Welcome to my guide for the ADC character Caitlyn - The Sheriff of Piltover.

All of my guides are written as cheat sheets, meaning they are short, concise, and focus on general tips and rationales. This is not an in-depth guide and is geared toward an already experience player who wants to quickly learn about a champion they may not be too familiar with.

This guide includes builds and strategies for this champion and assumes you are familiar with the basics concepts of the game.

My build focuses on balance, with many different options available to adapt to the enemy team composition.

Pros: Strong Farmer Excels at Kiting Very High Range Ultimate combos well with poke Passive allows for extra poke damage Natural Escape

Cons: Lack of CC Low Base Stats Mana Hungry Skills less effective late Traps are visible Ultimate can be intercepted

This Mastery build is considered a standard 21/9/0 page for physical damage.

The Season 3 design for the offensive mastery tree now leaves only 1 standard path for AD based champions.

Use the remaining 9 points in the Defense Tree since the Utility Tree's perks are worthless for you. Use those points to get Hardiness , Durability , and Veteran's Scars which will provide a nice boost to armor and health.

If you use Exhaust or Ignite you'll want to get Summoner's Wrath and if you don't use Heal or Cleanse you can use that point in Resistance .

Attack Speed

Best late-game DPS rune. Improve farming efficiency. Provide large Level 1 DPS advantage. Available as Marks, Quintessences, Glyphs, and Seals.

Attack Damage

Provide DPS advantage, particularly early. Improve farming efficiency. Large increase to poke damage. Available as Marks, Quintessences.

greater mark of armor penetration Armor Penetration

Shreds starting armor, improving early game damage. Useful vs. enemies who build armor or use armor runes. Most useful late-game rune you can have. Available as Marks, Quintessences.

Armor

Reduces enemy poke damage. Reduces enemy AD-Based Jungler damage. Allows you to stay in lane longer. Flat runes recommended over per level since most useful early-game. Available as Marks, Quintessences, Glyphs, and Seals.

Magic Resistance

Reduces enemy APC damage in team fights. Reduces enemy AP-Based Jungler damage. Recommended over flat runes because more useful late-game. Available as Marks, Quintessences, Glyphs, and Seals.

Health

Increases ability to stay in lane. Increases survivability. Large Level 1 advantage. Available as Marks, Quintessences, Glyphs, and Seals.

Movement Speed

Increases ability to avoid poke damage. Allows for faster response time. Increases escape chance. Available as Quintessences.

Flash

Versatile Spell, can be used for offense or defense. Best when conserved for an escape. Can be used to move between terrain obstacles. Does NOT cancel incoming projectiles.

Cleanse

Removes all de-buffs, counters Hard-CC champs and Exhaust. Reduces incoming de-buff durations. Best if applied after an enemy applies a Hard-CC. Highly useful in Late-Game.

Ignite

True damage-over-time provides large damage boost. Reduces incoming heals for duration, counters Heal. Best if applied before enemy decides to escape. Grants very strong Early-Game DPS advantage.

Barrier

Increases lane endurance. Can be used to bait enemies into a losing fight. Increases escape chance if conserved for that purpose.

Teleport

Allows for quickly returning to lane if you need to RTB. Allows for fast back-door tower/inhibitor destruction. Can be used on to wards. Can be used to gank other lanes, particularly useful if used on brush wards for surprise element.

Heal

Increases lane endurance. Can also be used to heal allies. Double effect on user, more appropriate for ADC to take over support. Can be used to bait enemies into a losing fight. Best if used before ignited or after duration ends.

Exhaust

Massive reduction to enemy damage output. Also reduces enemy movement speed, allowing easier chase or escape. Can be used to bait enemies into a losing fight. Highly useful in Late-Game.

Headshot (Passive)

When this passive is active, your rifle glows red. The 250% damage to minions allows you to quickly collect buffs. Can be comboed with Piltover Peacemaker for burst damage. This effect increments at twice the rate when firing within brush.

Piltover Peacemaker (Q)

Good poke ability. Hits very hard early. Eats mana, spamming is inadvisable. Hits the first target for full damage and subsequent targets for less. 1 second charge time means you'll have to anticipate movements. Becomes less effective late game due to charge time. Charge time leaves you vulnerable.

Yordle Snap Trap (W)

At Level 1 can be used to detect or deter jungle invasion by placing in brush. Only works against champions. Can Zone the enemy. When fleeing, can be set in your opponents path to immobilize. Can be placed near enemy turrets to hinder their defense. If tripped near an enemy turret, the turret will attack you. Can be placed in brush to detect ganks. Can be spaced around a friendly turrets to assist in defense. Trapped enemies are vulnerable to Piltover Peacemaker.

