Is Shaco still viable?

Strayble·10/23/2014, 11:55:07 PM·1 votes·1,373 views

Hey guys, this is like my second thread on boards, so I'm not sure if this is the right place or not. Anyways, I'm just wondering if Shaco is still viable suing the current meta. in all the games I've played, I rarely see shaco. the reason I'm asking this is because he seems pretty fun, and I want to try him at some point. I know that he's mainly a jungler, but also, has anyone had success in lane with him? Just curious haha. Also, I'm typing on my phone so excuse any mistakes!

7 Comments

DrCyanide10/24/2014, 12:07:32 AM1 votes

The meta will change here in a month or two due to the Season 5 changes. Even if only half of what's being tinkered with changes, the jungle will be completely different, favoring different types of junglers.

I'm thinking of snagging Shaco too. He seems fun.

ZeroAnarchy10/24/2014, 12:37:45 AM1 votes

Shaco is one of those champions you HAVE to main, otherwise you'll be lacking alot of potential skill

HalloweenDeath10/24/2014, 2:31:08 AM1 votes

I think they can make him a lot better and more viable if they make it so he can place boxes while stealthed and the boxes are automaticly stealths with him(So he can block of the enemy's excape routes without being seen. Also they have to make it so his q animation doesn't show in the fog of war. That will make him one of the strongest early game gankers if not the strongest in the game. Also, they can make shaco even more reliant on ganking. Shaco is 110% reliant on ganking so why not make him EVEN MORE RELIANT just to piss everyone off?! Not really though but seriously shaco is less usesfull then a minion late game if he isn't 11/0. Shaco makes a great jungler on teamcomps with lots of late game champions so shaco can easily carry them to late game.

Marthian10/24/2014, 6:18:04 AM1 votes

I see him mostly as a jungler, and he has one of the best ganks in the game. You HAVE to get a pink ward to even see him, and even that won't stop him: he'll just blink invisible another route.

He's probably going to get a rework soonish. His Blink-Invisible and potentially shaco-boxes are reason enough.

NoMonku10/24/2014, 9:24:50 AM1 votes

He is "okay". He can do his job, but he is purely early game. If he doesn't get kills and start snowballing himself/lanes, he is pretty useless. In fights, he doesn't offer much as he only Q's to his target and tries to kill them. Early on is when he can do this easily, as people don't have much hp, but as they level up and get items, he starts losing the ability to do this unless he himself starts getting kills(gold inflow). His CC as also very situational, as it is strong, but its been used so much people don't really endlessly facecheck bushes for him to walk into. Also with how easy warding is now, he can be warded out pretty easily. He is counter hard by greens, something you usually wouldn't expect from an "invisi" champion.

Your late game is where you will run into problems. Unless you got fed or catch out a support or something, you probably won't be able to 1v1 people. You don't offer much in teamfight outside of damage and usually people will sit back to wait for you to go in to kill you. At this point you're best served split pushing, though the problem is in the current meta, split pushers have TP. As you won't have TP, you won't be able to make much of an impact unless you can 1v1 the person who has TP and kill them/force them off.

Wehrmacht Bunny10/24/2014, 10:38:52 AM1 votes

Hey guys, this is like my second thread on boards, so I'm not sure if this is the right place or not. Anyways, I'm just wondering if Shaco is still viable suing the current meta. in all the games I've played, I rarely see shaco. the reason I'm asking this is because he seems pretty fun, and I want to try him at some point. I know that he's mainly a jungler, but also, has anyone had success in lane with him? Just curious haha. Also, I'm typing on my phone so excuse any mistakes!

The reason why Shaco isn't picked a lot is because he's a hard Jungler to keep up with. If you fall behind with him even once, it's pretty much the end of him.

Another reason is because he's the slowest jungler in the game. You can't just do what you can do with most junglers and kill jungle creatures all day to level up. You have to constantly gank with him.

But overall, he is a great jungler and very powerful one as well. He's great fun and you should get him.

2WhiteAndNerdy10/24/2014, 5:42:41 PM1 votes

I played Shaco in the past and have recently started playing him again. Generally during early game you want to gank heavily and MAYBE counter jungle if you feel confident that you can 1v1 the enemy jungler. Your goal during early game is to snowball yourself and your teammates. Mid game you usually want to split-push since Shaco's kit is amazing for the job. I've been rushing a Hydra for this part. Late game, split pushing might not be the best idea since if you die, the death timers are long enough for the enemy to get Baron or Dragon without you and your smite to contest it. My jungle build for Shaco has been going like this.

item 3074 , item 3160 , item 3111 or item 3047 or item 3006 , item 3143 or item 3026 , item 3087 ; item 3035

I prefer this build to glass cannon builds because I like the extra durability in case I get caught out or get involved in a teamfight. Can't really give any advice for laning though since I've only played him in the jungle. Been meaning to try Shaco support with a friend of mine though because it sounds really annoying for the enemy bot lane.

Edit: Just realized I didn't really answer your question. I like playing him since he can juke and mess with the enemy team really well. Same reason why I like Teemo really, he excels at annoying people. I wouldn't play him in a game alongside a physical damage champ in mid and top if you can help it unless you plan to win the game early. Otherwise you will run into trouble when the enemy builds armor.

Also item 3071 can replace item 3035 in certain situations.