Brew the Best - Baba Yaga - Solo, Mid and Support [Conquest S8]

Hello and welcome to Baba's Cabin! Take a quick seat, and don't mind the chickens, they run in and out all the time. But please be careful of the potions, and don't touch the staff/pestle! It's got too many splinters!

This guide has been created to help all of you looking for advanced and base tips, builds that will provide great insight and of course how to make the most out of Baba herself. First off, a little about me; I am a Baba Yaga main, with 3.6K worshippers, and goodness knows how many hours played. I also play a lot of Baron Samedi, and I'll play fill if you want me too. Danzuburou is my go-to god if I'm bored and need a bit of a change from Baba and Baron. This is my first Smitefire build, but I've played smite for a while (4/5 years?). (Last second edit; due to my PS4 having reset all data [don't even ask 😑] so I only have 95 followers currently on my new account)
Table of Contents;
- Baba Yaga - Overview
- Skills
- Playing Through the Game
- Summary

Hope you enjoy the Guide, and please remember to look at the notes on the builds, as well as join the discussion if you have any input!

-DutchDragon297

As said, this build is for new brewer's and mains alike, so we'll start off with an overview of Baba Yaga's gameplay.

Role; Baba Yaga is a mage, who focuses on using abilities as her main damage. She is packed full of randomness, which I believe makes her so exciting and hard to play against. Baba generally has a weaker early game, but her mid-late game power is immense. She makes great use of stacking items thanks to her passive, which obviously means that stacking items are a very good choice on her. She is most often played in the Mid lane, but can be seen as a Support and a Solo.

Strengths; Baba Yaga's strengths are -
- Randomness; Opponents will no know what potion/magic will come at her, and so they don't know where to go/how to react
- Scaling; As said above, Baba's scaling over the game is amazing, since she can slowly build up stacking items and magical power for an amazing late game
- Sustain; Baba's passive cabin allows her to heal up after bad trades, which is super important for a squishy mage after taking a bad trade in lane
-Area damage; Every single one of Baba Yaga's abilities covers an area, even her escape does area damage, which means she can clear waves very effectively, and has a huge teamfight presence

Cons; Baba Yaga's cons/weaknesses are -
- Little escape; Baba Yaga has just 1 escape tool (her 3), which is on a relatively long cooldown, and doesn't have the a very big leap range, meaning you're a sitting duck once you've been crippled/silenced/used the ability
- CC; Baba has no hard CC apart from her ult knockup and her 1 silence (which could possibly never happen in a game, if the RNG is Really against you), which means she has problems starting fights and locking down her foes
- Early game; Baba Yaga's early game is pretty bad, with ok waveclear but no way to really make aggressive plays on the enemy, and so gods with a strong early game can shut her out of the game and stop her from farming and getting gold to start working towards her items.
- Randomness; Ok, so this is one of Baba's pros and cons, because not only do the enemy not know what could pop up next, but you only have half the info. The next shape of the 1 will be oval and will silence, but who knows what the next one will be!? This means you may have to play it safe and so teamfights can go pretty sour if you get bad shapes/effects - I mean, what is a speed oval gonna do? Yes, let's run in circles while the 14/0 Anubis ults my team...

Play Video
(Please note that the video is just to show you what the abilities do, I do not necessarily agree with how to use/level the abilities, please read below for info on that)
Using Skills;
Baba Yaga can use her skills in many ways, though most are pretty easy to identify. Let's look at them individually then we can focus on some combos:

Passive;
Baba's passive should be used to heal up after a bad trade in the early game/laning phase. This should be used to your advantage, and so make sure you are doing so when you see the Cabin's passive metre is at least half way. If/once you have bought a stacking item, you should look to only use the cabin once the passive metre is full, because otherwise it will give you very few stacks, and waste the essence. Tip; The cabin accumulates more essence the further it moves, so when you first spawn in, buy items quickly, and then run round your jungle, or down duo lane. Then walk back to lane, with a higher essence amount than just standing in lane. If anyone asks, just say you're warding.

Wild Witchcraft (1);
This is the ability you should be levelling in most cases (look at the builds for more info on that), and it gives you solid waveclear and poke in lane. Positioning is key when using this ability, as the different shapes can be used to hit the wave and catch the enemy, of to block off escape paths. Using the different shapes takes some practise, but properly using the effects is more important.
Silence; When in lane, it should be used to stop the enemy laner from using abilities on the wave and you, allowing you to farm more efficiently. It should also be used on ganking junglers/supports, as a way to get out quicker and with more health. In teamfights, use this to block off enemy escape routes and to hit large amounts of gods to stop them using abilities.
Slow; When in lane, this should be used when an enemy is aggressing on you, or when you are trying to keep them in range for follow up abilities. When in teamfights, try to hit the enemy jungler or ADC so they have to stay in the fight, and make it easier for you and your team to pick them off.
Boost Protections; When in lane, you should hit the minion wave with this and then walk on it if the enemy laner is very aggressive, or to protect yourself from jungle ganks (in solo or mid). In duo lane, this effect should be used to keep your ADC ok in lane. In teamfights, use this on your team to keep them alive and able to keep up in damage.
Speed; When in lane, this should be used to run away from jungle ganks, dodge skillshots or run after your opponent. In teamfights, this should be used to chase after runaways, and even to make a quick escape yourself.

