League of Legends - Graves Guide

Introduction

Graves is an interesting champion. When I first picked him up and started playing him I was intrigued and impressed by his kit. He is able to build up resistance due to his passive, is great at farming, has an escape and steroid ability, and can do a lot of damage. Yet, he has been slowly phased out in the current meta in favor of other ADC champions. However, Graves is still a powerful champion with a lot to offer. Read this guide and find out if Graves the Outlaw is the right champion for you!

Pros/Cons and Why You Should Play Graves

Pros: Compared to other ADC champions, using Graves has a lot of benefits. He is extremely powerful in the laning phase. He can farm like a monster, especially with his Q ability Buckshot, which can clear out minion waves super-fast. Graves already deals a ton of physical damage as an ADC, but his ultimate ability deals some nice AOE burst damage that can take down enemies fast. Unlike so many of his fellow ADC champions, he has an escape in his kit with his E ability Quickdraw, which also gives him a great attack speed boost. He has a really well-balanced kit that can completely devastate his opponents on Summoner’s Rift.

Cons: Although Graves has a lot of pros to using him, he also has his cons. Other ADC champions like Caitlyn, and Tristana have pretty insane attack range, and Graves falls short in that aspect by having a super low attack range, as he can get bullied in lane and poked hard by champions like these. He also has pretty slow attack speed, so using Quickdraw wisely to gain an advantage in lane is a must. Graves also doesn’t scale as well into late game as other ADC-oriented champions, so you really need to focus on the laning phase and choosing fights wisely to get ahead.

Why You Should Play Graves: His kit is well-rounded and can do so much more than his contemporaries. Other champions lack so many things, but Graves has them. Amazing laning ability, an awesome escape, great initiating, a good amount of mobility, a large amount of damage; Graves truly has it all and more. All of this so hard to find on champions nowadays, but Graves the Outlaw is able to rise above the rest with all his power.

Runes

Marks- Attack Damage x9- These are always good to pick up on ADC champions. Having that extra bit of damage helps Graves last hit more in lane and gain a gold advantage on his lane opponent.

Seals- Armor x9- Having extra armor will help you out so much. Graves, while having high health than some of his fellow ADC champions, is still susceptible to receiving a large amount of early damage in lane due to him being out zoned and out poked by his low ranged, and these help him survive against high damaging champions.

Glyphs- Magic Resistance x9- Always a good choice for champions in the bottom lane. If Graves is laning against a poke heavy AP-oriented support like Sona, or Annie, these Glyphs will help mitigate the damage that is being put out. Double AP comps are becoming the norm in Season 4, and having a ton of champions with loads of burst potential on the other team can be scary, and you need insurance against that, and these Glyphs are the perfect choice.

Quintessences- Lifesteal x3 or Lifesteal x2 and Attack Damage x1- The choice is really up to you here. Graves benefits a lot from that little bit of extra damage in his laning phase. He is already great at farming and killing minions, and the one attack damage Quintessence can put him over the edge. Although he is one of the tankier ADC champions, he still needs lifesteal so he can have survivability in lane, so be sure to pick up at least 2 lifesteal Quintessences.

Masteries

Like the other ADC champions I use, 21/9/0 masteries are great on Graves. One of the offensive stats he benefits from the most is Fury. Graves suffers from very low base attack speed, and Fury is great for increasing it early on before you buy items like Statikk Shiv or Phantom Dancer. He also already deals a ton of damage with his Q Buckshot ability and ultimate, and points in stats like Brute Force, Martial Mastery, and Havoc are good to pick up so you can deal even more damage as Graves. As for the defense mastery tree, Veteran Scars and Juggernaut are excellent choices for Graves. He has a decent amount of high health at the start of the game, especially when compared to his fellow ADC champions, and the extra health given by these stats make him stand above his opponents in lane.

Summoner Spells

Barrier is a no-brainer pick-up when playing Graves. Due to his short range and his inability to trade effectively against longer ranged champions, he is susceptible to getting poked and harassed, and needs insurance against dying in trade situations, and Barrier is perfect for that. Although he has an escape with his Quickshot ability, Flash is always an amazing spell to pick up. It allows you to secure kills you otherwise would not be able to get, and helps you survive in fights that you normally couldn’t escape from.

