Welcome to my AP Shaco Dominion guide. This is my first guide, and therefore I'd like to say that this build is definitely not perfect, but it has given me both a fun and successful time playing Shaco in Dominion. Shaco can be a real pain in the butt, and we're going to use Two-Shiv Poison to achieve this, along with Jack In The Box.

Please note that this build does not give you much/any survivability but if you play it safe you'll be dishing out a whole lot of hurt.

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros +Awesome damage +Great defender/taker +Annoying with JITB's +Extremely fun to play

space

space

Cons -Very squishy -Needs a bit of practice to play right -Not a very good teamfighter -Not very good against minions

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration x9 for that much needed magic penetration.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power x9 for maximizing damage.
Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power x9 for maximizing damage.
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power x3 for that early game boost.

Simple 9/0/21 taking Greed and Utility Mastery. Don't forget Utility Mastery also includes relics and quest buffs.

I start off with a Boots and Kage's Lucky Pick, which gives decent AP and gold per 10 seconds. It isn't going to work miracles, but we're building it into something else later so in essence you will receive quite a bit of extra gold from it. Early game you'll be dishing out quite a bit of damage - enough to keep enemies at bay. Then we upgrade our boots into Mobility Boots and rush Rabadon's Deathcap. We follow up with:

• This offers both CDR, AP and a good active. Don't forget to use the active.
• Cheap item while offering good CDR and AP. Don't overlook this item, even though it builds into better ones. We take this because it's cheap, and offers what we need at that time.
• Excellent item giving us some survivability, AP and a good passive.
• Lastly we'll want to get this, to get some magic penetration going. The extra AP can't hurt either.

Alternatives

• instead of Fiendish Codex: Lich Bane works insanely well with Deceive, so giving up a bit of CDR seems okay to me. I don't use this generally, mainly because I don't want to rely on my Deceive since we're squishy. Also, Lich Bane's aura only shows on you, not on your clone.
• instead of Void Staff: If you get Lich Bane, get this one aswell. It's simply a great item to boost your survivability while also giving an extra damage dealer when you Deceive in.

Rush Two-Shiv Poison since it'll do insane damage all game, then go for the Jack In The Boxes and lastly Deceive. If you took Lich Bane, you may want to boost Deceive a bit before Jack In The Box.

Early game go for 2x Two-Shiv Poison and one in Jack In The Box, then follow up with Deceive. You reach level 4 so quickly that it doesn't really matter not having it right off the bat.
How I play Shaco in Dominion
I have to be honest: I suck using Shaco in Summoner's Rift. I tried Shaco as soon as Dominion was released, since I love Shaco's style. Such a fun and deadly champ to play!

I play Shaco defensively, rather. There's simply not enough survivability to go ape**** on your enemies. Annoy them with Two-Shiv Poison and Deceive in when you see fit. Always make sure to have your Hallucinate ready for those funny situations. I'll go into detail on each skill.






If you take Lich Bane and Odyn's Veil then this passive will be all the more useful to you. Obviously awesome for chasing, and has amazing synergy with Deceive






Place your Jack In The Boxes on the relics! On the speed shrines! Everywhere! They are more powerful than people expect them to be, which is why it's simply morbidly funny to use them. When I start harassing in the 'lane', I'll put them in the brush and try to lure them in. Sometimes it works; as soon as they enter the brush they'll be met with an army of boxes. Watch out though, placing it in the brush on the lane will most probably make them aggro on the minions aswell, so be sure to place them in smart places in the brush.

Place them on friendly Capture points aswell, or around, interrupting enemies when they want to channel the takeover. When running, always throw one down where you're going. It may trigger in time to annoy them and save your life.






This build doesn't really focus on using Deceive but it's still a mandatory weapon in Shaco's arsenal. Only Deceive in when you think you can kill them/him/her, or use it to get away. Getting away with Deceive is awesome, but try to be smart. Use Deceive to teleport the way they wouldn't expect you to. Doing this correctly allows you to get away a lot of the time. I usually don't get many deaths in a game, even when losing. I don't want to toot my own horn but this is because I play Shaco a bit defensively. There's no point in dying on the capture point when 3 people are coming for you alone. You're not Alistar (who may very well survive that :P)

Be opportunistic, and only pick out targets you know you can kill.







The damage on this skill is insane, its usage animation is quick and the cooldown is medium (with CDR: 13 seconds turns into 9 seconds). What else would you wish for? This build is built around this skill. Why? Because it halves the health of Morgana, Lux, Ashe and so on mid game. Even tanks/warriors take huge damage from this skill, and in combination with Deathfire Grasp it is simply perfect. Late game, this skill still does a lot of damage. Use it whenever you can, but when you Deceive in, try to save it for the inevitable run they're going to make. I can't tell you how many times I've just Deceive'd in to a running target to get in range of Two-Shiv Poison and finishing them off that way.







