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How to Win Graves vs Bard Counter MatchupGraves is in the a tier of champions

Graves vs Bard

How to Beat Bard as Graves in LoLGraves is in the s tier of champions
Marksman
SupportMage

How to Beat Bard as Graves

based on 5,559 Graves vs Bard matchups
Win Rate
47.1 %
K/D/A
2.32
Pick Rate
3.3 %

How We Analyze LoL Champion Counters

We calculate our counter stats from the millions of recently rated League games that we get from Riot Games every week. This guide on how to beat Bard as Graves resulted from an analysis of 5559 ranked matches where both champs opposed one another. This particular pairing is fairly rare. Graves encounters Bard in only 3.3% of his games.

Graves vs Bard Matchup Summary

Unfortunately, Graves has done a poor job of beating Bard. Typically, he wins a lowly 47.1% of games the champions face each other in. In Graves vs Bard rounds, Graves’s team is 0.0% more expected to gain first blood, implying that he probably will be able to get first blood against Bard.

Best Graves vs Bard Counter Build

Items

Starter Items

Time Target
Gustwalker HatchlingHealth Potion

Early Items

~5 Mins
Doran's BladeSerrated Dirk

Core Graves Items

~22 Mins
Guardian AngelYoumuu's GhostbladeThe Collector

Optional Items

BloodthirsterOpportunityHubrisInfinity Edge

Summoner Spells

summonerflash summoner spell D
summonersmite summoner spell F

Skill Order

First skill for Graves to level upq
>
Second ability for Graves to level upe
>
Last skill for Graves to max outw

Runes

PrecisionFleet FootworkTriumphLegend: AlacrityCoup de Grace
DominationSudden ImpactTreasure Hunter
Attack SpeedAdaptive ForceHealth Scaling
Graves's passive ability p
Graves's q ability q
Graves's w ability w
Graves's e ability e
Graves's ultimate ability r
1
E
2
Q
3
Q
4
W
5
Q
6
R
7
Q
8
E
9
Q
10
E
11
R
12
E
13
E
14
W
15
W
16
R

Guide to Countering Bard as Graves

Tips for Playing as Graves against Bard

Smoke Screen can be used both to escape and to set up a kill.

Using Quickdraw to get into range and delivering a point blank Buckshot can do lots of damage.

Advice to Win Against Bard

You can crush Bard's healing shrines just by walking over them. Don't let his allies take them without a fight.

Bard's ultimate, Tempered Fate, affects allies, enemies, monsters, and turrets alike. Sometimes it can be to your advantage to jump into it!

Bard's opponents can also travel through his Magical Journey doorways. You can follow him, if you think it's safe.

Graves vs Bard Counter Stats

Graves Image
Win Rate
47.1 %
VS
Win Rate
52.9 %
Bard Image
6.9
< Kills >
2.7
5.9
< Deaths >
4.8
6.8
< Assists >
14
1.59
< Killing Sprees >
0.58
53
< Minions Killed >
30
1.54
< Dragons Killed >
0.04
0.45
< Inhibitors >
0.52
18,026
< Physical Damage >
2,978
851
< Magic Damage >
7,986
1,762
< True Damage >
1,031
20,640
< Damage Dealt >
11,996
29,518
< Damage Taken >
21,242
12,598
< Gold Earned >
8,944
1.64
< Towers >
1.82
0.36
< Baron Takedowns >
0.01
13,676
< Total Healing >
6,801
14,302
< Experience >
11,322
23
< Vision Score >
64
6
< Wards Placed >
28
493
< Time Dealing CC >
481

How to Counter Bard with Graves in LoL

The stats shown on this page highlight several strategic Graves versus Bard matchup statistics that may help you distinguish the differences between the pair. For instance, Graves’s KDA ratio ([kills + assists] / deaths) of NaN is better than Bard’s ratio of NaN, demonstrating that Graves may be more central to his team's team fighting capability than Bard. This observation is in large part a result of the difference in kills.

