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Shaco Build Guide by wikipro

Assassin wikipro's j0ker MECHANICS [S5]

Assassin wikipro's j0ker MECHANICS [S5]

Updated on February 11, 2015
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League of Legends Build Guide Author wikipro Build Guide By wikipro 174 12 2,361,050 Views 174 Comments
174 12 2,361,050 Views 174 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author wikipro Shaco Build Guide By wikipro Updated on February 11, 2015
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Shaco
    ASSASSIN WITH WAVECLEAR
  • LoL Champion: Shaco
    PURE SPLITPUSH BUILD
  • LoL Champion: Shaco
    PURE ASSASSIN

Introduction

I am a Shaco player from EU-West. I want to share my knowledge about Shaco with you. My guide differs from other guides of high elo players in some key areas(runes, masteries, itemization). Whereas these differences might be marginal at first sight, I can assure that this guide should be seen as a master plan about how to play Shaco. It's important to understand, if you want to follow my guide you should take into consideration that every single part like summoners, masteries, runes and itemization correlates with each other. Make sure to borrow the whole concept instead of picking out single parts to maximize your success with Shaco in the jungle.

Let me give you an idea who I am:

Shaco is easy to play and makes a lot of fun. Nonetheless it is very hard to master him and make plays on high elos. This guide shall help you to play Shaco with an optimal setup of runes and masteries. Furthermore I want to give you some ideas of an effective itemization for Shaco.

Last but not least I will give you some hints how to play in different jungle matchups to maximize your success with Shaco jungle. Sometimes I play with my smurf "030 j0ker".

If you follow my guide exactly you can have a streak like this easily ;)



Check out the 'Final Comments' chapter to learn how you guys can support me if you appreciate my work.
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Changelog

RECENT CHANGES

12/12/2014
  • Added new SoloQ Start Video
  • Items and masteries update
  • Item chapter update
  • Little overall changes to guide and build.

20/01/2015
  • Added Wikipro's Shaco Jungle Itemization Explained Video
  • Added Wikipro's Shaco Jungle Masteries Explained Video
  • Updated Gameplay Video chapter

10/02/2015
  • New Builds!!! Try out and tell me your impression. Recently I got awesome results with the Assassin Build.
  • Optimized and Updated runes and masteries
12/02/2015
  • Reverted runes and masteries changes
  • Added three brand new build for different scenarios

Check out the 'Final Comments' chapter to learn how you guys can support me if you appreciate my work.




FUTURE GOALS
  • Adding more Videos
  • Keep the guide up to date
  • Interact with readers and include desired content

You guys are welcome to message me via MobaFire or write into comments sections, I will try to answer you. You can also communicate with me via my Livestream. Although I'll do commentary in German language, I will answers questions in English. This can be an opportunity to see my gameplay of Shaco and ask questions or just share the SoloQ experience with me.

My Youtube videos will only have English commentary, so check them out too!

I would appreciate if you click on +rep, if you find my answers in the comment section of this guide helpful.
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Summoner Spells

RECOMMENDED SUMMONERS

Jungler take Smite! The reasons for Smite are simple: Buff Control (Blue/Red) / Dragon Control / Baron Control / Counterjungling. In S5 you can only buy Hunter's Machete when you have the Smite Summoner Spell.

There are not many options to talk about. In most cases you should take Ignite. Ignite increases your burst damage and therefore your killing potential significantly. Shaco is an assassin and early game playmaker so you usually shouldn't weaken yourself by not taking Ignite.

If you play Shaco for some reason in team ranked games you could think about taking Exhaust. But also in SoloQ exhaust can be the better option in some cases. Let me give you an idea against whom I take exhaust as Shaco: Assassins (Rengar/Zed/Fizz/Akali etc.), Burst champions (Syndra/Irelia etc.) and sometimes against hypercarries (Vayne, Jinx etc.). If our team has no exhaust and already two ignites I also take exhaust sometimes.



NO-GO SUMMONERS

No. You are neither Nasus nor Warwick. You have your Q as an escape mechanism. Even for engaging or chasing Ghost is not adequate for Shaco, because you are a squishy assassin, who cannot Ghost into a fight, because you would just get CC'ed to death.

No. You have your Q as an escape mechanism. You really don't need another one. If you take Flash as Shaco you would really waste a lot of killing potential, which can be increased by taking exhaust or ignite.

