Graves: The Outlaw

Graves is a champion in League of Legends primarily played in the jungle, classified as a Specialist (legacy class: Marksman). The Outlaw uses Mana (325–1111) and deals Physical damage. Graves was released on October 19, 2011, and is currently in patch V26.03. With a 49.4% win rate in B tier and a dominant 4.1% pick rate, Graves is one of the most popular junglers thanks to his insanely fast clear, strong 1v1 dueling, and ability to carry games from the jungle position with pure damage. The 51.6% win rate on the most popular build (Dark Harvest + Youmuu’s Ghostblade) speaks for itself.

📊 Base Statistics

💡 Unique Mechanic: Graves is the ONLY ranged champion in League with a reload mechanic and pellet-based auto attacks. His shotgun holds 2 shells and fires 4 pellets per shot in a cone. After both shells are spent, Graves must reload (reduced by level and attack speed). The pellets collide with the FIRST enemy unit — if a minion or monster stands between Graves and his target, the pellets hit the minion instead. This means Graves cannot auto-attack through minion waves like normal ADCs. However, if ALL 4 pellets hit a single target at close range, the total damage reaches 140-210% total AD — far more than any other auto attack in the game. On crit, Graves fires 6 pellets in a 25% wider cone for ~200% total damage. This makes Graves the highest burst auto-attacker in League, but only against isolated targets.

🔫 Passive: New Destiny

INNATE – DOUBLE BARREL: Graves fires his shotgun with 2 shells. He reloads over a few seconds after both are spent (or withholds leftover shells). Reload time is reduced by level and bonus attack speed, and can be interrupted by attacking or casting an ability.

INNATE – 12-GAUGE: Each auto sprays 4 pellets in a cone. Each pellet collides with the first enemy unit in its path, dealing 70-105.04% AD physical damage for the first pellet plus 23.31-34.98% AD additional per subsequent pellet hitting the same target, up to 139.93-209.99% total AD if all 4 pellets hit. Pellets apply life steal. Only the first pellet to hit each enemy applies on-hit effects. Structures take 25% reduced damage.

INNATE – BUCKSHOT: Non-champion units hit by more than one pellet are knocked back.

CRITICAL STRIKES: Fire 6 pellets over a 25% wider cone, with each pellet dealing (50% + 15%) increased damage, resulting in ~200% total damage if all pellets connect against a single target.

💥 Q: End of the Line

Cost: 80 Mana | Cooldown: 13 / 11.25 / 9.5 / 7.75 / 6 | Range: 800 / 900

ACTIVE: Graves fires a round in the target direction that deals physical damage to enemies it passes through, leaving a powder trail. After 2 seconds, or 0.231 seconds upon colliding with terrain, the round detonates dealing physical damage in a wide perpendicular area and reverse wave along the powder trail. Enemies can only be hit once per pass.

💡 Pro Tip: Q’s wall collision detonation is the KEY to Graves’s burst. Normally Q detonates after 2 seconds, giving enemies time to walk out. Against a wall, it detonates in 0.231 seconds — practically instant. This means standing near ANY terrain and Q’ing toward it guarantees both hits (initial + detonation) land simultaneously. At rank 5 with 200 bonus AD, that’s 150 + 130 (initial) + 260 + 230 (detonation) = 770 physical damage from Q alone when used against a wall. In jungle fights, Dragon/Baron pits, and river banks — anywhere with terrain — Graves’s Q is absurdly powerful. ALWAYS fight near walls.

💨 W: Smoke Screen

Cost: 70-90 Mana | Cooldown: 26 / 24 / 22 / 20 / 18 | Range: 950 | Radius: 200

ACTIVE: Graves fires a smoke canister that deals magic damage and slows by 50% for 0.5 seconds on impact. The canister creates a cloud of smoke for 4 seconds that applies nearsight to enemies inside (reducing their sight radius to 250), refreshing every 0.25 seconds.

🏃 E: Quickdraw

Cost: 40 Mana | Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 | Range: 275 / 375

ACTIVE: Graves dashes to the target location, reloading 1 shell and generating a stack of True Grit for 4 seconds (stacking up to 8 times). Dashing toward an enemy champion generates 2 stacks. Quickdraw’s current cooldown is reduced by 0.5 seconds for every pellet that hits an enemy. TRUE GRIT: For each stack, Graves gains bonus armor and bonus MR (50% of armor value). Subsequent E casts and damage vs non-minions refresh True Grit duration. Quickdraw resets Graves‘ basic attack timer.

💡 Pro Tip: True Grit at max stacks (8) with E rank 5 gives +128 bonus armor and +64 bonus MR. That’s more armor than a full Randuin’s Omen provides — for FREE, just from maintaining stacks. This is why Graves is deceptively tanky despite building full lethality. In jungle clears, kite camps while E’ing to maintain stacks. At 8 stacks, enemy jungle invaders deal negligible physical damage to you. Combined with the 0.5s CD refund per pellet hit (4 pellets × 0.5 = 2 seconds per auto), E comes back up in ~6-8 seconds during fights, letting you dash and reload constantly.

