Shaco Build Guide by Rinsel

Introduction

Shaco is one of the scariest and most underplayed junglers in the game, And with good reason. He is capable of things no one can match, One being his INSANE mobility and interesting range of items. Shaco revel's in the sight of death, Not only in champions but also in the jungle. The fastest jungle route for shaco can be accomplished within 3 - 5 minutes of the game starting.

Pro's & Con's

Shaco

Con's

-Squishy
-Very Weak to CC
-Hard to completely master
-Need a good understanding of counterjungling

-Strong Early Game
-One of the Best Counter Jungler's (Next to Nunu)
-Insane Burst
-Highly Rewarded

Masteries

Masteries

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Why not these?

Let's talk about masteries for a second, Shaco is infact a jungler(Really now?) but he doesn't need extra damage from his auto attacks so getting Butcher is nearly useless seeing as to how shaco's start revolves around his boxing powers. When shaco starts at his first jungle camp he takes little to no damage, Leaving the option for him to instantly go to the next camp and with the Tough Skin and Bladed Armor masteries he is capable of killing them with only one box without losing too much health.

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Why these then?

Offensive Tree

Something I've noticed with alot of shaco player's is that they play shaco like a regular ol'jungle. When he is not... No where close....nope....get out. Shaco is relatively close to Ezreal in the concept that they don't have to have flash since they already have a built in flash that's on a VERY small cooldown. But Shaco is different, He lacks if you use flash as to Ezreal it can give him an edge to be more offensive or a quick escape. I take Ignite on shaco because it gives him an edge, not only in 1v1's but it can give him a finishing move that works well with his shiv for quick clean-up's after a teamfight. So then it's common sense to get the matching mastery Summoner's Wrath .

Next up, I get Weapon Expertise so you don't really have to make up for the armor penetration with items or anything sketch like that.

Lethality is the sole mastery that throws shaco over the mountain, it gives him CRIT CHANCE! Seeing as how his passive Deceive gives crit, Why not be capable of critting again right after that eh? Ehhh? I mean you are an assassin right?.? # Frenzy then?

Defense Tree

Shaco is naturally squishy and without his boxes to tank at level 1 he would probably be un-able to jungle (LOL!), So to make up for his squishyness I go with Durability and Hardiness for the survivability in the early levels not just in the jungle; But in ganks as well!


Adding on to that, I also grab Veteran's Scars for the early health.

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Attack Damage 9	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage 3

Quintessence's

I use Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage because it not only helps you clear the jungle faster, But not "if" when you counter-jungle you will most likely encounter the enemy jungler. You need to be able to win agains't them in a skirmish / nuke them before they even know you were there and the laners come to take your buffs! (OH NOOO!)

I also use Greater Quintessence of Life Steal sometimes if I know i'm not going to be able to gank lanes early and need to just farm it out.

I use Greater Mark of Attack Damage because I find them to benefit you so much more for early ganks if you first buy Berserker's Greaves to cover the movement speed and attack speed.


Shaco is ofc squishy and if you didn't have Greater Seal of Armor you would probably never be able to counter-jungle...ever.


As I said before shaco is insanely squishy, Especially ESPECIALLY to casters. If you didn't have Greater Glyph of Magic Resist then you would probably get one-shot trying to gank mid. (Lol)

In-Depth View Of Shaco

Shaco is considered an AWFUL pick and should never be played by alot of low-elo players. Why you may ask? Well to them he offers no initial damage, No tankiness, no cc, and pretty much just dies. There is only one thing in there that is factual. Shaco in-fact is one of the Kings Of Initial Damage, He has a decent amount of cc (more than your Teemo), and in most fights has the choice whether to die or not.

Shaco

Shaco

Deceive

Shaco

A simple scenario of this is by ganking the enemy jungler while they are doing red,Meanwhile your bot lane is getting shoved by the enemy team. While your bot lane initiates a skirmish you Deceive over the golem wall and run straight through the middle of the lane and open on the enemy ADC with your Deceive crit and plant a Jack In The Box right after for the fear and then Backstab his health down, Two-Shiv Poison for the slow letting your ADC get the kill. Soon after you can easily gank mid and then later top.


During that scenario I know things would have had to lined up just right, But the amount of times it's happend to me isn't that rare and as Shaco you are able to JUMP on those opportunities as they present themselves.


Next, Jack In The Box gives shaco a nice amount of cc, damage, and also can be used as a ward.

