Solo-Top Bruiser Graves...is it competitive?

[quote=wolfmetal45]I just picked up Graves (yes I know he just got nerfed but I have fun playing him) and while I know he's meant to be an AD carry and just dominate early and mid game I'm curious about his soloing potential. I tried out this idea last night for a bot match. MASTERIES Your standard AD carry Mastery of 21-9-0 RUNES Flat armor pen Reds Flat Mana Regen Yellows MR per level Blues No Quints (still saving for those) but I'd be leaning towards Movement Speed ITEMS Vampiric Scepter -for lane sustainability- Boots BF Sword Bloodthirster -more sustain and the stacks come quick since I'm solo laning- Giant's Belt Frozen Mallet -HP and the Slow helps everyone on your team- Cloak of Agility Atma's Impaler -Armor, Damage AND crit chance what's not too like- Hex Drinker Maw of Malmortius -Good damage, MR nd that shield can save your ass- BF Sword Infinity's Edge Now I know this definitely isn't the normal graves build but I was wondering if anyone else thought that a solo-top bruiser build for Graves is viable. Now it WAS against bots but I went 5-4-14 in that game and didn't give up a single tower in the top lane during the laning phase. I actually didn't even give up a kill until about 23 minutes into the game or so during a teamfight. I'd really appreciate it if you guys told me what you thought of this idea and build set-up, or if you feel like being really awesome you could try it out since he's free this week :) Thanks for reading and have a good one, wolfmetal45[/quote]

[quote=FalseoGod]I guess it could work, but it's probably a waste on a champ; Graves doesn't give face like many bruisers do (which makes them effective at deviating from other big targets), he doesn't have any remarkable CC like a lot of bruisers do (Olaf's Slow, Riven's Stun, etc). He actually kinda allows people to get to your carry while not making that much damage with this build. I think good ranged bruisers require more utility/cc or abilities that maked them hard to ignore (Lulu is a decent example of a nice solotop bruiser: can hold the lane pretty well and brings TONS of utility while her range keeps her closer to the enemy line)[/quote]

[quote=Jpikachu1999]Graves works well top just building standard AD carry. He's like Kayle in that respect. Plus, double AD carry is the strongest late game meta in my opinion.[/quote]

[quote=Pheyniex]Very fragile to be top, mainly if Purple side. Also, maybe you should consider [[Trinity Force]]. it's recomended, provides utility and adds to [[Graves]]' bursty personality. i tested this build and though might not deal jawdropping dps, inicial burst is rather scary.[/quote]

[quote=SirAeros][quote=Jpikachu1999] Graves works well top just building standard AD carry. He's like Kayle in that respect. Plus, double AD carry is the strongest late game meta in my opinion. [/quote] Nope [[Karthus]]/[[Vladimir]] is probably the most scary late game comp actually but going back to the topic Bruiser Graves for me won't work he wants the Stats from being an AD Carry too much to forsake them[/quote]

[quote=wolfmetal45][quote=FalseoGod] I guess it could work, but it's probably a waste on a champ; Graves doesn't give face like many bruisers do (which makes them effective at deviating from other big targets), he doesn't have any remarkable CC like a lot of bruisers do (Olaf's Slow, Riven's Stun, etc). He actually kinda allows people to get to your carry while not making that much damage with this build. I think good ranged bruisers require more utility/cc or abilities that maked them hard to ignore (Lulu is a decent example of a nice solotop bruiser: can hold the lane pretty well and brings TONS of utility while her range keeps her closer to the enemy line) [/quote] You're right he doesn't have any CC save for smoke screen but I personally consider buckshot a form of CC in a way. The damage off of it is nothing to scoff at and unless you've built up a decent amount of armor you WILL feel it and see good amount of your HP gone. So while it isn't CC per say...if you haven't used it yet in a team fight people will be wary of trying to pass by you or ignore you to try and get the AD carry.[/quote]

[quote=Mazuran]Armour yellows are going to be far better than mana regen yellows. Also consider taking armour reds and/or quints to basically shut down your opponents poke (or MRes if you're against an AP top). Wit's End matches well with his passive. But in all seriousness, I doubt it'll work as well as some of the established top laners. If you really want to find out if something is competative, watch the streams, keep an eye on tourneys, and see what crops up the most often.[/quote]

[quote=H4xDefender]Its alright but it isnt really competitive.[/quote]