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Caitlyn - Making her more of a Sniper

ProfDrDeath·5/2/2014, 5:39:42 PM·3 votes·321 views

To put it bluntly, I hate the current Caitlyn . Mainly, for two reasons:

  1. She's supposed to be a sniper, but her kit doesn't really reflect that. Especially, the fact that she has really long range from the get-go (which is very sniper-like), but also has a really good escape in the net. On top of that, her main skillshot is a broad AoE, which doesn't feel very sniper-like, either - Ezreal's Q, Jinx' W and Nidalee's Q are more sniper-like abilities.

  2. Her lore describes her as a no-nonsense, tough-as-nails Sheriff who single-handedly rid Piltover from the criminals that ran rampant. Yet, even in her classic style, she looks more like a hooker to me than a bad-ass cop.

As Ironstylus already stated, she's going to receive a VU eventually, which will remedy the second point. That might be a good opportunity to also go about her kit and make her a bit more fitting to her theme, as well as not as obnoxious to play against.

For my take on such a rework:

  • E gets dropped entirely.
  • Current Q, Piltover Peacemaker, gets moved to the E slot
  • Her base range is lowered to 600, which increases by 25 each time she levels her ult, Ace in the Hole
  • AitH's base damage and ratio is lowered, but it now works as an execute against the intended target. Champions intercepting the missile don't get the execute effect. Instead, the projectile gains 50% Armor Penetration against them (they voluntarily take the bullet, after all).
  • The number of W traps she can place scale with the rank of the ability - 1/1/2/2/3 or 1/2/2/3/3.
  • And for the main part, she gets a new Q, which interacts with her passive Headshot:
    After a short wind-up, Caitlyn fires a shot in a straight line (slow-ish projectile speed (slower than Mystic Shot), very long range, narrow (and I mean, NARROW! Not Javelin Toss-narrow)). The bullet does really good damage (possibly based on current HP?) and works with Headshot. Possibly, it could even crit. Does not, however, apply on-hit effects. This spell can be possibly cast while moving, but lowers Caitlyn's speed to 66% while doing so, and narrowing the hitbox even further (shooting while moving is less precise).
  • Damage numbers and stats are subject to balancing, as usual.

What do you think of this?
And, if you have different ideas of how to make Caitlyn live up to her theme, what are they?

2 Comments

ModCaptainMårvelous5/2/2014, 5:54:12 PM3 votes

Well you have a few problems:

1.) Her new passive you suggest for her ult is both A.) Not very far at all and B.) kinda is done better by Tristana's passive, which shouldn't be the case.

2.) Too much overlap with her current Q with her new Q you suggest. Sure, it's narrow and interacts with headshot, but it's still occupying the same "Ranged skillshot in a line" that her current Q comes over.

3.) R isn't meant to always be an execute. It's a great tool if you want to reduce someone's HP by a good chunk at the start of a fight but, otherwise, it's usefulness gradually decreases over time. Giving it an execute that can hit a good distance away is overkill.

Overall, the main problem I see is that you're putting Caitlyn too much in the sniper category when she's not JUST a sniper. She's a detective! The net functions as part of her identity in capturing criminals, not just killing them. Also, there is kind of an overlap when it comes to these ideas with champions that already exist, such as Tristana and Ezreal.

MackleDoge5/2/2014, 5:44:42 PM1 votes

Personally I really like Caitlyn's kit as it is and removing her escape would severely decrease her viability. Honestly all of these changes look like they are entirely catered to flavor and lore and don't take into account the actual game part of League at all and look like huge nerfs to me. I'll admit I'm totally biased on this one, but any changes like this and I would entirely drop playing Caitlyn and stick to Lucian/Twitch.