How to build Baba Yaga in SMITE

Core Items

The core items you want to focus on with Baba Yaga is giving her an item that can stack. Because of her passive, Creeping Cabin, she can use the essence her home gains overtime to acquire item stacks for equipment that can evolve. This includes items such as Book of Thoth, Book of the Dead, and Warlock’s Staff. Of these three items, if you have Baba Yaga in the middle lane you want her to acquire Book of Thoth early, and if she’s in the solo-lane, you want to give her Warlock’s Staff. When you need to choose between the two boot choices, you want to give her more magical penetration and power, so go with Shoes of the Magi.

Her third item after obtaining boots should lean towards making her abilities far more destructive and to use them more often. You likely want to lean towards a cooldown-based item. Your options include Soul Gem, Stone of Fal, Spear of Desolation, Chronos’ Pendant, and Staff of Myrddin. For most players, you want to go with Chronos’ Pendant massive boost of magical power and cooldown reduction, but for those who are destroying other players and racking up kills, Spear of Desolation is also a great choice.

Aggressive Items

With your three items chosen, you can start to customize Baba Yaga to the game you’re playing. It will vary for each situation, depending on what role you want her for, and who you’re fighting against. Overall, though, if you’re looking to cause massive destruction, there are a variety of powerful items you can choose to overload her kit and optimize your time with her.

To increase Baba Yaga’s magical penetration, items like Spear of the Magus and Obsidian Shard are excellent options, and you should always consider Soul Reaver. If you have her in the solo lane facing off against a physical-based God, the Tyrannical Plate Helm is also a good item, pushing your minions along and providing defenses against the solo lane player and the jungle player. You may also consider picking up Gem of Isolation, Typhon’s Fang, or Doom Orb.

Defensive Items

For those who want to build Baba Yaga to have a bit more defenses, you have a handful of choices. However, given she’s a mage, you rarely want to do this unless you’re struggling in your lane and having trouble not being able to withstand ganks from the jungle player, or you’re using her in a unique role. Regardless, you don’t want to miss out on any magical power.

To ensure a mixture of defensive items with power ones, you can pick up Jade Emperor’s Crown, Tyrannical Plate Helm, Celestial Legion Helm, or Void Stone. If you’re bold enough to have Baba Yaga as a supporting character, you can also go with Stone of Fal to gain some of the magical protections of your allies.

Baba Yaga’s build preferences may change over time, depending on the changes to her abilities. However, most of them feed on her being an opportunistic character, giving you the chance to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike her ultimate or knowing when to toss a potion to weaken a foe for an ally player to engage them. Using Baba’s Brew at the right time to slow an enemy down while holding Gem Isolation is the perfect recipe for an impending jungle gank.

About the author

Zack Palm

Zack Palm is the Senior Writer of Gamepur and has spent over five years covering video games, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Oregon State University. He spends his free time biking, running tabletop campaigns, and listening to heavy metal. His primary game beats are Pokémon Go, Destiny 2, Final Fantasy XIV, and any newly released title, and he finds it difficult to pull away from any Star Wars game.

Tobi Tarwater

Update: 2024-06-16

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