Graves Guide: Playing the Current Win Rate Leader

Graves Guide: Playing the Win Rate Leader

Graves is the hero at the top of the live win rate board: 56.7% across 511,133 tracked matches at the latest snapshot. That is not a small-sample fluke. He is played a lot, and he wins a lot. This guide covers what makes him work and how to get value out of him in the current patch.

Why Graves wins

The core of Graves’ strength is the boon economy. Boons are the per-match growth system in Deadlock: you earn them over the course of a game, and each hero converts them into stats. Graves converts boons into health efficiently, and the September 16 patch raised that conversion from 33 health per boon to 35. That is a meaningful durability increase on a hero that already sits at high win rates.

A durable mid-to-late game core matters in the current meta because the comeback gold rework rewards teams that stay in the game and take smart fights. Graves can absorb damage long enough for his team to trade into the late game, where his scaling takes over.

Graves vs the rest of the S tier (live snapshot)

Hero	Win Rate	Tracked Matches	Tier
Graves	56.7%	511,133	S
Victor	56.4%	445,039	S
Seven	54.8%	466,890	S
Paige	54.3%	449,262	S
Kelvin	54.0%	254,572	S
Ivy	53.8%	400,782	S

Graves leads the board, but the gap to Victor is only 0.3 percentage points across a similar match volume. The S tier as a group is tight: five heroes sit between 53.8% and 56.7%. Pick the one that fits your role; the win-rate differences inside S tier are smaller than the difference between S tier and the rest of the board.

Ability priorities

While exact numbers shift with patches, the general priority is:

1. Keep your primary damage tool leveled first. Graves’ damage comes from consistent sustained output, and early levels in his core damage ability set up lane control.
2. Take mobility or defensive utility second. Being able to escape bad engages is what turns 50/50 fights into wins.
3. Max the fight-enabling ability last, but never skip it. Utility that sets up your team is what wins the late game.

The patch notes page has the full September 16 change list for context on how abilities shifted.

Boon and economy strategy

Because Graves gets more health per boon than most heroes, your build should lean into being hard to kill rather than glass-cannon burst:

• Prioritize survivability items that multiply the health you already generate.
• Do not skip economy items. Graves needs to stay in the game; farming well early lets you reach the scaling window.
• Watch the comeback gold. With the rework, falling behind is not automatically a loss, but you should still avoid feeding early, because the new system rewards teams that farm back efficiently.

Positioning in team fights

Graves is not a pure backline hero. His win rate comes from being in the fight long enough to outlast the enemy’s cooldowns:

• Front-line carefully. Use your durability to draw enemy abilities, then step out before focus fire lands.
• Peel for your carry when behind. The boon health makes you a natural bodyguard.
• Take objectives over kills. Deadlock is won through objectives; Graves’ sustained damage is excellent at melting Patron and guardians when the lane is clear.

What to watch after the patch

The win rate board recomputes twice a day. If Graves’ win rate drifts after the September 16 changes settle, check the tier list and stats pages for the updated numbers. The meta report guide explains how to read the live data and what the tier thresholds mean.