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Sivir Build Guide by Amberdragon

ADC [14.9] Amberdragon's Unbeatable Crit Sivir Guide

ADC [14.9] Amberdragon's Unbeatable Crit Sivir Guide

Updated on May 1, 2024
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Amberdragon Build Guide By Amberdragon 288 14 731,631 Views 15 Comments
288 14 731,631 Views 15 Comments
League of Legends Build Guide Author Amberdragon Sivir Build Guide By Amberdragon Updated on May 1, 2024
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Runes: Sustain

1 2 3
Precision
Lethal Tempo
Presence of Mind
Legend: Bloodline
Coup de Grace

Inspiration
Magical Footwear
Biscuit Delivery
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health

Spells:

1 2 3 4
Standard
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Heal

Heal

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None





I am an ADC main in the BR server and play a lot of different champions, especially in the bot lane. I consider Xayah and Kai'Sa my mains - since I play them the most and the best - I do well with many other ADCs.

I started playing Sivir in season 11 after I got a skin from a chest. I decided to try out the champion and saw how strong yet how simple she is. She is my go-to against annoying CC supports,Caitlyn, or when I just want to relax. Sivir is pretty easy to pull off and she does unexpected amounts of damage in the late game.





Abilities & Tips
Sivir’s abilities and how to master them

Pros & Cons
Champion strengths & weaknesses

Summoner Spells
Best summoner spells


Runes
Best runes

Itemization
Best items

Farming
Tips for steady income


Wave Management
Types, how to’s, pros & cons

Survival Guide
ADC edition

Playstyle
How to play early and late game


Matchups
Dealing with your enemies

Synergies
Working with your support

Conclusion
Thanks and personal notes






FLEET OF FOOT

Sivir gains Movement Speed when she hits an enemy champion with Boomerang Blade, Ricochet or a basic attack. The amount changes every 5 levels.

TIPS

Your passive is so simple and automatic that you will probably barely notice it. It’s enough to remember that it can save your life or get you a kill whenever you are hitting an enemy, especially if you are using Lethal Tempo.




BOOMERANG BLADE

Sivir hurls her crossblade, dealing damage to all enemies it cuts through before returning, dealing damage a second time. This ability deals less damage per non-champion hit, down to a minimum amount.

TIPS

It will follow you wherever you go, so you can use Flash to reposition your Q in a way you will hit your enemy.

It does more damage if you don't hit minions or jungle monsters! But it deals individual damage so if you hit minions when you throw Q but you don't hit them when coming back you will deal full damage on the way back.

It gives you better push than W in the early game, but late game you don't need it to decimate waves. Use it sparingly then.




RICOCHET

For the next 4 seconds, Sivir gains attack speed and her auto attacks are empowered to bounce to additional surrounding enemies dealing physical damage on each bounce for up to 8 bounces. This ability deals less damage to minions.

These bounces critically strike if the auto attack generating them does. Ricochet also executes minions below 15 HP.

TIPS

It's an auto reset, so when trading you always want to aa+W+aa

Hitting a turret while it's active will make the effect bounce on enemies if they are close enough. Use for waveclear under enemy tower!

It can hit the same enemy more than once, up until 8 times - Great for late game waveclear and clumped up teamfights. So be careful to not use it too early and waste it.

It gives you attack speed while it's active, so always use it when trading.

Early on you don't have enough AD and crit to one-shot waves with W, so use it when minions are low instead.




SPELL SHIELD

Sivir creates a magical barrier that blocks the next incoming enemy ability. If an ability is blocked, Sivir restores health and triggers Fleet of Foot.

TIPS

It blocks ABILITIES, not magic damage or CC. It can block a Morgana Q or it can block a Zed shuriken - This is very useful against certain assassins, like Evelynn. Using E to block part of their combo can save your life!

It heals and gives movement speed whenever it's consumed. So in lane, if you are against an annoying poke support, you can actually use it to sustain.

Try to hold it if you are against strong engage/CC supports. If you have to use it to not get poked by enemy ADC, play back until it’s back up.





ON THE HUNT

Sivir rallies her nearby allies, granting them movement speed.

Sivir's auto attacks against champions while On The Hunt reduce the cooldown of her basic abilities. Takedowns on recently damaged enemies refresh the duration of the hunt.

TIPS

It can be used to run away, or to go in. Be careful to not overcommit with it though.

Auto attacks reduce your other abilities' cooldown, like Navori Flickerblade passive - and they stack. So be careful to not use it too early when you could be using it to have more DPS in a teamfight.

Remember the duration resets on takedown, which means it is a bit stronger when used aggressively. But it has low duration in early game, so avoid using it too early in a fight. By doing that you are almost guaranteed to get a reset after a kill.











+ GREAT SCALING
Sivir has the potential to deal very nasty damage in the late game if you get your core items and levels. I wouldn’t say she has insane numbers like Vayne, but her late game damage is nothing to scoff at and it comes with team utility as well.


+ STRONG TEAMFIGHTING
Sivir is a team-focused ADC. She is good at dealing damage to multiple enemies when they are all clumped together, she can enable her team and enhance catch potential (or retreat) with her R, she has great wave clear for sieging and decent DPS to take objectives (drake, baron, turrets) fast.


