General

Pre-Game

In-Game

Advanced Tactics

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Introduction Pros & Cons Conclusion

Runes Masteries Summoner Spells

Abilities Itemization Matchups

Gameplay Strategies Teamfights

Hello Summoner and welcome to my third guide here on Mobafire! This guide has come a long way and it's time for me to show you the new Graves. If you have any more questions after reading through, ask away in the discussion segment! Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Anthony AKA Foxy Riven AKA Foxy. I'm a Platinum rated player on the EUW server. I main the ADC role but I'm known for my love for Riven. Graves really helped me to climb to where I am now. Because I have a few hundred games with this genuine Man's Man, I want to share my knowledge with you guys. I hope to give you some insight, tips and tricks to play a good Graves. About Graves: Graves is a strong duelist. He’s mainly being played as an ADC on the botlane. When you play Graves, it is your goal to be a monster throughout the entire game. People pick him for his amazing burst and synergy with initiative supports. His kill potential is amazing and he’s very fun to play due to being capable of repositioning with Quickdraw and deleting people with a surprise combo. I hope you’ll be having as much fun with Graves as I’ve had! Now, let's get to it! BACK TO TOP Prosoook oook + Great Farmer + Repositionable + Vision Impairment + Burst + Manly AF Graves The Outlaw Consoook oook - Short range - Cooldown-reliant - High mana costs - CC-sensitive - Pretty slow - Psychopath P R O S P r o s The main reason you play Graves is because of his burst. Period. It’s probably the highest burst combo out of all the ADCs. Being able to reposition yourself is another big plus. You should always feel like a threat, as he doesn’t really fall off at any stage of the game. All you have to keep in mind is your shotgun and reload mechanics. C o n s There is one big counter to playing Graves and the main reason why you can’t firstpick him in ranked. His range. It's currently a range of 425, which is the worst out of every ranged attacker. The reasoning behind it is his shotgun Destiny. Low range and high, spread out damage. Which is kind of cool. Your burst and Quickdraw do make up for it. Avoid playing against high ranged poke-compositions. C O N S BACK TO TOP Q U I N T E S S E N C E S Q U I N T S Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed: These are your go-to runes when you’re a more advanced player. They actually helps your sustain with Doran's Blade, helps to last hit more fluently and you can deal more attacks in short trades. You have to be quite experienced at last hitting to use three of these, but they’re worth it. Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: The starters’ runes. This helps your last-hitting and trading with your opponents. It’s always nice to have that little extra AD as your burst combo benefits from it as well. When you're getting good at CSing, swap them out for Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed. Q U I N T S M A R K S M A R K S Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Even more extra damage. You scale really well with it and they help you throughout the earlier stages of the game. M A R K S S E A L S S E A L S Greater Seal of Armor: Seals specialize in defense. Armor seems pretty obvious. Pair them with three health seals to have a slightly easier early game. Greater Seal of Health. These are actually pretty strong now in the early game. Armor is more beneficial as soon as you reach about 900 HP though, so I only take about three of them for the level 2 engage. S E A L S G L Y P H S G L Y P H S ... Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is pretty straightforward. You need this when the other team has a support scaling with AP, and there is an APC in the middle or top lane. Especially against bursty enemy supports like Annie. Greater Glyph of Attack Speed: You can Mix in a few of these to help you trade, last hit and deal more allround damage when the enemy lacks magic damage. Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist for when the enemy has a lot of AP champions. G L Y P H S

. SKILL PRIORITY . > > > Go to Abilities FOX BUILD FOX RSTART: . RRUSH: K RPICK ONE: . ROFFENSE . RDEFENSE: Go to Itemization RUNES 3x 6x x4 Go to Runes MASTERIES Click to view! Go to Masteries SUMMONERS sp&sp Go to Summoner Spells MATCHUPS RCOUNTERS: REVEN: RFAVORABLE: RSYNERGY: Go to Matchups

AS OF PATCH 5.24, 12/18/0 IS THE WAY TO GO WITH Thunderlord's Decree . CHANGING THIS ASAP.

FEROCITY Although Graves is unique, we'll follow the standard marksman setup. Fury for the reduced reload time and increased DPS, Feast for sustain in lane or to heal up all round. Vampirism for the same reasons. Oppressor for the increased damage. As you're playing with a support this should proc every trade and Battering Blows for the armor penetration. For your keystone, take Fervor of Battle to get the most out of your early game and win the lane.

CUNNING As Graves is quite tanky already, we go for Cunning to spend our remaining mastery points. Savagery helps lasthitting, Secret Stash for extra sustain and a small mana boost. Elixirs last longer as well. Merciless secures those kills and Dangerous Game to survive a clutch fight whenever you killed your contender.

Summoner Spells Choices

Flash Your number one spell and the best in the game. You can use this offensively and defensively. Mandatory on an ADC for repositioning. You can also use Flash to escape sticky situations, especially when your Quickdraw is on cooldown.

