A Guide to Mastering Baron Macro in League of Legends
League of Legends has seen vast changes in strategy over its nine competitive seasons. What used to be considered amazing plays and concepts in earlier seasons are now ordinary. As teams have become more adept at playing the map, objective setups and plays have become routine.
Just a couple of years ago, we wrote an article to help teams and solo queue players understand how and when to take Baron Nashor. The article was inspired by an NA LCS game between CLG and Phoenix1, where both teams made Baron-throw mistakes. Fast forward to season nine, and the challenge isn’t so much securing Baron, but knowing what to do with it once you have it.
Teams around the world often struggle with Baron sieges, failing to take down as many objectives as they could. This issue affects nearly every region, and it’s frustrating considering the effort and diligence that goes into securing Baron. So why waste all that effort by funneling minion waves into the enemy team, giving them more gold and experience?
Don’t make that mistake. Read this guide to understand the basics of Baron macro and make the most out of the powerful buff.
The Numbers
The scenario we’ll be discussing assumes that the Baron buff is available on all five players of the team, and that all the players on the opposing team are alive. If not, you can simply run at their base with the buff and wreak havoc. We’re also assuming the game time is between 25 to 35 minutes since that’s when most games end.
The Baron buff lasts for three-and-a-half minutes, but let’s assume the team needs to recall and buy before getting back onto the map. It takes about a minute to reach the inner turrets from the base, which leaves under three minutes to actually do something with the buff, or about five minion waves.
That’s a lot of minions to work with. Additionally, after 25 minutes, each wave contains a cannon minion, making it crucial. And that’s not even counting the minions that are already on the map when Baron is taken. The key takeaway here is that teams have enough time and minions to siege effectively, so there’s no need to rush.
Lane Allocations
The next step depends on the team composition. If it’s a siege composition with long-range poke and a strong frontline, sticking together as a five-man unit is acceptable. In this case, mid lane is the priority, but you can head to the lane with the largest stack of minions and build them up to create an unstoppable death ball.
However, for most team compositions, the best way to ensure multiple objectives fall is to split up. You only need one person near a wave to buff up all the minions, increasing their speed, durability, and strength. By splitting up into a 1-3-1 or 4-1 allocation, you can spread the buff to more minions in more lanes.
Splitting up comes with risks, such as the increased likelihood of getting collapsed upon or flanked. To mitigate these risks, it’s essential to have good vision and play safe. Avoid fighting unless you can see every enemy team member and are confident of victory. Otherwise, let the minions do their work. Often, teams will assign their jungler to one of the away players in the split, as junglers are both duelists and have mobility, and the Baron buff affects them just as much as anyone else.
Timing
Proper timing is crucial for a successful Baron push. It doesn’t matter if you have the Baron buff spread to all three lanes if your siege isn’t coordinated. Otherwise, the enemy team can simply walk from lane to lane, clearing each minion wave as it appears.
A perfect example of good and bad Baron macro can be seen in a recent LCS game between Team Liquid and OpTic Gaming. Team Liquid took down Baron at just under 26 minutes and reached the enemy’s inner turrets at around 27 minutes. With weakened inner turrets, Team Liquid’s goal should have been to destroy two inhibitors with the Baron buff.
However, things didn’t go according to plan. Top laner Jeong “Impact” Eon-yeong, who had been in the bot lane, left his lane to join the team mid, and jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero swapped to bot lane. This small error caused Impact’s wave, which had been buffed by Baron, to lose the buff and get killed by OpTic’s bot laner. The game was filled with more mistakes like this, showcasing the importance of proper wave management.
Patience
One smart move that Team Liquid made was sending Xmithie to bot lane. As Kha’Zix, he was difficult to kill in a one-vs-one situation, and his role was solely to protect the wave, regardless of his poor sieging abilities. Additionally, Liquid sent bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng to the top lane, capitalizing on the lack of flank wards in that area. Unfortunately, Doublelift made a mistake by not syncing his wave with the incoming mid lane wave, leading to a missed opportunity to take down two inhibitors.
These mistakes are not exclusive to Team Liquid or the LCS; they occur across various regions and even with top teams like SK Telecom T1. Proper wave synchronization is a fundamental principle of Baron macro that has been emphasized by coaches and analysts for years. It’s crucial for teams to learn from these mistakes and make the most of their Baron advantages.
After nine years of League of Legends, we’ve come a long way in understanding neutral objectives like Dragon and Baron. However, it’s important for players to continue learning and improving their Baron macro to achieve greater success in the game.
League of Legends, esports, Baron Nashor, Baron macro, neutral objectives, minion waves, sieging, team compositions, split push, wave synchronization