Hey everybody! My name is SneeaaK and in this guide I will try and share some knowledge on my favorite Marksman Caitlyn .
I've been playing LoL since season 1 and I felt like I should contribute something to the community by sharing my wisdom of this game. I'm not saying that's its the best kind of wisdom, because there's probably people who do it better, but I'm going to give it a shot anyways.

I play on the NA server and am currently in Diamond II , who will be focused on the Challenger series this year!

This guide is going to be focused on Caitlyn, who used to be a underestimated ADC but made a really good comeback in season 3!

At the moment I main Marksman and marksman only; I have other accounts to mess around on other roles though

Let's cut this chatter and move on to the actual guide shall we?

Pro's:

She has a long range harass in lane
Longest early game range ( Makes her trading lenient on you )
Great escaping potential
Usually pretty safe in a teamfight because of her range
She scale's pretty well into late game
Her traps give her some good map control, especially early game
Dat gun...

Con's:

Slowpoke might be faster then her (she's a slow)
A Hard early game loss is usually a late game loss
Not the strongest mid game
Her ult is very situational
Did I mention that she's slow?

Explanation:

Flash is without a doubt the best summoner spell in the game, especially for AD Carry's. What is the one thing that AD Carry's need? Positioning! Out of position in a teamfight? Flash into position and destroy the enemy.
Flash is also a great escape tool against mobile AD Carry's like Corki and Ezreal . If they get the best of you, Flash out of there!

Barrier is an amazing summoner spell now that we have this insane burst meta in season 3. The other summoner spell that you can swap Barrier for is Clease , but make sure that you don't waste that and only use it for good haha :P

Other Summoner Spells:

Ghost You could run this if you combine it with but I wouldn't recommend taking it against a team with CC ults like Ashe Arrow .
Heal Heal can be taken against a team without a lot of CC. It's renewed passive is great of laning and Heal Baiting is always great
Ignite People ask me why I never take Ignite on Caitlyn, well, Ignite's cast range might not be that short, but almost all your attacks (even Auto Attack) out range the Ignite cast range. It might be that one greedy step that you take to get yourself killed.
Also, since Caitlyn is not really an AD Burst champion like Ezreal or Graves, I would not recommend taking this spell


The other summoner spells are kind of useless on Caitlyn, Exhaust might be the only other useful one for Caitlyn, but again, I would not recommend it.

Right, in this chapter, I'll be going through most of the strengths and weaknesses that caitlyn has.

Let's start off with her strengths:

Level 1

Why level 1? Well, Caitlyn's trap is one of the best things against enemy jungle invade. Even if they don't step into it, just seeing the trap might cause the enemy team to back off because well, it might be A TRAP! Also, if you want to scout safely for your team, you can do it by placing down one of the traps in a brush. It will reveal the area around the placed trap for a second. You could also go with Q for level 1 just incase you are preparing for an invade and want to get maximum damage on all five enemies.


Laning Phase

By placing down traps (max. 2 in lane, keep one for the tri bush to watch for enemy ganks) you will be able to predict the enemy movement a lot more. Combine this with your high ranged auto attack and your Piltover peacemaker and laning should be easy. Keep in mind tho, that you must always stay ahead in minion farm against the other AD carry. Caitlyn really needs her farm ;)


Kiting

Yes... Kiting. Infact, Caitlyn is one of the best kiters in the game, especially with red buff. When you want to kite with Caitlyn, try to attack, run, attack, run, attack, run. Train this well and you should have a fun time kiting some random bruiser around. Remember to use your 90 Caliber Net and your Trap to induce even more rage ;)



Now for the bad stuff:

No comeback

Ok here's the thing. If you are having a bad game with Caitlyn and you find yourself dying early game and getting pushed out of your lane a lot, its game over for you. Caitlyn has a really hard time to pick herself up after she falls down. No farm nor kills for Caitlyn means game over.


Late game damage

I'll be mentioning this in the upcoming chapters, but her Late game Damage is not up to par with the other AD Carry's. However, with this item build that I've provided, you should be able to match the damage.. also positioning... but this will be discussed soon ;)


Without tier 3 boots, really slow

She's a freaking turtle. Just for fun, pick Pantheon for top lane and Caitlyn for bot lane. Have Caitlyn buy boots and Pantheon Long Sword and 2 pots.
Dat movement speed

Focusing on the most common AD Carry's:

Vayne

Vayne should not be a really big problem. Try to deny creep by standing in between your own Minions and the enemy Minions. If she decides to dive you on level 6, deny her chase by placing down a W in your escape route and E away to slow her. When her ult is off, try to destroy her ASAP. Most of the time her Mana will be depleted.
Be careful that you dont miss your E if Vayne is chasing you, BORK can help you with this situation as-well

Ashe

Ah yes... Ashe... Nobody like's her. Try to dodge her Volley's by standing behind one of your Minions. Also, your Q has a lower CD then her Volley, try to make good use of this.