No. Indeed you are a split pusher, but taking Teleport would mean, that you completely give up your early game and focus on late game split pushing from the start. That's not how to play Shaco. Shaco is an early game playmaker who benefits from getting kills or assists in the earlier stages of the game. You are simply not able to snowball a game with teleport.
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Skills

Passive: Shaco deals 20% bonus damage when striking a unit from behind.

Click here for detailed information



Shaco instantly stealths for 3.5 seconds, and teleports to target nearby location. If he attacks while stealthed, the attack is guaranteed to crit for 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 % bonus damage.

Cost 90/80/70/60/50 mana
Cooldown 11 seconds
Range 400


Click here for detailed information



Shaco creates a Jack in the Box at the target location with 150 health. It will Stealth after 2 seconds, and pop out when an enemy comes near (300 range), fearing nearby enemies for 0.5 / 0.75 / 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 second(s) and attacking them.

It deals 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 (+20% of ability power) damage, and lasts 60 seconds while stealthed or 5 seconds while firing. Casting Jack In The Box does break stealth.

Cost 50/55/60/65/70 mana
Cooldown 16 seconds
Range 425


Click here for detailed information



Passive: While Two-Shiv Poison is ready to cast: Shaco's attacks poison his target, reducing their movement speed by 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 % for 2 seconds. Affected minions also have their chance to hit reduced by 20 / 22.5 / 25 / 27.5 / 30 %.

Active: Shaco throws a dagger to target enemy dealing 50 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 (+100% of ability power) (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) magic damage, and poisons them for 3 seconds. The passive is deactivated during the cooldown.

Cost 50/55/60/65/70 mana
Cooldown 8 seconds
Range 625


Click here for detailed information



Shaco stealths for half a second and creates an illusion of himself nearby, which deals 75% of Shaco's damage and receives 50% increased damage (Deals half damage to turrets and inhibitors). On death, the illusion deals 300 / 450 / 600 (+100% of ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies. Lasts up to 18 seconds.

Cost 100 mana
Cooldown 100/90/80 seconds
Range 250


Click here for detailed information




Important information before using Hallucinate within a gank/dive or a duelling situation

Click here for detailed information


How to duel an enemy?

Click here for detailed information


How to use Hallucinate within ganks/dives?

Click here for detailed information
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Skill Order




You should maximize Hallucinate since it is your Ultimate which does 600 magical damage at rank 3. This is pretty much and a high source of damage. Since most people do not expect that an exploding Shaco clone will do such an amount of damage.

Afterwards you should spend all your points in Two-Shiv Poison to maximize your damage output. Maxing (R) and (E) is pretty standard on Shaco, because it increases your burst damage.




Should I max JITB (W) or Deceive (Q) next?

Many High Elo Shaco players prefer to upgrade Jack in the Box over Deceive. What is the reason behind maxing W over Q? Let's compare the benefits of maxing both skills:



At level 12 you will have either JITB or Deceive at rank 4. Maxing Deceive will offer you less mana costs for your Q and dealing 200 % dmg on your next autoattack after using this ability. 200 % additional damage is equivalent to landing a critical strike on your enemy.

If you upgrade JITB first, you will do additional damage with your boxes at rank 4. 35 AP damage at rank 1 and 80 AP damage at rank 4. Furthermore your boxes will fear the enemies for 1.25 seconds instead of 0.5 seconds at rank 1.

Considering your role as a sneaky assassin and great counterjungler there should be no doubt that maxing JITB is clearly superior to upgrading Deceive. Your (counter)jungle Speed increases significantly by maxing W. Moreover you get a boost for your killing potential since additional 0.75 seconds fear duration can be the decisive factor if you kill someone or if you escape successfully. On the other hand maxing Q over W allows you to escape more often in dangerous situations because it reduces the mana costs of your Deceive. Therefore both options are legit and viable. You should decide on your own which playstyle you prefer more. Actually I proceeded to max Q over W since it is my only escape and I need as low mana costs as possible on it, while maxing W increases mana costs or your boxes, maxing Q reduces mana costs, so in terms of effective mana management maxing Q over W is superior.
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Runes

WIKIPRO'S SHACO RUNES

I tried almost any imaginable rune setup for Shaco and found out that these runes provide a perfect mix of attributes which are beneficial for Shaco in the early game:





Armor is required in S5 due to the fact that jungle monsters do increases damage and you need every source of damage reduction.

