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Graves Build Guide by

Alpha & Omega (Patch 5.21 + Montage)

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8 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Proxxiii

Graves Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (8) More Graves Guides

Spells:

Heal

Flash

Items

Final Build

First Back

Core Items

Optional Items

Fun Build

Ability Order

Graves Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

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None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

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Hi,I am Proxxiii(EUNE) / Mephiix(EUW).
This is my 2nd guide!
Im challenger marksman from EUNE, my main champion is Graves and i will lead you through my quick guide showing you only CORE information for Graves.

For those that want to see how i play Graves in soloq , check this out!
(If you like the video please SUBSCRIBE - it means alot to me!)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgwXnuC6uGU)

Check my Vayne Guide here!

Why am i making this guide? Back in S2, I had very little champion pool and my most confident pick was Graves, I have atleast 1000 graves games in total and im currently ranked as one of the best AD-carries on EUNE

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EARLY GAME

Trading damage

Graves is a pretty solid ADC in early game and he can pull off a worthy trades.
How? Well, your Buckshot is the key for trading damage... Every time enemy ADC goes for last hit and you don't have any minions to last hit at the moment, feel free to Buckshot him in the face, also your passive True Grit will make sure that you take minimum damage during the trade.
The more games you play, the more understanding you will have FOR TRADING.

Last hitting

This is very important part, as an ADC role, last hitting minions should be easier for you, taking closer math you must atleast last hit 5/6 minions per wave (+cannon every 3rd wave),
but make sure that you work with your support, so if he goes for a trade, leave minions and help him, maybe you secure a kill, then go back farming.

IMPORTANT: Do not forget to group up with your team if they are going to take some objective on the map!

When to recall?

So you have enough gold for that shiny B. F. Sword, lets go back? NO.
There are some things you must check before going back:
(CHECKING ONLY INCLUDES IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN HALF HP)
1. Check that your lane is pushed to the enemy tower which will result into enemy bottom lane losing XP and GOLD (if they recently recalled to base)
2. Enemy team is about to do Dragon and you just recalled? What a failure... Ask your team first if they are willing to contest the Dragon, then fight/go back based on your team's decision.

IMPORTANT: Change your trinket to blue one as soon as your support buys Sightstone because he will do the warding from now on, you won't need your old trinket anymore and blue trinket provides can detect Fog of War so you don't have to facecheck anymore.

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MID GAME

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Teamfights

Mid game is full of teamfights.
Your mid game is pretty solid if you have your and + building towards
I will explain the basics of teamfight in 3 chapters:

Position
This is your position, the better position you have, the better player you are (overall), this means that you should stay in back line, you are a squishy target, so 1 mistake my cost you life, this is why position is important, if you are too close to enemy damage dealers you may get oneshoted and the teamfight is lost, it's crucial that you stay in back line and do as much damage as you can.

2 Tips: Use your Quickdraw to reposition yourself whenever you feel in danger and do not forget to use your Smoke Screen defensively.
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Front line/Back line
You are marksman - AD carry, your position is back line, the front line belongs to tanks, whenever you decide to go front line, you will probably die ... so make sure you stand behind your tanks and deal damage to whoever threatens you.

IMPORTANT: Always stay near your support as he can peel for you and eventually save you from sticky situations unless your support is really bad.
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Mechanics
Mechanics is a name for a stuff that each player has which really scale off as you climb the ladder through soloQ.
Mechanic is ability to dodge a skillshot, predict enemy spells, use them in your advantage and most important: TO LOOK F****** COOL.
Im addicted to mechanical play and i cannot imagine a Competitive ADC player without a sick mechanical skill, altough game knowledge is more appreciated.

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LATE GAME

Final build

Your core build is at the start of the guide, you should use it in 8/10 of your games, but every game is different, so in some cases you might change this build a little bit, but it's up to you.
Every gold counts so DO NOT waste gold to buy items first, then sell them, that's such a waste.
Always remember to upgrade your boots and trinket, consider taking Zephyr in case you have nowhere to go with that gold.
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Split Pushing

Split pushing is NOT your job, however in high elo games it may be useful.
For example - you are pushing Bottom Inner Turret and bait enemy team so your team can take a free baron ... but that usually top lane champions do, which have teleport, so don't bother splitpushing, your team needs you!!!
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Objectives

Objectives are most important thing in League of Legends.
Whenever your team goes for an objective (Baron, Dragon, Tower, Inhibitor) you must be there because big teamfight may be there for that objective...
Following pings, listening to your allies will make them appreciate you.
I know this community is quite toxic and immature but you have 5 enemies already, why should you have another 4 ??

