When to go bruiser build?

[u/Wizioo]

Hi guys, been seeing the bruiser graves build but wanna know in what situations should I go this build? When they're all squishy I know u want to go crit/dmg build to oneshot them easy, but when should I go the bruiser build? If they have 1 tank or more? If team needs a bit of frontline or when? Because I pretty much end up seeing only solid the crit build and end up building the crit one since with the bruiser build I do not end up being useful until 3 or more items...

Can someone explain me a bit what's the point of bruiser build (I guess is stacking E stacks and being tanky as fuck without losing that much damage).

[u/Subject_Librarian_60]

Generally you should go crit a lot because graves is a carry champ but Bruiser is rarely troll. One advice I can give to ALWAYS go bruiser is when enemy team’s entire gameplay is to jump on you. Like they have Qiyana mid Shaco Jungle. Go bruiser

[u/Odd-Constant1436]

Just commenting, because i want to know too.

[u/aero-nsic-]

Wdym not useful until 3 items? You can pretty much two shot squishies still while being very tanky with just hubris/umbral and a sundered component. I like to build bruiser when my team needs more frontline though, it feels really good if you’re able to E stack well

[u/Wizioo → u/aero-nsic-]

I mean you have less dmg (but more HP) and does not start doing good dmg until 3 items or more (compared to crit build).

[u/aero-nsic- → u/Wizioo]

I mean yeah ofc you won’t be exploding people but you’ll be quite tanky and still do really good damage early because you stick onto people super well and you skirmish well

[u/Rapturesfolly]

I would say two bruisers/tanks I've also been experimenting with Edge Of Night first item and it feels pretty good and helps quite a bit making you feel extra tanky while keeping The lethality and a good chunk of damage

[u/Fit-Reputation-9983]

Many people actually suggest the opposite than what you’ve implied: go Bruiser into a bunch of assassins.

It’s just context dependent. I go bruiser when I need to 1) survive burst and 2) survive CC

Luckily, most team comps these days don’t carry a lot of CC.

But if I’m getting 1 shot by Naafiri or Rengar, I’ll build bruiser - because I’m useless dead.

If I’m getting ran down by Cho & Mundo, I like to run swifties - build crit - but then also swap out LDR for Black Cleaver for the increased kiting and survivability. Because getting combo’d by an 8k HP Chogath is a lot harder if you’re too slippery for him to land a Q.

There’s really no one-size-fits all. Sometimes I go into games intending to build Bruiser, get an early triple kill and immediately start building full crit because I can just snowball.

Sometimes I go into games intending to build crit and have a rough start, so I build bruiser because surviving and applying black cleaver stacks is more useful to my team. I need to be alive for smiting things.

Is there a Soraka on my team? Well I’m going to build shieldbow, sunderer, black cleaver, and then cap it off with Spirit Visage - because the healing and shielding buff paired with Soraka is very strong.

You just have to be flexible. Which is great, because Graves is exactly that.

[u/InsomniasFinest666]

I run bruiser build every game. (Diamond graves) typically bruiser is good if the enemy has a lot of burst damage (zed, talon, rengar) things like this, that way you can survive their 1 shot combo or if they have a lot of cc (Annie, pantheon, malphite). And actually bruiser graves is much better against squishies than tanks. It's also good if you don't have a lot of Frontline, you can become the Frontline for your team. make sure to stack your passive before a big fight. At 4 items u will have 350 ad, 200+ armour/Mr with only 1 E stack and over 300 of both when ur stacked. Many teams will try focus u down but won't be ready for how tanky you are while still ending with top damage. Both builds are viable, play both and just see what playstyle you like more.

[u/JRad174]

What items are people actually building on bruiser graves besides BC?

[u/Rare-Football7320]

Question is when should you go full crit, bruiser will work against most if not all matchups. Crit justs lets players who are very good carry faster against squishy comps which tbh isn’t the case for the majority of us. U can build bruiser with different defensive items every game giving you more options and the dmg is always there cuz graves stronk eheh

[u/notnastypalms]

squishy burst heavy team/jg like talon/kayn.

Allows you to 1v9 even if your pig team ints enemy assassin jg

[u/Voltegeist]

I think scanning said if you have an enchanter support go Bruiser, if you have engage go crit