Welcome, to the AP Shaco Resource...
Here I am covering THREE completely different AP hybrid Shaco guides.
HYBRID
TANKY
and
JUNGLE
My favourite being hybrid and tanky, personally I am not good at jungling. Many people think that my tanky one is a total joke. But I'm playing Shaco, I'm full of jokes.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/279/b/f/shaco_the_demon_jester_by_dev_rb-d306wrt.png

OK, with the arrival of Shyvana and the NERF for Shaco you might think AP Shaco is useless. But what actually happened? Check it out;

Shaco

Rewrote his Deceive, Hallucinate, and Champion tips for more clarity
Deceive will now still critically strike even if you break stealth (ie: to cast Jack in the Box)
Jack in the Box
Base damage reduced to 35/50/65/80/95 from 35/55/75/95/115
Ability power ratio reduced to 0.2 from 0.25
Activation range reduced to 300 from 350
Cast range increased to 425 from 400
Hallucinate
Fixed a bug where Shaco's clone wouldn't trigger Two-Shiv Poison's passive

Now say bye bye to early game dominance with you Jack In The Box BUT... I am going to revamp the HYBRID Shaco play, I am going to make the Tanky and Jungle more AD>AS. Also add the JiTB placement for team-fights late game. Don't forget Two-Shiv can still take off half the enemies health and now when you gank Jack In The Box can now be casted further and has better activation range, so maxing it out first still enables you to fear the enemy like crazy!

So don't freak and say OMiGosh IT'S GG FOR AP Shaco FOR GOOD NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
Cause it's not...

PROS
Very good ganker.
Easy kills early game.
Late game pwnage.
Best harasser.
Get can get sneakily and fast.
Best escape mechanisms.


CONS
Very squishy.
Targeted a lot early game.
JiTB's are easily stopped by AD>AS champs late game.
People get aware of bushes and where you are later on in the game.

HYBRID
After the Nerf I take non-AP related runes. I take Greater Quintessence of Critical Chance for critical-chance and same with my seals. Greater Glyph of Critical Damage for early game damage output. Also finishing with Greater Mark of Attack Speed for low-level jungling and early level domination.

TANKY
Pretty obvious, but I take Greater Mark of Health and Greater Quintessence of Health for early game HP buff and harassing defense.

JUNGLE
Greater Seal of Health for protection against creeps along with the Greater Mark of Armor for more protection.

HYBRID
I go down the OFFENSIVE mastery by 9 for the extra hybrid-y effect.


TANKY
Of course going down the DEFENSIVE mastery for the extra defense.


JUNGLE
And once again 9 in the OFFENSIVE mastery for jungling against creeps.

HYBRID
Now I have had to complete remove this and do it again... Well here it is:
Here I start with a Doran's Ring instead of Boots this way your Jack In The Box does more damage. I then stack them for easy first blood and then go back and buy Boots and some potions, which is what I usually buy before Nerf. Then I get Berserker's Greaves, Zeal and Vampiric Scepter, this is all for early game damage without your JiTB's. Following with some core items Morello's Evil Tome and Deathfire Grasp. They both give CDR, and they also have good passives and AP, Helping you to be more Hybrid. I finish with Zeke's Harbinger, Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge for crazy critical hits, life steal and critical damage.

TANKY
I start with Doran's Shield for early game tanky-ness.
I then go for more AP items and then Mercury's Treads for MR and strength against CC.
After working towards [Trinity Force] I sometimes slip in The Brutalizer because Shaco needs something that costs 1337. I only get this if I am either fed enough or have farmed quite well. If not I go straight to Trinity Force for all round power.
Then I get "Atmogs" or in this case "Warmas." Because I get the Warmog's Armor before Atma's Impaler.
Finishing with some more MR and reducing CC effectiveness and usually selling my Brutalizer around about here.

JUNGLE
Starting off with the usual Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion for survival in the jungle. Your runes should also help you with your damage output and survival.
Going straight to Madred's Razors to do even more damage against the creeps of the jungle. Then boots and Wriggle's Lantern for life steal.
Following with Zerker's for some hybrid-y damage in the jungle.
Getting my Mejai's Soulstealer if I have made some successive ganks.
Following with some normal AP item's such as Rylai's Crystal Scepter for more health and survival capabilities.
I then get Phantom Dancer for more attack speed and critical chance and about now I sell my Soulstealer, if you have max stacks on your Soulstealer sell Wriggle's instead.
I then buy Banshee's Veil to survive even more against MR and CC.
Finishing by either selling my Mejai's Soulstealer or Wriggle's Lantern and then buy Sheen following with Lich Bane to complete the build.

HYBRID
If the enemy team has a lot of magic resist.
OR

If the enemy team has a lot of attack damage.