💣 R: Collateral Damage (Ultimate)

Cost: 100 Mana | Cooldown: 100 / 80 / 60 | Range: 1100 / 1690

ACTIVE: Graves fires an explosive shell that deals physical damage to enemies hit and causes him to recoil 400 units in the opposite direction. Upon hitting an enemy champion or reaching max range, the shell explodes in a cone dealing reduced damage to additional enemies.

💡 Pro Tip: Collateral Damage’s 400-unit recoil is a MOBILITY tool, not just a side effect. Use R backward (toward safety) while firing the shell at enemies behind you — this creates 400 units of escape distance. You can also R into a wall to pass over it with the recoil, giving Graves a pseudo-Flash over terrain. At rank 3 with 200 bonus AD: 575 + 300 = 875 physical damage to the primary target. With lethality from Youmuu’s + The Collector, this is a guaranteed one-shot on any squishy below 60% HP. R → auto (Lich Bane/crit) → Q wall detonation = 2000+ physical damage in under 1 second.

🎮 Strategies and Gameplay Tips

Jungle Clear and Early Game

• Fastest AD Jungle Clear: Start E (Quickdraw) level 1 for True Grit stacks and auto-attack reset. Red Buff → Krugs → Raptors → Wolves → Gromp → Blue. Kite every camp by auto (2 shells) → E dash (reload 1 shell + True Grit stack) → auto → Q for AoE. The pellet knockback on non-champions pushes small monsters back, giving you free kiting distance. Graves finishes full clear at 3:15-3:20 with 70%+ HP thanks to True Grit armor stacking making camps deal almost no damage. This is one of the fastest full clears in the game for any jungler.
• Scuttle and Early Dueling: After full clear with 8 True Grit stacks, Graves has roughly +32-48 bonus armor at levels 3-4 — equivalent to wearing a Chain Vest for free. This makes him win virtually every early jungle 1v1 against AD junglers (Lee Sin, Xin Zhao, Vi). Contest Scuttle aggressively because your True Grit stacks + auto burst + Q detonation outdamages almost any level 3 jungler. If you meet the enemy jungler at Scuttle and both are healthy, FIGHT — Graves wins.
• Ganking Limitations: Graves’s ganks are average because he has no hard CC (W slow is brief and E is self-only). His strongest gank tool is W (Smoke Screen nearsight) — throw W on the enemy laner so they can’t see your laner’s position, then auto + Q for burst. Graves excels at counter-ganking (turning 2v2s into 2v1s with burst) and objective control more than raw gank potency. Farm heavily, invade the enemy jungle, and counter-gank when possible.

Mid Game – Lethality Spike

• Youmuu’s + Collector Powerspike: At 2 items (Youmuu’s Ghostblade + The Collector), Graves reaches his assassination threshold. The combo: W (Smoke Screen on target for nearsight) → auto (2 shells at close range = ~200% AD) → E (dash in, reload, True Grit) → auto → Q against a wall for instant detonation. This combo kills any ADC or mage from full HP. The Collector’s execute at 5% HP ensures kills even through heals. At this power spike, look for picks on isolated targets in the jungle or river.
• Fighting Near Walls: Q deals almost double damage when detonated against terrain (instant detonation catches both hits). In jungle corridors, Dragon/Baron pit, and river walls, Graves’s Q becomes a 410 + 180% bonus AD nuke. Always force fights in these areas. Open-lane fights (mid lane, open top) are significantly worse for Graves because Q detonation takes 2 seconds, giving enemies time to escape the return wave.
• Invading and Objective Control: Graves farms faster than almost any other jungler thanks to pellet AoE and Q waveclear. Use this speed advantage to farm your jungle AND invade the enemy’s camps. After clearing your Blue side, cross to the enemy Red side and take their camps. Graves wins most 1v1s in the jungle, so getting caught invading isn’t dangerous — it’s an opportunity for a kill. At objectives, W the enemy jungler (nearsight prevents Smite timing) while you burst the objective with autos + Q.

