The Sheriff of Piltover, Caitlyn, is a land-dominant champion with outstanding range. She has the highest base range of all botlaners and can therefore dominate many botlanes. This will be your goal in every game you play as Caitlyn. Tower tiles and land dominance are your goals.

But how do you go about achieving these goals? Let’s take a look at her abilities.

With Caitlyn’s Passive – Headshot, you can heat up your opponents with boosted normal attacks in trades. Due to Caitlyn’s range advantage, you should always aim to attack enemies for poke damage while they can’t reach you. Caitlyn’s unboosted normal attacks generate boosts from Headshot, double boosts from a bush. At 5 boosts or 4 from a bush, Caitlyn will shoot a projectile with her next attack, dealing additional normal damage depending on your level. Bonus attack damage and critical hits amplify this effect. Try to use this on champions whenever possible.

Q – Piltover Peacemaker also contributes to Caitlyn’s land dominance and allows you to generate push in many matchups and attack your opponents at the tower or play for plates. Caitlyn mounts her rifle for a second and then fires a piercing shot that deals normal damage and fans out after the first target hit. Each unit hit after the first target takes 60% of the actual damage of this ability, but it should also be noted that the first instance of the ability is harder to hit than the fanned out version. As a rule, you aim the ability through the minion wave in the direction of your lane opponents, thus killing two birds with one stone. Of course, if your support is holding the opponent, try to hit the Q directly on the held champion to deal big damage.

Caitlyn’s W – Yordle Trap is useful in various situations, because if an opponent steps on a sharp trap, they will be held for another 1.5 seconds and if you catch an invisible champion, they will be revealed for 3 seconds. You are also granted a headshot with 150 units of extra range if an enemy champion is caught in the trap. Caitlyn’s range for normal attacks is 650, so you can trigger a headshot at a distance of 800 units. Also worth mentioning is the combination of the trap with your Q – Piltover Peacemaker. Enemies caught in a trap take 100% of the Q damage, even if it flies through several units. Therefore, try to hit enemy champions caught by crowd control effects with the trap first and then use your Q if there are other units positioned between you and your target.

However, it is important to note that Caitlyn’s traps cannot hold enemies immediately after you lay them. Only 1.1 seconds after you lay the trap will it be functional. Since many crowd control effects in League of Legends hold for a second or less, anticipatory trap placement is an important element of Caitlyn’s game. For example, if you see a hook flying towards your opponent and are confident that it will hit, you can place a trap accordingly. Don’t be afraid to use traps to restrict your opponent’s freedom of movement. Good examples of this are situations in which you attack the enemy tower while the enemy bot lane has to deal with your minion wave load-hitting. One false step and they are caught and you can deal out high poke damage.

E – Caliber 90 net gives you the opportunity to build up distance to enemies. Caitlyn fires a net in the chosen direction and pushes off in the opposite direction. If the net hits a unit, it is slowed by 50% for one second and you are granted a headshot on the target, regardless of whether it is a minion, monster or champion. It should be noted that Caitlyn’s E is an escape tool that cannot be compared to abilities such as Ezreal’s E-Blink or Tristana’s W-Rocket Jump. You only cover a short distance and can easily be stopped by crowd control effects in the animation. So when possible, keep your distance and don’t expect this net to save your life if you get too close to the enemies. If you have the summoner spell Lightning ready, use it first and then net, as you will no longer be in range for the cancels crowd control effects animation.

Speaking of range, this is exactly what Caitlyn has up her sleeve with her ultimate ability – Ace. The ability name also perfectly describes what you want to do with the ability. If an opponent is alone on the tower, take aim at them and, after a second’s delay, shoot a projectile that deals high normal damage. This can be blocked by other players, but in any case an enemy champion will take the damage from the ability. With a range of more than five times your normal attacks, you can snipe opponents with low health points at long range and secure the kill.

Caitlyn’s game is based on dealing as much damage as possible to your opponents before they get in range to attack you. Take this basic idea with you when you start playing Caitlyn.