TANKY
Not enough ability power?
OR

They have a lot of nukers?
OR

JUNGLE
Your team needs a carry?
OR

If the enemy has a good counter-jungler.


Or if you would like to try Deathfire Grasp in any of the normal builds instead of a certain item or swap it out for boots late game, that's fine. It's actually quite handy to use.

My skill sequence is fairly simple. Before I go through the Skill Sequence I will go through the spells for Shaco and one potential they have.


(Innate): Shaco deals 20% bonus damage when striking a unit from behind with his autoattacks or abilities.
This spell is your ultimate level 6 dragon/last hitting running enemies with Deceive then a Two-Shiv. Not only can you use Hallucinate at level 6 against dragon with a couple of JiTB's and then deceive behind dragon to deal even more damage. But it also works with abilities... Seeing late game your Two-Shiv can two hit squishies, but it will deal an extra 20 percent damage if they are running or if you have deceived behind them.


(Active): Shaco instantly stealths for 3.5 seconds, blinking to a target nearby location. If he uses an autoattack while stealthed, the attack is guaranteed to deal increased damage.
Cooldown: 11 seconds after stealth fades
Range: 500
Cost: 90 / 80 / 70 / 60 / 50 mana
Increased Damage: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 %
This spell is what Shaco is known for, seeing this is AP you will use it to escape, catch up and free flash over walls to jungle quicker and to escape easier. I also use it against Dragon at level 6 to Backstab him until he dies. Very handy spell, I max this last mainly because it's a one-level spell. Good for the extra damage for last hitting though too.


(Active): Shaco creates a Jack in the Box at the target location with 150 health. It will stealth after 2 seconds and trigger when an enemy comes near, fearing nearby enemies for a few seconds and attacking them. It deals magic damage, and lasts 90 seconds stealthed or 5 seconds while firing. Casting Jack In The Box breaks stealth.
Cooldown: 16 seconds
Range: 400
Trigger Range: 325
Sight Range: 700 (estimate)
Jack in the Box attack speed: 1.359
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 mana
Fear Duration: 0.5 / 0.75 / 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 seconds

Magic Damage: 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+0.25 per ability power)
You may be thinking "OMG NERFED SO MUCH IT'S PATHETIC." But have you ever played against an AP shaco. Even though the CD is high, and the ratios are as bad as Ryze's. But if you stack three of this against a mid range to low range health champ. And that's an easy first blood up to mid-game. Mid-game, it's even better. Ward everywhere with just ONE and you can get a kill! Also in team fights, you put one down before entering to escape and one down in the battle to get at least 2 easy kills. Also they just shred through turrets, just put one down after destroying a minion wave at a turret and that turret is down in seconds.


(Passive): Shaco's attacks debilitate his targets, reducing their movement speed for 2 seconds. It also gives affected minions a chance to miss their attacks.
Slow: 20 / 22.5 / 25 / 27.5 / 30 %
(Active): Shaco throws a dagger to target enemy dealing magic damage and applying his slowing poison to them for 3 seconds. The passive is deactivated during the cooldown.
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Range: 625
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 mana
Magic Damage: 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+1.0 per ability power) (+0.5 per bonus attack damage)
Yes it has AD ratio's. But the AD ratio is so low and it's hard to get a lot of AD. Once your about 150 AP you can slow down and harass like crazy with this, and once your about 500. You will be two hitting any squishy. My favorite late game spell by far for any champion.


(Active): Shaco creates an illusion of himself nearby which deals 25% less damage and receives 50% extra damage. This illusion deals half damage to towers and inhibitors. On death the illusion explodes dealing damage to nearby enemies. Lasts up to 18 seconds.
Cost: 100 mana
AoE radius: 250
Leash radius: 1125
Cooldown: 100 / 90 / 80 seconds
Magic Damage: 300 / 450 / 600 (+1.0 per ability power)
Now this is the hardest ultimate to get used to. It can be used to lure into your boxes early game, and used to strategically harass dealing about 1.2k damage to a champion. Also it can really help in a team-fight by turning a 5v5 into a 6v5. AND you can level 6 dragon with this so easily. Did i say level 6 dragon? I meant SOLO level 6 dragon.

I usually max my Jack In The Box first for some super damage early game and easy warding. Then I level up my Hallucinate whenever I can usually. Following with Two-Shiv Poison for some crazy late game damage and ending with Deceive as it is the only thing left.

If you want to only level up Jack In The Box once when jungling that is fine. I find when jungling it is only used to just get BLUE and RED buff early game.

Jack In The Box placement can be a tricky thing. To make a long short here are key locations to put down 1 to simply help ward:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff210/Blackdagger3537/WardLocations.jpg

But if you want some early game kills, which is now quite hard after Shyvana patch, you should place them in the closest in-lane bush that is used the most. So at top place them at the top foremost bushes that is on the enemies side. Not yours, and likewise for bottom lane.