Heal Heal is your second summoner spell for about every ADC. It heals an ally as well, which allows for stronger early 2V2 fights. On top of that you gain a 1 second speed-boost which can be used both offensively and defensively. Heal can be reduced by Ignite and grievous wounds.

- All other summoner spells are inferior to this combo.

Leveling up

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With Graves, you have to focus on your physical damage (Q) first. I take Smoke Screen at lvl 4 to have a stronger End of the Line at lvl 3. When you are being pushed to your turret by level 2, take Smoke Screen at level 3. Smoke Screen is maxed last because you only use it for the utility, not for the magic damage it provides. End of the Line & Quickdraw are superior to the flat magic damage and extra slow it provides.
Take a point in Collateral Damage whenever you can. You gain an amazing powerspike by it at levels 6, 11 & 16. .

Abilities explanation

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New Destiny

Graves is a unique marksman because he's the only one making use of the shotgun principle. After shooting two shotgun shells, Graves has to reload. This takes a significant amount of time so we have to keep it in mind all game long. With attack speed, the reload time can be reduced slightly while the amount of time between two shells is reduced drastically. One shell actually shoots 4 pellets, with a range of 425, which is really, really low. The amount of Pellets is increased to 8 when critically striking (10 with [Infinity Edge]). Each Pellet stops at the first target it hits (which means that Graves can miss the target he's aiming for). Standing point blank at a target will expend all pellets on this target, increasing damage significantly.

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Using the advantage Getting close to your opponent is the strategy to get the most damage out (hitting one target with multiple bullets means more damage). Getting an all-in support is kind of necessary in order to be succesful in your lane. This does not mean that in teamfights you should be a frontliner. Stay back, wait for them to engage and surprise with your ridiculously harmful combo. ........... ...................... ........... Whenever you hit monsters with more than one bullet, they're knocked back slightly. This does not work on champions. ........... ...................... ........... ...........

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End of the line END OF THE LINE

Your "Bread & Butter" skill. Use it to harass, farm creeps and kill stuff altogether. You shoot a big round in a straight line, dealing damage on the way through to everyone in it's path. After 2 seconds, or upon impact with a wall, terrain or structures, the round detonates horizontally and vertically, dealing physical damage to all enemies in a wide area and in a reverse wave along the powder trail.

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Position to detonate End of the Line isn't just a forward shot. More like a "T" and detonates after 2 seconds: ........... ...................... ........... Shooting the round against the wall behind an enemy makes the double damage undodgeable, increasing your surprise burst: ........... ...................... ........... Farming has never been easier, just make sure you position correctly: ........... ...................... ........... ...........

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Smoke Screen

This is your utility skill. It visually impairs the enemy and slows enemies on ipact briefly. Do NOT forget to use it, having no vision in this game is devastating and confuses the enemy.

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Losing vision Standing in the smoke circle of an enemy Graves enables "nearsight". This means your vision is reduced by 900 and you lose allied vision. You cannot see your attacker if he's out of your narrowed sight range. ........... ...................... ........... ...........

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Quickdraw

An amazing skill to have. For starters it repositions your champion, you gain armor and magic resist, you can slide over small walls and it reloads one shotgun round instantly. The cooldown is lowered by 0,5 seconds as well for every pellet that hits a non-minion target (this includes turrets, inhibitors, the nexus and champions). Spam it in teamfights to reposition yourself,increase your armor & magic resist and reload another shell at the same time. With as short a range as Graves has, this is a must-have ability.

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Drawing it quick Do not underestimate the power of True Grit. "Dashes in a direction, reloading one shell. For 4 seconds, Graves gains True Grit. Basic attack hits lower the cooldown of Quickdraw by 0,5 seconds per pellet and, against non-minions, also refresh True Grit. True Grit grants 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 Armor and Magic Resist (stacks up to 4 times)." This means a few things. For starters you can increase your armor every time you use quickdraw, before True Grit expires (4 seconds). Keep it stacked by attacking champions, turrets or inhibitors. Another thing this means is that, when you critically strike an enemy champion, with Infinity Edge, from point blank, you can lower the cooldown of Quickdraw instantly by 5 seconds. Here's a map of the possible wallhops with your E. It will only work for small walls as the range is 425. ........... ...........

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Collateral Damage

Your ultimate skill and a very effective one. It deals massive damage to everyone in a straight line. The damage explodes at the first target hit or at the end of the ability in a reverse cone for even more damage (although damage is reduced slightly in this particular part). You'll be knocked back when using it as well. So use it either as an execution, or to flee from enemies.

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Collateral Cone Damage Your range is longer than indicated due to the cone (collateral damage) at the end of the shell's range. The damage in this area is reduced slightly. The knockback is like Caitlyn's 90 Caliber Net. Here's a picture to show you how it works: ........... ...................... ........... ...........

