I stream a bit nowadays, and I've been recording Sivir over the last 2 nights. I'll put one game in here, but you can always check if I'm streaming, as I pretty much do it nightly when I'm not working ATM.

Sivir going 18/4/20 with 11 tower destructs.

First, I figure I should explain myself here.

I come from a long history of fighting games. I've been competitive with them, and taken some to high level play. While that's not the same thing as a MOBA like League, I brought some of what I learned over.

First and foremost - with whatever character you pick, you want to do two things as best as possible:

1.) Use your character's strengths as best as you can.

2.) Do your best to eliminate all weakness that your character has.

In fighting games, this generally means using the strong parts of your movelist and pressuring your opponent such that they can't exploit the matchup. In MOBAs, it's a bit different, considering you can build to cover weakness, while emphasizing strength as well.

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That said, what exactly is Sivir good/bad at when built as a standard carry?

Pros:
She can do heavy damage to entire teams using Ricochet combined with a high AD.
She can push lanes and get towers down faster than pretty much anyone.
She has an incredible steroid to help a team in a fight.
She is a good pick to lane against any disables, as she can spellshield them (For example, Taric + AD bot lane, or an AP carry top/mid with a disable)
She farms super well, and can end up with the highest CS without even meaning to.

Cons:
She absolutely blows up if anything touches her when built as a standard AD carry.
She needs to get into range of a fight due to a terrible auto attack range.

• Because of these two facts, Sivir generally eats more than one disable in teamfights, can't save herself with spellshield and gets focused instantly.

Her early game is lackluster compared to most AD carries considering she has worse burst to give herself early lead, and has less range so she can be zoned out easier.

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The Changes building her as a Tanky DPS makes:

• You maintain a high AD which allows you to still dish out a lot of damage in fights, and push lanes just as fast.
• You make her much harder to bring down when fighting starts. This does a couple of awesome things:
  • The longer she's in a fight, the more auto attacks go off and with that, more bounces go off. Thus, she does much more damage.
  • The longer she's in a fight, the longer the rest of her team is effected by her steroid.
• You make her early game burst and laning phase much better due to runes and a strong item start.
  • However, you still have to play lane carefully. You won't have as much sustain as someone with 3 health pots.
• You take advantage of her insane farming power by giving her items that scale off farming creeps.

I rune Sivir largely around making her early game much more strong than it normally is. Sivir's late can be covered in her abnormally large amounts of farm gold and I find her weakest point is around levels 1-8, so scaling runes aren't really worth it, when flat bonuses makes your laning much, much easier.

So, getting right down to it:



This is actually standard on a lot of AD carries at the moment, and as such should be pretty obvious. Auto attacks are huge in the early game, this makes them even more huge. Along with that, it makes Rang do more damage. Just an all around good choice.

Greater Mark of Desolation

These are also standard on AD carries. Helps you do a lot more damage in the early by piercing a lot of the base armor.



Here's where things get not-so-standard. Why not run mp10? Why not run dodge to stack with her passive? Why not run CDR or something?

Answers are simple - One of sivir's worst weaknesses is lack of an early game edge. She already has dodge on her passive. Giving her this with MR blues makes her rather resilient in any lane.



You MIGHT consider MR/Lvl glyphs here, but I said it earlier, and I'll say it again: Sivir's levels 1-8ish are her weakest levels - She scales well with items, and she doesn't have any at these levels. Covering yourself as much as you can while you farm up through that early game is important, and flat MR accomplishes that. Scaling on the MR/Lvl glyphs only gets surpasses flat around level 10.

I go this exact 21/0/9 for a couple reasons, I'll explain the main reasons, as well as the reason I took the less standard mastery picks for carries such as sivir.

• 's buff a while ago makes it amazing on anyone who can put out a lot of damage. Even though I build tanky, I also build quite a bit of damage, and that %buff is a huge deal.
• is useful on sivir because Q does magic damage. It might not be the biggest damage buff, but it's better than putting the point somewhere else.
• There is honestly a huge misconception by lower level players that Good hands is bad, because if you take it, that means you meant to die, or you were expecting to die. Here's a couple reasons I find it good:
  • Thing is, Dying happens, and against better comp, more often.
  • Your other choice in this tier is and while I know there's plenty of people who will argue me to the teeth that this is a better choice, look at what ranking it past that first point gives you. The first point gives you 2% regen. The next 2 points give you 1% each. Would you rather spend those 2 points in 2% mana regen (And considering you don't build much mana regen, this value comes out far below 1 mp10) or should you spend it on coming back to life 7% faster? This can seriously save your lane if your team messes up and gets aced.
• Awareness is almost essential for everyone outside hard tanks. It keeps you from falling behind in your lane.
• Extra damage on your bounces and your auto attacks. Great Mastery for Sivir.
• Why no ? Well, Sivir's huge team damage comes mostly from her bounces and her bounces don't do on hits (thus don't crit). I'd rather have the 2 added AD than the extra crit damage, especially since I don't build much crit, and I won't be critting consistently.