+ EASY TO PICK UP
Sivir is a pretty easy champion to pick up since her kit is easy to understand and to pull off. It is also very easy to farm on her, especially late game. What you do need to pay the most attention to is your kiting, positioning and E cooldown.


+ CC BEGONE
Sivir’s Spell Shield makes her a great pick against teams with hard CC, and it goes a little beyond that too - she can partially cancel the combos of certain champions (including assassins) and can heal when the enemy support tries to poke.





- SHORT RANGE
Despite her Q’s long range, Sivir is among the low-rage ADCs and you will need to be very careful about your positioning to survive. She doesn’t have strong self peel tools other than her E and movement speed, so you should practice your kiting and spacing to avoid running it down accidentally. Low range also means she can get bullied by poke champions if you are not careful.


- VERY ITEM RELIANT
Sivir is very gold-reliant to deal damage. She scales really well into the late game, but without your core items you still won’t deal damage.


- WEAK LANING
Sivir is generally a weak laner and not the best ADC if you like going for all-ins or bursting the enemy ADC early on. You need to play smarter and slower with your trades and try to farm as well as you can so you can get your core items as soon as possible.


- BAD INTO TANKS
Sivir has no hybrid damage or % health damage in her kit, which makes her pretty bad against champions that build or get a lot of armor. Be careful to not pick Sivir when your team is full AD or when the enemy is very tanky.












Flash
This is a must have for most champions in the game - Always take it. Use it to dodge important enemy abilities, if needed you can also use it to get in range to kill an enemy or combo Boomerang Blade + Flash to reposition your Q when it is coming back.







Heal
Heal is good on 2v2 and it does decently well into matchups in which you cannot use Exhaust well (like into Ezreal, Caitlyn, Varus, Xerath), matchups that either burst you on combos or you cannot get in range to Exhaust.

Ideally you want to use it before the enemy applies Ignite, but it can also be used for the burst of movement speed. Good early game summoner but not as good late game.


Exhaust
Imagine you are against a Lucian, Samira, Kai'Sa, Draven, Tristana, or the enemy has dangerous assassins - all these champions want to get on your face and burst you. This is where Exhaust usually becomes the best option. While your support can take it, most of the times I find it best for you as the ADC to take Exhaust, since you are likely to be the main target and your support will not always be nearby. Aside from reducing burst, the slow can also help you kite or run away.


Ghost
Ghost is a good summoner spell for Sivir IF you know how to use it. As I have mentioned a few other times throughout this guide, Sivir relies a lot on positioning and movement speed to survive and also to make picks. It is not a mandatory spell, but it is good if you know how to play to her strengths.


Cleanse
Cleanse is not exactly mandatory if the enemy has strong CC champions (like Leona, Thresh, Morgana or Ashe), but it can be a really good summoner if the enemy has a lot of CC or a really annoying bot lane combo who can bait your E and still kill you. Sometimes you just have to accept your Spell Shield will not always be enough.

If you get caught, use it before it's too late. It's also a good summoner to remove Ignite and Exhaust. Remember it DOESN'T work for Skarner R, Mordekaiser R or Malzahar R.














PRECISION




Lethal Tempo is the best keystone for crit Sivir in my opinion. It gives you attack speed, which is necessary in order to be doing damage, and it is great for fighting during early game. The extra range is really nice in order to kill enemies before they can get away from you! Pretty standard and decent in any game.

Press the Attack is a situationally good rune, I like to take it when I have an aggressive early game support like a Leona or a Pyke. The rune will give you some extra damage to capitalize on your support's catch in the early game.





I like to always take Presence of Mind, Sivir is generally a mana hungry champion and you can quickly run out of it in extended teamfights. You need your abilities to deal damage and they cost a fairly high amount in the early game, so that you can't perma-push lane.

But if you are really confident about your mana usage, you can go Triumph or Overheal. You don’t get a lot of value from Overheal if you don’t go Legend: Bloodline though.





Take Legend: Bloodline if you need more sustain and HP in your game. You will not build lifesteal in most of your games so it always has its value, but I find it a weaker rune.
Legend: Alacrity feels really good and it spares you from building AS items early on, but it lacks the late game sustain. If you don't get red buff or Bloodthirster, you may have to recall after a fight and end up losing tempo because of it.





Go Cut Down or Coup de Grace depending on your needs. Cut down against beefy teams and tank supports, Coup de Grace for the rest of the games.




Rune Page Example













INSPIRATION



Overall the Inspiration tree is great for Sivir as a standard, and it is especially good for rough lanes. Magical Footwear is one of my favorite runes here - free boots make a huge difference when you are trying to rush your item spikes, it is a very gold efficient rune.





You can take Biscuit Delivery for more lane sustain, it gives you mana and HP. It will be very good in hard lanes where you need more sustain and it can help you with your mana issues when you need to spam abilities to push waves.





You can take Cosmic Insight if you would rather have it over the other runes. It gives you ability haste on your summoners and on any items that have cooldown, so it is nice to pair it with Ingenious Hunter or for games where you will be needing your items/summs more often, for safety.




Rune Page Example








SORCERY



In the Sorcery tree we are usually looking into more damage and some utility. You can take Nullifying Orb against AP-heavy teams, and Nimbus Cloak is good in certain situations for self peel or higher kill potential. Manaflow Band can be good too, for your mana sustain.





