DenyPick

Try a hero name, an item, a problem like “healing”, or two heroes with “vs”.

Graves

ControllerSummonerMage Hybrid Damage Mid Game Medium Difficulty

Patch 10-30-2026, 407,680 matches. Updated daily.

Playing Graves? Build Combos Plan against a full team

How to counter and play Graves

Items to buy

  • vs zoning and area denial Enduring Speed Enduring Speed 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorPassive +25% Slow Resist +2 Out of Combat Regen Builds from Sprint Boots Fleetfoot Fleetfoot 1,600 souls Tier 2WeaponInstantCast +16s Cooldown +5s Duration +100 move speed penalty while shooting reduction +35% Slide Distance +6% Bullet Resist +40% Slow Resist +6% Weapon Damage Restorative Locket Restorative Locket 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorInstantCast +20s Cooldown +0.1s Cast Delay +8% Spirit Resist +25 Max Stacks +3 Max Stamina Restore
  • vs summons and turrets Monster Rounds Monster Rounds 800 souls Tier 1WeaponPassive +25% Weapon Damage vs. NPCs +1 Out of Combat Regen +25% Bullet Resist vs. NPCs 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 Alchemical Fire Alchemical Fire 3,200 souls Tier 3WeaponPress +30s Cooldown +5s Duration +0.2s Cast Delay +10 Spirit Power
  • vs stuns and hard cc Extra Stamina Extra Stamina 800 souls Tier 1ArmorPassive +1 Stamina +12% Stamina Recovery Debuff Reducer Debuff Reducer 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorPassive +25% Debuff Resist +90 Bonus Health Reactive Barrier Reactive Barrier 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorPassive +55s Cooldown +10s Duration +1 Out of Combat Regen Builds from Grit
  • 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
  • Dive her: she has no dash and no escape once Grasping Hands Grasping Hands 24m Range5s Duration34s Cooldown Raises a line of undead hands out of the ground, after a 0.8s deploy, that damages and immobilizes anyone passing through at ground level, spawns a Ghoul, and leaves a lingering rift behind. Crowd Control immobilize (root) on enemies who pass through; Damage roughly 90 spirit at base, +90 more at tier 2 (metabot.gg, deadlock.one) Mobility none for Graves 1 +90 damage and +10m wall length 2 +1 Ghoul, about -14s cooldown and +0.75s immobilize 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
  • Carry Dispel Magic Dispel Magic 3,200 souls Tier 3ArmorInstantCast +45s Cooldown +10% Spirit Resist +3s Buff Duration +250 Heal Amount specifically for the Grasping Hands immobilize — it is a Root, so you keep shooting and items keep working while you clear it
  • Kill the gravestone with two heavy melees rather than fighting the Ghoul stream; the ult's entire value is the object surviving
  • Bring one wave-clear ability into the fight (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 , 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… , 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
  • Never take a long stationary gunfight inside 17m; two-second trades cost her the entire Essence Theft payoff
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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… gravestones sit on your walker and chip the objective while your team is forced to rotate back and clear Ghouls
  • 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 tier 2 slows stack with the Ghoul detonation slow, so walking out of her zone gets harder the deeper you are in it
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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)
  • 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
  • Do not bait Essence Theft — it is a passive and cannot be spent; deny it with range and short trades instead
  • The moment Grasping Hands is placed and rotated — the cast has a visible tell and she is stationary during it
  • Any time she is holding a sustained gun angle inside 20m, because she is standing still to build Essence Theft stacks
  • 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
  • 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
  • Any fight she enters without Grasping Hands available — with zero mobility that is a free kill for any diver

Plan a game against Graves and the rest of their team →

Good at

  • Map pressure while away from the fight via Borrowed Decree Ghouls marching at objectives
  • Grasping Hands is a long, reusable Root wall that shapes every chokepoint fight
  • Essence Theft simultaneously buffs her and debuffs the enemy carry in sustained fights
  • Jar of Dead recharges off deaths rather than a pure timer, so uptime scales with how well her team is doing

Weak to

  • No dash, blink or climbing tool of her own, so where she stands is decided before the fight starts
  • Her very short gun forces her into the range band where divers want her
  • Both her summons and her gravestone are destructible and can be cleared by any AoE
  • Almost no burst — she needs time, and any hero who can end a fight in two seconds skips her entire kit

