I am Shaco Mid Lane, I am a Shaco mid lane OTP. You might have seen me on HappyChimeNoises. That video might help you with more information about the pick. I am currently also working on a guide for Shaco mid on youtube so subscribe and stay tuned :)
I have reached Challenger on Shaco mid and I stream and I am on Youtube
https://www.twitch.tv/shacomidlane
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVvFq3Ox0VDFxu2o5gvFv0Q

I am still working on this guide so consider it work in progress.

You max E first in matchups where the enemy is ranged and has little to no sustain. If the enemy is too tanky or has too much sustain, you can go for W max. Then you farm safely for mid to late game.

Help your jungler, place 1 or 2 boxes to help him out.

Be careful with your mana and try to stack your Manaflow Band with your W if possible. If that is not possible, use your Two-Shiv Poison when Manaflow Band and Arcane Comet are up. You are extremely fragile and weak early game. The hardest thing to master as Shaco Mid is farming in lane. You can use your boxes to zone enemies so you can hit minions combined with your Backstab.
Once you have Manaflow Band stacked and you have Lost Chapter you can start spamming abilities to poke down the enemy.
Early game you are weak and won't have much pressure, play passively and try to reach mid to late game without feeding too much

Mid game your strength is setting up objectives with your boxes. You can now easily shove waves with your boxes and Damage over time. Snipe low HP enemies with your Two-Shiv Poison and tilt people because of how slippery you are. You could even bait enemies with your clone and make their life a nightmare.

Because of the runes, you can use your box whenever you can. Place as many boxes as you can preferably spread them apart so that oracles cannot clear them all at once. (think Teemo shrooms). You can use your boxes to weaken enemies before they get to the fight/objectives by placing them in the middle of the path they will walk towards.

You can also use your boxes by placing them closer to walls for when the enemy comes and your team wants to collapse on them. When they retreat they will likely walk into the boxes if they have not already and the fear will fear them into your teammates granting them easy kills. Make sure you push out waves and set up objectives in time by checking the amount of time your boxes will last for.

The real fun begins once you have Malignance as your clone will be very bursty if played correctly and together with your boxes and later with Landry's, you apply AOE burn damage to the entire enemy team. You will also be able to snatch enemies with your E.

Late game you are a beast. You can set up your boxes for important objective fights and they deal tons of damage because of the Liandry's Torment burn. Your job is to weaken the enemies before they get to objectives or to set up your boxes near the objective so your team has the advantage when they contest it. Unfortunately, your boxes are not so good against tanks.

Late game is not very different to your midgame playstyle, you will just have a lot more damage and your boxes last a lot longer. Prevent the enemy team from ambushing and flanking your team and play for objective control.

Your boxes will last between 90 and 130 seconds depending on the amount of AP you have. Use this to your advantage, you can start placing boxes in the enemy jungle near the objective that is going to spawn. Start with placing boxes in the enemy jungle and as the timer for the objective gets closer, you start placing the boxes nearer to the objective so they are up when the enemy has walked through the boxes in the enemy jungle. These boxes shred through the enemies HP and it provides for some good CC for your team to turn around.

Backstab Bonus damage from behind Your attacks from behind deal bonus damage, this also applies to your Two-Shiv Poison. Use this for farming, unless you are far behind you should be able to last hit caster minions after 1 tower shot with Backstab. Deceive Blink and stealth Can be used to dodge skill shots, escape ganks, reposition yourself in fights and to outplay. When you take damage, the enemy can see where you are so be careful of damage over time effects and (caster) minion attacks that are still chasing you when you press Q. Jack in the box Fears enemies and deals AOE damage Very versatile ability. You can use it to shove waves, to create pressure so that you can farm in lane and it can zone enemies at objectives. If it hits a single target it deals bonus damage but it takes some time to activate and is squishy. Combine with your passive to make farming easier and use this ability to give your team the advantage at objectives.

Two-Shiv Poison Throws a dagger and deals damage, can apply a slow to your auto attacks. Allows you to poke in lane and it allows you to catch low HP enemies. This ability crits when the enemy is below 30% health. When this ability is up, your auto attacks slow. Sometimes it is better to be patient so that you can apply the slow on your auto attacks and wait for the enemy to be low so that you can crit. Hallucinate Creates a clone that explodes when it diesMastering clone control is essential for AP Shaco. Your clone takes more damage and deals less damage than you which can reveal you. When the clone explodes, it deals massive damage and spawns 3 miniboxes. This ability is best used when it explodes on top of enemies as it makes all 3 miniboxes hit the enemy. You can combine Hallucinate with Deceive to trick the enemy into thinking your clone is the real you. Walk the clone out of range so it bounces back and then Deceive into the enemy. Ideally, you want to use your Two-Shiv Poison before you cast your ultimate as you can wait for your E to be up again with the confusion of your clone. If you E directly after ulting, it will reveal the real you. Bonus tip: When you use Hallucinate the real you spawns where your cursor is and the clone spawns on the opposite side of your cursor, you can hop over certain walls with this.