Abilities

True Grit- (Passive) - Graves already has a decent amount of high health early on, but is still relatively squishy. The fact that True Grit can give Graves armor and magic resistance when he is in combat is a huge deal, as it helps him become tankier and even harder to kill. The armor and magic resistance bonus stacks up to 10 times, and just to keep in mind, Graves is considered “in combat” if he has dealt or received damage in the last 3 seconds, so if you are an aggressive Graves that likes to try to poke his laning opponent, or if the enemy ADC harasses you constantly, True Grit can work out great and can build resistance while you’re in a fight.

Buckshot- (Q)-

Buckshot has Graves deal bullets in a cone, which deal damage to all enemies caught in its path. The interesting thing about Buckshot is that if an enemy is in close range, they can be hit by multiple bullets, although they deal a lesser amount of damage. Even so, if positioned correctly, Buckshot has the potential to put out a ton of damage, especially early on. For example, say a Leona uses Zenith Blade and is able to lock you down, but you end up escaping; you can turn right back around, and while still in close range, Graves can pop Buckshot and get out a decent amount of damage to that Leona. If you get an enemy like that down low, but are unable to finish him/her off, you can then use Quickshot to get in closer proximity and finish the job.

Smoke Screen- (W)-

This ability has a wide variety of different uses. First of all, it deals magic damage, slows, and is a vision reducer, so Smoke Screen is a triple threat and is quite powerful. Let’s say you’re playing Graves and are laning and killing minions with ease, when suddenly the enemy jungler pops in to gank you and your support, you can pop Smoke Screen at a choke point, or even right in lane, use Quickshot to gain some distance from them, and make your escape. If Graves is in a trading situation, when you get the enemy down to about 1/3 health, you can use this ability to blind them so they are unable to finish you off, then go in and quickly kill them. Smoke Screen can definitely turn the tide of fights when used correctly. It is a good idea to practice using this ability so you can get a hold of when to use, and when not to. Timing is critical on this skill.

Quickdraw- (E)-

Quickdraw is easily one of the best ADC-oriented abilities. Many champions have so-called “steroid” skills that allow them to hit harder in lane and become even more overpowered than they already are, but I think Graves takes the cake in this situation. With Quickshot, Graves is able to dash forward and gain a perchance attack speed bonus for 4 seconds. It scales up to a 70% bonus when it is fully leveled up, so come late game when you have items like a Phantom Dancer built on Graves, Quickshot can be deadly. It also has the potential to have a short cooldown, because when Graves attacks enemy units with his auto attack, the cooldown of Quickshot lowers by 1 second for each attack. Later in the game, you can spam this like no tomorrow. It also works as either an escape or chasing ability, depending on the situation. Want to finish off a low health foe? You can use Quickshot to close the gap. Are enemies chasing after you, waiting to finish you off? Quickshot can help Graves escape safely.

Collateral Damage- (R)-

Build

This is my typical full build for Graves. Berserkers Greaves gives Graves the extra bit of movement speed and attack speed, which synergizes well with Quickdraw, which gives Graves an attack speed bonus. Bloodthirster scales really well with Graves’ kit, and since he is one of the shortest ranged ADC champions in the game, he can be countered by a lot of the current meta champions like Caitlyn, so when he is getting poked down hard, he will need the lifesteal and sustain so he can survive against trades. A Phantom Dancer gives Graves a huge attack speed boost, and combined with his Quickdraw attack, allows him to burst down his enemies quickly. The extra attack speed benefits Graves greatly, so be sure to pick it up. Infinity Edge should be an immediate pick-up if you are playing Graves. The item gives champions so much extra damage along with critical strike chance, and if you are playing an ADC champion, that bodes really well for you. If there are a lot of tankier champions on the enemy team and you are having a hard time finishing them off, Last Whisper is a great item to buy. With this item in your inventory, Graves can now deal significant amounts of damage and shred through the enemy’s defenses. Finally, if you find yourself to be the focus of the enemy team, you should definitely pick up a Guardian’s Angel. It essentially gives you a second life and allows you to survive in situations where you would normally die.

Graves is definitely an awesome champion that acts as a dark horse on the rift compared to more popular ADC champions. He deals out tons of damage, has a good amount of attack speed, and decent survivability with his passive. If you find yourself bored of the meta, Graves is an amazing champion worth picking up and learning!

Kelly Stith