Taking Attack Speed runes is beneficial because it is a nice addition to your item build which has only Statikk Shiv as a source of AS, since Shaco scales pretty nicely with this stat.

Attack Damage is a good overall stat on assassins, while Ability Power works perfectly on Shaco due to his 100 % Scaling on his Two-Shiv-Poison (E). So it increases your early game burst damage on your E 1:1, which can be the decisive factor in getting early game kills. Furthermore the damage of your Jack in the Boxes will be increased slightly. Since there are no good offensive runes at Glyphs, AP seems to be the most beneficial way of maximizing Shaco's damage output.




RECOMMENDED RUNES




VIABLE RUNES

  • Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: AD is pretty strong in early game, because it will increase your early game burst damage. Solid alternative for AS-Quints.
  • Greater Mark of Attack Speed: AS increases your jungle clear speed, your trading potential and in general your damage output. It synergizes very well with your Two-Shiv-Poison Passive. Nonetheless AD marks are a better option to get early game damage.
  • Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Good against heavy AP combos to increase your early game trading potential.
  • Greater Seal of Attack Speed: AS increases your jungle clear speed, your trading potential and in general your damage output. It synergizes very well with your Two-Shiv-Poison Passive and is one of the key stats for Shaco. Armor runes are superior in S5.
  • Greater Glyph of Attack Damage: Only Good if you run movement speed quints to be able to apply the extra damage onto your target. Combine it with attack damage seals.
  • Greater Glyph of Attack Speed: AS increases your jungle clear speed, your trading potential and in general your damage output. It synergizes very well with your Two-Shiv-Poison Passive and is one of the key stats for Shaco. AP Glyphs superior for increasing early game damage, while AS-Glyphs scale better into lategame.
  • Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Gives you decent defense stats for mid-late game. Solid runes, but I would still prefer flat MR since you want to make plays before lvl 6 so flat MR will help you more. But if you think you cannot make plays in early game for some reason you can also take these runes since they are superior to flat runes due to the buffed scaling.
  • Greater Seal of Attack Damage: Only Good if you run movement speed quints to be able to apply the extra damage onto your target. Combine it with attack damage glyphs.
  • greater Mark of Armor Penetration: Armor Penetration is a great choice for auto-attackers since you apply noticeably more damage.
  • Greater Glyph of Armor: Gives you additional sustain during your jungle clear and in duelling situations. Not really worth compared to CDR/lvl or flat MR.
  • Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: MS is very important for Shaco, because it allows him to apply more autoattacks on the enemy, which will result in a greater damage output. Therefore MS synergizes very well with your Two-Shiv-Poison Passive (E), which allows you to slow the enemy permanently while AA them. It can also be useful for escaping from volatile situations.
  • Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: It's viable but scaling CDR is superior since you won't have much benefit of 10 % CDR (5% runes +5% masteries) in early since mana will be the limiting factor in most cases. In Mid-Lategame scaling CDR runes will make your ultimate and your Deceive fast available which is very helpful.
  • Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction: Make sure to spent 4 points in Sorcery for the 5 % CDR from Masteries. You will get 20 % CDR at level 18 without any items. Get blue buff + blue potion and you get 40 % CDR in lategame which is amazing on Shaco.




NO-GO RUNES

All other types of runes are usually not recommended, especially AP Quints. Although AP works with Shaco's (W) (E) (R) you have to consider that Shaco is mainly an Auto Attacker. JITB (W) are useless in fights since they get one shoted. Two-Shiv-Poison is a single target spell which scales same for Ad/AP, but if you use it, you will lose your AA-slow on targets. Your ult does only AP damage when it explodes! If you build AP on Shaco only your (E) and the explosion of your clone (R) will benefit from it. The explosion of your ultimate can be easily dodged. You will deal like no AA damage when you focus on building AP, so you would waste the AA slow from your (E) aswell as the high damage attributes of your clone by focussing on AP-runes and AP-items. AD is way to good on Shaco, so I would never go for Hybrid or AP-Shaco.

As I mentioned in the viable runes section already, only Glyph of Ability Power could be an alternative to increase your early game burst damage a bit since there are no good offense glyphs right now.




