Graves vs Baba
Written for the Graves player. Playing Baba? See Baba vs Graves →
Baba is favoured. Graves wins 53.5% of 71,901 games against Baba (-2.8 points vs Graves’s usual 56.3%).
How to win as Graves
- RuleDo not commit before Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's Brew is gone.
Baba's Brew
Baba's Brew Baba brews a pot of tea, then throws it to splash an area. Crowd Control Silencing Brew silences everyone in the splash for 3s (4s at Tier 3). Damage Scalding Brew: 12 spirit damage a second for 8s (+0.152 per Spirit) and -15%… Defensive Soothing Brew shields allies in the splash, including Baba herself. 1 +3m radius 2 -12s cooldown 5 every effect is a third stronger (barrier, burn, spirit-resist cut and silence) first — show yourself at the edge of a fight so she throws the Silence early, then commit - Watch out
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m steals your Spirit and gives her more, so after a hit your abilities do less and her bullets carry Spirit Damage for 22 seconds - Your edgeYou have no clean statistical edge here — this one is decided by who uses their cooldowns better, not by the kits.
- Buy
Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist — Buy when enemy lockdown is the reason you lose fights — it lets you walk through a full CC chain and still deal damage. In this game that means Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex .
The numbers: lane, whole match and Oracle and above
| Games | Graves wins | vs Graves's usual | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole match | 53.5% | -2.8 pts (56.3% overall) | 71,901 games |
| Sharing a lane | 52.8% | -3.5 pts (56.3% overall) | 23,787 games |
| Oracle and above | 52.1% | -0.6 pts (52.7% at Oracle+) | 2,722 games |
"Sharing a lane" counts only games where both were assigned the same lane — the laning matchup itself. "Oracle and above" counts only matches whose average rank was Oracle and above. Source: deadlock-api.com, refreshed daily.
Data-supported Measured: you win 53.5% of these, which is 2.8 points below your overall win rate (71,901 matches). The kit-based model agrees. Ranked against this hero's own baseline win rate, not raw win rate. Source: deadlock-api.com.
What should I do right now?
Do
- Plan for
Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer — know which tier it sits in so you are not improvising at the shop. - Know what Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's Brew looks like. It is the cooldown this lane revolves around.
Avoid
- Walking to lane on the same path every wave against a hero with Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's engage range.
Do
- 780 base health and a weak gun until
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m lands — a laner who dodges the thread out-trades her - Her damage leans on one ability; with
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m on its 26s cooldown her gun is about 28 DPS -
Jar of Dead
Jar of Dead Passively banks a charge whenever something dies near Graves. Crowd Control none at base; the tier-2 upgrade adds roughly a 30% movement slow for about… Damage roughly 16 spirit per Deadhead hit at base spirit power (deadlock.one, patch… Defensive tier-1 upgrade returns a small heal (about 5 health) when a death is… 1 heals Graves a small amount for each death collected 2 Deadhead hits apply roughly a 30% slow for about 1 second 5 +2 additional Deadheads and +4 seconds of lifetime charges off every creep death, so a lane Graves is winning snowballs the ability's uptime
Avoid
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Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m reaches 35m and steals Spirit from both laners at once if they stand in line, so she wins spirit trades early -
Granny Long Legs
Granny Long Legs Baba's bench grows legs for 10 seconds. Crowd Control Kick: 10m knockback. Ground pound: a short knockup and a 50% slow for 4s.… Damage 75 spirit damage on the ground pound (+0.6 per Spirit). Mobility +5 m/s movement speed for 10s, higher jumps and a charged high jump from… 1 +2.5 m/s movement speed 2 -7s cooldown 5 +15% debuff resist and melee resist, and +50% melee lifesteal gives her a speed burst and a knockback, so a single diver has a hard time sticking to her
Do
- Their first real spike is ult unlock — respect it from that point, not before.
