Taking Baron can make or break a game, anywhere from Bronze solo queue to professional play. So, it makes sense that it is by far the most difficult objective to grab. Knowing when you should take Baron is among the most important and stressful tasks you will encounter while playing League of Legends, which is why I’ve written this guide designed to help you with it.

Team Composition:

The first thing that you can look at while deciding to take Baron is your team composition. Team compositions can make Baron a breeze to take or impossible, depending on what your team consists of. Here are some common compositions and how they stack up against Baron.

• If you have more than one BotRK user, you should be set; Baron’s health will be chunked down incredibly quickly and will be relatively easy to take because it relies primarily on health stacking, not armor or magic resistance.
• Double ADC compositions also work well, as you have two sources of high, consistent damage to wear the Baron down.
• AP-Heavy or Assassin-focused compositions are terrible at taking Baron. There simply isn’t enough sustained damage to take it quickly or efficiently. Baron has way too much health to burst, and Assassin’s are generally so squishy that they won’t be able to survive in the pit for more than two spell rotations.
• If your composition is lacking in damage, but makes up for it in defense, you should still have a fairly safe Baron. Throws at Baron generally happen because the team taking it is so low that the opposing team is able to kill them and the Baron without much trouble. Being tanky enough that the opposing team wouldn’t be able to kill you within a couple seconds of you starting Baron is a good way to prevent a throw.

When to Take It:

There are two scenarios in which you should drop everything and go for Baron instead. The first of which is an ace. This may seem to be pretty obvious, but a lot of times people try to push to win instead of going with the safer option of Baron. If you get an ace and a Baron, you’re almost guaranteed to win because of the lead you will gain, whereas going for the victory could very well be a throw that costs you the game. I suggest to play it safe and to just go for the Baron after an ace.

The other scenario is a powerful pick. Grabbing their Carry or Jungler will make Baron an easy way to get ahead in the game. It will either force a fight with a team that is down a man and not ready for it, or result in a free Baron as they know the risks associated with contesting it. This is a play that will almost certainly have a positive impact on your game, assuming that you don’t screw it up somewhere down the line. When you kill the enemy Jungler or main Carry, you should immediately get your team to drop whatever they’re doing and go for Baron instead. In almost every possible scenario a Baron is worth way more than whatever your team could be going for, whether that’s attempting a push or chasing a kill. Dropping everything for Baron is the easiest way to win a game. You can’t hesitate with it either; just go for it.

Additionally, make sure that you have enough wards in the area around Baron to be able to be able to see if enemies are coming to stop you. I'd suggest to place them in the tri bush near Baron on whatever side belongs to the enemy, as well as the small bush near mid lane. Those two should cover both flanking points but, if you want to be safe against steal attempts, you may also want to ward over the wall. Another way to stop attempted steals is to put yourself in a position that will allow you to bodyblock skillshots with your champion. In the end you are worth much less than a Baron, so even if you die from getting hit by one, it'll be worth the extra safety in securing Baron.

What to Do with It:

This is really all dependent on the scenario, but generally I’d recommend against going for Dragons while you have the buff, however, as that takes up anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds of time that could be spent actually taking advantage of the buff. Additionally, the best way of knowing what to do with Baron comes from emulating professional teams. Generally, they like to have members of the team split into two different lanes, while standing back and protecting a siege minion. This is a great way to get towers without fully committing to a dive. Alternatively, you could make an attempt at a game winning teamfight with the suped-up minions pounding on the enemies’ doors.

Baron is an incredibly difficult part of the game to understand, so I hope that this guide was successful in teaching about it.

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