How to beat Baba
Baba steals your Spirit and turns it into damage on her bullets. Her brew can silence your team, and her ultimate turns everyone in front of her into pigeons. Dodge the thread, read the brew, and interrupt the ultimate.
How to Beat Baba in Deadlock: Counters, Items & Punish Windows What changed since the video
The video came out on 12 October, before the Halloween patch of 30 October. The advice still holds, but several things moved:
- Stolen Spirit now lasts 16 seconds, down from 22.
- If you cleanse Threadsap, she loses the Spirit she stole from you. This is new.
- The brew no longer has a wait before it starts. Its order is random every cast, and it switches to the next effect every 1.5 seconds instead of every second. The silence is 2.75 seconds, down from 3.
- Her bench kick knocks you 8 metres, down from 10. Her ground pound slows you for 2 seconds, down from 4.
- She can now be banned.
The full list is in our Halloween patch write-up.
Answer each ability
Threadsap
She throws a spool of thread that follows her aim as it flies. Then it bursts along the whole line. Anyone on the line takes damage and loses some Spirit to her. While she holds that Spirit, every bullet she fires does extra damage.
The line bursts a moment after it stops, so step sideways off it. If it misses, her gun is weak until the next one, 28 seconds later.
If it hits, you have two choices. Cleanse it, and the Spirit goes back to you. Or wait out the 16 seconds before you trade with your abilities, because your Spirit is lower until then.
Granny Long Legs
Her bench grows legs for 10 seconds. She runs faster, jumps higher and resists debuffs and melee. Her light melee becomes a kick that knocks you back. Her heavy melee becomes a stomp that knocks you up and slows you.
- Parry the kick. A parried kick stuns her. Parrying the stomp does not.
- Don't melee-trade with her while the bench is up.
- Save your stuns and slows for after the 10 seconds. Her resists end with the bench.
Baba's Brew
She throws a pot of tea that splashes an area. The brew cycles through three effects: a barrier for her team, a silence on yours, and a burn. The order is random each time. She can pause it to hold the effect she wants.
Her aiming colour shows which brew is ready. Look before you walk in. If it's the silence, hold your abilities or stay out of the splash. Spread out, so one pot can't silence your whole team.
Feed The Birds
Her ultimate is a channel of up to 6.5 seconds. She covers everyone in front of her with bread, and the bread slows them more and more. When it ends, pigeons hit everyone she covered and turn them into pigeons for a moment. More bread means more damage and a longer hex.
- Interrupt it early. A stun, silence or knock-up cuts the channel, and the pigeons come in weak.
- Leave the cone or get behind cover as soon as the bread starts. Every second you stay makes it worse.
- Unstoppable, or a dispel right after the pigeons, saves you from the hex.
The lane
Threadsap reaches 35 metres and can steal from both of you at once if you stand in a line. So don't line up with your lane partner. Her gun is weak without stolen Spirit, and she has only 780 health at the start. Dodge the thread and you win the trade.
Heroes with long-range guns can poke her from outside the brew's 12 metre throw.
When she gets stronger
- Ultimate unlocked: she can now slow and hex a whole team that walks into her cone.
- Threadsap tier 1: her bullets hit harder while she holds your Spirit. Dodging the thread matters more.
- Brew tier 2: the brew comes back every 13 seconds. Expect it in almost every fight.
- Ultimate tier 2: the ultimate comes back in 95 seconds, often once per fight.
When to punish her
- While she channels her ultimate. Any stun or silence cuts it short.
- After a missed Threadsap. For 28 seconds her bullets are plain.
- Between benches. The bench lasts 10 seconds on a 32 second cooldown. In between, she has no speed boost, no kick and no resists.
- Right after she throws the brew. Her main control is gone for 27 seconds.
Her hardest matchups today
Baba wins 55.3% of all games in Halloween 2026.
The heroes Baba does worst against, beyond what their own strength explains:
-
Rat King Rat King Makes his whole team's guns better: stacking bullet-resist shred from Rat Swarm Durability high (2/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility low (1/3) Healing low (1/3) : Baba wins 49.8% (full matchup) -
McGinnis McGinnis Defines zone control: Spectral Wall plus Heavy Barrage can make an entire lane or objective unenterable. Durability high (2/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing high (2/3) : Baba wins 53.1% (full matchup) -
Haze Haze Single-target sustained DPS ramps up once Fixation is stacked Durability low (1/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing high (2/3) : Baba wins 50.6% (full matchup)
Graves Graves Map pressure while away from the fight via Borrowed Decree Ghouls marching at objectives Durability low (1/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing low (1/3) (48.4%) and 
Paige Paige Peel — Plot Armor is a save and a damage buff on one button. Durability low (1/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing high (2/3) (48.5%) also do well against Baba, but they do well against almost everyone this update, so they are not about Baba in particular.
These numbers refresh every night. How we pick counters.
What to buy
- Spirit resist, like Spirit Shielding. The thread, her boosted bullets, the burn and the pigeons are all spirit damage.
- Debuff Reducer. It shortens the silence, the burn and the Spirit steal.
- Dispel Magic. A dispel takes back your stolen Spirit, and can clear the hex after her ultimate.
- Plated Armor. It blocks the extra damage on her bullets.
The checklist
- Step sideways off the thread before it bursts.
- Check the brew's colour before you walk in, and spread out.
- Interrupt her ultimate early, or leave the cone.
- Parry her kick, and fight her after the bench ends.
- Poke her from beyond 35 metres. She can't reach you there.
More on Baba: her hero page (every matchup and ability), and her build.