Buy Doran's Blade early.
She out farms you early game, has better invade setup against you.
Dodge her spear or you will die.
You outscale her if she doesn't get fed.
Go MR Rune and try to track her early game so she won't snowball.
Kindred
Buy Doran's Blade early.
Out farms you early game, has better skirmishing, better team fighting and if she gets marks you can't contest her.
Look to fight around your smoke screen and avoid the 1v1's.
Kha'Zix
Buy Doran's Blade early.
Hard beats you in Isolation.
You can't contest him in a 1v1 unless you're fed.
You can level 2 cheese him if you get a proper leash.
You outscale later on in teamfights+When you get items he can't oneshot you unless he's really fed.
Master Yi
Buy Doran's Blade early.
He hard beats you in Isolation.
You have better gank setup so try to snowball through a lane.
He outscales really hard, you cannot contest him 1v1 unless you're fed, he stat checks with Ult.
Evelynn
Buy Doran's Blade early.
It's an Evelynn favored matchup if you can't invade her.
She will be a huge threat at 6 and oneshots you if she hits Charm.
Look to level 2 invade her to deny camps/force a crossmap.
If she doesn't have a lot of farm she's useless.
Karthus
He outfarms you in Jungler Clear by 30~ seconds.
He can look to invade your last camp so be careful of pathing to a lane without priority.
He scales like a truck, look to invade him with priority later on in the game to deny him camps, or look for a fast 3 invade with your laners to make him fall behind.
He'll be useless without an XP Lead.
Rengar
Avoid bushes.
He will out dps you early game if you get near one.
Careful for level 3 invade, even if you have Grit stacked and he gets in a bush, he can contest you.
You outscale and can match him with Steelcaps if he's not very fed.
Elise
She out bursts you early game.
You outscale at 1 item, look to deny her dives/objectives and farm.
She will be useless at mid game if not fed.
Xin Zhao
He stat checks you very hard early game.
Avoid fighting until you get items.
You can look to level 2 invade him after buff to catch him off guard to help you survive early game.
Rek'Sai
She out bursts you in early game.
Has kill pressure on you at level 6.
You outscale at 2 Items, look to countergank/crossmap.
Diana
She outfarms you and has a better teamfighting ability than you.
You have better ganks pre 6 and win skrimishes in river/with your teammates.
Look to invade her with prio to make her fall behind.
If she has no farm she's useless.
Lee Sin
Has potential to oneshot you at 6 if he hits Q.
Dodge Q and kite him.
His early clear isn't good, but careful of his level 3 invade.
You hard outscale.
Lillia
She has a better clear and can kite you with her Passive.
At 6 if she hits passive on you and ults, you will die.
Her early is really bad since she has bad gank setup.
Look to level 3 gank since she most likely won't countergank.
If you can snowball through 1 lane and make them vulnerable you can snowball and win.
Taliyah
She clears a bit faster than you.
You can look to invade her level 2-3.
She excels from clearing her camps or diving through a level 3 gank.
She has oneshot potential when paired with a champion with Crowd Control, like Renekton or Nautlus/Leona etc..
She will be very strong late game once she gets items and out ranges you.
Fleet Footwork comes clutch in this matchup since you can't "Quickdraw" when she uses her W "Seismic Shove", you'll get damaged and shortly stunned.
Worst case you can Ult out of it.
Gwen
She will outscale you, but is weak early game.
Gwen looks to AFK farm and has an unhealthy clear.
Look to level 2 invade her, or level 3 invade her on 2nd buff.
Cosmic Inisight is good in this situation so you'll have smite up for 2nd buff invade.
Play on tempo and look to secure 1st drake/herald, don't let her free scale.
Rumble
Clears a bit faster than you.
If you face check him when he's near overheat you die.
He has a really weak lvl 1-2 clear, so you can look to invade him lvl 2 to deny camps/push him out of the jungle.
Udyr
He will be really strong if you let him fullclear.
Try to deny objectives and scale accordingly.
Invading is an option with priority, he becomes useless without farm.
Bel'Veth
She can statcheck you if her Q is up.
