Graves vs Ivern Counter Pick

Ivern rarely wins by fighting. Friend of the Forest means he cannot attack or be attacked by non-epic monsters, and the groves he plants on camps mature on their own, so his clear speed is decoupled from his combat stats entirely. Graves loses 655 recorded games at a 45.2% rate on patch 16.13.1 not because he is outgunned, but because he is outpaced.

On paper he should win any actual confrontation. He carries 66 base attack damage against 50, and while Ivern starts marginally higher at 630 health to 625, Graves finishes at 2,427 to 2,313 and gains armor and magic resist mid-dash from Quickdraw. Ivern’s answer is not to be there: Rootcaller roots from 475 attack range and lets allies dash to the rooted target, Triggerseed shields a teammate before exploding for damage and a slow, and Daisy fights in his place. Catching him alone is the requirement, and his whole kit exists to make that unlikely.

Two notes follow from the data:

• Ivern deals magic damage, so the armor Graves accumulates toward 111.2 by level 18 does little, and magic resist is the correct defensive line instead.
• Smoke Screen cutting sight range in an area is one of the few tools that breaks up a Rootcaller setup before an ally follows it in.

Everything else reduces to catching him away from his groves before Daisy is available. Stat page: Graves.