Shaco Build Guide by danishfate

Introduction

I've been playing Shaco for quite a while, and I think he is hilarious. I would definitely reccomend playing him! Shaco is a very easy-to-play jungler and there certainly is a huge amount of ways to play him, from AD to AP and from counter jungler to a "normal jungler".

This guide is for Summoner's Rift only. I would not recommend playing Shaco in Dominion, though I have not tried it myself.

I decided to make this guide, because I figured out -this- way to jungle with Shaco, and I thought it worked REALLY well, and I'd share it with everyone.

This guide will focus on AD Shaco jungling, which is incredibly easy in my opinion. I will NOT include AP Shaco, because I think he's worthless after the nerf of his box, and I do not recommend playing him as AP. Playing him as AP can be fun, and it is hilarious to "troll" people with your box-traps.

Runes and Optional Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Attack Damage 9	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Scaling Attack Damage 3

Greater Mark of Attack Damage

Greater Seal of Armor

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist

Greater Quintessence of Scaling Attack Damage

these quintessences will boost your attack damage in later levels. I find this useful, because once you have your Sheen it'll be mid/late game, and the passive will work more effectively.

Greater Mark of Desolation - these runes beat the flat attack damage marks in length. Armor Penetration is more useful late game, when most champions will have armor, even squishy ones. I like the flat AD marks mostly because they boost my early game which is the part Shaco excel in.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction - I've seen a couple of Shaco players using CDR, (Cooldown Reduction) but I don't really think it's needed as Shaco. It's good, but I'd prefer the magic reistance/level.

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed - the attack speed is good, especially combined with your Two-Shiv Poison (which also blinds). Additionally this will speed up your jungling.

Greater Mark of Attack Speed - (same as above)

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage - this rune is pretty much the same as the one recommended. This one is flat attack damage instead of per level. It will help you early game, but it's potency will die out late game whereas the Greater Quintessence of Scaling Attack Damage doesn't.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation - this quintessence with armor pen works really good. Overall, I don't recommend going for pure armor pen, because you'll have an incredibly low attack damage which is not good. You have to play ~ 70% attack damage and 30% armor pen.

Masteries and Optional Masteries

Masteries
1/1	3/4	4/4	4/3	1/1	3/2	1/2	3/3	3/1	1/4	3/3	3/4

I play 24/6/0 which is a very agressive Shaco, many players tend to play 21/0/9 for jungling,fetching the Runic Affinity from the support masteries. I don't think that it is needed as much, because when you get Phage, the red buff will be less useful, and you'll be giving your blues to the mid champion anyway. I'm not saying Runic Affinity is bad for jungling, because I use it myself for other jungling champions, but I do not have it as Shaco.

Masteries

1/1

3/4

4/4

4/3

1/1

1/2

3/3

3/1

1/4

3/3

1/1

4/1

1/1

These are probably the most used talents for jungling. In these, we leave out Havoc and the extra flat armor and magic resistance, but gain movement speed and the Runic Affinity .

Items

Boots of Mobility. What excessive ganker does not want that item? It has great benefits in early game, and it makes ganking that tad much faster it may need to seal the deal. I've now and then replaced them with the Berserker's Greaves or the Mercury Treads - depending on the team I was against - and it has proven useful. In late game, I think boots of mobility will have less power, due to the normal late game gameplay, which is all about winning team fights and pushing.

Wriggle's Lantern practically every jungler needs this item, it has great benefits early game and the passive really boosts your jungling speed, and a free ward every third minute? Yes, please!

Trinity Force is an awesome item for Shaco, because of the Sheen effect it has. Combine Trinity Force with your Deceive, or, 'Q' (I'll call it 'Q' throughout the guide) and an Infinity Edge, you'll have yourself an 500+ crit as of mid game.

Youmuu's Ghostblade can be discussed, but I think the 'use' it has is incredible, the extra movement speed can help you escape AND chase champions cowering in fear. The armor penetration is, of course, also useful.

Phantom Dancer will make up for the less movement speed you'll have late game if you decide to replace your Boots of Mobility.

Infinity Edge - pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it?

The Bloodthirster is an improvement for your Wriggle's Lantern, and I recommend getting it, but you should fetch it as your last item.

Optional/Situational Items

Hexdrinker is an option if you're having trouble against massive AP damage. The passive is useful and the damage doesn't hurt!

Thornmail it is very expensive, but it will make up for that in survivability. Fetch this one - or just armor mainly - if you're having trouble against massive AD opponents.

Last Whisper along with your Youmuu's Ghostblade will give you a nice armor penetration against those pesky armor stacking champions such as Rammus, Malphite or any other armor stacking champion.

Zeke's Herald I've seen a couple of Shaco's with this item, and after it got changed and re-named, I think it could prove useful, though as Shaco you won't really be participating THAT much in team fights, but it's really more up to you. I like to play Shaco as a lone-wolf kind of guy, but if you feel like playing more in the team, then this item would be awesome.