In lane, good at

  • Jar of Dead 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
  • Essence Theft makes extended gun trades favorable if the opponent lets her hold the trigger inside 20m
  • Deadheads chip the wave and the enemy simultaneously, so contesting last hits is costly

In lane, weak to

  • 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
  • Essence Theft earns nothing in short trades, so hit-and-run opponents deny her whole slot-3 identity
  • Grasping Hands is on a long cooldown pre-tier-3; once it is spent she has no defensive answer at all
  • Borrowed Decree unlock — Converts her into permanent lane and objective pressure even while she is elsewhere on the map
  • Grasping Hands tier 2 — +10m wall length turns it from a spot-block into a lane-wide cut, which is when her zoning starts controlling teamfights
  • Essence Theft tier 3 — Summons begin applying the steal, so Ghouls and Deadheads debuff targets Graves never shoots
  • Mid 20-35min — Objective phase — gravestones on walkers plus wall zoning is where her kit is built to work; her scaling is space, not raw damage

Pistol ("The Teacher")

Beam WeaponClose Range

35.3 DPS

Falloff Range 8m 17m

Low per-shot damage (about 3.6) fired from a large 40-round magazine, so damage arrives as a steady stream rather than in chunks. Her gun only reaches 20m, so Graves has to fight at short range, and past 8m Essence Theft builds more slowly; heavy melee hits for around 116. Since the 09-29-2026 patch her gun also destroys Venator's Hex-Lined Snap Traps, so she can clear a trapped doorway before walking through it.

  • 3.60 Bullet Damage
  • 1 Pellets per Shot
  • 9.80 Bullets per sec
  • 40 Ammo
  • 2.80s Reload Time
  • 635m/s Bullet Velocity
  • 50Light Melee
  • 116Heavy Melee
Vitality and movement
  • 730 Health
  • 1 Health Regen
  • 6.70m/s Move Speed
  • 2.20m/s Sprint Speed
  • 2 Stamina
  • 4.50s Stamina Cooldown

Base values on patch data. Items and boons change all of these.

The heroes Graves wins most with, against what their two win rates would predict.

  • Deadman Danny Deadman Danny SkirmisherInitiatorMid rangeHybrid damage Free flight: he picks his angles and reaches heroes others can't Durability low (1/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility very high (3/3) Healing low (1/3) 63.1% together +7.1% above expected
  • Paige Paige SupportControllerMid rangeSpirit damage Peel — Plot Armor is a save and a damage buff on one button. Durability low (1/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing high (2/3) 63.9% together +7.0% above expected
  • Baba Baba ControllerMageMid rangeSpirit damage Three kinds of control in one kit: silence, a hex and several slows Durability low (1/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing low (1/3) 63.3% together +7.0% above expected
  • Kelvin Kelvin SupportControllerMid rangeHybrid damage Frozen Shelter is a hard physical barrier that stops ranged damage and ultimates outright Durability high (2/3) Burst low (1/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing very high (3/3) 62.8% together +6.5% above expected
  • Seven Seven MageControllerMid rangeSpirit damage Wave and jungle clear through Lightning Ball and Power Surge, which helps him reach item breakpoints sooner Durability low (1/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility none (0/3) Healing none (0/3) 62.4% together +6.1% above expected
  • Haze Haze AssassinCarryClose rangeBullet damage Single-target sustained DPS ramps up once Fixation is stacked Durability low (1/3) Burst high (2/3) Mobility high (2/3) Healing high (2/3) 61.3% together +5.9% above expected

Every Graves duo →

Every Graves matchup

Graves wins 57.2% of games overall. Who counters Graves and who Graves counters: all 43 opponents, from Graves' hardest to easiest, with how far each sits from that average. Graves struggles Graves does well

Paige is strong against almost every hero this patch, so it sits near the top here too. Beyond that, the matchups that are hardest for Graves in particular: McGinnis (Graves wins 54.3%), Seven (Graves wins 50.7%) and Haze (Graves wins 52.6%).

Only matches whose average rank was Oracle and above, where Graves wins 54.2% overall.

Abilities

Pick an ability to see what it does and how to play around it.

