Shaco has been my favorite champion ever since i started playing league of legends. He is good at so many things,he is mainly good at making your opponent confused preventing them from knowing what is going on. As a result he can be played in many different ways,in this guide i will be going over the most played 3,which are Jungle,AD and AP Shaco. Each will have it's own (around) 5 chapters so use table of contents to look for the build you want to read.

Pros
-Can solo buffs easily
-Strong ganks
-Good traveling speed with Deceive and Ghost(or Flash)
-Hard to counter jungle
-Is a strong counter jungler

Cons
-A bit mana hungry early
-Long CD on Jack In The Box
- Jack In The Box traps can be predictable
-Needs to take damage from moving behind monsters if you want to benefit from Backstab
-Falls out late game
- Jack In The Box smoke can be seen through the fog of war which may give away where you are(does not reveal the area)

Backstab you deal more damage when attacking from behind the enemy. It's hard to put this to use in jungle because you will most likely lose a lot of health when trying to apply this passive. However against champions it's a different story because striking champions will slow them with the passive of Two-Shiv Poison(or just activate it to apply it's effect) and if they are running away you will be able to trigger a lot of bonus damage,unless your opponent tries to somehow runs backwards

Deceive gives you a free flash with a short stealth duration and will make your attack deal a bit more damage than usual. It also has a really short cooldown. There are many uses for this skill,mostly juking your enemy team if they invade or gank by deceiving right next to you or using it over walls. Combining with Ghost it can give you a fresh escape(but remember to use Ghost before Deceive because if you use it after it WILL pop your stealth). I take this skill last mainly because the other 2 can help me more with jungling without taking that much damage.

Jack In The Box i take this skill first so i can easily solo Ancient Golem after i stack 2 or 3 at top of eachother,sometimes even before Ancient Golem spawns near the corner where he spawns making the boxes focused the golem instead of the small lizards that spawn along with him. Jack In The Boxes can also be used to stack on top of each other at unexpected locations which can if you are nearby drop the enemy low enough for you to easily kill him. However stacking them can be a bit mana hungry so you shouldn't do it often.

Two-Shiv Poison this is a good leash on monsters to lure them into your Jack In The Box which makes you take less damage than directly attacking them and then going back and does not waste your teammates time on just autoattacking them once and then going back to lane. It also has a good passive slow that can also be applied with it's active and it's usually what you are gonna use along with Deceive to start a gank. You could also not use this ability to lure monsters into Jack In The Box because the passive of Two-Shiv Poison also makes monsters and minions miss their attack while slowed,making Shaco an effective jungler.

Hallucinate creates a clone of himself that deals 1/4 less damage than Shaco. The clone is very weak on it's own however it can be used to make the enemies think it's you and can be sent into suicidal missions such as diving 2 people under their turret(i did that in a game,sending clone under the enemy turret which with it's explosion killed Darius and allowed me to use Deceive use Two-Shiv Poison and 1 autoattack to kill Zed,however i didn't turn record in spectator mode off in LoLReplay so the recorded game is frozen at 1:00 so i can't get the clip),you can also use your clone to lure opponent into a Jack In The Box trap or just to make a 1v1 into 2v1. It also allows you to solo the Dragon easily and can help in speeding up killing the Baron Nashor.

This spell is for every jungler,jungling without it is possible but not recommended because the enemy will easily be able to steal your buffs and you won't be able to secure Dragon or Baron Nashor.


Allows you to travel through the map faster and can make a clean escape if used before using Deceive allowing you for a quick stealthy run.

Other possible picks

Can allow you a safe escape over 2 walls and can be used if you failed to get over a wall with Deceive(however the stealth you get may trick them that you went over the wall making them use their flashes or blinks). I prefer Ghost because it just works better with Deceive and it can help you escape more than Flash along with being able to quickly travel through the map.


This disables most AD champions and most of them usually go solo top. This can be very effective defensive and offensive. It can secure your escapes by slowing the chaser to secure a kill for a laner or you if the enemy stubled upon a stacked Jack In The Box trap.


