Heartsteel Graves Build

Heartsteel Graves Build.

Heartsteel Graves build with runes and items. Heartsteel Graves guide offers in-depth how-to play, skill order and tips. Play Heartsteel Graves build in League of Legends Patch 26.4!

Author: Wrekah

TLDR

Starting items
Giant's Belt should be final item in your build.
Ruby Crystal should be final item in your build.
Quick Skill Order
Graves ability Quickdraw should be leveled first.
E
Graves ability End of the Line should be leveled second.
Q
Graves ability Smoke Screen should be leveled third.
W
Final items
Mercury's Treads should be final item in your build.
Heartsteel should be final item in your build.
Warmog's Armor should be final item in your build.
Thornmail should be final item in your build.
Kaenic Rookern should be final item in your build.
Overlord's Bloodmail should be final item in your build.
Quick Runes
Major rune Grasp of the Undying from Resolve tree.
Minor rune Precision.
Summoner spells
Pick Mark as your Summoner Spell.
Pick Flash as your Summoner Spell.

Heartsteel Graves Runes

Resolve
Resolve major tree Grasp of the Undying rune.
Resolve major tree Aftershock rune.
Resolve major tree Guardian rune.
Resolve major tree Demolish rune.
Resolve major tree Font of Life rune.
Resolve major tree Shield Bash rune.
Resolve major tree Conditioning rune.
Resolve major tree Second Wind rune.
Resolve major tree Bone Plating rune.
Resolve major tree Overgrowth rune.
Resolve major tree Revitalize rune.
Resolve major tree Unflinching rune.
Precision
Precision minor tree Absorb Life rune.
Precision minor tree Triumph rune.
Precision minor tree Presence of Mind rune.
Precision minor tree Legend: Alacrity rune.
Precision minor tree Legend: Haste rune.
Precision minor tree Legend: Bloodline rune.
Precision minor tree Coup de Grace rune.
Precision minor tree Cut Down rune.
Precision minor tree Last Stand rune.
Passive
Passive tree Adaptive Force rune (+9 Adaptive Force).
Passive tree Attack Speed rune (+10% Attack Speed).
Passive tree Ability Haste rune (+8 Ability Haste).
Passive tree Adaptive Force rune (+9 Adaptive Force).
Passive tree Move Speed rune (+2 Movement Speed).
Passive tree Health Scaling rune (+10-180 Health (based on level)).
Passive tree Health rune (+65 Health).
Passive tree Tenacity And Slow Resist rune (+10 Tenacity and Slow Resist).
Passive tree Health Scaling rune (+10-180 Health (based on level)).

Optional Summoner Spells

Mark

Mark

Mark (Snowball) for a go-in tool if you want to be more aggressive and make picks.

Exhaust

Exhaust

Defensive option. Exhaust for peeling against enemy divers and assassins and protecting your carries.

Ignite

Ignite

Offensive option if you are feeling spicy. Grievous Wounds + some damage. Good in early fights and you can score some kills, but reduces your going-in potential. Especially later.

Optional Runes

Presence of Mind

Presence of Mind

Triumph is better overall (heal + gold), but if you want to have easier time with your mana, go Presence of Mind.

Looking for another tank build? Check these:
ThornmailGravesTankGraves

How it works

  1. You play Heartsteel Graves.
  2. You rush Heartsteel #1 and stack as much HP as possible.
  3. You build items that scale and benefit from HP, then add Armor and MR depending on the enemy team.

Playstyle

  1. 💪

    Rush Heartsteel and get tons of HP.

  2. ⚔️

    Auto attack to get stacks - your HP depends on it.

  3. 🧰

    Adapt your tank items to what the enemy team is throwing at you.

How to play

Heartsteel Graves

  1. Graves' Quickdraw (E) grants bonus Armor per stack and 50% of that Armor as bonus Magic Resistance. Dashing forward toward enemies (Quickdraw (E)) grants DOUBLE stacks.
    • So sometimes using E aggressively can be defensive tactic to get more tanky.
    • Also you don't need to directly Quickdraw (E) into enemy team, you can do it a little bit to the side (so it is safer) or towards isolated enemy as well.
  2. Auto-attacks refresh Quickdraw (E) stack duration, so maintain stacks by attacking champions.