CONCLUSION

If you combine these runes with the masteries suggested in the following chapter you will get a very nice setup for S5 Shaco. After a lot of testing, and I really mean a lot I found out that the suggested rune setup is pretty good to carry the early game.
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Masteries




My current masteries look like this:



BENEFITS OF THE OFFENSE TREE

Following there will be an analysis of pros and cons of all mastery trees to find out which ones are most beneficial for Shaco.

Wikipro's Offense Tree
  • Fury : 5 % additional AS are so much worth for Shaco. Spend 4 points! A similar mastery in S3 gave you only 4 % AS. (++)
  • Brute Force : Additional 10 AD at lvl 18. Worth! (++)
  • Executioner : VERY STRONG!!!! Maybe the best change within the Offense Tree by the S4 patch. Spend 3 points into this and enjoy 5 % additional damage on targets with less than 50 % health. (++)
  • Expose Weakness : Strong since it works with boxes and clone as well. (++)
  • Martial Mastery : 4 AD for free. Take this by spending 1 point. (++)
  • Frenzy : Since you focus on Crit and AS this mastery is a must-have for Shaco. You can stack it up to 15 % additional AS. BEST MASTERY FOR SHACO!!! (++)
  • Devastating Strikes : 6 % Armor and Magic Penetration. Pretty nice for Shaco since all of your abilities apart from your Deceive do magical damage. These 3 points increase your autoattack damage aswell as your spell damage. Very nice for the Late Game. Nearly no benefits in the early game. (++)
  • Spell Weaving : This mastey synergizes very well with Shaco's kit. If you land 3 AA on the enemy your Two-Poison-Shiv Active (Spell Damage) will do 3 % additional damage. Spend this 1 point, it is worth. (++)
  • Mental Force : Additional 16 AP at lvl 18. Only viable in combination with flat AP glyphs and Arcane Mastery to get increased early game burst damage. (++)
  • Arcane Mastery: 6 AP for free. Only viable in combination with flat AP glyphs and Mental Force to get increased early game burst damage. (++)
  • Double-Edged Sword : This mastery is a double-edged sword. In some matchups and situations it can help you to kill someone, but in other cases you might die because of it. As a melee you get 2 % additional damage, while the damage you receive is increased by 1 %. As a Melee-Assassin you could think about taking it. NO RISK NO FUN :D (++)
  • Dangerous Game : This mastery is perfect for Shaco, since he is a squishy assassin who benefits a lot from getting a health & mana boost after killing the target. (++)
  • Havoc : 3 % additional damage for spending 1 point is very nice. Good overall mastery. (++)
  • Butcher : Additional 2 damage for minions or monsters. Fast initial clear is very important and this can help to improve the clear time. (+)




REMAINING OFFENSE TREE MASTERIES
  • Warlord : Only useful if you have a full AD rune page, because you will already get some bonus AD from it in early game. Huge in late game when you build a lot of AD. Both of my new mastery pages benefit from spending 3 points into it. (+)
  • Feast : Since we don't skill Butcher, we won't skill Feast aswell, because it depends on skilling Butcher. Nonetheless good sustain since they buffed it. (+)
  • Blade Weaving : Not useful on Shaco since only your E does immediate spell damage. Same like Expose Weakness. (-)
  • Sorcery: 5 % CDR. Compared to S3 you get 1% additonal CDR, same like I told before about AS. Pretty nice on many champions. I tried it out together with 5 % CDR from glyphs, that you start with 10 % CDR on Shaco. This is not worth since CDR isn't that good for Shaco in early game. If you use CDR/lvl Glyphs, you will have 20 % CDR at lv18 (15% runes/5% masteries). Thats amazing since you can easily stack them up to 40 % by using a blue potion and getting blue buff or by building Spirit of the Elder Lizard. This is incredible in mid-late game where you rely heavily on having your Q and your R as fast available as possible. Take this if you run CDR Glyphs, either scaling or flat, otherwise spent these points somewhere else. (+)
  • Archmage : You are neither AP Shaco nor Hybrid Shaco. No reason to even think about it. (-)
  • Arcane Blade : Nope! Useless on Shaco, since you don't build AP. (-)




CONCLUSION

In my opinion Shaco benefits a lot from the Offense Tree, because it increases his overall damage a lot. He benefits most from "Executioner", "Devastating Strikes", "Frenzy" and "Fury". Take 25 points for maximum damage output ;)