A passive that is nigh useless, but works in clutch situations. Don't worry about it, that much.

This is a great nuke in lane and throwing it down a minion line clears it in seconds when you need to push. However, it only works as one of these two tools.

If you're using it to harass or nuke, TRY AS HARD AS POSSIBLE to make the first hit of the boomerang on them. In the best case scenario, the boomerang will hit only them on the first and second hits. Often times that's not possible, but at the very least make them its first target.

When not harassing and you just want to push (Say you saw a 4 man gank at bottom, thus you know you can push top down relatively unimpeded) throw the boomerang down the line. However, try not to push like crazy when you're still laning, and there's nothing happening on the map.

This spell has the dual function of both being a great 1v1 fighting tool (You can spellshield a nuke or a disable) as well as being a great mana sustain. Always use it, don't forget about it. If you're able to use it every time it's up in lane (by getting the other guy to try and stun you or something else), that's about 32 mp10, which is great. This + philo stone will make you able to push when you need to and Q when you need to.

Turn it off when laning, I see too many sivir's leave it on because they think it's great harass. There's two problems with that: One, it's inconsistent as you can't control bounces and you'll end up pushing the lane and not harassing more often than not. Two, it's a huge mana dump if you do that, and really no character can sustain something like that + a nuke forever.

You only want to last hit single minions. Once again, unless you want to push, there is no need to have it on. This skill is used best in teamfights, and when pushing and it is GREAT for those. Outside of that, leave it off.

This skill has a bit more use than ricochet in lane. Note, it gives you a speed boost and can be the difference between getting away and not getting away from a gank. This does happen once in my video linked earlier. Two - the speed boost can be the difference between getting someone before they get to tower and not getting them. It's rather useful in both situations.

Other than that, it's another skill you're going to want to use when you're pushing hard, and when a teamfight starts. It's GREAT for both of those, and a utility spell outside that.

or + 3x

Doran's gives a great early game start to Sivir and lets you play more aggressive. You do a hell of a lot more burst with it, and it gives you extra survivability in health. With it, you can throw a Q and 2 auto attacks, and you'll force a health pot. However, if you're starting with dorans you do have to be a bit careful, as you don't have much sustain. You can't afford to let your health drop too far against someone with 3 health pots. When you go back the first time for your philo stone, grab health pots on the side. They are important to sustain.

Boots + 3 health pots is a much less aggressive start. It lets you farm safely and be able to sustain yourself longer for more farm before you go back.

Personally, I like the Doran's start as I'm a more aggressive player, and I also generally take an early recall to buy philo. However, your start is preference, try them both.

Philosopher's stone

GP10 is great on anyone. It's not that Sivir can't farm, but Philo stone gives her extra sustain with your resilient runes, and it also gives her extra gold in the late game. I always take this, but you can choose to skip it.



Many AD carries take this, and Sivir needs attack speed to get more auto attacks out. Consider changing these boots to a when you get to late.



Here's where you get to the core of the build. No, bloodthirster isn't a Tanky dps item, but sivir farms incredibly well, and you get 1AD for each minion you farm until you die. I also take bloodthirster before warmogs because of the biggest weakness to warmogs:

Building Warmogs limits your damage in the early-mid game.

Because Sivir can farm so easily, giving her a BT gives her the highest base AD you can have as you build up your Warmogs. It just makes sense to rush it.

or

Core of your Tankiness. Once again, sivir is one of the best minion farmers in the game, why not give her an item that will give her a ton of health for doing what she does best? And once you have atmas, it will have been even more worth it.

You can also grab FM here, it works as a small form of CC, but you won't be as tanky. It's worth mentioning though that if you DO go frozen mallet, you can build something else for the SV.



