The inclusion of guns as a build option opens up a lot of different builds that I can put together and while it is gunslinger or fighter that makes best use of the frequent fatal traits on firearms, I like trying to explore different avenues to make use of them now and then. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in an attempt to fit the character. These choices might not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Let's get into the build for Caitlyn, the Sheriff of Piltover from League of Legends!
CAITLYN, THE SHERIFF OF PILTOVER
CHARACTER Caitlyn Kiramman
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o A long-ranged marksman from League of Legends, Caitlyn wields a rifle that she uses to take steady and powerful shots with
o Her passive, Headshot, causes her attacks to periodically deal more damage, either after taking a certain number of shots or when she has her foes disadvantaged
o Piltover Peacemaker causes Caitlyn to fire a shot that pierces through several enemies, damaging all that it passes through
o Caitlyn can set a trap at a target location with Yordle Snap Trap, which snares enemies that move across it and leave them in place for a Headshot
o 90 Caliber Net launches a heavy net from Caitlyn’s rifle that knocks her backwards and slows the first enemy hit by it
o Caitlyn’s ultimate is Ace in the Hole, which locks onto an enemy and fires a homing bullet can only be stopped by somebody else taking the bullet for their companion
o As a card in Legends of Runeterra, Caitlyn is much more trap focused, planting Flashbomb Traps in the enemy deck and eventually dealing extra damage based on the number of them that activated
o Caitlyn hails from the aristocracy of Piltover but has always longed to serve as an officer of the law who delivers justice to her people and beyond
o She eventually rose to the position of sheriff where she works closely alongside the brawler, Vi
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Skilled Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition – Gravity Weapon
o Skill Increase: Crafting (trained)
Background: Detective
o Ability Boosts: +Wisdom, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Society (trained), Underworld Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Streetwise
Class & Subclass: Precision Ranger
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Nature (trained), Occultism (trained), Stealth (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Monster Hunter
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 14, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10)
As a character, Caitlyn relies on precision and positioning, and is more of an analytical type of character, as demonstrated in the show Arcane. The skilled heritage helps to represent this, giving her the Crafting skill to allow her to build her Yordle Snap Traps. The detective background is more indicative of her current position as Piltover’s sheriff. For Caitlyn’s actual class, there was heavy consideration for gunslinger, looking towards way of the sniper to get the feel of extra damage for her Headshot passive and gunslinger also offer a greater crit chance, which is a common build path for her. However, Cait doesn’t have a heavy focus on Stealth outside of reducing the number of shots it takes to activate Headshot again. Instead, the ranger class helps her focus on being a long-range combatant who lines up careful but impactful shots with the precision hunter’s edge. This bonus to damage serves the function of her Headshot passive though it triggers on earlier hits rather than building up to a more powerful strike. Her Gravity Weapon feat and its related focus spell further help her achieve this heavy damage and Monster Hunter serves to reference her more analytical capabilities.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Hunter’s Aim
o Skill Feat: Snare Crafting
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Thorough Search
o Skill Increase: Society (expert)
o Gear: +1 arquebus, everburning torch, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Far Shot
o Skill Feat: Courtly Graces
o Gear: magnifying scope, +1 arquebus, wayfinder, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 12)
o Ancestry Feat: Courteous Comeback
o Skill Increase: Crafting (expert), Diplomacy (trained), Survival (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking arquebus, magnifying scope, crafter’s eyepiece, wayfinder, everburning torch, ring of discretion
Cait makes use of the Hunter’s Aim feat to recoup that lower accuracy of the ranger, solely in comparison to the gunslinger or fighter, and if she has a good set-up, allows her an easy action economy of Interact to reload and then Hunter’s Aim to Strike. To represent that Caitlyn has the longest base attack range in the game, she picks up Far Shot to double the range of her weapons. She picks up Snare Crafting, looking at options such as a hampering snare, marking snare, battering snare, and spike snare, to represent her Yordle Snap Trap. As a daughter of the prestigious Kiramman family, Caitlyn has picked up Courtly Graces and is careful enough in high society to make use of Courteous Comebacks should she misstep. Thorough Search is meant to represent her ability as a detective who can investigate a scene without missing details.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Running Reload
