The main answer to this question is laughing when you can 2 / 3 shot squishy or half tank characters such as Xin Zhao or Jax. He is by far the most skilled class to play late game when you can step it up and nuke down 2 people hitting you at the same time.

You might think from past games or experience, Why shaco? He dies in a few hits and does no damage what so ever. Stay away from bushes I walk in and boxes take half my hp away?

There are many different ways to play classes and characters but this by far is the best way. You are an ***isan, Your job is to nuke not waste time setting up useless traps or doing next to no damage.

One attack level 15+ can take almost half of your opponents HP away and make them run to a tower, none of this AP rubbish here. Shaco is one of the hardest hitting classes in LoL and does not take much skill if you follow this and understand a few basic things!

Heres a little insight to a general set of games using him

This shows both bad and good games, As previously stated it depends if the team go for you at the start or leave you alone. That first kill does change alot of things for shaco!

Pros

1. Insane amount of burst damage
2. Game carry / changer
3. Best at escaping
4. Able to scout
5. Easy ganking
6. Tower pusher

Cons

1. Once your opponints realise your kicking there *** and have a good cash bounty on you they will focus fire.
2. Extremely squishy
3. Most team fights will be 4 vs 5 with you hanging back waiting on the chance to pickup kills or kill the teams damage classes
4. Bad startup will effect your game

There is much debate in different builds in which should be used. The main thing to keep in mind is this

Early game you should have first blood therefore you require as much damage as you can get, This also has to be viable mid game and late game.

Straight up Jungle build is the best by far, Armour pen / Armour / Cool down reduction

Greater Mark of Desolation - More damage to minions / players
Greater Seal of Armor - More useful for jungling with low hp
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction - Allows you to place 5 boxes from the time game starts till blue buff spawns
Greater Quintessence of Health- More damage to minions / players

Attack tree benefits mostly for shaco, Extra damage is always welcome and late game that extra 5% damage and armour pen really does scale up.

Going utility tree and grabbing the 1 point in extra minion buffs allows that box a second more for fear, This is useful for rushing towers and escaping / farming.

Taking extra cooldown reduction for Smite and extended Ghost allows easier ganking and a quicker first blood at level 3.

- I cannot stress this enough, Picking something like Flash over this is a complete waste. This allows you to make bigger ganks ie. Decive from futher away, Escape more easily or catch people running away.

- Obvious reasons YOU ARE A JUNGLER!

Playing a ganking class you might have the thought, If they run then why not Exhaust? Why not Ignite

Its simple, You will have more run speed than 90% of the characters you come against so theres no need to slow them down, Having Trinity Force and Boots of Swiftness and 1 / 4 hits for a slow along with red buff you shouldnt have any problems slowing or keeping up with them. There is no need for Ignite with shaco, If they manage to survive with no HP, Use your Hallucinate clone to tank, Deceive in or Ghost in, Two-Shiv Poison and out the other side.

Most people when they join the lobby and see you have Smite automatically think this is a lost game if the solo lane dude cant hold up. This is very true, You are as good as the team! Who am I kidding your shaco!

Jungling characters generally forget the purpose of what there ment to be doing, The concept behind this is to allow a solo lane the extra money from creeps and higher level at the start which could effect the game. You as shaco should be constantly watching the map and lanes to see who is missing and who could use help.

When it comes to ganking you have to follow a few basic rules.

1. Never gank without giving a heads up to the person / people in the lane.
2. Always come from a bush or over a wall to maximise the surprise
3. Interoperate where the character will run, Using this to your advantage and placing a Jack In The Box will allow you the kill more easily and stop them escaping.
4. Always come from behind, Extra damage boost is something in which you need to maximise in PVP at all times

Watch this first!
Play Video /league-of-legends/ability/jack-in-the-box-205
Start

Once you have your Cloth Armor and 5x Health Potion, Run straight to blue buff on your team, Alert your team mates to come from mid and bottom / top depending on side to guard you till the game starts.

Put 3 boxes at blue beside the cauldin in the corner, Some people will do 4 with 1 behind to alert you if anyone is coming, This isnt needed if your team is there or everyone on the map is accounted for and you know they are not going to come near you.

After you have 3 at blue, Head up or down to the wolfs and place 2 Jack In The Box at the side, This will allow you to hit level 2 before middle.

Head back to the blue and get ready, You will have a few seconds before you can place another Jack In The Box, Once blue spawns try and get behind it. Place your next box behind it so when it pops the creep will turn around allowing you to do more damage. Smite it when you feel that it will kill it or before to ensure the boxes do most damage. If you have less than 75% hp pop a pot or wait till you are killing the wolfs before using it.