Ward raptors so she doesn't late invade them.
You can kite her, save your E to dodge her W (knockup).
If she hits W she can kill you/make you burn ult.
Play to deny her herald, farm and make sure you're level 6 for it.
Herald is the main objective she wants to fight for.
Nocturne
He will look to afk farm until 6.
He has better ganks so try to counter-gank it.
Don't facecheck him or you die, he will have Lethal Tempo and run you down.
Rammus
Slower clear than you, weak lvl 1-2.
Look to invade him, make sure if you do he doesn't do Raptors/Wolves and take a camp away from your invading side.
Cleaver 2nd is really good, you outfarm him, don't let him free scale since if it's an even game he will statcheck you since he is just a beefy tank.
Neeko
She has a faster clear and good teamfight threat with her ult.
Try to spam tab to see if she's on the map to tell your team to be careful.
Hecarim
He has a faster clear and scales pretty good.
Try to level 3 invade him since he runs Ghost.
Talon
He needs to farm and get kills to be useful.
Can oneshot you in isolation with Ignite.
Has an unhealthy clear, look to invade him level 1-2 to make him fall behind.
He'll be useless.
Briar
If she lands ult on you, you'll die.
Try to kite her when she has no Q by dashing over walls.
You will outscale, just try not to fight in isolation.
Invading her level 3 is good with lanes that have push.
Sejuani
She can kill you early if you facecheck her (Especially at level 6).
You outfarm and outscale.
Jarvan IV
He clears a bit faster, but you can dodge his E+Q with your E.
You can always E out of his ultimate, and once you have a lot of points in your E you out dps him.
Ivern
He has a fast clear (Is done at around 3 minutes with 1 smite and can invade you).
Ward lvl 1 at around 0:55 to see if he cheeses a camp so you can counter invade him.
Beware of fighting in a situation where he pulls out Daisy.
Daisy can 1v1 you early game and CC you until his teammates come to kill you.
Gragas
He has a slow clear, you hard outfarm and outscale him.
He has better teamfight setup from his Ult so be careful to group with your carries.
Kayn
He is really useless early game until he gets form.
Ward for a raptor/wolves late invade level 1.
Once he gets form he is much stronger and can contest, but if you snowball you're stronger.
Viego
Small threat, you can kite him and hard outscale him.
He can't kill you later on when you have Items.
He clears faster, just tell your team to avoid his level 3 gank.
If you're both fullclearing you're happy.
If you facecheck him he can kill you though, so be careful.
Fight away from his mist.
Sylas
Will look to cheese ganks.
He can't fullclear, if you ward for your team and tell them to respect you outfarm him and he's useless.
Zac
Has a fast clear but very volatile to invade.
Look to level 3 invade him with your teammates to make him fall behind.
Zac is a farm oriented champion so without resources he's really useless.
Ekko
Only a threat if he snowballs.
He needs to level 3 gank and get a kill or he's useless.
Can level 1/2 invade him since he usually starts W.
Nunu & Willump
He has better ganks.
You have better scaling.
Deny him scuttler crabs early game.
He needs scuttler crabs to snowball into a lane properly.
Ward river for your team to see when he starts the snowball so your teammate won't die.
You can get oneshot if he hits a long range snowball at 6.
Olaf
Dodge his axes with your E.
He can run you down with ghost so be careful.
He usually clears with low hp because of his passive, can look to 3 camp invade him.
You outscale him pretty hard.
Rell
She has no damage on you, but clears a bit faster.
She won't look to contest you 1v1 but will rather go for skirmishes/teamfights.
She can lock you down pretty hard so be careful to not stand with your carries to not get oneshot by enemy team.
Amumu
Is really weak in isolation and can invade him pretty easily.
He has good teamfight threat so be careful of 5v5'ing if in an even game.
Maokai
You out dps and out clear him.
Be careful of him late invading your raptors with his Q.
He is annoying to deal with once he has demonic but he can never deal with you 1v1.
Trundle
He can only kill you if you run into him melee.
Kite him and save your e for his pillar.
