This is a technical guide for Sivir players who want to know more about the CDR way, since the remake now allows this kind of play. Building CDR is the highest possible damage output ON ONE TARGET with Sivir - far above any other items combination. It's of course the highest possible damage output on multiple target too.

This is NOT a guide for new Sivir players, for 3 reasons :
- CDR is harder to play than casual AD build (lot of micro + mana management)
- This guide is A HEAVY BLOCK OF TEXT. It's meant that way. You'll have to find courage to read it entirely.
- You probably don't care about all that if you don't already play Sivir in ranked games.

IF YOU WANT QUICK HOWTO => READ "BASIC GAMEPLAY"
IF YOU WANT EVERYTHING ELSE => READ EVERYTHING ELSE :-)

I hope you will find everything that you need here. :-)

The CDR build is based on the fact that RICOCHET NOW RESETS THE AUTO ATTACK TIMER. Sivir is the only carry AD to really benefit from that mechanic. (Vayne tumble being nearly unusable as a timer reset due to long travel time and excellent AS scalling)

The fact that Ricochet resets the timer means that ricochet is a potential DPS increase of nearly 50%. Because ricochet can be 1.8 sec Cooldown, and because the base attack speed of Sivir is between 0.85 and 1 att/sec, you cast a potential 1 ricochet every 2 attack, which means 50% increased DPS. Under attack speed buff, you cast 1 ricochet every 3 attack, which means 33% increase DPS.

This is HUGE, and this is truly the new main power of Sivir. CDR is a cheap stat, easy to build with nearly no drawback.

CDR also reduce the cooldown of all abilities, which means :
- Your boomerang blade goes down to nearly 5 seconds cooldown from 9 seconds, which is AWESOME given the AOE damage and range it has.
- Your shield goes down from 22/19/16/13/10 to 14/12/10/8/6, which is AWESOME given the protection it gives.
- Your ultimate goes down from 100/90/80 to 60/54/48 seconds, meaning that if you chain Youumu and ultimate, you're under steroid 23 seconds every 48 seconds.

You could argue "well, it is better on certain cases, but aren't you exposing yourself to scalling problem ? Aren't you trying too much to make it enter in a configuration, sacrifying more DPS than it actually makes you gain ?"

It would be a good concern. I have answers to this.

If you play a little with spreadsheets (you have one in the following part of this guide), you'll notice that on the average AD Carry (in fact on the average champ), letting aside abilities, there is a pretty simple rule that say :
- First, AD is best.
- Once you have enough AD (+50 on item is pretty much all you need), AS is best.
- You quickly reach a point where crit is just the best stat, though. You need to stack crit.

This is very basic, I could explain everything in details but it would be long and painful. Let's accept it that way (but don't forget that some items are cheaper than others).

So, now that this is said, you can think of ricochet as a flat 0.50 AS increase. It basically adds one attack every 1.8 ~ 2.0 seconds.

At 1.6 AS, crit is just way better than AS, and AD can go to 150 without being too far behind AS. If you take into account the scalling on Boomerang, you won't regret the AD you take over the AS.

If you had 1.6 AS, you would probably build Youmuu + Infinity Edge + Cloak&Dagger anyway. That's what Sivir CDR build. In the end, it's just the same. The difference is that you don't need to stack 1.6 AS.

It's true that it has a price.
- You need to take lucidity boots. It will give you a lot more damage that what berzerker would have, so it's OK.
- You need to take CDR blue runes. You lose 24 MagRez at 18, which is nothing compared to the CDR reduction on the shield in my opinion. You will prefer the spammable shield over the 24 MR.
- You need to take Youmuu. This is not a problem since it's a perfect AD carry item with cheap armor penetration, AD and crit. Crit is nice.
- It doesn't specially scale well with steroids, but AS doesn't either.
- You lose movement speed from phantom dancer. Well, you are playing Sivir with youmuu. If you care about the MS from Phantom Dancer, there's something wrong.

In the end, you sacrify nothing. And you still have freedom on 4 items. (though 2 of them are no brainer)

They are no drawback, except the increased difficulty in micro and mana management.

I created some quick tools to test values. You can find them here.
ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOT WORLD OF WARCRAFT. While theory is nice, the reality of the game is way more important. You don't carry a team with theory. If you can't make something work on the field, it means that it doesn't work AT ALL.

