TSP = Two Shiv Poison
JitB = Jack in the Box


First off, I know Shaco has great jungling potential, but this guide will be focused on his laning possibilities. Please don't rate before you've tried this guide out.

This is my first guide on anything and I hope you can help me improve it, so leave helpfull comments behind, suggestions, questions as you wish.
So now, have fun with this Guide and Shaco!

Pros:
-Great Ability synergy.
-With Ulti and Deceive ready they will have a hard time catchin' up to you / running from you.
-Very good at ganking.
-Nice 1v1.
-Confuses enemies.
-Scouting with Boxes.
-Tanks and high armor are no problem for him.
-Pretty okay burst.
-Good at destroying Towers fast.

Cons:
-Very Squishy at start.
-Hard to Master
-Very Item dependant.
-Get's focused first often.
-"Wtf?! laning Shaco, cu!" "You are a noob Shaco belongs in the jungle, ****er!"
you get the point!

9x Greater Seal of Clarity
It will give you just the mana regeneration you need to stay in lane for long enough if you use your spells carefully while harrasing the enemy.

I clearly take Clarity over Replenishment Seals because you have the same amount already at LvL 6:

Replenishment: 3,69 MP5
Clarity LvL 6: 3,51 MP5
Clarity LvL 18: 10,53 MP5


9x Greater Glyph of Celerity / Focus
You will need the cooldown reduction to fight and escape desperately.
Greater Glyphs of Focus are a nice alternative aswell, even tho I really prefer the Celeritys for more cooldown reduction at later levels where you will really need lower cd's for the constant fighting.

Focus: 5,58%
Celerity LvL 13: 5,58%
Celerity LvL 18: 8,1%

Just take whatever you prefer yourself.


9x Greater Mark of Desolation and 3x Greater Quintessence of Desolation
This plus your Masteries will give a an awesome 31 armor penetration from start, which will help you deal a lot of damage fast.


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Alternative:

If you like to, you can swap the Greater Seals of Clarity for either:


9x Greater Seal of Alacrity

For 6,84% attack speed.


or


9x Greater Seal of Evasion

For 6,75% Evasion, but if you go for this I highly recommend you to change the following Masteries into 21/9/0.

Offense stays the same.

Defense:

2/3 Resistance
2/3 Hardiness

4/4 Evasion

1/1 Nimbleness

This will give you a total of 8,75% evasion which is great, considering the Proc of Nimbleness if you evade, but remember your health and mana regeneration will be quite lower with this.

Offense:
3/3 Archmages Savvy
This + Burning Embers will give you some extra AP which isn't bad at all.
1/1 Cripple
Great for putting more damage out.
4/4 Sorcery
Combined with your Glyphs this will give you a cooldown reduction of either 8,58% or 11,1%.
4/4 Alacrity
Works well with your most important Item: Madred's Bloodrazor.
1/1 Archaic Knowledge
Speaks for itself.
1/1 Burning Embers
As mentioned above.
3/3 Sunder
Deadly, combined with your Marks / Quintessences.
3/3 Brute Force
Who doesn't love some extra damage?
1/1 Havoc
Best thing ever.


Defense:

3/3 Resistance
3/3 Hardiness
As already mentioned Shaco is squishy as f***. This will help you out a little.


Utility:
3/3 Perseverence
Combined with your Greater Seals of Clarity this will keep you in lane long enough.

For start you should go for
2x1x
Keep in lane long enough (ofc gank mid if possible) and try to get Money for Madred's Razor, and if you can, even complete your Berserker's Greaves.

With this build you can get Lizard or Golem every now and then easy from yours if you have no jungler, or the enemies side.

1.2.
After that first get Pickaxe and then the Recurve Bow, as you will be more in need of damage than attack speed at this state.
Until you are able to finish your beloved Bloodrazor buy some Health and Mana Potions every now and then to keep your laning and ganking up.


Once the Bloodrazor is complete you will have your most important Item for Shaco. The best thing about it is that your Illusion from Hallucinate will deal the 4% hp per hit aswell.
So with this and your 31 armor pen. you should have no problem in taking out anyone you find lurking around solo. If your Exhaust and Ignite are up your chances are even better to kill any enemy in seconds.
At this state you already are a very deadly surprise for your enemies, but you still lack defense. So the next item to get will be Banshee's Veil.


1.2.
You should get Catalyst the Protector first and then Negatron Cloak as the passive of Catalyst can be pretty nice till you complete your Banshee's Veil.


With the bonus to Resistance, Health, Mana and the Spell block every 45 seconds, this will help you survive a lot. Especially against them nasty mages.


1.2.
While all this is great already you will still need more than that to survive all the attention you will be gettin' as Shaco. Next up is Frozen Mallet.
It's great to get even tankier and deal more damage at the same time. Also it will give you one guaranteed deadly slow combined with your Deceive.


This is the core build I'm using most of the times. What comes next is up to the enemy team you fight. Get more defensive items or damage items, depending on what you need most.

