Shaco Build Guide by Eagzey

Hey guys, welcome to my Challenger Shaco guide! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Eagz and I'm a Challenger Shaco from the infamous Oceanic region (I was born in EUW so I inherently have more skill than every OCE player). I started playing Shaco in Season 6 Flex Queue which was late in the year, and hit Challenger in my first season of playing him - it was just meant to be I guess. My peak rank is 16 600LP - pretty underwhelming when I look back on it, but still an achievevment. I used to tilt and leave games back in the day I'll admit it, but on my day I'd consider my mechanics on the Jester to be the best world (inb4ocebtw).

I'll list some of my achievements on Shaco just to enhance the credibility...
◦ 3x Challenger Shaco
◦ Rank 1 Shaco World Early Season 8
◦ Highest Shaco KDA World for 3 Successive Seasons
◦ Hit Master Season 9 with a 6KDA
◦ Hit Diamond V on KR Server with a 6KDA and a 90% Win Rate on 180+ Ping
◦ Rank 16 Peak Season 8 (600LP)
◦ Best Shaco Mechanics World

If you do end up ENJOYING & LEARNING from this guide I'd really appreciate it if you could UPVOTE it to help it get out there!

COACHING: As of recently I've started coaching full-time and made a website at the start of this week to help me organise everything. Of course, Shaco is my speciality but all roles and elos are accomodated for.

20% OFF ORDERS AT THE MOMENT

The aim of the sessions is to get you thinking like someone in Challenger, and to teach you the habits of high elo. Clients climb divisions and tiers post-coach.

On top of coaching I also STREAM 6 nights a week so come check us out if you haven't already!

I also upload videos to my YouTube every week!

If you want to get in contact with me/join my community then click the Discord link HERE! I post when I go live, have client testimonials, and answer any questions that your heads throw at me!

Want to become the best AP Shaco you can be? WATCH MY SEASON 10 SHACO MONTAGE BELOW! (leave a like or reported no cap)




This guide will hopefully teach you guys, regardless of elo, something new and give you a newfound impetus for when you play Shaco. I will go over abilities, runes, builds, skill order for Season 11, but HOW you play the Jester is the most important thing, and that's my aim.

Before anyone says 'OCE', I'd just like to say that SoloQ is SoloQ. The best players from OCE have attained Rank 1 in NA, Rank 3-5 in KR, so if you really can't read this guide because I play on a server less competitive in high elo than others then no worries, I'm still going to sleep at night. But Summoner's Rift is the same, the champions are the same, nothing changes.

Alright, enough of the preamble, let's start with playstyle.

This is the most important chapter in the guide. When Rito changed Shaco way back in 9.20, they took my AD Shaco from me. Everything I knew about Shaco disappeared. So, I had to adapt, I had to think differently. AP Shaco was something I despised to be honest, so I started playing other champions and roles and only played Shaco a couple times. But I was still playing at a higher level on the Jester than other champions. I started to figure out a new playstyle, and started to THINK differently on him...

It's not about one-shotting or power farming until 3 items...it's about COOLDOWNS and LONGEVITY. AP Shaco isn't meant to be played (in my opinion at least) like an assassin, he's meant to be played like Shaco was designed to be played - a pain in the enemy's rear-end. AD Shaco was about stealth and nuking enemies; AP Shaco is about micro and IQ. I'm sure you guys know who Pink Ward is - that playstyle is very similar to how I go about my business.

Here's one clip utilising most of what AP Shaco has to offer...

Quick note on Summoner Spells - run Ignite and Smite, no debate.

The next two chapters revolve around AP Shaco's identity: COOLDOWN & LONGEVITY.

There's ONE rune page I'm running.



If you watched the Season 10 montage I linked in the 'Introduction' section, you'd notice how many times I got Dark Harvest stacks from AoE (Area of Effect) damage and from my boxes spawning when my R dies, or from random boxes I placed prior to a fight. Remember, because we're not one-shotting enemies Electrocute is a lot less useful - we're more about AoE damage rather than just single target damage.

