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DeadlockDeadlock Graves Guide and Overview

In this Deadlock Graves guide, you’ll learn the fundamentals of their abilities, unique play styles, and fundamental tips.

Graves's hero tags are: Morbid, Area Denial, and Necromancer.

Voice Actor: Unknown

Deadlock Graves Overview

Graves is an attrition and control mage, similar to Victor, that has an immense teamfight presence with plenty of AoE damage and tools.

Positioning is very important as Grave’s potency relies on good placement of her Grasping Hands and Borrowed Decree.

She is excellent for fighting for objectives and sieging the base!

From the Steam page:

"The dead have been making a whole lot of demands lately, and only Graves has the courage to oblige. That severed lich hand she found in the cemetery has proven itself a valuable ally, allowing her to latch onto her enemies and steal their power for herself. Her curiosities about the passage of life are further put to use with Jar of Dead, collecting the remains of the fallen, shaking them up, and throwing them back at her enemies to grant those remorseful spirits a final shot at revenge. With Grasping Hands she strikes a deep crack in the earth, allowing those down below to grab onto enemies' ankles and stop them from escaping her reach. And when all else fails, a Borrowed Decree will summon the dead to fight alongside her. - Death is coming."

Lore

The daughter of high-power defense attorneys, Darcy Graves grew up in a home where every conversation was a debate, argument, or negotiation. It was exhausting. But while her parents were often too busy meeting with clients or working on cases to bond with her, the dead were always there to listen.

Graves enjoyed her time in the cemetery. It was a quiet place to calm her thoughts and talk through her problems...but one day her one-sided conversations started to change.

It began with a faint whisper. A woman's voice that seemed to respond to Graves' complaints. Intrigued, the teenager listened...and followed the voice's instructions until it guided her to a lead-lined box buried in Van Cortlandt Park. But while most high school students would freak out if they were to unearth a severed lich hand, Graves was certainly not most teens. The hand now free of its prison, the lich's voice grew stronger... It had spent years looking to find a student she could pass her knowledge to, and Graves was eager to learn.

Now a fledgling necromancer, Darcy balances not only her homework at Blackmore Academy...but the demands of graveyard denizens, each of whom have their own unfinished business that they seek her aid in resolving.

Strengths And Weaknesses Summary

  • Super easy to pick-up and play, her auto-aim gun is very forgiving with securing souls and fighting other players. 
  • Amazing Objective and teamfight character, such as the Mid-Boss or Urn. Being able to place buildings and summons makes having impact very accessible and easy.
  • Very good synergy with multi-hitting items such as Split Shot and Toxic Bullets.
  • Very weak in the laning phase and low stats in general, so can be punishing when behind.
  • Low mobility, so has a much harder time when behind in map control and souls.
  • Very Limited Window of opportunity as Graves is best during the Mid Game but has a very awkward laning phase and gets outscaled to more traditional carries in the Late Game.

Deadlock Graves Abilities

Underlined = Scales with Spirit

Jar of Dead (1)

jar of dead

Passive: Collect death when anything dies nearby and store it in your Jar of Dead.

Active: Throw a jar to summon Deadheads that repeatedly deal spirit damage to enemies.

Deadheads follow you instead if there's no nearby enemies, and prioritze the target of your weapon.

15s Cooldown

4 Deadheads

16 Damage

7m Search Range


15m Dash Range

Jar of Dead Upgrades

1 AP

2 AP

5 AP

Collecting death heals 5 heal per pickup.

On Hit: Apply 30% Slow for 1s, +4s Duration

+2 Deadheads. Deadheads now triger Essence Theft.

Tips for Jar of Dead

  • The Jar of Dead is amazing for farming and to annoy characters especially Gun Carries as they need to waste time dealing with the skulls so prioritize throwing it on characters like Wraith or Infernus.

Grasping Hands (2)

Grasping hands

Unearth a line of grasping hands, dealing spirit damage and applying immobilize to enemies when they pass through.

Alt-Casting rotates the wall.

34s Cooldown

90 Damage

1s ImmobilizeDuration

14m Length

Grasping Hands Upgrades

1 AP

2 AP

5 AP

+2s Duration

90 Damage and +10m Wall Length

+0.75s Immobilize and +1 Ghouls Summoned, Reduces CDs by 14s

Tips for Grasping Hands

  • Grasping Hands is a fantastic zoning spell. Use it alongside your Ult, Borrowed Decree, to stop enemy engages. It can also be placed on objectives like the Spirit Urn and the Mid-Boss jewel to threaten a kill.
  • Grasping Hands is a decent wave-clearing tool. Make sure to use Alt-Casting to line it up with the creep wave.
  • Echo Shard can be used to immobilize enemies inside two walls.

Essence Theft (3)

Essence Theft

Your weapon steals weapon damage and spirit resist over time, up to a maximum amount per target.

4s Cooldown

25% Max Weapon Damage Stolen

10% Max Spirit Resist Stolen

3 Max Steal Targets


4s Time for Max Damage

Essence Theft Upgrades

1 AP

2 AP

5 AP

+5% Max Spirit Resist Stolen

+20% Max Weapon Damage Stolen

Weapon can attach to an additional target, Max Steal Targets - 4

Tips for Essence Theft

  • Essence Theft's passive makes Graves deceptively tanky against gun-based heroes.
  • Essence Theft can turn fights, as it reduces enemy stats. Make sure to target frontliners and carries.

Borrowed Decree (4)

Borrowed Decree

Create a gravestone at a target location that summons ghouls over time. Enemies can destroy the gravestone with two heavy melees.

Ghouls shamble towards the enemy base, dealing melee damage. They explode when they approach a hero or objective, dealing spirit damage in an area and applying a brief slow.

16s Duration

5s Time to Summon

125 Damage

180 Summon Health

40 Melee Damage

-80% Move Speed

20s Summon Lifetime

1.25s Slow Duration

6.5m Explosion Radius

Borrowed Decree Upgrades

1 AP

2 AP

5 AP

-15s Cooldown and +25% Ghoul Speed

0.3s Time to Spawn and +10s Duration

Explosions deal +6% Current Health damage.

Tips for Borrowed Decree

  • This ability applies a lot of pressure both in the laning phase and team fights, and the enemy team will want to take down Borrowed Decree as fast as possible. You can use it as bait or to lure enemies away from objectives.
  • You can stand inside the Tomb and parry enemy melee attacks against it.
  • Maximize Borrowed Decree uptime by placing behind Veils or on Rooftops.

Graves Build Guide

Check out best starter build for Graves

Deadlock Graves Weapon Stats

DPS

41

Bullet Damage

4

Ammo

40

Bullets per Second

9.8

Light Melee

50

Heavy Melee

116

Deadlock Graves Vitality Stats

Max Health

700

Health Regen

1

Bullet Resist

0%

Spirit Resist

0%

Move Speed

6.6 m/s

Sprint Speed

2.2 m/s

Stamina

2

How to Counter Graves

  • Graves has a very hard time getting engaged upon as they require time and set-up to truly get value. Make sure to focus Graves in teamfights!
  • With a very limited gun range and low stats, make sure to zone the Graves in lane and play long ranges. Characters like Haze and Vindicta or Grey Talon especially excel against her.
  • Jar of Dead's Skulls can be destroyed with a quick melee attack. They drop Souls when broken.
  • Make sure to start fights away from important zones such as the Mid-Boss Pit or the Urn Deposit to force her cooldowns. The tombstone cannot move!running away is a viable and smart option.