Mathmatically Correct Graves (Annotated)

by Dark Gorp32v11Updated 7/12/2026In-Game

Use this build in-game

Build ID: 654044 - copy and import it in the Deadlock shop

Description

Her zombies are crazy. Skulls are a psyop and should never ever be treated like your main damage source ever. Gun is super dead you should basically build nothing for it now unless those things directly help your spirit. Thoughts below the build.

Skill Path

Recommended ability leveling order for this build

Mort en bocal

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Mains d'outre-tombe

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Vol d'essence

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Clause mortuaire

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#Citadel_HeroBuilds_EarlyGame

Mostly l-r, Green directly before or after gun spike.8 items

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My thoughts on Graves:

I think most people build and play graves wrong. Been maining graves for a while and am super into theory crafting builds, this is one that I made as soon as they buffed her zombies and gave the zombie spawn on her 2 back. I noticed that both the grab from her 2 and the zombies it spawns to an insane amount of burst damage, way more than anything the skulls can put out. If we build into these with the intention of doing massive burst damage we can get a lot more use out of graves than we would if we built for her skulls. PUTTING ECHO SHARD ON SKULLS IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST MISTAKE MOST BUILDS MAKE. Seriously, the utility from having it on your 2 is genuinely unmatched. Cast, echo shard, alt cast, and you have an insane amount of ground covered. The damage just from your grab is enough to take off a quarter of a lot of heroes health, having 2 down makes it all the more likely the you get this off. Your zombies also deal a ton of damage and are a threat the enemy team has NO CHOCIE but to deal with. You can be a DPS carry with graves if you have the build right. I end most of my games with top 1 or 2 most player damage in the lobby, even in games I get super pubstomped in. I'm not the best player in the world by any means, but I do have full faith in this build, especially in the hands of people better than me.0 items

#Citadel_HeroBuilds_Lane

Arcane surge is crazy and everyone needs to be building it on graves. Rushing it in lane gives you a power spike before the enemy has their second item. We want all the stats it gives you on every skill graves has, and since we are playing around long cooldowns we want those skills to be as strong as possible when we are able to cast them. When surged your 2 can cover and entire lane, meaning that you have instant wave clear and wave prio always. Plus now you have a big AOE that the enemy needs to play around. People really want to dive on graves since her gun is weak and her skulls actually suck and don't do damage, having extra stam early and a huge 2 means that you are able to prevent dives and get out of them when they do happen. Using it on your ULT is also huge, the zombie AOE becomes massive and the extra duration means that you have time to go do other things while it's up. The Enemy HAS to deal with it, which means that while they take the time to do that you can do a box run, or take a sinners, or clear a camp, or dive someone, or leave to gank. Whenever you throw it down you give yourself a lot of time to go do important things that build tempo. Or it means your lane partner has time to go do those things and you are safe from being dove by the enemy laners. It is such an important item in your kit, and Arcane Surge is the key to it all. Without it you have less time and worse your zombies do less damage and the enemy can just face tank the damage and dive you when you're alone. 0 items

Item Philosophy

You can L-R a lot, but it's better if you don't. Arcane Surge, extra spirit, and mystic burst are basically always my first 3 items I pick up because they make your zombies a threat that need to be delt with (which is what makes graves powerful) But after that I start to item a bit looser depending on the game. You generally want your spirit spike so Mystic Vuln is often the next pick, but not always. Compress cooldown, or tank buster, or Rusted Barrel and Improved spirit, spirit sap are all good and valid ways to get to that spike. It depends on the match up and the game and my mood. After spirit it gets really loose. Greens are often a prio, enchanters emblem keeps tempo when you're winning and helps keep you alive when you're loosing. Spirit lifesteal is a required item since it builds into Spiritual Overflow (more on that later) and spirit resilence is super super important for keeping you alive. After you get it you don't have to worry so much about getting dove. But gun is also super important. Sometimes going mystic shot into Tankbuster before greens can help keep you a threat, and heroic aura is a very strong item, or pairing Spirit Shredder Bullets with Spirit Lifesteal is a good way of keeping sustain. It's up to you to think about what you need most going into midgame. Tempo is everything, and Graves is one of the best characters to help maintain tempo, so you it's your job to look at the enemy tean, and your team, and choose what combo of items will help maintain tempo. Sometimes it'll be playing more support, sometimes it'll be rushing Mystic Reverb or Echo Shard, or sometimes it'll be just cool down reduction so you can be more present on the map because oh my god why are we taking a fight when we have 3 waves pushed up on us i need to be in four places at once I guess I'll throw my ult down near the teamfight and then put my 2 on a wave and then go clear a different one. That kinda thing.0 items

