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Recommended Items
Runes: Lane Presence
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
Spells:
Flash
Heal
Items
Ability Order Standard
Headshot (PASSIVE)
Caitlyn Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Sivir
Sivir is a rough matchup for Caitlyn, despite her much lower range compared to yours. Sivir can clear waves very fast to prevent Caitlyn from pressuring her. Traps are free HP for Sivir and she can spell-shield all of Caitlyn's abilities, making her combo much less effective. Caitlyn ult is also useless if Sivir E is up. It is hard for Cait to shut down Sivir in lane when she is the weakest, so she gets a free pass to scaling into the late game.
Blitzcrank
Blitzcrank poses a great threat to the enemy ADC under normal circumstances, so if he is allowed to have bush control you two can zone the enemy bot lane from farm and harass them under tower pretty hard. When he hooks someone just put a trap under them and perform full combo for easy kill.
Blitzcrank
Blitzcrank poses a great threat to the enemy ADC under normal circumstances, so if he is allowed to have bush control you two can zone the enemy bot lane from farm and harass them under tower pretty hard. When he hooks someone just put a trap under them and perform full combo for easy kill.
Champion Build Guide
1. Introduction |
2. Pros & Cons |
3. Summoner Spells |
4. Runes |
5. Itemization |
6. Abilities & Tips |
7. Winning the Game |
8. ADC 101 |
9. Matchups |
10. Synergies |
I am an ADC main in the BR server, and I mostly play Xayah and Kai'Sa. But I also play a bunch of other champions including ADCs, mid laners and junglers! My weak lane is Top though.
My relationship with Caitlyn has been a love/hate one. I have a lot of fun playing her, but I also hate playing against her! In fact I didn't even start playing her until I decided that the best way to learn how to play against her was by playing with her.
Turns out I actually ended up enjoying myself more than I thought I would and after many rough games I actually started doing really well with her.
This guide is meant to be straight to the point and beginner-friendly, since many people like picking up Caitlyn for the first time. But at the end of the guide there is more advanced information and I plan on expanding on that in the future!
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+ Long Range |
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+ Sieging & Zoning |
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+ Strong Early-Mid Game |
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+ Burst Damage |
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- Squishy |
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- Vulnerable to Divers |
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- ”Falls Off” |
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- ”Bad” Into Tanks |
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Flash |
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Heal |
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Exhaust |
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Cleanse |
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Lethal Tempo |
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Fleet Foortwork |
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Presence of Mind |
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Legend: Bloodline |
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Coup de Grace/Cut Down |
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Absolute Focus |
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Gathering Storm |
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Taste of Blood |
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Treasure Hunter |
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Magical Footwear |
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Cosmic Insight |
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The Collector is great for game where you are against squishy champions. Aside from Stormrazor and boots, you don’t really get attack speed so this is an AD-heavy build focusing mainly on damage.
Rapid Firecannon as your third item and then going survivability is an overall safer and generally good build for your standard game. You get the speed from Stormrazor and having a Zeal item, you get the extra range, and you get survivability and extra damage from keeping high HP with Bloodthirster.