BENEFITS OF THE DEFENSIVE TREE

  • Block : Damage from autoattacks is reduced by 2, if you spend 2 points into this mastery. Decent against autoattackers. Take this to increase your trading potential in early game. (+)
  • Unyielding : Reduces all incoming damage by 2 (from Melees) or by 1 (from Ranged). Decent against other junglers and for ganks. Take this to increase your trading potential in early game. (+)
  • Tough Skin : Reduces damage from neutral monsters by 2, if you spend 2 points into this mastery. If you want to have save start and initial clear, these 2 points can help you. (+)
  • Veteran Scars : 3 points offer you 36 additional health. Great deal. Take it! (+)
  • Juggernaut : Increases your maximum Health by 3 %. Sounds like a mastery for Olaf (Health Stacking champions), but can save your life in early if it is a close duell and be the decisive factor if someone has skilled it or not, that's why almost everyone is spending a point into this. (+)
  • Oppression : Reduces damage taken by 3 % from enemies which have impaired movement speed. If Shaco autoattacks and therefore slows the enemy due to his Two-Shiv-Poison-Passive (E) he would receive 3 % decreased damage from the slowed enemy. It is like you would neutralise the havoc mastery point (3 % increased damage) which was spent by the enemy. Would rather take this on Shaco as Juggernaut.(+)
  • Recovery : 2 Health per 5 seconds. Rather useful on Tanks ;). If you are forced to spend points then i would rather get these 2 points than Enchanted Armor. So I would take these points if I would spent more than 5 points in the Defense Tree. (+)
  • Enchanted Armor : Increases bonus Armor and MR by 5 %. Well your only source of bonus armor will be Guardian Angel and Wriggles Lantern. Since only your bonus Armor and MR gets increased, this mastery is really not worth. (-)
  • Bladed Armor : Not worth at all.(-)
  • Resistance : 2 MR if you spend the 9th point into this Defensive Tree. Rather spend your 9th point into Oppression, since it scales much better into late game. (-)
  • Hardiness : 2 Armor if you spend the 9th point into this Defensive Tree. Rather spend your 9th point into Oppression, since it scales much better into late game. (-)




CONCLUSION

Get the maximum out of the offense tree and spent the other points wisely in defense and utility for maximum early game potential.




BENEFITS OF THE UTILITY TREE

Wikipro's Utility Tree
  • Fleet of Foot : Offers you 1.5 % MS. MS is an important stat on Shaco, because you need the mobility for ganking, counterjungling and covering lanes. (++)
  • Phasewalker : It's heavily underrated. If you are an experienced Shaco player with tons of games you will appreciate the faster recall animation, because it can really make the difference between a great escape after stealing enemy buffs or being just a dead j0ker. (++)




REMAINING UTILITY TREE MASTERIES
  • Vampirism : 3 % LS and Spellvamp for 3 points. Spellvamp works with your Two-Shiv Poison Active and with Smite. This is amazing! You will get sustain by autoattacking and by using your spells aswell as Smite. Decent amount of early game sustain. (+)
  • Summoner's Insight : Summoner CD's reduced by 10 %. It's not great, but ok.(+)
  • Wealth : This mastery gives you additional 40 gold at the beginning of the game.(+)
  • Meditation : 3 Points offer you +3 Mana Regeneration. Shaco needs a lot of Mana and getting increaes regeneration can help you a lot. (+)
  • Runic Affinity : This can be a key factor for your early game success. Your buff duration will be increased by 20 %! (+)
  • Scout : The cast range of your trinket items is increased by 15 %. This can be very useful if you need this little range advantage to ward through walls or brushes from a save angle or if you want to reveal wards from a save spot. (+)
  • Alchemist : This mastery is decent. The duration of potions and elixirs is increased by 10 %. It's a new mastery which increases your early game sustain and helps you slightly in late game by increasing the duration of elixir. (+)
  • Culinary Master : Your Health Potions will be upgraded to Cookies which provide additional 20 Health and 10 Mana after Consumption. Great for additional early game sustain. (+)
  • Strength of Spirit : Shaco's Manapool is soo low, you will never seriously benefit from the additional health renegeration from this mastery. Don't waste a point. (-)




CONCLUSION

Get the maximum out of the offense tree and spent the other points wisely in defense and utility for maximum early game potential.
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Itemization



IMPORTANT STATS ON SHACO



As you can see Shaco has good ratios on Attack Damage (AD) and Attack Speed (AS). It's obvious that both stats should be your prime selection in terms of itemization, because you want to build the stats on Shaco which are most effective on him. Let me give you an idea about the important stats on Shaco for a better understanding of my itemization.

