Please verify that you are not a bot to cast your vote.
Not Updated For Current Season
This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
his E has priority over your E, his Q speed up can easily catch up to you and his W true damage makes graves true grit useless. His ultimate is very good especially if he uses it on you during teamfights, it will deal alot of damage if you are tanky. The only real tip i can give you until he gets nerfed harder is play safe and wait for ganks. Dont ever all in him if he has any grit, only all in him if you are able to guarantee the kill.
Fiora
shes literally fiora. One of graves' worse matchup. Hyper mobile, parry damage dealt, cripple, slow and guaranteed crit, true damage and healing and an ult that heals her and her allies.
Poppy
funnily enough shes not a big threat, her W isnt too big a counter to you if you just wait for it to end and then its easy kiting, if she e's you shes most likely going to W in, and if she doesnt just wait for W to run out, if you have PD chances are you wont even need to use your E
Wukong
his recent rework made him a huge nuisance to fight against, his sheer damage output pre and post 6 are too much for graves, if you are ever counterpicking, never pick graves into him you will lose the laning phase and have no presence until the very late game,
Jax
his E denies all of your major damage, he will just leap to you if you dash away and his damage output is much greater than graves at most stages of the game. Same thing with sett. Play safe farm, poke and wait for a gank, never go for all ins unless you can guarantee it
Aatrox
i cant say much about aatrox except for farm until you hit lvl 6 or PD/RFC powerspike, before this he beats you in a lvl 3 all in, build executioners if the healing is too much to handle
Camille
do not duel camille early she is one of the best early duelists with her lvl 3 powerspike. I recommend either the fleet or the grasp build into her to help you escape and have a safer auto poke. You outscale her and beat her late game. If necesary bielf grievous wounds and a black cleaver.
Cho'Gath
chogath is a champion that can scale with graves quite well with his builds, AP or health. Be careful when he hits 6 because he cann 100 to 0 you if you dont dodge his Q. Try your best to avoid his E or his Q since these are his main abilities to poke. i recommend grasp build to heal and get a little bit more health and maybe
Darius
one of the hardest matchups for any champ in the game except for fiora. if you have the choice for it dont pick graves into him. If you blind pick into him then you need to go for super safe builds and build cost effective items to help you survive such as phantom dancer and RFC. Build fleet or grasp or if you are confident enough a build like hail of blades, you just want to go for quick short trades to not let him stack up his passive damage.
Illaoi
illaoi one of the hardest matchups for graves. She out damages you at melee range, her sustain is downright unmatchable, i do not recommend you pick graves into her. Same with darius, build cost effective items and safer rune pages
Dr. Mundo
Mundo is a hypertank saling extremely well into the late game wether he gets ahead or not. All i recommend is try your best to dodge his cleaver and rarely go for all ins. Black cleaver might be a decent rush into this matchup since it shreds his armour and grievous wounds will help out alot with his ultimate.
Gangplank
gangplank is like mundo he scales well into the lategame but only if he gets soe kills to start snowballing, if you are able to keep him controlled he wont be a nuisance till late game when hell start getting kills. Alot of gps might want to be aggressive early game and you beat them early game due to range, less mana issues and sustain/speed with fleet. Any build really works into GP but dont go grasp into him, you become tankier but he scales quicker with grasp than you do so thats my only pointer against him.
Garen
Garen is one of the hardest champions to beat out early game, he has alot of mobility, good sustain in lane, armour shred and tenacity at level 3. You beat him late game or when you get RFC and PD powerspike so you can kite easier. During the laning phase look to roam mid if possible but be careful, he can push out your lane relatively quickly so roam effectively. Take fleet or grasp into this matchup, you od not want long trades against him, late game is another story he cant teamfight well due to his lack of AOE aside from E. Ignite is also a good pick into him.
Gnar
hes not too hard a mtchup, you can beat his mega gnar if you dodge his W stun. His ultimate stun is almost impossible to dodge against a halfway decent gnar. Usually you wont be able to beat him in ranged form so let him stack his fury and when he transforms go for the all in and chunk his health, if you want to risk it for the biscuit and burst him down in ranged form go the dark harvest or electrocute build with full lethality, this will give you a decent chance against him in ranged form especially since they arent usually tanky in that form.
Hecarim
after the recent hecarim top buffs he became a lot stronger with waveclear. You dont beat him if he has rampage built up or if he lands the 2 second fear. Look to outscale him with grasp or dark harvest to make your life easier with scaling. If you odnt feel the need to have that much burst then just follow the regular fleet build.
