Venator vs Graves

Do

• Plan for Monster Rounds Monster Rounds 800 souls Tier 1WeaponPassive +25% Weapon Damage vs. NPCs +1 Out of Combat Regen +25% Bullet Resist vs. NPCs — know which tier it sits in so you are not improvising at the shop.
• Know what Grasping Hands looks like. It is the cooldown this lane revolves around.

Avoid

• Walking to lane on the same path every wave against a hero with Graves's engage range.

Do

• No dash, no vertical mobility and no escape beyond Grasping Hands — a lane bully with a gap-close simply walks onto her
• Her gun only reaches 20m, so she has to walk into range before it does any damage
• Consecrating Grenade denies the enemy laner's Healing Rite and regen trades in a fixed 1v1 lane where the 4.5m burn is hard to fully avoid

Avoid

• Jar of Dead Jar of Dead Passively banks a charge whenever something dies near Graves. Crowd Control none at base; the tier-2 upgrade adds roughly a 30% movement slow for about… Damage roughly 16 spirit per Deadhead hit at base spirit power (deadlock.one, patch… Defensive tier-1 upgrade returns a small heal (about 5 health) when a death is… 1 heals Graves a small amount for each death collected 2 Deadhead hits apply roughly a 30% slow for about 1 second 5 +2 additional Deadheads and +4 seconds of lifetime charges off every creep death, so a lane Graves is winning snowballs the ability's uptime
• Grasping Hands across the lane chokepoint denies a safe approach to the soul orbs and punishes anyone who steps up to secure

Do

• Their first real spike is ult unlock — respect it from that point, not before.
• Your spike is laning 0-10min: Consecrating Grenade's 30% healing reduction makes him a strong counter-laner against any regen-based opponent

Avoid

• Taking an even fight against Graves on their spike timing when you could take the same fight ten minutes later on yours.

Do

• Watch for Borrowed Decree Borrowed Decree 20m Range16s Duration140s Cooldown Plants a gravestone that spawns Ghouls over time. Crowd Control area slow on Ghoul detonation Damage roughly 115 spirit on Ghoul detonation and about 40 melee per upgrade tier; Defensive a gravestone placed on your own walker or guardian turns a defensive hold… 1 +25% Ghoul move speed and about -15s cooldown 2 +10s duration 5 Ghouls deal roughly +5% of the target's current health as damage when they die, and… . Two heavy melees kill the gravestone — walk to it and delete it instead of fighting the Ghoul stream forever
• Fight her past 20m — her gun stops there, so Grey Talon, Vindicta or any mid-range poke makes Essence Theft Essence Theft 4s Duration Graves's bullets siphon weapon damage and spirit resist from whoever they hit, transferring it to Graves up to a per-target cap. Damage no direct damage of its own; Defensive indirectly defensive — a carry with stolen weapon damage kills Graves more… 1 +1 maximum steal target, and all Graves's summons apply Essence Theft impossible to build

Avoid

• Spending your own escape before Grasping Hands is on cooldown.

• Borrowed Decree Ultimate

  This will not kill you on its own — it makes sure you cannot leave while the rest of Graves's kit does. Area slow on Ghoul detonation.

  • Two heavy melees kill the gravestone — walk to it and delete it instead of fighting the Ghoul stream forever
  • Ghouls have only around 180 health; any wave-clear ability (McGinnis turrets, Charged Shot Charged Shot 17s Cooldown Draws back a heavy shot that can be held at full charge and pierces straight through everything it hits. Damage about 80 at base spirit power, +54 at tier 2 (deadlock.one, metabot.gg) 1 +54 damage and -2s charge delay 2 the shot bounces once off a wall (it cannot hit the same target twice), plus improved… , Powder Keg Powder Keg 28s Cooldown Throws a barrel that detonates after a short delay for spirit damage, applies a burn, and launches anyone caught in the blast into the air. Crowd Control knockup on detonation — hard CC that removes the target's ability to strafe Damage about 80 spirit at base plus burn damage over time; Mobility self-launch: detonating it under her own feet is her primary traversal tool 1 -10s cooldown 2 +40 impact damage, about +13.3 burn damage per second, roughly -5s charge time and… , Napalm Napalm 20m Range25s Cooldown Sprays a burning mixture in front of him that deals spirit damage, slows whoever it touches, and leaves them coated in napalm that keeps burning. Crowd Control movement slow on everyone hit Damage about 40 spirit at base plus the napalm coating over time (deadlock.one) Mobility none directly, though the slow effectively closes distance 1 +20% lifesteal 2 applies about +17% Damage Taken and -33% Healing to affected targets ) erases a wave of them
  • Fight away from the gravestone — its value is entirely positional and it cannot be moved once placed
• Jar of Dead Ability 1

