Baba

8:47 Baba is a Deadlock mystic who steals her enemies' Spirit Power and turns it into damage: Threadsap drains them, Granny Long Legs puts her on a walking park bench, Baba's Brew shields allies or silences and burns foes, and her Feed The Birds ultimate hexes enemies into pigeons. Valve released her on Oct 6, 2026 as the second of six Heroes in the City Never Sleeps Update, after the closest round of that update's Hero Voting: she beat Solomon by nearly 0.5% of the votes. In matches averaging Phantom or higher from Oct 15 to 26, 2026, deadlock-api measured the best win rate of all 44 heroes for her (55.43%), and Mobalytics' expert called her "the best hero in the game" on Oct 22, 2026.

Quick facts

Source: the game files as of Oct 26, 2026 (deadlock-api), Valve's Oct 14, 2026 update for bullet resist, deadlock-api's hero-stats measurement for the win rate.

Abilities

Source: the game files as of Oct 26, 2026 (deadlock-api) and Valve's Oct 14, 2026 update.

0:45 Threadsap is a thread that follows Baba's crosshair up to 35 m and bursts along its path after 0.9 seconds for 50 spirit damage, stealing 10 Spirit Power per hit (rising with boons, up to 45) for 22 seconds, per the game files as of Oct 26, 2026. Baba gains the stolen Spirit at 175% effectiveness, and while she holds it each of her bullets deals 8 bonus spirit damage. T1 adds another 8 spirit damage per bullet, T2 cuts 12s from the cooldown and adds 8s to the debuff, and T3 gives a second charge and makes hits pull enemies 7 m. Valve's Oct 14, 2026 update raised its cooldown from 26s to 28s and ended the theft when Baba dies.

3:06 Granny Long Legs extends her bench's legs for 10 seconds, giving +5 m/s move speed, higher jumps and 30% debuff and melee resist, per the game files as of Oct 26, 2026. Her light melee becomes a kick with 10 m of knockback and her heavy melee a ground pound for 75 spirit damage, a knock-up and a 50% slow; crouching charges a jump. T1 adds 2.5 m/s, T2 cuts 7s from the cooldown, and T3 adds 15% debuff and melee resist with 50% melee lifesteal. The Oct 14, 2026 update raised its cooldown from 30s to 32s and toned down repeated airborne kicks.

4:48 Baba's Brew is a pot of tea that cycles while it brews between a barrier for allies (90, for 8s), a 3-second silence and a burn (12 damage per second for 8s and -15% spirit resist), thrown 12 m into a 6 m area, per the game files as of Oct 26, 2026. T1 adds 3 m of radius, T2 cuts 14s from the cooldown, and T3 makes every brew a third stronger. The Oct 14, 2026 update cut the barrier from 100 to 90 and its scaling from 1.2 to 0.7.

6:42 Feed The Birds is Baba's ultimate (Valve's reveal post calls it "The Birds"): a 6.5-second channel covers enemies up to 18 m in front of her with bread, stacking a slow up to 32%, then pigeons bombard them for up to 450 damage and hex each one into a pigeon for up to 2.75 seconds, on a 150-second cooldown, per the game files as of Oct 26, 2026. T1 adds 4 m of range and +32% maximum slow, T2 cuts 55s from the cooldown, and T3 adds 125 maximum damage and half a second of pigeon.

How to play

0:12 Baba is a tanky spirit caster who fights at mid range and gets stronger the more enemies she hits with Threadsap. Mobalytics' Baba build by Suzu (updated Oct 21, 2026) describes "a tanky spirit disruptor with great mobility, consistent barriers, high damage potential" and "a high skill ceiling", although Valve's game files rate her complexity 1 of 3.

In lane she pokes with her three-pellet gun and Threadsap, and sustains with Mystic Regeneration; she has only 2 stamina, so she has fewer dashes to escape with than most heroes. The Laning Guide covers the basics.

5:18 Her fights start with Threadsap on as many enemies as possible, because every stolen point makes her bullets and spells hit harder and the enemy's weaker. Granny Long Legs then carries her into or out of a fight, and Baba's Brew is timed for what the moment needs: a barrier for a diving ally, a silence on a caster, or a burn that cuts spirit resist before her ultimate.

Feed The Birds is a long channel, so it lands best from cover or on enemies already slowed or stuck. Its damage stops if she is interrupted, as the counters below explain.

Builds

Baba builds Spirit Items for damage and sustain, with Healing Booster and other Vitality Items; the Items and Shop page covers the shop. In deadlock-api's measurement of her games from Oct 15 to 26, 2026, Extra Charge was bought in 94%, Mystic Regeneration in 92%, Radiant Regeneration in 89%, Spirit Strike in 83%, Healing Booster in 76%, Spirit Snatch in 74% and Torment Pulse in 70%; games with Boundless Spirit (40%) won 60.3%.

Source: Mobalytics (Suzu), Build ID 857955, updated Oct 21, 2026.

1:19 Rapid Recharge is for Threadsap's charges, Boundless Spirit turns stolen Spirit into "absurd numbers of Spirit Power", and Vortex Web pulls a whole team together for one Brew, the build explains. Builds and Itemization shows how to load a build by its ID.

