Matchup is extremely unplayable. Outfarms you, out-objectives you, makes your Q useless for escaping with his aura (he can see you since its constantly dealing dmg), and oneshots boxes. Only thing you have over him is that you can dodge his ult with enough practice since spawning clone gives you some i-frames. Apart from that, just an unfun matchup, gotta play with your team to beat him up in his jg and objectives.
Udyr
Same as Karthus and Morde, his AOE DOT makes your Q fairly unreliable. And in a similar vein to them, he can powerfarm and take objectives much faster. Only chance you have is invading early or just playing with your team.
Mordekaiser
Same as udyr and Karth, they outfarm, otuduel, and AOE aura makes Q not as reliable. You cant ever invade him unless you are ahead. If you are in his domain, though, you can try to Q over terrain and waste his ult. Clone wont be pulled into ult, so you cant bait him into ulting clone. BEst you can do is play with your team and peel (which is 99% of AP Shaco's gameplan anyways).
Yuumi
Yuumi is a stand-in for most enchanters. Your boxes are for either peeling your carries or zoning, and enchanters negate zoning since they can just shield/heal whoever triggers the boxes, or themselves. Not unplayable, since boxes still have fear and are still usefull for peeling divers and tanks, but annoying nonetheless. Serpens fang is a possible purchase against heavy shield/enchanter teams, if you are hte only one who can build it, even if you are AP.
Yuumi is the worst enchanter though since she's just an annoying parasite that makes their host unkillable.
Fellow cat though. Miaw
Olaf
AP Shaco's main advantage is his zoning and peel. This guy does not give af, and will just run you down. Doesnt help that he can just buy Maw and screw you over even more.
Hecarim
Cant really ever kill him with his absurd sustain. Same as all the other Aura-Dudes, he makes escaping hard with his AoE DoT. Clears fast, does obejctives fast, overall annoying but manageable in mid to late game as you can really shut him down when hes diving your team with boxes and ult.
Graves
He will be your Grave (ba dum tsss).
Oenhsots boxes, can invade and outscale. I barely see Graves ngl, but good ones are always annoying. Range makes him really hard to kill. Recommend just not feeding him and trying to outscale/
Fiddlesticks
Fiddle Diddle is similar to the AoE dot gang. His W makes you sad in your Q since he can still see you. Teamfighting is a pain against him. Best you can do is try to ward and box preemtivley so he ults into them. Not the worst, but not fun either.
Kayn
I hate Kayn I hate Kayn I hate Kayn
Ward eiteher your raptors or his. 99% of kayn players are gonna start there. Path accordingly, you can probably beat him early with ignite. After that, try to focus more on reactive play than proactive, as the less skirmishes there are the sadder kayn is (no form).
Blue Kayn build Zhonya and bait him into ulting clone. I he does ult you, surround yourself in boxes. Do the same for your teammates. Not impossible to go up against since your boxes can really screw him up.
For Red Kayn, build antiheal and beg that your team can burst him down. You cant do anything.
Rengar
Coinflip Matchup. On one hand, he can oneshot you, your boxes, and can counter your invis in his ult. On the other hand, AP shaco is an exelent coutner to divers and assasins through his amazing peel, and zhonya's can also screw him over. Depends on how good both of you are.
Briar
I luv briar, but sadly we curbstomp her.
Q cancels her berserk, and she is easily baited nto boxes and into destroying clone. If she does get ahead, go antiheal. Apart from that, really hard to lose to her.
Amumu
part of the AOE dot gang, meaning his aura reveals you, which is a bit annoying. Apart from that, hes pretty easy to outplay. Baiting him into boxes and into Q-inig into clone is easy and screws him over a lot.
Shyvana
Same thing as udyr (AoE dot and Powerfarmer), except significantly worse. Annoying for the same reasons Udyr is, but with much less sustain and tankyness. Invading, and just dodging her dragon E is an easy way to shut her down.
Viego
Meh. Annoying matchup, sure, since no matter how much you put him down, one good posses can turn the tide of a teamfight, but since he relies on getting that first reset, boxes and peel coutner him pretty well throughout the game. Since Viego is going full crit + trinity nowdays, hes also pretty squishy, so boxes screw him over even more. You can block his W with your boxes, dodge his R with your R or Q. Overall, sometimes annoying but manageable matchup overall.
Kha'Zix
Kha is a stand in for most assasins without gimmicks. Since they rely on going in and out, your boxes and peel counter them pretty well overall. Boxes + Zhonyas will just make their life miserable. They will be tricky to catch, and can ktie you easily, but you screw them over with correct positioning in mid to late game.
Ivern
Just watch out for Daisy and target him first in skirmishes. His objective clear is even worse than yours (somehow), and if you know his clear/where he started, you can steal his camps pretty easily. Just make sure to ward your jg entrances lvl 1 so he doesnt get a free buff. Like most enchanters, hes annoying with his shield, so if they have tons of shielding on their team, consider getting serpents, even if you are ap.
