Best Graves Jungle Build Guide Season 13

Each of the roles has always had several characters who, regardless of the meta, performed quite well in their niche. An example of a character like that is Graves. At the moment, he is one of the most stable junglers, who competes with most matchups.

Pros and Cons of Graves

Pros:

• Fast clearance with high health

Due to his passive ability to push back jungle monsters, Graves loses very little health when clearing the jungle, which gives him an advantage in early skirmishes, crabs, and ganks. Having the ability to deal AOE damage allows you to clear 5 forest camps without the help of allies before the appearance of a river crab.

• Good aggression and duel potential

Graves is one of the strongest jungle duelists thanks to his high damage output, the ability to kite melee characters, and passively gaining additional armor in combat for each dash pressed – E. This allows him to actively counter jungle, straining the opponent and taking his resources

• Strong scaling, especially in mid-game.

Thanks to his strength in the early and mid-game and the aforementioned fast clear, Graves scales well in these stages, but drops off quite quickly in efficiency in case of equal availability of resources, losing too many junglers.

• Flexibility in choosing builds

Graves has a lot of variability in terms of item selection, which allows him to adapt to different team compositions without losing power. Currently relevant roles – Bruzer with an emphasis on lethality / with an emphasis on health, Shooter-killer with an emphasis on lethality / with an emphasis on crit.

 

Cons: 

• Lack of strong crowd control

Graves’ lack of control makes him weak on ganks, forcing him to be more careful with them to prevent wasting time.

• Weak against AD tanks

A tank that collects enough items for armor can become a serious nuisance for Graves, because. Most of his damage comes from auto-attacks and physical damage, which are heavily mitigated by Plated Steelcaps and other armor items.

• Line Priority Dependence

While Graves is a very strong bully champion, he is still weak against multiple enemies, so it may not always be safe to pressure the enemy jungle, as if he fails, his pace drops significantly.

• Rescaled by AP champions

Due to Graves’ focus on getting armor, he feels much worse against AP champions who often have a much stronger late game. Graves is forced to earn an advantage against such champions by keeping the game from dragging into the late game.

 

Graves Abilities: 

Graves’ passive modifies his auto-attacks, reducing his “infinite” ammo to 2 rounds with a forced reload. Also, auto-attacks are considered a skill shot and can be blocked by minions or other targets that can take damage. Because of this, Graves is not the best character for tower divers. The auto-attack is divided into 4 fractions (by 6 with a critical hit, the radius increases), which is why not all fractions can hit the target if it is far away.

Q – the main source of damage after auto attacks. The first part of the ability deals damage in a line, and the second part deals damage in a T-shape after 1 second or when colliding with a wall, respectively, the skill does not pass through walls.

W creates a small area of slowdown, in which the vision of targets is limited. It is the only form of crowd control in Graves’ arsenal and has an unlimited number of versatile uses.

Examples:

• The most obvious one is the gank. The slowness makes it possible to get closer to the target within the radius of the auto attack, and the vision restriction makes it much more difficult to dodge Q.
• Restrict the view of the enemy jungler during the fight for the object, depriving him of the ability to use Smite.
• Can cause the enemy character to cancel an auto attack/ability

E – dash, allowing you to pass through thin walls. Grants one auto-attack charge when empty, so E should only be used after an auto-attack. The combo for farming in the jungle is AA E AA Q AA.

In addition, every time you press E, Graves gains a charge (2 if dashing towards an enemy champion) for 4 seconds. Maximum charges are 8, and the timer resets when Graves deals damage to a non-minion target.

The cooldown of E is reduced by 0.5 seconds for each pellet from an auto attack that hits the target.

R is another multifunctional tool in Graves’ arsenal. Fires a long-range projectile that explodes upon impact with a champion or upon reaching maximum range, dealing damage. In the event of a collision with a champion, the damage of the skill is increased. An important clarification – the champion cannot take damage from both the charge and its explosion.

