Because of Season 3 this build is under construction.

Hey guys,
This is my first guide here, so some tips of how I can improve my guide would be very nice.



I think that shaco is one of the funniest champion in LoL, and when played AP it becomes even funnier to play.
Because when played AP there are so many more ways to troll the enemy than with AD but of course AD shaco is stronger and better but I think that AP shaco is a better choice because when shaco is played AP there will be more fun playing than with AD and after all that is why you play this game.

Season 3 completely destroyed my AP Shaco build, gonna rework it soon and add an AD Shaco (working on it) guide and maybe a hybrid build.

Since the start of season 3 my AP Shaco build got destroyed. (riot saw it >.<) Now I do not know a viable AP Shaco build so I think it's very hard to play AP Shaco now...

AD Shaco got nerfed to stone in season 3...

Hybrid Shaco.... Did not try this yet.

How I would build Shaco in season 3 is AD eventhough it got nerfed so hard. AP Shaco is now not even close to viable as far as I know and I don't know if Hybrid will work.
But if you like trolling I recommend AP Shaco because it is fun, if you want to actually win more than lose go AD and if you want to try something new build him Hybrid.

Most of the runes are magic resist pen only the seals are flat AP because there aren't any magic resist pen seals
Shaco needs a lot of magic resist pen, with this build he will be able to assassinate every carry that has <59.35 and 2800 HP late game when played well.
But if u think that there is no carry that has more than 50 magic resist then buy AP per lvl/ flat glyphs. (outdated)

AD RunesStill testing this but it does well. I would say flat AD>Armor pen because you want to do as much damage as possible early game. (under construction)

Of course you will need your first point on Jitb otherwise you can't solo blue buff fast and it will give you some time to set up defenses if the jungler needs the blue buff.

After that you want to do as much damage every time you throw your Two-Shiv Poison so max that one first. Don’t max your boxes first because I think that people don't face walk a bush where shaco's boxes are and when you’re waiting somewhere while putting a lot of boxes you will miss a lot of XP and it will be hard for shaco to fight someone that is 2 lvls stronger than he is.

And because you aren't AD you won’t need the crits until you have bought lich bane which is around lvl 16 when having a lot of kills and otherwise you will get it after you have reached lvl 18.

Most of them are offensive but when played well shaco's only defensive item will be hourglass so he can escape easily or engage safely.
See save escape/engage for a better explanation.

Also haunting guise and sorcerer's shoes can be replaced with void staff late game if the enemy team invested in magic resist but then it will be impossible to 2 hit carries so only buy it when the carries buy a lot of magic resist, replace sorcerer's shoes with boots of mobility or cool down reduction boots.

Guardian angel is great versus team's that have a lot of area damage or cc and you will be able to have a 99% clean escape because your deceives cool down has ended.

Elixirs

Of course elixir of brilliance is very important late game because it will boost your damage a bit and will give 10% extra cool down reduction.

Oracle is very useful for shaco when the enemy team has a stealth champ because stealth champs won't have a lot of magic resist or HP so when they are visible they are an easy kill for shaco.

elixir of fortitude will give shaco a little bit more HP and boosts his Two-Shiv Poison slightly (50% of ad) so he can survive area attacks easier when in stealth.

Farming is a weakness of AP shaco.

AP shaco simply can’t farm good and harass the enemy champs early because he will lose his ability to defend himself with the Jitb technique and he will be harassed easily and forced to go back and lose XP which is not helpful.

So, farming early won't work but when played well, shaco AP will have enough gold to buy his main items without any kills (sorcerer's shoes, death fire grasp, and haunting guise) but, this does not happen often.

Mid/ late game are the best moments to farm because you'll farm easily with Jitb's and when an enemy carry is stupid enough and comes to stop you, you'll get an easy kill
(This will happen less after a few times :P)

And because shaco has a lot of escape skills it will be useless to gank him with 3 champions so their whole team will come and then if your team is smart they will come too so it won't be 1 vs. 4/5 which is impossible with shaco AP unless you will make them follow u through the whole map it is not going to happen.

Most of the time shaco AP is played bot with an ad carry or damage support (Blitzcrank Janna and Orianna) so he can do a lot of damage or help the carry when fighting,
But when shaco has to play solo top he will be able to farm easily because most of the champions that go solo top have more than 60 magic resist so harassing will not work on them as good as on carries.

There are some ways to kill a carry.
1. Poking

This is probably the best way to play in laning phase.
With the help of blue buff it will be very easy to spam shaco's boxes and Two-Shiv Poison.
And of course boxes to defend yourself or if they chase you for a kill and the Two-Shiv Poison to poke and forcing your enemy out of the lane and if they stay for a kill >:D

2. Jitb's

4 or more Jitb's in a bush and lure a carry into it with your ult or with yourself what happen next will be funny :D This isn't a viable option because you will miss a lot of XP while waiting for a carry to walk through your trap but, it can be used to get the blue buff on lvl 1 and killing the other jungler on lvl 2.

3. Death Fire + Two-Shiv Poison

This is the best way to kill carries because when this shaco build reaches late game it will be able to 2 hit enemy carries every 60 secs it's op if the carry doesn't get more than 59,35 magic resist or get more than 2800 HP which is not seen often.
But there is one problem with this technique...
It will only work when death fire and Two-Shiv Poison are used from behind because his skills also gets the 20% more damage buff.