Lillia
Can Kite you easily, outscale and otufarm you, while also revealing you in invis with passive and Liandry. Outside from that, though, she gets countered by well placed boxes, and since most of her pressire comes from her ult, denying her access to your team is really valuabel against her. Skill matchup
Diana
She's pretty strong right now due to her passive buffs, making her clear insanely fast. She can onehsot boxes with Q, and through her usual items (Liandrys, and unending despair which can proc liandry) she can be surprisingly durable and use the burn to reveal you in your invis. You can dodge her ult with R, but do be careful, as if you activate R too early, shes not only gonna hit you, but shes gonna do more dmg since her R dmg scales with champions pulled.
You can still dumpster her with correct box placement, as she is a diver, but shes not autopilot easy.
Kindred
Not too bad of a matchup, you just gotta play around her early invades. Similar to Ivern, you want to protect your camps lvl 1 invades. You dont really care about lvl 2 invades since you clear too fast for her to catch you lacking at gromp or at krugs. As long as she doesnt start snowballing early, shes manageable.
Even if she does, shes not that hard to zone off since she usually doenst build bruiser (usually). Just dont give early and shes manageable.
Volibear
Voli, Jarvin, all of those dive champs who struggle getting out of fights are your primary target. They cant chase you, and your clone and boxes just screw them up too much. Even if you are behind, just the fear can seriously mess them up. Peel when they dive and it will be a-okay! Specifically in Voli's case, try not to get hit by the shield and his second bite, since that can make him deceptively tanky. Play around those CDs.
Vi
Same as other Dive characters, she gets screwed hard by Shaco. Dodge her Q's, and I-Frame her Rs. Apart form that, theres nothing much to say. Pretty starightfowrard matchuo.
Warwick
Basically same matchup as a Volibear, except he has a way stronger early. You mess him up late, only thing you gotta be careful around is with his early. Play to outscale, and try and react to his ganks, since the fact that you take ignite makes your counterganks pretty great.
Rek'Sai
Rek'Sai is so bad rn its not even funny. Slowest clear in the game, barely scales, AND shes a diver??? We be eating good., bcs theres nothing much she can do. She screws AD shaco pretty hard with her invis detection on burrow, but that doesnt really matter since she cant do much against you.
Lee Sin
Dont try and statcheck him, and you'll be fine. He has tons of sustain and early game power, but he is a diver. Bait him into Q-ing into boxes, avoid dueling him and it'll be fine. The only reason hes not in 'Minor' threat is because good Lee Sin will kick your clone away from your team.
Rammus
AP shaco does two things better than AD; scaling and tank killling, due to your DOT/Liandry Playstyle. Thus, matchups such as rammus are pretty easy, esoecially if you manage to bait his ult with a well placed box or clone.
Trundle
Dont statcheck the statcheck king and it will be okay. Try to gang up on him, and play around his honestly slow first clear. Apart form that, just avoid him, as he can kill you pretty fast with PTA, and can trace you in invis if he ulted you beforehand.
Shaco
fren
Teemo
psychological warfare.
Might be a bit counterproductive at times if you place shrooms and traps together since everyone is going to be running sweepers on the enemy team, so you just make clearing easier. If you have good coordiation, though, and place them on different spots where its hard to use one sweeper to disable multiple traps, its a pretty great synergy, especially if either of you goes bloodletters curse.
Dont force this draft if there is too much ap on your team, as it can make both your traps useless since people will go MR items, and they are pretty overtuned.
Blitzcrank
Blitz is a stand-in for both himself and every engage support ever (Mao, Rell, Thresh, etc..). All of these characters have strong cc and repositioning tools, allowing you to combo your boxes off of their abilities, greatly increasing your gank potential. Blitz in specific has hook, knockup, and an AoE silence, which is great for confirming kills.
Caitlyn
Cait is a stand in for most adcs. Squishy and ever immobile, most adcs are nothing more than a free 300 gold to assasins, mages, and even tanks, but with your friendly neighborhood Shaco, that problem is no more! Rengar leaping onto your adc? No problem, just place boxes around your backline! Voli diving your backline? Boxes. Sion ulting your backline? Boxes. Your wife is divorcing you and is taking the kids? Boxes.
As AP Shaco, you are rarely the carry. You have little to no agency and kill threat unless the enemy team is dumb and walks into 3 boxes or kills your ult. Your main appeal is peeling for your backline and zoning, and squishy adcs benefit from this a lot.
Cait in specific is good because she can follow up on boxes with her immense cc and R.
Pantheon
Same as Blitz, he has tons of CC. In general, you love strong early laners, as it means you can get early prio for objectives (which you cant really solo consistently early on), as well as giving you the leisure of having the time to just farm and scale.