- Your spike is ult unlock:
Borrowed Decree
Borrowed Decree Plants a gravestone that spawns Ghouls over time. Crowd Control area slow on Ghoul detonation Damage roughly 115 spirit on Ghoul detonation and about 40 melee per upgrade tier; Defensive a gravestone placed on your own walker or guardian turns a defensive hold… 1 +25% Ghoul move speed and about -15s cooldown 2 +10s duration and faster spawn cadence (about -0.3s spawn time) 5 Ghouls deal roughly +5% of the target's current health as damage when they die converts her into permanent lane and objective pressure even while she is elsewhere on the map
Avoid
- Taking an even fight against Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. on their spike timing when you could take the same fight ten minutes later on yours.
Do
- Watch for
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex . Interrupt the channel — a Stun, Silence or Knockup early leaves the pigeons with almost no bread to work with - Interrupt
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex early with a Stun, Silence or Knockup — a short channel means a weak barrage and a short hex
Avoid
- Spending your own escape before Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's Brew is on cooldown.
Baba’s abilities
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Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex Ultimate Sticking power rather than damage: a stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon hex of up to 2.75s (3.25s at Tier 3).
- Interrupt the channel — a Stun, Silence or Knockup early leaves the pigeons with almost no bread to work with
- Get out of the cone or behind cover as soon as the bread starts landing; the payoff grows with every second you stay
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Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer , or a dispel right after the barrage, saves your carry from the hex
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Granny Long Legs
Granny Long Legs Baba's bench grows legs for 10 seconds. Crowd Control Kick: 10m knockback. Ground pound: a short knockup and a 50% slow for 4s.… Damage 75 spirit damage on the ground pound (+0.6 per Spirit). Mobility +5 m/s movement speed for 10s, higher jumps and a charged high jump from… 1 +2.5 m/s movement speed 2 -7s cooldown 5 +15% debuff resist and melee resist, and +50% melee lifesteal Ability 2 The gap-close arrives with control attached — 10m knockback.
- Parry the light-melee kick — it stuns her
- Do not melee-trade with her while the bench is up; wait the 10 seconds and the resists are gone
- Save slows and stuns for after the bench ends, when her debuff resist drops back to normal
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Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m Ability 1 No control at base; the upgrade is what changes that — tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread.
- Strafe off the line before it bursts — it detonates along its path a moment after it stops, so moving sideways is what dodges it
- Spirit Resist cuts both the burst and her empowered bullets;
Plated Armor
Plated Armor +1s Cooldown +30% Deflection Percent +50% On-Hit Prevention Percent +130 Bonus Health blocks the on-hit part - Dispel or wait out the 22 seconds before you trade with your abilities, since your Spirit is lower until then
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Baba's Brew
Baba's Brew Baba brews a pot of tea, then throws it to splash an area. Crowd Control Silencing Brew silences everyone in the splash for 3s (4s at Tier 3). Damage Scalding Brew: 12 spirit damage a second for 8s (+0.152 per Spirit) and -15%… Defensive Soothing Brew shields allies in the splash, including Baba herself. 1 +3m radius 2 -12s cooldown 5 every effect is a third stronger (barrier, burn, spirit-resist cut and silence) Ability 3 A second source of hard control: silencing Brew silences everyone in the splash for 3s (4s at Tier 3).
