How to win the jungle race as Graves against Zyra · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Graves's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Zyra.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Graves Dominant | End of the Line plus knockback autos shred melees holding a buff pit. The E root into seeded plants wins any fight near their garden, and before either of you has a second camp down that is not an answer. Take the level-1 crossing and make Zyra path away from the camps you want. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Graves Dominant | Quickdraw (E) True Grit armor stacking lets you out-trade in tight jungle lanes. There is no version of this Zyra wins right now — the E root into seeded plants wins any fight near their garden, and that folds on the second camp. Show on their side of the river and take the second buff and the tempo that comes with it. |
| 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 Grasping Roots snare into spitting plants melts you where you stand. But as the first scuttle timer lands none of it is online, so take the level-3 river fight and tax every camp Zyra concedes. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Graves Dominant — Keep Fighting | Nothing about 4-5 helps Zyra here: she seeds lane brushes through 4-5, and a gank that starts on a grown plant is already won, 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 Stranglethorns over the root garden makes any choke a death sentence. You win the breakpoint against Zyra, not the whole game — cash it 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. Zyra's first item is where plant damage stops being chip and starts removing a squishy health bar in one rotation. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Graves Favoured at Full Build | Two items on, the edge is yours. The one thing to plan around is that she covers a choke in plants and the knock-up ends any fight taken inside it — take that away and the fight is a formality. |
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. Zyra clears fast with plants doing the work, and she reaches three with seeds already placed where she intends to fight.
Ranked by the race windows in Graves's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Graves vs Zyra 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 Zyra 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 Zyra.
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? Zyra vs Graves guide →
All Graves jungle matchups →
More Graves jungle matchups: vs Wukong · vs Xin Zhao · vs Zac · vs Amumu · vs Bel'Veth · vs Brand