Pulsefire Caitlyn

There are Caitlyn skins that look good in the splash and then feel average in game. Pulsefire Caitlyn is not one of those. Loaded it up for the first time back in May 2017 when it released and the auto attack animation alone convinced me this was going to be my default Caitlyn skin for a long time. Five years later I only recently swapped to something else. That’s a long run for any skin.

The Pulsefire tech upgrade on Caitlyn’s kit

The model puts Caitlyn in this futuristic time-cop armor with a high-tech sniper rifle. Blue and white color scheme, holographic displays floating near her, visor down. Pan Chengwei did the splash art showing her aiming down from a rooftop in some kind of future city. Looks sharp.

Headshot passive procs feel different on Pulsefire. There is a distinct tech-pulse effect when the enhanced auto lands and I swear the animation reads slightly quicker than base. Might be placebo. Probably is. But it feels faster and in bot lane that feeling matters when you are trying to trade on Headshot stacks. Piltover Peacemaker on Q fires a concentrated beam of energy instead of a bullet. The width indicator is clear and the particle trail through minion waves is easy to track.

90 Caliber Net on E shoots a tech blast backwards for the dash. Nothing groundbreaking but functional. The recoil animation on E feels snappy though, good for the EQ combo where you net backwards and fire Q through the wave at the same time. Yordle Snap Trap on W places these holographic circles on the ground that I think are actually slightly harder to see than base traps against certain terrain. Not intentionally, just the blue on green blends in bot lane bushes a bit. Could be wrong about that but I have caught people walking into them who should have seen it coming. Placed three traps in the bot lane bush near tower last Thursday and their Leona face-checked into two of them back to back. The holographic snap animation popping twice in a row was comedy.

Ace in the Hole on R is the highlight. Pulsefire Caitlyn’s ult locks on with a futuristic targeting reticle, charges with building tech effects, and fires a concentrated pulse beam. Watching it track an enemy across the map is cinematic every time. Sniped a Janna at their inner tower last week while she was trying to base with 200 HP. The Pulsefire R visual made it look like an orbital strike. (Unrelated but their bot lane tilted after that and we won in 24 minutes.)

Voice lines reworked by Kirsten Potter. Caitlyn sounds more authoritative, more time-enforcement-agency. Less quirky sheriff energy. Fits the Pulsefire theme well.

Release info and chromas

Pulsefire Caitlyn released May 24, 2017 at 1820 RP. Legendary tier. Part of the Pulsefire skinline alongside Pulsefire Ezreal, Shen, Twisted Fate, and others. She has exactly 1 chroma called Chrono, which shifts the color palette to a warm gold tone. Decent looking but the base blue is better in my opinion. Still available in the shop at full price.

How Pulsefire Caitlyn stacks up now

Caitlyn has gotten several strong skins since 2017. Battle Academia Caitlyn is another Legendary that came out in 2021 and its probably the current favorite among Caitlyn mains. The Arcane tie-in skins exist too. So Pulsefire has more competition now than when it launched.

That said, if you like the futuristic tech aesthetic over anime academy vibes, Pulsefire is still the pick. The auto attack animations and Headshot proc feel are what sell this skin and they hold up fine even seven years later. At 1820 RP its standard Legendary pricing. Not the cheapest skin in Caitlyn’s catalog but the full VFX and voice rework justify it. Grinded ranked with this for five straight seasons before switching and part of me still misses the Pulsefire auto attack sound. Solid Legendary that earns its price for Caitlyn mains. The Headshot proc sound alone kept me loyal to this skin for five seasons straight. Worth every RP if you main Caitlyn.