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DISCLAIMER: PLAY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Even if you've mastered Shaco jungle, ensure to play Custom/Normal games with friends before playing Support Shaco with random people. I DO NOT ENDORSE SUPPORT SHACO FOR RANKED PLAY.

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Greetings, my fellow Summoners and MobaFire users!!!

This page is a detailed guide on how to play AP Support Shaco. With this guide, you will learn how to dominate your lane and have fun one-shotting every squishy across the map. You will be able to zone out the enemy ADC from most of their farm and setting them incredibly behind, in turn increasing your chances of winning. Through clever box placement, you will be able to survive your lane from ganks and assert your dominance from laning phase and transfer it to late game.


I know what you're thinking...


An experienced Support Shaco player can dominate any bot lane. Clever placement of boxes can zone out the enemy bot lane from farming and provides decent kill potential. Unlike other supports, Shaco maintains protection from ganks as the lane is protected by boxes. Also, with a lot of AP in the build, Shaco will be able to one-shot the enemy team's squishies which leaves them hopeless. And lastly, along as being not much of a troll-pick as you may presume, it's very fun to play!


Ok. I admit, you are not wrong there. But a non-viable doesn't always correspond to a bad pick. Support Shaco is certainly not a meta choice because people always relate Shaco to being a jungle assassin. However, a lot in his kit can be utilized in the support role. By using the advantages this pick poses, you can really influential towards your team winning the game.


Well, that point cannot be definitively proven. At the end of the day, everyone has their own playstyles and tendencies when playing support. Sure Shaco can't directly provide his team with shields and heals but he revolves his play around making the enemies' life difficult. By being such a nuisance, he diverts a lot of attention from his teammates and becomes a 'phantom target' which gives your teammates good opportunities to either punish the enemy team for making bad decision or to make plays elsewhere.

Support Shaco Pros

+ Very strong laning phase due to presence of boxes
+ Can easily get first blood via 'the cheese start'
+ Utilises boxes as a vital CC source
+ Zones out enemy ADC from farming
+ Prevents jungle ganks due to protective boxes
+ Can make picks like a regular assassin later in the game
+ A weird but good pick which can confuse enemies or make them underestimate you


Support Shaco Cons

- Only works well if your ADC can respond quickly to kill opportunities
- Can be exposed by bot lanes with a hard engage (e.g Alistar combo, Ashe ult)
- Could tilt your ADC if you roam too far away or accidentally take kills
- As a support pick, lacks some fundamentals such as heals and shields to buff your ADC

Backstab (P): When attacking enemies from behind, Shaco will do a 'mini-crit' for additional damage.

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Deceive (Q): Shaco teleports to a close location and becomes invisible for a short duration.

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Jack in the Box (W): Spawns a stealthed box which fears and damages nearby enemies.

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Two-Shiv Poison (E): *Passively slows enemies when attacked. Throws a dagger to deal damage.

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Hallucinate (R): Spawns a clone which Shaco can control. Upon clone death, leaves behind 3 mini boxes.

NOTE: I don't explain every detail of champion abilities in my guides because I only include RELEVANT information. Ability details can be found on the MobaFire website.


As seen above, the ability unlock path is...

Level 1: W
Level 2: Q
Level 3: E

The reasoning for this order is that it will give you the most benefit for the start of laning phase. You obviously want to start W because you want to incorporate 'the cheese start'. Having the boxes before the enemies arrive will immediately set them back and waste their health potions, or even concede first blood. Take Q second for safety purposes or to close down on kill potential. Lastly, take E third for more damage and to pile up on Shaco's full combo. Can also be used as lane poke when your target is slightly low on HP.


The abilities you should max first are...

First Max: Q
Second Max: E
Third Max: W
+Max Ultimate whenever possible

The reasoning for this order is that it will transition you well into the mid/late game. Always max Q first because it prolongs the duration for your invisibility which invites more opportunities to make plays. Max E second for lower cooldown and additional base damage which will make assassinating targets much easier. Lastly, Max W last; the benefits on maxing this ability do not need to be prioritised.

When it comes to Summoner Spells, Shaco can be more expressive with his choice, particularly if you are not jungling. This is because 90% of champion always take flash, but for Shaco, his Q compensate for its exclusion which allows him to utilise the perks of other Summoner Spells.

The two recommended Summoner Spells for Support Shaco are: EXHAUST and IGNITE

Why Exhaust?

Exhaust has been the go-to Summoner Spell choice for supports since the birth or League of Legends. It debuffs your target by reducing their damage output and their movement speed. This can be used either offensively or defensively and will mainly benefit your ally ADC to peel for them or to set up kills.

Why Ignite?

Ignite is a good pick for the bot lane as almost all ADC's take Heal, and Ignite significantly reduces the effect of Heal and heals from other sources (which many supports have). It provides true damage over time and further heightens your kill pressure.


Notable Mentions

Flash can be taken on Support Shaco for extra survivability or gap-closing. His Q does compensate for not taking Flash but taking Flash provides extra options and more room for flexibility. At the end of the day, it is down to the player's accustom.