  No control at base; the upgrade is what changes that — the tier-2 upgrade adds roughly a 30% movement slow for about 1s on hit.

  • Deadheads are short-lived and stationary-ish: leave the jar's area rather than trading inside it, since walking out ends the damage entirely
  • Deny the passive by not dying near Graves and by contesting the wave so Graves is not the one soaking every creep death
  • Spirit Resist items (Spirit Armor line) blunt the per-tick damage, which is small and resist-sensitive
• Grasping Hands Ability 2

  Another window where you do not get to answer: immobilize (Root) on enemies who pass through.

  • It is a Root, not a Stun — keep shooting and keep using items; Dispel Magic Dispel Magic 3,200 souls Tier 3ArmorInstantCast +45s Cooldown +10% Spirit Resist +3s Buff Duration +250 Heal Amount clears it outright
  • Watch the cast and strafe around the end of the line rather than dashing through it; the wall has finite length even at tier 2
  • Air time beats it: a double jump, Bounce Pad Bounce Pad 22s Duration41s Cooldown Drops a pad that launches any hero who touches it high into the air. Crowd Control tier 3 adds about +0.7s stun to the landing stomp Damage about 60 stomp damage on landing (deadlock.one) Mobility very large vertical launch for Holliday and all allies who step on it 1 about -10s cooldown 2 she and allies gain roughly +4 m/s movement speed for 4 seconds on landing 5 about +0.7s stun on the landing stomp , Rain of Arrows Rain of Arrows 4s Duration25s Cooldown Launches Grey Talon high into the air and lets him glide down slowly, gaining bonus weapon damage and firing multiple arrows per shot while airborne. Crowd Control tier-1 upgrade adds roughly a 24% movement slow to his arrows while airborne Damage no direct damage; tier 1 adds about +3 weapon damage and a 24% movement slow… Mobility high vertical displacement plus a slow controlled glide 1 +3 weapon damage and a 24% movement slow applied by his shots 2 -12s cooldown 5 +30% bullet lifesteal, +30% spirit lifesteal and +30% bullet evasion or any vertical mobility crosses over the hands
• Essence Theft Ability 3

  Rewards long, grinding gunfights: the longer Graves holds the trigger on a target, the weaker that target's gun gets and the softer they become to her Spirit Damage.

  • Break line of sight early — the steal accumulates per sustained hit, so a 2-second trade costs almost nothing while a 6-second one is devastating
  • Spirit Armor mitigates the payoff of the stolen Spirit Resist since her damage is mostly spirit
  • At tier 3 you also have to kill or walk away from her Ghouls and Deadheads, not just from Graves

1. 1 Grasping Hands

   Grasping Hands first — it is her only defensive tool, has a long cooldown before tier 3, and once it is on cooldown she has no answer to a dive. Fake an approach down a chokepoint, let her place the wall, then commit from a different angle

2. 2 Jar of Dead

   Then Jar of Dead, since a jar spent on a creep wave is a jar that is not slowing you during the dive (tier 2 onward)

3. 3 Borrowed Decree

   Borrowed Decree is worth baiting only when you can immediately break the gravestone with heavy melees — otherwise let her use it in a bad spot and simply fight elsewhere