I wouldn't usually take this because to get kills is a laners job not yours,but can still be useful late game so you can still remain effective by tricking opponent's into 1v1.

Greater Mark of Attack Damage to deal more damage to jungle monsters allowing you to kill them faster.

Greater Seal of Armor once Jack In The Box die jungle monsters will start focusing you. With some armor you will take less damage allowing you to survive longer.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist so you don't get bursted down by any champion that deals magic damage such as Ahri, Akali and others.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed allows you to make more autoattacks into the back of a jungle monster while your Jack In The Box are alive. Really useful against Ancient Golem and Lizard Elder. It can also allow you to keep applying Two-Shiv Poison on the target preventing them from escaping expect via blink ability or when reaching the safety of their turret(expect if you or any person on the lane you are ganking still goes after them).

Other possible runes

Greater Mark of Attack Speed you can use these and use Greater Quintessence of Strength as attack damage,you will get more attack speed but your attack damage will fall a little.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage in case you want to swap marks and runes like mentioned above.

This is the starting item for a lot of jungle Shaco's. Boots give you some movement speed to travel around the jungle faster and Health Potions give you sustain since at level 1(and 2 if you take Deceive at level 2) you will need to take some damage before luring jungle monsters into Jack In The Box unless a teammate leashes you,but you will still need them for after the Jack In The Box die while killing Ancient Golem and Lizard Elder.


During your first trip to the shop after the game has started you should probably have enough gold to buy Madred's Razors and maybe even Wriggle's Lantern. Wriggle's Lantern is probably the most important item for any jungler,it gives them armor,attack damage and lifesteal and a free ward every 3 minutes which you can use to ward your jungle to know whenever you get counter jungled or invaded( Shaco will almost never be counter jungled unless the enemy team invades) and also allows you to ward other lanes for your team in case a lane gets ganked a lot.


I find these boots the best for jungle Shaco. It allows you to roam the map really quickly making you able to confuse the enemy team of where your location is because after ganking a lane after few seconds(and maybe a trip to jungle between) you be on a totally different lane. It can also help to quickly get to lanes that are getting pushed or need help.


You can actually get Avarice Blade earlier and build other items before building it into Youmuu's Ghostblade because of the extra 5 gold every 10 seconds. Since you are already getting a lot of gold from jungling this can make you get a lot of expensive items quickly and make up for the fact that you will be giving most of the kills to a laner. Youmuu's Ghostblade on it's own gives you cooldown reduction and armor penetration,that can help you greatly to so it's up to you whenver you stick with Avarice Blade or buy Youmuu's Ghostblade.


Gives you a lot of bonuses. Since Shaco can benefit from both AD and AP this item is good no matter what Shaco you are playing. Passive slow + Two-Shiv Poison can almost secure you kills on enemies.


Buy this item for armor penetration. You need it if your enemies start building armor to counter you. Without having this or any other armor penetration item the high attack damage can be useless.


This is a good late game item as it gives you a second chance to live. Until you revive Deceive should probably come off cooldown allowing you for a quick escape. If you aren't focused down right after that is. It also gives you a lot of armor and some magic resist,which may help you to not get focused down right after.

Other possible item picks

Gives you quite a lot of health and a little damage. You can buy this instead of Trinity Force for more tankiness and a stronger slow, but both slows can still be gotten away from via blinks,so it actually feels like nothing is happening expect the enemy will have harder time running from you while facing backwards.


Allows you to kill buffs really fast late game. It is also good to keep applying Two-Shiv Poison on your target and to deal critical damage which can with high AD take your opponent down quickly.

In case you are new to jungling.

I usually start the jungle by killing Ancient Golem and getting the blue buff by stacking Jack In The Box,however taking Wolves before Ancient Golem spawns is okay.

After hitting level 2 take Two-Shiv Poison which will allow you to lure monsters into stacked Jack In The Box without taking any damage until Jack In The Boxes die.

I usually go for Wraith camp,then to Lizard Elder and then to the small Golems.