A rather unconventional choice on Support Shaco is Teleport. Teleport has many benefits to this particular pick because Shaco can TP onto invisible boxes which gives him greater map presence and can help out allies elsewhere on the map. However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it because you have to remember your role is support so its best to revolve your play around helping your teammates rather than making greedy solo plays.

Please take this section of the guide with a pinch of salt as a lot of people have different play-styles and preferences as well as runes constantly being changed. I strongly recommend the Domination and Inspiration paths as they will provide great damage sources as well as good utility as a support to assist our teammates throughout the entirety of the game.

Domination Path Overview

Electrocute: This rune is basically the Thunderlord's keystone mastery before season 8. It works well on Shaco because he wants to ideally pick off a target in the qucikest time possible. Electrocute adds to your burst damage after doing a successful combo and could be the difference between securing a kill or letting your target escape with a slither of health.

Sudden Impact: After using Deceive, you will receive bonus penetration as damage. Obvious choice for Shaco, makes picking off targets with Deceive feel a lot smoother.

Zombie Ward: Even though Eyeball Collection isn't a bad choice, I think Zombie Ward is too good to turn down. Vision is one of your top priorities as a support and we always want to keep track of the enemy jungler's movements. It basically prolongs your ward duration and places your own wards for wards you kill.

Relentless Hunter: Champion takedowns will provide permanent out-of-combat movement speed. Very beneficial as a support because mobility is key to having map presence and makes your impact on the game much greater.

Inspiration Tree Overview

Perfect Timing: As of patch 8.10, Stopwatch is now available a lot earlier in the game (8 minutes) which is really good for Shaco. Shaco benefits from Stopwatch greatly because not only does it save you from fatal situations, Shaco can also escape after the stasis using Deceive which makes for a clean escape. Also, Guardian Angel is a core item in our build and Perfect Timing reduces its cost and cooldown.

Future's Market: In my opinion, this is a very underrated rune. You don't always have to delay your recalls to farm a quick minion wave to buy an item. It speeds up the process of buying items which really helps as Shaco as you want to gain advantages as quickly as possible. The debt charge of 50 gold sucks but what I do make the most out of it is always buying a Control Ward when I'm in debt because the 50 gold will be paid anyways.

Before I rundown the justification of the full build, I want to explain the importance of starting with Ancient Coin. The benefits with having Ancient Coin as your starting item is that as a Support, it is not ideal for you to take minions so to compensate for this loss, gold is passively granted. Additionally, ADCs and ranged Supports will be eager to poke you and the HP regen this item gives in lane will heal you up more than you think which keeps you healthier in lane. Additionally, this item gives slight cooldown reduction and provides mana regen which lets you place more boxes and harass with your E more frequently. Always recall with at least 500 gold to upgrade Ancient Coin to Nomad's Medallion to heighten its effects.


THE FULL BUILD:

Eye of the Oasis:

+ Support item component provides good survivability for laning phase
+ Decent amount of health to not be blown up by enemies from short range
+ 10% cooldown reduction, very potent for Shaco
+ Provides wards which can be placed, saving you another inventory space for other items


Lich Bane:

+ Good Ability Power which will help help you to scale
+ CDR, mana and movement speed stats extends your utility
+ Spellblade passive adds to your high damage burst combo and synergises well with Shaco's Q.


Hextech Protobelt-01:

+ Health, Ability Power and CDR supplements Shaco's potential for assassinations
+ The Active's damage can add to your full combo and can be used as an additional gap-closer
+ A relatively cheap item which allows you to complete the rest of the build much sooner


Luden's Echo:

+ Huge chunk of Ability Power which will help you to scale
+ More movement speed for greater map coverage
+ Passive further adds to your burst combo and provides slightly more AoE


Guardian Angel:

+ Decent amount of Armor and Magic Resist which makes you survive more damage
+ If facing certain death immediately after the revive, Shaco can simply Q away to safety
+ Very cheap item to build


Boots of Mobility:

+ Gives you insane bonus movement speed out of combat, great for roams
+ Huge movement speed bonus makes you travel longer during your Q, to enter a fight from afar
+ Cheaper to build than most other Tier-2 boots


This is the most optimal build when the enemy team has a balanced team composition. However, you'll have to adapt the build based on the scenario. The CORE items are Lich Bane, Hextech Protobelt and Guardian Angel. Luden's Echo or even Eye of the Oasis can be substituted for more suitable items if necessary. For example, against a team with high magic damage, purchase Abyssal Scepter instead of Luden's Echo.

What is 'The Cheese Start'?

TCS is a very cheesy stratgey which Support Shaco incorporates to get an early kill in the first two minutes of the game. This is done by predicting where the enemy laners will come from to enter the lane and putting boxes along its path. They will take insane damage from numerous boxes and, with the help of your ignite, you can secure first blood. Along as giving you extra gold, it will setback the enemy bot lane as they will miss 1 or 2 minion waves.