All three options can be viable depending on meta. Take Transcendence if you want more ability haste and teamfighting power, Celerity for better kiting and mobility. Absolute Focus is okay if you are into a good matchup where you can easily harass the enemy.





Take Gathering Storm if you are looking for late game scaling. Sivir is a scaling champion and the extra AD this rune provides feels great on her.




Rune Page Example







DOMINATION



Taste of Blood is an option if you want extra sustain, you can proc it by poking enemies with Boomerang Blade and Ricochet. But in general, these runes are not the best.





Eyeball Collection is the best option among its peers. Ghost Poro sounds good in theory, but it is weak and takes longer to stack, and Zombie Ward is bad because your support will usually be the one to take down wards - meaning you would take forever to stack it.





Treasure Hunter is your snowball rune and you take it when you think you can get your lane going early and reach your item spikes sooner - in my opinion it is the best rune for Sivir among its peers. Ultimate Hunter is a good option if you want to have your On The Hunt for plays or self peel more often. Ingenious Hunter is a very situational rune - you only get value from it if you are going to be building Immortal Shieldbow or Essence Reaver. And even if you will, the inspiration and sorcery trees offer better runes for Sivir.




Rune Page Example














Itemization is flexible so I will change a thing or two depending on game, matchup and my mood. And you should do the same! For reference, my standard build usually goes as follows - but remember pretty much all items have good alternatives if the game calls for it.






This is the standard hypercarry build for Sivir. Kraken Slayer gives you the raw damage/DPS you need to be a machine gun and Navori Flickerblade gives you extra damage on abilities and cooldown reduction so you can spam Ricochet more often. Phantom Dancer helps with kiting and DPS, the rest of your items will vary a lot depending on the game.

You can also go Statikk Shiv or even Stormrazor depending on whether you want more wave control, extra mobility and meta tendencies.







Doran’s Blade
VS

Long Sword
Starting with a Doran's Blade is great if the enemy bot lane is an all-in matchup (like Draven + Nami, Tristana + Leona, Samira + Nautilus). The extra HP is really valuable. Also good if you yourself have an all-in support. Starting with a Long Sword + 3 Health Potion is good if you need a lot of sustain in lane - good into champion that will want to take short trades and poke, like Nami, Lux, Caitlyn or Miss Fortune. This also allows you to rush Noonquiver if you need to have an early recall. However, you will be squishier.







Noonquiver
This is the ideal first back in most cases. It is a strong early game item and helps you farm.


Pickaxe
If you don’t have enough gold for Noonquiver then a Pickaxe is the best second choice for raw AD. You may also choose this if you feel the need to purchase early Boots or Refillable Potion.


Boots
If you have an awkward amount of gold, Boots are a decent purchase for your first back. I also highly recommend this if the enemy has champions with strong engage (like Leona), catch potential (like Thresh) or poke (like Lux). Also good if you are getting ganked a lot or spending a lot of time near the enemy turret.

Berserker's Greaves
This is a good first buy if you are in a lane of long trades - perhaps if enemy support is tanky (thus they last longer) or if you are against an ADC like Zeri who likes early boots to kite and take long trades. It carries the same benefits of the initial boots but obviously better.





Kraken Slayer
Great item for DPS in general. Crit Sivir relies a lot on her autos/attack speed to consistently ditch out damage, so this item works really well on her overall. It gives her a pretty solid base to work from. However, it is not the only option you have with her – depending on balance, other items may gain a bit more of an edge in win rate.


Statikk Shiv
It is good to help with early game wave clear, which in turns lets you farm, scale, and get lane control. Damage is okay and being a “speedy” type of champion allows you to charge your energized attack a bit faster. Sometimes performs a little better in winrate than Kraken Slayer, sometimes not.


Stormrazor
A bit more damage and movement speed, good for when you are going for more of a “hit and run” playstyle – usually when getting too close means death, or when you can’t really get many autos off in a fight. Combined with On The Hunt and Phantom Dancer it gives some nice bonus movement speed for kiting. Still, like the others, the meta may not always favor it.









Navori Quickblades
VS

Infinity Edge
Navori Flickerblade is a great core item for Sivir because of the extra damage on abilities and lower cooldowns, so it helps a lot with your DPS. You might want to consider IE if you are not able to consistently auto enemies though. Infinity Edge is also a solid powerspike for Sivir considering her Ricochet can crit. I consider this just as good as Navori, but you might favor IE when you are playing around shorter burst trades or when extended trades with auto atacks are not possible or safe.







Phantom Dancer
This item is great for Sivir because its passive synergizes with her Fleet of Foot and On The Hunt. The attack speed with Kraken Slayer and Navori Flickerblade makes you a really nasty teamfighting monster as it highly increases your DPS and makes you both hard to catch and hard to escape from. You might want to build this second if you need kiting earlier on.


Essence Reaver
Essence Reaver is rather unpopular but it can be a good item if you are playing more around burst trades and making picks instead of grouping and fighting in extended skirmishes. I find it better for a “hit and run” or “bursty” playstyle.






Lord Dominik's Regards
Good as a standard late game item, ideal if the enemy has champions that stack both Armor and HP. It is also a generally good item if your team has other strong AD champions, like Irelia, Graves, Viego, Kindred, or Yone - this is because enemies are more likely to build armor items, and Sivir has no hybrid damage to compensate the damage deficit you get from going against tanky champions.


