Graves Build Guide by dragonmaster98

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League of Legends Build Guide Author dragonmaster98

AD Master

Last updated on September 4, 2012

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Build 1 (Cheat Sheet)

Champion Build: Graves

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

WARNING: These masteries are still using the old tree and have not been updated to the new tree by the guide author. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.

Masteries

Offense: 21

Defense: 0

Utility: 9

Guide Table of Contents

Introduction

Item Build

Against Other AD's

Supports with Graves

Counters

Masteries

Runes

Summoner Spells

Skills

Skill Order

Early Game

Mid Game

Late Game

Team Fights

Introduction

Graves has everything an AD should have and more. He combines many of the other AD's mechanics into one overwhelming entity. His Q is like MF/Ashe/Cait Q combined, his E is like Vayne tumble plus Tristana steroids, his ultimate is MF and Trist's ultimates combined. All of these multi-mechanic abilities allows room for his third ability, Smoke Screen, to be completely unique and game breaking.

Item Build

Openers:
is necessary if you're laning with a non-sustain support such as Blitz, Leona or Janna. Boot3x has become extremely popular recently due to it's high mobility, which opens up a lot of defensive/aggressive options in the laning phase. It's honestly a breath of fresh air compared to the stagnant/farming Dorans v Dorans matchup.

Pro: More skill based, can out-play enemies that run Dorans.
Con: Can die very easily to level 2 jungle ganks. You spend 105G on pots.

Doran's is still good as hell, if you have a sustain support, then be my guest. Dorans still offer great pushing/trading potential, also easier last hitting, which is always good.

Pro: Very tanky vs ganks, can push very fast, can trade hit for hit.
Con: Not very mobile, can only really capitalize on "mistakes" instead of out playing.

First trip back/Early game goals(Recommended 1200G~ if Dorans first, 1300G~ if Boots first):

Try and get B.F Sword as soon as possible, skip unnecessary Doran's Blades, since it will get you your Blood Thirster and late-game so much quicker.

Mid game goals:then
Since Graves gains so many defensive stats from his passive, I found buying strictly offensive items better for his damage, while relying on the lifesteal for defense.

Having BT, PD and IE with 2 Dorans as opposed to QSS or GA at this point makes you do significantly more damage with similar sustainability in fights.

End game build:

Optimal AD Carry end game.

Against Other AD's

Match-Ups:
- In this match up Ashe is fairly easy because her base stats aren't the greatest. Against Ashe you should harass a lot try to E in and Q her in the face. She is pretty weak early on so force her to last hit under tower and W her so she cant see creeps.

- This match up is fairly difficult. Caitlyn's laning phase is really difficult because of her range and utility. But for this match up try to gap close on her unless she has a very aggressive support then becareful. Also for this match up try to make smart trades, don't extend too much when you try to exchange. Cait is very aggressive early on and will use her range to an advantage so take the range away from her and gap close it.

- Corki is difficult to deal with. Mainly because of his W. He plays like Tristana but his lategame is super scary. Just gap close and harass against Corki and you should be fine. Try to make him blow his E before you go in tho because it could be deadly.

- Kog'maw can be a weird match up because if u gapclose on him and his slows you and kites you, it could be difficult so you should try to get an aggressive support against Kog.

- Miss Fortune is a very strong AD carry early game. She hurts really hard and is pretty good at dueling also so you should harass and not go all in against her right away. Get MF low then go in for the all in blows.

- This match-up is fairly fun. Against Vayne you mainly gap close and beat on her because she needs to kite. Against a Vayne avoid going by walls and stuff. Her late game is scary so like Trist try to end her career early!

- Ezreal is a pretty annoying match up. Against an Ezreal its fairly just poke you cant really all in against an Ezreal unless he decides to All In against you because he could just run away if you try to all in against him.

- Just farm, and kill her if she uses her shield. Her late game is not as strong as graves so you should win late game if your team is good.

- Tristana's early game isn't the best but is fairly hard to kill because of her Jump. Tristana's lategame is really scary so try to hurt and win against her as early as you can and get the lead.