Great Options are:

Vs. Melee heavy teams:


Vs. Caster heavy teams:


Overall good:


More damage output if everything is going well:

The Skill Sequence is mentioned above already. Im explaining a few things here:


First point goes into deceive.
Often the enemy team will underestimate you cause of your squishyness. Wait for an opening and if it's save, attack, but keep your deceive cause they might get scared and flash away low hp leaving you behind with nothing to catch up to them.
Deceive to your target and if you still haven't used 'em activate exhaust and ignite to finish it off.



"Jack in the Box with lvl 4, why?"

Of course this is a great spell for AP Shaco, but we won't be playing one, so get this at LvL 4 and max it out last.
This spell is really, really great. It will save your *** a lot of times. However before LvL 4 I don't see any use in it because you are going to need the burst from your Deceive and TSP to succesfully take out an opponent combined with Exhaust, Ignite.
Also before this LvL it's not very likely you will be ganked by anyone, so you don't need to place 'em in the bushes.

More about the utility and usage of this spell later in the guide.

Spells to get:

Exhaust:

This is a must.
Before getting Phage/Frozen Mallet you will have nothing else but your TSP and maybe lizard buff to keep your enemy from running away. With this in handy you will even be dealing more damage, thanks to your Cripple Mastery.
It can also be used to escape nicely.

Ignite:

This is the little extra damage you will need for ganking in the early levels and from preventing healing Champions to survive you.
Also with the Burning Embers Mastery you will have a nearly constant +10 AP.

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Flash:

It just works very well combined with Deceive if you are trying to get out of a hairy situation or chase an enemy down perfectly. Nice option for ignite. Just remember to put that mastery point somewhere else.

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Things I wouldn't get:

Ghost:

Just take Flash if you don't want Ignite. It can save your *** a lot better / make chasing easier.

Teleport:

Sure has some nice use if you wanna get into lane faster or port to a Box, but i wouldn't take it cause Flash or Ignite will be of much greater use.

Cleanse:

You won't need this as much as Ignite or Flash.

Heal:

Not so bad actually. But, you are supposed to play carefully and dont get into longer fights.

Clarity:

You shouldn't have mana problems with Runes, Masteries and Potions.

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Don't even think about those:

Revive:

What should I say? Take it if you want your team to queue dodge. ****ing high cooldown.

Fortify:

Leave it to the tanks.

Clairvoyence:

Leave it to the support, caith, etc.

Rally:

You are an Assassin and not supposed to have longer fights at one spot.
And I'm not gonna lie to you, I've actually never EVER used this spell, so if you find a good reason to take it, tell me pls.

Smite:

Take it, but then don't follow this guide!

NOTE: Those are only a few, I might add more over time if you like.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Shaco is NOT too squishy to lane! You just need proper lanemates that synergyze with his abilites, and there are quite a lot if you think closer about it, so open up your mind.
Also timing is very important you can't just go Mordekaiser on your enemies. You gotta be patient sometimes and know when to strike. Someone to initate fights for your is crucial. If they drop to around 50-60% hp or even lower it's your chance to strike! Deceive (behind the target), TSP and Ignite will kill them nearly instantly in 90% of the time.

A great laning partner for Shaco is any tanky Champion that can Initate and deal some damage before you finish them off.

Here are some examples for tanky partners:

Leona

One of the best synergy with Shaco IMO.

You will deal extra damage from her passive,
She can catch up to enemies like you with the Zenith Blade,
Stun them with Shield of Daybreak and her Ulti (at least slow),
And overall deal some impressive AoE damage, so you can finish 'em off!


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Amumu

Amumu's awesome. Even if he's jungling ask him for a gank.
His passive will lower the magic resistance of the target he is hitting so remember to focus his target.
With the stun from Bandage Toss or his Ulti and his Despair+Tanturn AoE damage you will have an easy time killing your enemies. Always keep in mind they will be running away so if you can save Deceive for last cause they might use Flash. Your damage output will be enough without it till they escape considering you have your 20% extra Backstab damage while they are being slowed by your TSP.


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Shen

His Vorpal Blade will keep you in lane longer with the life leech you will be gettin' from it, and harass enemies a lot as it is spammable.
Shadow Dash will make him catch up to enemies and even taunting them. This is a great chance for you to Deceive behind an enemy to deal the extra 20% Backstab damage. (yes is say this 20% often so you will remember to make use of them because it's easy to forget about it in the heat of a battle)
His Ulti does not need to be discussed i guess. Most. Awesome. Stuff.


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Any champion with follow up skills, stuns, aoe, slow will be great for Shaco.

Here are some examples for those champs:

Pantheon

His passive makes him a little tanky,
Spear shot will be great to catch escaping enemies if your Deceive is on CD,
Eagis of Zenodia is awesome to stun them and follow up just like with amumu and leona,
And his Heartseeker Strike will deal great AoE damage to make 'em suffer.