Taste of Blood gives us sustain in fights so we can stay around longer and throw more two-shivs, place more boxes etc. Eyeball Collection is easier to stack in my opinion, and Ultimate Hunter is better than the other three. When every other champion is level 6 Shaco is pretty useless without his ultimate. If a big teamfight breaks out and I don't have my R, might as well ff. Great with cloud drakes.

The new Transcendence gives us 5 ABILITY HASTE (which is the new version of cooldown reduction) at level 5 and level 8. This is the equivalent of 9%CDR, so it plays towards our champion's identity. After we hit level 11, assists and kills on enemy champions reduce the remaining cooldown of basic abilities by 20%. This = more stealths, more boxes, more shivs, and if the fight goes long enough...more ultimates! Gathering Storm has always been a favourite for me - enhances our mid-late game spike.

The minor runes stay the same for all pages. Attack speed lets us clear efficiently early game and duel if we have to. Without it our clear is Iron IV. Adaptive Force as the second choice, kind of obvious, and Armor/Magic Resist as the last option depending on enemy comp.

Right, we're almost done with the pre-game information. When I build on Shaco, and the same goes for runes, I'm only interested in the best setup. I don't really care if another item works well, or it may seem interesting to use, I'm only interested in building optimally. If I'm not running the most effective setup for Shaco in high elo, I'm already at a disadvantage because everyone knows the best builds, runes etc. for their respective champs. By all means, if your intention is to have fun when playing Shaco and experimenting with builds is one of the ways you have fun, then don't let me stop you, but if you want to win and give yourself the best chance of winning, this is where you engage that dormant organ inside your head (sorry, that was my second face).

STARTING ITEMS



For Season 11 the only jungle items available are the starting jungle items - Hailblade (which is essentially blue smite), and Emberknife (essentially red smite).

EARLY GAME ITEMS



Early in the game I want to start building toward Fiendish Codex and Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Why? ABILITY HASTE! You get 25 Haste from these two items which is the same as 20%CDR. The reason for Fiendish Codex is because it gives us enough power (30AP) for the first 10 minutes to clear camps and fight. We don't actually build this into anything for a couple of items, we sit on it and you'll find out why soon enough.

In terms of boots, I'm not sure why you wouldn't run Ionian Boots of Lucidity - my aim is to increase my Haste as soon and as much possible (ABILITY HASTE HAS NO CAP!) They're only 900 gold, and boost our early game. Sorcerer's Shoes seem okay, but my playstyle doesn't require me to build Magic Pen early in the game. If I ever wanted Magic Pen I'd buy a Void Staff later in the game.

MYTHIC & CORE LEGENDARY ITEMS



Night Harvester is our mythic item. This into Nashor's Tooth into Cosmic Drive is the core of the build and we build this EVERY GAME.

NIGHT HARVESTER (3200G) BENEFITS
◦ 80 AP - pog
◦ 250 HP - increases our survivability on Shaco
◦ 15 Ability Haste
◦ 'The Reaping' passive effect: damaging an enemy champion deals an additional 175-250 magic damage based on levels (+ 15% AP)
◦ 'The Reaping' passive effect: grants 25% movement speed for 1.5 seconds (60 second cooldown) (utility is great on the Jester)
◦ The mythic passive: grants all other Legendary items 5 Ability Haste (at full build this gives us an extra 20 Haste)

NASHOR'S TOOTH (3000G) BENEFITS
◦ 100 AP - POG
◦ 50% Attack Speed
◦ 'Icathian Bite' passive: attacks apply on-hit magic damage (15 + 25% AP)
◦ Easier to take objectives (towers, drake, baron etc)
◦ Easier to clear camps
◦ On-hit damage for us and our clone

COSMIC DRIVE (3000G) BENEFITS
◦ 70 AP
◦ 200 HP
◦ 30 Ability Haste
◦ 'Spelldance' passive: dealing damage with abilities (QWER) grants move speed for 4 seconds (10 + 20% Ability Haste)

Night Harvester and Cosmic Drive is a sick combination not just due to the insane stats, but also because the movement speed from the passives stack...they cannot touch us!