Executioner's Calling
This is a must-have if the enemy builds a lot of healing and for some reason your own team is not building Grievous Wounds items. Must-have in laning phase against champions like Soraka, Samira and Nilah if your support does not buy Oblivion Orb early or if your lane has no Ignite.

Mortal Reminder
Upgrading your Executioner's Calling into a Mortal Reminder in the late game is a really good choice if enemy has champions that Heal and that build Armor - so bruisers like Fiora, Irelia, Aatrox. It can be a decent choice for tanks like Dr. Mundo, Maokai and Zac if they are the only tanks and your team has a strong AP carry. If your team has more AD damage or you are against more than one beefy tank, sometimes it is best to get Lord Dominik's Regards and either hold on to a Executioner's Calling, or ask nicely for your team to get the anti-heal instead.






Bloodthirster
Bloodthirster will give you an extra layer of defense in the late game, both from the shield and the lifesteal. I have been taking this against sticky assassins and poke team comps, the shield is a life saver.


Guardian Angel
This is a good option if you are carrying the game and if you are positioning yourself well in teamfights. For this item to be worth it is important for you to not die all the time. It is very good to get this when your death in the late game could mean game over!


Hexdrinker
If the enemy has a lot of AP damage or a fed AP carry like Evelynn, Syndra, Ekko or Akali Hexdrinker is often a really good mid-late game choice. You might get this really early if you are against strong AP champions in the bot lane as well. You can sit on it for a while and finish another item, or build Maw of Malmortius.

Maw of Malmortius
Ideally build this only after your core items, and iif enemy AP carries are fed or if enemy has 2+ strong AP carries. It might save your life.


Quicksilver Sash
I would only get this if I’m getting focused by a champion with strong CC that I cannot easily counter with Cleanse or Spell Shield, or a champion with suppression ability like Malzahar. (ps: you can actually counter Mordekaiser R with your E, but you need to time it just right). You can sit on it for a while before finishing it.

Mercurial Scimitar
Let’s say you bought a Quicksilver Sash because the enemy Malzahar was focusing you but you needed to finish another item, one with higher priority for your game - like Mortal Reminder. You finally manage to finish your Mortal Reminder and that Quicksilver Sash is still looking at you from your inventory - it is finally time to build a Mercurial Scimitar.










1. Use abilities on high HP minions or dying ones only
During the early game, if you cast abilities on mid-low HP minions, you won’t be able to last hit all of them at once. It is best to use abilities on high HP minions if you need to thin the wave, or to get low HP minions that are already dying.

Be very patient and thoughtful with your autos, sometimes if you just wait a bit a mid HP minion will become low HP you will get the CS without trouble. By being impatient or thoughtlessly autoing the wave you make it easier for you to miss minions.

If you need to push waves or catch CS with abilities you can use Ricochet for the execute on low HP minions, and Boomerang Blade for far away or higher HP minions.




2. How to farm under tower
If Melee Minion is full health; it takes 2 tower shots + 1 auto attack to kill them.

If Caster Minion is full health; it takes 1 tower shot, and 2 autos if you are very low level, 1 auto if you are higher level or with items.

If your minions dealt damage to enemy minions under tower, use your abilities to get them into last hit HP range. Using your Ricochet as an auto reset also helps. You will have to practice this a bit.




3. Farming safely
Sometimes enemies will harass you when you go for cs. This can be deadly at times, so always pay attention to enemy and ADC movements to see if they are going to harass you. If you think they are, you can use your Boomerang Blade to farm the most dangerous minions since its range is way higher than your auto range; or you can use Spell Shield to block poke from abilities and heal a bit.




4. Farming mid-late game
As an ADC it is important to farm consistently. Around the time where the first tower falls you ideally want to go to the mid lane and farm there while your team is not doing anything important.

If your mid laner wants to stay mid, farm side lanes (top or bot) then rotate with the team to mid. If your tower is down, make sure the entrances to your jungle are warded. If you have no vision you have to stay closer to your tower.

If there is nothing to farm, or nothing to do, or it is too risky to walk up to minions, farm jungle camps your jungler is not going to take.













I feel it is difficult to explain wave management in text format so I will try to keep this short and simple as possible for your convenience.

There are three main types of wave management and each one has their uses and a way to accomplish: Fast Pushing, Slow Pushing and Freezing.




This is usually what low elo players do constantly, especially newer players. This is when you quickly kill all minions, which results in a thin wave that crashes under the enemy tower.




HOW TO FAST PUSH

Fast pushing is easy - you auto attack frequently and use your abilities to kill minions as fast as possible, ideally without losing CS.

WHEN TO FAST PUSH

Ideally you want to fast push when you want to quickly crash your wave on the enemy tower to recall, fall back and/or make the enemy laner lose cs.



ADVANTAGES

Fast pushing gives you more freedom to rotate to your team faster. It is also good if you need to fix your minion wave or retreat fast.

DISADVANTAGES

Fast pushing can actually create a freeze (which I will get into soon) if you don't push the wave all the way into enemy tower - so basically when you don’t push fast enough or if you push the wave at the wrong times. This can make you lose a lot of cs. When pushing in a hurry you also run the risk of missing most of your last hits.







Slow pushing is when you create a big minion wave that slowly pushes to the enemy tower.




