If you're looking to learn Shaco, start here. Now for Season 5!

TL;DR - You explode people, they die, you take objectives, you piss off the enemy team. If this is really too much of a shitty format for people, I'll throw this onto something like mobafire or something if that's easier to digest.

But you're only Silver one/You didn't do this in a recent game: *Don't judge me based on my rank - that doesn't make what I'm saying invalid. I've had few complaints from the people who have taught me. Just because I didn't do ____ doesn't mean I normally wouldn't. I theorycraft a lot, and not just by myself. So yes, I will stick to a set item path to see how it feels. No, I don't actually read guides, I just find and link them/ask for the links. I learned from the streams and by asking questions. All the questions I asked, I put the answers to in here. Refrain from looking at that. Yes, I am qualified because my information isn't inaccurate - It's all things I learned, and compiled so I can link others who ask. I've played ranked 5's and been plat one. Don't be an asshole *

For those who wish to have themselves added to this list: You must add me in game, and give me your information - whether or not I actually add you depends on whether or not I think it'd be a beneficial different way to do it or not. Yes, 100% my own opinion. I may refer to Derp Shaco for his thoughts though. On the flip side: If you do not want to be added, you may also message me in game

I will ignore any comments here about it, because it just takes too long to try and get the information I want.

Note about this in general: This is all edited from my previous one, before pre-season 5 jungle changes. It's a work in progress, but overall still the same. There will likely be more changes made, so feel free to check back a couple days after each patch. This isn't really a full "guide" guide. It's really just me putting the answers to questions beginners ask me. I have knowledge, because I have asked dozens of people hundreds of questions about this Champion. I hope this answers most of your basic questions. This was never meant for experienced Shaco players, but rather for new ones. AKA: Baby Shaco! This is also more specifically for jungle Shaco. I can add top/mid/botlane if you want but I don't think I'll see a particularly high demand for this.

Shaco, the Demon Jester.

Shaco is and always will be a horror in solo q. He thrives off of chaos, and lack of teamwork. His versatility is amazing, and his ability to help take objectives rapidly is a huge thing for his team. He has such strong early ganks, and with the new jungle items Stalkers Blade and Skirmishers Sabre(Rangers Trailblazer is less good since patch 4.21. Sry boys), he's very potent if you can navigate the jungle and manage your ganks.

The only downside right now, is probably the fact you can't full juggle Dragon anymore(The damage goes through anyway), and if you're like a strong majority of Shaco players - You're squishy. Shaco's strong map control and presence is amazing, and he can very easily get deep vision early, and clear and survive the jungle so much easier than many junglers. His versatility also extends to his build path. While ideally, as an assassin you want burst(The crit recommended build, youmuus, shiv, ie, a lifesteal item of your choice, etc), you can also go Ability Power(His w and e scaling), Tank (You're basically a tank and a half with your clone), Hybrid, bruiser and basically you can build whatever you want.

Shaco is a heavily team reliant champ, while he can do so much alone, it's just far easier when your team knows how to play with a Shaco. Most people also split push, giving people the idea Shaco is nothing but a split push champion, who falls off. I'm sorry, but that's not correct. It's his mid-game transition due to the cost of the aforementioned crit build. It's expensive and junglers don't actually have the greatest income.

So that's a short discussion on Shaco himself, so let's get to discussing his skills, and some comments about them.

A Quick Run-down of his Kit. Passive Backstab Shaco deals 20% bonus damage when striking a unit from behind with his basic attacks or abilities

What this means: Try to hit everything you're attacking from behind. Bonus damage! Worth mentioning: Backstab's bonus damage applies to Shaco's autoattacks and abilities, except for Jack In The Box[W].

Q Deceive Shaco instantly blinks to a target nearby location and enters stealth for up to 3.5 seconds. Dealing damage will break stealth early. His next basic attack within 6 seconds is guaranteed to critically strike for modified base critical damage. Bonus critical damage from items, runes and mastery is applied for the full amount.

