League of Legends Is Increasing the Late-game Power of Baron, Elder Dragon Buffs

The buffs from League of Legends’ most powerful neutral objectives are being increased in a big way to provide more late-game power.

These buffs that are being tested for the effects gained from slaying the Baron and Elder Dragon are no joke either. While a detailed explanation for the buffs hasn’t been provided yet, it certainly looks like the goal is to prevent late-game stalls with the power of the buffs increasing the longer the game runs and the Elder Dragon buffs becoming more powerful once multiple Elder Dragons are taken.

The changes below were shared by Riot Games’ Paul “Riot Aether” Perscheid with a note that the Baron and Elder Dragon buffs were being added to the PBE. This means that, like anything on the PBE, the values and potential changes could and likely will be tweaked before going live. Should all of the changes go through though, it’s likely that players and esports viewers will experience less of those 40-60 minute games with the power of the neutral objective buffs putting an end to games much quicker, particularly from the changes being made to the Elder Dragon buff.

Baron Buff

• Initial Stats: 25 attack damage and ability power >>> 24 attack damage and 40 ability power
• Final Stats: 40 attack damage and ability power at 27:30 >>> 48 attack camage and 80 ability power at 40:00
• Siege Minion Damage vs. Turrets: +100% >>> +300%
• [New] Caster Minion Durability: Empowered caster minions now take 50% less damage from champions
• Bugfix: Hand of Baron’s area-of-effect damage reduction buff on minions now properly reduces damage from Runaan’s Hurrican bolts

Elder Dragon Buff

• Respawn: 10 minutes >>> 8 minutes
• [New] Elder-er: Elder Dragon buffs beyond the first grant even stronger effects. The first buff is unchanged; we’re listing the values below for comparison.
  • Buff Duration: 150 seconds for the first buff; 300 seconds for subsequent buffs
  • Burn Damage: 45 (+45 per drake or dragon killed) for the first buff; 135 (+90 per drake or dragon killed) for subsequent buffs
  • Elemental buff: +50% effectiveness of Elemental Drake stacks for the first buff; +100% for subsequent buffs

The buffs to the two neutral objectives’ effects should be live on the test servers now, so PBE players should look to to test the changes as they’re adjusted.