Matchups › Graves › vs Poppy

Graves vs Poppy

Q: What should you never do as Graves vs Poppy?

Never burn your dash (E) while her W is up: she'll punish it.

YOU · TOP

ENEMY · TOP

Skill matchupPre-6 MediumPost-6 MediumTake Ignite

How to play it

✓

Dodge her Q

Hammer Shock is her main poke: sidestep it so she can't chunk you for free.

✓

Steelcaps still bite

She can still abuse Steelcaps (Tabi), one of the strongest items into your autos.

✓

Punish her freely

Since Divine's removal she's much weaker into you: take trades when your kit is up.

Never burn your dash (E) while her W is up: she'll punish it.

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 Poppy in Top lane is a skill matchup on patch 26.17. The one thing to respect: sidestep her Hammer Shock (Q), it's her main way to grind you down.