Ezreal

Dodge Q win lane. GG
With the new BORK change, Ezreal can be very dangerous. Engage into combat with his E, then nuke you down, so be careful. Since you're Caitlyn, try to predict his movements

Kog'Maw

Early game you should be able to win against him. Remember tho, after mid game, he will most likely out damage you 1v1 in a balanced game. Be careful

Corki

Corki's range is the thing that makes him really weak, that's why Caitlyn should just be fine against him in lane. Dodge his Q and R. If you succeed in doing this, you're golden

Sivir

Apparently, Sivir is the number one counter against Caitlyn. However, I don't feel that's entirely true. Her range is not very high, which makes it easy for you to land auto-attacks on her when she tries to farm Minions. The only thing that might be annoying is when she shields your Q . But hey, Caitlyn's ult should not even be used to finish somebody off late game anyways

Graves

Ah yes, the cowboy that could. Small tip: don't let him get close to you and try to deny him as much as you can. WARNING: Extremely dangerous when faced in close combat

Varus

This lane might be really annoying. Varus his E (the shower of arrows) is very annoying and to be fair, pretty hard to predict if you play vs a good player. Try to let him push a bit early game, then ping your jungler over to gank. Varus has no escape vs Ganks unless he's lvl 6.

Teemo (trolol)

Oh yes.. teemo is actually a really nice AD hybrid Carry if played well. Of Course, you wont encounter him on high level ELO games, but when this guy gets a FM + Nashor's Tooth you'd better watch yourself.
The key to victory against teemo is to be aggressive early on with your support. Lead in with a , then have Taric use his stun, Auto attack, and back off. You dont want to be hit by the blind while you are still Auto attacking.
Don't chase into the shrooms, they are most likely in the bushes and on the sides of the lane.

Miss Fortune

Always remember this when facing Miss Fortune in lane: she will be aggressive. Since MF is almost a snowbally kind of ADC, she will be aggressive, especially if she has a support like Leona or Alistar with her. Miss Fortune is kinda like Caitlyn, her early game is really strong, mid game is meh, and late she's decent, just like Caitlyn.
For the lane phase itself, try to bait MF into diving/going all out aggressive and try to take your advantage over this!

Twitch

How to win vs twitch: support buys Pink Wards , place it down in lane, gg. Twitch his strength is really only his ability to Ambush other players. When he get's to do this to you, its usually gg. However, you can avoid this by getting the ward for laning. It helps out alot and you will always know where he is.
Twitch his weakness is his range. So exploit this with your own abilities and attacks!

Tristana

There's a reason why I haven't added Tristana yet to this matchup list. The reason being: she isn't played.. at all...
The only time when you see her being played now days is AP. The spellsword procs are just to high to be ignored in season 3.
However, if you do see her in botlane as an ADC, you should not be having problems with this. You outrange her until level 6 hard, so harassing shouldn't be a problem. My advice is to go aggressive on a Tristana with Caitlyn early game, try to get Golems if you start bot. lane so you have an early level advantage. When you get that advantage, engage!
With the new change to BORK , Tristana is extremely powerful. The reason for this is that she can easy engage into combat with her Rocket Jump, use the blade, nuke you down and then just jump back out.
I've been playing Tristana this way on Ranked and it's a snowbally tactic, but it works really well with a good support on your side~!

Kennen

Kennen is an incredibly strong AD Carry if played right. The reason why I'm putting him in here is because people on the NA and EU scene are recently copying the Korean builds for Kennen.
Kennen is all about burst, but needs a good sustain support. My advice to battling this little yordle is this: poke him whenever he comes for a minion kill, make sure your support is aware of you doing this, and kill him when he's on about 50% health. Don't let him regenerate it and bully him out of lane. I know it's hard because Kennen has alot of damage with his Electrical Surge etc. But if you communicate with your support, it shouldn't be a problem!

R then Q then E then W

Why do we take W at level 1 (patch 4.4)

The trinkets in the new patch(4.4) don't allow for much vision in the jungle. The only way of jungle vision now(pre 2 minutes) requires support warding. Defense of your junglers buffs is the most important objective before laning. Traps are the most useful skill against invades besides Nidalee traps.

Why do you max E instead of W?

Lower cooldown for your only escape
Stronger Slow
More damage burst with E Q combo


Skill order spam when entering a teamfight:

RQW > ON YOURSELF < E > FOR ESCAPING AND POSITIONING <

Try to harass as much as you can with your passive. Whenever you see the other carry go in for a minion kill, use it to shoot that passive right on his head...shot... ha...
No other carry has a higher range than Caitlyn, so it should always be a hit if you time it right. Master this with your Piltover Peacemaker and Trap and you should always be able to win a lot of lanes.
Remember, you (should) have Taric next to you as support. This means more armor, a little heal and of course his stun. Trust me, whenever you see a Taric in lane next to a Caitlyn, be scared and prepared.