Graves also pushes back when used to overcome mid-terrain elements, which can be useful when kiting as an extra dash between E casts, or as a way to escape in an emergency.

 

Skill build priority – R -> Q -> E -> W

At the first level, the best solution is to take E, as it will significantly speed up the clearing of the first camp and, in addition, will be useful in fights at the first level.

The only choice may come at the third level, when W may not be useful. In this case, you can put a second point in Q to speed up the sweep.

 

Best Graves Summoner Spells

Graves has a fairly flexible set of skills which gives him plenty of options with summoner spells. Apart from taking Smite there are 3 great summoner spell options for graves to choose from.

Flash

Flash is a great summoner spell for both offensive and defensive opportunities. You can use flash to either secure a kill or escape a dangerous situation which makes it a great overall summoner for Graves to have.

Ignite

Ignite boosts Graves’ already huge dueling potential and gives him access to the Grievous Wounds effect, which will be useful against characters with a lot of healing, such as Fiddlesticks, and Warwick. Zac. In addition, Ignite has a lower cooldown, which synergizes well with the Nimbus Cloak rune from the Sorcery tree.

Exhaust

Exhaust is similar to Ignite in many ways, but instead of Grievous Wounds, it gives an additional slow and damage reduction on the target, which can help in early skirmishes or ganks.

 

The Best Graves Item Builds

As mentioned earlier, Graves has a lot of variability in item selection and can mix and match build components for specific game situations.

Graves Starting items:

   

Mosstomper Seedling/Scorchclaw Pup/Gustwalker Hatchling & Health Potion

Unlike many other junglers, Graves is able to use the effects of all three jungle pets equally effectively.

Green will give stamina and a shield, useful against crowd control.

Red will increase damage and give additional slow

Blue will speed up the movement through the forest, and, accordingly, the clearing.

 

First Item For Graves:

Eclipse gives extra shield and mobility in combat, good against squish combos (with other damage items) and heavy tanks (with survivability items).

Trinity Force grants additional mobility and the Spellblade(Sheen) passive ability, making auto-attacks stronger after casting skills. Good for tight battles.

Divine Sunderer is a more defensive version of Eclipse, good against heavy tanks.

Goredrinker will provide additional healing in the thick of the fight, allowing Graves to fill the role of a semi-tank.

Immortal Shieldbow & Galeforce are ranged items that are less flexible than other items, but still, have a place.

 

Graves Second Item

Depending on the build, your second item of choice will vary:

Choose between Umbral Glaive or Ravenous Hydra for your second item.

Umbral Glaive increases ward damage and becomes an Oracle Lens replacement every 40 seconds, activating when nearby enemy wards are present. It synergizes well with the Zombie Ward rune. It is an almost universal starting item, suitable for any game.

Ravenous Hydra gives extra survivability, provides Area of Effect auto attacks, and is very cost-effective. If you’re going with Ravenous Hydra you’re more likely to lean toward Brawler builds via Trinity Force/Divine Sunderer/Eclipse.

 

The Best Boots for Graves:

Plated Steelcaps – vs AD

Mercury’s Treads – vs AP and CC

Berserker`s Greaves – When protective characteristics are not needed from alternatives and most often as an addition to Immortal Shieldbow/Galeforce (crit builds)

The second item is going to be Mythic or, in very rare situations, Black Cleaver against champions with a lot of armor.

Graves Core Build:

Umbral Glaive/Ravenous Hydra, Mythic, Boots:

Items from the 3rd to the 6th are situational.