Counters and matchups

Baba is countered by anti-heal, interrupts and bullet damage. Mobalytics' Baba guide advises Toxic Bullets or Healbane against her regen and Restorative Locket, any crowd control during Feed The Birds to stop its damage (Divine Barrier also cleanses it), Armor Piercer for the main gun carry, and parrying her Granny Long Legs stomp.

The Counter Items that work best against her include Plated Armor, which Mobalytics' expert tier list (Oct 22, 2026) calls "the premier defense" against Celeste and Baba. The same expert names Vindicta, Lash and Grey Talon as good into her and Venator as "really good against Baba". Her -7% bullet resist since Oct 14, 2026 makes gun heroes the natural answer.

Baba is also a counter herself: the same expert says her spirit theft blunts Infernus. The measured matchups from deadlock-api's hero-versus-hero data, Oct 15 to 26, 2026, show her lowest win rates against Rat King (45.4%), Graves (46.7%), Seven (47.9%), Paige (48.2%) and Ivy (48.9%), and her highest against Sinclair (58.9%), Shiv (58.2%), Mina (57.7%), The Doorman (57.6%) and Paradox (57.6%).

Patch history

Valve has changed Baba once since her release, a broad nerf eight days in. Newest first:

• Oct 14, 2026: spirit resist scaling from 0.12 to 0.1; a new -7% base bullet resist; Threadsap's theft ends when Baba dies and its cooldown went from 26s to 28s; Granny Long Legs cooldown from 30s to 32s, with weaker repeated air kicks and no extra speed from ground pounds on slopes; Baba's Brew barrier from 100 to 90, its scaling from 1.2 to 0.7 and its cooldown from 25s to 27s; in Street Brawl, Threadsap lasts 35% less (Valve).
• Oct 6, 2026: released (Valve).

Patches and Updates lists every update.

Lore

Baba is the Central Park pigeon lady, who may have sat on the same bench every day for 50 years and may lead The Soho Coven, and who will not watch tourists tear Manhattan apart in pursuit of power, per the game files. Valve's reveal post introduces her as "New York's notorious pigeon lady", sipping tea and talking to her birds, with a bench that comes to life. The setting is on Lore and Setting.

Frequently asked questions

Is Baba good in Deadlock? Baba is one of Deadlock's strongest heroes in Oct 2026: S+ on Mobalytics' Oct 22, 2026 expert list, A on Dexerto's Oct 9 list, and the best measured win rate of all 44 heroes (55.43%) in matches averaging Phantom or higher from Oct 15 to 26, 2026, per deadlock-api.

When was Baba released in Deadlock? Valve released Baba on Oct 6, 2026, the second of six heroes in Deadlock's City Never Sleeps update.

What does Threadsap do in Deadlock? Baba's Threadsap deals 50 spirit damage along a thread and steals Spirit Power from every enemy it hits for 22 seconds, which she gains at 175% and turns into bonus damage on each bullet, per Deadlock's game files as of Oct 26, 2026.

What is the best Baba build in Deadlock? Deadlock players build Baba with Extra Charge, Mystic Regeneration, Radiant Regeneration and Spirit Strike, each bought in over 80% of her games in deadlock-api's Oct 15 to 26, 2026 measurement. Mobalytics' Suzu build ends on Rapid Recharge and Boundless Spirit.

How do you counter Baba in Deadlock? In Deadlock, counter Baba with anti-heal (Toxic Bullets, Healbane), crowd control to interrupt Feed The Birds, gun damage against her -7% bullet resist and Plated Armor, as Mobalytics and its expert tier list advise.

What is Baba's ultimate called in Deadlock? Baba's ultimate is Feed The Birds in Deadlock's game files; Valve's Oct 6, 2026 reveal post calls it "The Birds". It hexes enemies into pigeons after a 6.5-second channel.

Sources

• Mind the Birds!, Valve, Oct 6, 2026
• Minor Update - 10-14-2026, Valve, Oct 15, 2026
• Shh... This Won't Hurt a Bit., Valve, Oct 20, 2026
• Deadlock Assets API: heroes, deadlock-api (game files), read Oct 26, 2026
• Deadlock Assets API: items, deadlock-api (game files), read Oct 26, 2026
• Hero stats, Oct 15 to Oct 26, 2026, deadlock-api (measured), Oct 26, 2026
• Hero stats, Phantom and above, Oct 15 to Oct 26, 2026, deadlock-api (measured), Oct 26, 2026
• Hero counter stats, Oct 15 to Oct 26, 2026, deadlock-api (measured), Oct 26, 2026
• Item stats for Baba, Oct 15 to Oct 26, 2026, deadlock-api (measured), Oct 26, 2026
• Deadlock Baba Guide - Abilities, Overview & More, Mobalytics, undated (after Oct 6, 2026), read Oct 26, 2026
• Baba by Suzu, Mobalytics (Suzu), Oct 21, 2026
• Expert Deadlock Tier List, Mobalytics (RinaVX), Oct 22, 2026
• Deadlock Tier List: Best characters to pick in the 2026 meta, Dexerto, Oct 9, 2026
• The ONLY Baba Guide you NEED in Deadlock, zwordz, Oct 10, 2026 (video)