90 Caliber Net (E)

Natural Escape Ability. Slows enemies on contact, preventing them from pursuing you. Ability propels you through certain terrain obstacles. Can be fired behind you to close distance on an enemy. Can be used to kite a charging melee opponent.

Ace in the Hole (R)

Only targets champions. High damage will kill most champions below 25% health. High range makes ideal choice for killing fleeing champions. Gives vision of target once activated. Long animation leaves you vulnerable. Should only be used as the final blow, not to initiate. Enemy champions can intercept the bullet, cannot be avoided otherwise.

Provides movement speed to poke and farm safely. Movement speed will make it more difficult to be ganked. Potions counter act early poking.

Provides high health and sustain. Designed for a passive, farming focused lane. Lower DPS than rushing B. F. Sword

Bloodthirster builds out of Vampiric Scepter and provides a high and affordable early DPS bonus to AD. Phantom Dancer gives Movement Speed, Crit Chance/Rate and drastically approves DPS output in Mid-Game. Enchantment: Homeguard allows you to return from healing much faster and can make defending your base or catching over-extended enemies easier.

Provides armor and magic resistance. Armor penetration is a must in Late Game. Passive revive will drastically increase survivability. High DPS.

Frozen Mallet provides HP, AD, and a utility slow. Banshee's Veil is most effective against high AP teams. Statikk Shiv can replace Phantom Dancer or Berserker's Greaves Runaan's Hurricane can make your basic attacks AoE. Zephyr provides tenacity as well as some AD and AS. Mercurial Scimitar can replace Cleanse as an active. Blade of the Ruined King can replace Bloodthirster for lifesteal.

Weak vs. Gap-Closers. Weak vs. both Hard-CC and Soft-CC. Low base DPS stats vs most other ADC champions. Lack of steroid ability makes her dependent on zoning and poking.

Strong vs. short range abilities. Strong vs. short range ADC champions. High poke ability combined with Yordle Snap Trap makes her excel at denying farm.

High poke ability exploits supports with Hard-CC. Superior range makes sustain supports less viable. Weak vs. Gap-Closer, Hard-CC can negate this disadvantage. Steroid abilities are very effective. Poking supports can improve poke power.

Any comments, suggestions, or mistakes I made that you find I will appreciate reading and thanks for taking the time to read my guide!

11/09/11
Version 1.0 posted.

02/20/12
Version 1.1 posted. Added Game Phases Section. Changed masteries to standard 21/9/0.

03/27/12
Version 1.2 posted. Trimmed many sections in an attempt to simplify the guide so that "its not a book". Removed avoid spells/items. Removed mostly inferred explanations. Added Countering Caitlyn.

03/28/12
Version 1.3 posted. Added columns to most sections for beautification. Trimmed even more exposition. Revised some data.

03/29/12
Version 1.4 posted. Removed item and rune planners. Numerous font color changes for cosmetic value. Changed recommended summoner spells to Heal and Flash from Exhaust and Flash, updated masteries accordingly. Simplified items section. Refined some explanations.

03/30/12
Version 1.5 posted. Added Counter Picking As Caitlyn section. Additional tweaks.

04/03/12
Version 1.6 posted. Change Recommended Runes. Changed Yordle Snap Trap to first skill leveled. Added Quicksilver Sash to items. Added support, teamfighting, jungler, laning sections. Simplified Counter Champions to cover only same type of champion as Caitlyn.

05/30/12
Version 1.7 posted. Added "When to use Caitlyn", changed recommended build and added Anti-Tank and Balanced build alternatives. Added Guardian Angel to item list. Changed Runes section. Added more champions to "counters" section.

05/30/12
Version 1.8 posted. Updated some general information. Trimmed certain sections to be more specific. Tweaked builds. Added Builds and Tactics sections.

09/28/12
Version 2 posted! Complete guide re-design focusing on quick facts and information.

01/09/13
Version 2.1 posted. Season 3 changes made, build simplified.

02/20/13
Version 2.2 posted. Build order tweaked. Swapped Static Shiv for Phantom Dancer.

03/05/13
Version 2.3 posted. Name and intro tweeked, BotRK added to build.

Special thanks to:


Jhoijhoi's How to Make a Guide


IceCreamy's How to Use Columns


Slappiz's Counter Picks Against Each Individual Champion