Considering you should get warmog's to full stacks, Atmas is worth the investment. Honestly, fully stacked Warmog's is the only time I'd consider buying atmas, as the passive AD isn't worth it if you aren't going to have that much health. Atmas even gives you some much needed resistance in armor, and you get some crit on the side. Pretty good for tank Sivir.



You need some AS to be doing more damage. Considering there's a lot of survivability built nowadays, Mads razor is really your best bet in a fight, and gives you some armor to boot. You can switch this out for another AS, and of course, don't buy this if nobody on their team has high health. Just go for another Bloodthirster or something similar.



You can exchange this for a if you want, but I prefer Banshees as it gives you a second spellshield as well as some mana, and some health for AD.

This item is also situational. If they don't have much AP damage, don't build it. Go for a high armor item like or instead.

With this summoner, no, you don't have a choice. Flash is just incredibly useful right now, OP for its great aggressive as well as defensive uses. Why you wouldn't take it on a carry is beyond me.



You have a choice here but I strongly recommend exhaust. Why? Because it helps you a TON during laning. If someone fights you and you think you are going to come out tied, toss it, and you will suddenly be WAY ahead in fighting them. If you're getting ganked, you can toss it to ruin movement speed. If you're chasing you can use it to do the same. There's a lot of utility in lane with this spell, and Sivir is kind of weak in lane.

It's also useful later if you use it on carries in teamfights.

As far as other spells, I recommend:



An OP summoner if your team is warding. Use it for ganks, use it to win dragon fights, use it to change the tide. Along with that, you're Sivir, so you can use it to push the hell out of a lane, then teleport to another to push the hell out of THAT one when they come to stop you.



Extra damage on your burst never hurt anyone. Also good for any team running a high health sustain champ. :)

Optimally, as you're building rather bulky, Sivir should be taking a solo. Your AD carry should take the bottom lane with a support.

But who is it optimal to lane against in the current meta? What champions do you counter well, and how? Well, this section will teach you just that.

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Sivir has an easy lane against any AP caster with a decent missile speed on their spells. If she's fighting one of them, she can bait them into giving her mana with spellshield, then fight them with boomerang and a couple auto attacks. However, not all AP carry is created equally, so I'll go over who Sivir has the easiest or the trickiest lanes against, and why.

NOTE: These matchups are listed largely based on who you can expect to see in your lane when you go in a SOLO. (with a couple exceptions. IE: Kassadin)




He literally has no way to do reliable damage to you. It's incredibly easy to zone a Kassadin, as his silence ball has such a slow missile speed, you can just absorb it, and harass him away from the minion line.



Her damage largely comes from her E harass. Always spellshield it, and always harass her back. If you win each trade you will win the lane.



His main way to harass you is with his Q. He constantly spams this, and you can intentionally eat it with spellshield in order to maintain high mana. Not only that, but every time Karth ults, you can spellshield that too. Once again, it's not too hard to lane against him and win any trades with harass.



Spellshield ruins her damage. Eat the first sigil, spellshield the second skill she tries to use. You will take FAR less from her burst this way. LB is incredibly squishy in lane as well. So when she can't blow you up due to spellshield, she will have a lot of trouble trading hits with you.



He can't toss you as you can spellshield it, and you counter his incredible pushing power. The lane is a farmfest, as singed really never dies in 1v1s, but singed will make it easy on you to farm, as he generally always is pushing.



You can spellshield both his gold card reliably, as well as his Q. This is pretty much all of TF's lane harass, and he doesn't outrange you, so if he tries to throw the card on, he is in attack range. This is an incredibly easy lane for sivir.



Somewhat like TF, Urgot's harass comes from landing one skill, and that's his grenade. Block it with spellshield, and he'll have a really tough time fighting you. Do be careful about his ult though. If you spellshield ult, you only block the suppression effect. You still get swapped. The good thing about this, is you can run further into your own team, and urgot will be swapped there. The bad thing, is you're likely going to get jumped on by his team as a result.



You can zone him rather easily. The only way he can win a 1v1 fight with you is if he can land his blind, so make sure you always spellshield it. If you accomplish that, the lane is as good as won, as your damage will far outweigh his through the early game, and you'll have a bunch of health to cut through in the mid.



Much of Maokai's strength is in his underestimated burst. Especially if he has ignite. However, much of your strength comes from [highlight]the exact same thing[/highlight] nowadays. Sivir dishes out tons if she lands her boomerang and a couple attacks. If maokai roots you, spellshield his sapling (unless he's maxing something else first) and boomerang him back for it. You will win all trades like this.

