost out on a Baron Buff. This being a result of the gold reward the Dragon used to give a team when it was slain, which was considered a substantial boost in the early stages of the game but wasn't as efficient anymore when the game was heading into later stages. In a successful effort of Riot Games to reward the team that had a good overall control over the Dragon area, the reward for killing the mythical creature was changed into a permanent buff for the entire team, stacking up to 5 with each a different boost and the last one being repeatable:

- Dragon's Might:+6% total attack damage and ability power
- Dragon's Dominance: +15% damage to minions and monsters
- Dragon's Flight: +5% movement speed
- Dragon's Wrath: +15% damage to turrets and buildings

Aspect of the Dragon: Doubles all other bonuses and your attacks burn enemies for 150 true damage over 5 seconds. Lasts 180 seconds.

However, one of the most common mistakes when it comes to matchmade games is the decision when to fight for Dragon and when to simply give it up. Especially in lower elo, there is a tendency to fight for every single Dragon in order to avoid giving the opposing team an advantage, even when the team is not in place to contest the Dragon in any way. First and foremost should be noted that , in the case there is no vision control over the Dragon area, it is preferred to pass on the Dragon. Face checking into a dark place on the map will always have a negative outcome and there is no real reason to do so, unless the opposing team is on their way to secure the fifth Dragon. On top of that, there's a high likeliness that the Rift Scuttler went down as well and giving the extra movement speed boost is always a great tool to have in team fights.

Image courtesy of Lovetina0726

Although every Dragon buff is extremely important and can have a significant impact in the late game, the odd numbers of buffs are the most important when it comes to straight up fighting. In the late game, the Dragon's Might buff could be compared with about a 2- to 3K gold in items and is capable of nullifying a gold lead.

Whenever playing from behind and the enemy team turning to Dragon, take into consideration fighting for the Dragon might not be the worst call, as the Dragon's damage dealt increases by 20% for each Dragon Buff they have secured throughout the game and could thus leave them very vulnerable after taking down the mythical creature.

As a final note on Dragon: Whenever playing with a Mordekaiser in your team, try pushing the enemy Turret down as fast as possible and immediately after turn to Dragon. Any time Mordekaiser has hit level 6, there should be a tendency to do Dragon, as this creature is capable of single-handedly pushing the opposing team ever further back and most champions simply can't handle the Dragon's ghost in the early stages of the game.

Baron Nashor

The second and most powerful legendary creature on the Rift is without a doubt Baron Nashor. But once taken down, one of the buffs with a very big boost to any team composition. With the introduction of Patch 4.20, Baron Nashor and his buff were reworked as well. The old Exalted with Baron Nashor was renamed to Hand of Baron, and a lot more than just the name changed in the particular patch. Initially a very strong team fighting buff, boosting stats for every champions from the team capable of slaying the Baron, was now turned into more of a demolition crew buff, mainly used to take down the structures of the opposing team.

Although the reworked Baron Nashor buff still gives a boost to Attack Damage and Ability Power stats, it's merely a fraction of what it used to give Summoners and their chosen Champions. Nowadays, Hand of Baron is used ,as described above, as a powerful pushing tool. In the ladders of Solo queue, whenever the Baron buff is secured, there's always someone telling the team to "group and push". This might not always happen but is the proper way to use aforementioned buff. Always prioritizing Turrets over Inhibitors is the proper way to make use of a Hand of Baron. Even with an open Inhibitor, it can be considered a fact that pushing down an additional Inhibitor Turret in another lane is a better option than actually taking the open Inhibitor.

Image courtesy of lionsketch

One of the team compositions that has the most benefit of the "new" Baron buff is without a doubt a composition running a Double Global. Being able to put aggression on three lanes without the possibility to get outnumbered anywhere any time soon is where most teams struggle holding the opposing team off and makes the Baroned up team able to slowly but surely march to victory. Another team composition that benefits greatly from Baron buff is a composition where there is little to no siege power (e.g. an AD carry like Vayne or an assassin mid lane like Zed). When the enemy team lacks wave clear on top of that, there is usually no way the siege should fail.

Last, but not least, there should be given some love to the topic "when to actually try securing the Baron and when not". The decision to go for Baron when you're ahead can always be a controversial decision. When the opposing team has vision over the Baron pit, there is always a 50/50 chance that the enemy will actually manage to steal the Baron and is able to turn around the game. Hence, whenever your team was actually able to breach the last line of defence before the Nexus (Inhibitor Turrets) , there is no real reason to actually try and kill Baron Nashor. Only when a team is having a lot of trouble with breaching the last line of defence, due to a great amount of wave clear on the opposing team, they should turn to Baron.

When not feeling confident enough in actually taking down the Baron, removing all the vision the enemy has on Baron and try forcing them into a bad position with the face check that come along with that can be considered the best way to give them the finishing blow.

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