Black Cleaver – vs Armor

Sterak`s Gage – survivability

Serylda`s Grudge – vs Armor, addition slowing on abilities

Maw of Malmortius – vs AP

The Collector – damage Lethality item

Infinity Edge – more damage, only with the other 2 crit items at least

Guardian Angel – survivability, table flip situations 

Mortal Reminder – vs Healing, only in crit builds

Death`s Dance – survivability, tankiness

 

Graves full build examples:

Graves Lethality Build

Umbral Glaive, Eclipse, The Collector, Maw of Malmortius, Serylda`s Grudge, Mercury`s Treads

Graves Armor Pen Build

Ravenous Hydra, Eclipse, Black Cleaver, Sterak`s Gage, Serylda`s Grudge, Plated Steelcaps

   

The Best Graves Runes: 

At the moment, two main branches of runes are relevant for Graves – Sorcery, and Precision.

Phase Rush from the blue branch gives a significant speed boost after three attacks in combat, which will allow you to easily catch up with a fleeing target or quickly leave the fight. It has a long cooldown, so in the event of a long fight, the effect depreciates.

Fleet Footwork from the yellow branch gives a small speed boost and additional healing on auto-attack at 100 charges and performs better than Phase Rush in long fights.

Primary Branch:

Sorcery:

Phase Rush – Nimbus Cloak – Absolute Focus – Waterwalking

Precision:

Fleet Footwork – Triumph – Legend: Alacrity/Legend: Tenacity – Last Stand

The Secondary Branch:

Domination – Zombie Ward, Treasure Hunter

Inspiration – Magical Footwear/Future`s Market – Future`s Market/Cosmic Insight

If main branch is Sorcery: Precision – Triumph – Legend: Alacrity/Legend: Tenacity

If the main branch is precision: Sorcery – Nimbus Cloak – Waterwalking

Do not be afraid to try different pages of runes, special attention should be paid to the second branches in order to determine the most pleasant and comfortable combinations for you.

 

Graves Best and Worst Matchups

Graves is good against many characters, even in negative matchups, but as mentioned earlier, AP-based characters and heavy crowd-control tanks are a particular threat to him.

Graves positive matchups:

Zak, Jarvan IV, Vi, Kayn, Rek’Sai

Graves 50/50 matchups:

Kha’Zix, Kindred, Nunu and Willump, Shaco, Karthus, Udyr, Warwick, Shyvana, Lillia

Graves Negative matchups:

Evelynn, Ekko, Fiddlesticks, Skarner, Trundle, Poppy, Viego, Master Yi

  

Evelynn, Ekko, Fiddlesticks, and the rest of the characters listed in the last list have one thing in common – they outscale Graves very easily if left alone. The only correct counterplay is constant pressure on these characters. All of them are quite weak in the early game, which allows you to constantly interfere with them and overtake them in pace, earning an advantage in the lanes.

Trundle, Viego, and Master Yi – these characters are equal to Graves in strength, but calmly outscale him.

Skarner, Poppy, and other tanks are also a big nuisance for Graves, as they quickly become quite survivable, mitigating Graves’ damage with each purchase.

 

Graves Best Synergies 

Graves synergizes well with characters that have strong crowd control: Nautilus, Maokai, Orn, Gragas, Malzahar, Veigar, Kennen, Kled, Volibear, etc.

Also, for Graves, characters that can quickly gain priority in the lane and move to help are good allies:

Ahri, Fizz, Akshan, Vex, and Zoe

The Best Graves Skins

Let’s finish the guide with the best available Graves skins in League of Legends. Graves has a total of 12 skins. The top 3 skins for Graves according to the author of this guide are:

Pick up an account with your favorite Graves skin at GooseSmurfs.

EDG Graves – RP 1350

 

Battle Professor Graves – RP 1350

Crime City Graves – RP 975 

Pool Party Graves – RP 1350

Should You Play Graves?

Graves is a strong team-fighting champion with good mobility and high damage. He can snowball the game incredibly fast if he gets an early lead so try him out to start carrying with Graves today. If you’re looking for a fresh league of legends account, check out GooseSmurfs for ranked and unranked accounts that are both affordable and secure. If you’re looking for a league community, check out our Discord to find a duo, participate in free account giveaways, and more!