You hard outscale and can beat him at 6 if you kite him properly.
Vi
After the nerfs she is kind of weak early on.
She has a meh clear, you can look to lvl 1-2 invade her since she usually starts W.
Be careful to fight when her teammates have tempo, or she'll ult you and you'll die.
Skarner
He doesn't have kill pressure on you unless he goes bruiser and gets a lot of farm.
If he goes tank he will just be an ult bot for his team, so be careful of that.
Take his Crystal Spires to slow down his clear.
Good to invade him level 1 for vision, can also level 2 cheese him.
Zed
He has an unhealthy clear, but slightly faster than yours.
You can do 3 camps into invade and catch him offguard, ask for leash.
Hard to level 2 invade him since he does blue+gromp very fast.
At 6 he can't really oneshot you because of your True Grit ("E") passive.
When he gets 2-3 Items he can kill you, but you should already be accelerated and invading his camps constantly.
Shyvana
You can kite her very easily, she has a decent clear but not that healthy.
Look to level 2 invade her or late invade level 1 to take 2 of her camps
(Red+Raptors for example).
Then just crossmap and take your weakside camps so she is only left with 4 camps.
Ward dragon/Ask your team to ward it so she doesn't do it on spawn.
If you let her free farm and take dragons she will be very hard to deal with.
Graves
Why the **** are you playing normal games?
I can't believe you read this.
I expected more.
Nautilus
Good setup for fighting.
Gives you agency to teamfight, good gank setup for you also.
Leona
Good engage + frontline for you to get better teamfighting angles/positioning.
Rell
Same as Nautilus/Leona
Rakan
Same as Nautilus/Leona
Renekton
Strong toplaner that gets priority in most matchups, good dive potential, strong herald fight + tanky frontline for you.
Malphite
Starts a fight with 1 button, beefy frontline.
Ahri
Good gank setup for midlane.
Lissandra
Can start teamfights for you/good pressure on mid to kill.
Ornn
Beefy frontline, good ult to start fight, Ornn item upgrades are a FeelsGoodMan (1k gold worth of stats).
Annie
Annie mid is quite good with Graves.
CC bot + Ult bot/engage for you.
Annie support is not that great with you.
Fiddlesticks
Fiddle mid is great with Graves.
Has prio and good ult bot to start fights for you.
Amumu
(Support Amumu) very powerful engage, tanky, buy you time in fights.
Maokai
Maokai Top/Support are great with Graves.
Saplings give lots of vision, he has a reliable engage and peel with his W + R.
Blitzcrank
Good to pick out of position people off.
If you get a hook and kill the fight becomes a 5v4.
Alistar
Beefy frontline, can tank for you / setup dives.
Ashe
Ult is nice for picks/start a fight.
Can also track enemy jungler with hawkshot.
Varus
Similar to ashe, harder ult to hit.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Nautilus
Good setup for fighting.
Gives you agency to teamfight, good gank setup for you also.
Leona
Good engage + frontline for you to get better teamfighting angles/positioning.
Rell
Same as Nautilus/Leona
Rakan
Same as Nautilus/Leona
Renekton
Strong toplaner that gets priority in most matchups, good dive potential, strong herald fight + tanky frontline for you.
Malphite
Starts a fight with 1 button, beefy frontline.
Ahri
Good gank setup for midlane.
Lissandra
Can start teamfights for you/good pressure on mid to kill.
Ornn
Beefy frontline, good ult to start fight, Ornn item upgrades are a FeelsGoodMan (1k gold worth of stats).
Annie
Annie mid is quite good with Graves.
CC bot + Ult bot/engage for you.
Annie support is not that great with you.
Fiddlesticks
Fiddle mid is great with Graves.
Has prio and good ult bot to start fights for you.
Amumu
(Support Amumu) very powerful engage, tanky, buy you time in fights.
Maokai
Maokai Top/Support are great with Graves.
Saplings give lots of vision, he has a reliable engage and peel with his W + R.
Blitzcrank
Good to pick out of position people off.
If you get a hook and kill the fight becomes a 5v4.