Katarina
Assasins, especially those without cc and such, are pretty anti-synergistic with AP Shaco. Apart from just boxing their exit from the fight and distracting the enemy team, they dont benefit much from your peel. They can make use of boxes leaving people low and fearing them, but then again, so can everyone else.
Darius
Juggernauts are a mixed bunch. They dont really care for your peel, but those who have strong laning phases and cc (Darius) are pretty good for the same reason Panth and Blitz are good.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Shaco
fren
Teemo
psychological warfare.
Might be a bit counterproductive at times if you place shrooms and traps together since everyone is going to be running sweepers on the enemy team, so you just make clearing easier. If you have good coordiation, though, and place them on different spots where its hard to use one sweeper to disable multiple traps, its a pretty great synergy, especially if either of you goes bloodletters curse.
Dont force this draft if there is too much ap on your team, as it can make both your traps useless since people will go MR items, and they are pretty overtuned.
Blitzcrank
Blitz is a stand-in for both himself and every engage support ever (Mao, Rell, Thresh, etc..). All of these characters have strong cc and repositioning tools, allowing you to combo your boxes off of their abilities, greatly increasing your gank potential. Blitz in specific has hook, knockup, and an AoE silence, which is great for confirming kills.
Caitlyn
Cait is a stand in for most adcs. Squishy and ever immobile, most adcs are nothing more than a free 300 gold to assasins, mages, and even tanks, but with your friendly neighborhood Shaco, that problem is no more! Rengar leaping onto your adc? No problem, just place boxes around your backline! Voli diving your backline? Boxes. Sion ulting your backline? Boxes. Your wife is divorcing you and is taking the kids? Boxes.
As AP Shaco, you are rarely the carry. You have little to no agency and kill threat unless the enemy team is dumb and walks into 3 boxes or kills your ult. Your main appeal is peeling for your backline and zoning, and squishy adcs benefit from this a lot.
Cait in specific is good because she can follow up on boxes with her immense cc and R.
Pantheon
Same as Blitz, he has tons of CC. In general, you love strong early laners, as it means you can get early prio for objectives (which you cant really solo consistently early on), as well as giving you the leisure of having the time to just farm and scale.
Katarina
Assasins, especially those without cc and such, are pretty anti-synergistic with AP Shaco. Apart from just boxing their exit from the fight and distracting the enemy team, they dont benefit much from your peel. They can make use of boxes leaving people low and fearing them, but then again, so can everyone else.
Darius
Juggernauts are a mixed bunch. They dont really care for your peel, but those who have strong laning phases and cc (Darius) are pretty good for the same reason Panth and Blitz are good.
Hello, Everynyan! I’m Painter, an avid League player who has peaked at Diamond III, and hasn't reached those heights ever since. So… I'm neither the best nor the most consistent player, but what I do have is experience, along with a passion for overanalyzing builds and interactions, something which is really useful for an outdated and bug ridden champ as Shaco.
My personal cup of tea has always been bruisers and draintanks; things like Kayn (Rhaast only), Briar, and Aatrox normally fill up my most played champs, yet there is one exception to that pattern, that being Shaco. With all of these champs you kinda love fighting, which makes the game really unfun when you are up against ranged comps who perma cc you are no fun. Then I started playing champs who countered said bruisers, since in my bruiser perspective, they were very broken and uncounterable, but then I found that those champs have unplayable matchups as well. I played tons of champions, until I stumbled upon the gem that is AP Shaco. He is the epitome of annoyances, a character so degenerate that, even when you are losing, you can't help but have fun and laugh at the enemy team's suffering! If any of those things sound appealing to you, then i recommend you to give Shaco a try.
So, what is a Shaco? Well, he is by far the league character with the most interesting lore. That, if you don't know much about the lore, is sarcasm. Much like Cho’gath, Shaco has a semblance of lore in his bio, but apart from that, he isn't connected to any characters, he doesn't have any cinematics, and overall is a bit of an enigma, even compared to characters who have not been updated in a long time, but still manage to have some connections to the main universe like Zilean. What sets him apart, though, also makes him interesting and unique. Stuck in a limbo between existence and nonexistence, Shaco is a weird anomaly; more popular than actual forgotten champions like Rammus and consistently getting balance changes and skins, yet his lore is ever stagnant, and that might be due to the appeal of having a character that is just weird . Much like his lore, Shaco is a weird character, with diverse playstyles and unique gameplay you cant really find anywhere else, ranging from building crit and/or lethality for oneshots using Deceive and Backstab, being a control mage/annoying weasel building AP (what this guide is about) using Jack In The Box and Hallucinate, or even building tank, using several Hallucinate interactions to be semi-viable.
+ Extremely slippery
- Tricky to play and master
+ Amazing Zoning
- Weak early
+ Incredible Peel/Antidive
- Not self sufficient at all; reliance on team
+ Immense vision control
- Struggles against smart opponents
+ Tons of CC and Lockdown
- Usually requires setup/planning
+ Infuriating to play against (ragebaiting is meta)
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