What this means: This is why you are incredibly annoying, you've got a crit, you have a flash every 11 seconds, and this is also why you can take Ignite or Exhaust with your smite.
Worth mentioning: This has the exact same range as flash. Cancelling an auto cancels your stealth. This goes on CD as soon as stealths over. Look to nifty tricks for some nifty things. Nifty. W Jack in the Box Shaco summons a box at the target location that stealth's after a 2 second delay and lasts for up to 60 seconds. When an enemy comes within 300 units, the box springs open: causing surrounding enemies to turn and flee while it attacks nearby enemies for up to 5 seconds. What this means: This is what helps Shaco clear camps fast, and helps his ganks as well. His main form of cc, can really f.uck things up. Use these to kite to, to tank, to take objectives, and f.uck up a team fight. Worth mentioning: Don't max these second, if anything do as Derp Shaco and I now do, and put a second point into it, then max q second. Boxes become unreliable and easily two shot rapidly. It's not often they'll stay alive for the full damage duration after a certain point. Not worth maxing second.

E Two-shiv Poison PASSIVE: Shaco's basic attacks poison his targets, reducing their movement speed for 2 seconds. It also gives affected non-champion units a chance to miss their attacks. ACTIVE: Shaco throws a dagger at a target enemy dealing magic damage and applying his slowing poison to them for 3 seconds. The passive is deactivated during the cooldown. What this means: This is where your perma-slow comes from, provided you can keep auto'ing the enemy. Very annoying, and paired with Q, can keep you on them forever. Add in items, and everyone you auto hates you. Worth mentioning: Do not throw your shiv too soon, you LOSE the passive slow. Save it until the last moment. This skill is also why people take AP glyphs, it does a lot of damage.

R Hallucinate Shaco vanishes for 0.5 seconds, then creates a clone of himself that will last for up to 18 seconds. The clone deals 75% of Shaco's damage and receives 50% extra damage. This clone deals 50% damage to towers and inhibitors. At the end of its duration or when dying the clone will explode, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies. What this means: This is why Shaco is such an amazing duelist - you can duel anyone by dodging things, and dealing amazing amounts of damage, as well as juking. [Shaco suddenly > Kha'Zix. Nice isolation nerd] Shaco literally vanishes off the map upon casting this. So if you time it right, you'll never be blitz hooked, lee sin q'd or anything like that ever again. A good panic button of sorts. Worth mentioning: Shaco faces the same direction as he did when the ability was cast. The clone faces towards the top of the screen. The clone will apply on hit-effects just a Shaco would. If you have buffs on you, or were pinged prior to ulting, it's easy to tell you, from your clone.

So why pick him?

Simply put: Great ganks, amazing objective control, and can even help with ward coverage for maximum efficiency. His ability to gank from so many ways, perma slow you, juke you around can make people mad. You can camp someone and they'll simply have no way of warding every possible gank path against you without help from their own jungler - who will presumably be warding their jungle in fear of you. Your jungle clear is fantastic, and you can often clear without using either of your two pots.

I'd also like to mention how fantastic Shaco is at making picks. Making a pick is having vision somewhere, and finding someone alone and just instagibbing them.

Your goal as a Shaco.

• Objective control
• Accelerating the game in your teams favor
• Vision Control
• Map Pressure

You get the idea. All stuff you want from your jungler, and Shaco excels at this. He's not going to be afk farming for the first 15 minutes of your game, he's going to want to be everywhere getting flashes kills and just being there. He wants to make this game as hard for people as possible.

So you might have heard "Shaco has no late game, he's just a glorified split pusher then."(As I already touched upon before) Well, yes and no. It's really on how you play it, and the other thousands of variables. Personally, I prefer teamfighting as Shaco, as does Derp Shaco for example. There will be games it's better to split push for whatever reason. That's not the point of my saying this however. Don't believe everything you hear about Shaco. If you like this champion, want to play this champion, learn him and master him. Do it. You'll probably hear a lot of "Please don't pick Shaco", though usually in lower elo. However, people are more welcoming now since Shaco is stronger in this jungle than most other junglers(Get fucked Kha'Zix.)

As Shaco you have amazing objective control in your ability to box for vision/cc, ward everywhere as well as box/ult tank. It's not long before I tell my team to push mid/top while I call for a duo baron, get dragon or something else of value like making a pick while they come to respond. Then join the fight to catch a straggler/carry in hiding. Not to mention the fact you can dodge damage entirely with your ultimate. Dodging the right thing can change everything. Your ult makes a good panic button, and helps you win so many duels if you can effectively avoid things like Lee Sin's q, or Ahri's Charm. The jukes are real if you can master clone control while running yourself(Slowing them with your clone bro).

