Pre-Rework Graves Is Back in League Classic: Everything in Drop 3

Ten years after Riot turned Graves into a shotgun jungler, the old marksman is back. League Classic drop three brings pre-rework Graves to the mode as a true bot-lane ADC, and he is the headline of the best Classic drop so far. Three more old champions join him, plus three items the community voted back into the game.

Here is how every returning kit plays, why Graves is the one everyone will pick first, and what the revived items do.

Why pre-rework Graves matters

Modern Graves is a jungler who reloads two shells and builds crit in the jungle. The version in League Classic is the 2011 to 2015 marksman a lot of players have wanted back for a decade. He is a bot-lane ADC who rewards long fights and punishes short-range enemies with burst.

• Passive – True Grit: while in combat, Graves stacks Armor and Magic Resist every second up to a cap. He takes time to ramp, so assassins can still blow him up if they catch him before he gets going.
• Q – Buckshot: fires three bullets in a line. Multiple bullets on the same target deal reduced damage, so spacing matters.
• W – Smokescreen: a smoke grenade that damages, slows and nearsights everyone in the zone.
• E – Quickdraw: a short dash that grants attack speed, with the cooldown reduced by his basic attacks.
• R – Collateral Damage: an explosive shell that detonates on the first champion hit and deals reduced damage in a cone behind them.

The takeaway: this Graves wants extended trades, not burst-and-run. Build him like a scaling ADC, respect the slow resist ramp early, and he wins the games that go long.

Fizz: the old missing-HP bleed is back

Fizz launched in 2011 and got reworked in late 2016. The Classic version keeps his buttons where you remember them, with one big difference on his W.

• W – Seastone Trident: the passive deals damage over time that scales with the target’s missing health, and the active applies Grievous Wounds. Riot flagged the missing-HP bleed in the notes, so a Sunfire item or two turns him into a surprisingly sticky bruiser.
• E – Playful/Trickster: the untargetable pole hop, with the option to hop off early for more range and a smaller damage zone.
• R – Chum the Waters: the shark ultimate that latches onto the first champion hit, then knocks up and slows everyone in the area.

Nami: no more Nami-Karthus combo

Nami returns close to her 2013 release. If you come straight from the modern game, one change will trip you up.

• E – Tidecaller’s Blessing: the buff is attack-only in this version, so the modern Nami-Karthus synergy is gone. Plan your support pairings around that.
• Q – Aqua Prison: the same skillshot bubble that damages and stuns where it lands.
• R – Tidal Wave: the full-length wave that damages, knocks up and slows everything it crashes into.

Nautilus: a less disruptive ultimate

Nautilus came out in 2012, and his kit has held up. The one thing to relearn is his ultimate.

• R – Depth Charge: the traveling portion is much less disruptive to targets it passes on the way. The final hit still knocks up and stuns the primary target and everyone around them.
• Q – Dredge Line: the anchor hook, refunding part of its cooldown when it hits terrain.
• Passive – Staggering Blow: rooting basic attacks, once per enemy every few seconds.

Riot also noted he was a strong jungler back in the day, and that stacking Doran’s Rings was a real lane strategy. Both still apply here.

The three revived items in drop 3

A community Council vote decided which items came back this drop. All three are live now:

• Cloak and Dagger: Cloak of Agility plus Dagger, 1,130 gold. Gives 20% attack speed, 20% crit and 35% Tenacity, shared with Mercury’s Treads, Zephyr and Moonflair Spellblade.
• Moonflair Spellblade: Seeker’s Armguard plus Negatron Cloak, 2,300 gold. Gives 50 AP, 50 Armor, 50 Magic Resist and the same 35% Tenacity passive.
• Zz’Rot Portal: Chain Vest, Negatron Cloak and Rejuvenation Bead, 2,700 gold. The active places a void gate that spawns Voidlings to march down the nearest lane.

How does the League Classic Council vote work?

Classic runs on community polls. Riot opens a Council tab in the client, you vote on which champion kit and items get restored next, and the results ship in a later patch. A new seven-day poll opens with this drop, and you can change your answers while it runs.

The last round is what brought back the three items above. We covered how that vote played out, including the Poppy “no counterplay” saga, in our patch 26.18 Classic breakdown.

Should you play League Classic drop 3?

If you started League after 2016, this is the easiest way to feel what the game used to be, and pre-rework Graves is the cleanest example of it. If you were around back then, you already know which champion you are locking first.

Classic is only half the chaos in this patch. The Arena mode got a batch of unhinged new augments, which we ranked in our Arena augments breakdown. For the wider patch, see our LoL patch 26.19 hub, or read the official notes from Riot.