This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
![](/images/avatars/shaco-7.png)
![](/images/mf-thumb-icon.png)
![](/images/mf-thumb-icon.png)
![](/images/mf-thumb-icon.png)
![](/images/mf-thumb-icon.png)
![](/images/guides/vote-popup-heart.png)
Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.
Recommended Items
Runes: Electrocute
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Items
Ability Order
Backstab (PASSIVE)
Shaco Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Lee Sin
One of your heavy counters. E reveals you, you absolutely need to avoid his Q (you can use your Box for it, since it can block skillshots before it becomes invisible !) to survive. You also can bait him to use his spells on your clone.
Summary
I'm Leaping, a French Shaco Main since s5, around 480k xp on him. I don't play alot in ranked, I'm quite of a fun-blind player but I think that I know enough on Shaco to share my knowledge.
Of course, I am not high-elo so I can't definitively say that my build will work for everyone and at every elo. I just love this champion and want to share my way of playing with other people, so that they can maybe experience what I could discover with Shaco in terms of pleasure & how much he is rewarding to play.
This character is not brain-dead as you can sometimes hear, not OP (Obviously not, since the rework at least) but we'll see all the mechanics he can offer.
It's quite a difficult champion, hard to play harder to master, because he got weakened by a lot of direct or indirect nerfs : his E is now a meme, doing no damages, almost healing the enemy in early game ; you now absolutely need to put 3 points in Q to get a decent duration, ...
Of course, that's not the most useful jungler your team can get. Shaco can't really shine, needs 10 kills to really start being an assassin.
But he's very rewarding to play. You'll get a lot of fun if you invest some time in him.
Even when played AP Top, it's always funny to try some brains, to evade in the shadows or to bait some ultimates/flashs on the clone.
It's more like a crush with his playstyle and overall with the character itself.
Pros
|
+ Heavy damages when fed, can twoshot any ADC/Squishy mage from nowhere. + Really shines in mid-late game. + A lot of outplays and numerous possibilities of brains/baits. + Not boring at all. + CC with the fear of the box, passive and active slows from E. + A clone to boost the DPS (even on drakes, turrets), to dodge spells, to bait, to dance. + Free flash with an OK cooldown, with an invisibility of a good duration when maxed. + OK-tier casual-playing skill cap. |
Shaco is an assassin before all. He can easily oneshot a carry in late-game. He also can bait some spells, has some overall utility (tanking clone, boxes), can help allies to flee with his boxes. He has a quite high survivability.
|
Cons
|
- SQUISHY - VERY SQUISHY - Without Q, it can be hard to survive in teamfight. Can't really disengage (That's why I take a Spear of Sholin). - One of the most item-dependent and snowball-dependent champion of the game. Feast or famine champion. - High mastering skill cap - You'll get insulted because "ahah nobrain" - VERY SQUISHY |
Despite his status of assassin, it actually takes a lot of time and kills/assists to make Shaco a real danger for the enemy team. Don't get me wrong, you can actually get easy kills in early game, but that's often because of your Ignite. Shaco is no more an "early game champion". Don't try to gank if you don't feel confident. Don't listen to your teammates that just don't know your champion.
|
![]() |
Electrocute is the most efficient rune on Shaco in my opinion.
I'm actually trying DH, will update soon. But I guess that's just a question of playstyle so don't hesitate to try it if you want. |
![]() |
Again here, you can take one the others for the utility but you'll prefer take Eyeball to stack some damages.
|
Here are the only skins you'll want to get.
But no lie, the best ones are Classic/WildCard/Dark Star. Nutcracko and Workshop are for the rarity. Masked is nice but he hasn't the Wormdance.
Also, if you buy the Yellow Chroma from Dark Star, you instantly become Gold Experience from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and you gain 20 Charisma points.
Congrats.
If you are a new Shaco player, you might consider taking Flash.
You will then be able to escape if things go wrong, or to chase more. Nevertheless, it will reduce your power and your ability to kill, which is quite bad for a new player.
If you want to invade, or to snowball easily, take Ignite instead.
It helps a lot vs high-regeneration HP champs like Mundo/Warwick...