Thing is - you need to know your limits, your matchups, and your cooldowns. Spamming q? You might be in trouble if they're invading your jungle. You're probably going to go oom rapidly without mana pots/blue buff. Somethings I want to really emphasize here in particular is: Wards are your friend. Seriously, there is NO reason not to be warding. It benefits everyone on your team - and takes away from theirs. Fight for vision control. Just do it, it's worth it, and it's an AMAZING habit to get into. Knowing where they are helps make picks so hard.

I would also like to mention: Shaco is team reliant as hell. While he's an amazing duelist and so on, he excels at accelerating the game in his teams favor. In other words, snowballing everyone until your enemies wish they never fucking q'd. If that doesn't happen, things can be extremely rough.

Another important thing: Summoner spells. You as Shaco, can take whatever you want. Normally, people take Ignite/Smite. However, some cases, Exhaust/Smite might be better. (Double adcs, zed, etc etc.) Play around with it, and try it all out. Ignite makes for easy kills, but exhaust offers a lot in many situations.

I previously didn't recommend a specific side to start, but I highly recommend starting Krugs side, you can give that camp to someone if you want, and just smite it, or kill the full camp. Personally, I just smite and let boxes tank for my laner(s).

If you ever decide to teamfight, which honestly you should learn because sometimes it's faster to end the game that way ideally you'll want to be trying to flank, while also dropping boxes for your team to kite to. So you'll want to come in from behind, or the side and prioritize the carries. Mid/ADC generally, even if neither are fed they sill offer massive DPS for their team. Your goal is to destroy them.

But what about matchups? There is literally, no matchup I wouldn't pick Shaco into. He's not a champion you should be afraid of, but rather just be confident in yourself. Everything I do when I play Shaco is entirely second nature. I just know him. Personally, some match ups can be more annoying, but it's very manageable just by knowing what to do, against who. Once you figure out how to gank those hard to gank lanes, It's a smooth ride.

I've said and will continue to say: You win duels so easily just by pressing "r" at the right time. Your Hallucinate is the most stupidly annoying thing besides Master Yi's Alpha Strike. 1

Runes for Shaco. There are so many different set-ups, which I'll get to in the builds section. For someone just learning? I highly recommend this. 9x AD Marks, 9x Armor Seals, 9x MR/Lvl Glyphs, 3x MS Quints. Masteries wise, probably just 21/0/9

Why this? Because Shaco is squishy, and takes some getting used to in terms on jungle clear. I recommend weaning yourself off full defensive runes as soon as you get the basics down. Attack speed is your friend on Shaco. I recommend this as you start to improve. Once you know your limits etc very well (Mechanics in short), switch over to the AP set up if you want.

A few other runes people consider. CDR ; They're not bad, but you generally will get CDR from your items(youmuus where). Not super worth it, in my opinion. AP ; Strong yes, weaker later, riskier, less consistent. Good, but not recommended. Note on this, I'm meaning when you go to start selling early items for survivability, you're likely losing AS, which really helps with stickiness. The AP does damage, but even then most people have mr so it's kind of meh after a point. Crit ; it's okay, you already get crit in items, and on your q. Not super worth. Hybrid Pen Marks ; Not worth it, the difference in damage wasn't very much, and you're probably better off with just regular AD marks, in my opinion.

So what different ways are there to play Shaco? Split push, team fight, bruiser, tank, support, AP burst assassin, AD burst assassin. Personally, I favor team fight/split push in that order. That's mostly because I learned how to team fight, which few do as Shaco mains. Everyone does it differently, and it's a matter of finding what YOU like. Yes, I will be discussing what I do a lot purely because I'm most familiar with it. This will be updated as I go collecting information geared towards beginners from the others.

Builds, who did them, and notes on them There's so many ways to build Shaco, so I've done you all the favor of pulling builds from many Shaco players. I've got their guides, streams, op.gg all linked as well. I'm including masteries, runes, and generally the builder order as well. I've added my own notes, and if I have a chance, I'll be adding the players notes on what they do, and why as well. There's a bunch of general tips at the bottom, if you want to skip this section also.

Note All of these have more than 6 items listed. But omg why? Because you shouldn't build the same thing every game. The items listed are most common Sometimes you will find a need to get say, Hexdrinker. Do it.