Late Game and Teamfights

• Flanking Assassin: Late-game Graves with full lethality/crit build plays like an AD assassin, not an ADC. You don’t auto-attack from the backline — your pellets get blocked by frontliners. Instead, flank from fog of war or side angles where the enemy carries are exposed. W the carry (nearsight blinds them), E dash into close range, auto + auto + Q wall detonation + R = dead carry. The 400-unit R recoil lets you dash out after the assassination.
• True Grit Stacking in Fights: Maintain 8 True Grit stacks throughout teamfights by E’ing and auto-attacking. At rank 5, 8 stacks = +128 armor and +64 MR. Combined with Graves’s base armor of 123+ at level 18, that’s 250+ armor. This is why Graves survives teamfight engages that would kill other ADCs — he’s functionally a bruiser in terms of effective health while dealing ADC-level burst damage.
• R as Execution or Escape: Collateral Damage serves dual purposes. Offensively: R fires 875+ physical damage at rank 3 to finish fleeing targets from 1100+ range. Defensively: R’s 400-unit recoil dashes you backward over walls or away from divers. Use R to execute low-HP targets then recoil to safety, or R backward through a wall to escape while the shell hits pursuers. The recoil passes over thin terrain just like E.

❌ Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

• Auto-Attacking Through Minions: Graves’s pellets hit the FIRST unit in their path. If a minion stands between you and the enemy champion, your auto hits the minion, not the champion. This is the most important mechanical concept on Graves. In lane fights (counter-ganks), always position so no minions block your pellets. Step to the side of the wave, not through it. At Scuttle, make sure the crab isn’t between you and the enemy jungler.
• Dashing In Without Shells: E (Quickdraw) reloads only 1 shell. If you have 0 shells and E in, you get 1 shot before needing to reload again. The optimal pattern: fire 1 shell → E (reload 1 + reset auto timer) → fire 2 shells → naturally reload. This gives you 3 rapid shots. E’ing with 0 shells means your next auto comes after E animation + reload, losing crucial DPS.
• Using Q in Open Field: Q detonates after 2 seconds in open air, but instantly (0.231s) when hitting terrain. Using Q in the middle of a lane gives the enemy 2 full seconds to walk away from the detonation zone. Always Q TOWARD a wall for instant detonation. If no wall is nearby, Q through the enemy so the initial pass hits them even if they dodge the detonation.
• Not Maintaining True Grit Stacks: True Grit stacks last 4 seconds and refresh on E cast or damage against non-minions. Letting stacks fall off between camps or during fights loses 128 armor and 64 MR instantly. In jungle clears, kite camps while E’ing to keep stacks active camp-to-camp. In fights, weave E dashes between auto attacks to refresh duration.
• Using W Offensively Instead of Defensively: Smoke Screen’s 26-second cooldown at rank 1 means you only get one cast per fight. Using W offensively to slow an enemy before a gank wastes its defensive potential. In teamfights, W on the enemy ADC (nearsighted = can’t see your team) is often more impactful than W on a diver. Save W for the highest-value target — usually the enemy carry who relies on vision to kite and position.

⚙️ Recommended Build and Itemization

Core Items

• Youmuu’s Ghostblade: Graves’s optimal first item. Lethality + AD + movement speed out of combat. Youmuu’s active movement speed helps Graves roam between camps and ganks faster, and the lethality amplifies all physical damage (autos, Q, R). The burst from Youmuu’s + 4-pellet close-range auto is enough to one-shot most squishies at first item completion. Rush this every game.
• Plated Steelcaps: Armor boots are standard because Graves already has insane damage — survivability from Steelcaps stacks with True Grit armor to make him unkillable in AD skirmishes. The 12% auto-attack damage reduction on top of 128 True Grit armor means AD junglers deal almost nothing to Graves.
• The Collector: Lethality + crit + execute at 5% HP. The Collector’s 5% execute synergizes with Graves’s burst combo — any target brought below 5% HP by autos/Q/R is instantly executed. The crit chance also makes auto attacks fire 6 pellets for ~200% total damage, which is a massive DPS spike. Second item powerspike is enormous.

Situational Items

• Lord Dominik’s Regards: Armor penetration + crit. Against armor-stacking tanks, LDR’s 35% armor pen ensures Graves’s pellets and Q still chunk through their defenses. Essential third item when enemy frontline has 200+ armor.
• Immortal Shieldbow: AD + crit + lifeline shield. Shieldbow’s shield proc at low HP gives Graves a safety net during close-range fights. Combined with True Grit armor, the shield + resistances make Graves extremely difficult to burst down. Build when the enemy has assassins who can reach Graves through flanks.
• Infinity Edge: The damage multiplier. With 60%+ crit from previous items, IE amplifies crit damage, making each 6-pellet crit auto deal ~250%+ total AD. This is the ultimate scaling item that turns late-game Graves into a one-shot machine. Build last for maximum DPS.

⚔️ Counter Picks & Matchups

✅ Graves Counters (Jungle)

1. Zed

Why: Zed jungle can’t contest Graves in the early game. Graves’s True Grit armor negates Zed’s physical burst, and Graves wins every early duel because his 4-pellet autos out-DPS Zed’s abilities. Smoke Screen blinds Zed during his Death Mark combo, preventing him from landing shurikens. Graves also clears faster, meaning he reaches item spikes before Zed can snowball.

