Shaking up Shaco

To start, Shaco was the first champ I fell in love with, but even I realized his toxic kit. He was almost impossible to chase, especially at release, and his ganks often were almost impossible to escape from. His kit needs some counterplay, and here was a kit idea that I feel still retains the feel of Shaco while giving him further nuances.

Before I begin, I think his lore is sorely outdated and doesn't seem to fit with the rest of league. How much cooler would he be as a villain that Vi and Caitlyn chase down? He is in desperate need of a VU anyways, so let's think about trundling him.

Passive: Two-Shiv Poison- Shaco's and his clones' basic attacks apply two-shiv poison to enemies, slowing them and giving his abilities additional effects.

Q: Deceive- Shaco instantly blinks to a target location and gains limited stealth for 3.5 seconds. He can be seen by enemy champions within 700 range. His next attack is guaranteed to crit. Bonus- Shaco is invisible to poisoned enemy champions while stealthed.

This combines Eve's stealth with Shaco's. He should be easier to chase down as the detection range is 700 and his blink is only 400, no more juking back in to them unless they are all poisoned, and his ganks will have a bit more warning.

W: Jack in the Box- Summons a box at target location that stealths after a delay. When an enemy champion triggers it, it springs open and attacks nearby enemies for 5 seconds. Bonus- When triggered the Box fears poisoned enemies.

This is an area where you can add power back in to his kit. The 2 second arming time is egregious, almost double the time of other abilities with delays (teemo shrooms, nevermore, dark matter) and the .5 second fear at level 1 is almost completely negligible cc. Perhaps the arming time could scale down with rank, allowing at least a chance for these boxes to be useful in a team fight. Because unpoisoned enemies don't get feared, it, again, makes it a bit easier to chase Shaco.

E: Shiv Throw- Shaco throws a shiv in the target direction, applying two-shiv poison to enemies who are hit. Shaco can have up to 2 charges of this. Bonus- Poisoned enemies miss their first attack after they've been hit by Shiv Throw.

Anyone remember when Shaco's poison applied a % chance blind? This is kind of an ode to that, without being quite as frustrating as that RNG was. This ability becomes a skillshot with greater range, which allows Shaco to apply a snare and his poison from further away. Ganks can either begin with this or deceive. The two charges allow him interesting scenarios, use it twice on one enemy from range for greater damage and the missed attack, use deceive to close the gap to auto and then space your shiv throws to dodge two attacks, shiv throw two different enemies in order to get your fear on both of them, etc. Lots of possibilities here.

R: Hallucinate- Shaco vanishes for .5 seconds and reappears behind target enemy champion, creating clones behind nearby enemy champions as well. The clones follow the enemy they are behind, doing a percent of Shaco's damage. After a delay, Shaco can reactivate to detonate his clones. Enemies hit by more than one clone explosion take reduced damage from subsequent ones.

And finally the ult, the biggest change to his kit, and this is so it compliments the rest of it. It is now targeted, meaning Shaco isn't a ridiculous split pusher. Secondly, it's a gap closer, this allows Shaco to use his Q as an escape (as he is probably the only true assassin that has only one tool to both engage and disengage with, which is one of his greatest weaknesses in team fights). Thirdly, this poisons nearby enemies, allowing him to drop a box to fear them or to stealth away with his q.

He can control the detonation but not the location of the clones, and his clones no longer detonate when attacked. This is twofold for him, if his clones are not being attacked or kited, Shaco can keep them up for their sustained damage on multiple targets. If the enemy team doesn't scatter, Shaco can also detonate his clones for solid damage among a few targets. Likewise, the enemy team can counter by blowing up clones quickly or just spreading out so there are fewer clones created in the first place.

I think this kit plays very well into his thematic as a trickster, perhaps tilting it more towards his poison that causes enemies to hallucinate, rather than demonic powers. This also reduces a lot of his more toxic gameplay (complete stealth ganks, almost unlimited escapability) and grants greater team fight ability (multiple gap closers, greater utility by reduced arming time on jack-in-the-box and the blind on his e). Just throwing these ideas out there, as he was one of my favorite champs but seems almost forgotten by Riot.