• No dash, blink or climbing tool of her own, so where she stands is decided before the fight starts Strong evidence
• Her very short gun forces her into the range band where divers want her Strong evidence
• Both her summons and her gravestone are destructible and can be cleared by any AoE Strong evidence
• Neither of you can disengage well, so fights between you tend to go to completion. That makes the decision to start one much more important than anything you do inside it — commit only when you already have the advantage, because backing out is not available to either side. Strategic

• Grasping Hands across a doorway or stair roots you in place while Deadheads and Ghouls grind you down — the Root itself is what kills you, not the wall damage Strong evidence
• Essence Theft quietly strips up to about 25% of your weapon damage over a long fight; the carry who committed to a drawn-out duel with Graves loses it slowly and never notices why Strong evidence
• Borrowed Decree gravestones sit on your walker and chip the objective while your team is forced to rotate back and clear Ghouls Strong evidence
• Jar of Dead tier 2 slows stack with the Ghoul detonation slow, so walking out of her zone gets harder the deeper you are in it Strong evidence
• She snowballs on contested lanes — every kill or creep death near her refunds Jar of Dead charges, so a losing lane gives her more ability uptime, not less Strong evidence

• Fight her past 20m — her gun stops there, so Grey Talon, Vindicta or any mid-range poke makes Essence Theft impossible to build Strong evidence
• Dive her: she has no dash and no escape once Grasping Hands is down, so a gap-closer (Phantom Strike Phantom Strike 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorPress +35s Cooldown +0.35s Cast Delay +8 Spirit Power +15% Weapon Damage +40% Move Speed +3s Slow Duration , Abrams charge, Shiv dash) deletes her Strong evidence
• Carry Dispel Magic specifically for the Grasping Hands immobilize — it is a Root, so you keep shooting and items keep working while you clear it Strong evidence
• Kill the gravestone with two heavy melees rather than fighting the Ghoul stream; the ult's entire value is the object surviving Strong evidence
• Bring one wave-clear ability into the fight (Napalm, Charged Shot, Powder Keg, Arctic Beam Arctic Beam 5s Duration28s Cooldown Channels a beam of freezing energy in front of him that damages targets and progressively cuts their movement speed and fire rate the longer it stays on them. Crowd Control ramping movement speed and fire rate reduction; Damage about 45 damage per second at base; Mobility none — it constrains his own movement while he holds it 1 about -20% fire rate and move speed on targets 2 about +20 DPS with improved spirit scaling 5 about -13s cooldown and fires 2 additional beams at targets within 10m ) — Ghouls have roughly 180 health and evaporate to any AoE Strong evidence
• Never take a long stationary gunfight inside 17m; two-second trades cost her the entire Essence Theft payoff Strong evidence
• Graves's bullets are among the fastest in the game and you have little mobility, so you will not dodge their gun; the answer is the item that changes what their bullets do rather than where you stand. Plated Armor Plated Armor 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorPassive +1s Cooldown +30% Deflection Percent +50% On-Hit Prevention Percent +130 Bonus Health deflects bullets outright and — the part most players miss — strips their on-hit build-ups, which is the only clean answer to Silencer Silencer 6,400 souls Tier 4WeaponPassive +12% Spirit Resist -25% Spirit Damage Reduction +2.5s Silence Duration +6s Debuff Duration +10s Immunity Duration , Toxic Bullets Toxic Bullets 3,200 souls Tier 3WeaponPassive -40% Incoming Healing and Inhibitor Inhibitor 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorPassive +150 Bonus Health +5s Debuff Duration -30% Damage Penalty +10% Weapon Damage -40% Incoming Healing stacks landing on you. If 6,400 is too far away, Battle Vest Battle Vest 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorPassive +18% Bullet Resist +3 Out of Combat Regen +65% Life Threshold +22% Weapon Damage +7% Fire Rate at +18% Bullet Resist is the efficient Tier II step and Bullet Resilience Bullet Resilience 3,200 souls Tier 3ArmorPassive +35% Bullet Resist +5 Out of Combat Regen at +30% (with a further +15% below half health) the Tier III one. Strong evidence
• Graves does a lot of damage through summons rather than in person. Do not spend single-target cooldowns clearing them — Area Damage handles the summons while you keep your burst for the hero. Check whether the summons are what is actually killing you before you commit to fighting the hero at all. Strategic

