✔️[S.11] WHITE CROW's Sexy Diamond Guide to SHACO
By White Cr0w | Updated on November 25, 2020






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Choose Champion Build:
-
AD PRESEASON
-
AP Shaco madness
Runes:












+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:

Ignite

Smite
Items
Ability Order
Threats & Synergies






Jax
Common ban nowadays. Jax is so strong, early, mid and lategame. You can kill him on his jungle if you see him using his E to farm or to avoid damage. Make sure he doesn't get kills early. Countergank him and push lanes a lot to get as much gold advantage as possible.




Champion Build Guide

I'm White crow here in Mobafire and on Youtube, and I'm an user who plays LoL like other millions of people.
"Why should I read your guide, you random guy who is probably a virgin(NO) and I don't know at all?".

After playing thousands of games with him and testing many different builds/strategies, I consider myself a pretty experienced Diamond

In addition, I got featured onRiot's Summoner Showcase as a good Shaco Master and Teacher! Yay, thanks. Also I have had the top 1 Shaco guide in Mobafire for 6 YEARS! Yep, I need a life.
SO, What can yoy teach me, "so pro White Crow"?
After seeing many strange(BAD)

IMPORTANT: We creators rely on you readers to grow. If this guide somehow helps you out, PLEASE VOTE IT and comment so I can keep improving!
Pros
+ Strong pre-6 Ganks. + One of the best counterjunglers out there + So good splitpusher + One of the most fun champ to play with. + So Slippery and annoying. + He is the most mental champ out there. + You can easily win people with Coulrophobia. Shaco has evolved over the seasons. While he it hasn't the best assassin, his kit is designed for tilting enemies and attacking them while they less expect it. Be sure to never fight alone early game unless it's an easy 1v1. With his built in dash with invisibility, Shaco is one of the most terrifying Champions of the Rift. |
Cons
- Weak early ganks if not used to them. - Hard to play. Extremely hard to master. - You MUST stay focused and calmed to play him. - You'll get flamed sometimes for picking him. - Squishy champ. - He have troubles against ![]() ![]() Shacos weaknesses relies of how different he is. While his one-shots and plays are rewarding, a single mistake can make you throw a huge lead. It's important that you stay focused on him and you master all of his kit in order to feel as much confortable as possible with the mad jester. |
The Best way to Play SHACO in Season 10 | Full Game Guide
If you prefer videos like me, check my Channel on Youtube (thanks for the +18,000 subs!), where I'll be posting many guides, explanations and Commentary/Gameplays to make my statements more visual.
You can also follow my Twitch Stream for seeing Live advanced Shaco playstyle! I stream every 1-2 days, but I just opened a Facebook Page to warn you guys when I'll be going to start Stream and to commentate videos. Hope to see you there!

Many people ask me which is the actual role of




Is he a carry?
No.
Is he an initiator/engager?
No.
Is he a tank?
No.
Is he a support jungler?
No.
Is he an assassin like

Kinda.
Is he a bruiser that can fight for a long time?
No.
So.. What can this little funny guy do for my team? Is it there anything he can do better than anyone?
Shaco Roles
A good comparison would be








![]() ![]() Aaaah... Deceive. This is probably ![]() ![]() IMPORTANT: WITH THE RECENT REWORK, DECEIVE CAN CRIT WHEN STRIKING WHEN BACKSTABBING. |
Remember that enemies will see your "poof" red smoke even if you are on Fog of War, so be sure to go in when they are distracted or can't spot you.
We will grab this Amazing heaven gift at lvl 2. And with the changes we've received, just ONE (1) point earlygame will be enough to take profit of it.

![]() ![]() SURPRISE! This is ![]() |
We're taking a point of


- Placing a
Jack In The Box in the feet of an enemy during a 1vs1 can make you win the fight. Never forget it.
- In teamfights use it to protect your carry. Place a
Jack In The Box near your
Varus, so when that
Kha'Zix jumps into his face to burst him he will get feared and you'll be able to burst him down.
- Place one or two boxes before a Teamfight, they'll grant you and your team an escape route if things go wrong.
- It not only grants vision to you, but your teammates. Gift the lane you ganked with a Box in that bush without a ward. If you are low and the ganked one died, their jungler may be coming. Put a box, save a life.
- You can place a box in front on you when
Blitzcrank is grabbing you. If the box is still visible when the grab reach it, it will take the box instead of you.
- Always take care of your mana. If you are in middle of a fight and you have less than 150MP, dont be a suicidal machine and use that mana to place a box that will probably die in secs. You'll may need that MP to
Deceive to safety.
- Red trinket reveals Shaco boxes, but it doesn't deactivate them anymore.
![]() ![]() An amazing ability that will work both as a finishing nuke and as a perma-redbuff. With the recent chagnes, TWO-SHIV POISON DEALS BONUS DAMAGE WHEN STRIKING FROM BEHIND. |
Since the slow power, the damage and the miss % increases with the skill level, you're going to want to max out

Rework Changes
Good news: It deals enhanced damage according to enemy missing HP, but being the max already when under 30% (yay!),it scales with bonus AD (yay x2!) and now DEALS MAGIC DAMAGE (yay x3!)

