Last Updated on March 12, 2024 by Asfa Rasheed
Intro:
Graves ARAM is one of the best early game lane pushers, especially with this build. Not only does grave’s kit make it easy to farm, but his kit also makes him able to chase down enemies if they are low on health or pushes them out of lane very quickly.
Items of Graves ARAM
Most players would purchase their boots first, sometimes even 2 of them if they started with either a Doran’s shield or flask+pots. They are buying their boots to compensate for the lack of speed shrines. After that, it depends on how you’re doing against the enemy team composition. If you are having trouble getting close enough to damage the en stacking armor, like Dead Man’s Plate and Randuin’s Om, en is probably your best option. You can also wait until you have ~2200g. Before rushing Warmogs because the passive you get from it will give you more health than you can get from any other item in the game. If you are killing the enemy team too quickly to deal with, you should start building damage, like buying 2 B.F. Swords, a Last Whisper. And a Bloodthirster by 20 minutes of they have ~3000 health.
Graves’s abilities are as follows:
Buckshot (Q):
Graves fires three bullets in a cone instead of one, dealing 40/50/60/70/80 (+1.4 bonus A.D.) physical damage with each bullet. These bullets cannot pass through terrain or structures. Enemies struck take 90% damage on the first bullet and 70% on subsequent shots.
End of the Line (E):
After 1 second, Graves fires a narrow missile that deals 60/110/160/210/260 (+0.8 total A.D.)(+1 A.P.) physical damage to all enemies it passes through. The missile stops upon colliding with terrain. Enemies hit are slowed by 20/25/30/35/40% for 2 seconds.
Quickdraw (W):
Passive:
Grants up to 50/60/70/80/90% Attack Speed and 10% Movement Speed while out of combat, based on missing health.
Active:
Upon activation, Graves dashes forward a short distance. That short distance is increased if he is currently immobilized. If the dash completes successfully, Graves gains 30/50/70/90/110% Attack Speed for 3 seconds. It also gains 15% more Attack Speed per enemy champion within 400 units of his destination area.
Smoke Screen (R):
Graves fires a smoke canister dealing 60 (+1.2 per bonus attack damage) in a 150-radius area of effect. Enemies inside the smoke cloud are slowed by 50% and suffer 20/28/36 (+0.04 per ability power).
Tips for using abilities of Graves ARAM:
Graves is one of those champs that have fascinating abilities, but they are often misused.
Buckshot’s cone:
Buckshot’s cone detects enemies hit, not heroes hit. Use it at point black on only one hero. You will likely never get another shot off since caster units usually have priority over auto attackers for items like archangel staff/Morellonomicon/Locket for mana sustain reasons.
Graves’s E:
Graves’s E can be cast twice if timed right, and the first cast will come back up after the cooldown. You can use it to hop over walls if you are close enough to the edge or blink aggressively and avoid getting hit by roots/stuns as long as you keep track of its cooldown and time your dash well.
Use of Dash Q:
Dash Q can be used as a ranged minion/dragon/baron kill command with red buff on him, so he is not reliant on auto attacks that much late game. Even though it’s melee range, you do not need that many items for this combo, probably just one defensive stat item like tabi early on and then finish your boots around level 9-10)-
Make sure to use your E before using Q if you want both abilities to come up simultaneously.
End of the Line
End of the Line has a very low cooldown, so feel free to spam it as much as possible without putting yourself in danger. The only thing holding this ability back is its mediocre base range and lack of multiple charges like Lucian’s E. You can also run away from many fights just by dashing past people until cooldowns come back up since it’s challenging to catch a Graves who’s already low on health.
Smokescreen:
Smokescreen is useless if you don’t have someone with CC or lots of damage in your team. It does not do enough damage before level 6-7 to make the mana cost worthwhile. The only exception is when enemies are stupid enough to group up in it, but Malphite Ulti, Vi Q, etc.
Read more: Featuring the best smite gods, powers, abilities, and more.
Runes of graves ARAM
In general, A.D. reds and quints, armor yellows, MREs blues, and A.P. or A.D. or hybrid glyphs. 10-19% CDR depending on your champion nine flat M.R. blues if they have a fed assassin mid (looking at you, Talon). Most people run full A.D. marks because of the early snowball potential of the Aram mode. Sometimes you’ll see open spots as well due to a lack of other options.
Item Build for graves Aram :
There isn’t a “standard” Graves build that is most effective in every situation. It all depends on how you’re doing against the enemy team composition. If they have a lot of magic damage dealers, then a Ruby Crystal into a blasting wand will give you a lot of health to get close and deal damage. Still, if they have a lot of physical damage dealers, then getting three health potions, two wards, and a ruby crystal is probably going to be your best bet at surviving until you get your B.F. sword.
Graves ARAM masteries
Gain 9/21/0 with points in Fury instead of Sorcery. Might even consider 9/0/21 just for improved ghost / smite / baron buff duration because you still want to try and play it safe. While still being relevant in team fights. You can put 1 point into Cripple if you’re feeling incredibly confident in your ability to dodge skill shots, but it’s not recommended.
Summary:
Graves is an ARAM which might not be very popular in ARAMs due to his lack of crowd control and unconventional abilities. But he’s an extreme pick if played correctly. Players should look up some Graves ARAMs on Youtube to understand how his skills work in the chaos of an all-random game and then try him for themselves.