Graves is resource-hungry, proactive carry jungler; if you aren't pathing Top-to-Bot and making plays actively on the map, you will be falling behind. Graves is meant to be played as an aggressive bully to suffocate the enemy jungler and to make them tilt. You should always be looking at opportunities to take the enemy jungler's camps whenever you have priority from your laners. Also make sure you are not falling into the trap of 'over-farming' your own camps - if you are not taking the enemy jungler's resources, you are not playing Graves correctly.

"Legend: Haste" is inside the Precision Rune Page tree. "Legend: Haste" provides 1.5 Basic Ability Haste per Legend stack, eventually stacking up to an amount of 15 Ability Haste at maximum stacks. First, to understand the whole "Legend" stacking system, we will look at how you can get stacks for it. - You can get 100 points per champion takedown (Kills and Assists count) - You can get 100 points per epic monster slain (Drake, Herald, Voidgrubs all come into play here) - You can get 25 points per large monster killed - Or 4 points per minion killed You get 1 stack totalling up to 10 every 100 points. So realistically, junglers can get a Legend rune stacked by the time they get their fully upgraded smite, around 15 minutes. With 15 ability Haste at full stacks these stats are worth 3 Glowing Motes, totalling to a whopping 750 gold value of a rune. Which can become really useful towards the later stages of a game, when you only have to auto attack someone twice with all 4 pellets hitting to get your E back to use it again, avoiding the reset of True Grit's stacks which can be the different between winning and losing a fight or the game itself. With "Legend: Alacrity" only giving 18% attack speed which Graves does not really fully utilise and is worth around 450 gold. Did not even start mentioning that you can substitute that 18% attack speed to 10% attack speed in the first part of the rune shards. Also, Haste outweighs Alacrity's value while also outweighing the value of Bloodline too with it only giving 6.75% Lifesteal and 85 Bonus HP.

Triple Tonic is a rune from the Inspiration tree, the rune itself gives you 3 different Elixirs throughout the game, at Levels: 3, 6, 9. At level 3, you get an elixir named "Elixir of Avarice" which gives you; 5 True Damage on-hit against Minions and jungle camps for 60 seconds. Initially, it is really great for a faster clear during early game, the elixir also grants you 60 gold upon expiration. Which will be used to help you achieve your first full-clear faster and to deal more damage to camps overall. At level 6 you receive an elixir called "Elixir of Force" which essentially grants you 12 bonus AD or 20 bonus AP for 60 seconds based on the Adaptive Force you have. You are most likely going to use this potion before an invade, before a fight at drake or even when near a Point of Interest to get extra damage output for a fight. And, last but not least, at level 9, you get a final elixir named "Elixir of Skill" which grants you 1 free skill point to put into one of your abilities. When you get this elixir, your Q will be maxed out by level 9, so you will be using the Elixir of Skill towards your E, to get more resistance per times you used your E.

There is basically 2 variants you can do depending on how you want to clear your jungle, this will however not really change the game, just maximise damage output for your first full clear if you are full clearing:


the E-Q-Q sequence will ensure the most damage output during your first full clear, however you can switch it to E-Q-W if you so please, so your sequence will look more like this:


Also if you so wish to start Raptors you can also start with Q going to E then W afterward or Q into E if you are looking for a level 2 invade:


Overall, I always do this basic sequencing for extra camp pulling capability with W:

As you see, my Itemization always starts with Hubris, whether you go Bruiser or Assassin build on Graves. This is more or less because of the stats Hubris gives you and the recent buff it has gotten going from 3000 gold to 2800 gold making it a better value item than Youmuu's Ghostblade. Hubris gives you 55 AD, 18 Lethality and 10 Ability Haste, the last stat (Ability Haste) is why it is really important to buy Hubris as soon as we can. Meanwhile if we were to compare it to Youmuu's Ghostblade, which gives you 55 AD, 18 Lethality and 4% Movement speed (ignoring the active which the item has, especially here, because on Graves it more or less feels like a "Placebo" effect as I like to label it). All in all, Hubris gives you more efficient stats for early game snowball potential and just overall better stats with Ability Haste being the most important in this debate. Rush Hubris, Tier 1 boots can wait until we finish our first item as it also does not give you damage.

