How to win lane as Nautilus against Graves · 50% win rate over 58 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Both of you are weak at level 1 with one ability — you have no all-in without W/E and he has no E dash yet, so it's a coin-flip auto-trade where your passive root edges it but neither commits. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | He can take W smoke screen to blind your autos or E to reposition; you have Q-into-root but no follow-up burst yet, so the trade hinges purely on whether your hook lands — genuinely even. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | Your Q + W + E combo is online and a landed Dredge Line into passive root plus Titan's Wrath splash burn wins the short trade, but his E dash dodges the hook outright, so it stays skill-decided. |
| Levels 4-5 | Graves | With True Grit and his early item, Graves out-ranges and out-bursts you — his shotgun blast plus W blind beats your low base damage while you still have no R to lock him down. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | Depth Charge is an undodgeable homing knock-up that ignores his E dash and starts your Q-pull, E-slow lockdown chain — your single best window pulls the lane back to even. |
| First item | Graves | His Eclipse/Serrated Dirk spike lets him hold E for your Q and shotgun you from outside hook range before your CC chain connects — he reclaims the all-in. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | He out-scales you on damage but your R + Q + E lockdown still deletes him from a fight, so the late game balances his kiting carry potential against your unanswerable single-target engage — even. |
Graves is a ranged skirmisher, so your whole early game is landing Q — Dredge Line is your only way to touch him. He will hold his E dash to dodge your hook and his W smoke screen blinds your autos so you can't proc the Staggering Blow passive root. Don't throw Q on cooldown into open ground where he just dashes it; bait the E first, walk him down behind minions, then hook into passive root and W splash burn. If you whiff the anchor, his shotgun blast and burst trade chunk you for free — this is a Skill matchup early because both of you live and die on one button.
The full Nautilus 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 Nautilus guide →
All Nautilus top lane matchups →