[1.1.0] Passion's [Diamond] In-Depth Graves Guide
Passion's [Diamond] In-Depth Graves Guide
Graves Build
Best Build Guide for Graves
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
Starting Item
A Long Sword is the best option because it can be built into a variety of his core items which will mainly be Youmuu's Ghostblade, Black Cleaver or Umbral Glaive.
Core Items
Youmuu's Ghostblade is a fantastic first item on graves for it provides really valuable stats like Attack Damage, Lethality, Attack Speed and Movement Speed (which is over-loaded is you ask me), unless the enemy team builds early armor (Ninja Tabi, Chain Vest, Bramble Vest, etc.) then you resort to Black Cleaver.
Umbral Glaive is also the same case with Youmuu's but I only like to build it when I'm playing behind for its utility.
Boots
Gluttonous Greaves for physical vamp which is really good on Graves.
Though most of the time, Ninja Tabi (anti-physical damage) and Mercury's Treads (anti-CC and magic damage) is more valuable.
Boots of Swiftness is really good when paired with Youmuu's and is a good counter item to annoying slows like (Nasus 2nd skill, etc.)
Offensive Items
Bloodthirster have been my go-to lifesteal item than Death's Dance because it's cracked when paired with critical items specifically Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge and the shield it gives is really nice though it can be nullified by Grievous Wounds.
Duskblade of Draktharr is for Lethality Graves which is very effective against squishy enemy line-ups, its burst comes very handy and gives Graves the ability to one-shot with his auto-attack + 1st skill to wall + ULT.
Infinity Edge is an expensive item but a huge powerspike to Graves, though it won't be that effective without Phantom Dancer.
Mortal's Reminder is for Grievous Wounds and percent armor penetration which is very valuable and effective against enemies stacking armor.
Defensive Items
Personally, I don't like buying Guardian Angel on Graves unless I'm really snowballing and want to avoid giving the shutdown kill easily but still, good components, cheap buy and is pretty powerful on Wild Rift since the map is small to buy time for teammates to respond to your respawn and teamfights don't happen that often so GA will be up most of the time.
Phantom Dancer is a very very valuable item on Graves, it's defensive and offensive at the same time. It's amazing when paired with Infinity Edge, it's cheap, movement speed passive synergizes well with Black Cleaver. Overall a great item.
Death's Dance is an amazing item on Bruiser Graves. It counters Assassins like Zed and Evelyn as well because it delays their burst. Also a tip, Zhonya's Hourglass denies the Bleed effect that Death's Dance give. So when you get burst and use Zhonya's, you deny a lot of damage, as in a TON. Gives really great defensive stats and decent Attack Damage and Lifesteal.
Maw of Malmortius is an effective defensive item against AP heavy enemy comps and snowballing AP enemy champions. Besides the shield, it gives Omnivamp which is really good when paired with Spirit Visage (only do this against AP Heavy enemy comps) and lasts as long as you're in combat.
Boots Enchantment
Anything will work on the right situations. Use your own judgement.
Graves Runes
Best Runes for Graves
Next, all are viable except Loyalty and Regeneration but use what is best depending on the enemy comp. Next, Mastermind is broken, abuse it. Hunter Genius and Pack Hunter can also be considered as options.
Conqueror sucks on Graves never take it on him. His attack is slow due to reloads and abilities are not the easiest to land.
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Graves Matchups & Counters
Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters
Build Tenacity if necessary. Consider buying Quicksilver Sash. You can invade him by yourself if you avoid vision or by the help of your team. His ult can shut down your mobility so be careful. Dodging his 1st skill is huge. Don't be afraid to contest Scuttle Crabs as long as you outsmite. His clear is unhealthy on early levels so take advantage of that either by invading, ganking or farming faster than him.
Pros and Cons
PROS
+ Among the fastest and healthiest jungle clearing in the game.
+ Has a lot of mobility and repositioning ability.
+ Great at invading and splitting the map.
+ Very versatile with item setups.
+ Mechanical, fast-paced and quite fun to play.
+ Can be flexed in all roles except Support.
+ His 2nd skill is among the most broken abilities in the game.
CONS
- Might feel "clunky" and "weird to control" at first.
- Since your auto-attacks are projectiles they can easily be blocked in tankier team compositions.
- Again, because your AA's are projectiles Graves feels bad fighting in minion waves or tower diving.
- You rely on the enemy overextending or your team having CC for ganks.
- Have to stand in very close vicinity of enemies to really deal the big damage you want.
Itemization
When to build Lethality, Bruiser and Crit Graves
Lethality Graves
This set-up is good against enemy comps composed of 3 or squishies (targets that are easy to kill and not build much defensive items) such as Utility Supports, ADCs and Mages. It will mainly be composed of 3 and only Lethality items in the game which are Youmuu's Ghostblade, Duskblade of Draktharr and Umbral Glaive. Other items will only depend on what you need, you can go for Offensive options like Black Cleaver and Mortal Reminder or Defensive Options like Guardian Angel and Maw. Your playstyle will be like of an Assassin; stay out of vision, look for fast kill on mispositioned targets (though this will be on bushes near walls to set-up your 1st skill + AA + ULT + AA), and flanking since you will be pretty squishy compared to the Bruiser set-up. Your runes set-up will be Electrocute since it will help you with your burst.
