Cutthroat Graves

First time I saw Cutthroat Graves load in, I thought someone modded the game. The whole vibe is so different from base Graves that it caught me off guard in champ select. Not gonna lie, this skin flew under the radar for a long time and I only picked it up because a buddy gifted it to me around season 6. Played maybe 40 games with it that first week alone.

What Cutthroat Graves actually brings to the table

So this is a Standard tier skin at 750 RP, which means you’re not getting new VFX or a fresh recall animation. Voice lines stay base. What you do get is a completely different model and texture for Graves that leans hard into the pirate mercenary look. Think less shotgun-toting outlaw, more dock-side enforcer who just finished shaking someone down for coin.

The outfit swap is the main draw here. Graves trades his usual duster for this rough maritime getup with a bandana, open vest, and bare arms showing off some ink. His shotgun gets a visual overhaul too. Looks more like something you’d find in a Bilgewater smuggler’s stash than a proper weapon. Kinda feels like Riot wanted to make Graves look like he just crawled out of a tavern brawl, and honestly they nailed it.

In game the model reads clean against the Rift. The darker color palette means you dont blend into river fights the same way base Graves does. Could be wrong here but I think the silhouette actually feels slightly different when you’re csing in lane, the stance with this skin just hits different. No new particles on Q or W or R though, so your Smoke Screen and End of the Line look the same as default. For 750 RP thats expected.

The Bilgewater event and where this skin fits

Cutthroat Graves dropped July 21, 2015. Right in the middle of the Bilgewater: Burning Tides event. That whole event was peak League storytelling if you were around for it. Christian Fell did the splash, and the artwork captures the Bilgewater fantasy perfectly. Graves standing on the docks looking like he’s about to ruin someone’s evening.

The Bilgewater: Burning Tides skinline was one of those limited event drops that Riot used to do more frequently. Gangplank got his Captain and Betrayer skins around the same time. Real talk though, Cutthroat Graves is the sleeper pick from that batch. I remember loading into a ranked game last March around midnight and the enemy jungle Graves had this skin on. Seen maybe 5 of these in my games all season, it’s genuinely rare to spot in the wild.

No chromas available for this one. Zero. Which is a shame because I think a darker variant with more black and red would go hard. But Riot clearly moved on from this era of skins without revisiting them for chroma packs.

Should you grab Cutthroat Graves?

Shop has it for 750 RP whenever you want. For that price point I think it’s one of the better Graves options if you’re not trying to drop 1350 or more on an Epic. (Random aside: this splash has been my Discord avatar for like two years now and nobody has ever guessed the champion.) The skin competes with Pool Party and Crime City in terms of pure “different vibe from base” factor, but at nearly half the cost.

If you main Graves jungle or play him ADC in normals, this is a solid pickup. Been running this in Diamond games and it feels good even without fancy particles. The model quality holds up surprisingly well for a 2015 release. Overpriced? No chance, not at 750 RP. Skip it if you already own Battle Professor or Sentinel since those bring way more to the table with new VFX. But for a budget Graves skin that changes up his whole identity into a Bilgewater cutthroat? Worth it if you main him. 750 RP well spent for mains who want variety in their skin rotation without breaking the bank.