Do your chores

Graves is the chores character. You need to do them. You need to be the person pushing up waves and keeping things in a good place for your team, because other people aren't going to do their chores, and you're really good at doing them. Your ult and zombies create instant pressure anywhere on the map and make it so someone needs to stop doing whatever they were doing to come deal with you. You don't need to hover on your ult, it's very ok to set it and foreget it. If there are chores that need to be done but a teamfight on rift go throw your cooldowns on it then leave to go do the chores that someone needs to do. If your ult and 2 are out during rift you already have a huge amount of influence on the fight and don't need to physcially be there if there are chores that need to be done. Not saying you shouldn't be there for teamfights, just that you can have impact on them without being in them, and sometimes it might be better to have impact in two places at once. Not always though. Use your head.0 items

Seriously, do not use your skulls as your main source of damage.

Skulls are a psyop. Basically every graves I've played against who run spirit try and make skulls their damage source, and it's a bad idea. Skulls are too easy to deal with if you know how. Gun characters shoot them, and everyone else can melee them. It's best to think of them like a very Strong DoT. Good for chip, but you shouldn't try and use them everything. The power of your zombies isn't just in the higher burst damage, it's the threat they have just by existing and waddling around. Enemies can't even clear a wave mindlessly if you threw your 2 down and now there are 2 zombos waddling with the troopers. In team fights it's an extra thing on the mental stack for the enemy, and often they will be too distracted with your team to pay attention to them and will just take free damage. Or they have to look away from your team for a second to deal with one, and that is often the difference between someone living or dying. It's a huge deal, and not something the skulls can do. Your 2 is crazy damage, and placing it well and playing around it is the big skill expression on Graves. If someone gets grabbed it's DAMAGE not just CC. Even if your zombies don't explode on them it's very significant damage. Please do not use your 2 like pure area denial and CC, it is the damage cornerstone of your kit.0 items

Farming

Use your 2 to farm also, your 1 is a resource and not something your should spend on a t1 or t2 camp. Alt cast your 2 and line it up so it takes out more than one goober on the camp at once, let your zombies help take out the remaining goobers and melee and shoot them. Use your skulls if they're full on charges or you're in a big rush, but try and always have at least 2 charges going into a fight. 0 items

Room Left to optimize

Cooldown is something that is super needed on graves, but is a little hard to find the right time to buy. So many other items are big priorites. I often end up getting it pretty late into the game, but I think it's probably at its best during midgame. But during midgame usually you really are looking for your powerspike with Reverb, or EE, or Echo Shard. Maybe getting it before Overflow? But that item is also high prio from the bonus spirit and duration that it gives, but getting CDR before might be the only real place it fits in semi-gracefully. It's kinda weird because your cooldowns are in a middle point where it's very easy to get away with not getting CDR, but when your don't have your cooldowns you are suuuuuuper weak and it feels really bad. You can usually have your ult up when major fights are happening, but when you don't you kinda just look at CDR and go "dang if I got that I would've had the cooldowns that would've won the fight." But also then you wouldn't have, like, some other major item and maybe it wouldn't have even mattered if you did have your cooldowns ready? Room to optimize for sure.0 items

Mathmatically Correct Graves (Annotated)

Description

Skill Path

#Citadel_HeroBuilds_EarlyGame

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Lane Options

Green

Mid-Late Game

Purple Alternatives

Green Alternatives

Situational

Gun Alternatives