How to beat Graves

Common role: Jungle

The best counter to Graves in Jungle is Dr. Mundo: 55.9% win rate over 438 ranked games on patch 26.17.

A gun-toting jungler who bursts with shotgun shells and smokes your vision.

What makes Graves dangerous

Graves fires two shotgun shells for heavy close-range burst, dashes with his E (gaining armor), and his smoke (W) blinds and slows. He's a strong early-game skirmisher and duelist who builds like a bruiser-carry, out-trading most junglers in a straight fight.

How to play against Graves

• 1His shells hit hardest at close range where both pellets land — space out so only part of his Q connects.
• 2His E dash gives armor stacks — don't dump AD burst right as he dashes. Trade when his E is on cooldown.
• 3Don't fight inside his W smoke — it blinds you (autos miss) and slows. Step out of the cloud.
• 4He's strong early — respect his level 3-6 duels. Track his aggressive pathing and counter-gank.

Weaknesses to exploit

• ✓Damage falls off outside close range.
• ✓Smoke blind only affects auto-attacks.
• ✓E armor is temporary — punish when it's down.
• ✓Reload window between shots leaves him vulnerable.

Abilities & how to counter them

What each of Graves's abilities does — and how to play around it.

• P
  New Destiny

  Graves' shotgun has some unique properties. He must reload when he runs out of ammo. Attacks fire 4 bullets, which cannot pass through units. Non-champions struck by multiple bullets are knocked back.

• Q
  End of the Line

  Graves fires an explosive shell that detonates after 1 second, or after colliding with terrain.

  Strong: two shells hit hardest at point-blank where both pellets land. Weak: space out so only part of his Q connects.

• W
  Smoke Screen

  Graves fires a smoke canister at the target area creating a cloud of smoke that reduces sight range. Enemies caught in the initial impact are dealt magic damage and have their Move Speed reduced briefly.

  Strong: smoke blinds (autos miss) and slows to zone a fight. Weak: it only stops auto-attacks — step out of the cloud and use abilities.

• E
  Quickdraw

  Graves dashes forward gaining an Armor and Magic Resist boost for several seconds. If Graves dashes towards an enemy champion, gain two stacks of True Grit instead. Hitting enemies with basic attacks lowers the cooldown of this skill and refreshes the resistance boost.

• R
  Collateral Damage

  Graves fires an explosive shell dealing heavy damage to the first champion it hits. After hitting a champion or reaching the end of its range, the shell explodes dealing damage in a cone.

Itemization

Graves is a burst AD skirmisher. Space out of his close-range shells, avoid his W smoke, and armor plus attack-speed slows blunt him. Punish his reload and E-down windows.

This guide covers Graves's core kit and playstyle — advice that holds up across patches.