  • Critical Strike Chance (Crit): Why is Crit so important on Shaco? Well, you are an assassin and you want to kill squishy targets as fast and effective as possible. You have a passive which gives you a 20 % damage boost when attacking the enemy from behind. Furthermore your Deceive (Q) will make your next basic attack deal Crit damage. Critical strikes deal 200 % damage. If you have a high amount of AS your chance to Crit increases dramatically. Thats the reason why AS and Crit synergize so well.
  • On-Hit-Effects (OHE): Why should I concentrate on those OHE? Shaco has a very unique ultimate called Hallucinate. It generates a clone of Shaco who deals 75 % of his damage. Furthermore OHE increase the damage of his clone significantly since they work on him aswell and deal 100 % of the damage dealt by those effects, e.g. Ravenous Hydra, Statikk Shiv or Blade of the Ruined King.
  • Lifesteal (LS): LS is pretty important for many AD-Champions, because it is often your only source of sustain. LS can also be used by your clone to sustain himself.
  • Movement Speed (MS): Shaco is an early game playmaker. You need to gank a lot, counterjungle heavily and help your lanes as much as possible. You have already a high base MS with 350, but you need additional MS to fulfill your role at the best.





BEST ITEMS ON SHACO

I used to recommend getting Ranger's Trailblazer and sell when you can afford Ravenous Hydra to get Stalker's Blade then. This is still a valid way to absue the fact of not upgrading the jungling item, but if you want to be able to make more playz in early game I suggest to buy Stalker's Blade at the beginning as long as you are not behind. Being behind means you died or the enemy jungler is fed while you are not.


Due to the low price you can think about buying them in early game to push your overall map presence and counterjungling potential and sell them in mid-lategame for Berserker-Greaves. Many Koreans still use Mobility Boots. I love the fact that mobilitys allow you to walk a longer distance in stealth mode. Therefore your lane ganks are much more effective.


It offers great sustain and an overpowered wave clear. You can farm like a boss now! Very good for Split Pushing! Huge DPS Boost! This is probably the best lifesteal item for melee champions in the current meta. Get this as fast as possible every game.


Great wave clear. Amazing passive, which can also Crit. Especially with Deceive (Q) and Shaco's Passive you can make tons of damage! Should be part of every Shaco Build in my opinion.


Got changed for S5. You start with 5 stacks when you buy it, but lose half of your stacks on death now. Only buy this if you are really ahead and can make sure that you won't die anymore or that the risk of dieing is really low. Can make you snowball even harder, but can also throw your advantage if you die.


Ghostblade is a very cost efficient item. If you use the active of Youmuu’s Ghostblade it mathematically outdamages Infinity Edge! That's why many AD-Carrys rush Blade of the Ruined King paired with Youmu’s Ghostblade for 2 Actives for the strongest Early Game Power Spike possible. It's also a great item on many assassins, since you have stats like armor penetration ad damage and crit on it. Furthermore the active is a good gap closer and it provides good amount of burst damage.


Until they nerfed the Lifesteal and passive of this item, especially the active range it was pretty strong on Shaco since it provided all those attributes he is benefitting from. Nowadays it gets outclassed by Ravenous Hydra. Nice item for objective control. In combination with Hydra you get superior Lifesteal.


This item is mandatory. It is the best item you can get on a Shaco because its passive increases your overall Crit damage. This item should be a part of every Shaco build.


This item is great to increase your overall damage. In Mid-Late-Game the enemy team probably has a lot of armor. This item helps you to shred their tanks and allows you to Split Push against almost anyone. A possible scenario would be: Your team has only AD damage and all enemies are stacking huge amounts of armor. Crit & AS wouldn't outclass Armor Penetration in this special case.


Possibly the best item in the game if you focus on AS and Crit. Can be bought as an addition to Statikk but should not replace it, since the unique passive on Statik Shiv is pretty strong on Shaco.


It is your only source of tankiness and your life insurance for teamfights. It's clearly superior to Warmorg's Armor because the Mid-Late-Game burst damage will kill you easily even with additional 1000 health. A Guardian Angel offers you the opportunity to escape from a teamfight with your Q after the revitalization.





