PASSIVE

Backstab Shaco's basic attacks and his E Two-Shiv Poison deal additional damage when they hit an enemy unit from behind. Scalings basic attack - 20-35 (+ 0.25 AD) Bonus damage scaling with Level, This damage can also critically strike Two-Shiv Poison - 15-50 (+ 10% of AP) Bonus magic damage scaling with Level Utilization On AP Shaco, his passive primarily increases poke damage and can help with CSing as well as all-ins. Ideally we want to try and throw Two-Shiv Poison when the Enemy Champ is facing away from us; besides that, we don't have to play around our passive.

Q

Deceive Shaco Teleports a similar distance as Flash he then enters stealth. While in stealth his next basic attack is empowered to deal bonus physical damage; it critically strikes if hit from behind. Scalings Bonus Damage on basic attack - 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 (+ 0.6 AD) If it critically strikes, it deals 155% damage; this can be increased by Infinity Edge Stealth Duration - 2.5 / 2.75 / 3 / 3.25 / 3.5 Seconds Utilization Deceive is a big part of what makes Shaco so incredibly slippery; therefore, it is our main tool to escape. But it can also be utilized offensively in early game both to increase damage in trades and to let us engage without giving much time to react. Note: basic attacks, using E Two-Shiv Poison and any Summoner Spell that affects enemies cause Shaco to leave stealth; he is free to cast W Jack In The Box and R Hallucinate during stealth.

W

Jack In The Box Shaco places a box, after 2 seconds it enters stealth and arms. If an enemy unit comes within 300 units range of the box, it will fear them and start attacking them. Scalings Single Target Box Damage - 25 / 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 (+ 18% of AP) Multiple Target Box Damage - 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 12% of AP) Duration while in stealth 40 Seconds (+ 5% of AP) Duration while active 5 Seconds Range - 425 units Mana Cost per Skill point - 70 / 65 / 60 / 55 / 50 Utilization Jack In The Box is AP Shaco's signature ability, which allows us to control huge amounts of space. We utilize it to keep enemies from stepping up during the laning phase as well as to ensure a safe escape in case we get engaged on. Mid/Late game we use it to Lock down Objectives and the Enemy Jungle. It also enables us to clear waves quickly. Special Interactions While active, the box has a range of 500 units The Box is treated as a pet; therefore, it can get CCed, which delays whichever action it's doing, so if CCed before arming, it will take the remaining time after being CCed to arm. The boxes deal 50% reduced damage against structures and can get targeted by them

E

Two-Shiv Poison Shaco Throws a point and Click Projectial at an Enemy . Two-Shiv Poison Slows The Enemy unit Hit for 3 Seconds and Deals 50% Increased Damage on Targets below 30% HP Two-Shiv Poison Also has a passive on it: Shaco's basic attacks slow enemies for 2 seconds, while Two-Shiv Poison Is off Cooldown. Scalings Damage 70 / 95 / 120/ 145 / 170 (+ 60% of AP) (+ 0.8 per bonus AD) Range - 625 units Slow on Passive and Active per Skill point 20 / 22.5 / 25 / 27.5 / 30% Utilization Two-Shiv Poison is mostly used as Poke but can also be used as an Execute, and to make gap closing/engaging easier through its slow. When all-lining in earlygame, we should always utilize Two-Shiv Poison's passive to give our team as much time as possible to kill the enemy. Which then gives us the option to use Two-Shiv Poison active to make gap closing easier or potentially execute them in case they get away.

R

Hallucinate Shaco goes untargetable & invisible for 0.5 sec he then teleports a small distance and spawns a clone of himself in his original location. He can then command the clone to walk to a desired position by either recasting/pressing R again or Alt+right-clicking; by using either on an enemy unit, he also makes his clone attack that target and stick onto them. This continues even after Shaco's death. When the clone runs out after 18 sec, he will instantly deal damage to all surrounding enemy units and then spawn a "nest" of three mini Jack In The Boxes, which will fear enemies for one second and will proceed to attack them for the next 8 seconds. Scalings "nest" damage - Singel target 25 / 50 / 75 (+ 15% of AP) "nest" damage - Multiple target 10 / 20 / 30 (+ 10% of AP) Clone Explosion Damage 150 / 225 / 300 (+ 70% of AP) Utilization Hallucinate is one of our strongest tools and can be utilized as an incredibly strong engage tool as well as providing us with the ability to dodge major abilities of our enemies, like Karthus's Ult= Requiem, for example. Hallucinate can also be used to teleport over smaller walls like shown below. Example video

Laning

Because AP Shaco is a mid/late-game champ, and the laning phase is his weakest period throughout the game. The safest option you can always revert back to is to mitigate enemy plays and focus on securing objectives and scaling.


