State of the Season 3 AD Carries: Caitlyn

If you've been following the Spring Split of the North American or European LCS, you know that probably the most contested AD Carry has been by far Caitlyn. The Sheriff of Piltover boasts her impressive 650 starting range right off the bat, which is the highest for any AD Carry at level 1, and continues to do so until level 13, when Tristana hits a higher range due to her Draw a Bead passive. Along with her high range early on, her passive, which allows for double damage at a maximum of every 7 basic attacks (even less if using the brush), allows her to be an incredibly powerful laner and allows her to safely farm which being able to poke down her opponents with incredible efficiency. 

However, in Season 2, Caitlyn rarely saw any play. While the "Holy Trinity" of Ezreal, Graves, and Corki saw a lot of playtime, Caitlyn waited around, waiting for her chance to shine again, and it seems that Season 3 has given her that ability not in many changes to her own character, but to the meta itself. 

As Season 3 reaches the halfway point, it's become very clear that a main reason why Caitlyn has become increasingly popular is the early-level aggression that so many teams put to work in their games. Adopted mainly from the Korean scene, where the older innovators such as Azubu Blaze/Frost (now CJ Entus Blaze/Frost) showed that by getting an early advantage, they could successfully snowball it into victory after victory.

With the changes to AD Carries in Season 3, especially with the nerfs to Corki's abilities and high mana costs, nerfs to Ezreal's Trueshot Barrage and his Rising Spell Force passive, and the nerfs overall to Boots of Speed as a starting item, the game has now gone from a few teams showing early aggression to EVERY team working towards that early lead, and Caitlyn has found the spotlight.

 

Caitlyn's range in lane is unparalled, and as stated earlier, she can poke down the enemy laner much easier than any other AD Carry. With Boots of Speed being a lesser starting item, and more AD Carries going for either a Doran's Blade or a Longsword with 2 Health Potions, Caitlyn can now move even faster into damage and sustainability in lane. As soon as she gets any advantage, it's nearly impossible to take it back from her, as her 650 range gives her more safety from ganks and also allows her to push her advantages even faster. This becomes especially apparent in the 1 vs 2 lanes that LCS teams have begun to adopt, as she can be as aggressive as needed and even poke her opponent under their own tower, with no chance of a counter-attack possible.

So why has Caitlyn become stronger not only in the LCS but also in Solo Queue? The answer lies in her early game pressure, her ability to dodge bad situations, and her strength in being a very "auto-attack" heavy AD Carry.

As most of us know, most Solo Queue games do not last very long, meaning that later game champions (Vayne, Tristana, Kog'Maw, etc.) cannot get strong enough to be the hyper-carries they need to be in order to win games. Caitlyn quickly becomes powerful after her first item, which is normally an Infinity Edge (which not only provides a large amount of AD and Critical Chance, but also increases her critical damage) or a Bloodthirster (which would increase her overall AD, allowing for more damage off her Headshot passives when stacked, and also a large amount of survivability in the lifesteal bonus), and with this advantage, she quickly turns her early game into a powerful mid game. The earlier you shut down the enemy AD Carry and get yourself going, the better you will do later on, so the early pressure that her long range gives allows Caitlyn to be the paragon of early-game pressure.

Along with this high early-game damage, she is also very forgiving if you make mistakes. Along with her 650 range, Caitlyn has her Yordle Snap Traps, which root and reveal any enemy who steps on them, and also her 90-Caliber net, which not only shoots her backwards from the cast direction, but slows any enemy that is hit by it. These two abilities, along with a summoner spell such as Flash, gives her many ways to escape a dangerous situation, or allow her to not even be put in the situation. This allows beginners and professionals alike to have a lot of leeway in how they play Caitlyn and even when they choose incorrectly, they have many ways out, giving Caitlyn a lot of forgiveness for those who do not play the most effective game.

Caitlyn's final advantage is her ability to do "tons of damage" with only her auto-attacks. While other AD Carries like Ezreal (with Mystic Shot, Essence Flux, and Trueshot Barrage), and Draven (with constant micro-managing of his axes, and positioning on his Whirling Death) have to focus on their spells constantly hitting and positioning correctly for them to hit...Caitlyn has none of those issues. With that long range and her passive, Caitlyn's best bet is to simply stand back behind her team, click on who she wants to hit, and fire away. She has a simple escape tactic, and her Piltover Peacemaker fires in a straight line and hits everything in that line, unlike a Mystic Shot that only hits the first target. Caitlyn has a very simple team-fight philosophy; stand way in the back, click on a target, and fire.

If an enemy gets low and begins to run away, line them up with Ace in the Hole (at max level has a 3000 Range indicatior, allowing for incredible long-range snipes) and finish the job. When the enemy begins to run towards you, use your 90-Caliber Net, Flash, or simply walk backwards (since you already have about a 5 step advantage), and reposition to auto-attack again. Caitlyn has become the Queen of Season 3 AD Carries for her simplicity and ease of use, her forgiveness, and most importantly, her ability to create early-game pressure and continue to dominate the game from that point.

That's all for this week's "State of the Season 3 AD Carry". Next week, we will take a look at Tristana, The Megling Gunner, to show the opposite side of Caitlyn...when late game champions thrive and carry their teams to victory.