- Don't use your
Two-Shiv Poison to engage. NEVER, unless you're facing someone like
Sivir or
Nocturne that could block it.
Two-Shiv Poison does magic damage now. That means that even if we're building AD and enemy builds armor, they will take a lot of damage from it!
- You can use your
Deceive+Tiamat Active + AA +
Two-Shiv Poison combo, but just to finish a carry who is low. NEVER to initiate a full gank/fight unless your target is epicly overextended.
- Remember this skill PROCS
Backstab AGAIN. Always try to use it from behind, a knife thrown right between the eyebrows won't hurt as much as if it is thrown on the back.
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Just take

Season 7 Changes
Good news: The clone death will make 3 little jack in the box spawn in a triangle place(yay!)
Bad news: They don't do much damage (aaaw..) and one of them dying will make the others disappear too (aaaw x2)

- Shaco's have 75% of your AD, but procs all on-hit sources of damage such as
Blade of the Ruined King and
Duskblade of Draktharr.
- Controlling your Clone (alt+click) is an art to be mastered. Think as if you were using two champs at once, don't use your main shaco and clone shaco by turns.
- It's really easy to bait with
Hallucinate. If someone is chasing you and your
Deceive is on cooldown, enter a bush, use
Hallucinate and make the Clone go out to the path you would normally take if you were fleeing. If they chase him it will explode and damage your follower, while letting you deceiving out to safety (if you are low and he high on hp) or deceiving in (if you think you can kill it) for the WOMBOCOMOBO of
Hallucinate explode +
Deceive + Tiamat active + AA +
Two-Shiv Poison + Thunderlords.
- If you are 1vs1ing and someone fights you back (and is facing you), position your clone at his back and make him attack from there, so he procs
Backstab.

THIS CHAPTER IS BEING UPDATED FOR SEASON 11. READ CAREFULLY. PERIOD.
If you are OK with this, let's go on this guide. Enjoy![/color]
NOW YES, ITEMS
You must understand that Shaco doesn't have a fixed item setup. You need to adapt to the team you have and the team you're facing in order to take the maximum profit from the gold you spend. Don't stick into a fixed build, or you will find yourself failing in a game while you actually played nice and you won't understand why.
So lets start with the items:
Starting Items
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emberknife: Standard start. Better exp, better farm, better sustain, basically a must for every jungler out there. We're taking this little guy at lvl 1. Ember is usually better than ![]() |
Core Items
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Tiamat:Used to be a core, not that strong anymore since Riot Removed the Active and it only works for a slightly faster clear now. Our boxes deal AOE damage now, so we should be clearing fine without it. Some Shaco player still use it. |
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Eclipse:Not OP For Shaco specifically, but the item is plain too good until Riot Fix it. Nice mobility, nice stats, nice shield. Eclipse is a wonderful tool for moving around a fight without being a super-duper-easy target to melt. |
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Duskblade of Draktharr:Amazing for Shaco. Duskblade will make your enemies explode in a little fart. It sinergyzes TOO GOOD with Shaco's passive, Deceive and ![]() ![]() |
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Essence Reaver:Essence Reaver is a blessing for Shaco in season 11. Not even a mythic item, this little guy provide us with everything we need: plnety of AD, haste, Crit, MP and a wonderful passive that will melt carries when coupled with other items/runes. Definetely a must nowadays after our Mythic |
Situational Items
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Navori Quickblades: Probably your best 3th item if playing Crit Shaco. This guy keeps giving us sweetie stats (ad, crit, haste) while it enhances our Crits so we can jump in and out in a faster pace. It also let us throw many shivs lategame on a same fight. Recommended after ER |
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Youmuu's Ghostblade: Used to be wonderful! Yoummus would ease your snowballing with it's amazing stats and it's active. Sadly, stacking lethality is not smart nowadays since ![]() |
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Stormrazor: Still needs testing, but I think ER and navori are just plain better. By this point you should be rushing defensive items anyway. |
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Infinity Edge (needs testing): The old Infinity Edge is back. The old Shaco kit is slightly back. With them, it's viability for Shaco. Shaco's passive, Deceive and two shiv poison proc it. There are better items for an early game rush, for for your full build this item will be INCREDIBLY GOOD. |
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Guardian Angel: Crucial for assasins in lategame now that it grants AD. I must admit it works wonders on ![]() ![]() |
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Maw of Malmortius: You are not going to use Malmortius a lot. It's a situational items that can work wonders in certain situations, and be useless and a waste of money in others. Take it when you're fighting a Fed AP burster (annie/Karthus+nunu, Katarina) and you need to burst her faster than it bursts you. |
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Mortal Reminder: Like Maw of Malmortius, Last whisper and Mortal reminder are situational items. Extremely strong in some situations and pointless in other ones, you'll have to use your brain in order to decide if to purchase it or not. Mortal is an AMAZING choice when you have tanky, sustainish champions as enemies (Fiora,Vladimir,Mordekaiser,swain) as you will melt them. Useless against squishy targets. |
Worth Mentioning
Amazing lategame item. While earlygame the shield is kinda "meh", in lategame it's huge and it has great stats. Overall an offensive-defensive item that fits Shaco quite a lot when he gets a duelling role.Bloodthirster
BOOT CHOICE
Boots
Even after the nerf, they still are a must for early ganks. Don't do your second back if you can't afford them.
Berserker's Greaves
I used to hate this boots. A lot. Not only I used to hate them, but I thought they were the worst option for Shaco. However, with the new jungle and new runes, I still have the mobility I used to have with 




