How to win lane as Neeko against Graves · 62.26% win rate over 53 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Neeko | Level 1 he only has a shotgun and no E reset stacked, while your single-target Q still pokes — you edge the opening before his dash kiting comes online. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | By Level 2 his E dash and reload let him sidestep and burst on the walk-up; you have no combo yet, so it's a genuine toss-up. |
| Level 3 | Graves | Your Q + Tangle-Barbs combo arrives, but his E dash refreshing off autos lets him dodge the telegraphed root and answer with a shotgun crit — he edges it. |
| Levels 4-5 | Graves | Without ult you can't all-in, and his kite-and-burst with E plus smoke-blinded autos out-trades your Blooming Burst poke. |
| Level 6 | Graves | Even your Pop Blossom spike is contested: if he E-dashes out of the root or you ult on his dash, he kites the channel and deletes your squishy body. |
| First item | Graves | First item he buys lifesteal-into-tank and kites your single rotation, while his shotgun crits out-DPS your one combo in the side lane. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | Late it splits: grouped, your Liandry's AoE bomb on a landed E deletes him — but in a pure 1v1 his tanky-ADC scaling out-duels you. |
Level 1 you have nothing but single-target Q, so don't contest — but the moment you hit Level 3 with Q and Tangle-Barbs you get one real window: if Graves walks up to last-hit, land E from max range (or fake him with a Shapesplitter clone) and dump a re-blooming Blooming Burst on him before his E dash comes back. The whole danger is that E dash: it refreshes off his autos, so a Graves who respects you can sidestep your root every time and then close with a shotgun crit. Never throw E on cooldown into open ground — bait his dash first, and don't facecheck for a walk-up that lets him reload-and-burst your squishy body.
The full Neeko 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 Neeko guide →
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