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Xin Zhao

He can easily catch up with his Audacious Charge,
Stun with his Three Talon Strike,
And greatly open up with his Ulti to deal AoE damage + 20% of enemies current health.


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Tryndamere:

His Mocking Shout slow has a great synergy with your passive backstab as enemies will be trying to run away, being slowed by Tryndamere. You can follow up later with a TSP to make it even harder for them.
Spinning Slash will be great to initate or catch up to enemies that are trying to escape. With this and his Ulti he can even tower dive and take the damage for you to secure any kill.

Chasing:
Pretty awesome passive, considering enemies will run away from you when you gank them on low hp. This ensures you kills.
Even better when you use your exhaust, lizard buff or Frozen Mallet.

Deceive:
Also remember always to Deceive behind an Enemy to get the extra 20% dmg bonus. This really can change things to your favor.

Jungle:
Place your JitB behind creeps to make them turn the back on you for the 20% Backstab damage.

Laning:
Get last hits easier if you have the chance to get behind creeps. Or simply to get rid of bigger waves faster.

NOTE: It does not deal critical damage, but bonus damage. So don't make the mistake and think it will scale of your critical damage Runes / Items.

Ganking:
Pretty obvious, this is your opener for ganks. But you can also attack out of a bush and keep it till the enemy uses a deadly AoE spell and get back to him. Surprise.

Escaping:
Great for escaping. But don't make the mistake to jump the same direction you are running already. Often, the best decission is to jump backwards and landing behind your enemies.

Turning the tables:
When running away from an Enemy you can also use this to make it seem you ran away, and Deceive behind him dealing extra 20% damage and making him confused of what just happened.

Jump over walls to catch Enemy Champions or help Allies:
Most jumps over small walls will be easy but you can also jump diagnoly over walls. If you get your Deceive 3/4 over the wall it already is enough to get completely over a wall if you do it right.

Scouting
Every Entrance to the Jungle is a good spot to lay down a JitB. Make sure to put 'em into places you expect gankers to come from, or create an escape route for you if your planing a gank because they can always have help incoming, but you will know about them.

Dragon and Nashor
Also you can put a JitB all the way behind the dragon at the wall, enemies most likely will not run close enough to trigger it, but your team will know they are there. Great chance for stealing the dragon and killing them with your teammates.
Same goes for Nashor.

Saving Allies
Furthermore, if you see an ally runing away from a group of enemies simply place a box onto his escape route. The fear duration isn't long, but in many cases enough to make them retreat.

Teamfights
You can either place one in middle of a fight to fear them for a short duration, or place them in front of cc'ed enemys in case they are trying to run away.

Ganking
Deceive in, slow with Exhaust (this will not break your invisibility) and attack imediately as well as placing a box in the most likely route for your enemy to escape. Slow with your TSP and you will have a good chance of getting a fear out considering the enemy doesnt have flash in handy.

Escaping:
Put it in front of you and run. This will give it enough time to trigger when your Enemy catches up. Planting it at your spot or right behind you might not give it enough time to get set. Don't make this deadly mistake.

Place over Walls to scout:
Like with the Deceive, this will only work if you get it at least 3/4 over the wall with the spells range and it will land on the other side of the wall. Might take a little practice.
A nice situation for this is when you are defending one of the 3 first base towers and don't know where your enemies are. Or in reverse, your team is pushing one of those towers and you can't see the enemies in base.

Deactivate Nidalee and Teemo Traps:
Place it on top of them and they will take the damage. You can also use this into bushes if you are scared to catch a nasty mushroom.

Blocking Skillshots:
For example if you're running from Ezreal you can be sure he's going to fire it you. Place a Box behind you and it will catch the damage for you! This can save your *** sometimes.

Chasing with Deceive:
Hit them with Deceive and slow them. Bang. If you can catch up to them and have Frozen Mallet already you have good chances in making him turn his back to you or keep running which will give you your passive bonus.

Get last hits:
If things arent going so well you can last hit some creeps with it. Don't do it too much tho.

NOTE: To controll the Clone hold ALT and right click!

Killing any Enemy:
Considering you have Bloodrazor you will deal 4% of the enemy champion max. hp with every strike from you and your Illusion. Awesome.

Killing Nashor and destroying Towers faster:
Yeah.

Confusion:
Try to send him in first and make him act like you are actually him e.g. run away with him and back again making it look like you aren't sure what to do.
Sometimes staying near teamfights if it just gets ready even if your hp is low is a nice decision because you can make them come back for your Illusion just to take some extra damage, while you stay out of any harm.

Tower diving:
If you are chasing an enemy to a tower you can pop it, send it in fast to make it get agro of the tower and jump after your enemy with deceive fast. If done right you can even make the Illusion explode on your surprised enemy.
If just a TSP is enough to take the enemy out throw it and make your Illusion focus him while you deceive into safety.

Run away:
Use it, make it run into another direction and if you feel safe Deceive out. Put out a JitB to be sure.