Graves Build Guide by deadlyDelta

Introduction

Hey everybody, Lvl100 Shuckle here with another guide, this time featuring my new favorite champion, Graves. I have played Graves religiously in Dominion ever since his release, with at least 60 games played with him so far, winning the majority of them (I'm in the military, so I can't exactly play all the time :P). Throughout all my games with Graves, I've learned a lot about him. One of the first things I noticed about him is that he isn't your average ranged AD carry. He enjoys a HP pool similar to Urgots, allowing him to be safe in close range and take great advantage of his passive, True Grit, and getting the maximum damage out of Buckshot I went through a lot trial and error with many different items and skill combos, and I am positive that this build is the best you can get with Graves in The Crystal Scar. Now, without further ado, I present to you all my guide on Graves, Dominion-style!

Pros / Cons

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Pros + Great point-blank burst + Awesome damage the whole game + AOE vision limiter + High HP for a Ranged AD + Attack-speed steroid on low CD + Long-range ult

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Cons - Very item dependent - Needs farm (even in Dominion) - Very slow - Gets focused down a lot - Collateral Damage can be hard to land at times - Buckshot can be a tad difficult to aim at champions who can get right on top of you, such as Talon

Masteries

(UNDER REVISION DUE TO RECENT MASTERY REVAMP)

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation x9 - Improves damage (mainly early game) by ignoring enemy armor. Pretty standard.

Greater Seal of Armor x9 - Gives you a bit of early survivability that gets even further improved by True Grit. Makes you very hard to kill in the beginning.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist x9 - (see above)

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage x3 - Again looking to improve our early game by giving us extra damage on our autoattacks and a bit of scaled damage to Buckshot.

Items

• : Graves loves him some attack-speed. Take these to give him a sexy 25% increase as well as more mobility.
  
• : Damage, Lifesteal, and a beautiful passive. With so much attack-speed and damage, this will heal for a lot and save your *** many times.
  
• : Damage, Attack-Speed, and a AWESOME percentile damage passive. This item replaces Madred's Bloodrazor in Dominion. With all that attack-speed you'll be hitting like a truck with all the percentile damage.
  
• : Damage, Attack-Speed, and a stacking armor shredder. I find this to be a much better choice for Graves than Last Whisper in all game modes. Seeing on how his strategy relies heavily on being in the enemies face and blasting them with Buckshot while shredding them with autoattacks, this will benefit him much more than a Last Whisper. Also, very few champs will sacrifice a damage item for an armor item in Dominion, so you'll be negating more armor with this anyways.
  
• : Great item on Graves. Turns his already decent healthpool (for a ranged carry, that is) into a very intimidating amount. Also gives you that great slow that will allow you to outrun your enemies and keep blasting them with Buckshot.
  
• : A great item for any AD carry. Gives a fat chunk of Attack-Speed, Movement, and Crit Chance. A great choice for late-game, becuase at this point in the match, losing a point can decide the fate of a game. Take this to get to a CP and lightning speed and rip enemies apart even faster.

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• : I cannot stress enough the importance of getting this item early when you need it. This will turn most AD Carries into a joke (ex. Master Yi, Xin Zhao, Talon) and allow you to easily 1v1 them, unless they are fed completely out of their minds. A definite game-changing item.
  
• : If Ap champs are plentiful or are causing you trouble, definitely take this. Pretty much the Anti-AP version of Thornmail
  
• : Can replace Phantom Dancer if you want. I would recommend doing so if you find yourself filling the defender role for your team. Adds a very nice amount of Lifesteal, Attack Speed, and HP regen for nearby allies, as well as an armor reducing aura. Great item.
  
• : An odd item choice, but actually has very useful utility for Graves. Extra HP, MR, and more healing received from Lifesteal. Take this if you don't like Odyn's Veil.
  
• : I don't prefer to take this item on Graves. It only gives one stat that is useful for the idea of our build, and is very expensive and takes a long time to finish. An option, but I don't recommend it.
  
• : Take this throughout the game if any stealthies are giving you trouble. An easy solution for very little cost.