by Reece "Sabrewolf" Dos-Santos
Baron Nashor, a global buff and the strongest buff in the game. It is capable of turning lost games into wins, winning games into losses and sometimes doesn't make a difference at all. Regardless, every league player will become entangled in the infamous Baron dance in almost all of their games so what is needed is clarity and awareness of when and how to perform your baron dance perfectly.
In the Super Week match-up of Alliance vs Supa Hot Crew in Week Seven, Impaler was within one shot range with basically no support, trying to make a steal with Elise. Granted, Elise is a brilliant champion to make steals with, but not under circumstances like that. The play ended with Impaler dead and a baron that led to Supa Hot Crew’s one defeat that week. But this is far from a trend that stays in the professional scene; the threat of giving away a “free baron” compels junglers of all skill levels to throw themselves into certain danger on the whim of a miracle steal.
If you are playing a champion like Elise, the steal attempt is a valid one, assuming you used your rappel correctly. However, once the timing for rappel has been botched, you should consider your steal attempt over as well, since flashing into the pit will leave you faced with overwhelmingly bad odds and certain death (especially if your team isn't already diving in to help you secure the objective). Junglers like Elise, Lee sin and Jarvan have the liberty of being able to jump into the pit and still have flash available for exit, but sometimes even that safety isn't enough to warrant a steal attempt. Hanging around the wall of the baron pit waiting is almost as bad as walking face first through the entrance. It leaves you open and vulnerable in a fixed position. Many junglers and even other players make the mistake of hovering around the baron back wall alone expecting to make something other than their death happen.
One of the biggest reasons why teams make botched Baron decisions is due to fear of being behind. Through the eyes of many, the baron buff on an already ahead team is the mark of certain loss and thus, supports wander out of position to place a ward, Junglers hang around despite having lost members and other players waste valuable ultimates to try and steal the buff. All these examples can be easily avoided with the employment of a calm mind-set and remembrance of the following things:
Blue Trinket is powerful:
When Baron is un-warded and you need to get vision of the pit, the Scrying orb should be the first thing any player reaches for to ensure that the dark areas of their route aren't hiding an ambush, or simply to get a look at the pit itself without putting yourself in harm’s way. In the later stages of the game, losing your support to a baron face check is not worth the vision you get from the ward they died for. Assuming they get to place it in the first place, all you’ll be doing is watching the enemy team finish the baron before they siege your base 4v5. A carefully used Blue Trinket can allow you to gain vision from a safe distance and properly assess your route as well as the decision to move towards the pit in the first place. A noticeable user of the Scrying Orb is MrRallez of SHC, who himself is usually impeccable in his positioning when it comes to big objective skirmishes.
Your ultimates are valuable:
Often when a jungler is killed or if a team is out of position, players will resort to using abilities like Ziggs’s Mega Inferno Bomb and Jinx’s Super Mega Death Rocket to try and make a steal or simply deal damage. In the long run, this is never a good thing to do unless there are members of the enemy team that are killable with those ultimates. Especially at a higher level of play, it’s almost absurd to expect that the enemy jungler will be out-smited by your ranged ultimate. This then leaves you without important high damage spells for when the enemy team make a charge on your base with the buff. Also, the damage that may have been done to them will be regenerated by the buff or simply by going back, healing up and then moving on - which means it’s a complete waste of an ability in every instance that doesn't lead to a kill. These abilities could still prove to be helpful in the siege that comes after the enemy team secure the buff.
Play around your team comp:
This sounds basic but if you have a poke comp, you should poke. Most people, when faced with the adrenaline of baron dancing, tend to make miss-steps with how to play their champion match-ups. Trying to engage or getting within engage range of a heavy engage comp doing baron is suicide, while not dynamically engaging on such comps when watching a baron be done is equally as wasteful. Hai, in Week Three of the NA LCS, showed exactly what can happen once you let adrenaline get the best of you when he chose to pounce into three low hp members of CLG as Nidalee rather than finish one or two of them off with the spears he had been using to great effect up until that point. What could have been a quadra kill and even a baron ended up as merely the one kill upon Aphromoo’s Morgana.
There are more things you could do besides contest:
One of the biggest misconceptions made everywhere is that when a team is doing Baron, you must contest and you cannot let them just have it. While Baron is a powerful objective, it isn't the main objective. If you've lost members and you can’t contest the Baron, don’t. Use your time to secure the dragon, place wards in key areas or even push a lane and take down turrets/inhibiters. Walking three vs five into the Baron pit or simply loitering around the jungle entrances is a waste of your time. Baron is a commitment that can be punished if you can’t challenge for it. A well-timed push can prove to nullify the effect of the buff or even stop the enemy team from securing it altogether.
Baron fights have proved time and time again that one moment can change everything in a game. Don’t let a Baron fight be the moment where your game changes for the worst.