Getting started

  1. You rush Heartsteel.
  2. Guardian's Horn is a surprisingly good item for its price. You can keep it for a very long time (or even have it as 6th item).

Item Order

  1. Item Order after Heartsteel is flexible. You need to see what you need in particular game:
    • Get Overlord's Bloodmail for more damage and AD.
    • Get Warmog's Armor as anti-poke item (helps you stay in lane) and for some sweet HP.
    • Get Unending Despair, if there are prolonged fights in which you can stay near enemies (or enemies near you). The items gets better, the more HP you get.
    • Get various Armor and/or MR items to counter enemy team.
    • Get Titanic Hydra for more fun, more damage and some survivability.

During fights

  1. Your main damage and power comes from auto attacks - Grasp of the Undying and Heartsteel.
  2. This is auto attack oriented Graves build, so do it! Especially if running with Titanic Hydra or Sundered Sky.
  3. You can prioritize switching between champions in the fight, just to farm more Heartsteel procs.
  4. Remember to consume your Heartsteel procs!

Adapting

  1. You need to adapt your items to the game. Enemy team heavy on AP? Buy MR. They heavy on AD? Buy Armor. You need some damage? Well buy that.
  2. Sundered Sky is very good damage item for this build (as #2-#4 depending on the game). It scales off your HP. It gives damage and pretty good sustain in fights. Remember to switch targets to maximize the effect!

Runes

  1. Second Wind scales off with your HP, so it is going to be powerful sustain rune. You can use it by purposefully triggering it by letting enemies poke you a little or walking over some harmful spells.
  2. Triumph is better (heal + gold), but if you want to have easier time with your mana, go Presence of Mind.
  3. Remember to consume your Grasp of the Undying procs!

Tips and Tricks

Champion

  1. You do more damage the closer you are to your target.
  2. Use auto attack reset (AA + Quickdraw (E) + AA). If you time it properly, you can have two almost instant AA for big burst damage.
  3. Combo for big damage: AA + Q + E + AA.

Riot

  1. Smoke Screen can be used both to escape and to set up a kill.
  2. Using Quickdraw to get into range and delivering a point blank Buckshot can do lots of damage.

Skill Order

  • Graves [object Object] ability.
    Q
    End of the Line
  • Graves [object Object] ability.
    W
    Smoke Screen
  • Graves [object Object] ability.
    E
    Quickdraw
  • Graves [object Object] ability.
    R
    Collateral Damage

Items

Starting items
Giant's Belt item.
Ruby Crystal item.
Starting items vs poke
Guardian's Horn item.
Ruby Crystal item.
Boots
Plated Steelcaps item.
Mercury's Treads item.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity item.
Rush this
Heartsteel item.
Core items
Heartsteel item.
Unending Despair item.
Overlord's Bloodmail item.
Warmog's Armor item.
Dmg items
Additional considerations for these items is advised!
Sundered Sky item.
Blade of The Ruined King item.
Titanic Hydra item.
Wit's End item.
Good tank items
Jak'Sho, The Protean item.
Protoplasm Harness item.
Good MR items
Spirit Visage item.
Force of Nature item.
Kaenic Rookern item.
Good Armor items
Randuin's Omen item.
Thornmail item.
Dead Man's Plate item.
Frozen Heart item.
Iceborn Gauntlet item.
Situational items
Knight's Vow item.
Trailblazer item.
Zeke's Convergence item.
For the last fight
Additional considerations for these items is advised!
Elixir of Wrath item.
Cappa Juice item.
Elixir of Iron item.
Example final build
Mercury's Treads item.
Heartsteel item.
Warmog's Armor item.
Thornmail item.
Kaenic Rookern item.
Overlord's Bloodmail item.