NO-GO ITEMS


The Upgrade is not worth for Shaco since you get neither additional gold income nor any beneficial stats which would be superior to those you will get from your core items. After finishing Trailblazer you need to invest 1500 gold for the upgrade, while Tiamat costs 1900 gold. In terms of AD you will get almost the same amount, but Tiamat/Hydra will improve your Mid-Game, which is the weakest part for Shaco, due to the AOE damage and superior Lifesteal. Warrior won't boost your midgame since the stats it offers are pretty bad compared to Hydra. You only get 10 ArmorPen and 10 CDR which won't help you to carry anything.


The Upgrade is not worth for Shaco since you get neither additional gold income nor any beneficial stats which would be superior to those you will get from your core items. After finishing Trailblazer you need to invest 1500 gold for the upgrade, while Tiamat costs 1900 gold. In terms of AD you will get almost the same amount, but Tiamat/Hydra will improve your Mid-Game, which is the weakest part for Shaco, due to the AOE damage and superior Lifesteal. Devourer won't boost your midgame since the stats it offers are pretty bad compared to Hydra. Although you get a decent amount of AS and Magic damage, you will neither have enough AD nor Lifesteal. Furthermore you really have to focus on farming the jungle which is pretty hard for Shaco in early when Smite is on CD.


The stats of this item look pretty nice. AS & OHE for 2400 gold are not that bad. But nonetheless it is a wasted item slot, since the suggested items are much more gold efficient and this item won't help you to fulfill your role as an assassin. It is just a decent item, but got outclassed by BOTRK as an AS and LS item. It got outclassed as well by Statikk Shiv or Phantom Dancer which provide AS,Crit and MS. There is really no place to buy this item.


Trinity Force is an expensive item and it's Spellblade is best utilized in Early Game where it’s strongest. Spellblade’s bonus damage seemingly begins to diminish Late Game when we start applying crit for 800 Damage. That’s why contrary to it being a gold-inefficient item, it’s at the same time good for Early Game, because that’s when it shines. Trinity would only make sense if you buy it as a first item or immediately after Hydra. Therefore I do not build it. Additionally it would force you to spam your abilities to get as many sheen procs as possible which might not be beneficial as Shaco in many situations.

As I mentioned Crit is very important for Shaco. You should never take this item, because Infinity Edge gives you a huge burst damage, since its passive is synergizing so well with Shaco's kit. You get your LS either from Ravenous Hydra or BOTRK. Infinity Edge is clearly superior.


This item got nerfed so badly. You should never even consider buying this item. The stats in general are not that bad. You get AD and a nice OHE for 3000 gold. Compared to my suggested items, it is really not worth to buy this. Last Whisper outclasses a full stacked Black Cleaver at approximately 100 Armor. The combination of AS and Crit is superior below 150 armor. That's why I would recommend buying a Phantom Dancer. If you need an item for armor penetration Last Whisper is clearly superior.


Good item to assassinate targets. When it's on CD you lose a whole item slot. Definitely not worth, because with my suggested setup you can already kill squishy targets effectively.


It is a pretty nice item. You definitely benefit from all stats this item offers and it is gold efficient as well. Nonetheless Statikk Shiv is clearly superior, because it offers Crit, an OHE and a pretty nice wave clear. Phantom Dancer beats Statikk Shiv in terms of Shaco itemization, because 30 % Crit are way to important and offer a higher gold efficiency for champions who rely on Crit like Shaco does.





CONCLUSION

You might have realized that many items are strong on Shaco, but only a few items are really OP in the current meta and therefore allow Shaco to carry matches almost singlehanded. That's why I reduced my suggested builds to the only one I would recommend to play Shaco successfully.
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Matchups


AATROX
MEDIUM MATCHUP

AMUMU
EASY MATCHUP

DIANA
EASY MATCHUP

DR. MUNDO
EASY MATCHUP

ELISE
Medium MATCHUP

EVELYNN
MEDIUM MATCHUP

FIDDLESTICKS
EASY MATCHUP

HECARIM
EASY MATCHUP

JARVAN
Medium MATCHUP

KHA'ZIX
MEDIUM MATCHUP

LEE SIN
HARD MATCHUP

MALPHITE
EASY MATCHUP

MAOKAI
Medium MATCHUP

MASTER YI
EASY MATCHUP

NASUS
EASY MATCHUP

NAUTILUS
EASY MATCHUP

NOCTURNE
HARD MATCHUP

NUNU
MEDIUM MATCHUP

PANTHEON
Medium MATCHUP

RAMMUS
Medium MATCHUP

SEJUANI
MEDIUM MATCHUP

SHEN
EASY MATCHUP

SHYVANA
WORST CASE

SKARNER
MEDIUM MATCHUP

TRUNDLE
MEDIUM MATCHUP

UDYR
WORST CASE

VI
HARD MATCHUP

VOLIBEAR
MEDIUM MATCHUP

WUKONG
Easy MATCHUP

XIN ZHAO
EASY MATCHUP

ZAC
EASY MATCHUP
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Early Game [Only Pictures from S4]

