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- About me - Greetings MOBAFire readers, I'm Brouitup, Diamond player, former main jungler of Tempest Gaming Hailstorm team. I went through all divisions mostly playing Shaco. Since a lot of players kept asking me on my stream how i build him, what runes do i use or what is my exact strategy to always get first blood on my invades, so i decided to make this guide with the best of my knowledges to help out new Shaco players or to give veteran players that are looking for an efficient solution to reach diamond in no time. (I did it on both my NA accounts, believe me, it is working) - Where to Follow me ? - If you like this guide and you want more tips or examples on how to play Shaco, you can follow me easily by clicking the links below. It's always appreciated to see new friendly players. My LiveStream: twitch.tv/brouitup My YouTube channel: youtube.com/brouitupthejungler My FaceBook page: facebook.com/Brouitup - What's in this guide ? - This is a jungling Shaco guide focused on solo queue gameplay from Bronze V to Diamond I. In this guide, you will see what runes/masteries I use and why I use them. You will learn how to get a very easy first blood by invading the ennemy jungler. You will learn your role in the different stages of a game (early, mid and late). But the most important thing you will learn is how you can lead your whole team to the victory in ANY team composition, in ANY division.

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Hello Shaco player! You want to start stomping games right away ? You don't have time to read this whole strategy guide but still you want an edge on your opponents ? Watch this video ! I made this tutorial while playing ranked games in high Diamond. In this video, I will show you how to get the first blood on ennemy jungler everytime in solo queues. By using this simple technique, you will give an advantage to your team every game you play. Enjoy !




I hope you enjoyed this early game technique. Getting first blood is a very good play, but this will not guarantee your team a win. Keep reading the guide to learn more about Shaco and to learn what you should do in all other stages of a game.

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Pros

+ Early presence + Good at counter jungling + Very fast split pusher + Can outplay any champion + Has no limit on play making + High skill cap, hard to master

First of all, Shaco can win the game within the first 5 minutes of a game. If you can invade, get a kill on the ennemy jungler or simply succeed few good ganks, you may lead your team to a free victory. I personnaly always invade at level 2, I try to kill the enemy jungler to slow him down, and if I can't, I'll try to buy as much time as I can in his jungle. Mid laners will often try to help their jungler, this is when I'll just run in a dangerous way and try to escape with my Deceive. This way, my mid laner should be able to take a level on his oppenent and win his lane easily. Shaco can either team fight or split push, depending on their team composition. I love split pushing because he has big damage and he can destroy towers very fast with his ultimate. Not many champions can 1v1 shaco if well played, and this is why he is a strong split pusher, you can win the game all by yourself. With his Deceive and his Ultimate; Hallucinate, Shaco can outplay any champions because it is impossible to predict what is gonna be your next move. The limit of play making is the limit of your imagination.

Cons

- Low base HP/resists - No viable tanky builds - Lot of players don't know how to play with a shaco on their team - High skill cap, hard to master

Every one knows that Shaco is a really squishy champion, he has a very low base health, armor and magic resistance. This is why you can't afford getting caught in a bad position, you will melt. Unfortunately, tanky items dont fit well with Shaco, you really need to build damage if you want to be efficient with the champion. This is why you're top laner has to pick a bruiser or you won't have any tank. Shaco's Deceive is your only escape, whenever you Deceive to kill an enemy, you have to be sure you will kill him or you won't be able to run away. Good Shaco players are all about using Deceive at a good moment. You should always try to simply run to the target and keep deceive to escape when you are not 100% sure to kill. The point I hate the most about solo/duo queue, is that people dont play with a Shaco very often, so they may throw the game before you can do anything. You really have to explain your team how split push works and let them pressure an objective before you show the other team you are splitting. A good Shaco needs to take the lead of his game and bring it to victory. Shaco looks a pretty simple champion to play, but you just can't stop improving your skills with this champion. He is hard to master but worth a try ;)

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The first thing I look at when I want to play Shaco is the enemy team composition. If they have more than 2 bruiser, Shaco may not be the best pick. You need at least a squishy mid laner and a squishy support or jungler. The real power of Shaco, is killing weak champions even before they realize you were in their back. Your team needs to have some good CC (crow control) to maximise your efficency. If you have a top Tryndamere, Master Yi, Teemo, or any champs without cc, Shaco isn't a good pick. You also have to be sure that your team can win a 4v4 if you ever need to split push. You may not want to play Shaco if there is a Lee Sin on the other side. I personnally beat most of them in their jungle but when it gets to team fight, all his abilities counters you and can get you killed even before you make 1 dmg. Good counters to shaco are : Lee Sin, Lulu, Rammus and Pantheon, so pay attention to ennemy picks and pick shaco wisely.

