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Shaco Build Guide by

Teleport Shaco - Carrying into late game

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15 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Dynamo5

Shaco Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (15) More Shaco Guides

Spells:

Smite

Teleport

Items

Ability Order

Shaco Passive Ability

Introduction

This is my first guide, so hello to everyone at Moba. I want it and all of my guides to be not only unique, but viable- if not ideal.

My guide is an argument for taking on jungle . I will also make an argument for taking on him. I welcome your objections and acknowledgements in the comments and will definitely reply to you, and examine one of your builds most likely.

*This is not a guide on who Shaco is or how to play him, I'm not telling you what you already know. It is a single proposed strategy.

Teleport

on Shaco does not only optimize his early game, but allows split pushing during late game.

1. Why does Teleport optimize early game? And why not Exhaust/ Ignite?

and are spells to lock down an enemy during a gank, or secure a kill. The lanes I have chosen(in the next chapter), with the exception of Galio, will stick to the enemy during ganks, and so those summoner spells are not as significant as they would be in low CC lanes.

, on the other hand, empowers Shaco as an opportunist. The clean-up potential is huge, and in conjunction with his mobility will have their heads spinning.

2. Why does Teleport optimize Shaco's late game?

Because Shaco's abilities result in him falling off late game, his task is to be a split pusher and help clean-up team fights. A hard CC team composition will allow Shaco to put out DPS in team fights. The example team composition(below) supports his objective to split push as well, as it is very difficult to engage on, and allows time to teleport( and , for example, can lock the team down, while and can disengage).

Team Composition

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, lanes with inherent crowd control abilities make up for the lack of exhaust or ignite on Shaco. But what's more important is how the team composition in the late game enables shaco to 1. split push and 2. have enough time to teleport into a fight.

Here is an example of an ideal team:

Champions who can disengage, like and , if rushed on will allow Shaco to arrive in time. Champions who are terrifying to rush on, like and , deter the enemy from doing so, allowing you to prolong your split push.

Items

Wriggle's Lantern
Place your ward in lanes that will allow for counter ganks. Choose top or bottom, as they will assure the most success.

Statikk Shiv
Supports wave clearing for split pushing.

Ruby Sightstone
A great choice on junglers, particularly Shaco as he can ward relatively safely.

Enchantment: Distortion
An integral aspect to the objective of split pushing, counter ganking, and finishing team fights.

Maw of Malmortius, Guardian Angel, and Mercurial Scimitar
Very clever items that make you slippery while adding to your damage.

Skill Sequence

1. Maxing first is ideal, as it scales with AD and can finish runners.

3.? It is common to see maxed next, for its fear duration. However, the initial fear duration of 0.5 seconds is regardless still a warning and an interruption. So I choose to max last.

2. I've decided on maxing second. I think the critical strike scaling is significant, and takes advantage of your AD, as would not.

Masteries

The only thing worth pointiong out here is the point in , which strengthens your late game role as a split-pusher.

Runes

The only choice that stands out here are the . They are an insurance that Shaco will be relevant into mid and late game.

They are also more beneficial than the flat attack damage if seen from a new perspective. Do the Attack damage Quints provide 6% MORE damage to the lane you are ganking? Do they even provide 6% MORE damage to you? And in effect, will the AD Quints increase your gank success by 6% or more?

No.

The 6% experience gained from Quints are a great choice for Shaco, especially one looking to assure his relevance in mid-late game.

An Argument

Below is a comment that was posted by LordPickleton and I've decided to add it in my guide. I chopped it up in order to reply more easily, but you can see the original here.

wrote:

To me the exp runes aren't really worth it unless you also have the masteries and Zilean in team to really bump it (19% increased exp will give you a nice edge on your opponents)

Hey, good input. I really forgot about the point in the utility tree, and I'm glad you pointed that out. I'll disregard Zilean's as a factor for now, because he shouldn't have to be in every team for this concept to work.

Having that extra 5% experience from is a great idea, but on the other hand I believe going down the utility tree, and sacrificing 12 points in offense to get it, is not worth it. Maybe it's possible, but that is one hell of a trade off.

The experience-per-level Quints up your mid-phase a little but once you hit 18 they serve no purpose anymore. 6% exp increase is not enough to really get ahead on levels until around mid-phase
Missing your Quint of Attack Damage is not a statistic to be regretted at level 18, when a mere 6.75 attack damage is minute in your total AD build. The time to consider their contribution is early on. And mid-late phase is what I'm banking on with choosing .

and you're sacrificing a bit of damage in early game to get it (which could mean the difference between a successful gank or a failed turret dive)
It could, but it has to be quantified. How many ganks will fail because of it? That's not easy to figure out, because so much needs to be considered. Will Shaco really forfeit a 6% success rate on his ganks? But in relative comparison, a poor 6.75 AD does not seem to outweigh 6% bonus experience.

If you were to sell insurance to anyone in the League of Legends, who would be your highest risk client? It would be The Clown. And because of that, is one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, benefactors from it.

Also, when killed the enemy gets exp based off of how much the target had, so it can backfire if you get ahead in levels and then the carry kills you.
This is a strange argument. I mean, by that logic, why ever get ahead at all? With experience gained you benefit from increases in all your statistics. What I think you're saying is that gold in particular is not accompanying the bonus xp, and perhaps you interpret the champion in this scenario as being inflated in a sense. But the experience itself is very consequential.

Closing

Shaco is imo a fantastic tool for counter ganking, split pushing, and finishing team fights, with the correct team composition. It allows Shaco to be viable late game.

The are seldom used in the game at all and the most controversial part of my build. But if any one champion were to purchase insurance, and get the most value out of it, it would be him. And that's why are suited for Shaco.

So that was my first guide. I hope you liked it as much as I had fun thinking about and writing it, and not to mention playing it!