Get boost
Back to all articles
Heroes

Baba Deadlock Guide: Abilities, Build, Ability Order and Matchups

Baba, the pigeon lady of Central Park, joined Deadlock on October 6, 2026 as the second City Never Sleeps hero. This guide explains her whole kit after the October 14 nerf, uses her first 84,000 games to show what players build and max first and who she struggles against, then shows where her win rate stands now.

Written byMax CalderDeadlock journalist

Updated10 min read

Two hero cards of Baba, the Central Park pigeon lady from Deadlock, in round glasses

Who is Baba?

In the lore, Baba has sat on the same Central Park bench for fifty years, feeding spirit pigeons and yelling at tourists. Locals whisper that she leads the Soho Coven. The game tags her Cackling, Beady and Hexing, files her as a mystic and rates her Easy to play. She won the second City Never Sleeps hero vote and went live on Tuesday, October 6.

Baba hero card from City Never Sleeps
Baba's hero card. Her bench is part of the kit: Granny Long Legs makes it walk, run and kick.

Base stats

Baba's base stats
Health
780
About the average of 777
Damage per second
~85
3 pellets of 8.8, 3.2 shots a second
Ammo
15
2.5 s reload
Falloff range
15-42 m
Full damage only up to 15 m
Move speed
6.5 m/s
Below the 7.0 average
Stamina charges
2
The fewest in the game
Bullet resist
-7%
Since the October 14 update

On paper Baba is slow and short-ranged: her gun loses damage from 15 m and she has only two stamina charges, a number she shares with six other heroes. Her abilities make up for it. Granny Long Legs is her movement, and Threadsap turns every bullet into extra spirit damage.

Abilities and upgrades

Abilities and upgrades (tiers cost 1, 2 and 5 points)
  • Threadsap28 s cooldownA thread follows your crosshair for up to 35 m, then bursts along its path for 50 spirit damage. Every hero it hits loses 10 spirit power to you for 22 s, and the stolen spirit counts 75% more for Baba. While you hold it, every bullet adds 8 spirit damage. If Baba dies, every steal ends at once.
    1. +8 spirit damage per bullet
    2. 12 s shorter cooldown, stolen spirit lasts 8 s longer
    3. +1 charge, hits pull enemies 7 m
  • Granny Long Legs32 s cooldownFor 10 s the bench grows legs: +5 m/s, higher jumps and 30% debuff and melee resist, with no slowdown while shooting. Light melee kicks enemies 10 m away. Heavy melee is a ground pound for 75 spirit damage, a knock-up and a 50% slow.
    1. +2.5 m/s move speed
    2. 7 s shorter cooldown
    3. +15% debuff and melee resist, +50% melee lifesteal
  • Baba's Brew27 s cooldownBrew a pot of tea that cycles between three effects, then throw it up to 12 m: a 90 barrier for allies, a 3 s silence, or a burn for 12 damage a second over 8 s that lowers spirit resist by 15%. Press again to pause the brew on the effect you want.
    1. +3 m radius
    2. 14 s shorter cooldown
    3. Every effect a third stronger
  • Feed The Birds150 s cooldownChannel up to 6.5 s to cover enemies in front of you, up to 18 m away, in bread that slows them by up to 32%. Then pigeons dive at them for up to 450 spirit damage and turn them into pigeons for up to 2.75 s. The more bread, the more damage and the longer the hex.
    1. +4 m range, +32% maximum slow
    2. 55 s shorter cooldown
    3. +125 damage, +0.5 s hex

Which ability to max first

First ability maxed by Baba players, all modes since her release
Maxed firstShare of gamesWin rate
Threadsap50%46.7%
Feed The Birds28%44.4%
Granny Long Legs18%43.5%
Baba's Brew2.5%51.0%

Almost every Baba, 98%, puts her second point into Threadsap, and half of them max it first. That group wins 46.7%, the best of the common orders, which makes sense: Threadsap is where her damage comes from. Players who rush the ultimate win less. The small group that maxes Baba's Brew first wins 51%, but that is only about 1,200 games, so treat it as a hint to watch rather than a rule.

What players build on Baba

Most bought items on Baba in her first two days, in buying order

Share of Baba games where the item was bought, and the minute it is usually bought. All modes, October 6 to 8.

The build follows her kit closely. at about four minutes gives Threadsap a second charge, and later adds two more. and its upgrade heal her for every hero her spirit damage touches, which Threadsap does to whole groups. and are melee items, and they pay off with the kicks and ground pound of Granny Long Legs. is the one common gun item: more shots means more of the bonus spirit damage Threadsap puts on every bullet.

As in our other guides, we show how often items are bought rather than their win rates. Late items such as always look better, because they only get bought in games that last long enough.

Most used community build

The published Baba build players pick most, all modes, October 6 to 9

Eido's Baba [ANNOTATED]

Games
252
Win rate
43.7%

  1. Lane, buy in order

    Fire rate first, her gun is slow. heals off every Threadsap bullet.

  2. Lane extras

    Whatever the lane needs. covers her two stamina charges.

  3. Core

    Everything into Threadsap and the bench.