Note2: You can start Dorans if you want(Please don't, at this point most of us see Machete as a must) and go into double dorans, then into your hydra, botrk, or whatever you want. But the new smite items are just too good when paired with Shaco's kit and playstyle, there's not really a reason not to get one. The main 2 used are Stalkers Blade and Skirmishers Sabre, as I mention at the very top of this. I really don't recommend skipping a jungle item - I do however, recommend skipping a full upgrade, then getting half of or your full second item. Note3: Nothing is concrete right now, as there's likely to still be more changes coming. This is all going to be a little more vague, and less detailed than it was before as a result. I'm also cutting out certain people who were here before due to inactivity. They all get an honorable mention though, for being such helpful guys the first time. Note4: I know, I have a lot of notes. Some people aren't listed due to my not knowing them, or someone else just does the same thing, and I see no need to add it again, just under a different name. I'm not trying to offend anyone.

Lucent Shaco(E Zoom) - Stalkers Blade(Warrior), Hyrdra, Triforce, Last Whisper, Lucidity boots, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Infinity Edge, Statikk Shiv, Blade of the Ruined King, Wits End, Guardian Angel - 21/9/0, 9x Armor Pen Marks, 3x AD Seals, 6x Armor Seals, 9x Attack Speed Glyphs, 3x AD Quints Notes Lucent Shaco is the #1 Shaco in North America, and he kind of just does his own thing. He's an incredible player, and I'd recommend using lolnexus to try and spectate him if you can.

MrStealYourBuffs - Stalkers Blade(Warrior), Hydra, Triforce, Greaves, Last Whisper, Infinity Edge. - 21/0/9, 8x AD Marks, x1 Crit Chance Mark, 9x Attack Speed Seals, 9x AP Glyphs, 1x AS Quint, 2x MS Quint. Note All of his games I can see don't go long enough for me to see any other items being built. He also takes Exhaust over Ignite consistently.

Gruntilda - Skirmishers Sabre(Warrior, Devourer), Hydra, Greaves, Statikk Shiv, Last Whisper, Infinity Edge - 26/0/4, 9x AD Marks, 9x AS Seals, 9x AS Glyphs, 3x MS Quints

Notes After trying this out again, as I used to run the same runes before the jungle items were worth on Shaco(Dorans blade start, imy), I personally didn't like it so much as the AP/Armor. I missed out on a lot of easy early kills, BUT my jungle clear was also slightly nicer, for me. It felt familiar, mostly. Fun, but I think I'd still say take some armor.

Derp Shaco - Stalkers > Tiamat > Warriors > Youmuus. Derp Shaco also gets at least one defensive item usually(Banshee's veil). Otherwise, Last Whisper, Black Cleaver, Hydra, Statikk Shiv, Youmuus, Triforce are all items he's been building. - 27/0/3, 9x AD Marks, 9x Armor Seals, 9x AP Glyphs, 2x MS Quints, 1x AD Quint.

**Notes: ** Overall, I have nothing but love and respect for Derp, and I always tend to mimic him, with my own twist, as shown by the fact we use the same masteries and runes. I highly recommend watching him, or just trying what he does even once. Hypoxis GuideTwitch

Beautiful Korean - Beautiful Korean hasn't played enough Shaco games for me to properly add in his frequently used items, runes, masteries. I'd say check his op.gg and maybe his guide for updates. Sorry :c Guide Twitch

Zorro: - Rangers Trailblazer, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Hydra, Mobis, Statikk Shiv, Hexdrinker - 21/9/0, 9x AD marks, 9x Armor Seals, 9x mr/lvl Glyphs, 3x MS Quints.

FunnyClown: Same thing as Gruntilda, runes and items wise. 21/9/0

LL Clown: Blade of the Ruined King, Hydra, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Mobi's, Stalkers(Warrior), Last Whisper, Guardian Angel, Hexdrinker/Maw of Malmortius. - 21/0/9, 9x AD Marks, 9x Armor Seals, 9x MR/lvl Glyphs, 3x AD Quints

Back2Nexus: This guy literally does random **** every game. Don't trust this shifty mother****er. (Ah, what a god)

Chinese Jester Too asian for me. Sorry. Also I don't have his (highly unrecommended for beginners) new guide for s5 Shaco. A full, lengthy novel it will be though. Sorryyyyyy

[Twitch

Mrs Shaco- Stalkers/Skirmishers, Tiamat, Shiv, Sightstone, Banshee's Veil, Randuins Omen, Frozen Heart, Locket of Iron Solari. - 27/0/3, 9x AD Marks, 9x Armor Seals, 9x AP Glyphs, 3x MS Quints.