So what does mitigating enemy plays look like?
You are going to set up boxes around the wave wherever enemies might try to step up (see setups below). This is going to at least give you enough time to react to an enemy's play, as they will get CCed or will force them to back down. More often than not, this will also result in the opportunity to get some Poke/AAs off for your ADC.
This works great into poke and enchanter supports, but engage supports are able to force plays a lot harder, so it can also be beneficial to put some boxes down behind the wave where your ADC/you are standing to secure a safe way out of a possible engage by them. This also works great against champs that have to get on top of you or at least are going to try and do so (think Samira, Alistar, Nilah, and Tristana).

Offensive plays

So you now already know how you can protect your ADC, but let's also look into how we can initiate plays. Your best tool to actually force plays is Ult-bombing/tethering, but that is also one of the hardest things to pull off on Shaco, so let's start with some easier ways to engage.

Hard Commit

"Hard Commit" is the most basic way to engage with Shaco. You are going to Q forward behind your enemy, place a box behind them, and start attacking away.
I would only really recommend you do this in two cases. Either you are playing HOB, and then you can always go for this, and if they don't have much CC, you will most often end up at least trading one for one. Or the other case would be that you have an advantage over your enemies, or you have to quickly force a play.
This can be a health advantage, your jungler is ganking your lane, or you simply know you'll win that engage for some other reason, like them lacking burst.
I only really utilize "hard committing" as a follow-up on a successful double box when I'm paired up with an ADC that has great follow-up. And this brings us to our second fairly basic way to engage:

Double Boxing

Double boxing is simply a follow-up box on a previously placed box.
This is an incredibly safe way to initiate an all-in because you don't have to commit nearly as hard as with the previously shown strategy. If your ADC follows up quickly, they won't even need your help in most cases, as the enemy will be CCed for about 1–2.5 seconds, as well as nearly tanking the entire first box.
What I often end up doing is, if the CCed champ is the support, I'll try and pressure the ADC in an attempt to take focus off my ADC.
But this is highly dependent on factors such as the health levels of everyone and if we'd simply be able to quickly burst the CCed target and get out.

Ult-tethering

Now we get to Ultbombing, far harder than what we've learned so far but incredibly strong if we pull it off.
For Ult-bombing/-tethering, you are going to place your clone in a spot where the max range indicator (shown below) lines up with the location of the enemy who you are trying to engage on. Then use Deceive to pass over the indicator line while you are in stealth so the clone TPs to your location.



We now have to get the clone to explode:
One way of doing this is to proceed and fake a "hard commit" engage by placing a box behind them and letting the clone AA the enemy.
But there are some things you should pay attention to to sell the engagement properly. If we didn't line it up properly, you will spawn the clone too far away from the enemy, which might give away that that isn't you, or if the clone hesitates too long to AA, that is going to have the same effect.

We could also time it so that the clone runs out exactly when it arrives or only seconds later. Again, lining it up properly is going to be even more important here. You can also time the clone's arrival to where it has 2–3 seconds left, which will give you enough time to let it walk on them to get the fear off; this makes the Ult-tether slightly easier.

Overview

Now we get to the part of the game where Shaco truly starts to shine and becomes the oppressive control mage that we love. So there are two main points we want to focus on: these are objective setups and split pushing/setting up for your team's push.


Setting up for objectives

As long as your team is going to try and contest an objective, it always takes priority. When setting up objectives, your goal is to hinder the enemy from reaching them, or at least poke them out so they are at a disadvantage when trying to contest them. Additionally, you just provide a lot of info to your team. You should take about 1.5–2 min to set up before the objective spawns to have enough time to provide extensive coverage with your setup.