One example of this happend in my last game I played, I had just gotten to the enemy jungle where [Quinn] had just done her red and was low heading to wraith's. I quickly Deceive'd over the wall, killing her before she could get into the brush. Morgana was pushing her lane and Teemo was MIA. I quickly popped a box in the brush next to wraith's and started to walk away as Teemo walked through he popped my Jack In The Box and I Deceive'd over the edge of the brush getting an instant crit halfing his health, I auto-attacked him once or twice Ignite'd him and finished him off with a Two-Shiv Poison. Meanwhile Morgana got quite a bit of farm up on Teemo and even took a turret.


And lastly, Two-Shiv Poison is just another skill in Shaco's murder kit that allows for his "Get in - Get out" kit. Two-Shiv Poison allows Shaco to Deceive to a target crit them, and then instantly slow them for a considerable amount. This pretty much makes up for the times that you don't have red-buff allowing you to still gank, and still get kills :D

Abilities

All of shaco's abilities are non-straight forward abilities, and can be used in multiple ways. This kind of gameplay is a sure-fire way to set your opponents thinking the wrong way and surely lead them to there deaths!

Backstab - 20% more damage... if you attack the enemy from the back. This can make a massive difference in your DPS and will possibly lead someone to there own death. Shaco revolves around his opener (Almost 75% of his openers decides whether he or the enemy lives or dies) By getting a good opener you can scare the living teemer's out of someone and there natural instinct will be to run away from the thing that just popped up and torched there health, Sadly, that kind of thinking will kill them doing the work for you. By running from shaco, you ensure your demise. Shaco has so many gap closers to catch up to his target that by running from him you ensure that you will be taking 20% increased damage the whole way. (What are you Cho'Gath?)



Deceive - This skill is for trickery, escapes and initiates. It gives you a flash with a stealth. (Duh fuq? Who do you think you are evelyn and ezreal?) Many shaco's panic, And thats when they die. The inbuilt stealth lasts considerably long, (the effect lasts is 3.5 seconds long) enough for you to either escape a random flash over a wall or to get into a lane undetected. Shaco was never designed to panic, So always remember how long your stealth lasts and how much distance you have to escape (Memorizing the time you have in stealth times the distance you can travel in said time) That is key to ganking as shaco. One of the best strategies shaco uses is Deceiveing in and popping a box to break stealth then auto-ing to get the crit bonus.



Jack In The Box - These boxes are very fragile and have a terribly long and boring cooldown, the damage they deal is pretty good early game but just slack off mid-late game without ability power. The best feature of these boxes are the AOE fears, which is basically an AOE stun. When ganking, after you deceive attack the enemy place a box right infront of the enemy or behind the enemy, basically try and interpret the path he will take as an escape and place the box there for hopefully a fear which will secure the kill for you. You can use boxes as a map ward also 90 seconds of stealth is a great way to ward the map and control your surroundings! The number of ways to use this skill is insane.


Two-Shiv Poison - This skill is practically a phage for shaco, Giving you an amazing gank potential and clean-up potential. The active however is difficult to use because once you throw the dagger you have 3 seconds of a strong slow to finish the enemy off, if you fail you cannot slow with auto attacks for 8 seconds which sort of sucks...


Use the active when the enemy flash's away, or hops away.You can also use it to finish off a kill. Lately I just use it to poke the enemy, pressure, just leave something for the enemy if I fail to gank a lane.

Hallucinate - This is shaco's ultimate, And it is another handy tool in shaco's arsenal. It creates a clone of you that deals damage.

For people that are above the average player, there are other ways to use the clone; because Hallucinate has a slight delay before the illusion spawns, allowing Shaco to evade damage and projectiles, including things such as Karthus's Requiem or 1 tick of Ignite. So, good luck using as that last attempt to live through that karthus!

Another use is for tower-diving, using Hallucinate will reset tower aggro from you to the clone, so if your planning on a dive, try and plan when to use his ultimate, The best time to use it is for escape purposes. This ultimate can also be used to tank towers when backdooring but considering how it dies fast, You need to be able to nuke that tower in a few hits for it to be put to actual use xD


Depending on your skill level if you are able to control yourself and the clone you can also use the clone as a projectile blocker - or the ol' "Human Shield" (He doesn't have feelings so don't worry). You can hide in a bush quick out of Line of Sight, and have the clone run the opposite direction before you start running to divert attention and then "Q" out quick for a hastily getaway. Be careful with this technique though, because champions like Akali or even a Katarina can mess you up pretty hard by hoppin your clone down and dragging you down to wherever they came from.