THE SPREADSHEETS ARE VISIBLE HERE (GOOGLE DOCUMENT)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoRfNSSu9-CCdHV5NmdhWWlSWGllX3dkVHNZbVFmRkE

"CDR & AS" SHEET (first one)
This sheet modelizes the interaction between CDR and AS.
The BLUE values are what change with masteries, runes and items.
COLUMN_1 shows the level. The interesting values will be level 9 and above (under the line)
COLUMN_2 show the AS at each level like it is displayed in game.
(COLUMN_3 is the bonus AS used to calculate the second column.)
COLUMN_4 is the AS under steroid. The values taken for steroid are the one from the ultimate.
COLUMN_5 is the steroid values. Youmu is 50%, so it's pretty much the same as level 11-15.
COLUMN_6 is the total CDR values.
COLUMN_7 is the CD of Ricochet with the CDR values.
COLUMN_8 is the swing timer when no steroid is active.
COLUMN_9 is the CDR necessary for this swing timer to be perfectly timed with Ricochet.
COMUMN_10 is the useless CDR column. You want it as close as possible to -2% (theorycally: 0%, but in fact you have to take into account the cast time of the autoattack). Orange values means that your Ricochet will not be immediatly usable after the auto-attack (you lack CDR). Green values means that your Ricochet will be immediatly usable after the auto-attack. (you have enough CDR) Keep in mind that, while it's theorycally better to have a little too much CDR than a little too less, you take the risk of overwriting a current attack with the ricochet by casting it a little too soon, thus losing 33% of your DPS.
COLUMN_11 to COLUMN_13 are the exact same as COLUMN_8 to COLUMN_10, except that it's the "steroid case".

Now that you have this, you can mess around with numbers to find the "ideal setup". It's actually pretty simple : you want to be close to 40% CDR. Brutalizer gives you 10 (+5 when you make Youmuu), Lucidity gives you 15. You need 10. A full blue runes give you nearly 9%. Go for the blue runes. You will lose only MR - which is far from dramatic given it will reduce your Shield Cooldown.

You enter these numbers in the sheet. You play sith the "AS" square to find something interesting. You want around -2% always. You will have to chose between "optimize for normal and lose a few CDR on steroid mode", or "optimize for steroid and buy AS just for steroid". I recommend the former over the later. Wasting 5% CDR is not a drama. It's cheap. Buying 20% AS only for steroid mode (and losing it as soon as steroid mode ends) is another strategy.

It scales with level strangely - but you can finish your Youmuu when you want. Because finishing your Youmuu makes you lose the Gold/5 passive and don't give you that much benefit, you can finish it later.

20% AS + 25% items CDR works pretty well from level 1 to level 13.
20% AS + 30% items CDR works pretty well from level 13 to level 18.

We should make some AS and finish our Youmuu around level 13. Easy to remember.
There is 4% AS on template. We need around 16% AS on items, but a little more would be better. More AS gives comfort and allows to fully use a blue buff if one is stolen.

We just have to find an 20%-30% AS item that is interesting for us. There is actually 4 items that would do it :
- Trinity force: it wouldn't scale well, it's more of a bruiser items - we don't profit from AP. The 150% proc would be awesome if it was 1.5 seconds CD, but it's 2 seconds, so it won't probably work well with ricochet. Baaah.
- Elixir of Agility: if you think the game won't last more than 16 minutes, why not. It gives you kind of an immediate Zeal for 250 gold. You will pay it full price after 16 minutes.
- Black Cleaver: this is a pretty good choice. It scales well with your armor penetration but give you AD, which is not the thing you need the most.
- Cloak and Dagger: this is my personnal choice. You have no dash and no teleport with Sivir - meaning that Tenacity is a very good idea. It's cheap, and it gives you CRIT - and CRIT is awesome. It's just the AS that you need. It's perfect.

Now we are our perfect AS/CDR combo.
Lucidity+Youmuu+CloakDagger, with CDR blue runes and AS masteries.