- Read the pot before you walk in: a Silence brew means hold your abilities or stay out of the splash
- Spread out so one 6m splash cannot Silence your whole team
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Debuff Reducer
Debuff Reducer +25% Debuff Resist +90 Bonus Health shortens the Silence and the burn;
Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer ignores the Silence
- 1
Baba's Brew
Baba's Brew Baba brews a pot of tea, then throws it to splash an area. Crowd Control Silencing Brew silences everyone in the splash for 3s (4s at Tier 3). Damage Scalding Brew: 12 spirit damage a second for 8s (+0.152 per Spirit) and -15%… Defensive Soothing Brew shields allies in the splash, including Baba herself. 1 +3m radius 2 -12s cooldown 5 every effect is a third stronger (barrier, burn, spirit-resist cut and silence) Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's Brew first — show yourself at the edge of a fight so she throws the Silence early, then commit
- 2
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m Threadsap second — dodge the thread and her gun is harmless for the next 26 seconds
- 3
Granny Long Legs
Granny Long Legs Baba's bench grows legs for 10 seconds. Crowd Control Kick: 10m knockback. Ground pound: a short knockup and a 50% slow for 4s.… Damage 75 spirit damage on the ground pound (+0.6 per Spirit). Mobility +5 m/s movement speed for 10s, higher jumps and a charged high jump from… 1 +2.5 m/s movement speed 2 -7s cooldown 5 +15% debuff resist and melee resist, and +50% melee lifesteal Granny Long Legs last — once the bench is down she has no escape and no resists
The matchup in detail
- Low health and a weak gun until
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m lands Strategic - Her ultimate is a long channel that a Stun or Silence cuts short Strategic
- Almost everything she does is Spirit Damage or a debuff, so Spirit Resist and debuff resist answer most of her kit Strategic
- You win by being somewhere else and Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. wins by being everywhere at once with four friends. That is a clock matchup with fixed hands: the Rift at roughly 11:00 and every 7 minutes after, and the Urn at 10, 15, 20 and 25. Your split has to be timed so that you are cashing a structure during the minutes they are grouped for one of those, and back or unreachable during the minutes they are not. Splitting on a schedule that ignores the objective clock just hands them a 5v4. Strategic
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Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m steals your Spirit and gives her more, so after a hit your abilities do less and her bullets carry Spirit Damage for 22 seconds Strategic - Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's Brew can Silence everyone in a 6m splash for 3 seconds — the same button that might be a barrier for her team Strategic
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Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex stacks a slow on everyone in her 18m cone, then hits each of them for up to 450 and turns them into pigeons for up to 2.75 seconds Strategic - While the bench is up she kicks divers 10m away, ground-pounds them with a slow, and takes less Melee Damage Strategic
- Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. can Silence, which means your escape is only real if it is already active. Pre-empt rather than react: if you are walking into a position where the Silence lands, your defensive cooldown should be spent getting out of that position, not saved for after. Strong evidence
- Interrupt
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex early with a Stun, Silence or Knockup — a short channel means a weak barrage and a short hex Strategic - Strafe off the thread before it bursts; without stolen Spirit her gun does only about 28 DPS Strategic
- Buy Spirit Resist and
Debuff Reducer
Debuff Reducer +25% Debuff Resist +90 Bonus Health : the burst, the empowered bullets, the burn, the Silence and the ultimate are all Spirit Damage or debuffs Strategic - Spread out against the brew and the ultimate so neither can catch your whole team Strategic
- Parry her kick — it stuns her — and fight her after the 10 seconds of bench resists run out Strategic
- Poke her from beyond 35m; she has no reach past
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m Strategic - You do not have the CC to reliably break
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex out of your own kit, so buy the cheapest thing that does:
Silence Wave
Silence Wave +42s Cooldown +3s Duration +0.1s Cast Delay +50 Bonus Health is the only area Silence in the shop and the standard answer to channelled ultimates. Area matters because you do not have to win the aim duel — you have to cover the spot they cast from. Note the alternative,
Counterspell
Counterspell +23s Cooldown +20 Spirit Power +6s Buff Duration +0.8s Spell Parry Duration +50 Bonus Health +5 Spirit Power , parries a single ability outright but requires a read;
Silence Wave
Silence Wave +42s Cooldown +3s Duration +0.1s Cast Delay +50 Bonus Health forgives a bad read, which is why it is the buy when interrupting is not your specialty. Strong evidence - Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. contributes through abilities, which makes a hard Silence worth more against them than any amount of resist.
