Hey team. Been playing Shaco a fair bit now. Getting decent enough to get some opinion on a build i use.

MAIN POINT OF BUILD

All in all, with a full complement of items (not gona happen every game) your burst is aprroximately:
magic dmg : Lich Bane - 200% of your AP - so 420 x 2 = 840 give or take magic resist
Tri-Force - 150% of your AD - so 204 x 1.5 = 300 give or take magic resist
SO FAR THATS 840 + 300 = 1140 in magic damage from one auto attack after using an ability
PLUS
Your flat damage of 204 give or take Armour, making your total ONE HIT do approximately 1300+ damage. Every 5 secs, based on SHIV cooldown.


I tried DPS, but his abilities scale with AP, so really no damage output (weak all game) and you cant tell me madreds actually works without any magic pen. I tried to jungle, but i found that red lizard and blue golem dont always reassign aggro after your Jitb die, so you waste 1 min at start and fall behind on levels = fail jungling according to my awesomely observant expert teammates. So i resorted to AP, i know i know, JitB are great fun but they dont win team fights. You have to get close enough to use your abilities to be any good, but you die in a heartbeat. Plus your main killer move (decieve plus backstab dmg) gets you killed more often than not with all these builds.

The only solution to my problems was in fact a HYBRID build, taking elements from both DPS and AP, you dont waste time jungling, let someone else do it. Plus your burst damage is so awesome, AND you can survive to do it again! I'll explain more about tactics i use, succesfully, and never having to worry about mana, like DPS, or sitting in a bush for half an hour, like AP.

Read on for explanation.

Pros:

-Harass early and often for lane domination: SHIV
-Personal flash for offense and defense: DECIEVE
-Great at getting first blood: stack Jack in the Boxes (JITB) in a bush
-Spammable ult, used with decieve, gets you kills on many champs: CLONE
-Great at escaping: DECIEVE over terrain
-Great at chasing: SHIV slows
-Amazingly good with the right items
-Great at 1v1: because exhaust doesnt stop spell vamp

Cons:

-Hella squishy early: cant take a hit at all
-Not able to intiate: found that out the hard way
-Not that great against burst dmg champs to be honest: only wins if they run
-Not much durability: even with my items

I take:

Greater mark of Insight x 9 : gives Magic Penetration
Greater seal of Repelnishment x 9: gives flat mana regen
Greater glyph of Focus x 7 : gives good flat cooldown reduction early
Greater glyph of celerity x 2 : gives better cooldown reduction late game
Greater quintessance of potency x 2 : flat AP boost, good for early dmg output
Greater quintessance of Insight x 1 : Magic Penetration, for starting total of 10 + mastery

Marks are good for increasing dmg output early game, important for harassing and getting kills so you can make my build (its expensive).

Seals are needed for spamming SHIV early and often, good for getting champs unaware as you level it, dot use too often to scare them off untill you are confident to get a kill.

Glyphs are necessary, your damage is in bursts from using your abilities, not the abilities themselves. Lich bane and tri force do all the work (note get the other items of tri-force before sheen as it wont stack with lich bane until its in tri-force form)

Quintessances are your choice really, go for Desolation to have a truly balanced hybrid, i do it for fun sometimes, but i find that the AP boost and Magic Pen are better for dmg output overall.

The standard 9/0/21 for a caster type, though i only do it for the extra cooldown on clarity as i dont buy any mana regen items, they just arent worth it for shaco. If you can find one that works better than clarity and allows me to use exhaust-flash together, i love you.

I suppose you could go 21/0/9 and still get some benefit for mana, but i find he just doesnt get that many hits in close for it to be worthwhile, im all aobut stealth, burst then bail after the kill (with any luck, just aim for the weakest member of the fight!)

I get clarity simply so i dont have to take up an item spot. I have runes and masteries, but they only do so much. Really i find that i can harass basically every times SHIV cools down from level 1 through to level 6 as long as i get clarity. If i dont, well, im useless. I just rely on SHIV basically, until i have my burst items.

Flash while decieved or vice versa = no one will ever catch you, or escape your wrath.

