League of Legends Pros Show Players How to Use Banner of Command

Professional League of Legends players are using a strategy involving the Hand of Baron buff and [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Professional League of Legends players are using a strategy involving the Hand of Baron buff and Banner of Command to quickly destroy towers and take games quicker, just like Patch 8.4 intended.

Strategic players in normal games may have noticed how powerful the combination of a Baron buff and Banner of Command is when used on a cannon minion following the release of the patch, but now that the mechanic has been used in pro games, players can expect much more of the strategy in solo queue games. The latest patch looked to make changes that would help players close out games quicker without having to capture multiple Barons first, and while some pro games are still stretching out to 40+ times, the power of the Banner Baron combination can't be ignored.

The Twitch clip above that was cut from the game between Team ROCCAT and Giants Gaming shows just how powerful the strategy can be after the patch. While the cannon minion that's empowered with a Baron buff would typically stand outside of the turrets' range and appeared to be a prime tool for sieging turrets, it's damage wasn't too rewarding despite how annoying it would be for players on the receiving end of the siege.

Following the bugfix in Patch 8.4 that addressed both Banner of Command and the Hand of Baron buff in one swing, the clip above shows the destruction that results from using the item on a Baron-powered cannon minion. With the magic damage resistance that Banner of Command minions have, you can see champions' magic damage rendered useless against the minion while it wages war on turrets.

For those that didn't read the notes carefully for Patch 8.4, you may have missed the changes entirely. The patch essentially fixed a buff that prevented siege minions from dealing bonus damage gained from both effects as detailed in the patch note below.

"A LARGE BUFF-FIX: Fixed a bug where bonus attack damage (ex. Hand of Baron's +50 and Banner of Command's +100) wasn't affecting empowered siege minion attacks against structures at all. This is twice as impactful as it sounds, since empowered siege minions deal double damage to turrets."

In the Twitch clip above from the ROC vs. GIA game, it's clear that the pros haven't let this change go unnoticed. Where most games would usually have no Banner of Commands being built, this game had three total with two belonging to Ornn and Tahm Kench from ROC and one bought by GIA at the 29-minute mark in the clip. The trend has continued beyond that game and into other European matches, so players can likely expect it to appear in other regions as well as normal games unless the strategy is addressed.

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