THE SPREADSHEETS ARE VISIBLE HERE (GOOGLE DOCUMENT)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoRfNSSu9-CCdHV5NmdhWWlSWGllX3dkVHNZbVFmRkE

"DPS" SHEET (second one)
This sheet gives you an approximate (abstract) DPS based on the bonus AD, AS and crit you have.
(Note that you can actually use it for other AD carries. Just disable the "Activate Sivir Buffs" and change the yellow values.)
Then it tells you which stat you should increase if you pay this stat at his casual price. Casual prices are marked on the right side, based on T1 price.
Keep in mind that it's not extremely relevant. You can see tendencies, but you can't balance an itemization while comparing +15 and +14 DPS. It's only relevant to see tendencies.
The exemple shows the Sivir DPS with base items. (Infinity Edge + Youmuu + Cload&Dagger)
Based on that, you can see that crit gives way more DPS than any other stat.

- Level 1 line is generally irrelevant.
- "AS" column is irrelevant if you activate ricochet buff. If you want to see the interest of AS at high level, just desactivate Sivir buffs, and add, let's say, 95 to the bonus AS. It should give you the same AS. (abstract AS gained from Ricochet behave the same way as classic AS when it comes to scalling. There's no inner scalling.)

We see that CRIT is just awesome as ever, giving ~35% more DPS than AD. For DPS optimization, we will seek items that have the most 12.5xAD + 13.5xCRIT. (10x1.35)
Here's the list:
- Bloodthirster: 750-1250 [gives 10-25% steal]
- Atma: 743 [gives 45 armor][further increases with HP]
- Infinity Edge: 1337 [funny coincidence]

It's up to you to decide. (see ITEMS section)

Sivir CDR is not really different from classical Sivir. You need to know 4 things.

1) ALWAYS use ricochet right after an attack. If you fail that, you will fail at CDR Sivir. This is true in general for Sivir, but will not be forgiven on CDR Sivir.

2) NEVER use ULTIMATE or YOUMUU if another AS buff is present, like Warwick, Nunu, etc. (except if this buff is permanent) Wait until it fades for casting yours. Don't play with Nunu if he can't give his buff to someone else late game. It would be a fail matchup since you won't benefit from the AS given. NEVER USE ULTIMATE AND YOUMUU AT THE SAME TIME.

3) Your mana will disappear at the speed of light if you don't know how to manage it. Way faster than on a classical Sivir. Some champ can counter you very hard on this, but most of the time it's not worth it for them. Unless you're against a Caitlynn/Soraka lane with Caitlynn spamming traps only on her jungle - in which case you will have a hard time - you shouldn't have any problem as long as you know how to use your shield at the right time.

4) Your CDR allows you to basically clear waves of minions like if there were none. It's old Sivir AOE, except the remade made it better. Push like if you were still in 2010.

Other than that, the gameplay is not different. There are tons of Sivir guides for you out there. I won't explain this again.

As said in "Explanation I", you go for CDR Blue Runes.

Yellow are Armor, since you will take mostly physical damage.

Red are ArPen, except if you have a hard time last-hitting. (take AD then)

Quint are AD. If you are a last-hitting god, you can try ArPen ones, but keep in mind that it could make your last-hitting very painful.

NOTE ON ARPEN: ArPen is the best DPS choice, especially since you will most likely not take a Last Whisper. ArPen outclass totally all runes after early game - sometimes it's even better as soon as level 5. It affects RICOCHET and BOOMERANG BLADE more than AD. Keep this in mind.

Very straightforward.

You want armor and health regen in defense.

Everything physical-related is awesome in offense. Take everything.

Forget Chaos. It's "why not" for a mage, but totally useless for a sustained damage. Everything is better than this.

As stated in the Explanation parts, your core items are :

LUCIDITY + YOUMUU + INFINITY EDGE

Infinity Edge is a no brainer. It just give you insane DPS.
You want more crit and these 20% AS, so I strongly suggest you pick :

CLOAK AND DAGGER (ALTERNATIVE: BLACK CLEAVER)

It will also give you tenacity, and tenacity is awesome on Sivir. Black Cleaver is your alternative if everyone as tons of armor in the enemy team. Remember it doesn't work on ricochet.

You have 2 slots for items. The following ones are possible. They are all very different, depending on what you need : armor, magic resistance, damage...

FROZEN MALLET - ATMA IMPALER - BANSHEE VEIL - BLOODTHIRSTER - GUARDIAN ANGEL - INFINITY EDGE - EXECUTIONNER'S CALLING - LAST WHISPER

Note on Atma: you can take it even if you don't take HP. But it's awesome with Frozen Mallet.
Note on a second Infinity Edge: that's the item that will give you the most damage. If you want to be very stupid, pick 2 of them. It will give you a total of 94% crit and +280 damage.
Note on Last Whisper : While it doesn't scale well with +ArPen, it doesn't scale bad either. It's the item that will make the most AOE damage, since it benefits entirely to RICOCHET and BOOMERANG BLADE.
Note on Vampiric Scepter :you will most likely need either Executionner's or Bloodthirster. Having no lifesteal is pretty much impossible for a carry AD.

