How to win the jungle race as Graves against Nidalee · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Graves's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Nidalee.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Graves Favoured | End of the Line plus knockback autos shred melees holding a buff pit. Nidalee can make it awkward — a max-range Javelin into the Hunt pounce executes you before the fight even starts — but not before either of you has a second camp down. Trade, then walk away with a camp and a chunk of their health bar. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Graves Favoured | Quickdraw (E) True Grit armor stacking lets you out-trade in tight jungle lanes. The margin is thin: Pounce-reset cat clears let them out-tempo and kite the slower kits, and one slow camp on your side hands the window straight back, so keep the trade short. Keep a camp between you and her spear line — the Javelin is the whole matchup. |
| Level 3 Route | Graves Favoured | Smoke Screen's blind caps a kit that wins almost every close-quarters exchange. The spear-hunt-pounce execute pattern wins any fight they start at range, so this is an edge and not a blowout — take the level-3 river fight only with the HP and cooldown lead. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Graves Favoured — Take Duels | The 4-5 window is yours if you pick it: she is at maximum value in 4-5 — spear from fog, hunt the mark, and leave before anyone can turn. Track that pattern, arrive one camp early, and take the fight before the follow-up shows. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Collateral Damage Favoured | Collateral Damage adds a dash-reset execute to your close-range shred. You win the breakpoint against Nidalee, not the whole game — cash the advantage on the first objective after both sides hit six. |
| First Item Spike | Youmuu's / Umbral Glaive Spike | Completing your core lethality component grants a devastating physical damage and armor penetration spike that completely destabilizes their defensive stat builds. Your camp clearing mechanics become completely automated, letting you wipe whole sides in seconds before invading deep into their jungle tracks. Nidalee's first item makes the spear a genuine execute threat rather than chip damage on the way to a fight. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Graves Favoured — Wins Late | The late game is yours. Remember what Nidalee still is at full build — she is a poke-and-execute pattern that never actually stands in the fight — and take the fights that do not let it matter. |
Start your clear at the Red Buff camp to maximize early health optimization via E shell resets, before executing a full 6-camp clear path straight down into the scuttle crab. Nidalee clears extremely fast in cougar form with pounce resets, and she is usually the first jungler to level three.
Ranked by the race windows in Graves's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Graves vs Nidalee 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 Nidalee 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 Nidalee.
Start Mosstomper Seedling + Health Potion and back for Serrated Dirk / Cloak of Agility — keep full-clearing into invades. Build Youmuu's / Umbral Glaive first, then Infinity Edge, with Plated Steelcaps / Berserker's Greaves.
Playing the other side? Nidalee vs Graves guide →
All Graves jungle matchups →
More Graves jungle matchups: vs Master Yi · vs Morgana · vs Naafiri · vs Nocturne · vs Nunu & Willump · vs Olaf