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Smite is must have summoner spell. It is not optionnal, you have to take it no matter what. Basically it decreases your jungle's clear time by helping you in killing monsters faster. But the main reason you want to take smite is to make sure you will be able to last hit important monsters; red buff and blue buff and to secure game objectives; dragon and baron. You will see, in my guide, that with Shaco you have to invade ennemy jungle very often so Smite is more than necessary to do it well. Smite can also be used in other helpfull ways. You can use it on lane minions to push the lane faster (in this case, it is better to use it on Siege Minion). You can use it to kill Annie Summon: Tibbers, Malzahar Summon Voidling and Heimerdinger H-28G Evolution Turret. There is also one precise situation where you can get a champion kill with smite. When Zac is in his passive Cell Division, you can use Smite to damage/kill the last bloblets and get this "free" kill. So, as you can see, there is too many good reasons to use smite and I can't even think of one good enough to not take it. In my opinion, Smite + Ignite is the only way to play Shaco, but if you disagree of would like to try something else, I will still present you other "viable" options for your second summoner spell.

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Ignite is, in my opinion, the only second summoner's spell you will want to pick when you play Shaco. Because you want to be a strong early game threath for both ennemy laners and ennemy jungler, you need a lot of damage and Ignite provides some. Because you want to invade ennemy jungler level 2 to get first blood, you need to have Ignite, because without it, you may not be able to secure it. You play Shaco, your team don't expect you to farm your jungle slowly and peacefully, you are there to kill and install constant fear your ennemies head. You want to play very aggressively in early levels and Ignite synergize just too well with this playstyle, so I higly recommend taking it. But still, if you don't feel comfortable with it, I will present you three other options.

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Flash is a decent summoner spell that you can use when playing Shaco. But, I recommend it only if you are a new Shaco player. In general, it is considered to be the "best" summoner spell because it provides a free escape or a free gap closer for any champions. But when you will become more comfortable with Shaco, you will soon realize that with your ability Deceive, you can do the same thing and, obviously, it is on much shorter cooldown than Flash wich is on a 5 minutes cooldown. In some scenario (when Deceive is on cooldown, when you want to gap close even more or when you are really deep in ennemy side and want to escape very quickly), Flash can become very handy. But with time and practice, you will learn to play without it. You will learn to keep your Deceive for the right moment to use it. And with all his kit, Shaco can escape nearly all situations without Flash Not to mention that if you pick Flash over Ignite, it is no longer worth trying to invade ennemy jungler level 2 to get first blood since this nice play became just too risky for the potential reward. In short, if you just started playing Shaco, use it to get familiar with his kit, otherwise, i recommend Ignite. But, if you want to try something different, keep reading to see your 2 other options.

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Teleport is a very decent summoner spell for a lot of top lane champions and some mid laners. Teleport on a jungler is not very common but it has some potential on strong split pushers like Master Yi Jax etc.. Shaco can also benefit from it in mid/late game situations to split push, but it is more situationnal. When a strong split pusher like Master Yi is pushing a lane alone and his team gets engaged he wants to be able to Teleport as fast as possible in the fight to help his team win it. But as Shaco, you don't really want to Teleport back in the middle of a fight since team fight is not your strenght. So like i said, it is more situationnal, like when ennemy has an open inhibitor or a lane is pushing to a turret with a huge wave, you can teleport there and quickly take the objective and get away. Since it is very situationnal and possibly won't be even needed in the game, I think it's not worth take this over Ignite or even Flash. Not to mention that in solo queue, it is a bit harder to coordinate a good use of Teleport with the rest of your team. But, if you want to try something more "unusual but still viable", Teleport is not an horrible pick. I do not recommend it in ranked but can be fun in normal games. Now let's take a look at the last possible option.