2. Ambessa

Why: Ambessa’s melee-range playstyle means she eats full 4-pellet shotgun blasts at close range. Graves’s kiting with E dash and auto-attack reload cycle keeps him at the edge of Ambessa’s engage range while dealing maximum damage. True Grit armor reduces Ambessa’s physical damage, and Smoke Screen disrupts her combo-dependent kit.

3. Warwick

Why: Warwick relies on sustained damage and lifesteal, but Graves’s burst kills Warwick before his sustain matters. True Grit armor reduces Warwick’s auto damage, and Q wall detonation + double auto at close range deals 1000+ damage in 1 second at early levels. Warwick’s R can be dodged with E dash timing, and Smoke Screen prevents WW from chasing with Blood Hunt.

❌ Graves is Countered By (Jungle)

1. Evelynn

Why: Evelynn’s permanent stealth post-6 means Graves can’t see her coming. Her magic damage burst bypasses Graves’s True Grit armor completely (True Grit provides mainly armor, not MR). Evelynn’s charm + Q + R combo one-shots Graves through his resistances because all her damage is magic. Graves has no way to reveal Evelynn without control wards, making him vulnerable to her assassination pattern.

2. Nunu & Willump

Why: Nunu outganks Graves with W (Biggest Snowball Ever) providing CC that Graves simply can’t match. Nunu’s objective control with Q consume secure + Smite is superior to Graves’s. While Graves farms and invades, Nunu snowballs lanes, creating 5-10 minute advantages that Graves’s scaling can’t overcome. Nunu also tanks through Graves’s burst with Consume healing and aftershock tankiness.

3. Gwen

Why: Gwen’s Hallowed Mist makes her immune to Graves’s ranged auto attacks and Q entirely — if she stands inside the mist, projectiles from outside can’t hit her. Gwen’s sustained magic damage + %max HP shreds Graves regardless of True Grit armor stacking. In 1v1s, Gwen forces Graves to either walk into melee range (where she wins) or retreat because he can’t hit her through the mist.

FAQ

Q: Why do Graves’s autos feel different from other ADCs?

A: Because Graves has a unique shotgun mechanic. He fires 4 pellets per auto that spread in a cone, and pellets stop on the first enemy hit. Unlike normal ADCs who auto-target through minions, Graves’s damage gets blocked by frontline units. Additionally, Graves only has 2 shells before needing to reload, creating windows where he can’t auto-attack at all. This makes him play like a burst assassin rather than a sustained-damage ADC.

Q: How much armor does True Grit give at max stacks?

A: At rank 5 (E max), each stack gives 16 armor and 8 MR. With 8 max stacks, that’s 128 bonus armor and 64 bonus MR. Combined with Graves’s base armor of ~123 at level 18, this gives him roughly 250+ total armor — tankier than most bruisers building armor items. This is why Graves survives fights that would kill any other Marksman. Always maintain stacks by E’ing and hitting enemies.

Q: Can Graves’s R go over walls?

A: Yes — both the shell AND the recoil can cross thin walls. The shell travels up to 1690 range, passing over terrain freely. The 400-unit backward recoil also crosses thin walls, giving Graves a pseudo-dash over Dragon/Baron pit walls, jungle walls, and other thin terrain. Use R backward toward a wall to escape over it while the shell damages enemies behind you.

Q: What’s the optimal auto-attack pattern with the reload system?

A: Fire 1 shell → E (reloads 1 shell + resets auto timer) → fire 2 shells rapidly → natural reload. This gives 3 fast shots in quick succession. The key: E between the first and second auto for the reload + reset. Never E with 2 shells loaded — you waste the reload. Never E with 0 shells and try to auto immediately — the reload animation delays your shot. 1 shell → E → 2 shells is the sweet spot.

Q: Is Graves viable outside of jungle?

A: Graves top has a 44.5% win rate in patch 26.03 — it’s not recommended. Graves mid is similarly weak at 44.3%. The problem: Graves’s pellets get blocked by lane minions, making CS’ing and trading significantly harder than in the jungle where monsters are isolated targets. Jungle is Graves’s optimal role by a large margin because isolated camps = full 4-pellet damage, and True Grit stacking during clears provides free tankiness that laning doesn’t offer.

Q: What’s the best rune setup?A: Dark Harvest with Sudden Impact, Grisly Mementos, and Treasure Hunter primary; Precision secondary with Legend: Alacrity and Triumph. Dark Harvest scales with Graves’s burst pattern (auto + Q + R = guaranteed Dark Harvest proc on low-HP targets). Sudden Impact activates after E dash for bonus lethality on every combo. Alacrity provides attack speed for faster reloads and more E cooldown refund from pellet hits. This setup has a 51.6% win rate across 50,000+ games.