Irelia
irelia isnt a hard matchup since few people are good on her. You can go virtually any build here but i like the grasp build into her since she will most likely dash into your auro range while you are cs'ing giving you free grasp procks. She snowballs hard if she gets 1 or 2 kills so be sure to keep her in check and not let her roam. Good irelia's will make sure to keep in melee range and not let you farm up in this case build RFC or PD first items
Jayce
this champion is a difficult matchup since few people know how to play him very well, meaning only a few people will pick him making your odds of winning this matchup a little lower. He has 6 abilities level 3 since he doesnt have an actual ultimate. Dont feed him kills early since he snowballs very hard and is difficult to stop. I recommend grasp or fleet since these are the safest options. take other options only if you feel completely confident in your ability to try and outscale him.
Kayle
one of the hardest amtchups for graves lategame. Kayle is one of the champions hwo are literally considered ez win late game. You need to keep her in check and make her go behind early game if not shell snowball out of control and will probably carry the game. I recommend fleet runes or dark harvest to scale better into the late game.
Kennen
Kennen isnt a huge problem laning phase, but he can be a nuisance. He outranges you and wil most likely poke you out of lane. Take fleet or grasp runes into this mathcup or the bursty builds in order to scale well without letting him snowball.
Kled
Kled is a champion who will be able to stick on to you so if you can avoid it dont pick into him but if you blind picked graves take fleet runes or Hail of blades for early trading power and to be able to scale into the late game. He will reduce your healing with Q and will win most all ins, just play to get turrets and ping when he is missing because kled like to roam with R
Lucian
Its basically graves top but with longer range, a dash and a longer range ultimate. Graves is a tankier version of him. I dont recommend picking into him unless the enemy is horrible playing lucian, otherwise you lose lane hard and the sacling game.
Malphite
Not too hard of a matchup. His armour becomes a nuisance late game so i recommend going the crithality build if possible to pass his armour or go LDR, BC and a lethality item. He cant kill you unless he ults you so try your best to flash/ predict when he will ult and be careful when he hits 6.
Maokai
maokai isnt too big of a threat as are most tanks but he does have the cc in his kit to make your life miserable if you arent careful. Hes more of a MR tank than armour but can easily transition into armour if necesary. Build LDR and BC after RFC and PD. Yuoll be able to kill him easier that way
Mordekaiser
Mordekaiser is a very strong mid to late game champ with his high carry potential being very difficult to match. With the runepage they usually build on him having a lot of healing, the trickle healing from his passive with ravenous hunter makes him live a lot in the long run. Bield grievous wounds against him and maybe consider building adaptive helm into him.
Nasus
early game easy and late game impossible. One of the few things i can recommend vs nasus is build a frozen mallet, PD and youmuus to try and outrun him even with his slow. Make sure to get your kills early because late game hell rarely die to anyone.
Ornn
very tanky in the mid/late game. Build armour pen and in the laning phase try to use your E in order to avoid the Q damage or his knockup, and all around try your best to kite him around.
Pantheon
very hard champion to deal with early game, you may have a chance at beating him late game but otherwise just play to scale and build crit into him. Then you might be able to burst him or kite him around enough to kill him.
Quinn
I honestly dont know what to say here since ive barely ever seen quinn in any game. Usually people who do paly her know how to play her very well so be careful when engaging because then she can just use her E and your entire engage is gone. You can build a tornmail or some other tanky item that may help keep her in check or slow her like mallet.
Renekton
impossible to beat early game, very good mid game and late game he gets a little bit easier. You cant beat him early game, maybe you can beat him mid game but late game you definitely beat him if you play it semi well. Early game aply safe go grasp or sustain runes and just play to scale.
Rengar
Hes a champion very much like katarina, feast or famine, he is either the 1v9 carry or he is the bait. you usually cant play far enough away from the bushes where he cant leap to you, the only thing i can say is use your normal wards as much as possible for when your jungler comes he cant jump to them like control wards unless he has oracle lens.
Riven
riven is a busted champion who will beat graves no matter what, you lack the escape to void her 4 gapcloser and her long range execute. Just play safe, hope and pray to rngesus that matchmaking put you up against a bad riven otherwise you won't be able to win lane
Rumble
Shen
Shyvana
Singed
Sion
Swain
Teemo
Trundle
Tryndamere
Urgot
Vayne
Vladimir
Volibear
Yorick
Amumu
very hard for him to stick on to you since his only hard cc is Q and R, amumu players usually build tnak making it easier for oyu to kite, but sometime they build in ap which is a big counter to graves since his grit only give armour. For this matchup i recommend any runes but at least take the mr shards, condition and unflinching.
Nautilus
same reason as amumu, usually builds tank and not ap. He can lock you down due to his entire kit, except for W to an extent, have cc. For this matchup i recommend maybe trying out the grasp build since you'll want the short trades or conqueror if you plan on going the extra mile during fights.
