Hired Gun Graves

First time I saw Hired Gun Graves loading in, I thought someone on my team picked a completely different champion. The silhouette reads so different from base Graves that it caught me off guard in champ select. Not gonna lie, for a 520 RP skin from 2011 this one punches above its weight class in terms of pure visual identity.

What Hired Gun Graves actually looks like in game

So the core change here is the outfit and weapon model. Graves swaps his usual rugged outlaw look for something closer to a cyberpunk mercenary. Slick black coat, red-tinted goggles pushed up on his forehead, and the shotgun gets a sleeker redesign that feels more sci-fi than Wild West. Clean model work.

Now at this price point you’re not getting new VFX or animations. Base voice lines, no changes. Q, W, E, R all look the same particle-wise as default Graves. Thats just how it goes with Standard tier skins from season one. The auto attack animations feel identical, the smoke screen is the same grey cloud, and the ult explosion hasnt been touched.

But here’s what I think matters more than particles on a champion like Graves: the silhouette in lane. Been running this skin in Diamond ranked games since maybe season 4 or 5, and the darker color palette genuinely makes you harder to track in river fights. Could be wrong here but the dark coat blends into the Rift shadows around dragon pit better than his base brown duster. Had a game last week where the enemy Lulu literally face-checked me in a bush near blue buff and I wonder if the darker model contributed.

The Vandal line and where Hired Gun fits

Hired Gun Graves dropped October 19, 2011. Early League. Kienan ‘Knockwurst’ Lafferty handled the artwork, and you can see the gritty comic book influence in the splash. The Vandal skinline is one of Riot’s older thematic sets, giving champions this post-apocalyptic biker gang vibe. Graves fits it naturally.

(Random aside: the splash art composition on this one is genuinely top tier for its era, the lighting on the shotgun barrel sells the whole fantasy.)

No chromas available for Hired Gun Graves. Zero. What you see is what you get. The Vandal line never really got the chroma treatment for its older entries which is a shame because I think a blacked-out variant would go hard. Permanent shop availability though, so at least you dont have to wait for a vault rotation or pray for a chest drop.

Should you pick up Hired Gun Graves?

Real verdict: 520 RP feels fair for what you get. You’re paying for a model swap and a solid splash, nothing more. If you’re a Graves main climbing through ranked and want something different from base without dropping 1350 on a full Epic skin, this does the job. Standard voice, no new lines.

Best comparison is probably Pool Party or Crime City if you want the full package with VFX. But those cost three to four times more. Been maining Graves with this skin on and off for years and I keep coming back to it specifically because the shotgun model looks better than base. Simple change – huge impact on how the champion reads in teamfights.

Might be overthinking it but I think Hired Gun Graves is one of those budget skins that aged well because the model changes were strong enough to carry. Played maybe 30 games with it this season in bot lane specifically as ADC Graves and the auto attack animations just feel crispy with this weapon model. Skip the flashier options if you’re tight on RP. This one earns its slot in your collection.