It's not as bad as it used to be, but it's still a hard matchup: respect her all-in.

Matchups › Graves › vs Irelia

Graves vs Irelia

Q: Dodge her E

Dodge her E: land it and she has kill pressure; miss it and you can play the matchup.

YOU · TOP

ENEMY · TOP

Heavily unfavoredPre-6 HardPost-6 HardTake Ignite

How to play it

✓

Dodge her E

land it and she has kill pressure; miss it and you can play the matchup.

✓

When her E is down

Her E on cooldown is your window: without the stun she can't lock you down for the kill.

✓

Don't fight post-Botrk

After her Botrk you basically never duel her: just play the waves and farm instead.

Never keep dueling her once she finishes Blade of the Ruined King: play for waves instead.

Runes

PRECISION

INSPIRATION

SHARDS

Spells

FLASH

IGNITE

Items

Start

Core

→

Graves flexes lethality and crit every game, but the constant is Bloodthirster first for the lifesteal and shield that keep him healthy in lane, then Youmuu's Ghostblade to snowball. Rush an early Cloth Armor or Hexdrinker into heavy AD/AP bursts, and grab Boots of Swiftness when you need to stick to a target.

Skill order

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Q			Q	Q		Q	Q
		W											W	W		W	W
	E							E	E		E	E
					R					R					R

MAX

Q→

E→

Graves · Top · Patch 26.17 · Ranked Solo · Updated Sep 5, 2026

Graves vs Irelia in Top lane is a hard lane on patch 26.17. The one thing to respect: her E stun, dodge it and the matchup becomes playable.