Another day, another League of Legends pro trying to ruin the solo queue experience for players around the world.
In his second-week match against Kwangdong Freecs, T1’s superstar support Ryu “Keria” Min-seok broke out an unorthodox Caitlyn pick that has many fans scrambling to ban her in their ranked games—not to prevent them from facing it, but to keep their teammates from picking it.
Related: Caitlyn makes historic LCK debut in new role, making us fear for League solo queue
Because she relies so heavily on an enemy’s team composition—and solo queue teammates aren’t nearly as reliable as pro teams—support Caitlyn should only be picked in the most specific of situations. But if you do find yourself supporting with the Sheriff of Piltover, here is the best build to run with.
Runes
Keria ran the Hail of Blades keystone, combined with Taste of Blood, Zombie Ward, and Treasure Hunter. In lane, Caitlyn will want to get as much poke as possible when her opponents come into range, and with this keystone, her first three auto attacks will be cast blisteringly fast. Since she’ll be taking down plenty of wards, Zombie Ward also gives her the ability to place more vision around the map while gaining permanent adaptive AD for every ward she eliminates.
By picking Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery, she can also stay in lane much longer than her opponents, and she can spam out abilities to poke her enemies down over the course of an early game. Overall, her oppressive style of play can be a nuisance for any bottom lane duo, especially if the Caitlyn’s jungler comes down to pull off a dive or two.
Items
For support Caitlyn, Spectral Sickle is the best item to start since she wants to apply plenty of poke. The item will give her a good amount of extra gold, which should help her grab Umbral Glaive early. Umbral Glaive is important to pick up as a core item since it allows Caitlyn to take down enemy vision rather quickly, while also activating her Zombie Ward rune.
Chempunk Chainsword is a good option if the enemy team has a good amount of healing—like KDF did with Renekton and Yuumi—while Rapid Firecannon gives Caitlyn even more range to harass her enemies in lane and later in the game. Lord Dominik’s Regards is also a good choice when facing off against tankier opponents, while Infinity Edge could be a final item option that can give a good boost of damage in the final teamfights.
Why Caitlyn support isn’t built for solo queue
Caitlyn support is a very hard pick to pull off since it is strongest in lane and only provides a lot of poke pressure against shorter-ranged enemies. In T1’s match against KDF, for example, Keria had free rein to fire at Zeri and Yuumi, who have very limited range except for Zeri’s Ultrashock Laser and Yuumi’s Prowling Projectile.
If those abilities are missed, they can’t walk up to farm until they hit later levels, and even then, Caitlyn and Varus can use their destructive range to shoot down anyone who walks up too close. It also helped that T1’s jungler Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun helped them with some well-timed ganks to take advantage of the uneven lane state.
In the later stages of the game, however, Caitlyn support can fall off dramatically since she doesn’t provide much utility for her team, save for her Yordle Snap Traps. If the rest of her team doesn’t bring enough crowd control, she will become a significant liability against an enemy composition with stronger picks in other lanes. Additionally, if the enemy bottom lane has a tank and CC, Caitlyn has no way to peel for herself or her marksman.