o Skill Feat: Connections
o Gear: +1 leather armor, +1 striking arquebus, belt of good health, magnifying scope, necklace of knives, wayfinder
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Expeditious Search
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
o Gear: choker of elocution (Undercommon), +1 leather armor, cunning weapon rune, +1 striking arquebus, magnifying scope, crafter’s eyepiece
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Snare Specialist
o Skill Feat: Biographical Eye
o Gear: winder’s ring, choker of elocution (Undercommon), stoney hag eye, +1 leather armor, +1 striking arquebus, wayfinder of rescue
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Multitalented – Investigator Dedication
o Skill Increase: Crafting (master), Medicine (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Gear: +1 resilient leather armor, boots of bounding, winder’s ring, choker of elocution (Undercommon), cunning weapon rune, +1 striking arquebus
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 20, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 14)
o Class Feat: Powerful Snares
o Skill Feat: Cognitive Crossover (Arcana & Society)
o Gear: greater magnifying scope, +1 resilient leather armor, shock weapon rune, winder’s ring, choker of elocution (Undercommon), +1 striking arquebus
The hardest of Caitlyn’s abilities to capture was her 90 Caliber Net, but the attempt comes from Running Reload, giving Caitlyn a chance to reposition while readying herself for a more powerful attack. Caitlyn focuses more on snares with Snare Specialist and keeps even lower leveled ones useful with Powerful Snares. From new snares that she gains from the feat and her Crafting proficiency, good options for her include grasping snare, nauseating snare, mirror-ball snare, wet shock snare, and other debilitating snares. With her Multitalented ancestry feat, Caitlyn picks up the Investigator Dedication mostly for story purposes. When on a case, Cait might need to search an area and move on quickly, making use of the Expeditious Search feat. Biographical Eye is a perfect fit for a detective/investigator-type character while Cognitive Crossover allows her to use her higher Society skill after failing a check with a different knowledge related skill. In this situation, Arcana serves as a reference and should be replaced with an appropriate skill.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Survival (master)
o Gear: +2 striking arquebus, greater magnifying scope, eyes of the eagle, +1 resilient leather armor, boots of bounding, winder’s ring
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Penetrating Shot
o Skill Feat: Experienced Tracker
o Gear: +2 resilient leather armor, +2 striking arquebus, greater choker of elocution (Undercommon+2), greater magnifying scope, Cordelia’s construct key, shock weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Bounce Back
o Skill Increase: Medicine (expert)
o Gear: +2 greater striking arquebus, +2 resilient leather armor, greater goggles of night, greater choker of elocution (Undercommon), greater magnifying scope, eyes of the eagle
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Quick Snares//Hamstringing Strike
o Skill Feat: Forensic Acumen
o Gear: eye of fortune, +2 greater striking arquebus, greater lucky draw bandolier, +2 resilient leather armor, greater choker of elocution (Undercommon+2), impactful weapon rune
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 21, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 19, Cha 16)
o General Feat: Prescient Planner
o Skill Increase: Society (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather armor, boots of speed, greater ring of the ram, +2 greater striking arquebus, greater goggles of night, greater hauling weapon rune
Penetrating Shot fills in the role of Caitlyn’s Piltover Peacemaker while Quick Snares simply lets Caitlyn build her snares quicker. However, the Kingmaker adventure path adds the Hamstringing Strike feat to the ranger class, which allows her to take a penalty on her attack to reduce the speed of an enemy. This fits in nicely with her 90 Caliber Net ability. Bounce Back mostly represents the respawn capability of characters in MOBAs whereas Prescient Planner works to fill in her role as an investigator who uses careful planning to get ahead of her foes. Forensic Acumen is another skill feat fit for a detective even if Medicine isn’t something Caitlyn focuses too much on Medicine in-game.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Investigator’s Stratagem
o Skill Feat: Legendary Codebreaker
o Gear: greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, greater boots of bounding, eye of fortune, +2 greater striking arquebus, greater lucky draw bandolier
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Stubborn Persistence
