Currently in Patch 14.8, Graves is not in a great spot. Many nerfs to the Jungle role and Mr. Malcom himself, he can't keep up with stronger picks in the game right now. With how little gold Jungle recieves, we need to adapt to a cheaper build and provide more utility than damage, so we are returning to Lethality. Umbral Glaive is a good cheap option that gives us a strong power spike, when paired with Zombie Ward we provide excellent utility from clearing enemy vision. Treasure Hunter helps plenty with our economy issue, and gets us to our strongest item in the build, Profane Hydra. This item allows you to insta clear camps and waves, giving you high tempo and allowing you to be on the map more than being stuck inside your jungle.

Graves is a Marksman with Fighter and Skirmisher capabilities. With his unique playstyle, Graves plays to stat check champions through skirmishes with his powerspikes from Levels and Items. Graves wants to focus on farming efficiently and invading the enemy jungle to apply pressure. Here's an overview of his playstyle:

Aggressive Early Game: Graves wants to create advantages with his High Base Damage. He wants an proactive gameplan that involves invading, or a pathing plan that will result in an succesful gank. Starting in your own Jungle should be Plan B if an invade play isn't possible.

Burst: Graves kit revolves around burst damage, making your all ins oppressive. End of the Line is a lot of your damage in the early game, and landing this ability can make or break skirmishes. Firing this ability at a wall makes the round return faster, a neat trick for dealing damage quicker against camps and champions. As for rotations with your autos, you want to start with auto, Quickdraw, auto, auto. This rotation can get out 3 auto attacks before you need to reload. Your E ability, Quickdraw, reloads your shotgun, but won't add a bullet if you are already fully loaded, so remember to be efficient by auto'ing before using E.

Mobility and Sustain: Graves has a crazy good macro with his E, Quickdraw. You can stay very healthy in the jungle by kiting the camps with your passive knockback and dash, on top of building armor to take less damage. You can hop over thin walls, importantly the Dragon Pit and Baron Nashor Pit, to be quick to invade and quick to leave. Graves becomes a difficult target to hit and kill in team fights with your ability to dash and stack armor.

Overall, Graves is a versatile champion with a dynamic playstyle that requires a balance of aggressive early game play, smart positioning, and precise ability usage.

Graves has the ability to scale with his Auto Attack damage scaling with Levels. At Level 1, the first pellet from his Auto Attack will deal 70% of his AD, increasing with each level. At Level 18, Graves will deal 100% of his AD. As for subsequent pellets, they scale starting from 23% to 33%.

You should be choosing Graves in draft to go his carry build, don't draft him just for his Bruiser Build. Sometimes mistakes happen and Graves can end up in a not favorable comp, so this build can salvage your draft a little by making him tankier to become psuedo-frontline, and still do a bit of damage. Go Mosstomper Smite as your jungle item.

Best in Slot: Black Cleaver

Attack Damage and Sustain: Sundered Sky, Ravenous Hydra

Lifeline Options: Sterak's Gage, Maw of Malmortius

Tank Items: Frozen Heart, Spirit Visage, Elixir of Iron

Red Smite helps best in volatile matchups, where both sides of the matchups can kill eachother. Another aspect for Red Smite is solo laners that are difficult to take down.

Example Matchups:

---

Blue Smite assists in sticking power through movement speed, and gets you across the map the best. Best taken in matchups that don't want to be dove, and high range comps. Movement Speed translates into damage.

Example Matchups:

---

Green Smites shields you from bad matchups and dive comps, and is also the recommended jungle item as the bruiser build. Definitely take in matchups that are difficult.

Example Matchups:

Fleet Footwork is Graves most consistent rune. He can stack the energized auto with his Quickdraw, keeping him very healthy inside of the Jungle

Overheal has significantly more value than Triumph. Overheal will block thousands of damage, and Graves gets plenty sources of Lifesteal from his Runes and Jungle Item.

Synergy with Fleet Footwork and Overheal, Graves can save gold on one of his important stats.

Graves playstyle puts him in risky situations, playing off his Sustain and True Grit, he spends alot of his time in fights on the lower end of Health.

---

Set of secondary runes for easy and even matchups. The power from these runes allows Graves to assert dominance in matchups and snowball leads.

---

Second set of Secondary Runes for difficult matchups. The Magical Footwear saves you gold from spending on Boots, so you can continue building into your items to become strong. Cosmic Insight reduces your Flash cooldown, giving Graves more agency to get out of bad situations.

---

Best Rune Shards for Graves. Playing without a bit of Attack Speed feels real sluggish, and Adaptive Force helps with clearing and damage. Health Scaling keeps you scaling throughout the game.

