2XKOCaitlyn Guide - Moves, Combos, and Overview

Caitlyn in 2XKO is a highly versatile zoner built around long-range rifle shots, trap setups, spatial control, and precision aiming.

Compared to Jinx, Caitlyn has greater mobility and close-quarters combat capabilities. Rather than trying to play her as a traditional zoner, players have found more success by thinking of her as a hybrid character who can quickly swap between pursuit and runaway strategies.

True to her sniper design, Caitlyn requires more precision than any other champion. Her best combos require multiple partially charged inputs, you need to manually aim her shots, and landing a headshot with her Super is challenging as well.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to take down your opponents with precision. We have you covered from the foundations of her kit for playing neutral, mixups, and defense, to combos, as well as her best Fuse and teammate pairings.

If you’ve arrived at this guide because it feels like the Sheriff of Piltover has been trying to arrest you, don’t worry—we’re also breaking down the best strategies to fight against Caitlyn players and send her back to the practice shooting range.

Gameplay Reveal

Movelist

Traps

Caitlyn has three deployables at her disposal, and each have their own unique uses.

Bola (S2 Special)

Bola is a lobbed projectile that slowly falls forward. We've already seen how powerful slow and lingering projectiles are as the Bola shot is similar to Ekko's Timewinder, or Ahri's Stalking Dart.

Also, Caitlyn can cancel Rifle Shot into Bola, making setup easier. Use this to make space to call in your assist or setup cover for Caitlyn's approach.

Both Bola and Rifle Shot are useful for covering Handshake Tags.

Enticing Trap (DownS2 Special)

Once Enticing Trap gets deployed, it will trigger if an enemy touches it without breaking it, or Caitlyn can shoot it to ricochet the bullet for a hit that must be blocked low.

Because her shots can be canceled into follow-ups on hit, incorporating trap shots is a skill crucial to mastering Caitlyn's neutral and combo game.

Notably, the trap re-stands when used mid-combo similar to Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab. Paired with a champ that has good high/low mixups like Ekko or Yasuo this is a deadly tool to have in her arsenal.

• Enticing Trap only restands mid-combo if you have not used a major reaction. If you have already used something like her dive kick to floor bounce, the trap will still go off, but juggle instead of trap.

• After the cupcake trap restand, Caitlyn has plenty of time to perform her follow-up attack. The trap gives a lot of flexibility in combo routes.

Enforcer Hexshield Super (S2 Special+L Attack)

While Enforcer Hexshield is deployed, Rifle Shot projectiles that pierce through an available Hex panel become empowered.

Rifle Shot can also be aimed down to ricochet off the floor and ceiling to change the angle of trajectory.

Vertical Zoning

Rifle Shot S1 SpecialHold allows you to aim the shot to hit opponents above or below Caitlyn.

Skyward Shot can be used to shut down the opponent’s attempts to approach from the air.

Instead of slow drag aiming, if you double-tap up or down after S1, Caitlyn will snap her aim to a 45-degree angle

Matchups

Rushdown

Versus rushdown characters like Ahri and Warwick, use your projectiles to zone. When they try to get it, cover the ground with your trap and be ready to anti-air if they jump in.

When approached by ground, you can jump back, projectile, and assist. Be ready for successful hits to convert into full combos with follow-up shots or a Handshake Tag

Zoners

Against other zoners like Jinx and Teemo use roll to bypass projectiles, and the superior speed and range of your projectiles to break through their coverage.

Zoning

Caitlyn can use a combination of Rifle Shots, Bola Shots, and Enticing Trap to zone out her opponents.

Both Rifle shots can be charged to change up the timing. Charged shots deal increased damage, and a charged second Rifle Shot will cause a major reaction wall/floor bounce.

• Keep in mind that charged shots demand precise timing and carry high recovery if they miss or are blocked. Use them sparingly in neutral, because if you rely on them too frequently and become predictable, your opponent will begin to punish you.

Primary Strategy

The go-to combat loop you should focus on implementing in your gameplay is zoning with Caitlyn while calling your assist during Rifle and Bola shots.

Forward-moving assists—such as Ekko’s and Warwick’s forward assists—are the most effective for Handshake Tag combo conversions. Even from near full-screen, you can confirm into HST > Dash > M Attack off a successful Rifle Shot.