Jar of Dead

Ability 1 · Resource-Collecting Passive Plus Thrown Summon

Passively banks a charge whenever something dies near Graves. Throwing the jar releases Deadheads that repeatedly strike nearby enemies for Spirit Damage; with no enemy nearby they trail Graves instead.

Purpose: Turns every lane creep and jungle camp 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 4168181 souls tier I / II / III a creep +0.44 / +0.73 / +1.95 a minute death into stored offensive resource, then converts it into free chip damage on a contested point or a lane wave.

Damage
Roughly 16 spirit per Deadhead hit at base Spirit Power (deadlock.one, patch 09-16-2026)
Crowd control
None at base; the tier-2 upgrade adds roughly a 30% movement slow for about 1s on hit
Defensive
Tier-1 upgrade returns a small heal (about 5 health) when a death is collected

How to play against it

  • 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
  • Once tier 2 is online the slow is the real threat, not the damage — hold Dispel Magic or a movement active for the jar plus Grasping Hands combination

Interactions

  • Charges build off ANY nearby death, so contested lanes and jungle rotations refill it far faster than a fixed cooldown would
  • Deadheads keep applying damage while Graves is behind cover, so it pairs with Grasping Hands to punish someone stuck in the wall
  • Spirit Power items raise the per-hit damage directly; Escalating Exposure Escalating Exposure 6,400 souls Tier 4TechPassive +12s Duration +0.7s Max Frequency +4.5% Spirit Amp per Stack +17% Spirit Resist +12 Max Stacks Builds from Mystic Vulnerability -style spirit amps benefit from the repeated small ticks
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 1: heals Graves a small amount for each death collected
  • Tier 2: Deadhead hits apply roughly a 30% slow for about 1 second
  • Tier 3: +2 additional Deadheads and +4 seconds of lifetime

Grasping Hands

Ability 2 · Placed Line/wall with Root and Summon

Raises a line of undead hands out of the ground, after a 0.8s deploy, that damages and immobilizes anyone passing through at ground level, spawns a Ghoul, and leaves a lingering rift behind. Alt-fire rotates the line before placing it.

Purpose: Graves's only real defensive button and the core of her zoning — it cuts a lane, a stairwell or a doorway in half and freezes whoever tries to walk through it.

Damage
Roughly 90 spirit at base, +90 more at tier 2 (metabot.gg, deadlock.one)
Crowd control
Immobilize (Root) on enemies who pass through; tier 3 adds about +0.75s to the Root
Mobility
None for Graves
Defensive
Rooting a chaser behind the line is the main escape tool in the kit

How to play against it

  • It is a Root, not a Stun — keep shooting and keep using items; Dispel Magic 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
  • Before tier 3 the cooldown is long — force it out on a throwaway approach, then commit on the follow-up

Interactions

  • Alt-cast rotation matters: laid across a chokepoint it blocks, laid along a corridor it chases
  • The rift persists after the initial hands, so re-entering the area can be punished
  • Root, not Stun — the victim can still shoot, use items and cast abilities
  • The hands only grab up to 1.75m high, so a double jump clears them
  • Tier 3 adds an extra Ghoul, which stacks with the Borrowed Decree summon pressure
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 2: +90 damage and +10m wall length
  • Tier 3: +1 Ghoul, about -14s cooldown and +0.75s immobilize

Essence Theft

Ability 3 · Weapon Passive Stat Steal

Graves's bullets siphon weapon damage and Spirit Resist from whoever they hit, transferring it to Graves up to a per-target cap.

Purpose: 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.

Damage
No direct damage of its own; steals up to about 25% of the target's weapon damage (deadlock.one)
Defensive
Indirectly defensive — a carry with stolen weapon damage kills Graves more slowly

How to play against it

  • 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
  • Range is the cleanest answer: her gun stops at 20m, so fighting at 25m+ makes the steal impossible to build

Interactions

  • Tier 3 lets her summons apply Essence Theft too, so Ghouls and Deadheads strip a target Graves is not even shooting
  • The Spirit Resist steal makes her ability damage hit harder on exactly the target she has been shooting
  • Wants sustained-fire weapon items (Rapid Rounds Rapid Rounds 800 souls Tier 1WeaponPassive +9% Fire Rate , Ricochet Ricochet 6,400 souls Tier 4WeaponPassive +65% Ricochet Damage +18% Fire Rate ) and anything that keeps her magazine on target
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 3: +1 maximum steal target, and all Graves's summons apply Essence Theft

Borrowed Decree

Ultimate · Placed Summon Structure (Passive Plus Active)

Plants a gravestone that spawns Ghouls over time. The Ghouls march toward the enemy base and detonate near heroes or objectives for area Spirit Damage and a slow. Enemies can break the gravestone with two heavy melees.

