Graves in League Classic: Legacy Kit and Changes

Graves arrived in League Classic in Patch 26.20 as a tanky ADC built on shotgun burst. Here is what the notes say about his kit, how it compares with live Graves, and why he was nerfed straight away.

By the MID.GG editorial team

Patch 26.20 28 October 2026 3 min read

At a glance

Graves in League Classic is an older take on the outlaw: a tanky ADC built around bursty shotgun hits, which is how the mode’s own patch notes frame him. Our records list Patch 26.20 as the patch that brought him to League Classic, and that same patch carries his first Classic balance entry, a nerf.

A live-game Graves player will notice the framing first. The Classic notes talk about his basic attack and critical strike animations and his attack damage growth, which describes a marksman that wins through auto attacks and crits. For the full roster of returning champions, see League Classic champions.

The Classic kit

The facts we hold for Classic Graves do not include a full legacy ability text, so this section sticks to what the Classic entries actually reveal. Treat Patch 26.20 as the first Classic patch we have for him; everything below comes from that entry.

Identity: the notes describe him as a tanky ADC whose appeal is close-range shotgun burst. Tankiness plus burst in a marksman shell is the core of the Classic version.
Basic attacks and critical strikes: the entry lists a basic attack animation and a separate critical attack animation. A kit that gets its own crit animation tuned is one where crits carry a large share of the damage.
Base stats: his attack damage, attack damage growth and attack speed growth are the levers the notes pull to control his sustained damage, which tells you his auto attacks across a fight are the main threat, not a single combo.
R – Collateral Damage: a shell with two damage parts, a hit on the first target (projectile damage) and a cone of damage behind it. The cone carries a bonus AD ratio, so it scales with his items.

The entry says nothing about his passive, Q, W or E. Until a Classic note covers them, we will not guess at how they work in the mode.

How it differs from today’s Graves

The clearest overlap is the ultimate, and the clearest gap is in what the notes leave out. Here is the comparison ability by ability, against the live kit covered in our Graves guide.

Passive

Live Graves runs on New Destiny: he must reload when his ammo runs out, each attack fires 4 bullets that stop on the first unit, and non-champions hit by several bullets get knocked back. The Classic notes do not describe his passive, so whether the reload and bullet spread exist in the mode is not confirmed. What they do show is a dedicated critical attack animation, which points to crits being central to Classic Graves.

Q, W and E

Today’s Graves has End of the Line, a shell that detonates after a delay or on hitting terrain; Smoke Screen, which cuts sight range and briefly slows; and Quickdraw, a dash that grants resistances, builds True Grit stacks toward champions and has its cooldown lowered by basic attacks. None of these appear in the Classic entries, so we cannot say whether they match or differ in the mode.

R - Collateral Damage

The ultimate shares its name and structure in both versions: a shell that hits the first champion, then explodes in a cone. In Classic, the cone damage was cut in 26.20 while the projectile damage stayed unchanged, so the first-target hit is now the more reliable part of the spell relative to the cone.

Good to knowLive numbers are a different game

Any stats you see on live Graves stats and builds describe the current kit on Summoner’s Rift. League Classic has no statistics, builds or runes of its own, so do not carry live numbers over to the Classic version.

Classic patch history

Patch 26.20

Base Stats

Basic Attack and Critical Attack Animations: Sped up
Base Attack Damage: 54.1changed to 50
Attack Damage per Level: 3.1changed to 2.5
Attack Speed per Level: 2.9%changed to 2.5%

RCollateral Damage

Cone Damage: 140 / 250 / 360 + 120% bonus ADchanged to 140 / 230 / 320 + 100% bonus AD
Projectile Damage: Unchanged

Sources

Riot Games: League of Legends Patch 26.20 Notes