Your aim is to have 2 pots left after your gank in the middle!

Once you have blue buff and added a point in Two-Shiv Poison, Head to the wolfs. If you have done this correctly you have about 10 seconds till your first box will despawn. You have blue buff so feel free to use Two-Shiv Poison and Jack In The Box as soon as you can, Keep in mind this is a race agsint the clock in order to be on the same level or higher than middle for the first gank so if the creep has less than 50% do not use a box, that 15 secon cooldown can start to hamper your gameplay.

Head to the wraiths next, Plant 2 Jack In The Boxout of range, This will just nicely allow your Smite to come off cooldown, Two-Shiv Poison 1 mob and run to boxes while casting Smite on the blue wraith. This will ding you level 3! Grab Deceive and head to the middle bush.

Alert your middle lane character you are there and wanting to gank, You will be suprised how many people dont watch whats going on and sit back, When he sees you running he will run, Pop Ghost from the bush and Deceive whilst inside it. This allows you fast walking to get behind him, Auto attack then Two-Shiv Poison. If the character is more towards your town quickly place a Jack In The Box behind him to his tower and it may fear him or kill him if he manages to survive.


After First blood / Middle lane gank!

Your aim is to get 700 Gold to allow you to buy your first item Madred's Razors, Stick in middle lane till you have this and return. If you fail to make first blood you should be around 500-600 gold so a few creeps will get you to 700.

Once you have filled up your hp, If the other team does not have a jungler head over to their side but stop off at wolfs. These are by far the eaisest mobs to kill.

Grab their blue buff, Place 1 Jack In The Box and use a pot, Deceive behind, Two-Shiv Poison attack, the Madred's Razors you bought acts as a second smite and will save you some time. If you do not feel you can do this feel free to wait in a bush and stack 2 Jack In The Box or 3 if you are new.

Once you have got the blue buff take their wolfs and look at the map, See if there is anyone you can attack. If not then head to your side and start jungling, Smite becomes less usefull around 6-7-8 when you start getting more damage. Just because you dont need it doesnt mean shouldnt use it, If you are in middle fighting and its offcooldown use it on a minion, You get 5 gold for this and its an instant kill. The extra lifesteal will allow you to do it better and keep yourself up



IMPORTANT

Use Health Potion when ever you feel your hp is going down to quickly. Getting blue this way will make you use some, Always carry at least 3 with you at all times till you reach level 10, Anoying Ignite or posions, Quick Health Potion cancels most of the damage out and can be the difference between life or death.

Lantern vs Madred's Bloodrazor

Wriggle's Lantern total price = 1525
Madred's Bloodrazor total price = 3800

Less cost more benifit. You will not be farming creeps in lanes till mid game so the attack speed is not required. The extra damage from Madred's Bloodrazor at that level is a waste compaired to having life steal, not to metion the cost at start game makes the Wriggle's Lantern the best choice. This also allows a free ward without using up space that lasts for 3 minutes. This is really handy for keeping an eye on dragon early game or their sides buffs. Dont under estimate map control.

Boots

Some people will take Berserker's Greaves or Mobility Boots, Keep in mind you only need a few hits and most times when they see you pop out behind them, use your ulti and throw a shivy will run. This makes the Berserker's Greaves or Mobility Boots usless since you lack movement or are permently stuck in combat. Picking Boots of Swiftness allows the speed to consatnly be there and with the use of Trinity Force allows you more speed.

Using Deceive to jump infront and close the gap or walk though walls makes shacos movements even quicker, It takes practice to get the hang of it and not to stop dead once you hit decive.

Tri-Force

Trinity Force, People associate this with a hybrid item. There are wrong.

Sheen - Double damage crit / Extra mana / More shivy and box damage
Phage - HP / Dmg / Slow
Zeal- Movement speed / Attack speed / Crit

This does however give basic stuff compaired to more advanced trees but without Sheen for the burst when you hit Deceive going down the tree for Lich Bane doesnt stack up to what you gain from this. The extra mana pool does help early game allowing that extra attack, the Madred's Razors you bought acts as a second smite and or Deceive when you need it most.

Infinity Edge

Infinity Edge - Crit / Damage / Extra crit Damage. Enough said? Best damage item but comes with a cost.

Combined with your Deceive and Sheen, Allows this to rack up some amount of burst damage from one skill, This will allow you to take off 1/3 of characters like Jax and Xin Zhao and 1/2 from squishys such as Annie or Ashe. This is a must mid game item and will come fairly quickly.

Last Whisper

Last Whisper - Extra Arm Pen allows you to take on more tank classes and destroy tanks, This allows minion farming and PVP damage to increase alot.