It's also worth mentioning that Maokai's root gets completely blocked by sivir's shield. So if he's using it to try and get a gank, you can shield it.



His Silence as well as his knockup are both telegraphed. You do need some practice to consistently block them though. He also lives through a whole lot, so once again, the lane will be a farm party. However, Sivir does real well at this.



Malz's silence can be beaten with boots and good movement. Malz's E can be blocked with spellshield (And you can run toward a minion that's about to die and is afflicted to MAKE it pop on you, so you get reliable mana in the lane) and his combo can largely be negated by just shielding when he pops pool under you. Not too difficult of a lane, so I'd say he's on the easier side of the medium difficulty champs.



You can spellshield his stun as well as his AoE. So much of his domination in lane through huge damage is lost. However, brand is still very very powerful in lane, and even if you spellshield his W, his combo does a lot of damage. Be very careful and try not to engage unless you have a good way to land boomerang.



You can eat her Q with spellshield, but she can throw another right out. Her W controls space in lane well and if she catches you while poisoned you're in a whole lot of hurt. To play against her ALWAYS go the boots start. Once you have boots, you can dodge the Qs when you don't have spellshield up, and with that, you'll be able to fight her much better.



Spellshield her stun (Usually annies will try to Q stun you. Some will wise up and try to W stun) and she can't get an early lead. Annie thrives on making good trades and suddenly blowing someone up at 6. Sivir doesn't let her do that. However, Once she is 6, be careful of tibbers. It's not incredibly easy to spellshield a tibbers stun on reaction.



You can spellshield her ball, but unfortunately, orianna's shield will make it hard to actually win any trades with her. You still can, but if she plays it safely, the lane becomes a farm fest. She can't reliably trade well with you as far as damage goes, but you don't exactly have a great way to break shield unless she eats a full boomerang, and she has the range that she can try this harass from behind her line (So you'll get her with reduced damage rangs, if you try). So, Farm it up.



Spellshield is hard to hit on Kat outside the dagger. It's not a reliable tool here. However, if she does shunpo to you, you're given a free boomerang. When fighting Kat, I stay away from trying to harass her. I shield any daggers she throws, and if she does shunpo to me I immediately auto attack + boomerang her. She's not incredibly difficult to win against, but definitely not easy.



Fight her in the early levels if you want to have anything happen in lane. You will win against her auto attacks with boomerang supplementing it. However, she will quickly have too much sustain for you to kill her, and once she gets cougar she can trade better than you if she gets into range. You have to play the lane incredibly passive, and try not to fight it. I'd put nid between the medium and hard difficulties, but I don't really know what I'd call that category, so I'm putting her here.



Contrary to what some will tell you, Akali is a real terror to lane against as Siv, here's why:

You can seriously not fight her once she hits 6. There's no real way to spellshield akali, as she doesn't have incredibly high cooldowns. But if you have to fight this lane, do try to spellshield her Q. It's her highest damage nuke and you won't get marked if you block the first hit. Note: You can't block the mark activation if it is already on you. Unfortunately, she will likely still get harass off on you with R and E, and her bubble makes trading with her problematic.

This isn't an easy lane, but it's not unwinnable. If you CAN spellshield every Q, and you can hit boomerangs when she gets in her bubble, you'll do well.



Udyr murders sivir for much the same reason he murders a lot of people. His tiger stance is a ton of damage in an early fight, and for whatever reason, Sivir cannot block the Activation effect on Tiger stance. Why? Who knows. But this means you can't block any of his damage (as you can only block the first tick of phoenix). The only thing you can reliably block is his bear stun, and you will be safe from his stun for 6 seconds. The only thing Sivir can abuse in this matchup is her range, so try to do so.



You can't spellshield any of his abilities outside his harpoon. And if you do spellshield that, he still gets a second shot. That fact, along with the problem of him having a ton of damage, a ton of CC and only getting tickled by your harass makes Rumble very hard to lane against. Avoid this lane at all costs.



Real easy answer: Panth jump to you will close distance, he will win an auto attack fight because of his block, and his spear is on such a short cooldown with so much damage now, that the lane is just impossible. You can spellshield as much as you want, but if panth plays it right he'll be able to full zone you.

Well I'll close this with a Good luck, and I hope you have as much fun with Sivir as I do.

I'll add more to the guide and probably more to this section later, but for now:


LAST UPDATED:

8/1/2011