How to win the jungle race as Graves against Locke · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Graves's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Locke.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Graves Favoured | End of the Line plus knockback autos shred melees holding a buff pit. Q nail volleys clear camps at range while banking marks for the first scuttle fight, so this is an edge and not a blowout — take the level-1 crossing only with the HP and cooldown lead. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Graves Favoured | Quickdraw (E) True Grit armor stacking lets you out-trade in tight jungle lanes, but the blink-auto mark consume chunks hard, but spending E in a duel spends the escape too. You still win the straight exchange on the second camp; keep it short, keep it decisive, and keep the scuttle line yours. |
| Level 3 Route | Graves Dominant | Smoke Screen's blind caps a kit that wins almost every close-quarters exchange. Later in the game this bites, because a stacked nail string into the blink-through consume deletes half a health bar. But as the first scuttle timer lands none of it is online, so take the level-3 river fight and tax every camp Locke concedes. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Graves Dominant — Keep Fighting | Nothing about 4-5 helps Locke here: he uses 4-5 to bank marks at range, then blinks in the moment the nail count says the kill is there, while you can take any duel you can reach. Invade on the clear-timer, not on a whim. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Collateral Damage Favoured | Collateral Damage adds a dash-reset execute to your close-range shred, while the Purgatory totem turns any low-HP skirmish into a chain of executes and blink resets. You win the breakpoint against Locke, not the whole game — cash it on the first objective after both sides hit six. |
| First Item Spike | Lich Bane / Shadowflame Spike | His Lich Bane spike is real: the blink-consume chunk one-shots chipped squishies. Respect the first-item window, then note his E is still a one-way door — punish every spent blink. Locke's first item makes the mark consume hit for a real chunk, which is when the blink stops being a poke tool. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Graves Favoured — Wins Late | The late game is yours. Remember what Locke still is at full build — his execute floor rises with every seal, so any low-health fight inside Purgatory is lost — and take the fights that do not let it matter. |
Standard start — his level-1 clear is ranged but mana-hungry and his duel is honest at best; you dictate the early tempo, not him. Locke clears at range with Ritual Nails and banks marks while doing it, so his first scuttle arrives with stacks up.
Ranked by the race windows in Graves's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Graves vs Locke report continues with scuttle & dragon rules, invade windows and safety boundaries, the top-side objective fight, macro rotations and the win condition — plus the live enemy-jungle tracker that shows their start, clear and gank timers in game.
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Graves's race plan controls 7 of the 7 windows — Graves holds the tempo advantage in this jungle matchup.
Not exactly — Graves's race plan controls 7 of the 7 windows, so Locke is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Graves takes Fleet Footwork on the Precision tree with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity and Coup de Grace, and Domination secondary (Sudden Impact and Treasure Hunter) vs Locke.
Start Mosstomper Seedling + Health Potion and back for Serrated Dirk / Cloak of Agility — keep full-clearing into invades. Build The Collector first, then Infinity Edge, with Plated Steelcaps / Berserker's Greaves.
Playing the other side? Locke vs Graves guide →
All Graves jungle matchups →
More Graves jungle matchups: vs Kindred · vs Lee Sin · vs Lillia · vs Maokai · vs Master Yi · vs Morgana