HOW TO SLOW PUSH

You can create a slow push by keeping the enemy minion wave smaller than yours, but not killing them too quickly. You can achieve this by killing excess caster minions, since they deal more damage, and only last hitting melee minions. If the enemy allows this to happen you will have bought enough time to stack 2 minion waves. Once that is done you usually want to fast push to crash them or wait for another wave to stack and then crash.

WHEN TO SLOW PUSH

A slow push is a really good way to deny enemy CS if you can zone them from walking up. Make them patiently wait when they are alone in lane.

It is also ideal to slow push when you want a big minion wave to hit the enemy tower. This has multiple functions: facilitating tower dives, rotating to skirmishes, creating good recalls, harassing enemies under turret while they try to farm.



ADVANTAGES

Tower diving. Your minions will also aggro enemy champions once they hit you and you are close to your minions.

Taking stronger trades. If the enemy trades with you and your wave is bigger, the minions will deal a huge chunk of damage in the trade. In early levels this is especially important!

It is hard for the enemy to freeze a massive wave especially if you have the pushing power to kill the enemy minions and crash the wave.

You can zone the enemy away from cs when you have a bigger wave to back you up.

DISADVANTAGES

The main disadvantage is when you are away from your push. If the wave is slow pushing into the enemy tower and you cannot get close to it, your minions will kill the enemy minions too fast and deny you xp and gold. Likewise, enemies can use the advantages of slow pushing against you.







A freeze is when the wave is stuck and doesn't push to either one side or the other. It is a great defensive move and can be very bad for the enemy.

In laning phase, you ideally want the freeze to happen just outside of your own tower range so that it can be beneficial to you. Having a freeze happen in enemy territory is extremely dangerous for you and puts the enemy in a safe position.

Freezing requires a lot of practice and attention, so if you are still new to this, just start by trying to avoid freezes from happening and learning fast push & slow push. Once that's more settled on your mind try to practice creating and keeping freezes!



HOW TO FREEZE

Freezing is the hardest to get the hang of because it depends on the position the wave clashes and how healthy minions are.

To freeze the wave outside of your tower range you need to have around 3 or 4 healthy minions on the area of the closest bush to your tower. To keep the freeze you want to last hit minions, but if you see the freeze is turning into a slow push (into your tower) you will have to thin the wave by killing excess caster minions.

If the wave is becoming a slow push into enemy territory, just let it happen so that you can keep denying enemy gold and xp. The enemy will stop this from happening if they auto the wave.

To freeze the wave in the middle of the lane you need only to keep an equal amount of minions on both sides.

A freeze in enemy territory usually hapens when you try to fast push, but your wave clashes with the upcoming minion wave just outside enemy tower range. This type of freeze is good for the enemy as it leaves you vulnerable, and if you recall during such a freeze you will possibly lose an entire wave of gold and xp.



WHEN TO FREEZE
Maintain a freeze in your territory if you want to hold a more defensive position in lane, which you might want if you have Flash down, if enemy jungler is nearby, or if the enemy has a very aggressive engage lane, like Leona + Tristana.

A freeze in the middle of the lane is very good if you have an engage or hook support, like Rakan or Blitzcrank, as it gives them the most space to find all-in opportunities.

A freeze in enemy territory is very dangerous and is best avoided if enemy can somehow engage on you or gank you.

BREAKING A FREEZE
To break a freeze in middle or enemy territory you need to get close and fast push. If that's too dangerous, ask your jungler for help. If the enemy fights it's a 3v2 in a best case scenario.

To break the freeze close to your tower you can just let the enemy wave stack and crash or you can thin it and begin a slow push towards the enemy tower.



ADVANTAGES
Freezing allows you to zone the enemy away from cs, set up for ganks (if done in your territory) and keep you protected from ganks. If you manage to freeze the wave in the middle of the lane you give more room for your support to engage or catch the enemy from the bushes or the alcove. Keep in mind the enemy support could do the same.

DISADVANTAGES
A poorly positioned freeze makes you very vulnerable to ganks, engages, and can make you lose a ton of CS and XP. Freezing defensively can also make ganking difficult for your jungler (if there are too many minions) and it can make it harder for you to rotate to river skirmishes. In other words, defensive freezes sometimes mean you hold less lane priority.









Golden tip #1: Free Freezes
If the enemy fast pushes to recall, watch to see if their wave is going to crash. If you or your support can hold 3-5 minions and the enemy recalls you will naturally create a freeze on your side and you can safely recall as you will only lose about 2-3 minions at most while the enemy will lose an entire wave. If you do it correctly the wave will not crash on your tower. Abuse this to get level leads especially in lower elo!!! If you just pay attention you will see enemies often giving you free opportunities to freeze.



Golden tip #2: Freezing after losing turret
This goes beyond laning phase. If your team is playing the neutral game and there are no objectives to contest, seek to keep a freeze on your side of the map once your tower is down. This is especially good if you are behind and needing to catch up on cs and xp. Many people just fast push at this point, but it is not always the best choice as if you have a frozen wave deep into your territory the enemy team will either
1: lose a ton of cs and xp
2: go there to stop the freeze (which puts them in perfect spot to get collapsed on)



Golden tip #3: Cheater recall
A cheater recall is basically when you create an early slow push with a cannon wave, crash it and instantly recall. This allows you to get an item advantage in early levels as the enemy will have to stay to farm under tower and then crash their wave on your tower. If they don't do this they will have to take a bad recall... and while they are forced to choose the lesser evil, you can seek to punish them using your item lead.
To have a cheater recall you need to get lane prio (ideally you want jungler to start top or leashless) and let the wave slow push into enemy tower in a way the third minion wave will crash and you can recall. You need a cannon wave to crash because this will give you more time to get back to lane and not lose cs & xp.