- You can jump from a more back position and reach the lane to gank anyway, avoiding well placed wards or enemies spotting the "poof" smoke.
- You can position yourself better after Deceiving, letting you improve the performance of your gank and ensure the an easier kill.
IMPORTANT: Remember that we creators rely on you readers to grow. If this guide somehow helps you out, PLEASE VOTE IT and comment so I can keep improving!
✦ ![]() Electrocute is a safe, wonderful choice for Shaco. Similar to the old Thunderlords, it gives a nice burst to your combo that people doesn't usualy expect. Your burst will improve with this, and it scales pretty good to the mid and lategame. |
✦ ![]() Dark Harvest is the greedy choice for those Shaco players that expect a lead. While not being good for early duelling, if you think you are going to teamfight/gank a lot this rune will turn you into a Nasus-like lategame BEAST. Strong.. and Risky. |
✦ ![]() Hail of blades has recently become a wonderful choice for Shaco. Once a must have for early crab duellers, HoB now brings a wonderful tool for ![]() |

Summoner Spells
Smite hands down. This is one of the best spells of the game! Not only cause it let you finish the jungle buffs faster and safer, but allows you to counterjungle and steal every single monster in game including baron and dragon. With the new buffs, Smite is also a part of your burst combo. |
Amazing for finishing people and extra damage. The other choice instead of ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The spell everyones loves. I'm not an exception, I think ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Good for ![]() ![]() ![]() |
: Not a bad option for a second spell if the enemy team have more than 4 Stuns/jails/snares. A combo made of ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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As


In my opinion if you want to play


"But White Crooooooooow! I want to faaaaarm my jungle creeeeeps or my mid steeeeaaaals them and I can't build my

Now listen kids, Remember your roles as

Your job is to make your team incredibly fed and strong, and enemy team incredibly useless and weak so your team can stand a 4vs5 lategame while you splitpush like a beast and destroy all the turrets.
And to do this you have to do things that solves both missions:
- Abuse your strong ganks early.
- Partially steal enemy jungle creeps so they don't regenerate.
- Let your mid have your wolves/chickens whenever possible so he get ahead in gold.
- Steal enemy buffs whenever possible (care with wards)
- If your midlaner is mana-dependant, make him have always your Blue buff.
- Shaco traps are strong early. Try to kill enemy jungler to make him stay behind.
If you do these jobs correctly, you'll get as much Gold as you would if you kept farm your camps over and over. Now lets see how do we do all those things.
Minion Spawns
- Minor Monster Spawn: 1:30
Respawn time: 60s
- Major Minion Spawn (Blu & Red buffs): 1:30
Respawn time: 300s/5m
- Dragon Spawn: 2:30
Respawn time: 360s/6m
- Baron Spawn: 20:00
Respawn time: 420s/7m
Jungle routes
The most efficient route to start as Shaco is, for me,the one that lets Shaco be level 4 at 3:20. Which is a huge lead in comparison to other junglers.
STEPS:
- Buy a
Hunter's Talisman and refillable potion/bead.
- Head your RAPTORS. Ask your teammates to cover.
- Place 3 boxes on the camp in a triangle.
- You don't need help, but ask for your teammates to pull a bit if you want, at this point they will be wondering WTF is this
Shaco doing.
- After cleaning the chickens, go after your red buff and clear it with your box tanking it.
- Get those Krugs.
- If you do it right, you will be level 3 at 2:35 aprox. Your job now is to make a decision: Gank your closest lane or go to farm/counterjungle.
REMEMBER that Krugs give more experience than any other camp in the jungle, so be sure to clear them (both yours AND enemy krugs).
Try to steal enemy little neutrals as much as possible. As always, kill all but an small one (p.e. 2 little wraiths and the big blue one, leaving 1 little alive) to max the gold losing for enemies and preventing the respawn.
When you reach lvl 11 and get yourTiamat, start helping your team pushing lanes and destroy turrets. If 1 or 2 turrets have been destroyed already, start splitpushing.