So Sundered Sky is a really interesting item, especially on Graves with his unique passive. In general, Graves shoots 4 pellets per shell shot. Meaning that if he shoots someone with all 4 of his pellets, he reduces 4 x 0.5 seconds of his current E cooldown, totalling up to 2 seconds of time reduction off of his E. However if Graves has a Critical Strike, his pellet count goes up from 4 to 6 and has a 25% wider spread, meaning he gets 3 seconds off of his E, implying he lands all pellets onto the enemy champion, while also dealing increased damage. Since Sundered Sky grants 100% Crit chance for the first auto attack per champion on a 10 second cooldown per target, while also healing 6% of your missing health, it makes a great item to buy on Graves to maximise damage output. Also Black Cleaver is another really great item if you are going Sundered Sky since your first auto attack on an enemy champion is GUARANTEED to be a Critical Strike, you will instantly fully stack your Black Cleaver stacks with 1 Sundered Sky auto attack if you hit 5 or even all 6 pellets onto an enemy champion.

So I got this build from a really good acquaintance on the Graves mains Discord server called "kalil". This build is played against HP-stacking tanks (Dr. Mundo, Sion, Swain, Cho’Gath, etc) Basically if you see at least 3 tanks on the enemy side (tank top/mid, jungle, and support), or if there is 2 and your team cant deal with them. It can also be played against 1 HP stacker, a kiteable bruiser, and a tank support (here I like the Bruiser variant more, your decision). ADC playstyle: play from the backline keeping distance (this isnt Graves usual identity, but these are emergency cases). Take Red Smite for the slow so you can hit them more, and also create distance if they try to catch you. Tanks will try to grab you, you kite them with your CDR. ITEMS: Essence Reaver The best first crit item Graves is the ADC with the highest base AD in the game, so the Sheen proc hits extremely hard, and the stats also benefit him a lot. Hexoptics C44 2800g and makes your autoattacks deal 8% more damage at max range. After getting a kill you gain range, allowing you to maintain good spacing and boosting your damage by 10%, due to his cheapness, you reach the second item spike very fast also making you reach 50% crit, which is key on Graves. Lord Dominik’s Regards Penetration item. Every AD builds it third. From this point on your R and Q will deal more damage. Navori Flickerblade A key piece. The game turns into URF, you get E on every auto attack, you become almost unreachable, and you can reach 8 stacks of E very easily, making you very hard to deal with. It also boosts your attack speed to do more autos. Navori can be replaced with Infinity Edge if you do not need to autoattack a lot and they are not chasing you Or with Fiendhunter Bolts if the enemy starts buying tons of armor. Bloodthirster Since this build is based on auto attacks, this item lets you heal with each one, while also giving you a shield.

Now, with the new changes of Voltaic Cyclosword (patch 26.9) came with massive Quality of Life (QoL) changes; Voltaic Cyclosword's Energized Attack now is able to be triggered with BOTH auto attacks AND abilities. Though the item has lost 8 lethality and the slow from the rework, its passive upon triggering now gives 15 lethality for melee and 12 lethality for ranged champions for 4 seconds while also the attack itself deals 7% current health damage to enemy targets (for ranged champs) and it being capped 200 against jungle monsters Making it a skirmish-ish kind of item, while also being great for teamfights. The item synergizes well with Fleet Footwork too, as the Energized Attack triggeres Fleet Footwork too, if both are available at the time of the attack.

So there are multiple ways to clear with Graves, though it differs from game to game.
You can do a few different things for the first time the camps spawn:
1. Full clear top-to-bot
2. Full clear bot-to-top (i personally do not recommend it because botlane is way better for early fights and kill potential)
3. 3 camp topside into gank or invade
4. 3 camp botside into gank or invade
Invade starts which are viable, but it is really important to look for which lane/lanes have PRIORITY so you are less likely to be collapsed on by the enemy laners:
1. Red to Gromp level 2 invade
2. Raptors Gromp level 2 invade
3. Level 1 invade enemy Blue buff
4. Level 1 invade enemy Red buff
5. Get vision of enemy jungler and contest him on the camp he is taking

I thought I would also share the Item Set I use so you do not need to create your own Item Set or browse through the Shop, wasting precious moments on searching for an item, so just copy and paste it into the League of Legends client if you want to (I will keep updating based on what is good at the moment).
You can Import the copied text by heading to the Backpack icon labelled "Collection" into "Items", clicking then on the button which shows an arrow pointing into a square called "Import item sets" and then finally clicking on "Paste copied set" text to paste in the code I have put here (newest build included):