Assist Crossups

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Caitlyn has a fews ways to set up sandwiches and crossups with her assist teammate.

Crossups

Caitlyn has one of the best air 2H attacks in the game. The hitbox is massive, and the side it hits on depends on your spacing and timing.

Try to cover your jump-in with an assist so you don’t get hit by an anti-air.

Advancing Roll technically crosses up, but we don’t recommend trying to use it on its own.

Air Dash

Bola Boost air dash is another strong movement tool Caitlyn can use to mix up her opponent. To set up a sandwich, jump in, call assist, then air dash behind. From there, either land and go low, or use 2H while falling, then HST if the opponent blocks the sequence.

In the air, you can cancel Rife Shot into Bola Dash for both movement mixup and in combos as seen in this clip.

• Caitlyn can do AirBackS2 Special > AirH Attack > (land) DownH Attack to launch her opponent back into the air and extend her combos.

Assist Crossups

Caitlyn has a few ways to set up sandwiches and crossups with her assist teammate.

Advancing / Evasive Roll

Caitlyn’s Advancing Roll is projectile-invulnerable and allows her to pass through projectiles unharmed.

Advancing Roll is primarily a combo and approach tool rather than a mix-up tool. The animation is relatively slow and easy for opponents to react to if you try to crossup your opponent with it.

However, when you have the opponent blocking, you can try rolling through the opponent while calling an assist to side-swap their blocking direction and land a cross-up. Even if they block, you’ve now put the opponent into a sandwich situation where you can continue your block pressure.

S1 Super Combo

Caitlyn's bread-and-butter combo. You don’t need to worry about strict timing, trap restands, charged shots, or aim adjustments. It’s an excellent choice when you just need a consistent combo with reliable damage.

A simplified version of this combo removes the initial jump H > Bola Dash and goes straight into jump M > H > S1 > S1 > Super.

S2 Super Combo

Hextech Shield isn’t just strong in neutral for controlling space and zoning—it’s also a potent combo tool. This example showcases a corner-specific combo where the shield’s hits buy Caitlyn enough time to land a jump-in and start a second combo sequence.

This particular example also ends in a Limit Strike, which is something you should aim to do often when you have the opponent cornered. You can set out another trap before they wake up, and the Limit Strike generates additional Break and Super meter for your team.

Ult Combo

This is Caitlyn’s primary trap re-stand starter route. Make sure you don’t forget to land the down M, as the sweep pops the opponent upward. You need the correct launch height, or they won’t land in the trap for the re-stand.

Here, we go for a simple double Rifle Shot into her Ultimate for big damage. As you progress in combo complexity, you’ll discover that Caitlyn has nearly countless combo route options after the restand, allowing you to squeeze in significantly more damage.

When to Use Forward Assist

Caitlyn jumps onto the screen, then hops into the air to fire a downward-angled aerial shot.

This assist is best used against grounded opponents. Even though she shoots toward the floor, the projectile will hit opponents at range. If you consider full-screen distance to be 100%, Caitlyn’s forward assist will hit the feet of opponents at roughly 70% distance.

Moreover, forward assist launches grounded opponents. This makes it one of the very few assists with the ability to OTG, which is an important component of what makes Caitlyn such a strong assist champion.

When to Use Back Assist

Caitlyn’s back assist is primarily used for combo extensions. The upward angle is perfect for keeping opponents airborne between your point champion’s attacks.

Caitlyn’s back assist comes out four frames faster than her forward assist, so if you need the shot to come out ASAP, use the back assist.

Double Down

Double Down is Caitlyn’s weakest Fuse. She simply does not need Double Down to maximize her combo damage, as she has multiple combo routes that allow her to use more than one Super even when running 2X Assist or Freestyle.

That said, Double Down is not terrible on Caitlyn, and she does still get value from it. If you enjoy Double Down, or your other champion is especially good at utilizing its mechanics, it’s still a viable option.

As seen in the above clip, having an aimable projectile for a Super allows Caitlyn to Double Down Super Combo no matter where the opponent ends up.

