Riot finally updates Caitlyn ten years after League of Legends release

Isaac McIntyre
Caitlyn is secretly getting a League of Legends update soon.

Caitlyn has finally got her long-awaited League of Legends update, mainly focused around her “outdated” in-game graphics, in the build-up to the first Riot Games television series Arcane next month.

It’s been 3,953 days since the Sheriff of Piltover was released.

Since then, Caitlyn has enjoyed a whopping 81 different changes, ranging from damage buffs (and nerfs), her base stats, and her number of Yordle Snap Traps.

In the ADC’s now decade-long League of Legends history, however, it has mainly been her gameplay that has come under Riot’s patch microscope. Caitlyn’s character model, and many of her splash arts too, still look the same as they did more than 10 years ago, when she first debuted on Summoner’s Rift.

That has all changed though, with Riot quietly making changes to the Sheriff’s character model in the League of Legends files, and updating her look in Teamfight Tactics and Runeterra ahead of Arcane’s Netflix release.

The wait is finally over; nearly 4,000 days after her debut, Caitlyn is joining the modern League of Legends roster with a major visual update.

Caitlyn bot-lane
Caitlyn’s decade-old League of Legends artwork, and her LoL in-game model, are being changed.

Riot confirmed the visual update on October 30, which showcased the new splash arts and skin models in a three-minute “Champion Theme” video.

The visual update has several changes to Caitlyn’s character model. The ADC’s iconic wide-brim purple hat is nowhere to be seen in the leaked images, and her fluffy crinoline also looks like it has been scrapped from the design. The character’s dress has also been trimmed slightly.

The last major change is on Caitlyn’s legs; gone are the leather straps she has worn for the past decade. In their place, the Sheriff is now wearing black stockings.

Several of these visual changes also appear in Caitlyn’s new Wild Rift artwork, which is expected to ship in the mobile game’s 2.5 update. This wouldn’t be notable ⁠— the two games often have different imagery ⁠— except it has also been uncovered in a secret “Pandora” folder in the League of Legends backend files.

Caitlyn’s model update has shipped in some capacity for Teamfight Tactics, and was unofficially shown off during the Set 6 reveal late last month.

The Sheriff of Piltover's new in-game look is already live in Wild Rift games.
The Sheriff of Piltover’s new in-game look is already live in Wild Rift games.

New Caitlyn skins & splash arts

On top of Caitlyn’s base skin updates and graphical changes, the iconic League marksman will also be getting modern makeovers for her most of her 10 release skins, as well as a new “Arcane” cosmetic to add to the ever-growing bundle.

Here’s how all the new Caitlyn skins look after the 11.22 update.

Caitlyn

Resistance Caitlyn

Resistance Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Sheriff Caitlyn

Sheriff Caitlyn League of Legends skin.

Safari Caitlyn

Safari Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Arctic Warfare Caitlyn

Arctic Warfare Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Officer Caitlyn

Officer Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Headhunter Caitlyn

Headhunter Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Pool Party Caitlyn

Pool Party Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Lunar Wraith Caitlyn

Lunar Wraith Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Arcade Caitlyn

Arcade Caitlyn League of Legends skin

Arcane Caitlyn

Arcane Caitlyn

Caitlyn voice lines updated

The Sheriff of Piltover has had her voice lines changed alongside her skins & splash arts, including several new “Arcane” references.

Caitlyn update’s LoL release date

The new Caitlyn update, including her skins, splash art changes, and new in-game model, will be released in League of Legends on November 17.

LoL players can get their hands on it right now, however, if they want to play on the Patch 11.23 PBE server ahead of its official Riot Games release. All skins and updated graphics are already loaded onto the staging realm.

The real Caitlyn update release will come just days after Arcane’s second batch of episodes are released on Netflix, which will be on Saturday, Nov. 13.

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About The Author

Isaac was formerly the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. Isaac began his writing career as a sports journalist at Fairfax Media, before falling in love with all things esports and gaming. Since then he's covered Oceanic and global League of Legends for Upcomer, Hotspawn, and Snowball Esports.