This is my AD Shaco guide. It will hopefully show you how to play Shaco to the best of your ability. I'm assuming you have competent knowledge of the game, but if not and you get confused or do not understand something, reference to the charts. I will use asterisks (*) on important parts throughout the guide. Enjoy. :)

For my runes I use Armor Pen. marks, Armour seals, AS glyphs, 1 Armour Pen. quint., 1 Armour quint., and one AS quint. The standard runes are self explanatory, as for the quints, I use one of each because they boost all three of my other rune choices by a considerable amount, which really help with first-bloods, etc.

I'm going to start in Utility. There's been some arguments over which is better, Perseverance, or Good Hands. IMO Perseverance is such a minute and subtle difference, that it's not worth getting. Good Hands reduces the death timer by 10% at rank 3 which is fantastic. Being able to spawn 10% faster is much more beneficial than an extra .4 HP and MP regen. The same goes for Greed Vs. Utility Mastery. Greed only gives about 360 gold in an hour long game, which is nice. Utility Mastery allows you to hold onto buffs longer, which is great all game long, and ends up paying for itself in usefulness, especially early game as Shaco, but we'll get to that later.

My build is pretty standard and self explanatory as well. I start with Dorans Ring for the AP, health, MP regen early game. Then I rush my Boots of Mobility. (*When you have your BoM you can start to roam and gank*) After that, I rush a Wriggles, starting with my Long Sword, then get a Vampiric Sceptre. Finish Wriggles and get an Avarice Blade. Buy your Zeal for that AS and crit, then finish Youmuu's Ghostblade. Finish your Phantom Dancer and start farming like mad. Now it's time to get your Infinity Edge. I generally save my gold and buy a B.F. Sword, then get the Crit Cloak, then finish it. But it's situational. Now you get your Blood Razors so you can shred that tanky dps and beefy AP nukers and away you go. *Once you get your B.F. Sword you should be able to solo Baron*

I get my JItB first so I can get blue buff and then head to the lane (Which is why we got the Utility Mastery). (*Check out video at the bottom of the page to learn how to get blue buff at level one*) Then I get Deceive and attempt a gank in my lane depending on their SS, items, and current health. I get my Two Shiv Poison next, and from there prioritize Deceive and Hallucinate over everything. Once Deceive is maxed out, evenly level JItB and Two Shiv Poison whilst prioritizing Hallucinate still.

Shaco's kiting ability is god-like. As is his secret. Shaco, like Teemo, has his own global taunt. Everyone is attracted to that squishy, easy looking clown. If used correctly, like Teemo, it can score you some ridiculous kills if taunted into a JItB nest. Also, proper use of Hallucinate will take some time to perfect. Sometimes you need to use it just to give you an extra second or two so Deceive will be off CD and you can get away. Or maybe you're low HP and Karthus is using his ultimate, if you use Hallucinate, It can be dodged. Or if used at an improper time, can be transferred to the clone. Shaco, in his essence is all about being aware of your surroundings, and being able to react and respond accordingly.

I take Flash and Ignite on Shaco. Flash is good if Deceive is on CD, or vice-versa. And ignite helps you get blue without having to autoattack it at level one, get FB, ganking...there are lots of uses. I sometimes take Exhaust if our team is lacking, but it's very rare that I do.

A brief jungling explaination to help those who wish to jungle and cannot find a suitable jungling route, build, runes, etc. I use 19-0-11 masteries and the same runes. Start with a clothe armour, 3 health pots and one mana pot. Go to Wraiths and set two JItB in front of them, far enough away that it wont catch aggro until you attack. (It may bug out and not attack at all until you attack). Then quickly move over to red buff and place about 4-5 JItB in red buff bushes, far enough away not to catch aggro. Once red buff spawns, stand on your JItB and smite red (unless they have a jungler, then just autoattack it and run back towards your JItB). It will be feared and aggro'd by the boxes, attack/smite until dead, then kill wraiths. Now you can already gank if you'd like, but I recommend popping one of each pot first. Whether you gank at lvl 2/3 or not, make sure you get golems before recalling. When you recall, buy your level 1 boots and your Madreds if you can. Buy a health pot and mana pot if possible as well. Go to golems, then wraiths, then wolves, then blue buff, repeat, gank. Get Wriggles, it's pretty much straight forward from there. *When smite is off CD and you're not saving it for Dragon, Baron, Red or Blue, use it. Use it as much as possible. That extra 5 gold every time adds up, plus it's fast XP.

How to get Blue Buff at level one Play Video

Shaco is still a great champion. Despite what others may say, and I for one would like to show people how great he actually his. Please, get good with this clown and show the world what he can do. I hope this guide helped you, thanks for reading. :)