- Twitch isn't the best in lane so go in and harass twitch as much as you can. Its super easy to ALL In against a Twitch if he is visable and not in stealth. If he is stealth and he comes out of stealth early on don't fight him just back out because he gets an attack speed bonus and is really deadly early on. Also watch out for level 1 Stealth because if he stacks his passive and ignite it becomes really deadly.

- Urgot is a weird match up because you don't see that many Urgots. Against an Urgot you should last hit as best as you can and dodge his E's because if he gets them on you it could be deadly.

- Draven match ups are fairly scary. Against a Draven he is pretty difficult to beat because he does so much early but if you see his axe stop spinning go in and harass him.

- Varus is fairly hard. He has a long range poke and has healing reduction. He also has a deadly slow. Against a Varus try to dodge his Qs and farm as best as you can if you have a aggressive support try to work something out with your support

Supports with Graves

Supports:

- Alistar is fairly good with graves but I don't like it that much. But with this support mainly just farm and wait until he goes in.

- Blitzcrank is the funnest to have if you are graves because if your blitzcrank is good, you guys can rape face.

- Janna is fairly good with graves because you can kite well with Janna and its really easy to All In with Janna. Her shield is like a moving BF sword and you get some nice CC tornadoes.

- Don't really get support Karmas, so its hard to talk about having a Karma support, but with a Karma support just harass and bait your enemy.

- Leona is really good with Graves because of her CC, Burst, and her passive. All in with Leona whenever you get the chance.

- Lulu support with Graves isn't that good. You can't all in that well with Lulu but its a really poke heavy lane if you have Lulu.

- Lux is a great support to have for harassing. With Lux just wait for her snares and poke and when they are low enough All In and burst them down.

- Nunu is mainly a farm lane. Just harass and farm with a Nunu you can't really all in like crazy with a Nunu support.

- Sona Support with Graves is so fun. You harass all day long and when they get low you All In. Also when they engage you Sona can ult and you can do a full combo and 1 Shot someone with a Sona Support.

- Soraka support is just a harass and farm lane. All you do is farm farm farm and harass harass harass with a Soraka and wait for ganks.

- Taric support with graves is probably one of the best choices. These 2 champions kits are good together. In this comp Taric basically stuns, shatters, and ults and you unleash your full combo on the enemy and they are basically KOed.

Counters

There really isn't any hard counters to Graves but these champions will give you a hard time:

Ryze/Cassio - Short ranged sustained casters are rough on all low range AD's
Kog'Maw - It's really difficult for Graves to deal with a late-game Kog'Maw due to the range.
Caitlyn - Lane harassment
Maokai - Reduces the damage of Grave's AoE significantly.

Masteries

Meditation is HUGE for Graves, since I've always ran dry on mana in long drawn out team fights. Meditation also makes it possible to spam Buckshot/Smoke Bomb to clear minion waves in the laning phase.

Runes

Flat AD red - These are very nice for last hitting (also better due to 3%Life steal and 10% ARP Masteries)
Armor Yellow - Allows you to win exchanges
MR Blues - Allows you to win exchanges
AD Quint - Same as red

Summoner Spells

Explanation:

Flash: Absolutely necessary tool to make plays and manage situations.

Heal: Allows you win exchanges. (Wins lanes)

Ignite: Also very good for Graves, esp paired up with a strong laner such as Sona.

Skills

Passive: True Grit

Graves gains 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 bonus Armor and Magic Resist every second he remains in combat (stacks up to 10 times).

Graves is treated as in combat if he has dealt or taken damage in the last 4 seconds.

Explanation:

Insanely powerful passive. Try and keep it up at 10 stacks during the laning phase, especially before you engage in a skirmish. 10Armor/MR at level 1 is like having another set of Flat Armor/MR runes. 40Armor/MR is like having a Chain vest and Negatron Cloak. This passive is simply amazing, and makes 1v1'ing Graves very difficult.

Tip: You're extremely potent duelist, try and force 1v1's.

Q: Buckshot

Graves shoots three bullets in a cone, each dealing 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+80% of attack damage) physical damage to all enemies in their path.

Enemies hit with multiple bullets take 35% damage from each additional bullet.