Focus Lens
Focus Lens +45s Cooldown +4.5s Duration +0.1s Cast Delay +35% Damage On Expire +10% Fire Rate -9% Spirit Resist -30 Spirit Power +12s Resist Reduction Duration Builds from Spirit Sap is the sharpest version: 4.5 seconds of single-target Silence at 20m, plus 30% of all damage dealt during the window applied when it expires, on a 45-second cooldown. Against a caster that is not a defensive purchase — it deletes their entire fight participation and then charges them for it. Strong evidence
- While she channels
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex — any Stun or Silence cuts the barrage short Strategic - The 26 seconds after a missed
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m : no stolen Spirit, so her bullets are plain Strategic - The 20 seconds between benches (30s cooldown, 10s duration): no speed boost, no knockback and no resists Strategic
- Right after she throws the brew — her main control is spent for 25 seconds Strategic
- You have real objective damage, which makes the Guardian your win condition in this lane rather than Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's health bar. Guardian resistance scales from +50% down to −50% across roughly the first twelve minutes since 05-22-2026 — it gets softer, not harder, so the pressure you can apply grows every minute from about 6:00. Guardians also have no ability-damage reduction, so spirit works on them at full value. Older guides claiming Guardians toughen over time are wrong. Documented
- You get value from moving around the map and Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. does not, but the 09-16-2026 patch made that harder to convert early: tunnel breakables Crates Streets, rooftops and tunnels — about 500 of them Ordinary breakables. Each has a 60% chance to drop souls; a Tough Crate always drops, for double. Souls 23 souls a crate, 60% of the time +2 a minute now spawn and respawn on 5 minutes rather than 3. The off-lane income that used to make a rotation pay for itself is roughly 40% less frequent, so before 6:00 a rotation has to be justified by pressure on Baba or on the Guardian, not by the breakables you pick up on the way. Documented
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Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m reaches 35m and steals Spirit from both laners at once if they stand in line, so she wins spirit trades early Strategic -
Granny Long Legs
Granny Long Legs Baba's bench grows legs for 10 seconds. Crowd Control Kick: 10m knockback. Ground pound: a short knockup and a 50% slow for 4s.… Damage 75 spirit damage on the ground pound (+0.6 per Spirit). Mobility +5 m/s movement speed for 10s, higher jumps and a charged high jump from… 1 +2.5 m/s movement speed 2 -7s cooldown 5 +15% debuff resist and melee resist, and +50% melee lifesteal gives her a speed burst and a knockback, so a single diver has a hard time sticking to her Strategic - 780 base health and a weak gun until
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m lands — a laner who dodges the thread out-trades her Strategic - Her damage leans on one ability; with
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m on its 26s cooldown her gun is about 28 DPS Strategic
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Jar of Dead
Jar of Dead Passively banks a charge whenever something dies near Graves. Crowd Control none at base; the tier-2 upgrade adds roughly a 30% movement slow for about… Damage roughly 16 spirit per Deadhead hit at base spirit power (deadlock.one, patch… Defensive tier-1 upgrade returns a small heal (about 5 health) when a death is… 1 heals Graves a small amount for each death collected 2 Deadhead hits apply roughly a 30% slow for about 1 second 5 +2 additional Deadheads and +4 seconds of lifetime charges off every creep death, so a lane Graves is winning snowballs the ability's uptime Strong evidence
- The first Unstable Rift lands around 11:00 and then every 7 minutes, and Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. beats you in exactly the fight it creates. Use the telegraph: a world-only visual appears on a random side-lane bridge roughly 60 seconds before the global announcement and map marker, which is the single biggest piece of free information in the mid game. Spend those 60 seconds either grouping or deliberately taking something elsewhere — the one thing you cannot afford is arriving at a Rift bridge late and alone. Strong evidence