After hitting level 3 and clearing the red jungle you are ready to gank. While doing the last camp(usually small golems) in your jungle ask your team for who needs gank. If you are low on health you can recall first but if you didn't use both of your Health Potions then you can just use them.

After making a gank you should recall and buy some items at the shop,preferably Madred's Razors or Wriggle's Lantern if you got enough gold,also while not a great choice Mobility Boots can be at great use too for roaming the map faster.

When Ancient Golem or Lizard Elder respawn you could go and check the enemy jungle for their buffs. If you already got Wriggle's Lantern you can use that to ward the area just in case you get invaded but don't fear getting invaded, Shaco can escape fairly easily so even if you get invaded you can simply just take your own Ancient Golem or Lizard Elder,or give any of the 2 to teammates. Also if a teammate needs a ward you can place one with Wriggle's Lantern saving your teammates 75 gold.

For short: Ancient Golem -> Wolf Camp -> Wraith Camp -> Lizard Elder -> Small Golem camp -> Gank -> Recall -> Go back to jungle

For Shaco to be an effective ganker you need to secure every escape route the enemy can take usually the bush you are ganking from and the bush closer to their turret. You should first place Jack In The Box where you currently are and then Deceive to place another one into the bush,then you can use Two-Shiv Poison on the enemy champion and even lower their chances of escaping. Some pings can help to alert your team that you are ganking.

No matter what your build is you will always fall out of the game late game. One thing that this build has instead of other Shaco builds listed below is Smite. Smite allows you to secure and steal blue and red buffs and dragon and baron nashor objectives.

Other than that you should give buffs to any teammate that needs them and push top or bottom lane onto the enemy inhibitor and try to distract them from your team as much as possible,set some Jack In The Box to secure your escape but it's really easy to escape even without them.

Hallucinate allows you to split push very fast and also allows you to trick the enemy into thinking it's you by sending the clone to escape first and then yourself however it's not the most secure way all the times so be careful. Deceive can also help you escape very well if you use Ghost before using it.

Pros
-Strong ganks
-Good traveling speed with Deceive and Ghost(or Flash)
-High damage with Jack In The Box and Two-Shiv Poison
-High Hallucinate damage after explosion
-Damage of Jack In The Box and Hallucinate can make him still somewhat effective late game

Cons
-Mana hungry early
-Long CD on Jack In The Box
- Jack In The Box traps can be predictable
-Mana can be easily wasted if placing Jack In The Box into predictable places
-Not a great 1v1

Some of the tips and tricks are under the jungle guide because they help jungle Shaco the most but can still be useful for AP Shaco

Backstab deals some bonus damage when striking a target from behind depending on your AD. Not useful on you because you are building AP and not AD,but the 20% of your AD as bonus damage is still better than nothing.

Deceive you blink to target location and stealth for few seconds. Your next attack will be critical strike if dealt under few seconds after the stealth wears off or during stealth. I max this last because once again AP Shaco does not benefit from damage that much. I only take it early as a Flash that also stealths you allowing you to blink in place or pretend you blinked over the wall to make the opponents lose your trail(not effective if they have Oracle's Elixir

Jack In The Box is the focus of AP Shaco. With high AP even 1 Jack In The Box can deal heavy damage. Place them on unusual places so the enemy won't expect them,even set them up before getting into a fight to secure every route to make an escape almost impossible,remember that a lot of people like running towards bushes when trying to escape so place a lot of Jack In The Box there for a surprise attack.

Two-Shiv Poison has a passive slow that doesn't usually help that much because you won't be autoattacking champions often. However it's active slows the opponent and deals damage which scales off 100% of your AP allowing it to be used as a good finisher or a long ranged slow in case an enemy gets caught in Jack In The Boxes.

Hallucinate creates a clone of yourself that deals some less damage than you. That doesn't really effect you since you only got the default Shaco AD and are probably not gonna use the clone to attack champions. The clone explodes upon death dealing at rank 3 600+100% of your ability power as damage which means the damage can be insane sometimes,a good way to start teamfights and punish enemies for being squishy making ad carries sell their damage for more tanky items. The clone can be also used to split push or to run into 2 different directions at the same time,your opponent will not know which is the real you so they will split up,usually sending your clone to escape first can make all the enemies chase the clone instead of you allowing for an easy escape.