You want to max W against certain matchups against:
- Enemies who cannot be poked down with E
- Enemies with lots of sustain
- Melee champions that cannot be harassed with E (For example Yone because of his life steal)

I have set out what to max first for every champion

Pros

+ Free boxes for Mr(s) Jungler + Flexible pick + Tilts the enemy + Excellent objective control + Great late game + Liandry’s burn and Shaco AOE is great with Morellonomicon, Serpent’s Fang

The best part of this pick is how incredibly fun it is. It is excellent at setting up fights for objectives if your team is not too far behind. The mind games can be a massive tilt factor for the enemy and is guaranteed to provide you with your daily dose of dopamine.

Cons

- Poor waveclear - Weak early game - Can’t roam much - Gets flamed at :c - Difficult to farm vs ADC’s and zoning mages - Weak vs shields, healing in lane.

The downsides are that your early game is laughable so if your team feeds early game, you will struggle to turn it around as you are just as useless as a Kassadin in the early game. The enemy mid-laner can roam against you and you will often struggle to assist your team when that happens. You will also encounter teammates who give up or troll you simply because you picked Shaco mid.

There are some important mechanics you should know to push towers most effectively.
- Place your Jack In The Box against the wall so it does not hit minions and you get max single target damage to the tower
- Preferably place Jack In The Box once the tower starts focusing your cannon minion to get the full box duration in damage
- Use your clone for more damage
- Synchronise the attacks of you and your clone so you can walk away with the real you or your clone and they won't know which one is the real one (clone deals less damage and thus can reveal you if the attacks are not somewhat synchronised).
- Hug the wall in between the tower so you can escape over the wall with Deceive if the enemy comes.
- The tower will always focus the clone first if you are not damaging an enemy and your minions have died.

the quickest way to push towers is to have a (preferably full HP) cannon minion being focused by the tower, then you place your box (hugging the wall so it deals damage only to the tower, not the minions) and then use your ultimate to hit the tower with both you and your clone. Synchronise the attacks of you and your clone so the enemy does not know which one is the clone (as the clone deals less damage). If the enemy arrives back in lane, you can either walk away with the clone (so they chase it) or walk away yourself (safer play, less damage to the tower).

When trading, you can use your Deceive with Backstab for a surprising amount of damage. Just be careful as going for this combo makes you vulnerable to ganks. You can trade by throwing your E when your Arcane Comet is up. Against certain champions (Syndra for example) make sure you wait for the enemy to cast an ability so you can Deceive away and throw your [[two-shiv poison].

Other champions such as Katarina allow you to walk up to her and Deceive away after you throw your Two-Shiv Poison.

- The tower always focuses you first if you damage enemy champions under tower
- If you are not damaging an enemy under tower, it focuses your boxes first
- If your clone damages an enemy under tower, the tower focuses the clone. This is great for towerdiving.
- However, if you deal damage to the enemy while you are out of tower range and you walk your clone to hit the enemy champion under tower, it will not focus the clone.

SUMMONER SPELLS - FLASH: Why Flash? Flash allows you to make aggressive plays where you can snipe low hp enemies combined with Q E, or you can flash in and Q away. If you get ganked it is also nice as an extra escape and because you need to Q to avoid certain skillshots in lane having a backup is always good. IGNITE: Ignite - Kill pressure, snowball potential TELEPORT: In very difficult lanes it can be useful so you do not sacrifice too many minions in lane. Mid to late game it is great to get to objectives in time so you can set up your boxes.

ARCANE COMET ✦ Arcane Comet This rune allows you to poke more efficiently with your E. The ticks of your boxes reduce the cooldown on Arcane Comet allowing for multiple comets in teamfights later on. Great synergy with Shaco although it has two downsides. 1. It can reveal you during Deceive or Hallucinate if they walk into a box 2. Arcane Comet proc cancels your auto attack so you could lose CS because of that.

MANAFLOW BAND ✦ Manaflow Band As AP Shaco, you rely heavily on your abilities and you need to use a lot of mana. In lane, try to get your Manaflow Band stacked with your W or with E if that is not possible. Do not use your E to poke unless Manaflow Band and Arcane Comet are up.

TRANSCENDENCE ✦ Transcendence Very good rune for extra cooldown reduction, cooldown reduction is incredibly important. You rely on cooldown reduction to escape, to poke and to spam your boxes before teamfights.

GATHERING STORM ✦ Gathering Storm Amazing rune late game, it increases your box duration and your damage although it is a bit lacking in the early game

SCORCH ✦ Scorch Can be useful in the early game if you have kill pressure. It is a bit risky as Gathering Storm outperforms it if you cannot get an early lead with Scorch. Scorch is viable but you cannot always get the most use out of it because of Shaco's weak early game.

PRESENCE OF MIND ✦ Presence of Mind Arguably a bit controversial but I find it a great rune on AP Shaco mid. It ensures you won't run out of mana once you have Liandry's Torment. The burn on Liandry's gives you bonus mana regen because of this rune for seconds after hitting someone with an ability.

COUP DE GRACE ✦ Coup de Grace Extra bonus damage to increase your E execute damage. Nice.

CUT DOWN ✦ Cut Down This rune is amazing against tanks and enemies with lots of HP.

