[STEAM] 2XKO’s new champion Caitlyn is making zoners cool again

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New “2XKO” champion Caitlyn might be the game’s most dedicated zoner yet.

Released today, January 20, Caitlyn is the 12th playable character to be added to Riot Games’ fighting game following the early access launch of “2XKO” in October 2025. Based on the fan-favorite character from “League of Legends” and “Arcane,” Caitlyn is a sniper, wielding a rifle that can cover almost the entire screen with a charged or uncharged shot using adjustable aiming angles. Ahead of the launch, Riot Games covered GamesBeat’s travel costs to visit Riot’s Los Angeles headquarters and try out the new champion in a hands-on demo event on January 9.

“We don’t want to release a character and have people be like, ‘oh, they’re bottom tier. I’m never going to play this,” said Riot Games game designer Caroline Montano, who led the design of Caitlyn, in an interview with GamesBeat at the January 9 demo event. “We want it to shake up the meta a little bit.”

Caitlyn’s focus on gunplay makes her a zoner — a fighting game character whose playstyle is primarily built around engaging with opponents from a distance and preventing them from getting in and starting combos. Although “2XKO” has other characters that could be considered zoners, like Jinx and Teemo, Caitlyn’s projectiles are able to cut through other characters’ long-range attacks, making her “2XKO’s” premier character dedicated to the strategy.

The core design principle behind Caitlyn’s projectiles is “2XKO’s” number-based durability system, which assigns a specific durability score to each projectile. When projectiles hit each other, each of them subtracts the other’s durability score from its overall score, with projectiles getting destroyed when their score hits zero. Most projectiles in the game, like Ekko’s Timewinders and Jinx’s missiles, have a durability score of 2, but Caitlyn’s charged-up bullets have a durability score of 3.

“Jinx’s Super Assist shoots multiple rockets, and she shoots one bullet through, it’ll break through one of the rockets, but it won’t break through the second rocket,” Montano said.

At the January 9 preview event, “2XKO” lead champion designer Alex Jaffe told GamesBeat that his team focuses on designing champions for all levels of play equally, rather than focusing on any particular level. In spite of this broad approach, Riot’s January 9 preview event for Caitlyn featured a laundry list of top players and talent within the “2XKO” scene, including Void, Leffen, Supernoon, Sajam, Diaphone, Rooflemonger, RedRiotRoss and the Japanese twins 2Winz, all of whom spent hours familiarizing themselves with the new character.

At the moment, high-level players view the “2XKO” metagame as relatively balanced, according to pro player Jo’siah “Hikari” Miller. Miller said that he anticipated that Caitlyn’s traps and neutral control would inevitably make other characters play differently against her.

“I’m excited on seeing more Vi and Warwick, because they are very strong,” he said.

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