Graves Borrowed Decree In Deadlock: How Gravestones, Ghouls, And Bounty Nerfs Work
Graves 4 is Borrowed Decree, the gravestone ultimate that summons Ghouls and turns map space into a slow-moving liability.
Borrowed Decree is Graves putting a gravestone on the map and asking the enemy team to sign for delivery.
Short answer: Borrowed Decree is Graves’ ultimate and her summon identity in one package. Innately, her abilities can summon Ghouls that move toward the enemy base, deal melee damage, and explode near heroes or objectives. Actively, she creates a gravestone that summons Ghouls over time.
| Image | Ability |
|---|---|
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Borrowed Decree Graves creates a gravestone that summons Ghouls over time, while her innate summon package sends Ghouls toward the enemy base. |
Current Mechanics
Deadlock.one’s current Graves data lists Borrowed Decree with 20m cast range, 0.66-second channel duration, 120-second cooldown, 16-second duration, 8m radius, 15 percent bonus spirit damage, 12.5 percent bullet resist, 100 gravestone health, 3 max gravestones, 40 max stacks, 115 damage with 1.3 spirit scaling, -80 percent move speed, 180 summon health, 40 melee damage with 0.5 scaling, 20-second summon lifetime, 1.25-second slow duration, 6.5m explosion radius, and 4 seconds between summons.
The tooltip also says enemies can destroy the gravestone with two heavy melees. That is important. Borrowed Decree is not just “press ultimate and leave.” Graves is placing an object the enemy can answer, if they are willing to walk into the problem and spend the time.
Upgrade Path
- 1 AP: reduce cooldown by 20 seconds.
- 2 AP: gain +25 percent Ghoul speed and +10s duration.
- 5 AP: on death, deal +5 percent current health as damage.
The cooldown upgrade makes the gravestone plan more available. The 2 AP upgrade makes the summons faster and the window longer. The final upgrade adds punishment when the summoned pressure dies, which is thematically rude and mechanically very on brand.
The Ghoul Patch Context
Valve’s official Minor Update – 05-31-2026 reduced Ghouls damage by 15 percent and increased Ghouls bounty from 25+1/min to 35+2/min. That matters for Borrowed Decree because the ability’s practical value is tied to how threatening and how rewarding those summons are.
The June 11 update then kept trimming Graves elsewhere, reducing Jar of Dead collection and damage while increasing its bounty, and reducing Grasping Hands T3 immobilize duration. The pattern is clear enough: Valve has been taxing Graves’ summon/control economy.
How To Use It
Place the gravestone where the enemy has to make a choice. If they can ignore it, the ultimate loses its argument. If they have to clear it, cross it, or fight near it, Graves gets the kind of slow pressure that makes Jar of Dead and Essence Theft much more obnoxious.
Borrowed Decree is strongest around objectives, lane pressure, and fights where the enemy cannot calmly spend two heavy melees on the gravestone. It is weakest when Graves drops it in a place the enemy team was already planning to leave.
Counterplay
Destroy the gravestone when it is safe, clear summons when they matter, and remember that the May 31 bounty increase makes killing Ghouls more rewarding than older clips may imply. If Graves has the 5 AP upgrade, respect the on-death damage instead of turning the cleanup into a careless group hug.
Sources
Current mechanics and the ability icon were checked against Deadlock.one’s Graves page and the Borrowed Decree modal. Patch context was checked against Valve’s May 31 and June 11, 2026 Steam News items.
For the broader Graves file, see DramaLock’s best heroes tracker guide, Street Brawl tier list, pro-builds guide, and May 31 Graves patch context.