✦ Last Stand Great rune because you will often not be full-health when trading and baiting. Great option if the enemy team is not stacking a lot of HP (then cut down would be better)[/tr]
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SECOND WIND ✦ Second Wind Amazing sustain, makes your laning phase a lot safer, drawback is it does not provide mana.

OVERGROWTH ✦ OvergrowthExtra HP to make you tankier is quite useful, most useful rune on the Resolve tree after second wind.

MAGICAL FOOTWEAR ✦ Magical Footwear Movement speed is great on Shaco and this rune allows you to rush Liandry's without having to pay boots tax

BISCUIT DELIVERY ✦ Biscuit Delivery Great for sustain, provides a bit of mana as well, very useful if you are struggling in the early game.

Ionian boots of Lucidity These boots are pretty cheap and provide you with some great early ability haste. Ability haste and Ability Power are your most important stats. The more you can spam your abilities as Shaco, the better. These boots are also great for the summoner spell cooldown reduction.

Sorcerer's Shoes Buy these if you are playing against a squishy team and you are snowballing

Liandry's Torment Liandry’s Torment This is an excellent item for Shaco but requires Cooldown Reduction before you should buy can fully utilise it. Works excellently with Morellonomicon and Serpent’s fang.

Malignance Malignance Is a very strong item as it gives your ultimate more burst and it reduces the cooldown on your ultimate. Now that cooldown reduction is harder to get, you get more value out of cooldown items like these. Moreover, due to the mana on this item, it is the first item you should buy as lane Shaco because of your high mana costs.

Void Staff Great item as it allows you to shred through tanks. Do not buy this item if they do not have a lot of MR. If they have some MR, consider Cryptbloom instead.

Cryptbloom Cryptbloom should be built instead of Void Staff in situations where the enemy is building some MR but they are not fully stacking MR. This is because Cryptbloom provides ability haste, whereas Void Staff provides additional magic penetration. The heal on Cryptbloom is nice but should not affect your decision of buying one over the other.

Shadowflame Shadowflame Provides tons of extra burst and synergises extremely well with your Two-Shiv Poison, ensuring that it finishes off low HP enemies. It also makes it easier to shove waves with your Jack-in-the-box as the crit also applies to damage to minions

Mejai's Soulstealer Great for snowballing but very risky as Shaco relies on mind games and bluffing. If it does not work you lose your stacks. Movement speed and Ability Power are both needed on Shaco.

Cosmic Drive This item is good as it provides you with a solid amount of ability haste and it makes you slippery due to the movement speed. The downside is that the damage is somewhat low compared to alternatives. The trade-off could be worth though so it is worth considering.

Zhonya's Hourglass It allows you to make risky plays with Hallucinate and if it fails you can use Zhonya's Hourglass so that you can Q away after the effect has ended. Not as versatile anymore as it used to be. It does not provide any cooldown reduction. Therefore, consider this a situational item. It can provide you with survivability but the downside is that you will deal noticeably less damage compared to other items. Good into heavy AD teams and into champions such as Karthus where the Zhonya’s active can deny his ultimate.

Serpent's Fang Serpent’s Fang Is only worth it if you pair it with Liandry’s Torment as the burn damage extends the shielding reduction effect. This extremely situational item should only be considered if the enemy has *HEAVY* shielding. For example: Karma + Ivern or Shen. If the enemy only has 1 heavy shielding champion, it is likely not worth buying this item.

Seraph's Embrace Seraph’s Embrace is a niche item that could be used in difficult matchups. The shield procs on both you and your clone and if you are worried about getting bursted by for example Syndra, it is a life saver. The downside is that you will have considerably less damage and because you rely on items for damage as Shaco, this hurts.

Morellonomicon You can buy Oblivion Orb and upgrade it to the full item later. This is most effective once you have Liandry’s Torment because the healing reduction works with the damage over time. Only buy this if you require healing reduction.

Rabadon's Deathcap A very expensive item that you don't get to buy every game. Only buy this when you have an inventory spot left and you do not require the other items and if you are full build already. Shaco his AP scalings are not the best, often you will not get to build this.

Horizon Focus As you cannot proc this item with your boxes anymore, it is a no.

Stormsurge You do not have a lot of consistent burst, this item is worse than most other items for lane Shaco. Do not buy.

DARK HARVEST ✦ Dark Harvest Your early game is too weak to benefit from this rune. Although this rune is great in the jungle, in lane, it offers little to no extra damage making it even harder to snowball.

Horizon Focus This item although not horrible is just not as strong as the alternatives.

Lich Bane As AP Shaco you generally do not want to get into melee range to attack the enemy. If you do, you need to use your Deceive as a gap closer, this would put you in too vulnerable of a position.

Banshee's Veil Shaco does not benefit that much from the spell shield and the stats on Banshee's Veil are not great. Most of the time Zhonya's Hourglass massively outperforms Banshees.

Nashor's Tooth As AP Shaco, you do not tend to auto-attack a lot. If anything, you hit the enemy once combined with Deceive. If you are considering Nashor's Tooth, you probably should go AD Shaco instead. Nashors does not give you burst.