Recently, in the match between the reigning champions JD Gaming and Dominus Esports during the LPL Summer Split 2020 group stage, JDG’s jungler Kanavi marked the debut of the Graves Ignite + Smite playstyle in the professional arena.
This playstyle has been effectively utilized by SofM from Suning in recent Korean ranked matches, and its emergence has excited the fan community. (It should be noted that while SofM is not the inventor of the Smite-less jungle playstyle, he is the one who perfected it in solo queue, combining summoner spells, Keystone runes, and an incredibly creative item build for Graves).
Kanavi’s Graves Ignite + Smite easily secured victory in a match that was not much of a contest, as JDG’s opponent was a team positioned in the lower half of the standings.
After the match, when asked about the choice of Graves Ignite + Smite, Kanavi responded: “Because Graves has his E ability to create distance, I think this champion doesn’t need to use Flash anymore. Instead, I chose Ignite to optimize my damage output. Moreover, Ignite has a shorter cooldown than Flash, so it can be utilized more effectively.”
Besides using the summoner spell combo of Ignite + Smite, Kanavi also applied the Keystone rune of Phase Rush and prioritized building Black Cleaver for Graves, similar to how SofM has used it.
In fact, Kanavi recently faced SofM in Korean ranked matches not long ago. In that ranked match, Kanavi’s Lee Sin was the one who ended SofM’s impressive win streak with his “Graves Ignite”.
However, this playstyle seemed to impress Kanavi, and he decided to experiment with it in his next two ranked matches, resulting in one win and one loss before using it in the match against DMO.
It is also worth mentioning that DMO is not a formidable opponent, and JDG had taken the lead 1-0, which likely gave Kanavi the confidence to use Graves in game 2. Although his performance was not particularly striking, the effectiveness of this playstyle was clearly demonstrated: Graves showed no fear in any 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 situations, and in ganks or pick-offs, this champion swiftly eliminated targets thanks to a relatively abundant damage output.
Similar to the Olaf build with Redemption or Lee Sin using Tiamat Axe in the past, SofM continues to make his mark by perfecting a new playstyle, which is now adopted by top players in professional matches.