I would like to be able to use exhaust and ignite, but really, if your in the fight for that long, that you need exhaust and/or ignite, you shouldn't be playing as Shaco im afraid.

Basically, max out SHIV asap, get 1 level in JitB and i mean 1 LEVEL ONLY, till you have maxed SHIV and then maxed DECIEVE. Get JitB at level 4 then forget about it.

Clone is quite a useful tool for escape, getting kills, and wreaks havoc in team fights at later levels with good AP scaling. Get a point every chance you get, so Levels 6,11 and 16.

Items and Tactics are more or less one and the same to me. Your tactics in LoL should be centred around your items, and vice versa. Bad items means lame tactics, and silly tactics means lame items. So i'll explain why each item, when, and how it relates to actual gameplay and therefore success.


Starting
Firstly, start with mana crystal with 2 x health pots. Pretty standard, allows for more spamming of SHIV before first use of clarity. I go in side lane, but if in a lane with healers (tryn, mundo, taric, sona etc) jsut use SHIV to last hit minions, in the same amout of time it would take for your first kill you have the gold, plus the improved skills.

Early Game - Level 2-5
Next item should be boots x 1, but if you are doing well by last hitting minions or getting some early kills (ie enemy try to turret dive you and die instead) get your sheen straight away. Next finish your boots into mobility. Now the fun begins. Straight after getting these look at the lanes, pick the one with the lowest double health, might even be your own or just go mid (cant hurt, though mid has shortest distance to retreat behind turret so i usually go the opposite side lane). Your boots should get you there before other side lane calls mia.

Pick a target, then get your team to initiate a fight with the enemies in the lane, tank or toughest in first should be obvious. Gank the weakest (hp or champ type) first, place a JITB behind the enemy, side nearest their tower, then attack by using SHIV auto attack, then DECIEVE auto attack, use SHIV or DECIEVE to finish the other one. Try to get at least 1 kill yourself, finish the tower if you can afterwards.

Mid Game - Level 6-10
After that, your gold should be decent enough to finish the Lich Bane. Go back to your own lane and get some levels. VERY IMPORTANT: while you can move across terrain and over the map better than most other champs, dont always be swapping as you may fall behind rapidly on levels, leaving you and your team at a disadvantage.

Finish off your Hextech Gunblade asap, it'll help with survival. Map awareness is very important, you wont get kills unless you watch whats happening in other lanes as well as your own.

Late Game - 11 to 15
Its your time to shine. Now your burst should really be getting potent. You should have at least your boots, Lich Bane, Gunblade and Tri-Force. This will make your burst crazy. And because you do both AD and AP damage, no champ will really be able to withstand a full round of your abilities. A full round being DECIEVE, auto attack x 2, SHIV, auto attack x 2, DECIEVE then auto attack to finish. Some champs might be on low health around the map. Mosey on over and SHIV them first, auto attack, DECIEVE and auto attack to finish. If need be (against tanks probably) Flash and SHIV them to finish the kill. Basically, full health champs you start with DECIEVE, low health champs (more likely to run) SHIV first to get the auto attack in before DECIEVE and auto attack to finish.

IMPORTANT : when using DECIEVE to chase aim at where the target is running to. Lead the target in other words, think if how Twisted Fate uses DESTINY. It will allow you to be in range for an auto attack. Plus if you're far enough from their towers and/or base your boots should keep you in range for a SHIV kill, or a SHIV then DECIEVE finish.

All in all, with a full complement of items (not gona happen every game) your burst is aprroximately:
magic dmg : Lich Bane - 200% of your AP - so 420 x 2 = 840 give or take magic resist
Tri-Force - 150% of your AD - so 204 x 1.5 = 300 give or take magic resist
SO FAR THATS 840 + 300 = 1140 in magic damage from one auto attack after using an ability
PLUS
Your flat damage of 204 give or take Armour, making your total ONE HIT do approximately 1300+ damage. Every 5 secs, based on SHIV cooldown.

AND OH YEAH - By the way, this isn't including your extra 120% (240 damage) from using DECEIVE, or the damage from throwing your SHIV.

ENJOY