Deadlock Graves Abilities Revealed

Recently, Graves became playable in Deadlock after winning the second community hero vote of the Old Gods, New Blood update. This makes her the second of the six heroes included in the update to finally become a playable character in-game. Based on her lore in her announcement page and her in-game teaser poster, she's a necromancer with zone control abilities.

Let's take a closer look at Graves' abilities, including what upgrades they get when you invest points in leveling them.

1 - Jar of Dead

Firstly, Graves' first ability is called Jar of Dead. This ability has both a passive and an active component. Putting a level in Jar of Dead passively lets Graves collect death when anything near her dies. The amount of death that Graves has can be seen as charges above this ability's icon.

When Graves activates this ability, she'll throw her jar to summon Deadheads based on the number of charges she has that will repeatedly deal spirit damage to enemies in the targeted area. However, if there aren't any nearby enemies, the Deadheads will follow her instead and will attack the enemies she attacks with her weapon.

This ability is Graves' primary form of DPS and way of poking enemies down during the laning phase. Often times, it felt better to just throw the jar on the ground and have the Deadheads follow Graves and augment her attacks.

The first upgrade of this ability helps sustain Graves in lane whenever she collects death charges. At even higher levels, this ability can also debilitate enemies that the Deadheads attack while increasing their number too.

2 - Grasping Hands

Secondly, Graves' second ability is Grasping Hands, which is also her primary form of crowd control during fights. This ability will summon a line on the ground that will immobilize enemies that walk past it. Grasping Hands can be a great area denial tool similar to McGinnis' Wall, and its length greatly increases when its fully maxed.

3 - Essence Theft

Next, Rem's third ability is a passive ability that will weaken enemies hit by Graves' weapon. This skill is great for both softening Graves' targets while putting a debuff on them that reduces their damage while augmenting Graves' own.

4 - Borrowed Decree

Finally, Graves' ultimate summons a tombstone which will spawn ghouls that shamble towards the enemy base. If there aren't any enemy heroes or objectives, the summoned ghouls will push the lane like regular troopers. However, once these ghouls lock onto an enemy hero or objective, they'll explode near them, dealing damage and slowing them down.

At higher levels, this ability will speed up the ghouls, eventually spawning more ghouls and increase the damage they deal.

This story was originally published by GameDaily on Jan 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add GameDaily as a Preferred Source by clicking here.