Frozen Mallet can be good if you're against champions with great mobility and have an easy way to escape everything. The extra slow can prevent them from having that last movement speed which will save their lives, however, I do not recommend getting it, since your passive Two-Shiv Poison and Trinity Force really seems to do the job. The extra health from the Mallet might prove useful, but I do not recommend getting it unless you feel it's a need.



Generally for Shaco items, you should aim for as much AD as possible. Armor Pen doesn't hurt neither. Attack Speed is also OK, but it's not your main aim. You will have enough crit from Youmuu's, Infinity Edge and eventually Phantom Dancer

Summoner Spells

is needed. I've seen alot of junglers going: "Oh well, I can easily handle the jungle without smite! Flash will make a great replacement!" No. Just... No. Smite is NEEDED. Smite can be used to steal Baron... Dragon... Red buff... Blue buff. Imagine the enemy team putting all their effort into killing Baron. Then suddenly, poof - a wild Shaco appears using 'Q' and stealing baron with smite! Your team will love you.

is what I prefer to use for Shaco. The damage over time it does is great to save you from tower diving in a low level to get that first blood. The reduced healing will also prove useful against champions with a heal or the summoner spell.

is definitely a no-go for Shaco, as you will have your Deceive

Pros / Cons

PROS

CONS

Jungling / Ganking

I haven't seen any other Shaco jungling like I do, but I'm not denying I'm the only one doing this, and I'm not trying to seem cool...

I like to start at red, put your first box at 1:00. Don't bother putting your box at 0:55, even though the red will spawn at 1:55 and the box lasts 60 seconds and 5 seconds after being acticated, though, that does not stack with the original 60 seconds. If you put it at 0:55, it will obviously last for 0 seconds when activated, so it is not worth it, and it will simply give you a long cooldown before you can put your next box, thus slowing your jungling.
So, put the first box at 1:00, keep putting them and you should have put your last box around 1:50ish. You'll have 4 at this point, and they'll take down red themselves - just auto attack it. There is no need to smite it, unless you see the enemy jungler counter jungling, or mainly just the enemy team trying to mess up your jungling.

Once red is dead, you'll have the buff (yes, you really will) and you can auto attack the small minions. With my masteries and runes they'll die in about 3-4 hits. Once you level up, pick your 'Q', and depending on whether you're the blue team or the purple team, if you're the blue team, you can gank the mid lane and the bot lane at this point, and as for the purple team, you can gank top and bot - both solo lanes.

I like starting out with ganking middle in level 2, because that'll give your mid champion a HUGE advantage, if the gank is sucessful, that is. Keep in mind, when you're level 2, everyone else will be level 1, giving you the advantage for a quick gank.

Ganking with shaco is easy. Very, very simple. You obviously use your 'Q' to initiate, you should try NOT to be standing in brush when using your 'Q', because your target might see the red smoke appearing, the closer you are to him. You shouldn't use your 'E' Two-Shiv Poison unless your target is out of range. Having your 'E' OFF-cooldown, will make your auto attacks slow indefinitely. Activating your 'E' will slow an enemy, though at range, but it will disable the passive slow on your auto attacks. You should try to get as close to your target as possible before hitting him. Save ignite for when he is low enough - don't waste it.

If the gank failed and their mid laner sees you run away, you can fake it, turn around use 'Q' and have another try at ganking - that is, if the mid laner does not suspect this, beacause if he does, then he will be playing defensively.

Please note, you should always notify the lane you're ganking just as the game begins. An example would be: The game starts, you tell your mid laner NOT to push because you're going to gank at level 2. Having heard that, he's going to be ecstatic and giving you a lovely "ok" - perhaps even a smiley if you're that charming.

After the gank, whether it was succesful or failed, I head to blue, put a box, wait for the box to attack so the monsters will attack the box instead of you, and just chill there. Auto attack it and smite it when it's low enough. You might have to use your health potions here. You shouldn't go back and heal before you're pretty much out of mana and barely having any health left.

Once you've gone back, you really just have to clear what is available in the jungle. As Shaco, you won't really be spending any time in the jungle, unless there is NO WHERE to gank.
Shaco will mostly gain experience from kills and assists because of his (hopefully) excessive ganking.

Ranked Play

Shaco is usually banned in ranked games, because if a good Shaco player gets Shaco in a ranked game, then the game will be over very quickly. Everyone hates Shaco. :(

If you have the chance of acquiring Shaco in a ranked game though, you should definitely go for him. If you're afraid the other team will pick him before you do, then you can always get some of the first pickers on your team to pick him for you.

Match History/Videos

Anything blacked out = non-Shaco games








I realise there is a couple of verbal mistakes in the video, it was very late and I was incredibly tired. One comes to mind and that's when I do my gank at middle and I'm saying I use my "E" ( Two-Shiv Poison) which I obviously can't since I don't have it yet. Very sorry for that.

Summary