Return of the Demon Jester

Intro

Why so serious? Because Shaco is serious. About killing.

Back in the day when Shaco was a badass powerhouse that could destroy teams on his own, I played him a lot. Then, like many others, I pretty much dropped him after the nerf. But after they announced they would begin working on bug fixes for him, I decided to dust off the demon jester and take him for a spin again. I settled on this build, that, if you play him right, will allow you to pubstomp normal queue or provide a powerful jungler for ranked play.

QUICK DISCLAIMER:
I have gotten a few comments saying that this is not a true "guide". The purpose of this page is not to teach you how to play Shaco, it is to show you how I build him, in a way I find very powerful. So cheers, have fun, try out the build, and tell me what you think.

Pros and Cons

Runes and Masteries

Runes are fairly straightforward. I believe that early game, for jungling and ganks, the 12 or 13 armor pen you get from the are enough, along with . The give your Q and crits more oomph, to really freak out your foes from the first cut. help out with early jungling, because as previously mentioned, Shaco is squishy and has no passive lifesteal effects, meaning you wanna be killin them jungly monsters as fast as possible. Also, since in this build you don't take any attack speed items until you make your , it will help out with ganks as well. The are essential. The big Shaco nerf raised the cooldown on his deceive to an uncomfortably high level. These glyphs bring it back down. End of story.

Masteries are standard AD jungle, but I take to help with and the 15% magic pen from makes your and hit harder.

Summoner Spells

A few months ago, I would have recommended that you take and , to get that double blink that really f***s with peoples minds. However, recently the metagame has switched over to taking , to shut down carries. After testing this, I concluded that it is very powerful both early and late game. Early game, it almost ensures a kill when you gank, because with your shiv slow and exhaust slow they won't be going anywhere. Late game, it will allow you to 1v1 almost any carry by shutting down their damage output and increasing yours.

Take . You are a jungler.

Skill Sequence

Basic Reasoning on skills: 2 points, then >>>

This is jungle Shaco, so the first point goes into . Always. Get second, it helps by giving the jungle creeps a % miss chance, which will help you conserve hp. I put a second point in at level 3, because after the box bug fixes, they are quite powerful now that they will stick on 1 enemy and focus them down. after that, take a point in at level 4 so you can gank. I max next, because decreasing the mana cost on isnt THAT important if you have a blue buff, however the increased nuke damage really helps ganks and jungling. Max second, to decrease the mana cost for mid game, when you might not necessarily have a blue buff at all times. Put your last few points in last, and of course put a point in when you can.

Jungle Route

I usually start at blue. Right when the match starts, buy your and 5 and speed over to blue. Drop your boxes right under where the golem will spawn, ensuring that they will target the big guy. You should be able to stack 5-6 boxes under him by the time he spawns, causing him to die incredibly fast, no required (save it for red). Finish off the little lizards, then head up to wolves. Drop a box under the big wolf, wait for it to aggro, then shiv and beat the big wolf to death. Rinse and repeat on the smaller wolves. Head to wraiths, and kill them in the same manner as wolves. Remember to pop hp pots whenever you need. For red, to ensure you will be able to hit level 4 and still have enough hp to gank, drop 2 boxes on the purple mushroom out in front of lizard. Lure him with shiv in to the boxes, smite, drop another box, and kill him losing very little hp. Head up to double golems, box and shiv, and finish them. At this point you will be level 4. Put a point in . Go gank top or mid, get kills, reap rewards.

Summary/Conclusion

I have played Shaco for about 15 matches in a row now, and this build has not failed me yet. About 6 or 7 times I have gone in the range of 15-5 with him, completely shutting down the enemy team. This build is very strong early game, with fast and effective ganks. Mid game you will be a powerhouse if you got any kills early on. Late game, you will have a ton of damage, but won't be able to run in and triple kill because the enemy team will have wised up and gotten some defensive items. Depending on how well you did early on, you will either carry your team to an easy victory or provide a substantive role in teamfights.

Hope you enjoyed. Comment below and +1 if you like. This guide is still under progress, videos and images will be added soon!