[Gameplay Update] Shaco, the Demon Jester

Continuing the trend of me doing time-limited champions reworks, here's Shaco, the Demon Jester.

Important: As the purple name causes some confusion, this is in no way an official Riot suggestion. I'm not a Riot employee, and this rework experiment is not affiliated with Riot in any way.

The goal of this gameplay update:

• Ensure Shaco is still a mobile, tricky character with zone control.
• Ensure Shaco has viable AP and AD builds.
• Add some more nuance and counterplay to Shaco's gameplay pattern so he can afford to be given more potential damage.
• Add utility to Jack-in-the-Box to allow for more tricky plays.
• Make the clone more than just an auto-attack machine.
• Ensure that, like most modern assassins, Shaco's damage profile has enough delay to allow for meaningful counterplay.

Additionally, please remember that this is a 10-15 minute experiment intentionally. As a result major changes like complete gameplay pattern shifts are off the table, as the time allowed isn't really suitable for large-scope changes and gameplay balancing.

With that in mind, let's dive in. As always, constructive criticisms are appreciated. Please let me know what you like, what you don't like, and why!

https://i.imgur.com/GtYayUJ.png

#Unpleasant Surprise [Passive] Ability Description: Enemy champions who have not seen Shaco for 1.0 second or enemy champions who are frightened by Jack-in-the-Box are marked as uneasy until they have seen him for 1.5 seconds or longer (or for 1.5 seconds until the fear wears off). When Shaco attacks an uneasy champion he makes them vulnerable, causing them to take bonus AD + AP scaling physical damage from his next three attacks. The third attack deals additional bonus damage based on your bonus AD.

Clones (see Hallucination) deal 50% reduced damage from Unpleasant Surprise.

Design Notes: Backstab has some issues with League’s facing mechanics and instant turn speed, so a replacement that plays into a tricky vision game seems appropriate. The fact that it no longer crits and has an attack limit opens up some more exciting Shaco builds, as you’re no longer as dependent on landing as many critical hits within a given timeframe and the ability becomes more useful even with an AP build. Making this multiple attacks helps to spread out the kill window.

https://i.imgur.com/GtYayUJ.png

#Decieve [Q] Active: Shaco blinks to the target location and enters stealth for 2.0 / 2.25 / 2.5 / 2.75 / 3.0 seconds, gaining 25% movement speed while stealthed. Shaco’s next attack within 0.5 seconds of leaving stealth deals bonus AD + AP scaling physical damage.

Unpleasant Surprise empowered attacks reduce the cooldown of Deceive. Attacks from clones (see Hallucination) do not reduce the cooldown of this ability.

Design Notes: A shortening of the maximum duration plus a movement speed buff makes Shaco easier to track without reducing the total distance he can cover. Back-loading the cooldown reduction into three attacks instead of one encourages Shaco to stick around and get the full benefit of his passive, and creates more ways to deny him that cooldown bonus if you can get away.

https://i.imgur.com/GtYayUJ.png

#Jack-in-the-Box [W] Active: Shacos conjures a demonic jack-in-the-box at the target location within a moderate range, which arms and stealths itself after 1.0 seconds. Enemies passing near the jack-in-the-box trigger it, frightening nearby enemies before firing for a few seconds, dealing AD + AP scaling physical damage (heavily favoring AP) and prioritizing enemy champions.

Jack-in-the-Box stores up to two charges and has a low cooldown between casts. Shaco can cast Jack-in-the-Box without breaking stealth. An enemy cannot be frightened by this ability more than once within 2 seconds.

Design Notes: As part of the goal is to give Shaco a bit more interactive gameplay in teamfights, Jack-in-the-Box has been given range and an extra charge to allow for trickier plays and more interesting zone control.

https://i.imgur.com/GtYayUJ.png

#Accursed Shiv [E] Passive: Shaco’s auto-attacks slow enemies hit by a small amount while Accursed Shiv is off cooldown.

Active: Shaco flings a shiv in a line, stopping at the first enemy champion hit and slowing and dealing AD + AP scaling physical damage to targets struck. The first target (of any kind) struck is inflicted with a virulent plague which detonates after 2 seconds, dealing AD + AP scaling (favoring AP) magic damage damage based on the target’s missing health. A target struck by two Accursed Shivs (see Hallucination) takes 50% increased damage.

Design Notes: Making this into a first-champion-hit skillshot with an added reward for the very first target hit adds a meaningful boost to Shaco’s skill expression, and the delay serves to extend his burst window while also providing him with an ability that remains an excellent finisher against fleeing targets. The missing health damage means that Shaco has to manage to land damage on the target to get the full benefit from this ability.

https://i.imgur.com/GtYayUJ.png

#Hallucination [R] First Cast: Shaco vanishes for 0.5 seconds and then blinks in the target direction while creating a hallucination of himself that blinks in the opposite direction, remaining within tether range of him as a controllable pet for up to 18 seconds. The clone mimics Shaco's Deceive and Accursed Shiv casts, aiming at the same location.

Second Cast: While the Hallucination is active, Hallucinate can be used to move it to the target location.

Upon death the clone explodes, dealing AD + AP scaling physical damage to nearby enemies after a short delay.

Design Notes: The old exploding Shaco clone seems to be a favorite of Shaco players, so returning that with a delay for fairness seems a reasonable compromise to avoid some of the frustration with suddenly getting nuked by old Shaco clone. Adding in some interactions with Q and E allows for more trickery with the clone, which is now harder to tell from Shaco.

https://i.imgur.com/GtYayUJ.png