- Your objective damage is the lever in this matchup and the Walker timing is where it pays. Walkers sit around 65% damage resistance early and decay toward −65% by minute 18, so the same rotation that accomplishes nothing at 12:00 kills one outright at 17:00. Each Walker your team destroys also unlocks an extra item slot for the whole team, so the take is a build spike for five other people, not just souls. Remember a Walker is invulnerable unless someone is within 22m. Strong evidence
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Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex unlock — Lets her slow and hex a whole team that walks into her cone Strategic -
Threadsap
Threadsap Baba throws a spool of thread that follows her crosshair as it flies, then bursts along the whole line it drew. Crowd Control none at base. Tier 3 makes each hit pull the enemy 7m along the thread. Damage 50 spirit damage on the burst. Defensive Taking Spirit away from a caster lowers the damage of their next abilities… 1 +8 spirit damage per bullet while she holds stolen Spirit 2 -12s cooldown and +8s on the steal 5 +1 charge, and every hit pulls the enemy 7m T1 — +8 more Spirit Damage on every bullet while she holds stolen Spirit doubles the payoff of a hit Strategic - Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's Brew T2 — The brew comes back every 13 seconds, so the Silence, barrier or burn is ready in nearly every fight Strategic
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Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex T2 — -55s on the ultimate brings it to 95s, often once a fight Strategic
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Borrowed Decree
Borrowed Decree Plants a gravestone that spawns Ghouls over time. Crowd Control area slow on Ghoul detonation Damage roughly 115 spirit on Ghoul detonation and about 40 melee per upgrade tier; Defensive a gravestone placed on your own walker or guardian turns a defensive hold… 1 +25% Ghoul move speed and about -15s cooldown 2 +10s duration and faster spawn cadence (about -0.3s spawn time) 5 Ghouls deal roughly +5% of the target's current health as damage when they die unlock — Converts her into permanent lane and objective pressure even while she is elsewhere on the map Strong evidence -
Grasping Hands
Grasping Hands Raises a line of undead hands out of the ground that damages and immobilizes anyone passing through, spawns a Ghoul, and leaves a lingering rift behind. Crowd Control immobilize (root) on enemies who pass through; Damage roughly 90 spirit at base, +90 more at tier 2 (metabot.gg, deadlock.one) Mobility none for Graves 1 +90 damage and +10m wall length 2 +1 Ghoul, about -14s cooldown and +0.75s immobilize tier 2 — +10m wall length turns it from a spot-block into a lane-wide cut, which is when her zoning starts controlling teamfights Strong evidence
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Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex is a channel, which means the fight is decided by whether you can break it. Hold one interrupt — a Stun, a Silence, or a displacement — specifically for that cast rather than spending it on the opening trade. If you have no interrupt, the answer is line of sight: leave the area entirely rather than trying to out-heal it. Strong evidence - Against Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's knockups,
Debuff Reducer
Debuff Reducer +25% Debuff Resist +90 Bonus Health is a live answer where it used to be a dead one: Knockup durations were brought under debuff reduction on 05-22-2026, so the +25% from a 1,600 Tier II item genuinely shortens the airborne time. That matters more for you than for most, because you have no exit and the airborne window is when their follow-up lands. Worth pairing with the fact that
Knockdown
Knockdown +35s Cooldown +0.1s Cast Delay +2s Stun Delay +0.5s Stun Duration +75 Bonus Health +5% Ability Range +5% Radius -style effects going the other way still cannot be shortened at all. Documented - Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. brings enough lockdown that Stun sequencing matters. Community reporting describes Stun diminishing returns of roughly 10% then 30% inside an 8-second window, applying to stuns only and not to silences, slows, disarms or hexes — so their follow-up chain may be shorter than the first one felt. Treat this as unconfirmed, but it is worth knowing before you burn a cleanse on the opening Stun. Uncertain
- Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. decides where you stand, not you. The practical rule is to never hold a position whose failure case is being moved — stand so that being yanked or knocked puts you somewhere survivable rather than inside their whole team. Cover at your back is worth more than cover in front. Strong evidence