Calculation:
430 AP from items and ignite bonus + 40 from elixir of brilliance *1,3(rabbadons)*1,05 from arch mage = 641
Death fire does 25% of HP in damage + for every 100 AP 4 so 6*4 = 24 = 49%*1,2 (from behind) = 58,8% of HP in damage. This will trigger the executioner mastery for even more damage >:D
(the damage from the calculation is not enough to trigger the mastery but the calculation is not precise because the Deathfire Grasp scales for every 1 AP 0,04%, this will add about 1,5% and 50% + 20% from behind is 60% so it will trigger it :D)
Two-Shiv Poison does 200 base damage + 641(100% of AP) + 57(50% of ad) = 898*1,2 = 1077,6*1,06 = 1142

So if the carry has 2800 HP which is not seen often this will be the total damage:
60,5(innacurate) of 2800 = 1694 + 1142 = 2836 which is more than 2800

this technique is countered easily, just buy magic resist but, magic resist items will take 1 slot of the AP and ad carry and because the other team does not have an AP shaco your team will be 2 slots stronger and if they get 80 magic resist(which is a lot for a carry) you will still do insane damage :D and on top of that if someone of your team is near with an abyssal scepter you will still be able to 2 hit them in a team fight >:D

4. Suicide Bomber
Almost the same as way 3 but more devastating :D
Instead of using your ult to escape use it to kill the remaining champion(s), your clone will also give you enough time to use a second Two-Shiv Poison and kill the second champ, after that deceive out of there unless you've killed them all of course :D

but the major problem with this technique is that there is a 50% chance to die before you use your second Two-Shiv Poison and this will only work vs 2 or 3 and in some cases vs 4 >:D

5. Gank
This is very obvious...
deceive behind someone place a box fire your skills at it and it will be dead >:D

This is me playing AP shaco :D
Play Video Play Video

Recently I've been trying to jungle with AP Shaco, the best way I found was trolling the enemy jungler and of course it is the only way I tried yet :D

Here is a video that shows how to jungle with AP Shaco >:D
Have fun watching Play Video

When shaco deceive is timed well he can deceive in and deceive out after he has done all his skills.

Calculation

Deceive has 11 secs cd -40% is 6,6 hourglass takes off 2 secs his ult takes off at least 0,5 and the box he placed 1,5 secs.
that are 2,6 secs to attack shaco but even I can’t do this that precise so 0,3 secs between every move will take off so, about 1,5 secs are lost for being a human and because others are human too this doesn't matter a lot :D So 1,1 secs are still left and if there is a carry that has no magic resist or not enough(less than 59.35)and not enough HP (less than 2800) they will probably all flee in terror, confused and attack your clone what can cause another kill >:D
Before they end being confused your whole team should be there to clean up the rest

Pros

• A lot of fun :D
• Massive damage late game
• Great harass early game
• Great assassin late game
• Very reliable engage/escape
• 2,5 secs of immortality every 90 secs
• Area fear
  
  

Cons

• Very squishy
• Bad farmer early
• Depends on items late game
• Easily countered with magic resist
• Needs a lot of timing to do well
  

Since DFG got nerfed the only way how to 2HKO an enemy is with support of WotA or Abyssal Scepter instead of Haunting Guise.

The reason why I normally don't build Abyssal Scepter is because it is too expensive early and mid lane can build it too.

Also WotA support is often found on mid champions and even supports can build them.

The first time I tried AD Shaco was S1 and I failed so badly. now in S3 I found a new way of playing him, as a mid laner. Now you're probably thinking ah another troll build... Well that's exactly what it is :D but it does work but it is very gimmicky.

The first time I played him I stole my own jungler's red buff because he deserved it (afk etc...) which caused me to lvl up instantly. Then I went mid and got first blood. Now I know that there is a better way.

How to mid AD Shaco

When the game starts buy your items really fast, I would go for shoes 3 pots (2/3 hp 0/1 mana), then rush to your enemy red buff place a box at 1 minute (additional info below) and keep spamming them untill the buff spawns, then kill it. Dont leave behind any minions because you want to have the respawn timer. this should make you lvl 2. Get your decieve skill and engage midlane and get the first blood. Don't forget ignite! That's all you need to win your lane.
If your enemy gets away with less than 40% healt or something like that, don't push your lane and zone your opponent from exp. Then try to engage again and get the kill or push him out of the lane.

Link to my first AD Shaco game mid: Play Video

Early lvls (1-3)
You will need your first point on Jitb otherwise you can't solo ememy red/blue fast enough. When you reach lvl 2 get Deceive so you can engage on the midlane and maybe get First blood. Lvl 3 get 2-Shiv Poison to harras or finish them off.

Early lvls (4-6)
At lvl 4 I would put another point on Jitb do increase the fear length so you'll get another AA on the enemy and keep them from moving away if you're lucky.

Under construction

7-5-2012: Deathfire Grasp base damage has been nerfed from 30% of total health to 25% but, it scales with 4% for every 100 ap instead of 3,5% and is now builded out of a Blasting Wand instead of a Fiendish Codex
new calculation will come soon!

8-5-2012
New (innacurate) calculation added!

19-10-2012
Saw that they are going to nerf deathfire grasp again >.> if they do so this build becomes useless...
Edit: it will still 2HKO a carry if you manage to finish your special build and get 700+ AP
Quick calculation:
DFG damage ≥ 50% of enemy HP
700 AP = 7 * 5% + 15 = 50% (ignored the remaining 38 AP which would cause an overkill >:D)
50% of 2800 = 1400 + roughly 1000 form 2 Shiv poison * 20% from behind will be 2880

Look at additional comments if you want to know how to reach 700+ AP

16-11-2012
Next patch DFG gets buffed :D/ nerfed >.>, now it will do 15% of enemy HP and will give the enemy a magic resist debuff which will be 20% this might make this build a little bit viable again :D
but only if the DFG damage will get the 20% buff too. not sure if it will scale with AP but if it does it will be more than enough to kill a carry otherwise it will only kill it if the carry has less than 1993 HP

28-5-2013
Started updating this guide for S3

29-5-2013
Added AD Shaco sections