The definition of the term people refer to as a "Baron Steal" is when the Baron is killed by the opposing team rather than the one that started it. Baron Steals are always a common phenomenon in League and are something that all Junglers, both in amateur and especially in competitive play, need to perfect.

It is something that hypes up the crowd more than anything else on the big stage, turns the tides of the game in a second, and leads teams to either success or failure. It's also no coincidence that some of the biggest and most remarkable plays in the history of League of Legends have happened inside the Baron Pit.

This time, we take a look at a Baron Steal that happened in Game 2 of the Team Dignitas vs FlyQuest series during the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split. The way this exact Baron Steal was executed as well as the philosophy behind it, is definitely something I want to talk about.

The Background

We already lead the series 1-0, but it is the second game of the series and things are not so in favor of us. Despite only 3K gold separating the two teams, FlyQuest has two extra towers (which means less vision and map presence for us), and 2 Mountain Drakes, a dragon buff that is considered the most important of all in competitive play especially for Baron-oriented plays.

The exact moment FlyQuest attempts to start the Baron, minions are slowly pushing in on our Top Inhibitor Turret and our Bot Tier 2. This means that, if FlyQuest picked Baron up with no casualties, they could very easily force a fight Top, which would mean an Inhibitor down at the least. So, our only chance of coming back is to steal this Baron away from them.

The Set Up

As far as vision is concerned, despite the fact that we don't have wards placed inside Baron's immediate area, we have vision inside every bush on our side of the Jungle. Given that, it is relatively easy to guess when the enemies have gone to Baron to either start it or to set a trap.

Accordingly, our first action is LOD activating his Curtain Call on Jhin, to ensure vision inside the Baron Pit. Ssumday then, seeing that the enemies have already started, proceeds to stand right behind the wall, waiting for the perfect time to engage and Chaser stays right behind him.

The Counter

Of course, FlyQuest would not allow Chaser to enter the Pit that easily. Hai's Jarvan and Lemonnation's Malzahar engage onto him as soon as Baron is 2K HP away from dying and try to lock him down for as long as possible, so that Moon will be able to safely Smite it away.

They both cast their ultimates on him, locking him down in a tiny area and suppressing him long enough for Baron to die. Indeed, the suppress duration from Lemon would have probably been more than enough for FlyQuest to chunk the Baron down and get the Baron buff uncontested.

Countering the Counter

Right now, everything looks smooth for FlyQuest. Two of them have locked Chaser down and the rest are all attacking Baron simultaneously.

At the same time, Ssumday's Maokai Flashes into the pit with his ultimate activated, to ensure that it is clear for Chaser to get in there as well. Seeing that Lemon has Chaser pinned down though, he immediately casts his Arcane Smash to break his channel, cutting the tether on Chaser.

The Miraculous Steal

Once he is cut loose from his bonds, Chaser immediately Flashes into the pit and Smites the Baron. But let's take a closer look here as it all happened within fractions of a second.

As Maokai connects his Arcane Smash to Malzahar, Chaser instantly Flashes out of the Jarvan ultimate and into the Baron Pit, and he proceeds to Leap and Q mid-air for extra damage, along with the Smite which eventually secured the Baron. At the time he used his Smite, the Baron was sitting on 440 HP, which is a lot less compared to the 760 damage a 13 level Kha'Zix does with his Smite.

The Close-Up

After Chaser stole the Baron, it was a piece of cake for the rest of the team to clean up the enemies, which they did, with Keane rampaging through them. You can get a more detailed look into the whole fight and not just the Baron Steal here.

A Series-Ending Play

After winning this very fight, we got back into the game. We started advancing our gold lead steadily, which eventually led to us winning the game, closing out this series 2-0. You might as well check out our full recap of this game here.

Looking ahead for the Spring Split

Finishing 6th in the Spring Split after such a shaky start, we managed to show everyone that we truly are a team that can bounce off of any crazy situations and come back stronger than ever. We are more than ready to fight in the Summer Split to achieve more than we ever have before. See you guys at the NA LCS kick-off, which is approximately 2 weeks away from now.