Hello everybody!

Did you noticed something funny about the jungle last week? Well, of course you did. The Demon Jester was for free! So I tried him. And I must admitt I never had so much fun in jungle as when playing him....


WHY SO SERIOUS?


When I tried him for a first time, I didin't know what's going on. He was squishy, stealth lasted just for few seconds, his E didin't do much damage and there was this green brother of his, who you have to command as a mentally challenged relative. I was thinking WTF? Why is everyone so afraid of him? Why everyone wants me to buy pinkies when playing against him? He is nothing like Evelynn who is invisible all the time...

Then I read few guides, saw few videos and I found out in pvp that this guy may be actually good!
  • help blue? you joking! With 3 shacoheads spawned before blue buff apears, you practically just stand there and laugh your *** off, while they do all the work, you just smite it and go away. Since you are self-sufficient, your teammates can start laning asap and don't miss any CS. And you know that each CS counts.
  • very good clearer. Even I managed to get all the monster camps (blue buff > wight > wolves > wraiths > red buff > golems) in one go, very fast and was left with 1 Health Potion.
  • ganks? More of a ********s! Each gank was a fun thrill ride. Get stealth, pop in the lane, spawn a shacohead to cut off their escape route and crit them with your knives. If my teammates engaged, it was a sure kill cause as the enemy started to run away, they got feared and then I just threw my knife up their *** to slow them so we could finish the fight properly. With a kill!
  • great counter-jungling. Actually this is the first champion I was not afraid to counter-jungle with. Spawn a shacohead, start killing enemy buff and if things got sour, I just "Q off".
  • beware the Rainman! I'm talking about Shaco's mentally challenged green brother. You have to tell him everything - where to go, who to attack... but it pays off! I didin't know my bro can deal damage as much as I can! Brilliant! Especially in team-fight, so the enemy don't know who to focus. And he is a great decoy as well.

    In one game, I was split pushing, got 2 towers down and started to work on their first top lane base one, untill somebody - Darius - bothered to come and try to stop me (kids were having fun at the perimeter of our base and were so kill-hungry, they didin't notice me :D). So he came and I run away, as he was too strong, but then I remembered my ulti. I spawned the Rainman and sent him to the right - to the jungle (my team was purple). I continued running forward, and that was all it took for enemy Darius to make the wrong choice and he attacked Rainman. By that time I got my Q back so I used it and typed in the chat "the joke's on you, Darius :D" My plan worked, as I figured out he will assume that real me will try to escape via jungle, where I could use my Q to flash over trees and such. Well... I outjested him just fine, and I am very proud of this little joke :D

  • The Demon Squishster! In late game I was feeding the enemy as I had not much armor and resistance and enemy was dealing too much damage. I was OK for a team-fight, with my shacoheads and passive, but I had to be really carefull and I either died or had to run away, making it 4v5. Maybe more practice or different tactics would work, but I really don't know. He just feels so squishy and vulnerable...
  • mana starvation! He is very mana hungry, but it is not too much of a problem, since you can just get the enemy buff anytime you want it. If you can handle it, of course. So this is like so-so disadvantage.


And for my next trick...


I really love Shaco. He is the true Joker of LoL and can be very annoying, especially if you leave your shacoheads all around the map. Combine this with a Teleport and you are a king of the jungle - as you can be really anywhere (so the enemy team can't get too confident or cocky, especially early + mid game).

The only reason I didin't buy this champion is, that I read something about Riot going to rework him soon.

EDIT: Thanks to Pluckin Penguin for verifying this info with sending me this Morello's tweet

It scares me, because I think any more nerfing will make Shaco unplayable. And if they rework him completely, it won't be that much fun. I think this champion is a great jungler, and I wouldn't play him anywhere else. Now we just have to wait for this rework and see if he will be still playable. Hopefully by that time I will be more confident in the jungle and I could play him right.

Many people say he sucks in late game, but I think that just makes up for his insane power in early and mid games. And you can still split push, to force enemy group to divide, so your team can get an equal, or even 5v3 fight.

Finally a cool jungler for the collection. Let's wish him luck for upcoming S4 and hope reworks won't chop his balls off!


And for fun and giggles, here is one hell of a video. I had to watch it 3 times to fullz understand what is this guy saying, but it is all worht it!! What can I say - priceless commentary... :D I love it and wish I can be so OP one day :P



My previous jungle reviews:
Nasus - the withered jungler
Nautilus - the rusty husk