Without it, you will force a flash or get nothing.
It also allows you to 1v1 some champions you wouldn't fight otherwise, and eventually to kill them.
Anyways, don't forget to steal the enemy red buff if you can early, maybe you can also get a kill.
Note : Since you can now get Hextech jump as a rune, it may be quite good to take flash and jump everywhere freely : awesome map pressure and longer "jumps" with HextechJump -> Q spell
Every image that I'll use here comes from :
https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Shaco
![](/images/spacer.png)
Shaco's passive probably seems "ok tier", but if you can use it, it deals a lot of damages. Since an update, you now clearly see when the passive is used and "on cooldown". The cooldown can be modified by CDR.
Since the rework, the passive is better for ganks since it just does more damages on 1 hit. Then the enemy usually starts to run/fight, so hitting from behind is harder. Except with your E, but that doesn't work anymore.
![](/images/spacer.png)
This spell is full of advantages : you got a flash every 10s, so you can pick up ignite instead of the real flash. It is considered as a teleport, not a dash, so nobody can cancel it, and you can easily pass through a lot of walls. Just a tip, you can pass THICK walls aiming at the middle ; if the closest free location is on the other side, you can teleport to it, even if your cursor still in the wall.
Infinity Edge is a OK choice, we will talk about it later.
![](/images/spacer.png)
This spell is useful for ganks, farming, teamfights, fleeing.
If playing AP, a big part of your damages are coming from it. Just 2 or 3 boxes can constitute a deadly trap. You can also use them for 1-min wards, slowing the possible enemy passing by.
Don't forget you can use them as bait for the monsters, allowing you to abuse your passive behind to farm quickly.
![](/images/spacer.png)
Since the rework, E became the second spell to max, after the 3 points in Q.
The passive of this spells allows you to slow with basic attacks. If thrown, the damages are increasing by the missing HP of the target, and it also apply the passive for 3s. So, use this spell at the end of you combo to maximize your burst and to not cancel the passive effect (passive disabled if the spell is in cooldown)
![](/images/spacer.png)
Finally, his ultimate spell.
To say it in a few words : baiting, lot of damages (even playing AD but AP has a better ratio), and important point, you can dodge ultimates like Lux's R, Fizz's R, or any linear skillshot.
You can pass through walls pressing R and walking during the casting time ; but it only works on some walls.
Let's Youtube this.
![]() |
The Tiamat is your best friend early and mid game. You have finally a decent way to kill Birds, Krugs, Wolves faster than just using a box and spamming backstabs.
|
So, is the IE worth it ?
First, let's take a look at the numbers :
* A hit from behind will follow the PASSIVE effect. If you also have an IE, the PASSIVE is the priority. So you will do 130% of your base damages, 155% if you have an IE. You WON'T do 225%. [Please note I'm still doing tests, I'm not 100% sure, didn't calculate, only saw some differences]
* A hit from any side except behind is not affected by the passive. So you will do 100%, or 200% on critical strike without IE, or 225% with IE on a critical strike.
* Deceive only adds some damages. It doesn't interfere with the passive or the IE.
So, is it beneficial ?
In fact, you don't need a lot of critical strike because your goal is not to say in the fight and to put as many hits as you can.
You want to oneshot someone and leave. IE will help you (225% instead of 200% on the front, 155% instead of 130% in the back) but it isn't really... logical for a Shaco to avoid hitting the back.
To conclude, I'd say that you can pick it to improve of 25% your damages, just be sure to hit the back ! If you don't, you'll do 100% of your damages in 75% of the cases, 225% in only 25% of the cases.
That makes it random.
![](/images/spacer.png)
The route
Here's my route. I begin by putting 2 boxes at the blue, starting at 0:31. Once it's done, I put one at the gromp, and one at the wolves.
Ask for help for the blue, to do it even faster, your laner won't loose anything.
You'll be able to clear those camps quite quickly, without smiting. Put 1 box when starting the gromp and you should be able to also have 1 extra box for the wolves.
Then, if I know that the enemy jungler started blue, I'll try to steal his red : it is usually a timing where either he is at it or coming at it, if he's not just ward and take it in the bush.