I've highlighted basic box placements in red for when you've had enough time and quick setup options in green for when you didn't; prioritize those with a pink center.
I usually position myself on the other side of the objective pit or in the enemy jungle when I have a proper setup, so I can go for a double-boxes or clone plays . Also, I maximize my damage that way, ensuring they lose as much health as possible on their way to the objective.




Fallback zones

When there are no such things as objectives that take priority, we can always default to setting up for your or a teammate's push. Doing this either gives them more than enough time to get to safety or sets up a favorable fight for them.

Setting up in enemy jungle is pretty straightforward. You want to provide vision of the jungle adjacent to the lane that's being pushed out as well as place boxes throughout the choke points of said jungle. Also, choke points where multiple enemies might pass through or are highly likely to have enemies pass through are great spots to stack a few boxes. Here are common places I set up my boxes in:

Overview

Just like with everything we've talked about so far, you can also play/set up for team fights offensively or defensively, and which is more beneficial is dependent on your situation, but you can never go wrong with playing defensively.



Defensive
When playing defensively, you should focus on protecting your carries by setting up around the space your team is currently holding. It is especially important to protect your carries from potential flanks and to ensure they have a safe way to retreat from the fight.

Offensive
When playing offensively, you can go for flanks, cut off or delay isolated targets, or split up the enemy team by baiting some members of their team and then cutting them off from the rest. You should only do plays like this if you know they can't punish you too hard, you have a safe escape, or your team doesn't rely on your help in the first place.


Tips for team fighting

When playing defensively, stacking boxes is a great idea, as 1-2 boxes usually won't offer much protection from engaging enemies. This is especially the case in confined spaces and choke points, where stacking boxes is always something you should consider.

When placing boxes during a fight, it is always good to place them with some distance from where the fight is currently taking place, as otherwise they might get destroyed before arming.

What ADCs are good with Shaco?
Generally you can say that self-sufficient/"safe" ADCs are a perfect match; these are ADCs that have self-peel, long range, or high mobility. This is due to Shaco lacking direct CC and therefore not being able to protect his ADC consistently.





Engage Supports
Playing defensively is your only real option against engage supports, even with HOB, as they will always be able to turn all-ins in their favor. Your poke is generally insufficient against them; while setting up to allow your ADC to poke may be effective, you should primarily focus on getting to the midgame as quickly as possible.


Enchanters
Most enchanters don't pose a threat to us, but their heals and shields negate our poke, leaving all-ins as our only option when we need to get ahead during the laning phase.

However, be aware that some enchanters, such as Janna, are excellent at stalling your engage, while enchanters like Soraka, who provide heavy heals or shields, can effectively nullify your damage during all-ins.

When facing these kinds of enchanters, we're forced to either try to kill the support first or wait for an opportunity when one of them is isolated. However, reverting back to simply scaling is often your best option.


Poke Supports
Against poke supports, we can play "poke" or all-in them; both are possible.

However, when engaging/all-inning, we have to pay attention to their CC and damage spells, so less committed engages are often best; these would be ult-bombing/tethering and double boxing. Once they have blown their CC and damage spells, we can also just straight up "hard commit" on them.

This guide was mostly focused on teaching you the basics of Shaco support, but there is a lot more to him than what I've covered here. I'm collaborating with Fear The Jester on our guides; their guide covers a more in-depth version of what high-level Shaco support gameplay looks like.

Also, you might have noticed that there is no in-depth coverage about builds in this guide, contrary to what I've stated before; this is due to me not having enough time on my hands currently to do thorough testing on all the new builds.
So I can't guarantee that the showcased builds are still the best choices, but they should still be one of the better pickups. But if you're looking for the best support-focused Shaco support build, Fear the Jester has you covered.

Also, general support for this guide will be limited moving forward; I was mainly focused on providing a good guide for completely new Shaco support players to complement Fear the Jesters Guide.
This doesn't mean there won't be updates moving forward, but they may not be as quick as they probably should be.

Nonetheless, If you read my guide up until here, thank you. I hope you found it useful, and if so, I'd appreciate you leaving a like or +rep.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. I'll try my best to respond quickly.

As you can see, this isn't the end of the guide just yet. I'm covering some more info specific to my guide below.