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Graves Combo

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There's one combo that is the fastest and dishes out most damage in the shortest amount of time. You can use it to kill opponents and monster camps.

• You have three auto attacks instead of two
• Using End of the Line between your first and second shell resets your basic attack
• Using Quickdraw reloads one extra shell and resets your basic attack
• Standing point blank amplifies your combo significantly

Ideally you can shoot End of the Line against a wall, which explodes your damage instantly.


Against enemy champions from a distance:


This way you confuse the opponents by reducing their sight, which makes fighting him a whole lot easier. If you fail to execute the enemy with Collateral Damage, you probably won't kill him afterwards because of the knockback. So make sure the enemy is low enough.

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Full build example

Starting Items

This is a pretty straightforward ADC start. Doran's Blade helps you to sustain, take more damage and deal more damage yourself. A really good item for only 450 gold. We take the Stealth Ward to ward brush-camping supports in the laning phase or to prevent ganks when you push the lane.

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Items to Rush

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BASIC OK BASIC OK BASIC

If you're behind, you can go double Doran's Blade for better sustain and tankiness. This is for when you're obligated to hug your turret and are unable to farm very well. OK If you're doing good/alright, we rush Essence Reaver first. Even before your boots. You rely on your abilities so we take as much AD as we can get. The item also offers 10% cooldown and another 20% when you have at least 20% critical strike chance.(Crits also restore some mana). With abilities like Graves, we want as much cooldown as possible in order to be as efficient as possible. OK Next we buy our Nikes to kite more easily and to move more freely. Dodging skillshots will be a lot easier now when your Quickdraw is on cooldown. More about boots below.

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Attack Speed & Critical Chance

My build path contains an attack speed and critical chance item as your second major purchase. Some people go straight to Last Whisper or buy another B. F. Sword. This is possible when you can instantly burst your enemies all of the time, but it will slow down your CSing and they forget about the Essence Reaver synergy. As I prioritize last-hitting, I take this route. You have three options; my personal favorite is Statikk Shiv.

POSSIBILITIES:		PROS		CONS		EXPLANATION
		+ Bonus dmg + + 5% MS + Strong early/mid		- Not lategame		Statikk Shiv is my personal preference. It increases your burst with mixed damage and your waveclear will be godly. It's as very strong item in the early & mid game (Powerspike!). The bonus magic damage can critically strike (whenever Graves shoots 8 bullets, because he can't actually crit) and hits up to 5 targets.
		+ Nice stats + Reduces dmg + Strong late		- Costly - No extra dmg		Phantom Dancer is more of a niche item. The 12% reduced damage helps against assassins, if you're able to get at least one hit off. It has the best critical strike chance as well, which we need for our extra bullets. The movement speed bonus only counts when moving towards an enemy. Very interesting for someone with a low range, but with Quickdraw a bit unnecessary. I would rather have overall increased movement speed.
		+ + 8% MS + Extra range + Bonus dmg		- Low crit - 1 target		Rapid Firecannon is a very interesting item. Your range is increased at 100 stacks to up to 150% (637,5) and it deals bonus magic damage to the target you've hit first (which can't critically strike). As you shoot multiple bullets, the bonus range is really useful. If you feel safer with this item, by all means take it.

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Life Steal

		Against Assassins Bloodthirster is not to be rushed anymore, as the shield you get by stealing life at full health scales with your champion’s level. It’s still great mid to late game, you can get it as your third item when the enemy lacks tankiness instead of rushing Last Whisper or Infinity Edge when you're up against assassins. Build up the shield before a teamfight starts by damaging some minions or monsters.
		In Your Time of Need Vampiric Scepter can be built earlier on in games where you feel that you need that little extra lifesteal to survive teamfights. If you’re pretty confident about yourself, you can wait until you go for Bloodthirster to buy it.
		Against Tanks Blade of the Ruined King is kind of a niche pickup. for those games where a six-item tank (think Sion, Garen & Dr. Mundo) keeps on walking over you like it’s nothing and your team fails to help you out for some reason. It helps you kite with your short range, you shred their health and the life steal in’t all too bad. When there’s no tank to be shred, go for Bloodthirster and or a defensive item instead.

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Armor Penetration

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Only one option when you need to build against armor, and you should get it as your third item if an enemy champion with high amounts of armor is being a threat to you. Lord Dominik's Regards ignores 40% of your targets armor, which is huge! It also grants up to +15% bonus physical damage against enemy champions with greater maximum health than you (+1.5% damage per 50 health difference, maxing at 500 health difference). When you get this, teamfights will go much smoother for you and you'll be able to facemelt the initators. Only go for Mortal Reminder against Soraka.

OK OK

Defensive Items

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A R M O R

When you're facing a full AD team, which happens sometimes, there is only one item I like best. Dead Man's Plate gives you armor, health, movement speed for rotations and extra damage. A very good item overall. Remember to buy it ONLY when there's no magic damage to worry about. Sterak's Gage is actually incredibly strong on a marksman. It grants increased size, +25% additional base attack damage, and a rapidly decaying shield based of 30% maximum health for 8 seconds when taking 400 - 1800 (based on level) damage within 5 seconds. Great against any source of damage, with a damage buff.