Golden tip #4: Instant level advantage
For this you need your jungler to start top/leashless and the enemy bot lane to leash.
Sit in the bush closest to the enemy tower, and when minions arrive, exit the bush and hold the wave there until your minions catch up.
What happens is that because the wave did not meet in the middle, your minions will focus on an enemy minion and kill it faster. So when enemy laners return, they will lose a melee and thus lose their level 2 spike. Get your level 2 earlier and pressure them!









It is common knowledge that Summoner's Rift is a very perilous place to the average ADC player. If you are not careful, no matter how fed you are you can still get solo killed by 0/10 Yasuo OTP player. Even the enemy enchanter support can solo kill you under the right circumstances (I’m not joking).

This is why this section of the guide exists. Hopefully you will be able to last longer following some of these tips!




KNOW YOUR LIMITS


You can only do so much when you have no summoner spells, when you have had a stressful day at work/school and you can't move your fingers because it’s too chilly outside. On top of that you could be playing against your personal counter - maybe you just can't play against Vayne with any champion because she tilts the hell out of you and you end up losing the game regardless of what you do.

It's important to be realistic and understand your limits as a player - whether you are against a champion you cannot stand, how much BS you can take before tilting and running it down, how many buttons you can press at once to survive a teamfight, how aware you are of your cooldowns. Play safe/cool when you know you are at a personal disadvantage.




KNOW YOUR CHAMPION’S LIMITS


Some ADCs are safer or have better peeling tools than Sivir. When you are playing her, you need to remind yourself that she has her limits and might not be able to do things the same way as Kai'Sa, for example.

So be mindful of your self-peel abilities - Spell Shield and On The Hunt. You can only do so much without them. Don't overdo it in a teamfight or position over-aggressively when you don't have the tools to defend yourself.

You can be 10/1 and still lose to the average assassin player if your self peel is down and you are surrounded by 3 enemies.



RECOGNIZE BIGGEST THREATS


This is both champions as a whole and specific champion abilities. Malphite may not be a huge threat himself, but his Unstoppable Force is, so you want to be ready to react accordingly when his R is up. If you know you can't outplay a Zed then track him on the map and keep your distance. On champion select, instead of waiting for the game to start, stop and think about what abilities in the game can kill you and plan how you can avoid getting hit by them.





Example...


The enemy team is: Malphite top, Yasuo mid, Warwick jungle, Ezreal and Soraka in the bot lane.






STEP 1: LIST WHAT CAN KILL YOU IN A SKIRMISH


Malphite’s R + Yasuo’s R combo


Yasuo Steel Tempest (Q) + Last Breath (R)


Ezreal combo + R (trueshot barrage)


Soraka’s Equinox (E)


Warwick’s Infinite Duress (R)




STEP 2: LIST HOW YOU CAN SURVIVE THESE THREATS



Bring Exhaust for Warwick and Yasuo.
Bring Heal to not die from Ezreal combo.
Build Immortal Shieldbow if you think you are getting bursted.
Time your Spell Shield to avoid all the listed abilities that can kill you.
Time your Flash to avoid enemy abilities.
Use your On The Hunt well to kite Yasuo and Warwick.

Do keep in mind you don’t need to adopt ALL these measures, but stay mindful of at least some of them.


STEP 3: ADAPT TO YOUR GAME



Maybe Warwick and Ezreal are not fed but Yasuo is. What do you do? Well then your priority should be holding your Spell Shield, Exhaust and Flash to dodge Malphite R and Yasuo Q+R. You can also avoid being in the same lane as Yasuo and keep an extra eye out for him during teamfights. Maybe get a Mortal Reminder for Soraka+Warwick if your team doesn't build anti-heal.

Go into the game with a game plan on how you will survive each and every threat.






POSITION WELL IN TEAMFIGHTS


Sivir is a backline carry which means you should be positioning fairly back in teamfights. You don't want to be the one going into fog of war to ward, or be the frontliner, or the backline diver. Play the game around your strengths.

If your team needs to play around getting picks, stay out of sight and just behind your support or team’s main engager so that you can quickly follow up their catch.

If you play around grouping and teamfighting, stay back to avoid the enemy engage and use your self peel tools to protect yourself from enemy divers/assassins. If there are none, you still want to avoid enemy engage and focus on killing the closest target to you or the enemy carry if they are mispositioned. Use On The Hunt to help your team get a good engage off or reposition.



POSITION WELL ON THE MAP


Stay away from highest threat enemy champions if you are alone (usually the assassin or fed bruisers, but it can also be mages or enemy AD carry). Don't sit alone in lane and avoid pushing too far into enemy territory without vision. Be in position to rotate to baron/drake skirmishes.




USE BLUE WARDS, VISION PLANTS AND CONTROL WARDS


ADCs have to ward too. Be mindful of your wards since you don't have many - every time you want to stick to one side of the map, use vision control to make sure you are not getting flanked.




