I miss Graves...

I honestly thought he'd make a good comeback this season. But...it's just so hard for him to find a place in the meta anymore. His mechanics are just...odd. Everything about him is odd. And I'm not really faulting him as a champion, this isnt a Graves hate-post or a "revert Graves QQ QQ QQ QQ" post either. It's just...he feels so bad to play, and has for awhile now, in comparison to any other champion in the roles he's meant to fit.

"Need a bursty AD jungler..." Why play Graves when you can play someone like Vi, who is guaranteed to land her combo cause it's all point and click?

"Need an ADC capable of living through super balls deep plays while dealing respectable sustained damage" I mean...Draven rushes so he can take a solid hit, and with just spinning axes can easily 1v3 in bot lane. Not only that, but he does it from like 4x Graves' effective range.

"Need a top laner who can play a bit safer but still hold his own against enemy bruisers" Why play Graves when you have Gnar, whose kit can go from "super safe" to "fucking murder entire teams, let alone that enemy bruiser, once he goes mega and hits super easy lockdowns?

"Specifically need a shotgun champion, who can deal good burst damage but reliably not die if he goes for a play." Ok...there's still a champion who does that better in TALON, who basically runs in, rakes the entire enemy team, pops one off completely with the rest of his kit then jumps over a wall to safety before anyone can turn and burn him.

There's just no spot for Graves...and that feels pretty bad. This isnt even a case of "he needs something unique" honestly...he's plenty unique. He's too unique. So unique that there's no meaningful part to his play from a team prerogative that others can't just do loads better at.

It's my opinion that they need to change him to be a little less unique, and give him something that makes him feel like he can do something more on par with other champions that he's comparable with from the standpoint of an effective role.