If he started red, let's just take our own red, then gank/scuttle/krugs depending on your health and priorities (look at the map and the pressure/push on the lanes).
Farming in jungle with Shaco is something active :
You will (in early at least) put a box behind the main monster, and use its fear to put as many backstabs than possible. You are supposed to move a lot to stab whenever it is available.
I usually focus the main monster, then finish off the little ones. I don't know if it is the best but it works.
You can also, by putting a box at the beginning of the fight with the Gromp, temporize it because the attack speed of the gromp is decreasing over time.
You should also rush Tiamat as I said, because it allows you to do Birds way faster, same for krugs and wolves.
I will call "Mid Game" the moment you've got
![](/images/spacer.png)
![](/images/spacer.png)
Congrats.
You've survived the most difficult part of your role. If you still have a positive or neutral KDA and you are even or slightly ahead your opponents, GG !
You can now start to disrespect their squishies, particularly the ADCs or midlaners.
You're still not able to oneshot them (maybe you are, depending of your score and theirs) or almost, so if you have a nice team that follows you and is not really behind, try your best to feed your allies.
1) Don't waste too much of your time trying to help a loosing lane, especially if it is toplane & a tank/bruiser. You'll give a double kill.
2) Don't hesitate to abuse botlane, your ADC is your goal : you need to make him rich.
3) Counterjungle when yours is empty. You are quite safe now, and you can even 1v1 the other jungler.
Just get fun. That's the most important here, because the late game probably won't be as fun.
Late Game
I will call "Late Game" the moment you've almost completed your stuff, same for the enemies.
Good luck. Now they don't have anything to do on their lane, they will group up a lot. Their ADC will be near 4 other people very often, you won't be really able to destroy her and flee. You'll have to sacrifice, or to wait an error. If they have a Guardian Angel, things are even worse. Try to focus another person, or destroy her GA then flee.
Anyways, this point of the game highly depends on what I said earlier : did you succeed in feeding your own carries ?
You are not really useful in teamfight, you'll need to PUNISH. To STEAL objectives, to FINISH OFF people, and to SPLITPUSH. Your clone is here to help you. You can also backdoor inhibitors and stuff like that.
Don't hesitate to check the subreddit Shacomains for further details.
Passive tips :
! PATCHED, NO LONGER WORKS !
For now I will credit White Crow who shows this tip in a video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjNG-BtJlxU
Q spell tips :
You can quickly press Q+B to start backing to base when invisible.
If you have a nashor effect and an upgraded Q, you can even fully back when invisible.
Also works with TP if you play top.
If you cast your R while invisible, your clone will appear, but you'll remain invisible. That is used to make the enemy think that your invisibility has ended.
When using Q, the cooldown starts at the end of the invisibility. If you want to end it sooner, and you don't have any target at range, start and cancel a back to cancel the invisibility. Casting W won't.
W spell tips :
If you cast your W, you stay invisible.
You can block some skillshots with your W during it's activation time (when it's shooting or before it becomes invisible).
You can use it as a ward + potential slow for your laners.
The enemy can smite them. Beware.
I usually use them to tank a turret hit when I dive or when I want to push. If you have a cannon minion, put a box when the turret is focused on the minion, so the box will deal some damages then still tank a hit.
E spell tips :
Your E is a finisher. Only use it at the end of your combo AND when the enemy flashed or is no more in range. Enjoy E's passive effect : free slow on every auto-attack when it's not on cooldown. + If you play with
![](/images/spacer.png)
Ultimate tips :
You can hop some walls with it since an update that allows you to choose where you'll appear after the cast. [Video INCOMING]
Shaco's clone can't auto attack Nexus or Inhibitor if you press R. You need to Alt+Right Mouse Clic to make it attack.
If your clone is too far away and you need it soon (used to block skillshots but you need a lot of practice for it), make him walk even farther : he will soon teleport to you.
After using R, hit the enemy with both Shaco and his clone, then if you're low make the clone run away ; in most of the cases the enemy will chase it or flee without paying attention to you. If you do it multiple times, try to swap positions and run away with the real Shaco. Always be unpredictable.
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.