Controlling the clone is simple, HOLD ALT+RIGHT CLICK

Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Shaco

Jack In The Box

Jack In The Box

Deceive

Two-Shiv Poison

Jungle / Route's

As Shaco and as I said previously, I always start red. Mainly for the reason he doesn't need a leash and it cripples your enemy jungler (IF you get your red).


Your normal jungle route will go

-Enemy Elder Lizard
-Wolves
-Ancient Golem
-Elder Lizard
-Wraith's
-Gank Mid or Top

Respawn Timers

Top Priority

Baron respawns in 7 minutes

Dragon respawns in 6 minutes

Secondary Priority

Red Buff respawns in 5 minutes

Blue Buff respawns in 5 minutes

Low Priority

Wraiths respawn in 50 seconds.

Wolves respawn in 50 seconds.

Team Fighting

During teamfights your sole job is to pick out a weak target and kill them nearly instantly. It doesn't even matter if you die too much (It does but I mean... yea....) Unless you have more than 1 tank you won't be able to stand in a legit fight period... Half of the time you'll be sitting around the back , bushes , or wherever you know you can get a good jump the second things turn toward your teams favor.

People in low-elo (Bronze) just can't grasp the concept of shaco, and will probably yell at you for sitting hitting your E / Box on the outskirts of the fight just chillin. But that's okay, because when your team finally goes in and you hop in and they realize the ADC and APC are already dead they still won't take back what they said about shaco ;(

The only way shaco is a good team-fighter is when you have 2 or more tanks and your ADC is jacked. You are capable of pushing with your team and basically running rampant causing chaos wherever you feel necessary and no one can stop you. Why? Because, If they swap to you then that means it's time for your ADC to go crazy on there entire team, While you just hop back into the fight taking nearly no losses.

In team-fights and in general I like to play shaco as a pest, constantly agitating the other team by poking / split pushing / jumping onto someone then cc'ing them while I get away, and basically playing like a complete ********. The more annoying you are as shaco the better chances of winning the next team fight you have :D

Early Game Team Fights

As Shaco your sole job (As previously mentioned) is to jump in and assassinate someone then gtfo before you die. Now this does not mean you must jump a tower or go through hell and back to get one kill or even two. You need to evaluate your enemies strength (How fed they are, who has the kills, how mobile prime targets are, and etc...) This is key to winning early-game team fights as shaco.


Since you most likely will have a tanky top and possibly tanky support, I recommend waiting for one of them to initiate the fight while you get in position in brush,behind a parallel wall, or even behind your team. As soon as your tank initiates use Deceive to get distance and sneak into the fight (Remember - ALWAYS BE AWARE OF ORACLE'S!), The second you get to your target use Jack In The Box to pop yourself out of stealth and then auto-attack the target. As you are auto-attacking seconds will pass and your jack-in-the-box will pop and give you the AoE fear on the entire enemy team (If your target was by chance clumped with them I.E. ADC got gripped and flashed back to team, ADC / APC are in back with support and got stunned by an AoE Stun such as Sejuani ult,syndra balls,cho'gath Q, or even a galio ult.) Even if you don't kill the target it's always best to evaluate how much cc the enemy team still has left, And if it is enough to stop you.

If the answer is yes, then you should most likely get back behind your lines and await another initiation, or go do something else entirely I.E. Taking objectives, Back to Base, or clear jungle camps.

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Mid-Game Team Fights

Something that Shaco excels in is giving a constant presence in lanes, He is capable of building entirely burst but still building bruiser-like or building like an assassin roamer constantly taking jogs through the jungle from top to bot and so on. Shaco is scary mid-game mainly because you should have already estabalished a sturdy fear in your opponents so they will be cautious of taking on teamfights (if they're smart)...

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Late-Game Team Fights

In late game team fights you as Shaco need to really REALLY think about every action and step you take. Because if you jump into a team fight the enemy team could EASILY swap to you and kill you EASILY within 2 or fewer seconds (THAT'S FASTER THAN YOUR CARRY'S!!!) This is something you need to fully realize and understand, You are the squishiest character in the GAME and you need to play like it. If the enemy ADC or APC is out of position, A.K.A. in a bush with no instant cover, tucked away behind the enemy team but not close enough to them so them that if you came from an alternate path you could kill them before they realize it, the enemy team has no cc left to peel you and not much damage left to pump into you after a team-fight and they are mostly low.