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Doran's Blade |
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Long Sword |
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Noonquiver |
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Kircheis Shard |
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Boots |
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Berserker's Greaves |
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Stormrazor (1st) |
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Infinity Edge (2nd) |
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Rapid Firecannon (3rd) |
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Lord Dominik's Regards |
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Bloodthirster |
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Executioner's Calling |
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Mortal Reminder |
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Immortal Shieldbow |
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Guardian Angel |
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Hexdrinker |
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Maw of Malmortius |
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Quicksilver Sash |
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Mercurial Scimitar |
VS
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Strong mythic, decent choice for most games. Galeforce gives Caitlyn mobility to be an even greater nuisance and harder to catch. It is also great to use in combos for more burst. | Infinity Edge is the one to go if you are looking for raw damage and you’re willing to sacrifice some safety. Be careful about your lack of mobility though. |
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Every few basic attacks, or against a target she has trapped or netted, Caitlyn will fire a headshot dealing bonus damage that scales with her critical strike chance. On trapped or netted targets, Caitlyn's Headshot attack range is doubled. |
Use bushes to your advantage! If you are farming jungle or leashing from red side use the bushes to get headshots faster. Same thing applies to lane, if you want to push faster or threaten your enemies abuse vision control and the headshot passive. |
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Caitlyn revs up her rifle for 1 second to unleash a penetrating shot that deals physical damage (deals less damage to subsequent targets). |
When enemy wave is small/thin and they are far from the minions, you can try to Q from nearby bush to poke them and deal full damage. If enemy steps on a trap, auto + Q for fast burst trade. |
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Caitlyn sets a trap that, when sprung, reveals and immobilizes the enemy champion for 1.5 seconds, granting Caitlyn an empowered Headshot. |
Tip number 1 I can give you is to always save at least 1 trap in case you need it or in case you see a good opportunity. And here are some tips on placing good traps: + Place them under a CC'ed enemy + Place them under an enemy during stasis (from Zhonya's Hourglass), or the revive animation from Guardian Angel and Zac/ Anivia passive + Place them in choke points and narrow passages for zoning + Place them at the edge of bushes + Place them slightly ahead or behind enemies coming after you or running away from you + Place them under your minions if enemy can dash to them + Place traps under yourself or an ally who is getting engaged on by melee champion + (Advanced) try to predict where enemies will walk to and place a trap |
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Caitlyn fires a heavy net to slow her target. The recoil knocks Caitlyn back. The target triggers the Headshot passive. |
Use it to dodge abilities and disengage from enemies coming too close to you. Using it on a CC'ed enemy with full combo is an important part of your burst damage. You can also use it to jump over thin walls. |
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Caitlyn takes time to line up the perfect shot, dealing massive damage to a single target at a huge range. Enemy champions can intercept the bullet for their ally. Targeted enemy is revealed. |
There is no need to hold on to your R until enemy is really low HP, at least not all the time. Sometimes using R when enemy is mid-low HP is worth it even if you know it will not kill them, because you may be able to force them out of the fight, zone them, make them panic and use an important ability, or force them to recall in lane. And if you are too far away to join a skirmish the damage of your ult can still translate into a kill for your team, even if you did not get the last hit. Get the blue ward at level 9 so that you can snipe far-away enemies in fog of war. This is especially useful if you have to cancel enemy recall. |
Caitlyn is a strong laner and winning the lane can often translate into winning the game.
However, if you think you are winning lane just because you are killing your oponent, you are mistaken! Caitlyn's core strength comes from getting lane priority in order to shove waves, take turret platings, force enemies out of lane and contest objectives. Kills are a plus that come naturally and help you take control over the lane, but not getting kills does not equal not being ahead.
First factor to take into account is matchup - does the enemy have strong wave clear? Do they have decent range? Do they have an engage support or an enchanter support?
Caitlyn generally does well into bot lanes that have short range and poor wave clear. You will want to poke with Headshot + Piltover Peacemaker and zone enemies with traps and HP advantage so you can have complete control over wave - create a slow push and crash a huge wave. Then you get gold from turret platings and harass enemies under tower.
The next thing to take into account is runes, and that ties to matchups. If enemy has strong poke you will want to take sustain runes and early Berserker's Greaves so you can compete for wave control, if the enemy is more about all-in and winning extended fights you will want to take Lethal Tempo to trade with them and come on top.
When you manage to successfully pressure your enemy and get an advantage you will want to not throw that lead.
Keep river warded for ganks. With lane prio you should be able to defend your wards or punish enemies for trying to remove them.
Don't take bad trades. Be careful to not draw too much minion aggro and don't step up into a 1v2 - watch your support's positioning and try to match it. If both enemies can focus you at the same time and your support is too far, you will lose the trade and your advantage.
Harass enemies under tower to zone them from farm and get turret platings. Don't be too greedy for platings though, if enemy jungler is missing back off, and if your own jungler needs help make sure you are rotating. Be present for objectives when you are ahead.
If your lane is even you have to be more careful. Make sure you are keeping track of enemy summoner spells and jungler, and make sure you are taking good trades. If you are unable to pressure enemy too hard, just farm and be on the lookout for any nearby skirmishes.
