How to win lane as Malphite against Graves · 53.62% win rate over 4,804 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Graves' level-1 double-tap autos plus an early Smoke Screen blind out-trade your no-pattern start — neither of you fights well here, so just last-hit at Q range. |
| Level 2 | Malphite | His shotgun and Quickdraw dash still out-pace you, but your W armor and E slow are nearly online — soak poke and let Granite Shield refresh instead of trading. |
| Level 3 | Malphite | Your E attack-speed slow starts biting his auto DPS, so you can farm through his poke and chip him with E whenever he steps up to last-hit. |
| Levels 4-5 | Malphite | W's splash and E's attack-speed slow blunt his shotgun trades — you out-sustain his poke now and can answer every step-up with E. |
| Level 6 | Malphite | Unstoppable Force knocks him up mid-dash and his E reposition can't escape a point-blank R — your first clean kill window on an escape-less Graves. |
| First item | Malphite | Your first armor item feeds E and W while gutting his AD autos — R + W + E off the wave is a trade he can't win from melee. |
| Two+ items | Malphite | Stacked armor keeps you out-trading his AD even as he builds tanky — just don't chase his E kite; force the all-in and flank him in fights with R. |
Graves owns the opening: his double-tap shotgun autos plus Smoke Screen (W) blind you while you have no trade pattern at all — your W armor stack and E attack-speed slow aren't online yet, so just last-hit with Q from max range and refuse to walk into his autos. Don't waste Q chasing through the smoke; you'll only eat a free reset off his E Quickdraw dash. Soak the poke, let Granite Shield refresh, and accept that this is his window, not yours.
The full Malphite 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 Malphite guide →
All Malphite top lane matchups →