Caitlyn Build Guide by ImSoSwift

Introduction

Welcome to my very first guide :).

Hey Guys/Gals, My name is Im So Swift and I will be doing my very first guide on my favourite AD Carry and the very first champion I bought Caitlyn. What has always appealed to me about Caitlyn is her early game. With the set masteries and runes Caitlyn is excellent at harrassing early game with her Piltover Peacemaker. Along with her passive [headshot she is able to hit hard right from the get go.

This guide will hopefully help you carry your team to victory and help improve your Caitlyn skills or help new Caitlyn players how to build and master her.

Now ofcourse you do not have to follow any of what I put here but this will help you understand a great way to play and build her. Please read the full guide before you downvote and please if you do I would love a comment explaining how come so I can learn from my mistakes and improve my future guides.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

Great Early Game Harrass
Long Range
Good Early Game Damage
Good Escape
Effective Traps

Cons:

Very Slow
Squishy

Ace in the Hole can be blocked easily

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation - The enemy uses armor flats well good for them because your arm pen cancels them out :D. I recommend using arm pen runes on any AD carry because they are far more effective then AD runes.

Greater Seal of Armor - Your Squishy, what best then to improve your armor for early game to help keep you alive?

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - You may ask why choose flat MR over scaling MR, well I base everything off my early game, I want to stay in lane as long as possible, and if you can get a great start early, losing that extra 12 MR late game won't matter. Its up to you I like to get a strong start.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation - More Arm Pen. what else would you need? Combined with your Greater Mark of Desolation and Sunder you will have a overall 35% Arm Pen. and that will break anyones armor really early game and come late game with your Last Whisper you will have a total of 75% Arm Pen. so you won't have to worry about not hurting tanks late game.

Masteries

Well since you are after all an AD carry going 21-9-0 is quite the obvious choice. I like to max all the left side because it is the best overall choice all around with the extra 10% arm pen, 3% life steal which helps you stay in lane and ofcourse Executioner which really increases your damage when an enemy is low.

As for the 9 defensive masteries, you want to get the Veteran's Scars which gives you a decent 30 bonus health to start with along with your Doran's Blade you gain an addition 110 health which is excellent to start the game with and really helps keep you in your lane longer.

I use to run 3 in Resistance aswell as the 3 currently in Hardiness and then put my last 3 in Utility but you may optimize these however best fits you and your play style.

Summoner Spells

There is a few viable options when it comes using summoner spells on Caitlyn. I personally use flash and ignite most of the time but you can change it up depending on what you feel you will need.

Flash - You're slow and your 90 Caliber Net is'nt going to be enough if you have a distance to go or miss hopping over a wall. Flash is probably the most important of summoner spells because it can save you a lot of deaths.

Ignite - Can be very very effective especially against champions like Dr. Mundo, Sion, and Master Yi for when they pop there healing abilities and also to snag a few kills early on that could have possibly been an escape by the enemy.

Exhaust - Can be very usefull since Caitlyn is slow, Exhaust will keep the enemy from escaping you but also if your against a melee champ like sion or Tryndamere this is great to slow there attack speed down and allows you to put our more damage then you are taking and also denies them from regaining a bunch of hp back off lifesteal.

Heal - When I'm playing a more serious game such as rank or in a normal draft where my team isn't trying to troll I will take Heal. Heal is much more useful on the carry than the support because her using Heal will only heal half to you but on yourself you will receive 100%.

Teleport - A viable option to get back to your lane quick, it is useful early game and in some situations mid-late game but once again it is really all depending on who you are goign up against, what your team has, and your own preference.

Tips

Here is just a few good Tips while playing [caitlyn].

Only use your

90 Caliber Net as an escape. Worthless attack/slow.
Use your Headshot to your advantage. Great for harrassing enemies.
With Ace in the Hole try and make sure that it will be difficult for an enemy to block it.
With Piltover Peacemaker try and line up a clean shot on champions to maximize its damage.
Your traps are very important, place them in bushes that are commonly run through close by.


Just keep these few things in mind and it will make your game go a lot smoother and might possibly earn you a extra kill or two and/or save you from a few deaths.

Item Build

Why start with Doran's Blade? Well because it gives you a little bit of life steal, 10 attack damage and 80 health, you can't ask for a better starter item. You may also switch it up and start with Boots of Speed and 3 health pots because Caitlyn only starts with 300 speed but I am trying to farm as much as I can and harrass in the beginning so I enjoy the Doran's Blade.

After that those two items unless I don't have enough to buy a B. F. Sword I will either get my Zeal if I have enough ofcourse or Berserker's Greaves all depending on what I need. I will also get my Vampiric Scepter somewhere in between which will help keep you in lane forever unless ofcourse you die or are put low after a fight and didn't finish off the enemies.

Now once you got all those I personally prefer to get a Phantom Dancer before my Infinity Edge because I find that attack speed really helps me creep better because I dont have to worry about hitting a creep and not finishing it and my minions gets it and will help the players that don't wait to just get one last final hit in. Along with that but I love the bonus movement speed and that is my main reason for getting it first, not only that but it really helps with Headshot.

After my Phantom Dancer ofcourse I get my Infinity Edge. Brings your crit chance up to 55% and increase your AD by 80 aswell as crit damage by 50%. There really isn't a better item to get.

Next I like to finish my The Bloodthirster to gain even more AD and more lifesteal and then get my second Phantom Dancer which now you will almsot crit every hit and have a really good attack speed and movement speed and you should be the beast AD Carry you were aiming to be.

For last items you can choose what you really really need all depending on who you are struggling against. A Last Whisper along with your masteries and runes will take away 75% of anyone's armor will giving you 40 more AD, Another The Bloodthirster will bring your damage up insanely while giving you crazy amount of lifesteal. You can get whatever item is most necessary, I have got Warmog's Armor, Banshee's Veil, and even a Frozen Mallet before.

This is how I build my Caitlyn it is not for everyone, it is a great guide to understand how you should build and something to base your own custom Caitlyn off of.

Summary

I would like thank you for reading and I hope you gained a new understanding of how to play [caitlyn] or maybe just learned how to play her in the first place. A special thanks also goes out to JhoiJhoi, her guide really helped me learn how to make my own. Remember you do not have to follow everything I have put on here, this is just how I build my Caitlyn and please do not downvote me jsut because you are a troll or because this isn't how you build yours. If you feel I did a good job please upvote or if I helped you in anyways. I love critism or any advice that can help further my knowledge or improve any of my future guides.