Purpose: Free, unattended map pressure — it pushes a lane, contests an objective or adds a second front to a teamfight without Graves being present.

Damage
Roughly 115 spirit on Ghoul detonation and about 40 melee per upgrade tier; summons around 180 health (deadlock.one)
Crowd control
Area slow on Ghoul detonation
Defensive
A gravestone placed on your own walker or guardian turns a defensive hold into a stalemate the enemy has to spend time on

How to play against it

  • 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, Powder Keg, Napalm) erases a wave of them
  • Fight away from the gravestone — its value is entirely positional and it cannot be moved once placed
  • At tier 3 the Ghoul death damage scales with your current health, so tanks specifically should not body-block the Ghouls

Interactions

  • Ghouls count as summons, so at Essence Theft tier 3 they also strip weapon damage and Spirit Resist from heroes they reach
  • Best value is on objectives — walkers, guardians and the Patron — where there is nobody to clear the Ghouls
  • The gravestone is a destructible object: two heavy melees remove it entirely, so cover matters more than placement range
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 1: +25% Ghoul move speed and about -15s cooldown
  • Tier 2: +10s duration
  • Tier 3: Ghouls deal roughly +5% of the target's current health as damage when they die, and -0.3s spawn time

Graves' win rate by game length

Game length changes little for Graves compared with other heroes: #3 of 44 in games under 25 minutes, #1 of 44 from 25 to 40, #5 of 44 past 40.

45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 0.6% of all games end at 10–15 minutes 1.2% of all games end at 15–20 minutes 3.4% of all games end at 20–25 minutes 11.0% of all games end at 25–30 minutes 23.2% of all games end at 30–35 minutes 26.4% of all games end at 35–40 minutes 17.9% of all games end at 40–45 minutes 9.4% of all games end at 45–50 minutes 4.3% of all games end at 50–55 minutes 1.7% of all games end at 55–60 minutes 0.8% of all games end at 60+ minutes 10–15 min: 51.1% over 2,185 games 51.1% 15–20 min: 56.2% over 5,265 games 56.2% 20–25 min: 61.1% over 15,723 games 61.1% 25–30 min: 62.3% over 47,325 games 62.3% 30–35 min: 59.9% over 95,382 games 59.9% 35–40 min: 56.8% over 106,137 games 56.8% 40–45 min: 54.0% over 71,763 games 54.0% 45–50 min: 53.6% over 37,638 games 53.6% 50–55 min: 53.4% over 17,760 games 53.4% 55–60 min: 53.2% over 6,851 games 53.2% 60+ min: 51.7% over 3,581 games 51.7% 10–1515–2020–2525–3030–3535–4040–4545–5050–5555–6060+
above 50% below 50% under 1,000 games how many games end then
See the numbers
MinutesWinsvs usualGames
10–15 51.1% −6.2% 2,185
15–20 56.2% −1.1% 5,265
20–25 61.1% +3.8% 15,723
25–30 62.3% +5.0% 47,325
30–35 59.9% +2.6% 95,382
35–40 56.8% −0.5% 106,137
40–45 54.0% −3.3% 71,763
45–50 53.6% −3.7% 37,638
50–55 53.4% −3.9% 17,760
55–60 53.2% −4.1% 6,851
60+ 51.7% −5.6% 3,581

"vs usual" is against Graves's 57.3% over all these games. Faded rows have under 1,000 games, where a few percent either way is noise; under 300, no win rate is shown.

Each point is how often Graves won games that ended at that length, not the chance of winning at that minute. Short games are usually one-sided, so the left side is about closing out a lead and the right side about long, close games. Games under 10 minutes are left out. Every hero by game length →

Sources and confidence for this record

Record confidence: Strong evidence. Compiled for patch 10-30-2026, researched 2026-10-30.

Difficulty rating: deadlocklabs.gg hero page lists in-game complexity as 2 of 3 stars (★★☆)