Baba's Brew (2);
This ability is super fun and super useful if used correctly. The base damage is low, but this is offset by the potion ingredients. They are (and do) - Eye of Newt increases potions damage by 7.5%, Dragon Scale adds 12.5% slow for 2.5s, and Wolf Tooth gives a 7.5% attack speed slow and power reduction for 5s. Since you'll usually get at least 1 of each ingredient, this potion is super good, because it debuffs the enemy, gives you damage and has a large radius. Late game, with just 3 Eyes of Newt, and about 500 magical power, this does 705 damage in an area. And since you can store it, you could get lucky and be storing 2 of these, throw one from the ability, and then you'll be doing 2115 damage. This has endless possibilities, and does so much for you as a single ability. Make sure to store potions if you know you'll be starting a teamfight/siege on towers.

Blast Off! (3);
This is Baba Yaga's only escape tool, and as such should only be used when you really need it. Although it looks like you speed up, you speed up momentarily but then slow down dramatically. The leap isn't to far, so try to position yourself properly to get the most out of this ability. You can use it to secure kills and then get out of the way. This tactic is especially useful in lane after level 3, as well as when roaming or coming into a teamfight. A couple of things to remember; 1) cripples stop you from casting this, 2) Sylvanus pull will interrupt this ability, and put the ability on cooldown, and 3) this ability actually deals damage, so it can be used to secure a kill, or to kill one member of the enemy team when they are chasing you, and then retreat using the leap.

Home Sweet Home (4);
This is Baba Yaga's ultimate ability. It has high amounts of area damage, and is best used in a teamfight to hit multiple enemies in the crowded jungle. Although it knocks enemies away and gives you a shield, the cabin is so big and slow it makes you a sitting duck, and so this shouldn't be used as a disengage tool. Try to kill the enemy solo laner or support with this, as they are the best people to burn with this. Since it has a damage over time affect, it could kill someone even if they escape. When aiming the projectiles, try and through them where the enemy will go, as they move relatively slowly. Finally, when firing your projectiles, wait a second after entering the cabin, don't spam the fire button, or else it will be even more delayed.

This chapter is about playing the game through the different game phases.

Early game/Laning Phase; Generally, you should be laning very passively, trying to get every minion, and avoiding trades where possible. Your cabin should be used after taking a short trade, and only when you need to. Freezing the wave isn't always a bad idea, but it is best used in rank conquest, as oppose to more casual games. Up until level 5, you have absolutely no pushing power. Even then, you generally don't have the finishing potential since your damage is very low. But once you have your boots and first item set up, and your 1 maxed out, you can easily chunk a third or even half of a squishies' health.

The Mid Game; This is where you should start to roam around the map, and pick off stray targets. E.g If playing mid, then roaming up to an over-extended solo laner can help your solo laner to get ahead, or going to the duo lane can help propel your ADC into their late game, which gives them more agency over the game. In the skirmishes over Gold Fury and possibly Pyromancer, you should look to store a potion before hand, then use this combo; Potion-Wild Witchcraft-Potion. This will give you maximum damage over a relatively large space and low time. If you get dove by the enemy assassin or warrior, then you should use your 3 to get to a safe distance, or your 1/2 if it has a slow/silence up.

The Late Game; This is your time. You should have 4/5/6 items, your starter item levelled up, and some amazing scaling. All of your abilities will take huge chunks of health from enemies of all kinds, and your ultimate will provide huge siege, teamfight and objective capture potential. Remember that in the chaotic teamfights, all of your abilities are AOE, and so you can help secure kills.

You've made it to the end! This is a quick summary of the info we've discussed and some fun tips;
- Late game; you flourish late, but have weak laning
- Scaling; more magical power means more damage, ok?
- Jump away; you have one movement ability, which also deals damage, so using it when in lane or tower diving to secure the kill and then retreat
- The house is a dog; Yes, and you must walk it! Taking it round the jungle or down a lane when you first spawn or have nothing better to do than farm into the late game builds up its' meter, which could mean you survive
- Buff/debuff; Your 1 has two buffs and 2 debuffs, your 2 has two debuffs, meaning you can just continually poke and annoy your enemy (after all, tilted enemies surrendering is also a win ;)

Thanks for reading this, and please upvote if you liked it and give a comment if you want to give me advice!