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M I X O

Guardian Angel is a well-known and popular item. I must admit that I don't buy it that much, as when the active pops, you mostly die for real only a second later. It can be useful to draw attention away from you or buy some time for your team to come and save you. Get it when there's an equal threat from attack damage and ability power, and teamfights get really messy.

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M A G I C R E S I S T			Banshee's Veil is another great item. It will block a spell once every 45 seconds (if you're not taking any damage in that time window). It's great against initiators (i.e Unstoppable Force, Enchanted Crystal Arrow) and assassins Death Mark).
	Mkay
			Spirit Visage is not very popular amongst ADC's, although it is an item with 135% gold efficiency without its passive. You can buy it when an APC is really annoying, and there's no real dangerous, gamechanging spell you could block with Banshee's Veil. I only list it here because it amplifies your lifesteal as well.
	Mkay
	Mkay		Mercurial Scimitar is a very strong item. Buy it when Morgana keeps on binding you for those everlasting three seconds, over and over again, when Lissandra pops out of nowhere and freezes you with her Glacial Prison. It's great against suppressions ( Malzahar & Warwick) as well. You can get it against Zed to remove his Death Mark or Fizz's Chum the Waters. It also gives a great boost to your AD, lifesteal and a small speed boost when activated. You could get this as a third item when the enemy lacks tankiness but their CC is giving you hell.

OK OK

Boots

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BASIC OK BASIC OK BASIC

Berserker's Greaves are just standard issue boots for an ADC. They are pretty cheap and you’ll be auto attacking a lot faster. OK Mercury's Treads are actually quite viable. Not because of the MR they provide, but because of the tenacity, a very useful stat on a squishy, easy target as yourself. Get it when you're being locked down by CC way too often, rseulting in your death ( Morgana's Dark Binding). OK Ionian Boots of Lucidity to hit that 40 CDR. Some people prefer this over attack speed. Try it for yourself and see what works best.

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Enchantments

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SPACE SPACE

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OK OK OK OK

Enchantment: Furor are the go-to boots for those of you who love to kite. The speed boost will be super helpful in kiting and chasing. OK OK Enchantment: Distortion for when you want to have your Flash up more often. It also gives a speed boost when flashing. Recommended against assassins. OK OK Enchantment: Alacrity is good on all champions. You just walk faster, the whole time. It’s ok to have as an ADC, but I prefer Enchantment: Furor.

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Trinkets & Trinket Upgrades

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Trinkets
	This will be your starting totem in all of your games. It offers a safer laning phase and early vision control. Do not take any of the other trinkets.
	This one gains importance after the laning phase. A long ranged 1HP ward which is used to facecheck bushes and prevent nasty deaths, or follow opponents that run into bushes. Get it as soon as possible (level 9). You can throw it down every 59 seconds which is pretty damn nice.
	Sweeping Lens has its uses for supports & junglers. As an ADC you're much safer with a trinket which provides vision. If you do take it, it can be a smart idea to use it right before recalling at low health. The last thing you want is to be killed when you're standing on a ward with only 100 HP left.
	A great item for supports and junglers which can be upgraded out of the Sweeping Lens. The only reason you would pick it up as Graves is that it shows where stealthed people are walking. You can predict Vayne, Twitch, Shaco or Rengar this way when they go into camouflage.

Table of Contents
Dealing with enemy ADC’s			Support Synergy
Easy	Medium	Hard	Good	Medium	Bad
Ezreal Jinx Twitch Varus Vayne	Ashe Draven Kalista Kog'Maw Lucian Quinn Tristana Urgot	Caitlyn Corki Miss Fortune Sivir	Annie Blitzcrank Braum Karma Leona Morgana Nami Taric Thresh	Alistar Fiddlesticks Janna Brand Kayle Lulu Lux Sona Soraka Zyra	Nidalee Nunu Zilean
Skip to Gameplay

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Dealing with enemy ADC’s

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Difficulty

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Easy

Ezreal is not that big of a threat. You can block his Mystic Shot by standing behind your minions. His auto attack range not that huge so that’s pretty positive. Make him farm under his turret and this lane is won. Don’t get overconfident though, you don’t want him to get a kill and snowball. Ward the dragon area to prevent ganks.

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Easy

Jinx is actually quite easy, as long as your support is any good. Your burst is superior to her DPS and you should abuse this. Push the lane as hard as you can and poke her under the turret. Don’t forget to use your Stealth Ward to ward the dragon area. You can Quickdraw over her Flame Chompers!, but you have to be fast. There’s a small window in which you can’t be stunned when crossing them.

