Caitlyn Counters – Bot Lane Matchups

The Sheriff is a mighty opponent in the bottom lane with her ridiculous damage and even more ridiculous base range. Players in the bottom lane know just how annoying fighting Caitlyn can be in the lane, and if you’re here then you must be experiencing the same thing. Being good at League of Legends is sometimes not enough to deal with broken champions like this who’s laning phase is so oppressive that she becomes a pain to deal with. Learn how to fight the Sheriff with these Caitlyn Counters!

Pulsefire Caitlyn with a futuristic gun and suit
Having a tough time laning against Caitlyn?

Caitlyn’s Oppressive Features

Before we dive into some of these Caitlyn counters, let’s talk about what makes Caitlyn so good in lane.

Long Base Attack Range

Caitlyn has the longest base attack range without being affected by other skills that would increase it. 650 Attack Range allows here to safely get minions in lane or harass enemies trying to get near her to get some CS. Because of her range advantage, Caitlyn players like to get in a few autos in lane while she’s farming which becomes even more deadly with the Headshot bonus that she gets from her 6th auto-attack.

Caitlyn Montage - Best Caitlyn Plays S10

Annoying Skill Kit

Caitlyn has 3 projectiles skills in her kit that can act as harass tools to push enemies away from her lane. Piltover Peacemaker can hit you from a mile away and deals a decent amount of damage. The Yordle Snap Trap makes it hard for you to randomly move wherever you want to go, unless you want to get a Headshot in the face. 90 Caliber Net is a great escape tool and also procs a headshot on hit. Finally, Ace in the Hole makes it hard to escape her clutches and gives her a good way to finish off the kills.

Headshots

Headshots are Caitlyn’s signature feature which grants bonus Attack Damage. Caitlyn often reserves the headshot to unleash on her enemies to deal a large amount of damage. Some of her abilities also activate Headshot which makes her a huge damage dealer in fights.

Best Caitlyn Counters

Now that we know what makes Caitlyn really powerful in lane, it’s time to figure out which champions do best against this champion. We’ll be figuring out which bot lane champions, who are not necessarily marksmen, can work best to shut down her huge advantages and give you an easier time in lane. We won’t be counting support champions since we’ll only count the head-to-head matchup so that players will understand what to do as a bot laner. Here are the best Caitlyn Counters to use in the bot lane:

1. Jhin

Jhin is one of the safest AD Carries in the bottom lane and as a utility AD Carry, he can work well with the team even if he’s a bit behind. Jhin has an almost similar champion design with Caitlyn with his Passive Ability dealing bonus damage on the 4th basic attack. He can go head to head against Caitlyn and can harass her more with every 4th shot. In terms of wave clearing, Jhin can clear the wave faster because of his Dancing Grenade.

Blood Moon Jhin staring at the sky
Bonus damage on the 6th shot? I do it on my 4th.

Jhin doesn’t have a higher attack range than Caitlyn but his laning phase is relatively safe even against a harass heavy champion. Jhin’s Dancing Grenade allows him to get rid of minions faster forcing Caitlyn to keep up and harass minions before they get pushed into the tower. Caitlyn won’t have as much time to harass you and also needs to dodge barrages of Deadly Flourish and Dancing Grenade spams.

2. Ashe

Ashe is the ultimate utility marksman and makes every other ADC’s laning phase a living hell. Since she can spam her Volley ability and follow it up Ranger’s Focus, getting caught is really dangerous against her and makes her harass stronger than Caitlyn. At level 6, Ashe always has kill pressure against any other ADC and players are forced to maintain a good distance against her unless they want to get CC chained to death.

Ashe wearing a cowboy outfit riding a high-horse
Come close, I dare you.

In case Ashe does fall behind in the laning phase, she can still find a way to be useful because of her incredible kit. Enchanted Crystal Arrow allows her to catch out enemies from a distance and open up game-breaking opportunities for your team to steal the game. Her Hawkshot also gives your team information on where the enemies could be, showing where the jungler is hiding and allow other laners to make more aggressive plays in their lane.

3. Yasuo

The ultimate League of Legends Champion, Yasuo is a the most meme-able yet effective Caitlyn Counter in the bot lane. Yasuo’s Wind Wall shuts down almost everything good about Caitlyn and even prevents her from auto-attacking minions who are near death. Despite being a melee champion, Yasuo can easily approach or escape his opponents with Sweeping Blade which will prompt Caitlyn to almost always use her 90 Caliber Net to escape.

Yasuo escaping an explosion
What doesn’t pass through the wind will never hurt you

The best part about Yasuo as a bot laner is that he almost always tends to have a higher CS than his opponents since his Steel Tempest and Gathering Storm both provide a good poke advantage with minimal cost. The one thing that Caitlyn suffers from is that spamming her abilities cost her to lose mana really quickly. The Headshot stack is also partially blocked when Yasuo is able to shield himself using his passive ability to block incoming damage.

4. Senna

Senna isn’t as effective as the other champions in the list with her most redeeming factor being an infinite scaling attack range and great sustain in lane. Senna is as passive as passive could be and Headshot damage can easily be healed back with Piercing Darkness. To counter Caitlyn, you should give her a lot of kills in the early game so that your allies can deal with her after the laning phase has ended.

Senna wearing her prestige set of Louis Vuitton featured clothes
Not losing the lane = winning the lane

What is the best Caitlyn counterpick?

The best Caitlyn counterpicks are Jhin, Ashe, Yasuo, and Senna because they can answer back against Caitlyn’s oppressive laning phase and high attack range.

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