Bruiser Graves
This set-up is good if your team comp lacks frontline and you are required to do the job. This set-up provides a balance of offensive and defensive stats. It will mainly be composed of Black Cleaver, Phantom Dancer, and Death's Dance. Other items will depend on what you think suits the game more, you can build more Offensive like Infinity Edge, Youmuu's Ghostblade and Mortal Reminder or build more Defensive like Guardian Angel, Maw, or even Randuin's Omen or Spirit Visage. This set-up will help you last on teamfights longer and dish decent damage as you lifesteal, absorb damage from your health an Death's Dance passive and natural armor from 3rd skill. It also provides utility to peel from Black Cleaver. Your runes set-up will be Fleet Footwork for additional sustain.
Crit Graves
This set-up is good if you want to deal decent damage to both Squishies and tanks (once you build Black Cleaver or Mortal Reminder) though you will rely more on your autoattack compared to Lethality which relies more on his skills. It is mainly composed of Youmuu's Ghostblade, Phantom Dancer, and Infinity Edge though Youmuu's can be replaced as a starting item with Black Cleaver if they build early armor. Other items will depend on what you need, you can build Lifesteal like Bloodthirster or Death's Dance, Offensive items like Lethality, and Armor Pen or Defensive options like Guardian Angel and Maw. Your playstyle will be similar to a Marksman or an ADC though you will deal the most damage upclose so it required good positioning. Your runes set-up will be Fleet Footwork to help you have early sustain since you won't be buying it early and to help you kite.
When to Blue/Red Smite
The concept is easy. Red Smite for stronger 1 v 1s and more skirmishing power, while Blue Smite gives more utility especially on ganks and picks.
Red Smite is a good choice against Olaf, Lee Sin, Vi and the likes.
While Blue Smite is a good choice against enemy comps that has long range, and enemy junglers that you can easily kill like Amumu.
Pathing
Learn your match-up. Ward on river and reset to swap your ward to the red one. If you want to deepward the enemy jungle you can swap back to Wards on your next recall. Your clear can be flexible.
First one is a 3 camp to gank pathing which will either be Red -> Blue -> Gromp or Blue -> Gromp -> Red to Gank/Scuttle/Invade depending on what you want or what the game dictates.
Second one is a full-clear do this if there is no threat of the enemy invading, Red Buff -> Krugs -> Raptors -> Wolves -> Blue Buff -> Gromp -> Scuttle/Gank -> Reset or start in Blue and vice-versa. This will get you to level 5 the fastest and is the most efficient.
Third one is Red ->Raptors -> Blast cone -> Blue. Clearing blue first helps with keeping your mana resources high. After doing Blue you either do Gromp into Wolves or Wolves into Gromp depending on what clear you want to do after you've reset.
Fourth one is a Krug or Gromp leash from Dragon Lane since Buffs are generally far from lane. Then you proceed to either a full clear to scuttle or cut the map in-half and just clear the side of the map you started if you want to make sure Dragon Lane stays safe though this will delay you on EXP and gold.
Invading will most like result to cross-map which will give you advantage on a certain side of the map. Do not do this if this will not be on your favor and do not know exactly how it works. However, if you do invade make sure to clear the whole side of the enemy jungle you invaded and if it's the first clear, leave a small raptor, small krugs or small wolf so it doesn't respawn on its own. Remember that you can jump over Herald and Dragon pit with your 3rd skill as Graves. So if you ever want to invade after doing your Red buff go ahead and jump over these walls.
ALWAYS, check lane states and learn to read the map (you can watch videos on youtube), you can gank pre-5 especially if you have ignite or exhaust, otherwise focus on getting to Level 5 asap. Make sure you capitalize on your lead but don't throw, look for kills that is totally on your favor.
If you have a bad start, do not force ganks that will not give you 100% kills, instead focus on clearing your camps and securing vision and just read the map and be reactive to enemy ganks instead so you don't miss out that much.
Tips and Tricks
1. 1st Skill + ULT. This is your bread and butter combo for a lot of damage. The best use of this combo is when you're close to a wall so your 1st skill ricochet will connect too.
2. Input Buffering and Animation Cancelling. Check the clips under Mechanics.
3. You can 3rd skill and ULT over walls, even some walls you wouldn't expect you could dash over. Try this out yourself.
4. Dashing into a thick wall will cancel your dash animation; used to auto-attack faster.
5. Remember to cancel your second auto-attack with your 3rd skill to deal more damage faster. (example given: AA + AA + 3rd skill + AA)
6. Your 2nd skill not only makes enemies miss their skillshots but makes them unable to use targeted skills and spells like Exhaust, Ignite and Smite (use this to secure objectives).
7. Be careful since your autoattack can be blocked by minions, turrets, monsters, plants, and other enemy champions.
Mechanics
Here are some clips that show different mechanics and combos that you can do on Graves and comparison to the simpler ones:
Conclusion
That concludes my guide, hope it helps!! Also, you can reach me on discord zi0n#5823 if you have any questions and don't be afraid to suggest ideas on what Jungle guide to do next on the comments. : D
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