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Rakan & Aphelios vs Caitlyn & Zyra

Bot Lane Matchup

Rakan vs Caitlyn (with Aphelios & Zyra) BOT matchup tips: who wins, how to trade, wave control and common mistakes.

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Who Wins

Pre-6, Caitlyn + Zyra win this lane: Zyra's E root into Caitlyn's E trap combo outdamages and outranges your engage tools, and your W engage is easily punished by Zyra's W plants before you can land it cleanly.
Post-6, you gain a meaningful all-in threat with your R into W, but Zyra's R knockup can interrupt your W mid-flight and Caitlyn's R can finish off a low-health Aphelios, so the 2v2 remains contested rather than clearly in your favor.

Your best pattern is to bait out Zyra's E and W plants with a fake W approach, then immediately re-engage once those abilities are on cooldown — Zyra is nearly helpless without her plant setup.
Coordinate with Aphelios so he fires his current weapon during the brief window after Zyra's combo is spent, as that is the only moment the trade is favorable for your side.

You want to avoid hard shoving the wave because a pushed wave gives Caitlyn free trap placement under your tower and denies Aphelios safe farming space.
Play for a slow-push or even wave freeze near your side to force Caitlyn to walk up and take poke, which is the only scenario where Aphelios can safely auto-trade.

Do not use your W as a pure engage without confirming Zyra's E is on cooldown — a rooted Rakan mid-W animation is a free kill for Caitlyn's E trap follow-up.
Your W is your only reliable engage tool and burning it into a Zyra plant setup will lose you the trade every time.

Created on 07/02/2026

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