So lets say you are on a game, you took your Wolves and Blue Buff and stole enemy Red like a baws. Now Seems that it's the perfect time to gank a lane and score a first blood. But... sh1t, you enemy in top is a

Where to
Deceive in from.




As you see, you should never gank directly from river but from alternative routes. Your

The white spots are where you should

- Try to keep on the communication with your team. Ask them for the placement of enemy
Vision Ward so you can avoid them better.
Shaco is one of the best lane-gankers of the game. If there is a
Vision Ward on river 'cause the enemy laner knows you may come after him, try to gank directly from lane. Use
Deceive in your turret and run towards the mid of the lane to start a 2vs1.
- Remember that enemies can see your *poof* red smoke when you
Deceive, even trough fog of war. Be sure they aren't close enough to see it.
- The range of
Deceive has been nerfed recently (WTF RIOT), so if you used to play
Shaco and you want to play him back again, get adviced that jumping walls is harder now.
- Most junglers needs the lane somehow pushed to gank efficiently so the enemy cant escape even when they have seen you thanks to
Vision Ward. Shaco can't gank in any point of the lane, specially when both laners are trading at mid, since the enemy won't expect a gank yet.
How to gank
So we just Deceived in a gankable lane. How should we act now? It also depends on WHO ARE WE GANKING. Depending on it, our performing will be different on ganks:
Option 1: Baitable Trade
We will use this when we are ganking an enemy who is pretty strong in Early Trades. Most common cases are





How to do it:
Our objective is to bait a trade that will turn into a 2vs1.
We will deceive in, but we don't attack yet. Tell your teammate/s your intentions by pinging the target so he initiates it. Enemie/s will expose and initiate what they will think is a 1vs1 or a 2vs2 early trade, which they also think they'll probably win. After the engage and after enemy initiated (so often they do initiate with the escaping skill too, since "nobody is coming from river", he he he), go in and turn the battle into a 2vs1. They will panic, going back trying to save his butt.. so you will face his back. Do you know what does it means?

When going in you have 2 choices. If there are no minions, your most efficient move will probably be placing a

with red, your passive E and with box fear you'll mostly get the kill. If the enemy flash away, use the active of your E to catch him up.
Option 2: Pwn da weak
We will use this when we are ganking an enemy who is pretty weak in Early Trades or doesn't like trades at all. Most common cases are



So what to do? Tell your teammate you're going to gank, but ask him to let you position behind enemy first ] so he can't flee that easy.
How to do it:
Our objective is to SURPRISE and instakill.
So we have a


Instead of waiting, if our ally is in range we will just pop our Q from behind to proc



100% Result on enemy:































If this don't happen or he just used flash before, your teammate will be able to help you to kill him thanks to your red buff +

Whatever you are facing, you should be keeping on with the pressure the whole game, even when lane phasing is over. You must give the enemy fear. Make enemies think they will never have a true XvsX since you could be anywhere, hiding somehwere preparing to rush in and turn the battle.
After few turrets are dead and you lead your team epicly ahead, change your role from epic counterjungler/ganker to splitpusher thanks to your

SEASON 11 IS HERE!
I like shaco in the new season. There are better choices out there, as always, but our Mad jester is in a decent spot right now. I'll try to keep updating the guide until it's finished :)
28/10/2019
Shaco has been completely reworked and now he's back as an early game assassin. After tons of work I updated this whole guide to make things clearer for you guys.
Good luck, and backstab everywhere! Remember that you can check my Twitch if you want to ask questions LIVE.
1/09/2019
SHACO IS GETTING A REWORK. Shaco is coming back to an earlygame beast soon. I leave the changelist here.
The changes may update. Be sure to stay tuned to the youtube Channel and Twitch for talking about this.
04/02/2017
Aloha all! This Shacomania just won the prize as the Best Assassin Guide of 2017 by Mobafire, and I gained the Title of "Backstabber" on the forums. YAY!
To celebrate this, I updated the guide even more, providing details about the currently OP lethality build on Shaco and more tips/tricks to succeed on it.
10/12/2016
Today is the day that our Shacomania Guide reached the TOP 1 GUIDE ON ALL MOBAFIRE.
I can't believe it, you guys are freaking sexy. Thank you so much!

Best Regards,
White Crow.
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