As one of the oldest ADC champions in League of Legends, Sivir has been through all meta changes in the bot lane. She’s also thrived in particular metas, such as the crit build from a couple of years ago.
Sivir is still played today, though not with the same playstyle and she certainly doesn’t have the same popularity. So the question now is: is Sivir any good in LoL?
Sivir is a good beginner-friendly marksman in League of Legends. She doesn’t have complicated mechanics and she’s easy to play. Sivir has great damage overall, good range on her Q, and an amazing defensive option thanks to her E.
She can also help out her teammates with her ultimate.
In the modern League of Legends, Sivir doesn’t fit perfectly. And although you can carry games with her, Sivir has a few obvious weaknesses that you need to know.
So, here are the 5 truths about playing Sivir in season 12 of LoL, the good and the bad.
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5 Truths About Playing Sivir – How Good is Sivir in LoL?
1. Sivir has the best wave clear of all marksman champions in League of Legends.
It’s true – Sivir is the strongest ADC pusher in the game. Don’t get me wrong, since marksmen build AD, all of them are good at quickly clearing waves. However, Sivir excels at dealing massive amounts of AoE damage in a short period of time.
When Sivir activates her W – Ricochet, she spreads her next three auto-attacks through all nearby enemies. Her Q – Boomerang Blade slashes through all targets, dealing damage in both directions. Combined, these two abilities melt down minion waves in 1 to 2 seconds.
But why is Sivir’s wave clear speed so important?
For a champion that’s as old as Sivir, wave clear speed is crucial for controlling the pace of the game. Unlike Samira, Sivir can’t duel most of the champions in the game. However, she can quickly push waves and pressure her lane. This forces her opponents to play defensively under their turrets or drag the enemy jungler down to bot lane.
In return, this opens up the map for Sivir’s teammates. Her jungler can spend more time in mid and top lane and he can secure objectives such as the Dragons and the Rift Herald.
So, always take advantage of Sivir’s wave-pushing power!
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2. Sivir gets hard-countered by many champions in the game.
As League of Legends grew with more and more champions, the list of Sivir counters got big too. Nowadays, it’s pretty tough to lane as Sivir, unless you’re going against someone like Varus or Ezreal. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay twice as much attention to the matchup.
The problem is this – many champions have more offensive abilities than Sivir and can easily avoid her E. For example, Sivir’s Spell Shield is pretty useless against ADCs like Twitch, Samira, and Draven. And it’s pretty bad for defending yourself against assassins such as Qiyana or Zed. They have way more damage than you and don’t mind wasting one spell.
Generally, any champion that can avoid Sivir’s E is her counter. Sivir’s Spell Shield is her only defensive option. She doesn’t have a dash to escape and her ultimate is only movement speed buff. Because of this, Sivir is often neglected in the bot lane. And players don’t usually pick her unless it’s a premade duo.
Does this mean that you shouldn’t play Sivir yourself? Absolutely not! However, you’ll have to learn the matchups, how you should position in team fights, and what to build in each scenario. Because it’s way easier to win a game with Samira than with Sivir.
Here are the top 5 Sivir counters in LoL that you need to prepare for:
- Kog’Maw
- Twitch
- Jhin
- Samira
- Lucian
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3. Sivir deals tons of damage and can one-shot her opponents.
When season 11 started, the Koreans developed a surprisingly good build for Sivir – Lethality Sivir. It’s an entire build full of lethality items that turn Sivir from a basic marksman to a one-shotting machine!
If you aren’t familiar with this, Lethality Sivir is just a playstyle where you build full lethality and focus on dealing damage with your Q. Thanks to ability haste, Sivir’s Q gets to 2-3 seconds cooldown, so you can spam it all the time. One Boomerang Blade takes at least 40-50% HP from your target in the late game, so it’s a pretty good way of carrying games.
If you want to see how I carry with Lethality Sivir, watch this YouTube video.
Many high elo Sivir mains agree that the lethality playstyle is the only one that works for Sivir in season 12. There are a couple of good arguments for this and I personally like the lethality playstyle a lot more on Sivir. It has a few advantages, such as more damage overall, better wave clear, and more safety.
Instead of auto-attacking and lingering in danger, you can safely throw your Q from afar. Things like Dark Harvest, Duskblade of Draktharr, and The Collector will help you secure kills and give you a lot of gold. Overall, Lethality Sivir is much better at carrying games.
Now, it’s not impossible to play the regular ADC build on Sivir. However, you can definitely notice how much harder it is to basic attack champions like Zed, Talon, and Irelia than simply poking them from afar.
Here you can see the comparison between ADC Sivir vs. Lethality Sivir.
4. Sivir has an old champion design with no complexity.
Since Sivir is one of the first champions in League of Legends, her ability kit is pretty simple. One long-range damaging ability, one auto-attack booster, one defensive spell, and one situational spell.
Nearly all LoL players know what Sivir has and how to play against her. They know that once she spends her E, it’s time for them to attack. This is more apparent the higher you go in the ranked solo queue, but it’s present in low elo too.
In other words, you can’t surprise your enemies by playing Sivir. In each game, both your opponents and the rest of the enemy team will try to exploit Sivir’s weaknesses. They’ll do things like baiting your E, dodging your Q, and moving away from minions when you have your W activated.
Because of this, you’ll need to be careful about how you spend your cooldowns. Each Spell Shield should be timed correctly and each Boomerang Blade should be aimed well.
Hitting your abilities right is what’s going to separate you from the rest of the Sivir players and help you climb higher in solo queue!
Read Also: Lethality Sivir Build Guide
5. Sivir is a great ADC champion to learn the game with.
Even though Sivir has obvious weaknesses, her strengths are enough for carrying games. In fact, she is my most recommended ADC champion to new players, simply because of how beginner-friendly her ability kit is.
By playing Sivir in the bot lane, you’ll learn all the ADC basics – positioning, lane mechanics, and a lot of key matchups. Since you’ll get game knowledge that isn’t tied to one champion, you’ll easily transfer it to all other ADC champions in the game.
One of the best things about playing Sivir is the fact that you don’t have to think about it. Once you spend a bit of time with this champion, you’ll know when to use each of her abilities. Then, you’ll be able to focus on the macro game (roaming, Dragons, Baron) and not on how your champion is supposed to be played.
Believe me, this has a lot of influence on your game’s outcome. Rather than thinking about execution, with Sivir, you can execute right away while thinking about other parts of the game. This is one advantage that mastery gives you, which is easier to get on Sivir than on many other champions.
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Is Sivir Good in the Early Game?
Sivir is never a weak champion. If you play close to her strengths, you’ll be surprised at how good she actually is. This is true for the early game and the late game too.
Sivir is not the best early game marksman in LoL, but she isn’t bad either. She can keep up in most matchups, but she’s much better later on. Sivir needs a couple of levels and items before she starts dealing a lot of damage. In any case, Sivir is a safe champion that likes to farm in the early game.
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Is Sivir Good in the Late Game?
Sivir is one of the best ADCs in the late game. Depending on your build, you can one-shot enemies either with your critical basic attacks or your abilities. Sivir can engage late game team fights with her R and win them with her amazing AoE damage. Her E also counters many late game champions.
Overall, Sivir is a pretty good champion to play in LoL. She has a couple of strengths that really distinguish her, so I recommend you try her out!