o Skill Increase: Medicine (master)
o Gear: +3 greater striking arquebus, greater shock weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather armor, boots of speed, eye of fortune
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Perfect Shot
o Skill Feat: Quick Contacts
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking arquebus, speed weapon rune, greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: True Perception
o Skill Increase: Survival (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather armor, anklets of alacrity, major magnifying scope, +3 greater striking arquebus, greater shock weapon rune, dragonscale amulet
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 22, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Legendary Shot
o Skill Feat: Eye for Numbers
o Gear: +3 major striking arquebus, +3 greater resilient leather armor, major goggles of night, anklets of alacrity, greater talisman cord, speed weapon rune
Fitting her precision, Caitlyn can pick up Investigator’s Stratagem so that she knows how her shot is going to go against a target before she makes it. Alternatively, Caitlyn can line up a Perfect Shot for three actions to ensure that her attack deals its max damage as long as she hits. This helps fill in for her Ace in the Hole ability with its long range covered by Legendary Shot, allowing her to make attacks without penalty from five range increments away. Many of these final skill feats are simply to fill in some blanks while still leaning into her role as a master investigator or advancing feats she invested in earlier. Stubborn Persistence is a good fit for her character arc in Arcane with how she dedicates herself to the case that she discovers.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Thematically, the Investigator Dedication is a fantastic fit for Caitlyn but there isn’t much that she actually wants from its class feats. Anything can be made to work for her, so instead of picking up that multiclass early, you should consider the Sniping Duo Dedication. This enhances her damage a bit further and also fits very well, character wise, considering her partnership with Vi. It might step on a few toes of some of her ranger feats, but options such as Assisting Shot, Exploit Opening, Tag Team, Redirecting Shot, and Concentrated Assault are all fantastic options that are not directly reflective of her abilities but work well thematically and functionally. Going this route does free up at least one of Caitlyn’s class feats, which is a good opportunity to take whichever feat you didn’t take at 14th level. Otherwise, Targeting Shot is a nice way to get around cover and concealment or Deadly Aim could add some damage at the expense of accuracy.
BUILD CONCLUSION
As a marksman with long-ranged capabilities and an investigator, Caitlyn is well-represented as a ranger who makes use of an arquebus, focusing on skills such as Society and Survival so that she can competently identify and investigate lawbreakers. The bonus damage from a precision edge ranger gives her the boost of damage on her Strikes to mimic the effects of her Headshot passive. The piercing ability of her Piltover Peacemaker is achieved through her Penetrating Shot even if it only punches through two targets. A walk down the snare based feat line of the ranger gives Caitlyn her Yordle Snap Traps. 90 Caliber Net is a little more difficult to accomplish, being an ability that slows an enemy and pushes Cait back. The new Hamstringing Strike feat from Kingmaker provides a means of slowing a target while Running Reload allows her to get out of the fray while preparing for her next attack. Another feat that would have a similar effect is Skirmish Strike, which grants her a Step to avoid AoOs as well as a Strike. The guaranteed Headshot damage against snared or netted foes is even somewhat represented by the Nature’s Edge class feature making foes in difficult terrain from nature or snares flat-footed to her, thereby increasing her chance for a crit. Finally, for Cait’s ult, she turns to Perfect Shot, a two-action Strike that is guaranteed maximum damage on a hit. Far Shot and Legendary Shot help her reach the high range of this ability as well as her high base range. The aforementioned snare feats also serve to capture the feel of her Legends of Runeterra card, with the wet shock snare in particular giving her an electrical, damaging trap to fill in for the Flashbomb Traps. As the sheriff of Piltover, Caitlyn makes use of the detective background as well as the Investigator Dedication, and reflects her affluent heritage through feats such as Courtly Graces and Connections.
Feel free to lemme know what you think and if there's any other particular builds you'd like to see - I've been updating my list and I'm currently lined up until February, but I still appreciate knowing what folks want to see.
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. Next week, I'll have a build featuring my first use of the skeleton ancestry.
Have a fantastic Friday!
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