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Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat

Easy

Twitch is a sneaky lil’ fellow. Be careful of fake recalls and Ambush. You might get surprised and killed if you don’t pay attention. The trick is here to push again. Pushing always gives an advantage as long as you don’t get ganked and killed. Lategame he is stronger than you, so try to stay ahead of him at all times. He’s not a burst champion like you, so you should be able to handle him for most of the game.

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Easy

The main reason Varus is rather easy, is that his poke takes some time and you can easily sidestep it. With or without Quickdraw. As soon as you think he’ll use Chain of Corruption you should use your Quickdraw offensively to sidestep it and counter his attack. Your burst should be enough to win this lane.

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Easy

Vayne should be quite easy. Her early game is not that good so you can burst her at the early stages. She’ll condemn you if you get too close, so make sure you stay away from walls. It’s always a good idea to bring a Vision Ward after level 6. This way you can deny her stealth when going all-in (just don't forget to place it on the ground when she activates Final Hour).

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Medium

The reason Ashe not an easy opponent, is her 600 range. She can kite you with her Frost Shot and it will annoy you big time. The good news is that your burst is amazing. So at level 2-5 pressure up and make sure she has to lasthit at the turret. Be careful of her level 1. Focus + Volley + AA will chunk you to a third of your health. Make sure she hits her critical strike on a creep.

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Medium

You’re one of the few who can handle Draven. You both deal tons of damage, but your True Grit helps soak up some of his heavy Spinning Axe damage. You CANNOT let Draven take kills because of his passive, League of Draven. Kills will get him too far ahead if he’s any decent at catching axes. His axes leave a spot on the ground which is in your favor (to predict his movement). Last hit or harass while he’s walking towards that spot.

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Medium

The Kalista lane can go either way. Her attacks can infinitely stack. The more stacks you've got on you, the harder Rend will hit. She's also outranging you by far. You need to wait for your support or jungler to engage. You can't do it yourself or she'll punish you. If you do get ahead and get an early kill, you'll snowball too hard for her to handle. If you don't, wait for opportunities. If her support is less mobile, it can be a good idea to focus that one down instead of Kalista. You don't want Kalistato get ahead as it means getting bullied back to base every time you enter the lane.

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Medium

Kog'Maw is actually a pretty good marksman. He deals % maximum health as damage and can increase his range and attack speed with Bio-Arcane Barrage. Stay away when it's activated, you don't want that to melt you down. Keep in mind to run away when he died, or he can take you out with him. Prevent him from becoming a late game beast by pressuring up. You want an aggressive support for this lane.

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Medium

Lucian is good at all stages of the game, just like you. His passive gives him two shots, so try to trade when he used Piercing Light and doubleshoots minions. His Relentless Pursuit is works like your Quickdraw, but you gain an instant auto reset. This matchup depends entirely on the support when you’re both equally skilled.

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Medium

You rarely see Quinn bottom lane, but it can happen. Don’t underestimate her, she deals a lot of damage due to her passive, Harrier. Run back when you're tagged by Blinding Assault, or reply with your Smoke Screen (which works exactly the same). Go all in when she missed it. Be careful of her burst with Behind Enemy Lines + Skystrike and ability combo. If you can't dodge it, go all in and hope for the best.

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Medium

Your job is to stop Tristana from becoming a lategame menace. Your burst is superior in the earlier levels, make use of that. Two things to keep in mind: When she used her E on you, just run away to minimize the eplosive's damage. Don’t stand too near to minions, her Explosive Charge’s passive will whittle you down.

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Medium

Urgot is a rarely played champion, praise the lord! He’s annoying because of his passive, which reduces damage by 15% when you’re being attacked by him. To prevent this, be the initiator and combo him before you’re being debuffed. His range is 425 which is terrible, use this to your advantage, but avoid being locked-on by his Noxian Corrosive Charge. If you’re tagged he can spam his Q freely to up to 1200 range.

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Hard

Caitlyn is your worst nightmare. She’ll bully you out of the lane and there’s not much you can do about it. Her disengage keeps her safe when you want to go all in. Either start pushing super hard at level 1 or hug your turret until help arrives. Just try to stay even or ahead in farm and it’s k.

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Hard

Corki is one big pain in the @$$. His passive (true damage) completely nullifies yours. His poke is pretty good as well. And as soon as you guys hit 6 he’ll be spamming bombs on you. The problem is that when you engage, he’ll just Valkyrie to safety and start spamming poke on you again.

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Hard

Miss Fortune has a very good early game. Her Double Up hurts a lot especially when it bounces. Make sure it doesn’t bounce on you when she uses it on a minion by standing not too close to it. Don’t use Health Potions when she applied her grievous wound on you. You might want to wait for your jungler or a good opening before engaging. Sidestep Bullet Time with Quickdraw if you can.