GOOD RECALL TIMING AND GREEDING


If you are sitting on a lot of gold and your team is not around, recall. You are usually a key member of the team to take objectives so it's important you are there for your team when they need you - sometimes staying to push one extra wave or take a few jungle camps will cost you a baron because you had a late recall. Sometimes you will die for being too greedy!

Try to have your recall aligned with your supports in the early game. Recall when you have a lot of gold, when you need full mana/hp and when the enemy gives you an opening to do so (when you are not getting pressured/ when they are not looking to make plays on the map). Good recall timing is extremely important so that you don't fall behind and so you are not alone/mispositioned.











Sivir is a close range scaling ADC that thrives in teamfights. Because of her shorter range she tends to do well into melee or close range team compositions, but she can also do decent into higher range teams as long as they don’t have too much poke or strong disengage. I also consider her relatively safe because of her kiting, E and long range Q.

Sivir thrives with teams that have strong engage or teams that can peel for her, compensating for her weaknesses. She doesn’t have a very strong early game so she usually wants to farm, get items and win late game.





TRADING & POKING


Early on Sivir doesn’t have a lot of damage for all-ins or quick burst trades, but she has good poke if you know how to use it.

If you are trading autos with the enemy ADC or support you will want to auto+ Ricochet+auto, because your W works as an auto reset. Ideally when poking or trading with Q you want it to hit no minions for max damage, but you don’t need to stress over this.

You can also poke enemy with Ricochet when they are close to their minions (or tower!), and when they try to poke you with abilities use your Spell Shield to block it and heal. Do be careful to not get baited into using your E only for the enemy to engage on you though.

Post level 6 you have great gank setup. It will be easier for you to you to go all in and get a kill if you have been poking, taking good trades and out-sustaining the enemy.




EARLY GAME PRIORITIES


Being straight to the point, your main priority during the laning phase should be to focus on farming well, scaling into the late game and having good wave management.

But WHY is farming so important? Isn’t that basic stuff for any ADC?

It’s simple: You are a scaling champion that relies entirely on items to get strong. More farm = more gold = more items = more carry. You can int the entire laning phase, but if still manage to farm really well you WILL get strong. Kills are a plus and come naturally once you get more items.

Sivir has insane wave clear with her W and Q. After some practice with her you will be able to tell when you can two-shot an entire wave to get all the juicy CS. It’s not a hard champion to farm waves quickly and gain tempo to go for map rotations.

Since your wave clear is so good, you can very easily push waves and rotate with your team, which means you don't have to give up CS to contest objectives or go to a skirmish. If you are a little behind in tempo, you have your R to catch up.





TEAMFIGHTING & OBJECTIVES


As a late game champion you should be at your prime in late game teamfights. Stay back and use your On The Hunt to help your team engage or fall back. Auto priority targets in range or the closest enemy. Be careful not to tunnel vision!

Use your strong wave clear to keep up tempo and be there for your team when they need you for sieging, skirmishing or taking objectives. Even if you are behind you should have no trouble shoving a wave and joining them.

However you do need to pick your fights carefully. Not every skirmish is worth fighting, especially if you are behind or getting focused by an annoying assassin. If you think you are not strong enough or if they are picking a bad fight, try to communicate that to them and don’t int.

Remember to farm and get items whenever there is nothing important happening. Avoid farming same lane as solo lakers and if no lanes are available take jungle camps your jungler is not going to be taking.












Bot lane matchups - what are the best, what are the worst? This is what I will cover in this section! I will not go in depth into every single champion individually, but I categorized your most common foes by their types/playstyle and how you can play into them.

Do keep in mind some champions fall into more than one category and some have builds that give them a specific playstyle - like for example, Miss Fortune, who has good poke overall and can build for more burst/poke when going lethality and more DPS/all-in when going crit. It is also worth noting that in bot lane support matchup often matters more than ADC matchups, especially in higher elos.




SNOWBALLING CHAMPIONS



Most of them, especially Draven, Jhin and Samira, are difficult matchups. You cannot out-damage them in the early game and they are usually accompanied by aggressive engage supports - one wrong move, one bad trade, and you cannot fight back.

The best you can do in these matchups is to not give them any kills and manage your wave correctly. You definitely do not want your wave to be frozen near their turret or over-extend without vision. Focus on farming, getting your items and scaling. If your jungler wants to gank it is best to do it after 6 and try not to int before that. Exhaust is very good against them.





LONG RANGE HYPERCARRIES



In general they are not all terrible matchups but they can be challenging depending on player skill and support matchup - mainly because they poke you with autos by out-ranging you and can carry teamfights just as well as you. Plus, like you they often just want to scale and then become unkillable machine guns. Kog'Maw and Ashe are the most annoying in my opinion.

If you can catch and kill them in the early game it will delay their growth. be careful to not get poked down by their autos, but if they try to poke with abilities use Spell Shield to sustain. Use your strong wave clear to pressure them and Boomerang Blade to poke them under their turret. Exhaust is very good against them in the late game, while Heal is good for early game trading.





POKE/HIGH RANGE AD CARRIES



Most of them, especially Caitlyn, are easy matchups. I use “easy” loosely, since support matchup will have a big impact on your lane. But overall, these champions will try to poke you using their abilities - which means you can sustain off their poke. They also do not have particularly strong wave clear, which allows you to have more lane control and prevent them from abusing you.

