Graves

Morbid

Area Denial

Necromancer

Weapon Stats
Damage Per Second:	35.3
Bullet Damage:	3.6+0.054
Ammo:	40
Bullets per sec:	9.8
Reload Time:	2.8s
Bullet Velocity:	635m/s
Light Melee:	50+1.58
Heavy Melee:	116+3.67

Vitality Stats
Health:	730+35
Health Regen:	1
Bullet Lifesteal:	8%
Move Speed:	7m/s
Sprint Speed:	2.2m/s
Dash Speed:	14.7m/s
Stamina:	2
Stamina Cooldown:	4.5s

Information

Release Date:	January 29, 2026
Codenames:	Necro

“

The dead will strike down my enemies.

Graves is a Hero in Deadlock. The dead have been making a whole lot of demands lately, and only Graves has the courage to oblige. That severed lich hand she found in the cemetery has proven itself a valuable ally, allowing her to latch onto her enemies and steal their power for herself. Her curiosities about the passage of life are further put to use with Jar of Dead, collecting the remains of the fallen, shaking them up, and throwing them back at her enemies to grant those remorseful spirits a final shot at revenge. With Grasping Hands she strikes a deep crack in the earth, allowing those down below to grab onto enemies' ankles and stop them from escaping her reach. And when all else fails, a Borrowed Decree will summon the dead to fight alongside her.

For Darcy Graves, the cemetery was a welcomed respite from her home life. So when she unearthed a lich hand buried in Van Courtland Park, Graves found the best necromancy teacher that she could ask for.

Graves was released on January 29, 2026 as the second winner of the Old Gods, New Blood update contest.

Weapon

The Teacher

Beam Weapon

Close Range

35 Damage Per Second

Falloff Range

7.6m ➞ 17m

The Teacher attaches to the target closest to the reticle. It cannot deal headshots and Graves cannot buy headshot items.

Abilities

Jar of Dead

Passive: Collect death when anything dies nearby and store it in your Jar of Dead.

Active: Throw a jar to summon Deadheads that repeatedly deal

spirit damage to enemies.

Deadheads follow you instead if there's no nearby enemies, and prioritize the target of your weapon.

4

Deadheads

x0.27

17

Damage

7m Search Range

15m Dash Range

1

Collecting death heals 5 health per pickup

2

On Hit: Apply 30% Slow for 1s

5

+2 Deadheads
+4s Deadhead Lifetime

Skulls have 20 x1.3 HP. They can be destroyed by Weapon Damage and Melee Attacks. They take no damage from abilities or items.
Skulls yield 5 x0.25 souls when killed by players.
Each charge of Jar of Dead requires 10 "death", reducible by cooldown reduction (and rounded to the nearest integer).
Troopers and Ghouls drop 1 "death", Denizens drop 2 "death", and Heroes and Mid-Boss drop 5 "death".
Deadheads are considered Minions and thus affected by Heroic Aura, gaining increased move speed and attack rate upon activation.

Grasping Hands

Unearth a line of grasping hands, summoning a Ghoul and leaving behind a rift. Enemies who pass through take

spirit damage and receive

immobilize.

Alt-Cast Alternate cast rotates the orientation of the wall.

1

Ghouls Raised

x1.6

90

Damage

Immobilize

1.25s

Immobilize Duration

1

2s Duration

2

+90 Damage and +10m Wall Length

5

+1 Ghouls Raised
-10s Cooldown
+1s Immobilize Duration

The ghoul is always spawned on the midpoint between the center and left-hand end of the line. Conversely, the additional ghoul spawned after obtaining the Tier 3 Ability Point upgrade will appear on the midpoint between the center and right-hand end of the line.
- When alt-casted, the ghoul spawns on the midpoint between the center and the end of the line closest to Graves.

Essence Theft

Your weapon steals

weapon damage and

spirit resist over time, up to a maximum amount per target.

x0.25

25%

Max Weapon Damage Stolen

10%

Max Spirit Resist Stolen

3 Max Steal Targets

4s Time for Max Damage

1

5% Max Spirit Resist Stolen

2

20% Max Weapon Damage Stolen

5

All Summons now apply Essence Theft

Structures are affected by spirit resist reduction, but not weapon damage reduction. The buffs are applied to Graves regardless.
The weapon damage reduction is applied as a flat reduction of the Weapon Damage stat.
Build-Up is affected by weapon damage falloff (50% at max range).