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Hard

Sivir is really annoying to face. Her constant Boomerang Blade spam starts to hurt after a few times. Ricochet seems to bounce around endlessly as well, so avoid standing too close to your minions when she casts it. Try to avoid being hit twice by one boomerang shot. Save your Smoke Screen for her Spell Shield. The damage will be blocked but once she’s in the Smoke Screen, she will still be visually impaired.

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Support synergy

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Synergy

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Good

KILL LANE Annie literally is perfect for you. Together you have the most epic burst in the game. When she lands that tibbers, don’t hesitate and Quickdraw – End of the Line- Collateral Damage your enemy to the face and this is a guaranteed kill.

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Good

KILL LANE Blitzcrank is all about grabbing and bursting. Perfect for you! Together you have amazing synergy, as long as your blitzy can land those grabs. You two should go along fine.

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Good

KILL LANE Braum is the definition of a support. He has amazing CC and good damage with his passive Concussive Blows. Don’t forget to proc the stun though. You two should have a fun time together.

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Good

POKE LANE Although you’re not much of a poker, the synergy with Karma is really good. She has some alright CC and brings good utility to the table. Her damage is quite good as well. This should work out fine in most circumstances.

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Good

KILL LANE One of my favorite combos. Leona is a CC-monster and with her passive you guys can wreck faces. As soon as she hits level 2 you guys have to hard engage.

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Good

COUNTERENGAGE A really good combo. Morgana is in particular useful against hooks. Thresh and Blitzcrank are going to have a bad time if your Morgana is any good at timing her Black Shield. Her bind has a really long duration, which should be enough for you to approach those who are binded and give them your full combo.

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Good

ALL ROUND I really like Nami. She’s always a good pick against poke combos and has a lot to offer. Everything just feels good about her. Aqua Prison should net you a few kills as well when played right. A safe pick with good synergy and damage.

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Good

SUSTAIN / KILL LANE Taric and Graves used to be a notorious combo. They really have the best synergies. The only downside is that Taric is melee. That’s the reason you don’t see him much anymore. Think about the armor and burst you have together. Use it against AD-heavy bottom lanes.

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Good

KILL LANE Another amazing combo. Thresh has really good CC and can set up tons of kills for you. Your combined damage Is really high. He’s also quite safe due to his Dark Passage which can be used to make sick plays, or just for easy escapes. Don’t forget to right-click it.

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Medium

KILL LANE Laning with Alistar can go both ways. He’s definitely not good against a poke composition, so try to avoid that. He can however do some fancy combos and give you kills when given the opportunity. His sustain ain’t much, but really helps in the long run.

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Medium

POKE /KILL LANE Fiddlesticks is OK to have at your side. He can really whittle down the enemy’s health bar and hard engage afterwards. He has to go full AP with Sightstone to be useful. This makes him quite squishy though, so using him against Blitzcrank and Thresh is rather dangerous.

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Medium

ALL ROUND Janna is a true support. She offers something from everything and can be used against almost every matchup. She does lack the burst to have great synergy with Graves. You can never go wrong with her though.

GG

Medium

KILL LANE Brand is just like Annie. He offers a ridiculous amount of burst and kill potential. He also has a stun. The combination of your abilities is super-deadly. The downside again is that he's not very tanky and offers no survivability for his ADC. You can snowball quite hard with him if he doesn't get caught.

GG

Medium

SUSTAIN/POKE LANE You don’t see much Kayle in bottom lane, but it’s actually not that bad. She has quite the good poke and can heal you/speed you up as well. Her ultimate Intervention is priceless.

GG

Medium

POKE LANE Lulu helps you to survive with her shield and offers a lot of poke. She’s the reason you’ll be having a rather safe laning phase. Try to trade when pix is on your shoulder. You’ll do extra damage with your basic attacks.

GG

Medium

POKE/KILL LANE Lux works as a support. If she lands a binding, you can go all in and chunk their health away. Again, as with so many pokers, she’s really squishy and this makes it possible to backfire fairly easy. Her free barrier is useful though and the only reason she's not a "Bad" support.

GG

Medium

SUSTAIN/POKE LANE Sona has been a bit forgotten. She doesn’t really fit the meta we’re in. This being said, she does offer a lot of sustain and poke (especially early game). Together with her Crescendo she’s able to make big plays. The two of you do fine versus a poke lane.

GG

Medium

SUSTAIN LANE 100% sustain. Soraka is extremely useful versus poke lanes (a bit like the Sona lane), and in particular versus the Karma/ Caitlyn one. But that’s all she’s good for. Use her as a counterpick, not as a standard.

GG

deadly bloom

Medium

POKE/ KILL LANE Zyra is really good at poking down and hard engaging when she’s strangled an enemy. Her burst is really high and your combined abilities are almost a certain kill. Be careful, she’s really squishy and this lane can backfire hard.