Tahm Kench
tahm kench will be hard if he gets ahead of you so you need to abuse your range against him early game or he will snowball out of control. Take fleet runes or grasp runes for short trades and safer poke and look to all in him when he's low or your jungler is nearby.
Zac
his CC is very good allowing you to dish out your maximum damage potential
Volibear
same thing as zac, alot of CC allowing you to deal the damage your team may need
Warwick
hes good because he can lock people down with his ultimate and fear people with his E, hes good for towerdives and can help you during the laning phase to get you ahead, not ideal because his raw damage may take some kills from you making you reach your power spike a little bit lower
Alistar
Anivia
Amumu
Annie
Bard
Blitzcrank
Brand
Braum
Evelynn
Fiddlesticks
Galio
Gragas
Hecarim
Ivern
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Zac
his CC is very good allowing you to dish out your maximum damage potential
Volibear
same thing as zac, alot of CC allowing you to deal the damage your team may need
Warwick
hes good because he can lock people down with his ultimate and fear people with his E, hes good for towerdives and can help you during the laning phase to get you ahead, not ideal because his raw damage may take some kills from you making you reach your power spike a little bit lower
Alistar
Anivia
Amumu
Annie
Bard
Blitzcrank
Brand
Braum
Evelynn
Fiddlesticks
Galio
Gragas
Hecarim
Ivern
Runes: main
12
Sorcery
Phase Rush
Nimbus Cloak
Celerity
Waterwalking
Precision
Triumph
Legend: Alacrity
Bonus:
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+15-140 HP (lvls 1-18)
Inspiration
Glacial Augment
Magical Footwear
Future's Market
Approach Velocity
Precision
Triumph
Legend: Alacrity
Bonus:
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Hello everyone. My name is KingArthur720 on NA servers. Im an iron player trying to climb out of elo hell and i did very well with graves top and i did pretty well and i thought this would be something interesting for people looking to try new things out. I may be iron but i feel like i make up for my lack of mechanical skill in understanding of them game.
Im constantly updating this guide so check on it daily for more threats and synergies.
why graves
Graves is already a good roamer and this allow's him to get many kills, so i thought what if he stayed in 1 lane getting fed and gaining priority allowing him to roam to mid. Hes also a good off meta pick for top lane. Many people will think due to his passive hes not so good in lane, but its not necessarily about his passive. Graves is a champion with good engages and escapes from his E and W that allow him to get good trades off and his ability range is very good at finishing off kills.
pros and cons
Pros
if ahead can carry the team
good duelist
good early game and late game
great csing due to passive
doesnt need much help from jgl
can be avery oppressive enemy
has very good range on his abilities
Cons
if behind will most likely stay behind for the remainder of the game
very mana hungry early game
cant poke easily with auto attacks
can get easily kited by any adc or mages
cant contest objectives directly
lacks in auto range
playstyle
This is the part where it differs from graves jungle. You actually want to be up in the minion wave to be able to utilize you passive to its fullest and get the wave clear you need. If the enemy is under tower the idea is to use the tower to graves advantage, something not many champions can do, he can also take advantage of walls like not other champions can, he can use it to activate his Q quicker for short all ins. You use the tower to activate your Q quicker making the increased damage come out quicker until they are low enough for a tower dive with your jgler or you have faith in your aim for your ult. All of this comes together to play to graves strength in being quite a decent lane bully. You can try to roam if you have lane prio but ***es the speed in which your enemy can push in your wave and match your roam.
Runes
so lets discuss graves runes. The basic runeset is the Fleet footwork runeset, this runeset helps grave have increased sustain and pairs well with Taste of Blood and Ravenous hunter for even more healing, and for the cherry on top rapid fire cannon synergyzes perfectly. for conqueror its rune centered more around sustained fighting and it takes a hot minute to stack, but after a good amount of ingame experience the best way you can stack it is AA+Q cancelled E+AA+W+AA+R/AA, this is one for the most reliable way to go from 0 to 10 stacks of conqueror, also the build differs a little bit, you o less crit but exchange it for more armor penetration and more raw AD to heal with conqueror. With this combo i was able to deal around 4k damage to a target dummy with 45% armour pen.
The jungle build i recommend the most for new players and experienced players alike is to try out the phase rush build, its a good reliable build for good engages and escapes, its good for river fights and its an all around good build for graves to stick to his target. This build works best with lethality for the quick burst you want with jungle graves. You can also do fleet footwork but instead of ravenous hunter take relentless hunter if you want to be speedier
threats and synergies
i will update these as i learn more matchups, but the usual counters to graves are mostly control mages who can outrange and outpoke him and melee champions with a disgusting amount of cc or a continuous approach tool like irelia Q. For these melee matchups i recommend to usually take grasp or fleet depending on the enemy, if they have approach take grasp for short trades and if they are not too mobile take fleet.
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.