This is just to top things off. This works so well it's not even funny anymore. The reason I don't go for the Lich Bane version of this build, is that when Lich Bane's passive is active, you can easily be distinguished from your clone. Your hands will be glowing red while your clone's will not. I like to trick people with this skill, and it does great damage. 600 + 100% of your AP is awesome. Use it wisely though. A few examples

• Only send in clone. I usually only send in my clone. It's fun to see the group start bashing on your clone and see it explode right into their faces. Great initiation!
• Deceive Deceive as in trick them. When running you can use it, however I'd not recommend it. Sometimes I let my clone run up the lane, and I walk parallel to him in the pathway above the lane (when bot). When he gets attacked and dies you can Deceive in to finish them off, since the clone should have done considerable damage on death.
• Lure Using the clone, you can lure your enemy to your group waiting in the brush, or to yourself.
• Stupid enemies? Sometimes I place him in the lane the enemies may come from while I'm taking their capture point. Of course, only you can take a capture point and any non-stupid enemy would know who to attack, but for some reason only the sight of him being there makes them reconsider. Only use this when the clone was already out for another purpose - don't call him up just for this (unless you know they're insanely stupid).
  

It really depends on the situation.

AP Shaco's role
I play Shaco as a taker/defender/capturer. I know this is a bit vague, but it depends on the situation. I usually go solo bottom lane. I'll go into each role and how it can work for you.

You should have read Dominion Guide Role and Teamwork to get a good idea of the roles.

• Defender Even though Shaco is so squishy, he's a decent defender. When they come for your tower, Garrison it at the right time and Two-Shiv Poison someone. Also make sure beforehand to have some boxes set up. If you're getting focused, which will most likely happen, Deceive! From here you have two options: damage someone. In this case you'll die. Other option is to run, but they'll start taking the tower. Funny enough, I usually damage someone. This is because the tower will start to focus them again and by now I hope to have some backup coming for me. Usually I survive.
• Capturer The role Shaco fits best on paper. You can roam around and take the undefended towers. Deceive out when they're coming for you. This is a good role even for AP Shaco, but I don't usually fulfill it since we already have a good capturer in our team. That won't stop me from taking stuff, though, when the bottom lane is safe.

Jack In The Box positions
Red dots represent suggested places to place the boxes. The yellow dot represents the place where I've gotten the best results (assuming you're blue team), since I usually go bottom lane. I usually make sure to have atleast 4 boxes set up there, but 2 is enough to lure someone into the brush. When they have/are taking the tower, they'll come for you since you're 'trapped'. Just stick your head out the brush, and go back in. Hallucinate when they're coming to the brush. In the brush they'll be met with the boxes, and both of you. Panic ensured! Deceive out, or kill them. Easy to get double kills this way, so give it a go.
The first kill you see there shows the power of Jack In The Box, and my favorite position to place them. As you can see I got my Rabadon's Deathcap and Deathfire Grasp so that's a good amount of AP already. I don't know what items Akali built there, but it sure as hell wasn't magic resist.

The second kill there shows how I like to use my clone. Of course it wasn't a hard kill, but it's about the way I picked it up. The clone died in his face and I could pick up the kill with Two-Shiv Poison doing tons of damage.

I take Ghost and Garrison. I love Garrison since any tower diver will have to think twice when you've used this. I basically take Garrison on any champ I play.

Alternatives
Ignite Because sometimes someone runs off on low health.
Flash This can work well with Deceive, but I generally think Ghost is more important.

This is getting rather TL;DR so I'll finish up. This is still a game, and I don't know about you but I play games to have fun. There's no point in playing a game where you'll only rage. Don't insult others, be nice, helpful and considerate when others aren't doing so great.

Shaco is the most fun I've had in playing a champion, and I hope you will too. I hope you like the guide, and I'd love if you'd place a comment showing your appreciation or disapproval. Sorry for the wall of text.

7 October 2011

• Tried out a few things and changed the build accordingly. This slightly different item build is cheaper (about 2k), gives the same amount of AP, gives more health and doesn't waste any CDR which is at 34% now.
• Changed summoner spell Ignite to Ghost. It's generally more useful.

5 October 2011

• Removed Hextech Sweeper as alternative item option, not because it's bad but because its CDR is 10% instead of the 15% for which I put it in there.
• Thinking about and trying out a new revision of the build. The current build is really good, but I'm trying to see if I can squeeze Rylai's Crystal Scepter in there.

4 October 2011

• Added a video showing some of the uses of Jack In The Box and Hallucinate. Also added a Phreak quote in there, for your reading pleasure.
• Added the Dominion section which explains Shaco's role.
• Added Jack In The Box position map.
• Moved Void Staff behind Deathfire Grasp and Morello's Evil Tome as people don't usually start to build magic resist early on. We love the CDR we get earlier though. This change I made due to personal experience.

3 October 2011

• Changed the wall of text to something more readable.
• Added the extra abilities bar in the Skill sequence section
• Overhauled Pros/cons section
• General readability improvements

2 October 2011

• Initial version of the build.