- Fight Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. under cover — indoors, under walkways, inside stairwells. Taking away the vertical axis removes most of their kit's value before you spend a single item slot on it. Strategic
- Riding a zipline in Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's line of sight is worse than walking. Enemy hero damage while you are riding knocks you off for 15% of your max health, a 2.5-second Stun and a fall — for a hero with your health pool that is most of a death handed over for free. You gain knockoff immunity only after 3 consecutive seconds of riding, signalled by a blue particle effect, so the dangerous part is the first three seconds. Mount out of their sight line, not near it. Documented
- Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. wins by choosing where the fight happens. Take your position before the zoning goes down, not after — once the area is committed you are fighting on their terms, and walking in to contest it is exactly the mistake the kit is built to farm. Strategic
- Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. has to lead you and you are too slow to make that hard by strafing, so buy the miss with geometry instead of movement. A corner, a pillar or a doorway edge means the projectile has to be in flight before you are visible — travel time works against them the moment the sight line is short-lived. Hold positions where your exposure is measured in fractions of a second per peek, and never cross an open space on a straight line at a constant speed, which is the one input their weapon is designed to punish. Strategic
- When you go for their Walker against a team with Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. peeling, the 22m rule is your positioning constraint: a Walker is invulnerable while no enemy is within 22m, so somebody has to be inside that ring for any of your damage to count. Being that body is a commitment, not a poke. Backdoor protection also gives the Walker 65% damage reduction and 65 HP/s regeneration until your trooper wave arrives, so going without the wave is not a faster take, it is no take at all. Strong evidence
- Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. fights from the air, which is exactly what
Knockdown
Knockdown +35s Cooldown +0.1s Cast Delay +2s Stun Delay +0.5s Stun Duration +75 Bonus Health +5% Ability Range +5% Radius exists for: it applies +100% gravity to an airborne target (raised from +50% in March 2026) and its Stun scales with altitude, up to about +1.5s at 30m. The higher they commit, the harder the punish — and Debuff Resist will not shorten that Stun for them. Documented - Against Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's crowd control, understand what Debuff Resist actually buys you: it shortens duration, never magnitude. It is excellent against long disables and close to worthless against a short hard slow. Two things it explicitly does not shorten at all are the parry Stun and the
Knockdown
Knockdown +35s Cooldown +0.1s Cast Delay +2s Stun Delay +0.5s Stun Duration +75 Bonus Health +5% Ability Range +5% Radius item's Stun. Documented -
Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer (vitality T4) — Buy when enemy lockdown is the reason you lose fights — it lets you walk through a full CC chain and still deal damage. In this game that means Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex . Documented -
Knockdown
Knockdown +35s Cooldown +0.1s Cast Delay +2s Stun Delay +0.5s Stun Duration +75 Bonus Health +5% Ability Range +5% Radius (spirit T3) — Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. is where this lineup’s air mobility comes from. The consensus answer to flying and airborne heroes and to channelled aerial ultimates — buy it whenever an enemy fights from the sky. Documented -
Debuff Reducer
Debuff Reducer +25% Debuff Resist +90 Bonus Health (vitality T2) — Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. creates that through Baba's
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex . The standard early buy when the enemy team chains crowd control; it is also the component for
Spellbreaker
Spellbreaker +9s Cooldown +18% Spirit Resist +25% Debuff Resist +175 Damage Threshold +65% Spirit Damage Reduction +90 Bonus Health Builds from Debuff Reducer and
Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer . Documented
- The reflex buy against a hero who keeps deleting you is
Metal Skin
Metal Skin +24s Cooldown +5s Duration +12% Bullet Resist -20% Dash Distance , and against Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. it does nothing.