Secures kills in case the enemy blinks away from the Jack In The Box trap when the fear duration ends.


Prevents people from running away from Jack In The Box and also prevents fear from the skill itself to send them too far away. Late game it can also help disable AD carries and can help get away from gankers mainly junglers.

Other Possible Picks

Can make clean escapes if used before using Deceive,can also chase down low healthed targets that you could take 1v1,however AP Shaco is not a good 1v1 so be careful.


Double flash can secure escapes but in my opinion Ghost is better on Shaco. Like i said in the previous build failing a Deceive or deceiving in place can trick your opponents that you went over the wall duo to the stealth from it. But if you want this skill you can take it,i have nothing against you for taking it.


Allows you to recall and quickly get back to your lane. You can also recall to your Jack In The Box to prevent them from dying after being triggered by the enemy team and for a quick surprise attack.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration gives you magic penetration which is of course needed. If you got a lot of AP and the enemy just buys magic resist then it will be all for nothing.

Greater Seal of Armor gives you some armor,while the focus of AP build is to only engage to lure the enemy into Jack In The Box it's still possible for you to get caught off guard,such as by ganks.

Greater Seal of Magic Resist i take only 6 greater seals of resilience to make room for 3 greater seals of warding. The reason i take only 3 is because many AP champions need to see you to be effective or know who you are when using Hallucinate so hallucinate and Deceive can make you not need that much magic resist,but still take it just in case.

Greater Glyph of Ability Power to lower the gold i spend on random AP items and to get more early game magic damage dealt to my opponent. I really prefer buying potency glyphs over warding since like i said above AP champions are not that good against you if they can't see you.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power again to give me more early game magic damage and so i can really benefit from magic penetration marks.

Other Possible Picks

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction makes your skills more spamable,but it can lead to mana starvation so these are not always recommended.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed to get to your lane faster,run away faster, or to just chase down enemies that blinked away. Many uses for this but Potency seems a better choice.

Some AP,health and mana regeneration can be really helpful early game,still don't spam your Jack In The Box for no reason at all.


Magic penetration,high AP is useless without magic penetration.


This item gives nice health and a lot of ability power. It also has a nice slow,not that big on Jack In The Box but can still save you exhaust since it will be applied every second and it still slows by 35% on Two-Shiv Poison.


Increases your ability power by 30% not to mention that you already get 140 ability power via this item. This can make a single Jack In The Box deal crazy damage and 2 could easily kill somebody. Your Two-Shiv Poison and Hallucinate will also deal a lot of damage which makes sending Hallucinate clone into the middle of the enemy team 30% more worth it.


Mostly for defence and the high AP. Can also be used to freeze yourself when the enemy team is ganking you to wait for cooldowns or to wait for your team to arrive.


Gives you some Health,Mana,AD and AP. The health and AD this item gives may make 1v1 somebody easier so you won't have to lure the enemy team into your Jack In The Box all the time.


Gives you magic resist,AP and also passive magic resist reduction on your opponent's. Since Shaco is a melee champion the nerf of range this item got doesn't really effect him,tough may make Hallucinate a bit less effective.

Other Possible Picks

Kage's Lucky Pick
Deathfire Grasp gives great burst damage and AP. If you plan on buying it you can buy Kage's Lucky Pick early to get some extra gold and then buy Deathfire Grasp after Rabadon's Deathcap. This can be bought instead of Zhonya's Hourglass for more offense.


In case you want more offense and deal more damage with your own abilities rather than reducing magic resist of opponents with Abyssal Mask and letting the AP champions on your team to deal some damage too. This can be useful so your Hallucinate cannot be stoped by magic resist no matter how far it goes,but if the enemy team gets to close to your team the AP champions on your team won't deal that much damage than if you had Abyssal Mask


With high AP this item can actually make you a viable 1v1 AP Shaco. Great combo with Rabadon's Deathcap. Also remember this item gives you some AP too.

