The game developers are at last acting in patch 12.13, which surprisingly helps AD carry Graves more than anything else.
Eclipse Changes
After the Durability Update, Riot Games had originally intended to roll out assassin buffs in patch 12.11, but they decided against it because they needed more time to compare assassin items to fighter items.
Although the balance team stated in their patch notes that assassins “currently do a balanced amount of damage with lethality items,” the class is still generally weaker than they had anticipated for post-patch 12.10.
This time, instead of boosting specific champions, they adopted a “non-traditional approach” by giving lethality Mythic items bonus movement speed, which should deter bruiser and tank itemizations.
- Ranged damage proc decreased from 6% max health to 3% max health
- Mythic passive bonus for legendary items changed from 4% Armor penetration to 4% Armor penetration and 5 move speed (same for Ornn Masterwork item, Syzygy)
Mythic Assassin items Prowler’s Claw and Duskblade of Draktharr also received an overall five-move speed boost, but only Eclipse received a nerf to ranged damage procs.
How Graves is passively buffed
However, it does generally improve Graves’ lethality. Nick “LS” De Cesare, a League of Legends analyst and content creator described an earlier build for lethality Graves that saw him use Relentless Hunter and Youmuu’s Ghostblade, which he would activate to engage opponents.
By doing so, he avoided having to spend money on boots and filled that item slot with even more lethality. He can go back to this initial bootless build with Youmuu’s and go full lethality, which packs a punch, now that Eclipse grants move speed with every legendary item in patch 12.13.
His most popular build in the current meta is still Eclipse, but it is now combined with other AD carry weapons like Black Cleaver and Infinity Edge. Graves, a jungle and top lane player, hasn’t been well-liked since receiving a number of nerfs at the conclusion of Season 11, and according to U.GG, his solo queue win rate has fallen below 50% in Season 12.
In the pro-play, he is holding a poor 47% win rate with a really low presence.
