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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.

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."

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)
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	20 Damage
7m Search Range		15m Dash Range

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

20 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	+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)
Unearth a line of grasping hands, dealing spirit damage and applying immobilize to enemies when they pass through. Alt-Casting rotates the wall.
38s Cooldown	90 Damage
1.5s ImmobilizeDuration	14m Length

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.

38s Cooldown

90 Damage

1.5s ImmobilizeDuration

14m Length

Grasping Hands Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
+2s Duration	+0.75s Immobilize Duration	+15m Wall Length and -10s Cooldown

Tips for Grasping Hands

Grasping Hands is a fantastic zoning spell and has amazing synergy with Borrowed Decree. Make sure to place the wall in front of the Tombstone, to make players uncomfortable with engaging against you.

Essence Theft (3)
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 (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

Tips for Essence Theft

Essence Theft is a fantastic anti-carry tool as siphoning their Gun Damage and Spirit Resist can easily turn fights. Make sure to focus on frontliners especially as it reduces Melee Damage as well!

Borrowed Decree (4)
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	150 Damage
200 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
-20s Cooldown	+25% Ghoul Speed and +10s Duration	Explosions deal +5% Current Health damage. 3 Ghouls instantly spawn on-cast

Tips for Borrowed Decree

Borrowed Decree is the majority of Grave’s power so make sure to place it behind Veils or on top of Rooftops to really maximize Tombstone uptime.

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	1.6 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.
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.