Is death funny? Shaco seems to think it is!

"They say that death isn't funny. It isn't, unless you're Shaco. He is Valoran's first fully-functioning homicidal comic; he jests until someone dies, and then he laughs. The figure that has come to be known as the Demon Jester is an enigma. No one still alive knows from whence he came. There are rumors, but one must not speak of them too loudly lest Shaco come to jest. It seems unimaginable that such a threatening figure would be allowed to remain at large. There are those that believe he is an assassin for hire, left to roam until he is needed. Others believe that Shaco is simply too clever, evading authorities at every turn. Still others believe that he is the demonic manifestation of humanity's dark urges, and therefore cannot be stopped."

Shaco - The Demon Jester!

Welcome! To what I hope will become quite an extensive guide for Shaco, the demon jester! In this guide I will be showing you how I play shaco, which is an AD/AS hybrid allowing for max melee DPS. while AP shaco exists and DOES have it's own advantages, I prefer AD/AS Shaco, this this is what will be covered in this build.


Pro's

• Great lane pushing.
• Awesome escape/attack ability.
• Decent tower-diving.
• Stealth.
• Fear ability.
• Straight-up rape.

Con's

• Squishy, very squishy.
• Effectively countered by oracles.
• Can be difficult to master depending on your playstle.

Summoner Spells

I prefer to take Exhaust and Ignite with Shaco, however an escape mechanism like Ghost is also another option. I have used Rally in the past, however this is a less favorable option in my opinion.

Ideal Spells

• Exhaust - Great to ensure kills early, and late game.
• Ignite - Great early game damage, can't tell you how many times it's picked me up a kill.
• Ghost - Fantastic escape mechanism in addition to your Deceive.
• Teleport - Great for map control or quickly assisting teammates.

Unfavorable Spells

• Revive - No, just no.
• Flash - You have deceive, this is just overkill.
• Heal - You shouldnt be sticking around long enough to need this.
• Clarity - Mana buff.
• Cleanse - Can be useful, but I find you can just deceive the ghost away.
• Clairvoyance - Can be of use, however the enemy can see it and they will generally run anyway. Just use your boxes.

Runes and Masteries

Basic 21-0-9, we want damage but we also want some mana and XP. Refer to to the mastery tree above.

Items

My items in this build aren't cheap, in-fact you will probably on end up with 4-5 items in the end.

Core


This is the core, however in reality we get 2 BF. Swords before the starks, and turn them into bloodthirsters. You can feel free to exchange a Bloodthirster for an Infinity Edge. if you want.
I thought this was obviously but apparently not, there is no sixth item for 2 reasons. 1, you probably won't get to build one before the game ends. and 2, it's situational. Get whatever you need for the game your playing, I would sugegst a defence item of some kind but if you feel you don't need it get whatever would be beneficial for you.

Just use the item window in the actual item section above the description. if gives you the order of which you should be pruchasing the items. I don't care when you "b", just get them when you can.

Early Game

Mana-buff. This is our goal right off the bat, EVEN before you go lane. Grab a Long Sword and Health Potion, then head down to the buff and place a Jack In The Box right where the Golem will spawn. Try and place about 5 before he spawns, when he does go ahead and let the boxes initiate, then just basic attack him. REMEMBER TO KILL THE LITTLE GOLEMS! Otherwise the buff WILL NOT respawn.
Once you have that dealt with, put a point in Deceive and head to your lane. Your goal when getting there is to remain unseen and get into one of the bushes. Why? because this early in the game your Jack In The Box's will do MASSIVE amounts of damage. So let's use it. Since you got Deceive second you should be able to get into a bush without much issue, go ahead and start placing Jack In The Box's near the back of the bush. Try and get about 4-5 down and try and stay close enough to share the XP from your lane partners minion kills. Chances are the enemy will come at the bus simply to sit in it and gank your teammate, or to recall. When they come at the bush deceive behind them before the see you and wait for your Jack In The Box's's to go off, when they do crit him from behind and shiv him if you can. Exhasut and Ignite as needed. This has gotten me First Blood on far to may occasions.

From there you simply last hit minions and lurk around bushes, go at an enemy when you can. I'm really not going to go over generic lanning tactics. Just use your head and do what you need to do.

Mid Game

By now you should be saving toward your first B. F. Sword, if you don't have one already that is. Teamfights should "Be a 'brewin", probably around mid, or wherever. So, lets discuss YOUR job in teamfights, because..you are squishy...

Shaco is an ASSASIN, it's your job to kill off the weaker members of the enemy team. This may sound boring, but heres the kicker. Generally, the more squishy enemies are the carries...kill them. Killing the enemy carry early in a teamfight will not only help your team, but will get you a kill more often than not.


The breakdown:
When a teamfight is brewing, sit in the side lane and wait for it to start. DON'T initiate! wait until your team initiates(or theirs). Deceive in, and try to get behind their carry(or if their carry is high HP, their squishy.). Place a Jack In The Box, Crit them out of stealth, and start nailing them from behind for the extra damage from Backstab.

Two-Shiv Poison and/or Hallucinate as needed.


More than likely, you will be able to kill your target before the enemy team has time to react. The enemy(being down a carry), will do 1 of two things. Continue after your team, or turn on you.

If they continue after your team, place another Jack In The Box, and deceive in to crit and kill another character(IF YOU CAN, THIS IS SITUATIONAL, DON'T GET YOURSELF KILLED. IF YOU CAN'T DO IT, PULL OFF.) Or if they turn on you, Hallucinate and Deceive away. REMEMBER! Hallucinate MAKES U UNTAGETABLE FOR 1 SECOND! USE IT!

Rinse and repeat for following teamfights, try to get buffs whenever possible.

Late Game

Shaco's lategame doesn't differ much from his mid game, theres just more backdooring!

Some people bee backdooring towers/inhibs as....cheating? or unsportsmanlike? Whatever, it wins games. Backdooring with Shaco is simple(Make sure you have your Zeke's Harbinger and 2 B. F. Swords before attempting this...), Place a Jack In The Box behind you(so you don't get ganked) and pop Hallucinate(use alt+right click to control your clone), send the clone at the tower and RIP TI DOWN!.

Rinse and repeat.

General Tips & Tricks

• Remember that you're an assassin, don't be afraid to hang around the gank lanes behind enemies that may flee. You can easily catch runners between towers with Deceive.
• You can control the clone from your Ultimte with alt +right click. If your clone is short on time and health, send him at the enemy to deal quite a good ammount of damage.
• When fleeing, start running one way, before using Deceive to get BEHIND your pursuer, and going back the way you came.
• Picking up red buff, will slow your emeies and make them easier to chase. It works nicely with your Two-Shiv Poison.
• Jack In The Box's can be used when fleeing to fear enemies chasing you, remember that it takes a second to cast. So be careful.
• Sight wards at key map locations are a sure way to get kills. Put a sightward at Dragon or at key buffs.
• Pop Hallucinate when attacking towers, you'll deal twice the damage!
• Remember that your basics attacks don't slow if your Two-Shiv Poison is on cooldown, try and wait until the enemy attemps to flee before using it

In Conclusion

Shaco is a fantastic champion, even with the nerfs he has more recently received. Stealth, crits, placables, and a ranged slow that does lots of damage! Shaco has it all!





Please comment and ask questions, if you wish to downvote my guide please at least explain why in the comments. Thanks, I hope to keep this up to date, I will constantly be refining(and fixing all my speling/grammer errors).