HYBRID and TANKY
I take Flash and Exhaust just because Shaco needs a double teleport and to keep the enemy in your stacked JiTB's longer with Exhaust

Of course I take Smite instead of Exhaust when I JUNGLE...

I will now rank the spells in order of how good they are for Shaco.

: Just about the best spell for Shaco, if you feel you don't need a double teleport then your probably on drugs.
: Awesome damage lower and right click to win champ stopper.
: I only take this when Jungling, you really need to, no debate about it.
: If you feel the need, the need for SPEED! Then get this. Obviously.
: My good friend takes this to help him getting more stacks of JiTB's without having to recall and waste valuable first blood time.
: If you want to backdoor then take this, but your AP and it's sort of hard to backdoor with AP. But I've done it before.
: Haha, no.

Anything else is either useless or pathetic when I use it.

Here's my jungle route, I will add pictures and a video later on if this gets recognized or even makes it to the top 10 Shaco builds. That would be great! :D

I start at the BLUE buff by placing 2 JiTB's, I then run to RED buff and place just ONE JiTB.
Once the blue buff spawns I get a friend to leash it and follow into the closest bush. Which is where I placed my JiTB's. I follow by attacking Blue Buff from behind and front, then crack open a Health Potion. I place another JiTB and then kill Blue Buff and then minions. I sometimes open another Health Potion on my way to Red Buff. I do the same thing that I did with blue buff and then follow on to gank MID.
I then rush back and get Madred's Razors and Boots and maybe 2 more Health Potion's if I can afford it. I kill some other minions other than the buffs and then recall once I have enough for Wriggle's.
After getting Wriggle's I jungle on non-buff creeps and maybe push lanes a bit until level 6. (If you are lucky enough to have a 25 percent health enemy that has over-pushed a tiny bit then gank him instead of pushing lanes.)
I then use some more Health Potion until full health and get dragon, if you feel you can recall and get Berserker's Greaves then do that.
I place two boxes, leash the dragon with Two-Shiv Poison and then Hallucinate proceeding with a Deceive behind the dragon. Auto-attacking behind for extra damage for my passive until he dies. Make sure you get him close enough to the boxes by placing it just at the entrance and leashing as far away as possible. I HAVE FAILED PLACING BOXES CORRECTLY MANY TIMES AND HE NEVER LEASHED THE BOXES AND THEREFORE I GOT SCREWED OVER!!!

After that I recall and proceed with my regular item build. Repeating the route said above.
The route is simple and is as follows:
1. Blue Buff
2. Red Buff
3. Gank
RECALL
4. Golems
5. Wolves
6. Wraith's
7. Push / Gank
RECALL
8. Dragon
9. Repeat

In team fights people think Shaco is useless and only good for kill steals. But he isn't, he is the one that stays back, close in the area with Jack In The Box and initiates with a Two-Shiv Poison. He can also run or chase with Deceive when the battle has died down.

Therefore he is a very strong team battler and can insure a good three kills in a team fight as long as your team is normal and has a decent tank. Such as Jarvan IV or Garen, they are the best tank's a Shaco could EVER have.

Farming with Shaco is easy, seeing you will be placing your JiTB's everywhere and don't have much time to even get experience from dying minions. You will need to lure as much as you can. This means if the enemy is too scared to go in bushes you will need a Blitzcrank or even a Singed to pull them into the bushes. If not place one or two in key locations and try to lure in stacks that aren't in bushes whilst still farming with your Two-Shiv Poison and last hitting and deceiving away before you get hurt at all.

AP shaco's farming can be tricky but as long as you place your JiTB's correctly you are ensured to get first blood.

Good Team Mates are damage dealing champs that have CC/pulls.
GOOD:
Xin Zhao
Blitzcrank
Skarner
Singed
Gangplank
Morgana
Garen
Sona
Lux

BAD:
Riven
Xerath
Tryndamere
Poppy
Malphite
Alistar

The reason why these are bad is because some have knock backs which are hard to control and can often kill steal your boxes or even pull them out and save the enemies life.

If you are going to play this in ranked I recommend the JUNGLE one. But go down a more hybrid trail Also the TANKY one can work but their are way better tanks, I just recommend this for simple Normal/Draft games.

I come to my conclusion, nothing too fancy, just saying one more thing, don't place the JiTB's too far away from minions, and don't place them too close.
Too Close = Minions Leash them and enemies don't get hurt.
Too Far = Enemies are either too far away to leash them or so far that when they leash, they get hit about once or twice.

Well I'm done, adding a VIDEO for Jack In The Box placement and going to add a route for JUNGLE in my guide for Shaco!!!

PLEASE UPVOTE, COMMENT AND ADD ME:
vC Ranger

BYE!!!

Also be sure to check out my other guide;
AP Amumu Resource - [JUNGLE/TANKY]