GG

Bad

POKE/SUSTAIN LANE I really don’t like to see Nidalee when she’s besides me. She’s too much solo and you won’t even get much assists with her. She has 0 peel and can't protect you in major teamfights. A lot of them also do not build Sightstone, because they think traps are enough. If you do have one, repeat that she has to buy one until she does. You can also dodge the queue and lose 3 LP, instead of losing the lane/game and 20 LP.

GG

Bad

POKE/UTILITY LANE The main reason people play Nunu & Willump as a support is his Blood Boil. Sadly, Graves doesn't really synergize with that because of his shotgun. Nunu & Willump works much better with an attack speed-based marksman like Vayne. His Ice Blast will annoy your opponents a lot though.

GG

Bad

POKE LANE I don’t like Zilean that much because he falls off so quickly. His bombs are hard to hit so the Zilean you're playing with better be skilled at him. he does offer a stun when landing double bombs and a free Guardian Angel, which is awesome, but on a high cooldown. He's caught out easily though which can set you behind.

GG


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Early Game

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When going to your lane, you should be really fast. On the purple side you have to go defend the blue buff, on blue side you have to go defend the red buff (by standing in the tribrush). You can try to take first blood in this brush together with your jungler, midlaner and support, but if nobody walked into your trap at 1:25, go shoot your load on good ol' Gromp to support your jungler on his first clear. Upon reaching the lane, push as fast as possible, using End of the Line as smart as possible. This means last hitting and harassing at the same time with the same End of the Line. Arrange with your support that you go in as soon as you hit lvl 2 (should be after 10 minions). So ping your support to engage on the opponent just when you're about to kill the tenth minion. This way you can get the lead by injuring them and start pushing towards the turret and possibly even get a kill or a few summoners. If somehow the enemies hit lvl 2 before you, just back off out of range and let the wave push. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting every single last hit on the minions. You want to get ahead ASAP, or at least try to stay even in a tough lane. . . . .

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Mid Game

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After the first tier turrets have been destroyed, you should keep farming. If the enemies turret is still standing and yours is down, destroy it ASAP to even out the gold. If the middle turret is still standing, go there and try to take it as soon as you destroyed the bottom lane one. You can never stop farming as an ADC and as a late game menace, you should have the most farm on your team at all times. If you want to know whether you're doing good, try to aim for 80 cs every 10 minutes. Mid game is where skirmishes begin and fights start over Dragon. Make sure it's warded 24/7 because you don't want the enemies to take it unseen. Even if they take it and you have vision of it, you can time dragon (spawns after 6 minutes) and be ready for the next one. This is a good time to swap your Stealth Ward for a Farsight Alteration. You can read more below at the "Strategies" chapter, which elaborates on mid-game tactics.

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Late Game

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You should almost be full build. If you're not, go farm in an empty lane but make sure you put your trinket in a safe spot. Keep an eye on the minimap and an escape route planned out ahead to make sure you can farm safe without throwing anything away. Don't forget to swap your trinket when you have all of your items. Farsight Alteration has a huge range and it allows you to scout objectives and check bushes. Make sure Baron Nashor is warded 24/7 now and try to take it when their jungler shows himself at the other side of the map. Keep on pressuring the map now. If you can pick someone off on his own, punish that mistake by taking objectives. If you are splitpushing and the enemy decides to go for Baron Nashor, then try to think for yourself whether you can take the inhibitor while they're working down Nashor. Tell your team to poke them down, but to avoid engaging at all cost. I would rather get an inhibitor down at this stage than to get the baron buff at a high cost. In teamfights, either assassins or tanks will try to get to you. So stay back and watch which abilities are being used. You need protection. If your team fails to provide that, point it out. You're a carry, but you need help carrying. If your team engages ridiculously well, (Imagine Malphite + Orianna), shoot your Collateral Damage and End of the Line on top of that for freelo. Clean up afterwards.

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Laning Phase

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Laning phase is arguably the most important part of the game. This is where you will either get a lead, go even or get behind your opponent. All you have to do is focus on farming, not getting harassed/caught and wait for initiations of either your support or jungler. Be sure to ward the river and one of the brushes in bottom lane itself when their support is camping it. The key to winning is daring. For one, you need to dish out as many scratch hits as possible, without losing any CS. If the enemy comes close for a lasthit, hit him with an auto - Q - auto. Always stand in the opposite drection of their support, to avoid a counterattack. Another trick is to ping an all-in whenever their support is warding. If the other adc is too cautious, zone him away from minions and only lasthit while standing in front of the entire wave. Laning phase ends when one of the bottom lane turrets has been destroyed and the laners start rotating to the middle lane.

Choices:
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PROS

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CONS

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Turrethugging

+ Safe + Easy gank

- Lose CS - Lose XP

Because you either lose trades, just want to farm safely or get pressured by the enemy jungler. It's not a situation you want to be in, but sometimes you have no choice when you're being poked down.

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Freezing

+ Zone enemy + Get all xp/cs + Safe

- Lose HP

When you're ahead or win trades. You make sure enemy minions do NOT get hit by your turret. How? By tanking the minion damage when they're pushing, and by last hitting at the very last moment.