Alistar
Beefy frontline, can tank for you / setup dives.
Ashe
Ult is nice for picks/start a fight.
Can also track enemy jungler with hawkshot.
Hey there! I'm Music and I'm a Challenger Jungler that plays Semi-Pro in the NACL.
I've been Challenger since Season 6!
My favorite champion is Graves and I've been playing Graves for 7 Years.
He's been constantly one of my best Solo Q champion throughout the years and I've written an in-depth guide explaining builds, tips and tricks.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
-Carry champion, can 1v9 games when fed
-If you get an early lead it's almost impossible to deal with you later on
-Good at invading level 1/2
-Lots of outplay potential
-One of the best scaling jungler in the game
-Very versatile build wise (Tanky or Assassin)
-High skill ceiling (lots of skill curves you can learn)
-Dopamine from killing enemies with Ult
Cons:
-Weak early game
-Clear is not that fast
-If you fall behind you are useless until you scale
-Some junglers outscale you and have better early game than you
-Need CC/Engage from your team to maximize carry potential
-Requires dirk to be useful in early game
-Doesn't take drakes very fast early
Rune Options
There are a lot of options you can go for in Runes for Graves. Fleet Footwork is the most consistent one for a few reasons:
-It's nice to chase/kite enemies with the movement speed
-The tree is good for you since you can go Alacrity
-Helps you kite camps
Dark Harvest is a scaling option you can go for
-Good to execute people with ult (Dark Harvest procs with it if they're low)
-More reliable damage later on in the game
-Rune tree is not bad, you can go Relentless Hunter/Treasure hunter, both good options
-Can also go Umbral Glaive + Zombie ward to stack AD
The main disadvantage is that Graves also excels from Inspiration and Precision (Alacrity/Futures market).
I'll talk about the Trinity Force "Bruiser" Build runes.
For this rune, you want an overshield to be a bit more tankier.
That's why you go Overheal and Bloodline.
Fleet+Bloodline stacks are giving you extra HP from Overshield.
You can also opt for a Bloodthirster later for extra lifesteal to be a bit tankier, but it's not really needed.
Going Magical Footwear+Future's Market is good to cheat item tempo and excel your lead.
First Strike is an option you can go for when you want to be an ult bot.
You look to just ult their carries on mid waves before an objective to chunk them down.
You can farm a lot of gold with First Strike this way.
On 13.16 It will be a bit better because of the Lethality item buffs.
The tree is amazing for Graves.
Free boots, Futures Market and Cosmic Insight (you can go Approach Velocity for chasedown potential, it synergises well with your "Smokescreen" and once you get Serylda's Grudge It will always proc on your Ult.
For secondary rune page you can do lots of different things.
You can go Precision for Alacrity or Domination for Sudden Impact and either Treasure/Relentless Hunter.
Teamfighting
There are a few ways you can opt to teamfight with Graves and it depends on what items you built.
If you went for the Goredrinker build, you will need to be a frontline to proc Goredrinker stacks and spam Q+E.
The longer the fight the better, more Quickdraw casts = More armor = Tankier.
If you go for a Lethality Crit build like Duskblade, for example, you will need to position yourself correctly not to get free hit by enemy carries since they ideally outrange you(For example an Aphelios and Viktor).
You have lots of ways of using your smokescreen in fights;
You can use it as a zoning tool in a closed area (i.e a jungle fight) so enemies won't cross it.
You can use it as a gapcloser by throwing it on someone and using Quickdraw to hit them first and you can blind enemy engagers so they won't reliably hit their Crowd Control.
(Nautilus/Thresh/Blitzcrank hook, Ornn ult, etc).
You want to make sure that you don't die at the start of the fight.
You usually want to let your teammates who have Crowd Control to initiate, so you can gain agency and hit without risk.
Social Media
I stream daily on Twitch!
Feel free to hop into my stream when I'm live!
Don't hesitate to ask questions, I generally tryhard when I play on my main account and answer questions between Queue's but I am to be as informative as possible ingame to explain my thought process to help everyone learn!
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