Shaco mains: I think we have to start facing reality [WARNING: somewhat long]
Too much of his power budget is eaten up by his Q.
It's his most iconic ability, one that bears the namesake of his entire playstyle. Deceive the enemy through trickery and forethought. Unfortunately, it is this very ability which has held Shaco back for so long.
Ask anyone what they hate about Shaco most, and they'll inevitably say his Q. "6 sec CD flash that stealths him, OP NERF". Sure the other parts of his kit are annoying, but his Q has long stood out as one of the most infuriating abilities in the game (at least for non-Shaco players). And I'm fairly certain this ever-prevalent frustration and general shortage of vision mechanics is what led to Shaco's inevitable downfall post-rework.
Every single one of his abilities has had its damage nerfed since this season began. His Q, while being better at max rank, is now a shadow of its former self. His passive now has a cooldown, slowing his early clear speed and his overall DPS in the jungle. His W, while excellent for helping to clear and providing general utility in the form of vision + a fear, is relatively useless at assisting in his primary function: that of an assassin.
Sure, we all like to think that full AP Shaco is still strong in some way, and I won't deny that it CAN work in certain situations. However with the change of damage type on his E from magical to physical, along with its 15% reduction in AP scaling, severely decreases AP Shaco's worth. His ult damage was also nerfed, both the clone's attack damage and its explosion damage. The addition of 3 mini-boxes on death is a nice quirk, but again relatively useless for assassin Shaco, who relies on burst damage to kill things.
But the biggest nail in the coffin for AP Shaco is the inability to stack up boxes anymore. Previously, you could drop 5 or 6 boxes in one spot right on top of each other. When someone walked into them, it would pretty much guarantee a kill if you were full AP. But with that strategy out the window, and Riot making it clear that they don't condone bruiser Shaco in any way, full AD assassin Shaco is the only viable build path left.
And how does that fare? Not too well, as it turns out. Can he put out some massive burst? Sure, if he's fed. But then..........what champion CAN'T put out massive burst if they're ahead? What makes Shaco so special in that respect? Well, that brings me back to my original point regarding his Q. If Shaco DOES manage to get ahead, there isn't much counterplay to his burst pattern. He simply appears behind you and you're either dead or burning summoners. Good vision control, map awareness, and keeping an eye out for puffs of smoke will certainly help with avoiding death, but let's be real here: if a fed Shaco wants someone dead, they're gonna die, simple as that. Vision options are at an all time low, and counters for stealth even more so.
And of course, that leaves Shaco near the top of the heap in terms of assassins.........or at least it would, if he wasn't such a pile of useless garbage right now. As far as assassins go, Shaco's damage doesn't even compare. We have Kha'zix who 100-0s people who are isolated and has a resetting jump. Talon, who ignores terrain and has 200% bonus AD scaling IN HIS PASSIVE ALONE. Zed, who possesses decent counterplay but also some of the best OUTplay potential of all assassins. Fizz with his troll pole of doom. Twitch, who's basically Rengar with 800 range. And now Eve is getting reworked with hard cc and an invulnerability ult that ALSO doubles as an escape.
What does Shaco have to keep up with the times? His Q. That's literally it. And it doesn't even do damage.
As it stands now, Shaco is outclassed by just about every other assassin in the game (along with several ADCs). And the only reason he's kept weak is because of his Q. To all Shaco mains out there, I think we're going to have to come to grips with the fact that Shaco's Q is holding him back. However much we many enjoy its current functionality, I for one would rather have a viable Shaco with a different Q than a shitty Shaco with his current Q. Playing Shaco in the current meta feels like you have to work 3x as hard as other assassins for the same rewards.
I know Riot doesn't have plans for Shaco at the moment, but I sincerely hope that he won't be left to rot like Yorick was because he's deemed unhealthy. We need to start gathering some ideas on how to make Shaco feel better to play against and possibly play WITH so that we can start enjoying our favorite champion again.
TL;DR How can we change Shaco's kit to conform to today's game standards while also maintaining his identity?