{"title":"Graves S202026","associatedMaps":[11,12],"associatedChampions":[104],"blocks":[{"items":[{"id":"1101","count":1},{"id":"1103","count":1},{"id":"2003","count":1},{"id":"3340","count":1},{"id":"3364","count":1},{"id":"2055","count":1}],"type":"Starting (Bruiser Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3134","count":1},{"id":"1036","count":1}],"type":"Early Items (Bruiser Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6697","count":1},{"id":"1001","count":1},{"id":"6610","count":1},{"id":"3071","count":1}],"type":"Core (Bruiser Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3047","count":1},{"id":"3111","count":1},{"id":"3009","count":1},{"id":"3008","count":1}],"type":"Boots Options (Bruiser Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6697","count":1},{"id":"3047","count":1},{"id":"6610","count":1},{"id":"3071","count":1},{"id":"3053","count":1},{"id":"2501","count":1}],"type":"Example Full Build (Bruiser Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3123","count":1},{"id":"3078","count":1},{"id":"3053","count":1},{"id":"2501","count":1},{"id":"2517","count":1},{"id":"6665","count":1},{"id":"2525","count":1},{"id":"3072","count":1},{"id":"3153","count":1}],"type":"Optional Items (Bruiser Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"1101","count":1},{"id":"1103","count":1},{"id":"2003","count":1},{"id":"3340","count":1},{"id":"3364","count":1},{"id":"2055","count":1}],"type":"Starting (Assault Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3057","count":1},{"id":"1036","count":1}],"type":"Early Items (Assault Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3508","count":1},{"id":"1001","count":1},{"id":"2523","count":1},{"id":"3036","count":1}],"type":"Core Build (Assault Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3047","count":1},{"id":"3111","count":1},{"id":"3009","count":1}],"type":"Boots Options (Assault Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6675","count":1},{"id":"3031","count":1},{"id":"2512","count":1}],"type":"4th Item (Assault Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3508","count":1},{"id":"1001","count":1},{"id":"2523","count":1},{"id":"3036","count":1},{"id":"6675","count":1},{"id":"3072","count":1}],"type":"Example Full Build (Assault Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"1102","count":1},{"id":"2003","count":1},{"id":"3340","count":1},{"id":"3364","count":1},{"id":"2055","count":1}],"type":"Starting (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3134","count":1},{"id":"1036","count":1}],"type":"Early Items (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6697","count":1}],"type":"First Item (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3009","count":1},{"id":"3111","count":1},{"id":"3047","count":1},{"id":"3008","count":1}],"type":"Boots Options (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3134","count":1},{"id":"6698","count":1}],"type":"\"2nd\" Item Choice (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6697","count":1},{"id":"3134","count":1},{"id":"6694","count":1},{"id":"1001","count":1},{"id":"3814","count":1},{"id":"6610","count":1},{"id":"2501","count":1}],"type":"If Dirk as \"2nd\" (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3814","count":1},{"id":"6695","count":1},{"id":"3142","count":1},{"id":"3179","count":1}],"type":"Items for \"Dirk Tricking\" after Serylda's (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6697","count":1},{"id":"6698","count":1},{"id":"6694","count":1},{"id":"1001","count":1},{"id":"3814","count":1},{"id":"2501","count":1}],"type":"If Hydra \"2nd\" (Assassin Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"1102","count":1},{"id":"2003","count":1},{"id":"3340","count":1},{"id":"3364","count":1},{"id":"2055","count":1}],"type":"Starting (v2 Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"2020","count":1},{"id":"1036","count":1}],"type":"Early Items (v2 Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6699","count":1},{"id":"1001","count":1},{"id":"3097","count":1},{"id":"3036","count":1}],"type":"Core Build (v2 Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"3009","count":1},{"id":"3111","count":1},{"id":"3047","count":1}],"type":"Boots Options (v2 Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"6699","count":1},{"id":"3009","count":1},{"id":"3097","count":1},{"id":"3036","count":1},{"id":"2523","count":1},{"id":"3031","count":1}],"type":"Example Full Build (v2 Graves)"},{"items":[{"id":"1102","count":1},{"id":"1101","count":1},{"id":"2003","count":1},{"id":"3340","count":1},{"id":"3364","count":1},{"id":"2055","count":1}],"type":"Starting (voltaic)"},{"items":[{"id":"2020","count":1},{"id":"1036","count":1}],"type":"Early Items (voltaic)"},{"items":[{"id":"6699","count":1},{"id":"1001","count":1},{"id":"6676","count":1},{"id":"667666","count":1},{"id":"3033","count":1}],"type":"Core (voltaic)"},{"items":[{"id":"3009","count":1},{"id":"3111","count":1},{"id":"3047","count":1},{"id":"3008","count":1}],"type":"Boots Options (voltaic)"},{"items":[{"id":"6699","count":1},{"id":"3047","count":1},{"id":"6676","count":1},{"id":"3033","count":1},{"id":"3031","count":1},{"id":"3072","count":1}],"type":"Example Full Build (voltaic)"}]}

If you guys want to know more about Graves and get tips and tricks, you can join the Graves mains Discord server linked here: https://discord.gg/bEFt9BqmEv
Where you can meet loads of nice people and talk to other fellow Graves mains like me
Or DM me on Discord for any inquiry: @animavaguus