However you do have to be careful when trading with them. Most prefer short burst trades and deal decent damage in the early game, especially Caitlyn and Miss Fortune. Make sure to use your Spell Shield to block the ability that does the most damage and try to poke with your Boomerang Blade. You’ll want to capitalize upon their mistakes and avoid being too aggressive when their important abilities are up. Heal is very good against them.




SHORT RANGE ALL-IN ADCS



These matchups are very volatile since they depend on champion gimmicks and support matchup. Xayah and Nilah, for example, are fairly easy matchups for Sivir because you have stronger wave clear, and can poke and kite them. Now Lucian and Tristana are also snowballing ADCs with a lot of damage in the early game, so their all-in is a lot harder to survive. Vayne and Kai'Sa are great in 1v1.

Against all-in champions you have to play for your strengths and not theirs. Try to poke when you can, have good wave management and stay safe. Beware of their gimmicks - like Xayah’s Bladecaller; Kai'Sa’s Icathian Rain+ Void Seeker+ Second Skin proc. Most will win when you misuse your Spell Shield and all-in them before you have the necessary strength to fight back. Exhaust is very good against them.





MAGES



I usually find that Sivir is a good ADC against them, especially in the early game. You will get out-ranged by most and can suffer from their poke in the mid-late game if they are strong, but in lane it is very hard for them to catch and perform their burst combo on you. Also, as an AD champion with strong wave clear it should be easy to get wave control and force them to farm under tower, where they are likely to miss a lot of minions.

You do not want to get overconfident and allow yourself to get caught. It can be really good to get Boots early so that you can try to dodge their combos. Respect their damage especially after a few levels, core items and Lost Chapter. Heal and Cleanse are generally good against them.












Bot lane synergies - what are the best, what are the worst? This is what I will cover in this section! I will not go in depth into every single champion individually, but I categorized the most common supports by their types/playstyle and how you can work together to win.

Do keep in mind some champions fall into more than one class (like Taric, who is both a warden and an enchanter), some can fall into two categories (like Soraka, who is an enchanter with soft poke) and some are just “weird” - very unique or specialized, like Bard, or Senna who is like a carry support that plays a bit like an enchanter.



ENCHANTER SUPPORTS



Most of them have good synergy with Sivir. They make her even more safe and in the late game some of them can enhance her damage/kill potential, like Milio and Lulu.

When playing with enchanters into an enemy lane with low kill threat, you generally want to poke and trade if you and your support have the stronger trading potential. It is also good to look for poke whenever possible.

When the enemy has high kill threat on you or your support is into a bad matchup you will generally look to just farm and scale, with the occasional poke. Trade when it is safe, but be careful to not over-commit and lose an all-in.





CATCHER SUPPORTS



They are great supports for Sivir and her team in the late game thanks to On The Hunt - it makes it very easy for these supports to reposition faster and catch someone. Rakan is the best catcher for Sivir in my opinion.

The downside is that in the early game Sivir will not always have the damage to burst whoever your support catches and this can be bad if you are into strong all-in lanes. To help with that, you can ask your support to take Ignite and not over-commit until it is up or until you are strong, and make sure you hit Boomerang Blade and use Ricochet for auto resets. Also understand that upon catching someone you may need to chase them down so a support with Glacial Augment can be helpful, or you can take Press the Attack to help with burst.





POKE SUPPORTS



Some are better, some are worse. In general you will want to match their poke when you can, but in some cases you want to be very careful with all-ins since some poke supports offer very little peel and cannot help if you get caught.

The good side is that they are very annoying to the enemy ADC, and that combined with your strong wave clear means you can often get lane prio and harass enemies under their turret. Just make sure you proper vision setup to avoid dying to ganks.




TANK SUPPORTS



They work very similarly to catcher supports and often overlap. If your support is very much based on engages like Leona, they are great in the late game for you and your team, since On The Hunt empowers them and they will soak up a lot of damage for you. On the other side of the coin you face the same problem where you may lack the damage to all-in the enemy bot lane in early levels so if your support is not careful they run the risk of inting.

I will echo what I said about catcher supports - you can ask your support to take Ignite and not over-commit until it is up or until you are strong, and make sure you hit Boomerang Blade and use Ricochet for auto resets. You may need to chase them down so a support with Glacial Augment can be helpful, or you can take Press the Attack to help with burst.

Whenever you are not fighting try to poke the enemy laners, as it helps in killing them if they are caught. keeping the wave frozen in the middle of the lane or near your turret also makes it easier for your support to engage or zone enemies from farm. But if the enemy bot lane has stronger all-in, it might be best to ask your support to just chill and let you scale.













That's all I have for this guide. Thank you for taking interest in it! I hope it was helpful.



If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know. I will keep updating this guide and keep adding things to it.



Good Luck & Have Fun playing Sivir!








Last updated: Patch 14.9
Last changes: Updated for current patch

Planned updates: Keeping it up to date.





MY OTHER GUIDES!!!


My Straightforward Guide to Caitlyn


Complete Kai'sa Guide


Complete Xayah guide


Complete Zeri Guide


Complete Nilah Guide


Off Meta Kindred ADC Guide



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