Caitlyn, The Sheriff of Piltover

Hey everybody! Major overhaul thanks to some intelligent discussion, so I hope it's more worth of your while now.

"PLEASE DON'T DOWNRANK THE GUIDE WITHOUT GIVING IT A WHIRL."

That being said, let's get on with it. This is a fairly standard AD/AS/Crit build which might prove to be quite useful at mantaining Caitlyn's relevance throughout early, mid & late game phases.

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Why AD?

You are a physical ranged DPS champion. In order to really start cutting down heads regarless of your enemies actions, Attack Damage stacking will ensure each hit you place hurts. A lot.

Why AS?

To enable serious heavy hitting, this build calls for some fairly augmented Attack Speed, through items and even some runes detailed below.

4]Why Crit?[/h4] Crit stacking is important, since you'll be wanting to crit often to get those massive Headshots.

I'll be going into details on the why's and how's of rune selection, masteries, item purchases, skill development, summoner spells, and tactics.

ON NO ACCOUNTS this should be taken as a definitive guide, since my experience has taught me that many people might choose the same champion & progress through the exact same build with wildly varying styles of play, and consequent results.

ANY AND ALL CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS WILL BE WELCOME =D.

My Cait is a AD/AS/Crit focused champion, so I found the following picks adequate to some basic principles: When my item choices won't cut it on their own, runes will get my back. All and all, keep it simple.

Greater Mark of Desolation
Marks: Flat Armor Penetration runes tend to be a good catch-all rune for most DPS builds. I favor Desolation on the chance you are stuck in a lane early game with an armor-stacking SOB. And since you will want to be on the lane for long periods of time, having to back out of a fight because you're not punching through is not really an option.

Greater Seal of Attack Speed
Seals: Flat Attack Speed means more autoattacks per minute, especially in early game. Cait has a pretty heavy early game phase if played aggressively, so I tend to favor these to get the job done on my lane and go annoy somewhere else. Alacrity all the way.

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
Glyphs: Same as Seals. I have traded mana regeneration glyphs in favor of more Flat Attack Speed since I believe mana regen in late game phases to be a total waste of perfectly good rune points. Anyone who's ever played Cait might have noticed this.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation
Quints: Same as Marks. Flat Armor Penetration is what will balance out an early fight against those beastly brutes stacking anti-shell equipment, and compliment anti-armor items in mid or late game.

I'll focus on questionable choices, since most of the mastery picks are self-explainatory:

Cripple
Cripple: I tend to think Ghost and Flash are a bit too much in terms of mobility most of the times. Having to burn out both to take that kill in early and mid phases will probably put you in immediate danger, if you catch my drift. If you happen to like Exhaust, extra armor reduction and more time to shoot at the target might just give you that extra gank.

Haste
Haste: Run faster, & run for longer. Great way to improve your chasing or retreat capabilities if you favor the Ghost spell. Excellent for messy minion/champ fights.

Awareness
Awareness: Since I belive mana pool expansion is a waste in late game, I'd much rather benefit from extra experience gains during the first half hour of the game, where leveling is still important and the course of the game is starting to shape.

So here's the rundown on the sequence:

Early game:


Doran's Blade
Doran's Blade: Is as good an item at surviving early game as any you might want, especially considering how squishy Cait is. I'd recommend purchasing a second one on your first trip to base.

Berserker's Greaves
Berserker's Greaves: Considering the whole point of this build is to inflict mass damage in very little time, shoes with +25% AS and level 2 mobility should pretty much sell themselves.
Avoid Boots of Swiftness, since I believe the extra move speed to be worthless with the proper summoner spells. Remember, you are there to deal damage, not run around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Vampiric Scepter
Vampiric Scepter: Even if I consider The Bloodthirster intended as a weapon to establish full dominion in mid game, getting a good solid bit of lifesteal in early and mid will help you stay a relevant force. Especially when opposing champions start to notice you.

Zeal
Zeal: First steps into an advanced build. Substantial AS increase, some Crit added and some good Move to expand your chasing capabilities.

Mid game:


B.F. Sword
B.F. Sword: Heavy AD will finish rounding out a pretty nice mid game ganking build. Go for it whenever you think it's time to start downing opposing players.