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Exhaust can be an option to consider if your team really needs one in situations where there is champions like Tryndamere, Vayne, Fiora etc.. on ennemy team and all your teammates aren't taking it for some reasons. You will end up doing a small sacrifice for the greater good. It will help you in your ganks by slowing ennemies and reducing their damage output. But if you are using Exhaust over Ignite, there is more chance that your laners will get the kills when you gank, wich isn't a bad thing in itself.. BUT if this is what happens, remember it will take more time for you to become a monster and be able to 1v1 anyone on ennemy side, wich is required for you to do your split push late game Shaco style. In the end, you probably even won't be anywhere near your team when they will need you to Exhaust that monster Tryndamere and the sacrifice you made by picking it will now be kind of useless. If your team has one (wich is almost always the case), I strongly suggest you don't even consider picking it since it gives you such a strong handicap in your early game versus what you will benefit from it later on. Remember, you are Shaco, an extremely devastating Assassin to fear, not a second support to your team.

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• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage : I take some more damage to help me burst more when i come out of stealth. Plus I run 21-6-3 mastery tree to get Fleet of Foot tier 3 in the utility tree so like that we still have some extra movement speed and we can pick damage quint here.
• Greater Mark of Attack Damage : A good Shaco needs a good burst, this is why I use flat damage with my mark runes. I need that damage to clear my jungle faster and to have more impact on ganks.
• Greater Seal of Attack Damage : Most people use only armor on these runes, but as Shaco, you don't want to have so much armor. When you fight, you have to kill your target very fast or you are going die anyway with or without extra armor. Shaco is not the kind of champion that will auto attack for a long time and last long in a fight, you need all the damage you can to burst your opponent as fast as possible then run away.
• Greater Seal of Armor : I feel this 3 extra armor gives me some sustain early in the jungle while it still allows me to pick extra AD runes for seals to burst faster. This is an aggressive playstyle, and I like it this way ;)
• Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction : Most people use magic resistance, but since i'm playing very agressive playstyle and I tend to invade A LOT, i like to have extra CDR to get access to my Deceive more often

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Offense Treemust have mastery. Fury , Brute Force , Martial Mastery , Warlord , Devastating Strikes and Frenzy will all give you overall increased damage aswell so those are the classic AD masteries you will want to take. Since you will most likely play Shaco in the jungle, you will need to invest 1 point in Butcher wich will help you clear all your jungle camps faster. For the remaining 3 points, you will invest them in Executioner wich will fit perfectly with an assassin playstyle, you can finish off medium/low hp targets faster.


Defense TreeUtility Tree

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This is my usual abilities sequence. Unlike any other junglers, as Shaco, you can clear your first buff (lizard or golem) very fast without any leash. In order to do so, you need to start with your Jack In The Box ( W ). You place 4 of them right below the lizard spawning location so when he spawns (1:55), they will burst him down really fast. After that, I place my level 2 point in my ( Q ) Deceive wich is required to successfully get first blood on the ennemy jungler on my invade (see my video in introduction section for more details). Level 3 I pick Two-Shiv Poison ( E ) to make sure I have all my tools as soon as possible to do my job. After that I invest in my points in my ( E ) Two-Shiv Poison whenever I can because this spell gives you a lot of burst damage when you start fighting someone plus, the slow is very nice to catch up someone wich is out of range for your melee attacks. Unlike many Shaco players, I do not max out my ( Q ) because most of the time, I will use Deceive to escape ennemies or ganks or whatever situations i'm about to die in so I won't benefit from the extra damage from it most of the time anyways. I will now explain you each abilities a little bit further one by one.


Backstab (passive) : Gives you extra damage when you attack someone in their back so make sure you always try to position yourself behind your opponent. This extra damage can really turn the outcome of a fight into your favor.

Deceive ( Q ): This ability is 90% of Shaco. All good Shaco players will use this abilty very wisely. When you are sure to kill the target, you may use Deceive to get to it. Of course you have to Deceive from a position he won't see you comming. You have to care about the little smog animation this ability does, it could kill you. It is very important to NOT use your Q to engage when you are not sure to win the 1v1. You have to use your Q to dodge a skill shot or to flee. I will never engage with Q when Im trying to kill a Riven, a Kha'Zix or a Lee Sin ! They are too powerful and I have to outplay them to win the fight.