Late-Game Shaco is not like early game shaco, You need to play the game second by second always thinking ahead, Always determining consequences and always second guessing yourself. Most of the time this leads to you basically letting your team 4v5 for a while, while you sit in a bush awaiting the perfect time to Deceive through the field and instantly kill that ADC that wildly appeared. Because honestly, The only thing late-game you can do as Shaco is 1v1 weak top-laners, weak-junglers, supports, and carrys that do not include Malzahar, Katarina, Kassadin, Galio, and lux / morganna etc etc. This is because if you don't open PERFECTLY and ANY of those opponents have at least one skill up, they are capable of globaling you. (Anyone really, But keep in mind your more squishy then your support by chance.)

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Split Pushing

Alot of people don't want to admit it, But shaco is one of the best split pushers for a few reason.

Mainly, for the reason that he is capable of

taking out creep waves insanely fast.
And that he is able to get out while pushing a tower even when the enemy team JUST got there.
He is straight up annoying, Being able to get out safely then the second they leave he can hop back in and repeat it all over again.

Split pushing and You

Items Explained

Blade of the Ruined King - I like BOTRK on Shaco because it gives him a nice sustainability,attack speed,and damage along with a superior ability to chase down opponents! An you know, You just never know when your gunna have to 1v1 that zac with 6,000 hp... It is definitely a must have hands down!


Statikk Shiv - I love this on shaco and rarely swap it for a phantom dancer just because the extra magic proc is just too amazing. Heres my thinking, 100 magic damage instantly on a single target with around 1,900 - 2,400 health is quite a bit no?


Infinity Edge - This item just gives shaco his damage, I mean... This is his single target nuke item. Once you get this you should almost always wait for an engagement by your team and then hop to work because you will 100% have the damage to get a kill on the ADC / APC unless there fed into africa... in that situation you shouldn't be playing shaco.


Ravenous Hydra - This turns Shaco from being an annoying pest, into a straight up farming machine. Once you get this you should be pushing almost every lane while your team is doing there thing in mid. (The few games I do get this I go from 70 cs to 200+ cs within a few minutes and the enemies base is either in shambles or the minions are so pushed they can't leave their base.)



Warmog's Armor - This item right here, Is almost a must have on shaco no matter what for your last item. Seeing as to how guardian angel is nearly useless (Why are you dieing again?) it gives you the tankiness to jump through enemy fire and the freedom to have your way with those carrys. But always remember, Your still just Shaco. You are not a Rengar.


Iceborn Gauntlet - A friend told me about using this and I tested it out and it seemed to work decently. It has potential and the AoE slow / mana makes you almost un-kitable giving you numerous jumps / boxes and so many slows with a little tankiness.


Wriggle's Lantern - The amount of against-ness that I am of this item.... I stand firmly against it in every shape and form. The only time I would ever have this is when I am fed into africa and want to 1v1 anyone in the game and win from massive life steal lawls.


Maw of Malmortius - I highly recommend this item if the enemy team has a Ryze or Syndra seeing as to how they can both basically one shot you, You may also consider a Banshee's Veil.

Mercurial Scimitar - This item will 100% save your life and you should NEVER turn this down if the enemy team has a Malzahar or Brand, Because you will get one-shotted... it's not an IF you get one-shotted, It's WHEN you get one-shotted.

Banshee's Veil - I highly recommend this item agains't a Blitzcrank that has amazing pulls or a Veigar / LeBlanc. Otherwise I would consider a Maw of Malmortius.


Guardian Angel - This item isn't as good as it used to be, But it is still pretty dam useful when you are split pushing and you need to YOLO a tower or two while your team is defending / pushing other lanes. (Mainly used as insurance policy) I suppose, it could also be useful for cleaning up a close-call team fight but I leave that for your decision.


Randuin's Omen - This is a decent pick for Shaco if the enemy team is basically all bruiser's and just want to yolo everything. (It'll getchu through the stun basically)

Trinity Force - In the recent patch I actually changed my mind about this item and I actually swap between this and iceborn gauntlet depending on my teams composition, This item offers so much damage and chase-ability to shaco on top of his natural potential. This is almost a must have nowadays!

Updates

Will Create more lists and add more information soon.

Change Log

-09/17/2013 : Updated items list for patch 3.10a.
-08/16/2013 : Updated skill sequence section.
-08/15/2013 : Added Team-Fights Section.