Early game is very important for Shaco. In this stage of the game Shaco is pretty strong and can carry games easily.


HAVE A GOOD START

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HOW TO GANK BOTLANE

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HOW TO GANK MIDLANE

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HOW TO GANK TOPLANE

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If you gank successful in early game, it is very unlikely that you will lose the game. Read the following chapter to learn how to transform a successful early game into a save win!
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Mid Game [Only Pictures from S4]

When is Mid Game? Well it's not easy to define. One indicator can be the end of laning phase. When one team lost 2 turrets it's very likely that the roaming, grouping and team fighting will start. The early game in contrast relies heavily on the laning phase. So what is Shaco's role in Mid Game?

I already mentioned Shaco's job in early game is ganking as much as possible and counterjungling when it's reasonable. In Mid Game you should concentrate on saving objectives for your team. The main objective should be drake!

DRAKE CONTROL

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SPLIT PUSHING

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Late Game

Yolo queue games will not reach late game in most cases. Most games will end around the 30 minute mark.

Late game is usually all about Baron Control. Split Pushing in Late Game can be risky because every teamfight can decide the game. So if your team gets engaged while your split push, this could mean that you will lose the game. So what to do in Late Game as Shaco?

It is really situational and depending on the course of the game. Late Game is usually starting at 40 Minutes and as a Shaco your primary goal should be rushing Guardian Angel.

You simply need the ability to participate at baron fights. In the following chapter I will elaborate on Shaco's role in team fights!
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Team Fights [Only Pictures from S4]

Shaco and team fighting seems to be an apparent contradiction, because especially in late game it will be very hard to be useful in team fights.


What should a Shaco do in Teamfights?

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How to position yourself in different team fight scenarios?

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Gameplay Videos

I will just add some videos of Shaco gameplay within this chapter. Have fun!

Carry feeding and toxic top laners - Shaco Gameplay [Season 5]


Carry the Uncarriable - Shaco Gameplay [Season 5]




Just a selection from my youtube videos to show you guys how I play Shaco. If you like my stuff don't hesitate to subscribe to My YouTube Channel and vote for my videos.
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The Experiment

I did an experiment. I played with my unrated level 30 Smurf Account Shaco only in Ranked Games. Step by step I managed to buy runes to get at least one standard rune page with 15 AD 13 Armor 12 MR. When I reached Platinum V, I finally got this single full rune page.

Many people argue that Shaco is useless and that he is not viable. I made it to Diamond V within 109 games. I started unranked and won 8 of 10 games. Then I was rated in Gold V and played Shaco every single game. Of course I never trolled my team and adapted to other roles when it was necessary, but within these 109 games I played 107 games Shaco in the jungle and only one game as Shaco Support and another game as Shaco MID (AP-Shaco).

I would never recommend any of you guys to play Shaco as Support or on Lane. There are just better champions to fullfil these roles ;)

But as I want to show you with my little experiment Shaco is still a beast in jungle. I picked him every game no matter which team combo we had and it was possible to win. Nonetheless this experiment does not say anything about his viability in team ranked matches. But that's neither the point.

My goal was to demonstrate that Shaco is viable in solo queue and it is possible to carry every single game with him. I mean some games are not winnable no matter which champion you would have picked since there are other special solo queue factors, which make some games unwinnable.

Don't get dispirited by people spamming that Shaco is useless or flaming you for picking him. The more experience you gain with Shaco the merrier your results will be.

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Frequently Asked Question

Q: Which items should I buy and which buy order would you recommend?

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Final Comments

Thanks a lot for great support and making my guide such a huge success. I will try to keep this guide updated and provide you with my newest findings on Shaco jungle, if you guys want to support me, you can do some these simple things:

FOLLOW at Twitch
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Thank you in advance,

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