baron vs herald
The timing, and the pit. Herald sits in the top pit from fifteen minutes, baron replaces it at twenty. The first takes a tower, the second wins the game.
baron
Baron is the major late-game objective: a monster that is slow to kill, whose three-minute buff gives the whole team damage, a faster recall, and much stronger minions. Taking it without vision is the most punished mistake in the game. "no vision no baron".
open the page →herald
Herald is the monster that sits in the same pit before baron. Once killed, it drops an eye a player can use to release it: it then charges enemy towers, and a champion can even ride it. It is the tool for taking a tower, not for winning. "herald then mid".
open the page →Why they get mixed up
Same pit, same side of the map, and both get called "obj" in chat. That is where the confusion comes from. But they are not played the same way: herald is taken fast and spent right away, baron is set up with vision and played as a team. A "group for obj" at seventeen minutes means herald; at twenty-five, baron.