When you are behind or enemy has a lot of kill threat over you, you will probably have to stay close to your turret. If possible try to keep the enemy wave thin and farm as well as you can. Use Yordle Snap Trap to zone them if possible.
Avoid dying as much as possible, even if it means you will lose cs. Depending on circumstances your team might gank you and you will be able to maybe get a kill/assist and a good recall.
Your focus should be on not falling further behind so you can get your core 2 items. So farm, stay safe, when you see a good skirmish you can roam or use your R to help your team out. When contesting for objectives, your traps can be useful even if you do not have a lot of damage.
You will want to keep farming and getting items but at this point you should already have your core 2-3 items, meaning that under usual circumstances you will be able to deal decent single-target damage in your combo and your auto attacks will be very strong.
You will play similarly to the early game: poke if you can, farm, rotate if needed, pressure turret, zone enemy from objectives and wave.
Remember to try staying at max range and well-positioned against diver champions and flanks. Keep an eye out for the champions on the enemy team that pose the greatest threat to you and your team. Itemize properly for your game.
If you are familiar with my other ADC guides you’ll find that I usually have a section just to go in depth into “ADCing” – how to farm, wave management and tips for ADC survival. I wasn’t sure I would add it to this guide since it’s meant to be a more “straight to the point” thing, but I decided to challenge myself and make something that is informative, beginner-friendly and simpler than what I’m used to making.
So I present to you “ADCing” in a nutshell!
First, here are some general tips to keep in mind.
Get yourself familiarized with your champion’s limits and respect them (if you want to stay alive)
There’s no shame in admitting you’re tilted and performing poorly. Respect yourself.
Start listing what has the potential to kill you (or counter you) in champion select and figure out what you can do about it
Beware of your positioning and practice better positioning, both in lane and during teamfights
Don’t use wards randomly, use them in a way they can actually save you from getting collapsed on
Ba careful with greeting for kills and waves, it will get you killed one day
Try to have matching recalls with your support and keep a good recall tempo in general. You don’t want to be late to an important objective or to your wave
ADCs as a whole don’t have cheap itemization, yet they are very reliant on items. Plus, most are weak in the early game, which means getting kills and snowballing (and not falling behind) is harder when compared to a mid or top laner that scales fine with a few levels and their core item.
Basically this translates into: farm well and stay alive until you’re strong. To find success in this role you need to keep high income, that means practicing those last hits and knowing when to give up cs to maintain your HP.
EXTRA TIPS:
Be mindful of your abilities. Using them at the wrong moments can make you lose cs
Practice last hitting under turret. Melee minions usually need 1 auto after 2 tower shots, and ranged minions need 2 autos and 1 tower shot at lower levels.
Use abilities to farm minions that are dangerous to get close to
Avoid being in range to get harassed 1 v 2
Farm waves and jungle in the mid to late game, even if you are ahead.
Choose your fights wisely. Ask yourself how much gold and xp you might lose if you rotate
The state of the minion wave dictates if you should fight or retreat during the entire laning phase.
In the early game minions deal a lot of damage so getting aggro can make you hard lose a trade. On top of that, they also dictate who is going to get levels 2 and 3 first – in the bot lane, if you are level 1 you usually have only 2 abilities (1 yours, 1 from your support), but if you are level 2 you have 4 abilities and that can quickly turn into a kill.
Because of that it’s very important to know how to manage your wave properly. Here are the basics you need to know.
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FAST PUSHING = constantly attacking the wave, making minions die faster. This is good when you want to get level 2 and 3 first, when you need to recall really quickly, when you need to get lane priority to rotate and when you have a huge minion wave. |
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SLOW PUSHING = last hitting minions, allowing the wave to grow slowly and stack. This is especially good when you can zone the enemy away from your wave, the minion advantage gives you an edge in fights and by letting this huge wave crash into the enemy turret you can more easily poke, get plates or set up a dive. When you create a slow push and crash it the enemy ADC will be pressured into trying to farm. |
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FREEZING = keeping the wave in the same place. You can use this defensively, by freezing near your turret and making it riskier for the enemy to engage on you, and you can use it aggressively to deny enemy farm. Freezing at the wrong place and at the wrong times can make you vulnerable to ganks and engages, as well as make you lose gold and xp. |
To make a freeze in the middle of the lane you need to have the same amount of minions on both sides, with similar HP. To freeze near your turret you need the enemy to have around +2 caster minions. To freeze near enemy turret (generally a bad idea) you need your wave to have more casters.