I don't know if I even have to mention this, but you really need to farm with Caitlyn if you want to have a decent late game. She doesn't scale as well as some other AD Carry's in the game, so really farm well with her, try to get every last hit possible. This way you can get your core fast (10-12 min in the game)

After watching the Season 2 matches (qualifications and finals) on twitch . tv , I noticed that bottom lanes that are winning in farm and can poke people out of lane would push a lot of their own creeps under the enemy's turret to deny farm.
I've been trying this out with Caitlyn and it works really well. Just make sure you and your support ward and trap everything right so you can escape whenever the jungler comes in to gank. Because trust me, he will come down.

Mid Game

Try to rush your main build items first! This depends on how the game is prolonging, but it's usually either OR .

Mid game is starting, laning phase is over, you have your first 2 main items. Teamfights are starting.

Try to do teamfights in the jungle or near brushes. This way you can make the best use of your traps.
Take objectives with your team (Dragon, enemy red buff, enemy blue buff and Baron) whenever possible. Group up and take everything you can. Let your Jungler and Support get Pink wards and maybe even an oracle to clear wards around these areas!

Remember to keep farming whenever possible. You still need gold to get all the items you need to be effective late game! Ask your jungler if you can have red buff! You can get it really fast by standing in the bush near the buff to trigger your passive more.

Did you get yet? Excellent. Keep moving. Gotta go fast.
To make the best use of this item, you need to learn to kite. If you can kite already, bravo, this item should be awesome on you. If you have red buff, the kiting becomes a lot easier because of the slow on red. Just make sure you get it when entering mid game.

If you find out that your team is winning almost every fight and you have all taken most of the objectives, you can roam to kill towers and farm some more.
NOTE You have to let your team push one of the other lanes if you are starting to roam. This means that the enemy has to make a decision whether to follow you around the map with 2 people or to prevent the rest of your team to take more objectives.

However, if the enemy team decides to go for your team instead of you, don't hesitate a second and make your way over to where they are! They need you for the damage or else they won't survive!

Communication is usually what wins a game. Try to make some agreements about how you want to enter mid game. Will it be a passive longer laning phase? Or will you go roaming a lot whenever you can (after you pushed a lane so that you wont appear on the enemy map anymore, this will cause a pinging mayhem on the enemy minimap).

Keep communicating with your team for maximum success!

I'm going to be honest here, Caitlyn's late game is strong, but it's not the strongest as some of the other AD Carry's like Vayne, Kog'maw and even Ezreal.
However, with decent positioning and making the best use of her passive, traps and Piltover Peacemaker, you can still pump out insane amounts of damage!

Remember to keep objectives like Baron and Dragon warded at all times! Heck, place 2 or 3 down to see if they place any wards down in the area.

If you've build a LW before IE , get it now. It's the best AD Carry item by far. Building Last Whisper first isn't bad tho. The new Meta for season 3 allows junglers and top laners to stack a lot of armor. Even supports have insane amounts right now. Bruiser's like Jax and Vi will most likely crush you when they get to close, so getting that extra bit of Armor penetration while you kite them is really not a bad thing, plus the procs on Statick Shiv will help alot as well. Last Whisper will probably do more damage then Infinity Edge early mid game anyways. Unless you're fed of course, then you go for IE right away.

Remember to buy Red Pot if possible and only use it when you know a teamfight is going to happen. You can sell your Dorans Blade etc. for your end game items.

If you died, try to stack up your BT again before another team fight. You can do this by asking your jungler to get some neutral monsters in the jungle or to just farm a bit in lane. Be very cautious of your minimap tho. The enemy team might just pop in to say hello if not everything is warded properly.

Stick to your support and jungler/top lane at all times, if you go out alone you will die.

I probably can't say this enough time's so I'm just gonna make it look big and in the middle of this chapter:

POSITIONING IS KEY FOR CAITLYN!!!


There... that should do it :)

Try to go for the main damage dealer if possible. If this is not possible, try to go for the target that's closest to you, this way you stay away from the epicenter of the battle but still deal tons of damage!! (thanks Phreak).

Remember when I said that Caitlyn's is a really good ability for laning?
Exactly, LANING. You could cast this spell a few times to poke on the enemy team when a fight is about to happen, but never use it when you are actually dealing damage in the main teamfight. It will just make you lose DPS and you will most likely be focused down right away when you do this. Remember, Piltover Peacemaker is an ability that will make you stand still for half a second. That's enough for the enemy bruiser to come close enough and smack you down like WWE.

Don't get greedy on kills. If you see a low HP enemy running away from the fight, DON'T CHASE! It's a good thing that he's running away, less targets to focus and more damage on your own side. Running enemy's is usually a guaranteed team fight win. If it's late enough in the game, it's probably even a win.


Other than that, positioning and team communication is the most important thing!

I hope everyone enjoyed reading my first guide, I certainly enjoyed making it:)

Leave a comment down below how I can improve this guide and how I can improve on new guides, because I'm definitely making more! ;)

*Disclaimer: English isnt my first language*

Thanks for reading summoner!

-SneeaaK