Note I finish Hydra when I can, usually after sightstone, or half of my other tank item. Boots I left out, since I just go Mobi's every game, but you should probably change it as needed. Build path usually looks like this This is probably the least favored, but I find it effective for my needs. It gives me sustain and extra vision control. Shaco can actually afford that.

General Items That Are Almost Core:

So in short.. Yes, we really do stick to a general small set of items right now, but if you look at the match histories, you'll see there are many situational items as I only added things they used often.

Honorable Mentions, to my most beloved old Shaco teachers. Thank you, for helping me learn the champion I love so very much. TwoShivs OneBox Phytes AceSmurfSlayer Nutrient Polecat bless u shaco top heart ily

More to come as I collect them.

Things I really want to stress. Vision control, getting those deep wards. It's worth it. Objective control. Was their jungle just top? Take drag/gank bot. Kiting to boxes. If you're pushing a lane alone and you can't see anyone/only one person on the other side of the map. Start placing boxes behind you to kite to, should they try to collapse on you. This small action can help you duel them, juke them, run away safely, whatever. It's 100% worth it, and really annoys them. Juggling Aggro. Juggling Dragon(as best you can anyways. rip)/buff/anything aggro between you, your boxes, and your clones effectively is amazing and allows you to stay full/mostly full health when taking these things. Using boxes to tank is what makes Shaco, Shaco. Learn it, love it. You are not forced to use any one start every single game. I didn't add how everyone of those people starts, simply because there isn't a major point. Sometimes you might find a Dorans blade/long sword 3 pots start to be better than snagging that Machete right away. Don't pigeon hole yourself into one set build either. The items depends on the matchup. Do not corner yourself into thinking you MUST get this item EVERY time EVERY game in the SAME order. It's a nasty habit, and you MUST learn to build situationally.

Mistakes I see New Shaco Players Make. Throwing your Shiv too soon: Don't do this, you lose your passive perma slow. Throw it when you can't gap close again, and they're getting away. Forgetting you have boxes: Walk up beside someone in stealth, place box behind them, or where you think they'll run to escape. Remember, the crit from your q lasts 6 seconds. Controlling clone, for clone jukes: Don't forget you can use alt+MB2 to control your clone. Just like Tibbers. Master this, and you'll be considered a god. Using your q too soon, or too late: I highly recommend going into a custom, and figuring out how far you can get while stealthed, and from where. Beautiful Korean's Guide includes screen shots that show gank paths. Try them out for an hour or so alone. Note: Masked Shaco's poof of smoke is harder to see, as it's purple, not bright orange like every other skins. Not knowing lane match ups: Know if your botlane will be more likely to win/lose based off summoners & picks, and decide where to go based off all these. Try to focus on maybe 1/2 lanes to gank often before trying to be all over the place. Sometimes it just won't be worth trying to gank a certain lane for various reasons. This is something that takes time. I highly recommend Derp Shaco and Chinese Jesters streams for this - because they do commentate on how they're going to play things really well.

Trying to force things: Don't do this, it usually hurts you more than anything. Trying to force unnecessary fights doesn't always work out.

There are dozens of handy tricks to remember, from how to reset your q cd (If you q'd over a wall, and want to gank) immediately start your recall, then cancel it. Your q is now on CD.

But overall, Shaco is about maintaining your cool downs, figuring out your own play style, and what you're comfortable with. If you go into a match thinking you'll do bad and don't trust yourself with him, you'll probably do bad. Start identifying your mistakes, what could you have done better? Should you have ganked that lane then? Who had minion advantage? Who was oom? Who used their cd's? In playing Shaco, I found my own personal awareness for many things go up because of how much I realized I didn't notice before, that became necessity now. Don't forget, even if you can't gank for your team, you can secure global gold objectives(Drag, help push towers) and ward for them.

Final Words A major thanks to my friends, my teachers, and everyone who actually read this (This being the third time I've posted this), I appreciate it! I sincerely hope you got something out of all the work and thought I put into this. Sorry I repeat myself so much, but everything I repeat was for a reason, I promise. Noteably, Mey Yags and Derp Shaco for putting up with my shit all the time. Thanks, seriously. Now I hope your teachings can go on to help others too! Sorry I failed you and didn't gain climb where you guys think I belong(ed). Love always, Mrs Shaco