The item Sequence on CDR Sivir is quite complex, so I think it deserve a part on its own.
The most common starter is DORAN BLADE. But you can make a WRIGGLE too.

1) Begin with Doran's Blade / Wriggle's Lantern. (in the later, cloth armor + health pot, then wriggle at first back)

2) Buy a Brutalizer : You need AD, and you want some CDR ready for level 11

3) Buy rank 1 boots. Sivir is naturally fast (though the passive is not always visible), so you can wait until upgrading.

From then, it's no longer a question of a fix order, but of a set of priorities and level.
- You need to make your Vampiric Scepter before level 6 if you have sustain issues. If you don't, do it before level 11.
- You need to make your Lucidity Boots before level 9, max 10.

- You need to make your Infinity Edge as soon as possible. Make it before Avarice if you're not winning your lane. Begin it with BF as you won't be able to have 2 items of it at the same time.
- You need to make your Avarice Blade as soon as possible. Make it before Infinity Edge if you're not losing your lane.

- You need to finish your Youmuu before level 14.
- You need to finish your AS dagger just after finishing your Youmuu, or just before. It means: at the same back.


Then, it depends on the game and on what you decide to buy. Adapt yourself to the situation.

Depending on the game, take SHIELD RANK 1 at level 1 or 2 and never max it until you have nothing else to max.

You want BOOMERANG RANK 2 quickly. (level 3 or 4) It makes crazy damage early game.

You can chose to make it level 3, but remember it will delay your level 5 ricochet to level 10. I often do this though.

DON'T MAKE BOOMERANG LEVEL 4. It would delay your RICOCHET 5 to level 12, which is WAY TOO LATE.

By level 9 or 10, you should have :
BOOMERANG 2/3
RICOCHET 5
SHIELD 1
ULTIMATE 1

Then max BOOMERANG and ULTIMATE.

Nothing extraordinary here.

- Flash is pretty much mandatory because you have no dash or jump.
- Exhaust is perfect, but your support can take it if you have one.
- Heal is pretty good on a carry AD.
- Teleport is nice for pushing.

I don't see the point of the others spells. Ignite for exemple: you can make an executionner's calling if you want the heal reduction. This is a good and cheap item.

You maybe noticed that most champion's ability doesn't scale well with each other. Vayne tumble punish AS scalling but her Silver Arrows actually encourage it, for exemple.

It is nearly the case with Sivir: Ricochet says "don't make AS, man !" - while your ultimate says : "hey man, here's exactly what you don't need !"

It happens that this time the numbers can be tweaked enough to optimize, mainly because of the "1 per 2 / 1 per 3" mechanism. You don't win 60% AS like stated ; more like the equivalent of 25% or something like that, but it is still quite OK.

Why ? Why Riot works this way ?

There are 2 possible answers, and that could be the 2 at the same time :

1) They just don't give a f*ck about numbers. They have spreadsheets and general rules, but they focus only on testing, testing and testing. It's true that Riot test a LOT (and that's actually why the game is so good), but I'm not quite sure about that.

2) More probably, they actually do this ON PURPOSE. While this can look weird and frustrating from a theory point of vue, this is quite smart. Optimization often give quite too much power to optimizator, which means that you just can't play with the right setup of items. Making mechanics that scale good on different gear (like Vayne) ensures that whatever the items you pick, you will be "at least OK". Of course there's a better setup - but with such mechanism, you can balance the things around so that optimization doesn't count too much in the balance.

On a "fun" point of vue (which is what LoL is about), let aside the optimization, I believe it's actuelly smarter to make mechanism that fight each others, as long as it's only a question of numbers, and not a question of gameplay.

As soon as numbers tends to prevail on gameplay (like Sivir trying to build CDR), it sometimes creates non-fun mechanism. If optimization rhymes with "non fun", there's a problem in the game.

That's not really the problem with Sivir, but there's something like that in it. You want to build CDR because it's better. But it's less fun because you have to be very careful with ricochet - a little too much, to the point where it's not especially fun anymore.