Metal Skin
Metal Skin +24s Cooldown +5s Duration +12% Bullet Resist -20% Dash Distance is bullet-damage immunity only — Spirit Damage, abilities and every status effect pass straight through it, and you pay −1.5 m/s move speed and −20% dash distance for the privilege. The three big defensive actives are deliberately orthogonal:
Metal Skin
Metal Skin +24s Cooldown +5s Duration +12% Bullet Resist -20% Dash Distance stops bullets,
Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer stops statuses,
Ethereal Shift
Ethereal Shift +37s Cooldown +4s Duration +5s Buff Duration +30% Spirit Resist +20 Spirit Power stops everything but disables you. Baba is a spirit threat, so it is the last two you are choosing between. Documented - The losing pattern against Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. is deciding to leave, walking to the zipline and finding you cannot attach. Any damage from an enemy hero or objective blocks zipline attachment for 3 seconds, and Baba has the chip range to keep that 3-second timer rolling indefinitely. Break line of sight first, wait out the lockout, then attach — do not walk to the rope while still taking fire. Documented
- Players buy
Dispel Magic
Dispel Magic +45s Cooldown +10% Spirit Resist +3s Buff Duration +250 HP Healed On Activate for Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. and then discover it does nothing about
Feed The Birds
Feed The Birds Baba channels for up to 6.5 seconds, covering enemies in front of her with bread. Crowd Control A stacking slow up to 32% during the channel (64% at Tier 1), then a pigeon… Damage Up to 450 spirit damage per target at full stacks (+1.6 per Spirit), reached… Mobility She can keep moving while she channels. 1 +4m cast range and +32% max slow 2 -55s cooldown 5 +125 max damage, +1.5 Spirit scaling and +0.5s on the hex .
Dispel Magic
Dispel Magic +45s Cooldown +10% Spirit Resist +3s Buff Duration +250 HP Healed On Activate purges non-ultimate negative effects only — anything sourced from an ultimate is outside its scope entirely. Work out which of Baba's disables come off abilities and which come off the ult before you spend 3,200: the ability-sourced ones are purgeable, the ult is not, and for the ult you need either
Unstoppable
Unstoppable +60s Cooldown +5.5s Duration +125 Bonus Health +25% Debuff Resist Builds from Debuff Reducer pre-cast or the discipline not to be there. Documented - The specific error is walking into Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. 's area denial after it is already down, because your team is in there and you feel late. You are slow enough that entering a committed zone is a one-way decision — you will be inside it for its full duration, not for the two seconds you intended. Arrive before the zone or arrive from the other side of it; arriving into it is how this matchup is lost even when your team wins the fight. Strategic
- The Unstable Rift capture point is a 20m circle on a bridge, capture only progresses when no enemy is inside it, and everyone standing in it is revealed on the minimap. That is a purpose-built trap for Baba Baba Released 6 October Released 6 October. A spirit controller: Threadsap steals enemy Spirit and powers up her bullets, her bench grows legs for speed and a knockback kick, Baba’s Brew cycles between a barrier, a silence and a burn, and Feed The Birds hexes everyone in her cone into pigeons. . The mistake is treating the circle as the objective: you do not need to stand in it, you need them not to. Contest from outside the radius, deny with a single body at the edge, and let their Area Damage land on empty bridge. Strategic
Next
Graves’s other hard matchups
- vs Rat King -8.4 pts
- vs Paige -8.1 pts
- vs Seven -6.3 pts
- vs Haze -5.2 pts
Facing more than Baba?
Add the other five enemies: who to focus first and what to buy against the whole team.
Sources and method for this page
Everything on this page is generated for Deadlock patch 09-29-2026 from Baba's current kit, measured match results and a mechanics rule base. Each line carries its own confidence label.
Baba's kit and counterplay were compiled from 5 sources, cross-checked for patch 09-29-2026. Threat ratings compare this pairing against Graves's own baseline win rate rather than a flat 50%, because ranking by raw win rate produces the wrong answer for heroes whose overall win rate is not 50%.