S14 items made him much stronger in the toplane: don't play this like an old, weak Udyr.

Matchups › Graves › vs Udyr

Graves vs Udyr

YOU · TOP

ENEMY · TOP

Heavily unfavoredPre-6 HardPost-6 HardTake Ignite

How to play it

✓

Can't out-sustain him

Once tabis and his shield come online he out-sustains the lane: respect that you can't simply duel him down.

✓

Fight before tabis

Your best window is early, before he finishes tabis: after that his sustain wins every extended fight.

✓

Bring Ignite

Ignite is your main tool here: the healing cut is what keeps you relevant against his sustain.

Never expect to out-trade him once he has tabis: respect the sustain and farm rather than forcing kills.

Runes

PRECISION

INSPIRATION

SHARDS

Spells

FLASH

IGNITE

Items

Start

Core

→

Graves flexes lethality and crit every game, but the constant is Bloodthirster first for the lifesteal and shield that keep him healthy in lane, then Youmuu's Ghostblade to snowball. Rush an early Cloth Armor or Hexdrinker into heavy AD/AP bursts, and grab Boots of Swiftness when you need to stick to a target.

Skill order

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Q			Q	Q		Q	Q
		W											W	W		W	W
	E							E	E		E	E
					R					R					R

MAX

Q→

E→

Graves · Top · Patch 26.17 · Ranked Solo · Updated Sep 5, 2026

Graves vs Udyr in Top lane is a hard lane on patch 26.17. The one thing to respect: you have almost no kill pressure, once he's got tabis and his shield, he just out-sustains you.