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Pushing

+ CS lead + XP lead + Free poke

- Easily ganked

When you're ahead/stronger. You make the enemy lose CS due to his turret. Unless he can lasthit really well you’ll gain an advantage. Prevent ganks by warding the jungle routes with this strategy. They won't be able to outtrade you because of the extra DPS of your caster minions.

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Splitpushing

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This strategy is for when you are behind (and your team sucks) in particular. Graves can deal massive damage to turrets, taking them down pretty fast. All you have to do is keep going bottom lane and push the wave when the enemy minions hit your side of the map. Keep pushing until you can start destroying an enemy turret. You really need good ward coverage to do this though. Fall back when the enemy disappeared from the map to hunt you down. I mainly start splitpushing if everyone starts dancing around the mid turret, and nothing really interesting happens. This is a waste of time and you could be taking objectives. You might think of this as playing too much solo, but trust me when I say that you have to carry yourself in soloqueue. This means that you'll leave your team 4v5 at your turret. They might be mad if you do this, but they'll stop trashtalking when you took 2 turrets and an inhibitor while only 2 of your teammates died. It's very important that your team tries to stop the enemies when they figured out what you're doing. This is referred to as "Stop the Ports". Ideally, you don't want to be in this situation as your teamfighting potential is too high. .

Tips:

• Have good ward coverage
• Communicate with your team
• Ignore trashtalk
• Help your team on the right moments

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Sieging

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Sieging means pushing down turrets while poking the enemy down. It's the easiest when you already have an advantage and the enemy is too scared to fight you head on. The best way to do this is gradually pushing the lanes until 2 of them have reached their respective turrets. You should always siege when you won a big teamfight. Don't recall when you're low, there's nothing to be scared of as long as they're dead. Killing Baron Nashor after you just destroyed a turret and an inhibitor is always a great plus, but be careful, as the enemy might have spawned already and knows what you're up to.
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THE 4 - 1 SIEGE . This siege requires two pushed lanes. One man goes top or bottom lane and the others push the middle lane. You disengage when there's 5 man defending mid, and go back in when they try to scare off the solopusher. If they split up evenly, you have to try to poke them down while you're working the turret.

THE 1-3-1 SIEGE . . . One man top, three man mid and one man bot. Works really well when there's two teleports. If not, you cannot engage or get caught midlane. So ward coverage and retreating is mandatory. You should rotate in between waves when doing this. If they engage with at least two people on any of the other lanes, dive them midlane if possible.

THE 5 - MAN SIEGE . . . A 5 - man Slam Dunk on a turret. If the enemy is caught off-guard you can even get two turrets for free. Do this when lanes are pushed and you see two enemies on the other side(s) of the map, or when you just killed a few enemies. . . .

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Positioning

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The hardest to learn, yet one of the most important skills to have when playing as an Attack Damage Carry. The whole point of playing ADC is putting out tons of damage, without being hit in return. Being in a good spot for this is super-important. There's three ways of positioning. . STAND BEHIND ME . Stand behind your team for protection. Those who want to kill you have to go through your team, which makes them an easy target. . . . . . . SNEAKY SNEAKY . Hide yourself behind a wall/in a brush. When a teamfight erupts you can surprise an enemy squishy and blow them up with your combo. Your skills can annihilate an enemy in less than one second. This is dangerous though so don't do this too much (your Flash should be up). FRONTLINE . You're fed, scary and ready to rumble. The other team is too weak to fight you head on and you show them you mean business. Don't get too full of yourself, you're still squishy. Only do this when you're stomping the enemy ridiculously hard. . .

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Kiting

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Another super-important skill which is really helpful when playing ADC, is kiting. It makes you look really pro as well. The trick is to walk in between each attack, every single time. As soon as you dealt damage, start walking, this way you do not only cancel the animation, but you can chase the enemy much faster as well. When you're being attacked, shoot, walk away, shoot, walk away and so on. Eventually you will have drained their health bar and you can start chasing the hunter. Attack moving is really helpful for that. You find a video here! If you did not yet develop this technique, go into a custom game and practice it ASAP. Practicing with a friend is not only much more fun, but offers more realistic situations as well.

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SPACE SPACE

This concludes my Graves guide! Thank you for reading it to the end. I really hope you like it and hopefully you learned something new.

Comments, improvements, and just nice conversations are always welcome in the discussion segment.

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A word of thanks To OwenTheAwesomer for updating my banner and Chapter headers! To the guides who are teaching people like me to develop their coding & writing skills! Have a look: Jhoi's How to make a guide Hawkken's BBCODEX IceCreamy's Columns Guide My own Table coding Guide X To Riot Preeti for the .gif, you can find it here. To everyone who upvoted and gave feedback on how I could improve my guide, I'll never forget this![/list] ........... ........... ........... 8th of July 2014 ...........

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