LATE GAME ITEMS



Our choice here is dictated by the enemy team composition and their items.

DEMONIC EMBRACE (3000G) BENEFITS
◦ 70 AP
◦ 350 HP
◦ 'Azakana Gaze' passive: dealing damage burns enemies for 1.5% max health magic damage every second for 4 seconds
◦ 'Azakana Gaze' passive: gain 10 armor and 10 magic resist while a champion is affected (+2.5 armor and magic resist for each additional champion affected)

Great all-around item. Great against tankier compositions because of the burn. Also great against high-damage compositions because of the armor and magic resist.

ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS (2500G) BENEFITS
◦ 65 Ability Power
◦ 45 Armor
◦ 10 Ability Haste
◦ 'Stasis' active

Another great item for our playstyle. Stats are great, cheap as chips, and the active gives us playmaking potential and survivability.

BANSHEE'S VEIL (2500G) BENEFITS
◦ 65 Ability Power
◦ 45 Magic Resist
◦ 10 Ability Haste
◦ 'Annul' passive: grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability (40 second cooldown)

Exactly the same numbers as Zhonya's Hourglass but swapping the armor for magic resist. Build into compositions that have big ability power threats with game-winning skill-shots (eg. LeBlanc, Lux, Ahri etc.)

VOID STAFF (2500G) BENEFITS

◦ 65 Ability Power
◦ 40% Magic Penetration

Build this when those enemy carries start building magic resistance (eg. Maw of Malmortius, Wit's End, Mercurial Scimitar).

LICH BANE (3000G) BENEFITS
◦ 80 Ability Power
◦ 10% Movement Speed

Synergises great with Nashor's Tooth but that's about it. It lost its cooldown from the 10.23 changes. Movement speed is nice, but better options in my opinion. Build if you're really head and want to one-shot enemy carries who have no magic resist.

RYLAI'S CRYSTAL SCEPTER (3000G) BENEFITS
◦ 90 Ability Power
◦ 350 Health
◦ 'Rimefrost' passive: damaging abilities slow enemies by 30% for 1 second

Great chunk of AP and health, and the passive is also useful. If the enemy champions are slower we're essentially quicker = survivability = more cooldowns. Again, I think there are better options but still useful with our kit.

FULL BUILD IN MOST GAMES



Level 18 stats with 100 ABILITY HASTE/50% COOLDOWN REDUCTION!











Blue Buff adds another 10 Ability Haste (52%CDR).

I'm going to show you two clears for both sides.
◦ Red + Raptors > Small Wolf > Blue (Level 3) (EAGZ CLEAR)
◦ Red + Raptors > Krugs (Level 3)

In every game run to your red buff entrance and place a box - this discourages the enemy team from invading. Your setup is very important as Shaco - you struggle to clear jungle camps without multiple boxes in the early game.

***YOUR FIRST BOX NEEDS TO BE PLACED AT 50 SECONDS***

***YOUR 4TH BOX NEEDS TO BE PLACED OVER THE WALL WHEN YOUR 3RD BOX IS LESS THAN HALF HP - THIS IS THE KEY PART OF THE CLEAR***

BLUE SIDE BOX PLACEMENTS









EAGZ CLEAR - BLUE SIDE



KRUGS 3 CLEAR - BLUE SIDE



RED SIDE BOX PLACEMENTS









EAGZ CLEAR - RED SIDE




KRUGS 3 CLEAR - RED SIDE

Q JUMPS


V JUMP



WATERFALL JUMP



FIRE JUMP



TREE JUMP



ROCK JUMP



STREAM JUMPS



R JUMPS

Thanks so much for reading all the way until the end! If you enjoyed the guide and learned from it please UPVOTE it to let me know!

As aforementioned, I stream 6 nights a week for a few hours - everything from ranked, theory-crafting, QnA's...you name it, so come check us out HERE!

Good luck in Season 11 fellow Jesters!