How to win lane as Heimerdinger against Graves · 50.45% win rate over 668 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Heimerdinger | Graves has no Quickdraw at Level 1, so my one turret plus an auto wins the first contact — but I have no stun until 3, so don't over-chase his auto-and-Q poke. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | Banking a second and third turret while he gets Quickdraw and shotgun range makes the laning standoff a true coinflip — it comes down to who lands their cooldown, so only trade when his Quickdraw is down. |
| Level 3 | Graves | Once Quickdraw is up he dashes past my turret line and unloads shotgun autos plus End of the Line before my beams stack — this is where he starts out-trading the nest. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Whether his Quickdraw dive beats my CH-3X center-stun is pure execution: read the dash and I freeze him for the W-and-beam punish; whiff it and I'm immobile and dead — neither side owns this window by default. |
| Level 6 | Graves | His shotgun burst plus Smoke Screen blind let him farm safely and chip me off my beams, and a single CH-3X can't zone a Graves who baits it then dashes — he owns the all-in here. |
| First item | Graves | His first hybrid-tank item lets him walk through beam damage and burst me off the nest before my Liandry's comes online, so the item spike is his. |
| Two+ items | Heimerdinger | Liandry's burn on three turret beams shreds his hybrid-tank build faster than his shotgun bursts through buildings, and Rylai's chains my grenade slow to lock a melee Graves in my siege. |
Level 1 is mine for once — Graves has no Quickdraw yet, so my single H-28G turret plus an auto wins the first contact if he facechecks; his only answer is poking with autos and End of the Line from max range. The catch is I have zero hard CC until I land my first CH-3X at Level 3, so do not over-extend off the beam to chase his chip damage. Bank charges fast: by Level 2 I want a second cannon down so I last-hit safely behind two beams while his shotgun out-ranges my buildings.
The full Heimerdinger vs Graves report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Graves vs Heimerdinger guide →
All Heimerdinger top lane matchups →