The best first item for Graves. It's high AD, high Lethality, and Movement Speed active gets greatly utilised, and bypasses the need to take Relentless Hunter. It's important to build lethality early in the game, as it's Graves biggest power spike.

---

One of Graves best items. Has all his favorite stats, and gives you the power to snowball. Paired with Youmuu's Ghostblade, you have your best possible core. This is when Graves is at his strongest in the game. Play to take over.

Graves charges the energized passive very quickly, and helps a lot in Damage Output for farming and teamfights. Best when you're engaging onto them.

Provides waveclear against Siege comps. It's AoE assistance on Jungle Camps can get you out on the map faster.

---

It's component Noonquiver unlocks Graves ability to kill Dragons and clears jungle camps quicker. The passive allows you to traverse the map quicker, making it great for macro.

It is absolutely crucial that Graves carries an Armor Penetration item on his build in most games. Armor is the biggest counter to him. The Giant Slayer passive is going to be your best friend.

Grievous Wounds and Armor Pen. Better against champions with a lot of sustain but little HP stacking.

Allows Graves to scale greatly into the late game. When he crits, Graves fires off 6 pellets that each edeal 30% bonus damage, with Infinity Edge, purchased, this bonus becomes 50%.

Best Crit item for Survivability and Life Steal.

Great movement speed for kiting, and Attack Speed helps apply lifesteal more often.

---

The Second Option for Armor Penetration. The HP gives you survivability against champions that want to engage onto you. Graves has an easy time applying Armor Penetration as each pellet applies a stack of Cleave, making him apply max stacks in 2-3 autos.

Good Sustain item, however currently bugged. Lightshield Strike will heal you, but won't apply the Crit Damage. Graves is pretty limited in the Fighter options he has, so we have to make do.

Good Damage and Sustain. Titanic Hydra has too great of a penalty for Ranged Champions. Can keep you very healthy in fights when paired with Spirit Visage.

---

Great for it's HP and Tenacity. This item is better if your recieving mixed damage.

Best option for surviving Magic Damage Burst.

---

Best armor item in the game. High Armor and Mana, with a helpful passive that reduces damage taken from auto attacks and slows enemy attack speed

Great Magic Resist item that increases your healing from lifesteal. Recommended when playing alongside enchanters.

---

Good Armor and Passive for Dueling.

For Tenacity and Magic.

Niche option, good for closing gaps and don't need much defenses.

Full Clear. Economy Based Pathing. Only option when there's no oppurtunities to gank or invade, due to lack of cc or range disadvantage. After your first clear, return to your botside jungle quadrant. If there is no play botlane, full clear again. You'll have enough gold to purchase Serrated Dirk, Graves best power spike in the early game. That component enables you to take Dragon and Voidgrub, since you'll likely be the strongest champion on the map. Level Order will be Quickdraw, End of the Line, End of the Line, Smoke Screen.

Blue Side: Red Buff > Krugs ( Smite) > Raptors> Murk Wolves> Gromp ( Smite) > Blue Buff
Red Side: Blue Buff > Gromp> Murk Wolves ( Smite) > Raptors> Krugs ( Smite) > Red Buff

3 Camp Clear. Unlock your 3 spells as the standard ability order and look to impact the map. Best potential when your team has gank setup via CC. Start on your botside quadrant and clear 3 camps, then look at nearby lanes to see if there's a possible play. If not, continue to your next quadrants buff and clear from there, then look for a possible play on your two closest lanes, or ask for assistance on contesting the Rift Scuttler.

Blue Side: Red Buff > Krugs ( Smite) > Raptors
Red Side: Blue Buff > Gromp> Murk Wolves ( Smite)

1 Camp Clear. Buff into Ganking a lethal Melee lane, only possible Top Lane. If the Top Lane matchup is volatile, and enemy Top is Melee, start on your top side quadrant buff. Level Smoke Screen second. Approach Top Lane hugging the wall closest to enemy tower for a proper flank angle and to stay in Fog of War as long as possible. Walk in as they move forward to farm.

Blue Side: Blue Buff
Red Side: Red Buff

Blue Side: Raptors> Gromp Invade. When the enemy jungler is likely getting a leash. Put your first level into End of the Line, the fastest way to clear your Raptors. Move across the River and invade their Gromp.

Red Side: Raptors> Red Buff > Gromp Invade. Clear your Raptors with End of the Line, Second Level into Quickdraw, Clear your Red Buff, then cross into the enemy jungle to take their Gromp. The reason we want to take that camp over Blue Buff is because it offers more experience, and puts their camp on a desynced respawn timer, sabatoging their cycle.