Deadlock Graves Quick Ability Guide

Graves is the second of the six new heroes introduced in Deadlock 's Old Gods, New Blood update to become playable. Since her release, I've been able to play as, with or against Graves. This article will be a quick guide on Graves' abilities to help you get an idea on how to use them.

Overview

Graves is a necromancer that's great at controlling areas and debilitating enemies with her abilities . She's a character that can strongly influence team fights and control choke points with her abilities. The following are the pros and cons of Graves based on my experience playing her.

Pros

• Great at crowd control because of the huge coverage of her wall

• It's easy to hit people with her gun because of its auto aim function

• Can be devastating against opponents if they're clumped up

Cons

• Low mobility

• Low range

• Vulnerable laning phase

Abilities

Based on my time playtesting Graves, I recommend using this ability order suggested by Metro :

Firstly, you'll want to get the first upgrade of her first ability, Jar of Dead as soon as possible. Graves is pretty vulnerable during the laning phase because of her low range and low mobility. The first upgrade of Jar of Dead helps sustain you through the laning phase since you get a small heal when you get charges of death. Afterwards, you put two points into Graves' third ability, Essence Theft, to increase the amount of stats that this ability steals when you attack your enemies.

Ideally, the first ability you want to max out completely is Graves' ultimate, Borrowed Decree. This ultimate can devastate team fights when the ghouls explode onto your enemies and slow them down. At max rank, this ability will automatically spawn three ghouls so you immediately get to affect a team fight. Remember to be careful when positioning your Gravestone because enemies can destroy it to end its effects early.

Next, it's important to max out Graves' Jar of Dead ability because you'll get more Deadheads at max rank and they'll be able to apply your Essence Theft ability when they attack your enemies.

In most cases, it's ideal to max out your second ability last because it's a one point wonder that's great at debilitating your enemies with just a single point placed into it.

This wraps up this quick guide to Graves' abilities. Hopefully this guide helps you get an idea of how to play her.

This story was originally published by GameDaily on Feb 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Games section. Add GameDaily as a Preferred Source by clicking here.