League Of Legends' Caitlyn Has Nerfs To Traps Being Tested

With her crazy long range combined with a backward dash and the ability to trap multiple enemies [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Caitlyn
(Photo: Riot Games)

With her crazy long range combined with a backward dash and the ability to trap multiple enemies through the use of her Yordle Snap Trap ability, Caitlyn is one ADC that can result in some serious frustration for opponents who can't close the gap. Her traps are one of the most impactful parts of her kit that make her such a threat at range, and after players have isolated the traps as one of the most infuriating parts of her abilities for some time now, Caitlyn finally has some nerfs being explored for her W.

In their current state, a Caitlyn player can have multiple traps down at one time, each one of them able to root an enemy for 1.5 seconds at all ranks, but that duration is the area that's getting nerfed at the moment on the PBE. For context on just how long this is for a level 1 ability, the snare from Morgana's Dark Binding that's often joked about due to its duration lasts 2 seconds at level one. While Caitlyn's doesn't have quite as long of a snare length, it allows her to put out some serious damage from a safe distance while the enemy is snared and can zone off multiple areas at once, creating a maze of hazards that the enemy ADC and support have to work around.

The changes currently being tested will reduce the snare duration to one that starts out much lower and scales up as Caitlyn invests points into it. Staring at a 0.9 second snare time, the duration increases as seen below:

Yordle Snap Trap

  • Trap root time lowered from 1.5 seconds at all ranks to .9/1.05/1.2/1.35/1.5 seconds.

If the changes go through, enemy supports will have a bit more wiggle room to disarm the traps by stepping on them when they're fairly sure Caitlyn can't retaliate. With the current duration, stepping on one just to disarm it, even if it's farther back means that Caitlyn has a solid chance of headshotting you before you can leave. But with the reduced duration, players have the chance to get in and out quicker during the early levels where the traps can pose such problems.

Though these changes seem justified and have certainly been asked for plenty of times, it's unclear whether or not they'll be reverting her previous attack speed nerfs after these changes go through. There's still plenty of time left in the PBE cycle, so more changes could be made before the next patch.

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