  4. Defense, at least one

  5. Late game

    For more gun damage.

  6. Late options

From the in-game build browser, version 49 as of October 9. Games and win rate count matches that started with this build selected. Only analysed matches are included, so treat both as a sample.

Eido's Baba [ANNOTATED] is the published build Baba players pick most often: 252 tracked games since release, more than any other. It wins 43.7%, a little under the 44.9% Baba won overall in those days, so its value is the plan rather than a hidden edge. That plan matches the data above. Mystic and heal her off spirit-charged bullets, and power up the bench kicks, adds Threadsap charges and stacks from the same bullets. Two early buys set it apart from the average Baba: and , both there to fix her slow fire rate. The build maxes Threadsap first, then Granny Long Legs, Baba's Brew and Feed The Birds last.

If you would rather copy the build with the best record so far, SN|P3R : Hex Marks the Spot (Baba Spirit) wins 49.3% of its 152 tracked games, the best of any build with more than 100. Its core is close to Eido's but brings , and in earlier. With samples this small, both numbers can swing a lot in a few days.

How to play Baba

  1. Open every fight with Threadsap. Drag it through as many enemies as you can: each hit steals spirit power and powers up your bullets for 22 s.
  2. Bend Threadsap around walls. The thread follows your crosshair, so cast it, then swing your aim to the side and it curls around the corner to reach enemies behind cover.
  3. Shoot while the steal is up. The bonus damage lives on your bullets, so Threadsap without shooting wastes half of it.
  4. Use Granny Long Legs to get in and out. The speed and charged jumps make up for her two stamina charges, the ground pound starts fights and the light kick pushes a diver off you.
  5. Throw Baba's Brew with a plan: barrier to save a fight, silence to stop an ultimate, burn to soften a target before your own ultimate.
  6. Drop the brew on yourself instantly with the alt-cast instead of the left mouse button. Depending on your settings that is the mouse wheel, a double tap or holding the ability key.
  7. Channel Feed The Birds from a safe angle. Bread builds up over a few seconds and enemies lose it when they leave the cone, so cast it on targets that are already slowed, stunned or committed to a fight.
  8. Stay inside 15 m with your gun. Past that her pellets fall off quickly.

Matchups

Baba's win rate against each enemy hero, all modes since her release

Hardest

  • Paige5,738 games37.8%
  • Seven5,031 games38.2%
  • Rat King13,687 games39.2%
  • Haze7,498 games39.2%
  • Ivy3,833 games41.8%

Easiest

  • Mirage2,299 games52.1%
  • Shiv3,759 games51.0%
  • Sinclair2,050 games50.9%
  • Warden1,416 games50.7%
  • Viscous2,145 games50.2%

Ranked games alone tell the same story: Paige, Rat King, Seven and Ivy are among her hardest opponents there too, while Mirage, Sinclair and Shiv stay among her easiest. Rat King is a natural problem, because his banner makes allies immune to slows, and slows are what hold enemies inside Feed The Birds. Part of the easy list is simply weak heroes: Sinclair and Warden sit near the bottom of our Deadlock tier list as well.

Can you play Baba in Ranked?

Yes, for now. Ranked normally needs 15 Standard wins on a hero, but recently released heroes are exempt for a limited time, which is why Baba showed up in most ranked games from her first day. During that window she does not count toward the three ranked heroes you need to queue, and Valve has not said how long it lasts. Once it ends, she needs 15 Standard wins like any other hero.

Is Baba good right now?

Baba's ranked win rate by rank bracket before her nerf, October 12 and 13
Average rank in the matchWin rate
Initiate to Mystic57.3%
Ritualist to Oracle57.6%
Phantom to Eternus60.1%

She was the best hero in Deadlock until the October 14 nerf. On October 12 and 13 she won 57.9% in Ranked and led every rank bracket, a long way from the 41.5% of her first two days, when most players were still learning her. Valve answered with the October 14 update: longer cooldowns, a weaker brew barrier and less resist against guns. In the first hours after it she won 51.9% across all modes, still above average but no longer the hero to beat.

FAQ

On Tuesday, October 6, 2026. She won the second City Never Sleeps hero vote and was the second new hero of the update, after Rat King.

Threadsap. Half of all Baba players max it first and win 46.7%, the best of the common ability orders. Almost everyone takes its first upgrade before anything else.

The build players pick most is Eido's Baba [ANNOTATED]: , Mystic and and fire rate items in lane, then , , and . It wins 43.7% of 252 tracked games. SN|P3R : Hex Marks the Spot has the best record so far, 49.3% of 152 games.

She was the strongest hero before the October 14 nerf, with 57.9% in Ranked on October 12 and 13. Right after the update her win rate across all modes dropped to 51.9%.

Yes, for a limited time after her release. During that window she does not count toward your three ranked heroes, and once it ends she needs 15 Standard wins like any other hero.

Dodge the Threadsap line, because every hit steals spirit power and boosts her bullets. Leave the cone of Feed The Birds early, since the bread builds up over a few seconds, and fight her from beyond 15 m, where her gun falls off. Guns hurt her more than most, since she has -7% bullet resist.

Keep reading