Phantom Dancer
Phantom Dancer: If you are doing okay, this should be a nice step in increasing Caitlyn's harrasing power, if you prefer more shots over more powerful shots. Some people may correctly argue that a Bloodthirster would a be much more suitable proposition in terms of massive damage and survivability, but I've found picking it up at this stage a stretch in terms of gold and actual damage in a fight.

Sword of the Occult
Sword of the Occult: A cheap advanced item, & a newcomer to the build. I'd say the price tag on this item pays out at somewhere above 5 stacks. Just go straight for the whole thing when you are prepared to go where the action is.

Bloodthirster
The Bloodthirster: Upon competion of this baby, your AD gets massively boosted, with some prett heavy Lifesteal to go with it. It will be very dangerous to try to mess with you during teamfights.

Late game:
At this point there are a couple of items available that one should have enough criteria to pick depending on the circumstances. Feel free to digress on these, since I've selected them as items that have consistently played out well in most of my games.



Infinity Edge
Infinity Edge: With its extremely desirable AD boost and Passive, this item is a brutal addition to the line-up.

Last Whisper
Last Whisper: In case enemies have noticed your strategy at this point and start stacking Warmog's or Thornmail like no tomorrow, the Last Whisper ought to do enough with it's armor debuff and AD to counter their efforts at nullifying you.

The skill Sequence is as follows:


Piltover Peacemaker: Max it as soon as possible. This will be your nuke button when autoattacks just can't get the job done yet. Great at making players uncomfortable from a safe, tea-sipping distance.


90 Caliber Net: The second to be maxed out as soon as possible. A good chase and escape tool, and a pretty funny thing to pull off when being pursued by an angry mob of opposing players.


Yordle Snap Trap: Invest one point early in the game, then wait till the end. The reason behind this is that you might need it to establish some lane control and anti-gank prevention early on, but it's not that useful yet. When an enemy steps in it, be sure to punish him for it with at least an autoattack. They'll learn to avoid it out of fear.

In late games, this skill may prove to save more than a couple of lives during teamfights if correctly placed. Go for a straight line when running away, or place them in the brush when teamfighting or flanking the enemy.


Ace in The Hole: Neat ult, somewhat underpowered given its usable range, casting time and the fact that an enemy champion can jump into your line of fire screaming "Nooooooo!" Full health Rammus? Shot wasted. Still, great if you keep your eyes open for banged up squishies staying at the back of teamfight. Be ready, you'll probably only have a split second.

As I mentioned earlier, I think Ghost and Flash is a bit overkill in terms of mobility.

If you are in serious trouble, a short supermove should do the job since that ought to put you in tower range safety. If more is needed, you are behind enemy lines and odds are you were in trouble way before an enemy spotted you. Thusly.

Flash
Flash (Main Choice) I tend to favor Flash due to its immediateness. Basically, when it comes to that all important distance-to-enemy/over time ratio, this does the job as good as Ghost 80% of the time. Additionally, Flash is an instant teleport anywhere you want, and that includes the jungle next to you, where you can and probably will get a clear shot with the Ace in The Hole ult at that squishy near-dead champ hiding behind it's teams toughies. Thank you 3rd grade trigonometry.

Teleport
Teleport: No level 3 movement, but instant troublemaking anywhere on the map? Sign me up. Most teamfights become so pitted that people forget about minions, AKA little Stargates. Being a ranged mubbahubba, this ensues hilarity when a 2v2 becomes a 3v2 slugfest.

Well, this is pretty much it.

I still will not not touch jungling since I believe there's a very special type of ideology behind it which I have yet to master, not to mention I've still got loads to learn from what I actually do frequently. Ranked Play is something I know nothing about. But the truth in the whole matter is still as follows:

"If you are looking into builds before looking into Team Work, you are probably playing the wrong game."

Nombreredificil, Maraoz, Pajaritomagico, Pippinog, Aelfsigir, Chlansman, FTii, & Roarkk. They've all been instrumental in my furthering of LoL knowledge, both in-game and out. I am blessed with the opportunity of sharing this game with my friends, and all the more so since they don't seem to mind when I **** up bad enough to sink a continent, or my inane cursing at them little characters.

"Bad mojo stays in the game. Good mojo may be remembered for years to come."

Baxxie, for widsom!