EXTRA TIPS:
If enemy is going to get level 2 before you, it’s wise to retreat. Especially if they have an engage support.
Avoid fighting enemies in a huge enemy minion wave. If your wave is bigger, you can look to fight.
You need big waves to pull off good dives, in most cases.
Dying but losing a few minions is better than dying and losing 2 whole waves
Be careful to not pull a bad freeze on yourself. If you want to recall, try to get your wave to fully crash under enemy turret, otherwise it can freeze or slow push.
Do keep in mind some champions fall into more than one category and some have builds that give them a specific playstyle - like for example, Miss Fortune, who has good poke overall and can build for more burst/poke when going lethality and more DPS/all-in when going crit. It is also worth noting that in bot lane support matchup often matters more than ADC matchups, especially in higher elos.
Most of them, especially Draven, Jhin and Samira can be difficult matchups. You cannot out-damage them in an all-in and they are usually accompanied by aggressive engage supports - one wrong move, one bad trade, and you cannot fight back. Lucian and Kalista are champions Caitlyn generally does well against though.
The best you can do in these matchups is to not give them any kills and manage your wave correctly. You definitely do not want your wave to be frozen near their turret or over-extend without vision. Focus on farming and poking them when it’s safe, but be careful about taking bad trades – if you lose too much HP they can go all-in and quickly kill you, then snowball. Exhaust is very good against them.
They can be challenging matchups because of their late game and high range – which makes it harder for you to punish them in lane. In my opinion, Kog'Maw, Jinx and Ashe are generally the worst. Zeri is a matchup you can generally do well against.
While they tend to be weaker in the early game, if they have good peel and are allowed to play safe they will just farm and outscale you. Having good enough synergy with your support to pressure the enemy away from farm and get a gold lead is what will win you lane. If you can shut them down early and close the game it’s great! If you let the game go on for too long you’ll be in trouble. Exhaust is very good against them in the late game, while Heal is good for early game trading.
Overall, these champions will try to poke you using their abilities or get good trades – they essentially have a playstyle similar to yours. I find them to be mostly skill matchups, whoever trades better, has a better support synergy and wave control will have lane priority. Ezreal has rather poor wave clear, which gives you an edge against him in lane. I consider the most dangerous one to be Miss Fortune.
Like you they prefer short burst trades and deal decent damage in the early game. Make sure to trade when they are on cooldown and if possible don’t face tank all their combo. Capitalize on their mistakes. Heal is very good against them.
These matchups are generally easier – while they win in all-ins if they can get on your face, their short range makes them highly susceptible to getting poked. Having a support who can poke them or peel against engage makes the lane very hard for them. Kai'Sa and Tristana are the worst all-in ADCs in my opinion, since they can easily get on top of you and burst you. Kai’sa can only do that after 6 though, which means you have until then to make her life miserable and set her behind. The others are only an issue in the late game or when they get fed. Sivir is an annoying matchup even though she has short range.
Against all-in champions you have to play for your strengths and not theirs. Poke whenever you can, pressure them away from farm, harass them under turret, take platings and try to always keep your range advantage. Beware of their gimmicks - like Xayah’s Bladecaller; Kai'Sa’s Icathian Rain+ Void Seeker+ Second Skin proc. Exhaust is very good against them.
Caitlyn can do fairly okay against mages thanks to her high range, it makes it harder for them to poke you. As an AD champion you will have stronger wave clear early on, so it should be easy to get wave control and force them to farm under tower, where they are likely to miss a lot of minions.