Borrowed Decree

Innate: Abilities can summon Ghouls that shamble toward the enemy base, dealing

melee damage. They explode when they approach a hero or objective, dealing

spirit damage in an area and applying a brief

slow

Active: Create a gravestone at a target location that summons Ghouls over time. Enemies can destroy the gravestone with two heavy melees.

x1.27

115

Damage

-80%

Move Speed

180 Summon Health

x8

40 Melee Damage

x0.5

20s Summon Lifetime

1.25s Slow Duration

6.5m Explosion Radius

4s Time to Summon

1

-20s Cooldown

2

+25% Ghoul Speed and +10s Duration

5

On Death: Deal +5% Current Health as Damage

Borrowed Decree's gravestone is visible to enemies in the Minimap at all times and the outline can be seen through walls.
Ghouls will begin to follow visible enemy heroes within a line-of-sight range of 30 meters, and will continue following the enemy hero (without LOS requirement) until they are more than 30 meters away.
Ghouls take +48% headshot damage.
Ghouls receive additional damage from Monster Rounds and Cultist Sacrifice.
Ghouls yield 35 souls + 2 souls per minute when killed by players.
Ghouls are considered Minions and thus affected by Heroic Aura, gaining increased move speed upon activation.

Backstory

See Graves/Lore for more story content.

“

The daughter of high-power defense attorneys, Darcy Graves grew up in a home where every conversation was a debate, argument, or negotiation. It was exhausting. But while her parents were often too busy meeting with clients or working on cases to bond with her, the dead were always there to listen.

Graves enjoyed her time in the cemetery. It was a quiet place to calm her thoughts and talk through her problems...but one day her one-sided conversations started to change.

It began with a faint whisper. A woman's voice that seemed to respond to Graves' complaints. Intrigued, the teenager listened...and followed the voice's instructions until it guided her to a lead-lined box buried in Van Cortlandt Park. But while most high school students would freak out if they were to unearth a severed lich hand, Graves was certainly not most teens. The hand now free of its prison, the lich's voice grew stronger... It had spent years looking to find a student she could pass her knowledge to, and Graves was eager to learn.

Now a fledgling necromancer, Darcy balances not only her homework at Blackmore Academy...but the demands of graveyard denizens, each of whom have their own unfinished business that they seek her aid in resolving.

Update history

View the full update history: Graves/Update history

Update	Changes
May 31, 2026	Jar of Dead damage reduced from 20 + 0.31/spirit to 17 + 0.27/spirit. Ghouls damage reduced by 15%. Ghouls bounty increased from 25+1/min to 35+2/min.
May 22, 2026	Sprint speed increased from 1.6 to 2.2. Grasping Hands now spawns a ghoul in the base ability (T3 still increases it by 1). Updated dash ranges for Deadheads to be calculated from the center of Graves when they are following her. Fixed Fire Rate buffs for Deadheads not being applied to their next attack, but only on subsequent attacks. Fixed Deadheads being unable to dash through veils. Fixed Deadheads being unable to dash to targets at the very end of your attack range when they are in follow mode. Fixed Deadheads' damage taken from bullets being unaffected by fall-off. Added 0.1s buffer duration for Deadheads losing line-of-sight before they stop following an enemy. Fixed Deadheads becoming inactive if Graves dies while they are following her. Jar of Dead spirit scaling reduced from 0.35 to 0.31 (they are better at dealing damage now). Increased speed & acceleration of Deadheads only when they are following Graves - doesn't affect in-combat. Fixed certain projectiles (i.e Gray Talon's Bird) colliding with Deadheads. Updated Grave's melee to also set the dash target for Deadheads. Bullet damage and growth reduced by -10%.
March 30, 2026	Jar of Dead T2 no longer grants +4s Duration. Jar of Dead T3 changed from "+2 Deadheads and Deadheads apply Essence Theft" to "+2 Deadheads and +4s Duration". Essence Theft T3 changed from "+1 tether and improved targeting angle" to "Your summons now apply Essence Theft".