Graves usually has a much larger longest kill spree than his enemy does. Typically, he takes more damage than Bard. This typically indicates differing health capacities, but it can also imply that the one champ has less mobility and thus is unable to flee from additional damage when engaged or poked.

Differences between Graves and Bard

Damage Types Compared

Graves
Bard
Physical Damage
Magic Damage
True Damage

Champion Playstyles Compared

Graves
Bard

Who is Better, Graves or Bard?

Both League champs are great champions. Both have their pros and cons. In League's current meta, Graves usually loses when facing off against Bard, with a 47.1% win rate. Thus, Graves makes a bad counter to Bard.

While Graves does have a lower winrate than Bard, when they face off with one another, Graves also has a much lower level of difficulty that makes him a less time consuming character to develop with. You may get destroyed when picking Graves into Bard.

Furthermore, Graves also has only a small amount of CC and other utility, a similar amount to Bard. This makes her just as valuable during teamfights, especially when facing champions with a lot of burst damage.

While there is not a single best champion overall in League of Legends, in Graves vs Bard matchups, Bard is the better champion with a lower win rate, less champion complexity, and a similar amount of utility to help out your allies during late stage team fights.

Graves is a bad counter to Bard. Focus your actions on maximizing your gold income and destroying objectives. If you can do that, you should hold your own as Graves against Bard.

Other Champion Matchups Against Graves

Graves Loses Against

ZyraZyra46.8% winrateBardBard47.1% winrateNaafiriNaafiri47.2% winrateTahm KenchTahm Kench47.3% winrate

Graves Wins Against

NidaleeNidalee55.6% winrateLeBlancLeBlanc55.2% winrateXayahXayah55% winrateKai'SaKai'Sa54.7% winrate

Top Synergies by Role

TeemoTeemo+ 54.2% 11371 GamesZyraZyra+ 54.3% 6861 GamesMaokaiMaokai+ 54.6% 6548 GamesLilliaLillia+ 55.7% 1241 Games

Additional Information for Graves Players

How We Calculated Our Graves vs Bard Build and Stats

For this guide on countering Bard as Graves, we analyzed 5,559 matchups from recent LoL games. We use rigorous data cleaning and processing methods to ensure that our counter stats are of the highest quality. You can rest assured that the recommended build to counter Bard as Graves comes from real data and is not the fabrication of some random LoL player, as some other sites provide. You can use the filters at the top of the page to view the most relevant stats and items to your rank.

Other Useful Resources

Graves Build Bard Build

Further Insights to Win this Matchup

To learn all of the intricacies of Graves to counter Bard during both the lane and mid / late game phases of League of Legends, you should continue reading to learn a few extra lessons on this matchup. If you mind the build and stats shown above, you will grow your win rate by a lot and be closer to League of Legends pro players.

Graves usually racks up more CS relative to Bard. Champions who on average don't get many minion kills often don't have to have much CS to be effective, such as support champions. These kinds of champions are capable of scaling well off of their skills, stats, and first items alone. Yet, champions with large amounts of CS, such as hyper-carries, often need many items to be effective. In either situation, try to do better than the numbers displayed here to do well.

The top items to focus on in your Graves versus Bard build include Guardian Angel, Youmuu's Ghostblade, and The Collector. When Graves bought at least these three items in his build, he did much better against Bard than with many other common counter builds. In fact, Graves boasted an average win rate of 47.1% when playing against Bard with this counter build.

To have the greatest probability of annihilating Bard as Graves, you should equip the Fleet Footwork, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Coup de Grace, Sudden Impact, and Treasure Hunter runes from the Precision and Domination rune sets. Out of all the rune builds that we analyzed for Graves vs Bard LoL games, this composite of runes resulted in the highest win rate. Moreover, these runes provided a 47.1% winrate overall.

By default, tips, stats, and builds on how to beat Bard as Graves are shown for all ranked divisions. If you would like to filter the stats and builds to a distinct player tier, you can use the selection menu located above.