If you are in range you can harass them whenever they use an ability or miss their CC. You’ll want to get a lead early on because they will scale and even if you set them super behind they’ll usually still be able to bring a lot of utility to their team.
You do not want to get overconfident and allow yourself to get caught – you’re still a squishy ADC and their combos still hurt. It can be really good to get Boots early so that you can try to dodge their combos. Respect their damage especially after a few levels, core items and Lost Chapter. Heal and Cleanse are generally good against them.
Do keep in mind some champions fall into more than one class (like Taric, who is both a warden and an enchanter), some can fall into two categories (like Soraka, who is an enchanter with soft poke) and some are just “weird” - very unique or specialized, like Bard, or Senna who is like a carry support that plays a bit like an enchanter.
Most of them have an okay synergy with Caitlyn, the strongest being Karma in my opinion. They make it even harder for enemies to get to you an kill you. Some have stronger early game trading, like Karma and Nami, which can making laning phase really good for you. Some of them can buff you really hard and increase your kill potential, like Milio’s giving extra range.
When playing with enchanters into an enemy lane with low kill threat, you generally want to try pressuring the enemy really hard and taking turret plates. Look for poke whenever possible and harass them under turret.
When the enemy has high kill threat on you or your support is into a bad matchup you will generally look to play a bit more carefully, not forcing trades too hard and only taking the fights you know you can actually win or outplay the enemy.
They are generally great supports for Caitlyn because they make it very easy for you to land your traps. You might need some trap-placing practice with any supports that pull enemies, such as Pyke, Thresh and Blitzcrank. Blitz and Morgana are the best for Cait in my opinion though.
These supports can be great at zoning the enemy ADCs, which in turn makes it easier for you to get wave control and get plates. Harassing them under their turret is also really powerful… One wrong step and they can easily die.
Do be careful if the enemy has a tank support though – if they get too close to you they can completely ruin everything. Have smart trap placement and use E wisely.
These supports are generally very fun to play with. Mage supports especially, they usually have a lot of damage in their combos, poke and CC – their playstyle matches yours pretty well. You and your poke support should use your range advantage and catch potential (if they have any) to get lane priority and leave enemies so low they’ll be forced to leave lane or die to Ace in the Hole.
Try to win early, get lane prio and harass enemies under their turret. Just make sure you proper vision setup to avoid dying to ganks.
They work very similarly to catcher supports and often overlap, but I find them to have less synergy with Caitlyn. If your support is very much based on engages like Leona, they are great in the late game especially if your team has no other tanks. The downside to them is that they pretty much like going for all-ins or more extended trades, while Caitlyn wants to poke and have short burst trades. It can all work out, but your lane will work better if you manage to get the enemy to be lower HP than you and generally keep high HP yourself.
A lane of Caitlyn/Nautilus x Draven/Leona will still be in favor of the Draven/Leona – they have better all in, and better synergy. Even if you can chunk Draven pretty hard at first, if you can’t fall back he will out-trade you. And as with most tank supports, if they go win they’re usually not looking to come back.
Keeping the wave frozen in the middle of the lane or near your turret also makes it easier for your support to engage or zone enemies from farm, which can translate into a gold lead for you. But if the enemy bot lane has stronger all-in, it might be best to ask your support to just chill a bit, maybe ping jungler to gank or just wait until you can use your range to chunk the enemy an leave them low HP.
That's all I have for this guide. Thank you for taking interest in it! I hope it was helpful.
I had a lot of fun experimenting with it. I wanted to go for a theme (Valentine’s and Caitlyn’s Heartthrob Skin) and try my hand at making better-looking guides. I daresay my coding has improved (a little bit) and it has inspired me to do something similar for some of my other guides.
If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know. I will keep updating this guide and keep adding things to it.
Good Luck & Have Fun playing Caitlyn!
Last updated: Patch 14.9
Last changes: Updated for patch
Planned updates: Keeping it up to date.
My other Guides!!!
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Complete Xayah Guide |
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Complete Kai'sa Guide |
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My Unbeatable Crit Sivir Guide |
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Complete Zeri Guide |
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Complete Nilah Guide |
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Off Meta Kindred ADC Guide |
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