• The moment Grasping Hands is placed and rotated — the cast has a visible tell and she is stationary during it Strong evidence
• Any time she is holding a sustained gun angle inside 20m, because she is standing still to build Essence Theft stacks Strong evidence
• Immediately after Borrowed Decree is planted — she is committed to a location that you now know, and the gravestone is a two-heavy-melee object Strong evidence
• When her Jar of Dead charges are empty after a big wave clear, she has no chip damage and no slow for the next several seconds Strong evidence
• Any fight she enters without Grasping Hands available — with zero mobility that is a free kill for any diver Strong evidence

• Graves will shove the wave into your Guardian to push you off souls, and you are not fast enough to walk around it. The thing to protect is the floating orb — the ground orb drops and cannot be denied, so half your income is safe no matter what they do, and the contest is only ever over the other 50. Position on your Guardian's side of the wave so you are already in range of the floating orbs when they pop, and give up the forward orbs rather than crossing for them. Strategic

• Graves trades map for fights, and the reason that is more dangerous than it looks is item slots. Walker kills are reported to unlock an extra item slot for the destroying team, which means every structure they take while you win a fight elsewhere buys their whole team build flexibility you do not have. Count Walkers, not kills, when deciding whether a split is going your way. The slot mechanic is single-sourced — treat the direction as sound and the exact rule as unconfirmed. Uncertain
• Rotation speed is the axis you lose on against Graves, and it is not purely a hero stat. Ziplines run at a fixed 18 m/s on inner lanes and 21 m/s on outer regardless of your move speed, and destroying a base guardian converts that lane into a permanent Express Line at +80%. If they take a base guardian before you do, their map becomes structurally faster than yours for the rest of the game. That objective is worth contesting for the travel time alone, separately from the souls. Strong evidence

• Graves wins by choosing where the fight happens. Take your position before the zoning goes down, not after — once the area is committed you are fighting on their terms, and walking in to contest it is exactly the mistake the kit is built to farm. Strategic

• Monster Rounds (weapon T1) — Buy when you need to clear Haunt camps Haunts Neutral camps Lanes and Districts across the map Haunts replace the old neutral camps. They are not a reskin: each type behaves differently, and the health bar now shows a camp's soul value and how hard it is, so you can decide whether a camp is worth your time before you start shooting. Three eye colours mark the tier — teal for tier I, yellow for tier II, red for tier III. Souls 41/68/181 souls tier I / II / III a creep +0.44 / +0.73 / +1.95 a minute and waves quickly. That matters here because of the objective pressure from Graves. Strong evidence
• Split Shot Split Shot 1,600 souls Tier 2WeaponInstantCast +27s Cooldown +5 Weapon Multishot +12s Bonus Duration +8% Weapon Damage per Stack +5 Max Stacks (weapon T2) — Buy when enemies fight bunched together, or for faster wave clear. In this game that means Graves' Borrowed Decree. Strong evidence
• Alchemical Fire Alchemical Fire 3,200 souls Tier 3WeaponPress +30s Cooldown +5s Duration +0.2s Cast Delay +10 Spirit Power (weapon T3) — Buy for zone denial, or to punish enemies who must hold a choke. Aimed at Graves' Grasping Hands in this lineup. Strong evidence

• The specific error is walking into Graves's area denial after it is already down, because your team is in there and you feel late. You are slow enough that entering a committed zone is a one-way decision — you will be inside it for its full duration, not for the two seconds you intended. Arrive before the zone or arrive from the other side of it; arriving into it is how this matchup is lost even when your team wins the fight. Strategic