What is Baron Nashor in League of Legends?

Here is what you need to know about one of the most iconic and important neutral monsters in League of Legends (LoL), Baron Nashor.

What is Baron Nashor in League of Legends?

The basics

Baron Nashor is a neutral objective in Summoner’s Rift, situated in the upper part of the map. The team that kills Baron is granted a series of buffs, which should help them close out the game. That being said, the neutral objective has a lot of health and damage, so it requires several team members to take it down. In most scenarios, teams would find themselves contesting the objective, leading to teamfights and skirmishes. Before we dive into the effects Baron Nashor grants, let’s see some of the key information each player must know.

1. Spawn Timing:

• The first Baron Nashor spawns at exactly 25:00 minutes into the game.
• After the objective is killed, it will respawn 6 minutes later.

2. Baron Nashor Base stats:

• HP on spawn (25 minutes): 11400 (+ 180 per minute from match start). At 35 minutes, it has approximately 13,200 HP.
• HP regeneration: 15 (+ 0.375 per minute from match start)
• Attack damage: 350 – 520 (based on game time)
• Range: 955
• Armor: 120
• Magic resist: 70
• Each member of the killing team receives 300 gold, with the slayer getting an additional 25.

Which buffs does Baron Nashor grant to the killing team in LoL? 

The buff, called Hand of Baron, is given to all living team members. It lasts for 180 seconds (3 minutes) and grants:

Empowered nearby minions:

• All minions have their minimum movement speed set equal to 92.5% of the averaged movement speed of all nearby champions, capped at 500. Slows also cannot reduce their speed below this value.

• Depending on the type of minion nearby, each type receives different buffs. In short, each type gets bigger in size, gains attack range, and has damage reduction. To see the numbers, check the section below:
  • Melee
    • 50% bonus movement speed (multiplicative) when within 500 units of enemy minions or turrets.
    • 75 bonus attack range.
    • +30% size.
    • 50% – 70% (based on minutes) damage reduction from champions.
    • 85% damage reduction from minions.
    • 15% damage reduction from Area damage, Persistent damage, and Proc damage, stacking multiplicatively with either of the above.
  • Caster
    • 100 bonus attack range.
    • Attack missile speed increased to 900 from 650.
    • 20 bonus attack damage.
    • 50% – 70% (based on minutes) damage reduction from champions.
    • 15% damage reduction from Area damage, Persistent damage and Proc damage, stacking multiplicatively with either of the above.
  • Cannon
    • 750 bonus attack range.
    • Attack missile speed increased to 1600 from 1200.
    • 50% reduced attack speed.
    • 50 bonus attack damage.
    • Attacks deal 200% of the minion’s base AD + 300% of the minion’s bonus AD to turrets and buildings.
    • Attacks deal 100% of the minion’s base AD + 200% of the minion’s bonus AD to champions and minions.
    • Attacks splash to deal damage in a 200-unit radius area of effect.
    • +30% size.
  • Super minion
    • 50% bonus movement speed (multiplicative) when within 800 units of enemy minions or turrets.
    • 25% bonus attack speed.
    • +15% size.

Bonus AD and AP

• Grants 12 – 48 bonus AD and 20 – 80 AP depending on time. Value is capped at 40 minutes.

Empowered Recall:

• Recall time is halved (from 8 seconds to 4 seconds). You gain an additional 50% bonus movement speed from the spawn Homeguard effect.

Attacks, Passives, and Other Features of Baron Nashor

Below are the passive effects of Baron:

• Presence of the Baron: Baron Nashor is immune to ghosted units, meaning they cannot pass through him. While he is alive, all obstructing champions, pets, and wards within his gameplay radius are pushed in front of him. Upon spawning in his pit, he knocks back all units within his gameplay radius.
• Delayed Evolution: Baron Nashor waits 30 seconds after leaving combat (dealing or taking damage) before leveling up and gaining stats.
• Debuff Immunity: Baron Nashor is immune to all terrain displacements and all forms of crowd control except stasis. Additionally, his stats cannot be modified by external means.
• Baron’s Gaze: Baron Nashor takes 50% reduced damage for eight seconds from the unit he most recently hit with a basic attack. This effect applies to only one unit at a time.
• Aura of Destruction: Baron Nashor emits an aura that spreads Void Corruption to any units hit by his attacks and abilities. Void Corruption is a stacking debuff that accumulates up to 100 times and lasts for eight seconds. Each stack reduces the target’s armor and magic resistance by 0.5, up to a maximum reduction of 50. All attacks and abilities refresh the debuff’s duration, but only specific ones apply additional stacks.