2X Assist

Considering how strong Caitlyn’s assists are for combo extensions—and the fact that they are projectile-based attacks that keep her in a safer position—2X Assist is a solid Fuse choice for Caitlyn.

In general, you should pick 2X Assist when your other champion also has strong double assists, such as Warwick or Illaoi.

Freestyle

Freestyle is theoretically the strongest Fuse for Caitlyn, but it also has the highest skill floor and requires a significant amount of practice before it outperforms the other Fuse options.

Caitlyn teams gain much more mix-up potential when using Freestyle, and she also has access to extremely high-damage Freestyle combos. If you’re willing to put in the hours, Freestyle offers the highest payoff.

Ahri

One of Caitlyn’s best teammates is Ahri. The first reason is that Caitlyn excels at enabling her teammates through strong ranged attacks, assists, and flexible combo routes in and out of Tag Launcher.

Caitlyn’s biggest weaknesses are speed and mix-ups, both of which Ahri excels at. The second reason this pairing works so well is how their Supers function together. When using Freestyle, you can chain up to three Caitlyn Supers and two Ahri Supers in a single combo.

Their neutral game is oppressive. Ahri’s movement and projectiles, paired with Caitlyn’s projectiles and deployables, overwhelm opponents with constant offensive pressure.

Ekko

This team is often referred to as “Team Slow”—not because they are slow, but because both champions possess lobbed projectiles that put opponents into a floating, stunned state on hit.

Ekko and Caitlyn win by controlling the pace of the match. Neither character wants the opponent directly on top of them. Instead, they aim to take over space with projectiles and fish for openings to suddenly go aggressive. Letting them zone freely is dangerous, but reckless rushing—or waiting too long to engage—can be just as risky.

Similar to Ahri, Ekko fully maximizes Caitlyn’s assist package and helps cover gaps in her neutral and on-block pressure.

Braum

When you want Caitlyn to take more of the spotlight, pairing her with Braum is an excellent choice. His newly buffed Get Behind Me assist provides perfect coverage for Caitlyn to set up traps and snipe safely. Creating space to set up is normally difficult, but Braum makes it much easier.

When Braum is on point, Caitlyn’s assists also synergize extremely well with his kit. Together, they have access to very high-damage combos. On top of that, they benefit from an extremely simple and effective game plan: walking forward with Ice Shield while calling Caitlyn’s assist.

Additionally, Caitlyn is already a very complex champion, so pairing her with a more straightforward character like Braum helps reduce mental stack and execution load.

Anti-Zoning

If Caitlyn is jumping backward and throwing out traps, try to dash in and catch her with an attack before she recovers. Caitlyn can often cover herself with an assist, but when her assist is on cooldown, you should look to play much more aggressively.

Educated Guessing

In many situations, beating Caitlyn comes down to reading your opponent and making educated guesses based on their patterns.

For example, if she has been consistently covering ground approaches with Rifle Shot, try jumping over it and punishing her with a jump-in attack. If she has been covering air approaches with jump Rifle Shot or Skyward Shot, dash straight in to punish instead.

If you correctly guess whether she is covering the ground or the air, you can earn a huge punish. Of course, there are layers to this strategy. A Caitlyn player may attempt to bait your jump-in by waiting and anti-airing. In that scenario, you can counter her counterplay by jumping forward while holding block and calling an assist to interrupt her anti-air attempt.

Break the Deployables

When Caitlyn has a trap or Hexshield on the screen, do your best to break them before she has a chance to utilize them for offense. The best way to do this is by using your own projectile or a projectile-based assist.

You can also safely dash through her trap immediately after it hits the ground, before it has time to fully activate.

Dash and Block

If Caitlyn is zoning you out, the general strategy is to take space away from her in small chunks. Don’t mindlessly sprint at her from full screen.

Instead, use short dashes, then block. Jump while holding block. Walk and block. Dash and block. Vary your approach, but always prioritize safety and smart blocking while advancing. Even the best Caitlyn players can’t retreat forever—once she’s trapped in the corner, you gain a significant advantage.

Roll

If Caitlyn ever tries to get sneaky and roll through you, a throw will beat it. Even if she attempts to cover the roll with an assist, once the throw starts, your character becomes invulnerable. Only a perfectly timed assist can interrupt your throw.