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True Grit:
Graves gains 1 / 2 / 3 bonus armor and magic resistance every second if he has dealt or received damage in the last 3 seconds, stacking up to 10 times for a maximum of 10 / 20 / 30 bonus resistances.

You gain armor/magic resist in combat,this is a great ability for trading damage in lane,also it allows you to go very agressive and protects you from getting oneshoted from high burst mages in lategame.

Tip: Try to keep it up at 10 stacks while you are in lane, you will take reduced damage from unexpected poke.

Buckshot:
Graves fires three bullets in a cone, dealing PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 75% bonus AD) physical damage to all enemies in their path.

This is your primary source of damage.It will help you win trades or burst enemy faces,always have in mind the closer you are to your target the more burst damage you do.

Tip: Use your Quickdraw to get closer to your target to do higher damage,but be careful since you dashed into your enemy.
High elo tip: Use your Buckshot and then quickly flash right into your enemy's face so your Buckshot casts from the place you flashed and turn them into ashes before they even know what the hell happened

Smoke screen:
Graves fires a smoke canister at the target area, dealing 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+ 60% AP) damage to all nearby enemies upon impact and creating a cloud of smoke for 4 seconds, which slows enemies within and reduces their sight radius.

This ability is a key in teamfights, it has many uses ... but the most important one is to zone enemies.
Use it as defensive tool or prevent enemies from escaping by shoting it in front of them.

IMPORTANT: Smoke screen has a long cooldown, so be careful when and how you will use it, this ability gives you additional advantage, if you enemy has a bad PC and low FPS in game as soon as he steps inside the smoke, his FPS will drasticly drop, this will be in your favor... I'm not even joking, hahaha.

Quickdraw:
Graves dash in the target direction, gaining BONUS ATTACK SPEED: 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70% for 4 seconds. Basic attacks against non-structure enemies each reduce Quickdraw's cooldown by 1 second.

My favorite ability, this baby will help you deal tons of damage by getting you in front of enemy's faces, also it's a great escape ability that even passes through some small terrain/walls + it works as a great reposition tool.

Tip: Always have in mind that the more attack speed you have, the lower cooldown this ability will have (lower CD per auto-attack hit) - which means you can reposition every few seconds in lategame.
IMPORTANT: Don't go over agressive using this skill to get in enemy lines if your flash is not up because you may get yourself in trouble as you don't have any other escape ability.

Collateral Damage:
Graves fires an explosive shell in a straight line, dealing 250 / 400 / 550 (+ 150% bonus AD) physical damage to every non-champion enemy it passes through, as well as the first enemy champion it collides with.After hitting a champion or reaching the end of its range, the shell explodes, dealing 80% of its original damage in a cone.

High burst-long range ultimate ability, what more you need? Well, with this ability you help your assassins/fighters to take some of squishy targets in frontline, it deals AOE damage as soon as it collaps with first target and behind in straight line, you will have to play few games to figure out how it works.

Tip: You can take out enemies even in fog of war if you are confident and precise marksman.
High elo tip: This ability has great synergy in League, for example:
Allied Vi ults enemy Ashe, but you are too far away to actually reach her because wild Maokai appears and won't let you pass, no problem, as soon as Vi reaches Ashe with her ultimate, fire yours and Ashe will take fatal damage which may result in a won teamfight for your team.

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Heal is a basic pick up for ADC player, ADC role is a squishy role, you must provide most damage in teamfights and sometimes, specially in soloQ you cannot count on your support, this may help you survive fatal damage, also it's crucial spell for fighting in bottom lane.
You may consider taking if you KNOW enemy support has ,but i do not recommend it.
Why? Well, counters ignite,but you are not ALONE on lane, so your could be a much better use.
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IMPORTANT: Always use to save your support or nearby allies if they are about to die, DO NOT FORGET THAT, your teammates will appreciate it!
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Tip: Heal also provides a little bit of movement speed, it's hardly noticeble, but it has many uses ... If you need just a little more movement speed to take down important target or to escape a certain death, do not hessitate to use it even if you have full health points.

is main summoner spell for almost every champion.

Escape gank
Dodge skillshot
Secure kill
Reposition
Outplay

Flash is a crucial spell for AD carries, you are squishy, you must live!
If you die your team might lose teamfight easily, you are their main source of damage, you are the brain of whole team!
What im trying to say? Well, flash will save everytime you f*** up, literally.
Bad position? Got caught? Standing in the middle of Rumble ult? NP, flash away!
FLASH IS A MUST! No more discussion!