Jack In The Box ( W ) : This ability is very useful to clear your jungle, it can tank for you and has good damage too. I will use this this ability to invade and kill the other jungler (see more details in my video in the intro). A Jack In The Box can help you 1v1 someone, can fear a whole team but I will use this ability mostly when I want to flee. With the recent changements on 'fear', champions that get feared run on the opposite way, gives you some time to run and refresh cooldowns on other abilities.

Two-Shiv Poison ( E ) : This ability is very usefull to burst your target and to slow him after a flash or a dash. When I deceive behind a champ that I can burst, I will use e right after the first hit. But when im trying to kill someone like Tristana, Corki or any champ with a dash, I will keep my E to slow him up and try to catch him after they used it.

Hallucinate ( R ) : I call this ability, the limitless ultimate ! I can use it to make damage on an enemy champions, of course, but I can use it to bait a whole team or dodge
some spells. When I have low hp and I know there is any champs hiding near me, I send my clone and try to bait all his abilities just before going at his back with my Deceive and kill him. I will use my ultimate to dodge lots of damage, like Syndra ultimate, Ziggs ultimate or even Zed ultimate ! If you have a perfect timing, this ultimate can save your life !

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I always start with a Hunter's Machete, 2 Health Potion and a Stealth Ward. As soon as I can, I will use recall to buy my Stalker's Blade, and then immediatly get my Berserker's Greaves. I need the Stalker's Blade to have some more burst with the chilling smite but I won't complete the enchantement warrior just now, I will buy my Berserker's Greaves to have more DPS and movement speed early. Some people would recommend Mobility Boots, but I don't. You want more dps. When I will go to shop, I will buy a Stalker's Blade - Warrior.

Right after Stalker's Blade - Warrior, I will rush Tiamat and complete it into a Ravenous Hydra as soon as possible. This item gives me a good early burst, a good lifesteal and a great split pushing help if needed. I can now start split pushing or keep ganking , depending on the game. After Ravenous Hydra, I will buy my Statikk Shiv to crush every champion on the other side, once you have this item, you should be able to 1v1 any other champion, if you play well of course.
Then will come the defensive item : Guardian Angel. Guardian Angel is a great item for team fight, you can engage, take the burst on you, die, then keep fighting. It is not the best item to split push but it gives you a second chance when you fail your 1v1. I am not buying Sunfire Aegis because I like to rush towers, and Sunfire Aegis will make the tower hit me immediatly if some one tries to defend it.

For last item, when im ahead, I will get a Trinity Force, to destroy ennemies and structures faster. I im behind, I can buy a Randuin's Omen. With a build like this, you should be able to carry any team to victory !!

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My role early game, is to shut down the other jungler. If I can slow him up enough, the game mgiht be won very early. I will try to kill him at level 2, I will counter jungle him the most I can. I want him to request help from his lanes and slow up all his team. I always ask my teamates to stay in their lanes instead of helping me. I want them to win their lanes even if I need to die for it. Once this is done, I will farm my jungle but just a little. I will permently gank my lanes to help them grab kills or assists. I will remember the blue and red buff timer and try to steal them when they come up. I usually get to his buff 30 seconds before it appears and put 2 or 3 Jack In The Box to steal it as fast as I can, then Deceive away. I'll buy a pink ward to put in one of the small brushes in the river to help my lanes. This is how you win early game.

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For the middle and late game, you need to start split pushing a bit. Once you have Ravenous Hydra, you may ask your team to group top while you split bottom lane. You will know pretty fast if it is a good plan or not. First you need to win your 1v1 against the champion they will send to stop you, and your team needs to win the 4v4. Why would you split so early ? Because if it fails, you will not lose the game and will change your strategy accordingly.

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Well this is it. I really hope you guys learnt a lot about my favorite league of legends's champion. It was a pleasure to take some time to help you master shaco a little more. I hope my tips will help you to get better. If you enjoyed reading this guide please make sure to upvote it to make it more visible to all the Shaco players out there. And if you want to follow my League of Legends career, you can follow me on twitch wich is really appreciated, I stream about 3-4 times a week, sometimes even more. If you want to know more about me, you can like my Facebook "fanpage" and finally, I also post some of my best moves with Shaco on my youtube channel, so please subscribe if you want to see more action.

Stream : http://www.twitch.tv/brouitup
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Brouitup
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You can also send me private messages for more infos, suggestions or commments. Thanks again guys, happy killing with shaco !!

- Brouitup