Cooldown 12/11/10/9/8 seconds

Cost 60/75/70/75/80 mana

Range 750

Explanation:

Buckshot is superior to Ashe Q, it hits all targets in the cone and does significantly more damage.
Buckshot is superior to MF Q, it's AoE.
Buckshot is superior to Cait Q, it has no cast time and does more damage.

Granted that Ashe's Q slows, MF's Q has a longer range(possibly) single target, and Cait Q also has a longer range. Buckshot is still as a whole much stronger than the others.

Tip: Landing a close-range Buckshot is harder than it seems, make sure to aim very well if the target is extremely close to you, since a close-range Buckshot and swing the tides of battle.

W: Smoke Screen

Graves fires a smoke canister dealing 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+60% of ability power) magic damage on impact and creating a smoke cloud at the location that lasts (5) seconds. Enemies inside the cloud have their sight radius reduced and are slowed by 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 % while they remain in the cloud.

Cooldown 20/19/18/17/16 seconds

Cost 70/75/80/85/90 mana

Range 300

Explanation:

Smokescreen is extremely unique of an ability. I will cover some of the uses that I found after the few games I played with Graves.

Extremely strong dueling ability, cast on enemy directly.
Can block off a ramp/chokepoint.
Can be used to bait: denying vision when your jungle comes within range.
Very powerful vs Pantheon/TF ganks.
35% AoE slow is good by itself, can be used simply to catch up while chasing.

E: Quickdraw

Graves dashes forward gaining 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 % increased Attack Speed for 4 seconds.

Each of his basic attacks lowers the cooldown of Quickdraw by 1 second.

Cooldown 22/20/18/16/14 seconds

Cost 50/50/50/50/50 mana

Explanation:

Quickdraw, much like Buckshot, is a combination of other AD's abilities. Tristana steroids and Vayne tumble combined, but stronger than both as a whole.

Buckshot can pass through most small ledges, has an insanely low CD (supposing that you're auto attacking). Try and JOIN the fight with Quickdraw so you can start chipping away at the CD, do NOT initiate with it.

R: Collateral Damage

Graves fires off an explosive shell dealing 250 / 375 / 500 (+150% of attack damage) physical damage to the first enemy champion hit. After hitting a champion or reaching the end of its range, Collateral Damage deals 150 / 275 / 400 (+120% of attack damage) physical damage in a cone behind the target.

Cooldown 80/70/60 seconds

Cost 100 mana

Range 700

Explanation:

Great instant ranged DMG AoE ultimate. Solid.

It's essentially MF ultimate, except insant... Fantastic for teamfights, also great for dueling.

Nothing much to say about the ultimate... Land it, things die.

Skill Order

Priority: R - Q - 2 Levels of W - E - W

Ultimate whenever - obvious.

Buckshot first - obvious.

2 Levels of W so you can clear the ranged wave with Q-W combo.

I like Quickdraw second because it scales on itself. Lowering the cooldown on Quickdraw lowers the cooldown of Quickdraw, very much like Riven ultimate, where AD scales off AD... Quickdraw's CD scales off CD.

W last because it is very powerful even at level 1.

Early Game

Mid Game

1. Complete your first item -- you want a Infinity before 25 minutes.
2. Position yourself well in fights, force dragon's with your early game strength Blow people up with Q-R combo.
3. Farm extremely well.

Late Game

1. Get ready to become god-mode.
2. Position is key now, more than ever, since AD Carries play the most important role late game.
3. Get your last few items.

Tip: Every auto-attack you land as a late game AD Carry is very meaningful, so feel like you've achieved something when you land any and every auto.

Team Fights

During Team Fight's Always stay behind your tank not be the first one in and get caught which is probably going to be a HUGE disadvantage. If you are behind your tank and or tanky jungler. Then just press youron enemies attacking one of your Tanks/Junglers then use your and your then start to auto attack if you do not want to use your then just save it until the teamfight is almost done or when enemy champs are running away with low health. Try not to focus the enemy tanks a lot and try focusing there AD Carry/AP Carry/Support and once those 3 are dead then you can focus the Tank/Jungler.

Guide Discussion (10)

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