Can we have a chit-chat about Caitlyn?

So I've been playing a lot of Caitlyn because I'm grinding out mastery with Piltover champs and I've come to find Caitlyn is...I'unno. Maybe it's just me but I don't think she's in too good of a spot right now, nor do I think simple number-tweaks will really fix what's wrong with her. Please remember that this is totally just an opinion and I'm probably quite biased in my affection for Cait. Anyways...

#1- Caitlyn is the "Long Range ADC" who gets outranged late game.

Caitlyn has the highest base range in the game at a whopping 650. Pretty amazing right? Well, this used to be a lot more impressive. Right under her are / with base ranges of 600 and just below that is / / at 575. Interesting enough, all these characters save for Anivia are taken bot lane. Building on this, Caitlyn becomes outranged as early as level 7 if Jinx places her points into Switcheroo. So late game...

• with Ult.
• with Bio-barrage up
• 
• naturally.

To make matters worse, these champions also have powerful additional effects that make headshot look like a poor-man's sheen. Twitch's ult pierces (Which can be forgive, it's an ult). Kog's barrage does mixed damage and works well with his amazing base AS scaling, not to mention long-range ult poke. Jinx gets AoE with crits and increased damage at a miniscule mana cost. Trist's passive increases the range of her E while also still having access to her self-AS boost.

For a woman with a sniper rifle, she needs a better scope.

#2- Caitlyn's Q is incredibly clunky.

Quick! Name one other ADC spell people tell you to absolutely drop late-mid game because it hurts your DPS. Yep, didn't think a lot of answers came up. Piltover Peacemaker is just a clunky spell that really only adds early-game power poke...and even then, compare it to something like Jinx's zap. Zap is an incredibly quick cast compared to Peacemaker, has better base damage past level 1 and slows the target. The only thing Peacemaker has is it hits multiple targets...and a cost of up to 50% of the original damage.

What baffles me most is the cast time. Caitlyn sets her rifle down, fixes her make-up, adjusts her hat, fluffs her breasts so they look nice, picks up her rifle, loads the bullet and fires. By this time the ADC has pretty much lazily moved to the left or right and avoided your shot. Even if you did hit them, they were probably behind a minion wave and easily dodged your attack. Shouldn't this be a bigger threat? Especially compared to other long range ADC poke spells.

#3- Caitlyn is paradoxically a misplaced ADC

What do I mean by this? Well, why do most people pick ADCs? For the late game carry potential or for a special niche they fill. has splitpush and initiation. is the dueling tank killer. is the AoE hyper carry. is the utility ADC. So with this in mind, when do you see most people picking Caitlyn?

For the early game.

Yes, everyone knows the nightmare that Caitlyn is early. With auto-attacks that bully, poke, traps to avoid champ ganks and more, she's most ADC's worst nightmare for level 1-6 as she casually steamrolls over everyone. Mid-game and late, however, Caitlyn falls like a rock. Her one escape becomes pretty awful, her range is considered a minor threat rather than the main attraction, her Q is almost never used and her traps might as well not even be a spell.

It's weird. She's one of the only ADCs I see people pick because they dominate early, which is frustrating for the enemy early because she's such a bully while it's dangerous for the team late game because she does not have the steroid or power other champions have. Even an ADC like can have a rough start but still do well thanks to her powerful dueling potential. can get her back broken in lane but come back with some AS and still pump out respectable damage.

Overall, it's just not fun to deal with for a lot of people when Caitlyn bullies you all lane...but even that is temporary as it's pretty easy to get back in the game thanks to the atrocious mid-game of Caitlyn.

#Solutions?

I don't really have "This will fix every problem" Caitlyn has solutions. Instead, I just have some ideas that might make her a slightly more engaging character while offsetting the pain-in-the-ass early game people know Caitlyn to have. I'm not a pro by any means but I'd rather get the ball rolling that have these ideas be right or even good ideas

• Change Q- Let's give Caitlyn a different Q that can serve as a better, all-game tool. Maybe something along the lines of:

  Caitlyn loads a piercing round into her chamber, her next attack dealing additional damage and passing through 1/2/3/4/5 targets behind the initial one. Headshot cooldowns lower the cooldown of this ability.

Now Caitlyn has a little more useful Q, a self-steroid, and she can emphasize the power of her range without taking 12 seconds to aim her gun.

• Make her THE long-range ADC- Let's siphon some of Caitlyn's early game power and give her a base range of 550-575. However, she will get additional range as the game goes on. Perhaps from leveling her ult, perhaps from something else. Either way, let's make her have some obscene late-game range and change her E so that you feel rewarded for getting past the body-wall and to the gooey center that is Caitlyn.

But Captain won't that take Tristana's evovling rang- Tristana's got a powerful escape, ability-range that scales with her range and a self-peel. Caitlyn will be fine if she evolves to have better range than Tristana as Tristana occupies a daredevil niche with strong self-peel. Speaking off...

• Maybe change Caitlyn's E?- The sniper detective who sets out traps...and has a net in her gun that launches her away because reasons. Early game it's just an infuriating tool to deal with Caitlyn scooting away all the time. Late game. The knockback and slow is so small it doesn't really serve as much. This ability could just use a redesign to better fit with Caitlyn's personality. Maybe take some of her safety and give her some power in exchange?

Like I said, these aren't perfect fixes. What I would prefer is to have some discussion so Caitlyn becomes less of an early-game lane bully the enemy laner despises/late-game liability that the ally team worries about and more of a sniper pro that her character suggests she is.