Example:

Play Video

The criteria to perform TCS:

✅ Start boxes (W)
✅ Ensure your own team is not being invaded
✅ Place a box for your jungler's first clear
✅ Have your ADC follow you towards the enemy jungle to prevent a counter-invade

How to execute TCS:

1) Start boxes (W)
2) Go to your jungler's first camp (ally blue/red buff) and place a box at 0:38 so they get a leash without you


At this point, it depends which side each team has spawned. For the sake of this run-through, we'll assume the enemy jungler will start at the camp nearest to bot-side.


If the enemies are at red:

1) Run to the tri-bush between bot-lane and dragon pit
2) Place your first box on the edge facing their red buff at 0:57
3) When W comes back from cooldown, place your second box just outside the tri-bush facing their tier-1 bot tower
4) When W comes back from cooldown, place your third box on the inside end of the wall near their tower
5) Run to the bush nearest to their tower. By now the minions have spawned and you'll have enough time to place one more box around a 1/3rd of the distance between the bush and the enemy tower (adjacent to the wall)

Pictures of this Setup





The Effect of this:

The enemy bot lane will finish leashing their jungler and will most likely enter the lane via through the tri-bush. However, their pathway will be bombarded by Shaco boxes and will take insane from the initial 3 boxes. The support will be aware of Shaco being around so the support will most likely go towards the bush you were in and ward it. However, there will be 2 other boxes awaiting him and this damage will be enough to secure first blood.

Outcome:
Play Video


If the enemies are at blue:

1) Run to bot lane and go inside the bush closes to the enemy tower
2) Place your first box around a 1/3rd of the distance between the bush and enemy tower (adjacent to the wall)
3) When W comes back from cooldown, place your second box just outside the river bush where the wall meanders
4) Go back to the original bush and place your third box right in the furthest corner
5) After this, the minions would've entered the lane and you may have enough time to place your last box in the same bush just by your third box

Picture of this Setup



The Effect of this:

This setup takes into account both entrances for the enemies to enter bot lane - through the river and the lane. If they enter through the lane, they will immediately encounter the boxes by the bush and will take sngificant damage. If they enter through the river, they will hit the river box and immediately try to retreat near the tower and will eventually approach the boxes near the bushes.

Outcome:
Play Video

In certain scenarios your ADC will have to call upon Shaco to legitimately support him/her. It's up to you to provide that assistance. The most common situations your ADC will need help in are the following:

1) Baiting kills
2) Letting your ADC bait kills
3) Placing Boxes near the river


Baiting Kills:

There's several different ways of baiting kills for your ADC. But it's most important for you to play around your boxes. Placing boxes in the edges of the lane will be vary tedious for the enemy bot lane. As soon as they step on a box, an opportunity for both of you to pounce of the target will arise. If they are aware of the box positions, ways you can bait a kill is to lead the enemies towards the proximity of the boxes.

Letting your ADC bait kills:

This strategy usually works best when the lane is pushing against you. As Shaco support, you want to be a sneaky and secretive as possible. To achieve this, you need to stay invisible to the enemy team by being in bush or in the fog-of-war. So when the lane is pushing against you, the enemy bot lane will spot your ADC is isolated and will attempt to catch them out. However, you can pounce on this opportunity to counter them by Q'ing from your spot into the fight, placing a box in the escape path and turning the fight around.

Placing Boxes near the River:

This strategy is quite self-explanatory. The purpose of placing boxes near the river is to avoid ganks from the enemy jungler and also to block a possible escape path from the enemy bot lane. This is extremely effective as it restricts the play area the enemy team have to make an impact on the game. Blocking the path from the jungler will give you enough time to retreat slightly back or to turn on him and go for the kill, since he is briefly CC'd.

How to Roam:

NOTE:Shaco is able to hop walls by lanes and remain unseen by Q'ing over warded areas.

Use Q to enter the lane
If the lane is pushed, place a box where you think the enemy will escape towards. If the lane is unpushed/even, place a box simply behind the enemy
Backstab the enemy, keep auto-attacking whilst leading them to your box
Use your E when they are low HP to execute them

NOTE:Placing a box during Q stealth will not reveal you. Also, you can use your ultimate while in stealth.

How to do a full combo (Maximum DPS):

Stealth in behind your target, spawn clone and place a box
Use the Q to backstab the enemy (Lich Bane proc)
Immediately after the first auto attack, use the active on Hextech Protobelt
Auto attack again
Use E as soon as the auto attack applies, and auto attack again (Lich Bane proc x2)

NOTE: Use Ignite and/or Exhaust whenever necessary
NOTE #2: If you don't think your full combo wont kill your target, hold onto your E. Do as much damage as possible from all sources and use your E when they are low enough to get executed.

Like I mentioned at the start, please do not take this too seriously. It's designed to be a fun but competitive way to play mainly on normal games but I really wouldn't recommend it for ranked. If you've tried it a couple of times and have found success, it still wouldn't be a wise choice to try this on ranked as some teammates will tilt as soon as they see a Support Shaco pick.

Thank you for spending your time to read this guide. This was quite fun to write because I'd like to think the strategies for this specific playstyle was thought up by myself so it's nice to share my knowledge with other players. Be sure to check out my actual Shaco jungle guide: FREELO SHACO GUIDE - BRUISING AND CRUISING