As AP Shaco you should try to stack Jack In The Box in really unpredictable places,usually not the bushes. Remember that with some AP even 1 Jack In The Box could deal massive damage to an enemy. Remember that Two-Shiv Poison also scales off 100% of your AP allowing you for surprise burst damage when the enemy steps into Jack In The Box trap.

Late game you should start teamfights with your ultimate and send it into the middle of enemy team. At max rank it deals 600 damage + 100% of your AP which is what mostly makes AP Shaco not fall out late game as he may contribute greatly to teamfights,or just sending a clone under a turret to finish off low health enemies.

Don't bother to move behind the target to trigger Backstab,you will only deal a little more damage and it's usually just not worth it.

Just remember put random Jack In The Box everywhere and usually at totally random places and always set one to cover up your escape(or maybe more for surprise kill ;) ),start teamfights with Hallucinate for really good burst and throw Two-Shiv Poison at the enemy carry. Save Deceive for escapes and never try to trigger Backstab because it's pointless. If you follow this you should do just fine

Pros
-Good 1v1
-Deals more damage if the enemies are running away from you
-Passive and Active slow on Two-Shiv Poison
-Not much mana hungry expect for few early levels(you can get blue to counter this)
-Good escapes

Cons
-His abilities scale off AP
- Jack In The Box traps can be predictable
- Hallucinate deals 25% less damage than you,with high damage this may give away who is the real you
- Jack In The Box can make you mana hungry really quick if spammed and wasted
-Only reliable CC is a slow
-Squishy

Backstab don't focus on applying it too much early game as it may cause you to lose health. Just look on applying it when enemies are running away from you. Late game however,or even mid game,as long as you have lifesteal you won't really care for the damage you take as you will gain it right back. This ability is really useful when you got really high damage,as enemies cannot run backwards.

Deceive free flash with stealth. It also makes your next basic attack critically strike(not really actually,your attack only critical strikes when this skill is at rank 5). This skill is a good way to engage on an enemy,they won't be able to see you and you will get a free critical strike and Backstab if you attack them from behind. This skill also makes Shaco not need flash,even if you fail to Deceive over the wall the enemies will think you did because you will be stealthed so unless they got Oracle's Elixir they will not know you failed it.

Jack In The Box on AD Shaco it doesn't do that much damage but can still be useful in a lot of ways.. However it can cover your escape if you set some before you engage in case your engage totally backfires on you. It can also secure kills if you set them to the nearest escape route the enemy could take before attacking. 3 stacked on unexpected locations can get you a kill,even if you are not around,set tons in the middle of a path with a side bush(don't place them in a bush,many players know of the Jack In The Box in bush trick) and wait for enemy jungler to come or just lure the enemies into them by playing stupid letting yourself take a lot of damage and not go into a bush.

Two-Shiv Poison this skills makes Backstab really easy to do apply on fleeing targets. Also keep applying the passive slow on minions as they will have a chance to miss their attacks. I usually prefer applying passive slow but active slow can be used to pull jungle camps into Jack In The Box,for long range harass or just for a finisher after the enemy has flashed and you don't think a Ignite you applied doesn't have enough damage to kill the enemy.

Hallucinate awesome ultimate. You can use it to dodge things like Requiem, Finales Funkeln, Grand Skyfall and other ultimates that posses a threat. It can also be used to lure somebody in Jack In The Box traps,easily 1v1 somebody or just juke when you are running away from the entire enemy team.

Secures or almost secures kills,also reduces the effect of Heal so you can cast it early and engage if you know that you can finish the target with other spells without letting them escape(which is fairly easy duo to Deceive and Two-Shiv Poison, Backstab also speeds up the process when they start to run).


Allows you to chase down foes and escape with combination of Deceive. At some occasions can also help you get to your lane quicker,just in case you don't want to take Teleport.

Other possible picks

Like said in other 2 guides,you already got Deceive and if you fail it the enemy team will think you actually did it. But i got nothing against you for taking this spell,if you want it then take it,but i don't recommend it.