Last Item

I choose The Bloodthirster because of the lifesteal and damage. However i can tell you that you very rarely manage to get to this stage because you are caught up in the game, Realise that with Wriggle's Lantern instead of Madred's Bloodrazor you can easily get your hp back from a few creeps or minion wave. This last item is really up to you, Banshee's Veil is also an option playing against CC classes like Lux or Morgana.

If you intend to play shaco the maxium potential i sugest you find a friend, Jump on ventrilo or teamspeak. Having just that one person makes a huge difference when calling ganks or farming minions.

Something i have noticed in the last few games, Playing with another burst damage class such as Kassidan, Having teleport and voice comunications allows you to place a box in a bush, get him to teleport and bait people towards it.

Some people will tell you in various guides that shaco is team depended. Yes a bad shaco will ultimatly leave you 4 vs 5 and 9/10 times loosing. Playing with AP shaco you are most likely to have this happen, He underpeforms at level 13+.

Things you should have in your team

Tank - 1
Range - 1
Offtank - 1
You - 1
Some form of mass damage - 1

Playing without a champion who can listen and fight round a tower will have you underperforming the whole start and mid game. Make sure he knows he is on his own and your focus is to his lane and mid lane, With the odd excption to top lane when you grab their sides blue buff. Keep him imformed and ask him to keep you updated. Make sure you ping and not type when you do things, People tend to focus more on what their character is doing but the odd ping from no where makes them look. Do not forget this!

When fighting with this build your main damage is the first few seconds.

Offense

1. Pop Ghost if you can
2. Deceiveand run behind the person (20% more damage if you do this). If this is stacked with Sheen and Infinity Edge your burst damage will be around 800-1200 without your last item!
3. Auto attack, NEVER DeceiveAND Two-Shiv Poison you will miss out on that lovley half of their HP crit.
4. Two-Shiv Poison and pop your ulti Hallucinate
5. Plant a Jack In The Box if you have time behind the person, Remeber this, Jack In The Box] will turn the person around, Plant behind will make them do a 180 and add that few hits with 20% more damage

Defence

Harrass with your Hallucinate (clone) if its 2 or 3 vs you, Exploding damage from it will push them back and also clear creaps / traps or those anoying mushrooms!

Two-Shiv Poison when possible and Deceive out if need be, You might use mana but this generaly for a short time before your team come to your resuce.

Always plant at least 1 Jack In The Box somewhere behind the tower. Random ninja may tower dive or come out from over walls or behind you so this will fear and let the turret do its job. Keep in mind that having boxes close to turret will allow minions or range attacks to damage or activate so placing them at a good postion will be your main foucs.

Buffs

If possible always have red buff, During the lower levels you want to have blue buff up as much as you can, This allows easier map control such as deciving over walls without worring about using mana and the ability to farm minions with Two-Shiv Poison and Jack In The Box. The red buff will give more damage and keep in mind it also slows. This should be your main foucs and remeber there are 2 of these on the map!

A few general things you should keep in mind when playing


1. Always have MP for a Two-Shiv Poison and Deceive, Once you get to around 12/13 you start to get your mana back more reguarly.

2. When jungling always use boxes to Jack In The Box if possible till you have Wriggle's Lantern, Place boxes behind creep to turn around and you more damage. Once you have Wriggle's Lantern still use boxes to add that extra 200 dmg and fear away from you.

3. Always have blue and red buff if possible

4. Understand shaco is not a tank, Your Deceive only lasts for 3.5 seconds so stick near someone if you plan on going ahead.

5. Escaping, If your Hallucinate (clone) is ready and you use it to escape, Keep in mind run into a bush, Jack In The Box and Hallucinate. Send clone one way and run the other. The Person chasing is feared and sees to people running, Without clicing to see who is the real one, he has to make a choice, 50% odds are good enough for me with the head start in the direction to your base.

6. Always alert when ganking if your team is near by and come from a bush, never stand somewhere out in the open. Put a box beside you while you wait to ward off people such as fiddles drains or stealth people such as eve and twitch.

7. The main thing to keep in mind. ALWAYS AUTO ATTACK AFTER A Deceive!, Never go staight for a Two-Shiv Poison unless your using Deceive to close the distance between you and your Opponent.

8. Good shaco will always fight from behind, You might read this somewhere else but this refers to PVP and the starting jungle levels. After 6-7 within the jungle you can become sloppy with Wriggle's Lantern and just auto attack from anywhere

Post up and let me know how your games went and how much better having this build improves your game play.

Also if you capture things such as quad or pent kills, Funny 2 shots make sure to include it :P