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Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed: you will need some attack speed, these Quints are MUST in your rune page, current ADC meta works with attack speed and graves scales pretty good with them.
Greater Mark of Attack Damage: are standard Marks used by ADC,they help you deal more damage and last hit easier,why not Greater Mark of Attack Speed ?? You need atleast 8,5 AD in runes to make this lane work,so DO NOT change them.
Greater Seal of Armor: facing the enemy ADC and Support, you will need some protection, I personally prefer Armor runes, but if you want to go ALL IN in the first 2 levels, you might try out Greater Seal of Health.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: you must consider taking these to survive easier,you can also replace 5 of those for Greater Glyph of Attack Speed x5 since you have your passive True Grit, but it's up to you!

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Fury 4/4 is a must, taking those 4 points in Fury gives you an extra 5% of attack speed which is always welcome to your early, and specially late game.
Butcher & Feast will give you easier last-hitting and some early sustain.
Brute Force ADC can not work without this mastery.
Martial Mastery +4 attack damage? I'll take it.
Executioner 5% more damage against targets below 50% health is always welcome.
Warlord is very useful, but why only 2/3? We need this last point for [Dangerous Game]!
Dangerous Game is strongest mastery in League of Legends, this will make you survive those annoying [Ignite]s, you can survive longer in teamfights, crucial for kiting.
Devastating Strikes also very important, armor penetration is more than welcome.
Havoc 3% more dmg? Thank you very much.
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Block this will help you win trades and fights in lane.
Recovery will provide you a little sustain in lane.
Unyielding another great defensive ability, always take it!
Veteran Scars will help you in laning phase, some extra health can help you a lot.
Juggernaut raises your HP by 3%, hell yea!

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Powerspike you get after buying this item is insane, once you get it your abilities will deal significant amount of damage and your auto attacks will become more dangerous so your next goal is to get .

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This item is your core, after buying this item you should have enough attack speed to easily kite everyone, it got buffed recently from 30% to 35% crit chance.

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this baby will make tanks fear you, once you get armor penetration you don't have to worry about damage anymore, start building towards since it will help you stay alive during teamfights and will give you even more damage.

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Once you get your you are insanely strong, you have a lot of damage, your sustain is ridiculous in teamfights and you should have 55% crit chance with your core items so far, i personally like more than since your abilities scale really well with bonus attack damage.

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It's always nice to have another life in every game, now isn't it? This will let you survive longer and buy more time for your team to help you, also if you make a mistake, game isn't over, this will keep you alive at all costs.

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Take these when you finish your ,there are no better boots for Graves than these, keep that in mind!

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You could replace with this item if enemy team has a lot of crowd controls, this item has many uses but here are the most important ones:

Removes any Crowd Control effect
Removes Zed's and Vladimir's ultimate
Removes Ignite

As the ADC, you are extremely squishy, also, type of mages like or can pretty much oneshot you with their burst, is a great option against burst-mages, if you find yourself in trouble getting nuked by fed mages, try this.

Enemy team has a lot of tanks and you cannot take them down easily? Blade will take a nice % of their hp everytime you hit someone with autoattack, although i dont recommend this item over it is still a good option.

This item is pretty strong on Graves and you might see some high elo players might buy it, why? Well, your abilities scale really good with bonus AD and armor penetration but have in mind:

Buy this item instead of Phantom Dancer, you will get enough attack speed from it's ability
You can proc your attack speed steroid only for a short time
Your crit chance is lower than with Phantom Dancer
Your abilites deal more damage if you have this item instead of Phantom Dancer so make sure you use them well!

Why ? Graves excelles great on his passive which makes him a tanky adc.. a little bit.. so when you have a lot of HP, your passive on 10 stacks, truest me it's not easy to kill you,also will give you bonus AD and will make your life easier with that passive for easy kiting.

Although i like , the Crit chance provide is just insane so i almost everytime go for , but there are few situations where statikk could be more useful:

Your team is full AD - this means enemy team will build tons of armor, statikk proc always deals magic damage and that can prove as a very useful tool.
You fall behind early and you need some attack speed along with that Infinity Edge to get back into game, statikk is 300g cheaper than Phantom Dancer and works a little bit better in midgame
You need some waveclear (optional)

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Here you can see my new Vayne montage!

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Let me know if you have any questions.
You can add me on EUNE (Proxxiii) and on EUW (Mephiix) and spectate some of my games.
You can follow me here:

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