Allows you to recall and come right back. It can also be used to recall to your Jack In The Box for surprise ganks. The enemy team saw you recalled so they will have no ideas coming expect if they got a ward where the Jack In The Box was.

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration damage is worthless without armor penetration because otherwise it will just be blocked by enemy armor.

Greater Seal of Armor of course you need armor too or you will just drop dead if trying to kill an AD champion.

Greater Gylph of Magic Resist you can't be assassin without armor or magic resist. They are mostly for survivability.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage early game damage,especially if trying to apply Backstab as it scales of 20% of your AD.

Greater Mark and Quintessence of Attack Speed allows you to keep applying Two-Shiv Poison on a running enemy and allows you to get as many Backstab bonuses after you Deceive behind an enemy. I prefer the Marks and Quintessences mentioned above but if you want to use these then fell free,i have nothing against you for altering the build.

Starting item for a lot of AD champions. I don't really like the change in season 3 for it that makes it only restore certain amount of health on hit but it still gives enough bonuses to be a viable starting item. Remember to sell it late game.


To get around the map quicker. I usually leave it there until i buy some more offensive items and until i finally decide into what i should build it into.


The health reg on hit that Doran's Blade gives you is just not enough. This also gives you attack damage duo to season 3,but it also costs more because it builds out of an item. I usually buy this and leave it there till i have enough for Bloodthirster.


All of these are good on Shaco. I usually buy Berserker's Greaves for the attack speed or i just sell them as both Youmuu's Ghostblade and Statikk Shiv give you movement speed and movement speed multipliers making boots replaceable for another item.


The movement and attack speed you get with activating this item can be really helpful. The cooldown reduction is also good but the attack damage isn't that great.


Even if you leave Deceive at rank 1 till you max out your other 2 abilities(i prefer to max it second tough) this item will increase the damage the critical strike deals by 50%,along with random critical strikes you may get(which are stronger than Deceive one before rank 5). This item also gives you great AD and also increases your critical strike damage.


High AD and Lifesteal,and they increase with hidden stacks via minion kills(you lose them on death tough).


Armor Penetration,along with marks can make you almost immune to enemy armor.


Attack speed and really good passive which is really easy to fill,all you have to do is click everywhere and it's filled. It can help a lot in minion wave clearing and if bought early can harass your opponent while you are hitting their minions.

Other Possible Items

Tons of survivability and also gives you second chance to live in case you died when your Deceive was 1 sec off cooldown.


It's for the same reason as Guardian Angel only that it only blocks off magic damage so it's not that reliable,but it does give you at least little AD so it's still good to take sometimes.


On hit effects are always nice,with high attack speed this can help you kill really squishy enemies like carries fairly quickly.

As AD Shaco you should use Deceive to get behind your enemy and deal critical strike+ Backstab bonus damage to opponent and then try to quickly get them to low health with Two-Shiv Poison and by placing Jack In The Box in the path they will use to escape.

Your role in the team should be to take down targets fairly quickly. The best lane for AD Shaco is double top lane or bottom lane,that is so you can roam freely without letting your lane getting pushed. Pretending to leave the lane by just farming in jungle can turn out in a quick surprise attacks,especially if there is only 1 enemy and 1 ally that is getting pushed in the lane you just left.

You are not that powerful late game but split pushing can still make you at least somehow contribute to the game. Distracting the enemy team can also help since Shaco has a lot of escape tools.

Remember to ping your team whenever you are gonna engage on an enemy carry so your (almost) death won't be pointless.

• Deceive and Ghost makes it easy to escape from ganks
• Hallucinate can be used to dodge Requiem, Finales Funkeln and other global or semi-global ultimates
• Deceive in place when near a wall to trick your opponent into going over it,deceiving in place even when not near a wall can trick your opponent into deceiving a small distance to try to escape
• 3-4 Jack In The Box can make killing an opponent fairly easy,especially on early levels and for AP Shaco
• Hallucinate can be used to turret dive low health enemies(it still draws turret shoots to you if they attack when you are under the turret)

other tips and tricks coming soon!