LoL Baron, Herald and Voidgrubs Guide (2026): The Top-Side Plan

The top side of Summoner's Rift has one pit and three monsters that take turns in it. Three Voidgrubs arrive at 8:00, the Rift Herald at 15:00 and Baron Nashor at 20:00, then every 6:00 after he dies. In 2025 a fourth monster, Atakhan, sat between them and Baron waited until 25:00. Riot removed Atakhan in patch 26.1, saying he added to "objective overload", and moved Baron back to 20 minutes. This guide covers the 2026 top side as it is on patch 26.22: what each monster gives, how the grubs got stronger in 26.11, the Herald's charge, Baron's new rewards and comeback experience, setting Baron up, spending three minutes of Hand of Baron well, and defending against it.

What changed in 2026: no more Atakhan

Riot announced the change in its 2026 season preview on 1 December 2025 and shipped it in patch 26.1 on 7 January 2026. Atakhan "contributed to objective overload", the Summoner's Rift team wrote, and earlier changes to him and the grubs hadn't fixed that. With him gone, "Baron will now return to spawning at 20 minutes".

If you came back to League after a break: the Tier 3 boots that Feats of Strength used to hand out now come from the mid lane's Role Quest instead, and First Blood and the first turret pay their old bonuses again. None of this changed in the patches since, up to 26.22 on 3 November 2026.

Voidgrubs (8:00)

Three Voidgrubs spawn once at 8:00 in the top-side pit and leave at 14:45 if nobody takes them. Since patch 26.1 each grub pays 30 gold to the killer only and 65 experience to allies within a large radius, and grubs start at level 7. What makes them worth fighting for is the buff: each grub gives your whole team a stack of Touch of the Void, bonus true damage against structures, stronger for melee champions. With all three you get Hunger of the Void, which summons Voidmites to attack the turret you're hitting.

Riot called 26.11 "a straight buff to Grubs", and it shows in how teams play them: three grubs make an early turret fall much faster, and since plates no longer fall off at 14:00, that extra turret damage keeps paying. Fight for them when your top and mid have priority around 8:00; if the enemy takes the drake at the same time, the trade is usually fair early on — see the trade table below.

The Rift Herald (15:00)

The Herald spawns once at 15:00 in the Baron pit and, if nobody takes her, leaves at 19:45 so Baron can arrive at 20:00 (Nerfplz's 2026 objective guide; the wiki's infobox still lists an older value). Since patch 26.1 she pays a flat 100 gold to the killer and 240 experience to allies within a wide radius, and starts at level 9.

1. Kill her. 15:00+ She has a vulnerable Eye; patch 26.1 set its cooldown to 6 seconds and stopped attacks from reducing it.
2. Pick up the Eye. 20 s It drops at the pit entrance and stays there for about 20 seconds (Nerfplz). One player picks it up.
3. Summon and ride. a lane The Eye summons the Herald as a mount you steer down a lane at a turret.
4. Charge the turret. 3,000 The charge deals 3,000 damage to the structure (patch 26.1); a 26.12 fix made sure it's always true damage.

Where to use her: the lane where your team can take the plates and the turret right after, usually mid (it opens the map) or the side lane of the next drake. A Herald used at a turret nobody follows up on is mostly wasted.

Top side or bot side: trading objectives

Objectives on the two sides of the map overlap, so you'll often trade one for another. The common ones on patch 26.22 — our view of when each is fair:

Baron Nashor in 2026

Baron sits in the top-side pit, spawns at 20:00 and returns 6:00 after every kill. Patch 26.1 rebuilt his numbers:

Two consequences for planning. The lower gold means Baron alone rarely decides a game the way it did in 2025; the buff does, through the siege it enables. And the comeback experience means a team that's behind can catch up a lot by taking or stealing a Baron. Nerfplz's 2026 guide also notes that each game's Baron is one of three variants — Hunting, Territorial or All-Seeing — with different attacks, and two of them reshape the pit; watch how he attacks in the first seconds of the fight.

Setting up Baron

A Baron isn't started at the pit — it's started in the side lanes a minute earlier. The setup we teach:

1. Push both side lanes. −1:30 Bot and top waves crash into the enemy turrets, so enemies must answer them or lose minions and plates.
2. Clear vision around the pit. −1:00 Sweep the river and the enemy jungle near the pit with Oracle Lens, then ward their entrances. The vision guide covers the spots.
3. Find a reason they can't contest. trigger Two enemies dead, their jungler shown bot side, or their carry on a recall. No reason, no Baron.
4. Start it with the right players. go Your highest damage hits Baron, the rest watch the entrances. Your jungler stays near the pit with Smite ready.
5. Plan the next minute. after Recall together with the empowered Recall, buy, and leave base as a group.

Spending Hand of Baron

Hand of Baron lasts 180 seconds. It gives 12–48 attack damage and 20–80 ability power (by the minute Baron dies, fixed when you get it), an empowered Recall with half the channel time, and an aura that turns nearby minions into a siege force (official wiki):

The aura only works while a buffed champion is near the minions — they lose it with nobody within 1500 units — and the buff is lost on death. So the plan is always: recall, buy, walk out together, push two lanes with the buffed minions, and never fight in a bad spot. Our three plays:

The split-pushing guide covers side lanes and the macro guide the bigger plan.

Defending against Baron

When the enemy has Baron, you have 180 seconds to survive. Clear waves before they reach your turrets — with the aura on, that's slower, so use your waveclear early and from range. Don't fight a buffed team at the front of their wave; wait for the buff to run out or for them to split up. If they started Baron without you seeing it, come from the side they can't watch and fight while Baron still hits them.

Being behind is not a reason to give up on Baron. Since patch 26.1, a team that's behind in levels gets 25% more XP per level behind, capped at 2× from him, so a stolen or traded Baron can close a gap quickly. The counter-jungling guide covers steals and Smite fights: Primal Smite deals 1,400 true damage once your Role Quest is done.

Top-side mistakes

Pair this guide with the Dragon Soul guide for the other side of the map and the pathing guide for the jungler's route between pits. The exact timers for every monster are in LoL objective timers.

Baron calls are a team skill. In a Flex boost (from $2.90 a division) a booster leads the setups for your team, or a coach walks you through your own Baron fights.