Attacks

The debuff is extremely important because it heavily reduces the resistances of the entire team, which can be troublesome if you have to fight the opponents while attempting to kill Baron. There are three variations of basic attacks for Baron Nashor. He always targets the nearest unit and each attack comes with a different effect:

• Corrosion: Each time Baron Nashor launches a basic attack, he also fires a burst at the nearest unit with the lowest number of Void Corruption stacks. This burst deals 70 (+20% AD) bonus magic damage and applies one stack of Void Corruption.
• Single-Target Rear Attack: If the target is behind Baron Nashor, he erects a spike that deals 100% AD physical damage.
• Single-Target Ranged Attack: If the target is in front of Baron Nashor, he spits an acid missile at them, dealing 100% AD physical damage and applying two additional stacks of Void Corruption.
• Area Melee Attack: If a target is in front of Baron Nashor within 250 units, he occasionally uses a melee attack instead of a ranged attack, dealing 100% AD physical damage to the primary target and 50% AD physical damage to nearby units.

Abilities

Every six auto attacks, Baron uses an ability. His first ability is random, but the consequent one follows a determined rotation:

• Acid Pool → Form Ability → Acid Shot → Tentacle Knockup → Acid Pool.

Each ability has a different effect:

• Acid Pool: After winding up for two seconds, Baron Nashor spits out three pools of acid in a cone in front of him, landing over 0.75 seconds. This deals 200 (+10% AD) magic damage to all champions upon impact and creates a field that lasts for 2.5 seconds, slowing units within by 60%.
• Form Ability – depending on which form Baron Nashor has, he gains a different ability:
  • Hunting Baron: Creates a pillar of lightning over all champions, striking their location after 0.7 seconds for the first target and every 0.1 seconds thereafter for each subsequent target. Each strike deals 20% of current health as magic damage, reduced by 50% for each successive hit.
  • Territorial Baron: Leans forward over 0.5 seconds, targeting the closest champion. After one second, he pulls all units in a cone toward him over 0.33 seconds for 300 units, dealing 300 magic damage to all affected champions.
  • All-Seeing Baron: Channels his eye to conjure a void rift toward the two furthest visible champions within 2200 units. Each rift lasts for three seconds and deals 1000 magic damage over the duration.
• Acid Shot: After winding up for two seconds, Baron Nashor spits acid along a straight line over two seconds, dealing 200 (+50% AD) magic damage to all units within the area.
• Tentacle Knockup: Baron Nashor summons a tremor beneath a target’s location, which erupts after 1.25 seconds with a tentacle. This deals 200 (+25% AD) magic damage to units within and knocks them up for 1.25 seconds. Units near the edge of the eruption are slightly knocked away instead.
• Area-of-Effect Rear Attack: Baron Nashor erects a cluster of spikes behind him, dealing 50% AD physical damage to units within the area and stunning them for 0.5 seconds.

Baron Form and Baron Pit

We previously spoke of Baron’s form, which is randomly chosen for each game. Aside from the different abilities, each Baron form also causes the terrain around the Baron pit to change:

• Hunting Baron – it’s the “traditional” Baron pit, the one Summoner’s Rift always had prior to the rework.
• Territorial Baron – The entrances to the Baron pit become two, with a wall splitting them.
• All-Seeing Baron – The baron pit features two long tunnels laterally, allowing teams to get much easier access to the objective.

Knowing which Baron pit spawns can be game-changing for specific teamfights. For example, the All-Seeing Baron form allows teams to contest the objective much more easily as they get more vision and multiple entrances. The Territorial one, on the other hand, can disrupt a team’s formations thanks to its pulling effect, giving the enemy team a chance to collapse.

Best Tips to Secure Baron Nashor in LoL

While there isn’t a fixed formula to kill Baron Nashor, there are specific elements you must always consider before making the call to take it down. Most importantly, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Vision Control and map movements – Have we got good vision control or have we denied the enemy one? It’s essential to know whether the enemy team will be contesting. Having good vision control might also allow you to sneak a Baron, especially if there are other neutral objectives, such as drakes and Atakhan, spawned elsewhere.
2. Team Composition – Do we have a good composition to quickly take it down or will we take a lot of time? What’s the potential trade?
3. Smite – Does our jungler have smite or do we have tools (like Cho’Gath’s ultimate or Kalista’s E) to deal the final blow?
4. Bait or force the enemy to come to you –  Teams sometimes use, especially when ahead, Baron Nashor to force the enemy into them. If the opponents let it, you get a free Baron buff. If they fight, you will have a good opportunity to wipe them and close out the game.