Deathy's Fully Annotated Graves Build

Author's notes

Building spirit on Graves early mostly sucks. She is a debuff hero that scales. Don't try to be too active early, mostly focus on pressuring lanes and showing up to objectives. You are an AREA CONTROL HERO.

Item categories

1. 1Lane

   Author's category · 7 items · Left to right, can go 1 green item before Active Reload if lane is hard.

   1. 1

      Restorative Shot

      Try to always hit heroes off cooldown, can't miss it. By far the best laning item on Graves.

   2. 2

      Active Reload

      This allows you to take longer trades which is exactly what Graves wants to take advantage of her Essence Theft.

   3. 3

      Extra Health

      Allows you to take longer trades and not get bursted

   4. 4

2. 2Situationaloptional

   Author's category · 4 items

   1. 1

      Rebuttal

      Good if they melee your tombstone often

   2. 2

      Healing Rite

      buy if you are very hurt

   3. 3

      Heroic Aura

      This is great if they have a lot of gun damage and also if you want to amplify your skull's damage. Best if you go Echo Shard later.

3. 3Mid game

   Game stage · 7 items · Generally left to right, but prioritize what you need. Pick up some defensive items on the right earlier if needed.

   1. 1

      Duration Extender

      Duration also good, works with active reload, all of your abilities, as well as toxic/inhib/etc.

   2. 2

      Superior Duration

      Built from Duration Extender

   3. 3

      Bullet Lifesteal

      Allows you to take longer trades

4. 4Mid-Game Defenseoptional

   Author's category · 4 items · Warp stone best if you can

   1. 1

      Warp Stone

      The preferred defensive option as it allows you to keep debuffing people easily and keep your movement unpredictable.

   2. 2

      Dispel Magic

      Great against debuffs or disarm

   3. 3

      Counterspell

      Good vs heavy burst predictable abilities (lash, yamato, pocket, etc.)

5. 5Once you have inhibitor

   Author's category · 5 items · Situational, pick what you need

   1. 1

      Silencer

      Great vs spell dependent heroes, if not an issue prioritize leech/ricochet

   2. 2

      Leech

      Built from Bullet Lifesteal

   3. 3

      Spellslinger

      Good replacement for Active Reload once you are slot locked

   4. 4

6. 6Late Defense

   Author's category · 4 items

   1. 1

      Spellbreaker

      Incredibly strong item - would probably buy most games if it's 30+ mins. Can completely shut down certain heroes and give Debuff Resistance.

   2. 2

      Unstoppable

      Almost mandatory if game is 40+ mins. Incredibly good for mid boss fights.

   3. 3

      Divine Barrier

      Good if you're a bit weaker and more supportive or need to remove certain ultimates (i.e. Pocket Ult)

7. 7Super Mega Late Situational

   Author's category · 2 items

   1. 1

      Refresher

      Only buy if this can win you the next fight which would win the game (ex: mid boss fight wins the game)

   2. 2

      Metal Skin

      Usually not needed, but if getting melted by a weapon damage hero, good buy

Categories appear in the author's order. Only the editor's default Early, Mid and Late sections are marked as game stages; the author's own categories keep their names. “Built from” links come from the game's item recipes.

Published ability order

Published ability order: unlocks and upgrades in the author's order, one row per ability in slot order

Jar of DeadJar of Dead	Jar of Dead: Ability unlocked, step 1		Jar of Dead: 1 AP upgrade, step 31		Jar of Dead: 2 AP upgrade, step 52