Lol Shaco guide - Jungle Guide

1. Introduction

Unfortunately the few Shaco guides on Mobafire are very detailed and pretty to look at, this has discouraged me many times to actually create and share this guide, however friends from Mobafire have constantly asked me and persuaded me to make a guide and show people how I play Shaco, Note that I do not claim that all the other guides are bad, because they are not, and I would recommend you check you the guides by Spooon and Ippytraxx since they also have brilliant guides. This guide has been made so that I can give something back to the lovely community that has given me so much, I really do hope that this guide will teach you new shaco players how to play shaco, and for the veteran shaco players I hope the guide polishes and gives you a wider view of the different ways you can play shaco.

My experience in LoL is quite limited, to be honest. I am still learning and figuring out what are the best items to get on champions, to make them borderline OP or Viable. I have been playing LoL for around 5 months (maybe longer, but I took breaks in-between), my current ranked ELO is horrible (mainly because I played rank as soon as I hit 30 with tier 1-2 runes) and I plan to catch up in Season 2.

Please do not consider this guide to be “nooby” because I will be putting a lot of hard work into the guide, updating constantly when I find better items or techniques. I honestly don’t care about the “old” shaco, apparently the days when he could stack Sunfire capes and penta kill, or the days where his boxes actually did damage. Also, I have and will try to get constant review over the guide from players who are more skilled than myself, some honorable mentions are Potatisfarfar, Melarith, D Bross, Searz, Wintermond, Canoas.. and many many more pro peoplez.

For people who will Troll vote the guide down, “Fuck you”. For people who will give constructive criticism, “Thank you and I will look into it”, and for the lovely people who +1 the guide because it is working for them “I Luff You”.

This Guide is based on JUNGLE SHACO

First, let me answer the question "Why Jungle with Shaco?"

Answer:

#1: Shaco is one of the best Junglers in the game, he can finish the jungle in roughly 4 minutes (even less!).

#2: He can Gank at level 2.

#3: Shaco is literally too squishy to lane.

#4: Shaco gets denied in the lane.

#5: Shaco can counter-jungle very well. However, Nunu can just rape you.

#6: Shaco can do dragon at level 6.

#7: Shaco has an Inbuilt ward, his boxes.

and the list goes on.... Those however are the main points.

Jungle Route

Now we get to the stuff that actually matters.

My jungle route, is probably the fastest it is also the safest and allows you to gank at level 2. Some people may call this the "stonewall" route, to be honest I never heard of the guy and this was the route I have always used.

Occasionally to switch it up and force a team fight or counter-jungle aggressively, I start at Blue.

Early Notice: Use pots where you feel is the best time, Usually shaco can jungle with just 3 pots fine. However it is a must that he take 5, since 2 are for back-up. If kiting fails however you can end up using all 5 pots. Just try and stay over half life, and always use a pot when attacking Golem (blue) or Lizard (red).

I start by placing 2 JiTB's at the Wraith camp and 2 at the Lizard camp (if for some reason you can't manage to get 2 boxes at red, don't worry, just place 1 box), Notice how I place them in the center. You want your boxes to be placed in a position where it can fear the little "Wraithlings" and focus the Blue Wraith. After you kill the Blue wraith, proceed to kill the little ones (Cruel world, I know). DO NOT USE SMITE HERE!

After you finish with the Wraith camp, hop over to the Lizard camp, now you will already have 1 or 2 boxes placed there. Note that the Lizard camp has big range and you can place the boxes in alot of different places, however I feel the optimum placement would be at the BLUE FLOWER on the ground. Make sure you have 3 boxes at Lizard before you start attacking, also make sure that the cooldown on your JiTB is halfway before attacking. Focus on the big Lizard, and lure him into your boxes. A common mistake many shaco players make is they don't know how to "kite". Use smite on the Lizard when he is around 500 health, (take a glance at the damage smite does and make sure you use it accurately or buffs can be stolen by smarter counter junglers)!

Kiting is a key trade of shaco, and so to kite the Lizard, place a JiTB right behind him, this will make you take minimal damage. (In the screenshot I am taking damage, which can happen sometimes, but that was because I was taking screenshots and not focusing, anyways here is an idea how to kite).

After you get Red Buff, you can go in for an early gank, try and make someone blow a summoner spell, or try and get an easy kill. However, DO NOT DIE, this is so stupid important because if you die, you will loose your red buff and make the enemy stronger and more able to harass the allied laner. Please, if you know you can't gank, don't gank at this point.

After that you can go back on track and get your blue buff, place 2 boxes in the bush just above the tip of the tree. If the boxes are too close it will aggro the little...things. Which will take up a lot of potential box damage to the Blue Golem, and if its too far, the Golem will just loose interest and get back to where he was. Before you attack the golem, make sure (again) that the cooldown on JiTB is at halfway. Then attack the Golem and proceed to Kite him. Use Smite, same rules as the red buff smite.

Finish the first jungle route at Wolves, place the box all the way in the back (inbetween the 2 sunflowers). Wait for half the cooldown on JiTB to be complete, pull the big brown wolf with Two-shiv and kite him by placing a box behind.

You can now choose to RECALL or GANK
.

If you are going to Recall, Grab either a Madred's + 1 Health potion, OR if you feel that you lack mobility grab boots and 2 Health potions.

Ganking should be consistent during Early and Mid game, so whatever the you choose remember to gank. If shaco has a shit early game, he's gonna be shit all game. When ganking look for easy targets first. Your aim is to get a kill, support or make them waste a summoner's. After you make the easy gank, ALWAYS HELP THE SOLO LANER AT TOP. I cannot stress how important this is, and even at times, I get so greedy for easy ganks that I completely ignore the top lane, what then usually happens is we lose an early tower or the top solo laner dies/fears recalling.

Here is a video of the route:

Excuse the terrible/awesome music :3

The Brave Clone vs. Dragon

After finishing off your initial jungle route, you will want to constantly monitor and set a huge priority to grabbing Dragon when ever you can!

Sometimes it will be just impossible since the enemy team has better team co-operation, but usually you can finish dragon very fast, as early as level 6!

Attempt to do dragon only when you have a Wriggles Lantern (people who run Bloodrazors.. Meh, get a Wriggles, then a Bloodrazor)


Get your clone to attack dragon first, (Holding Alt and right clicking will send your clone to where you click). Whilst your clone is tanking dragon, attack from behind (this will allow you to deal more damage!), place a JiTB where you are positioned also, it helps in increasing DPS. Finally Smite the dragon when he is low on health and a Smite will insta-kill him, this prevents people from stealing your dragon.

Reminder: Always ask your team for help when you are doing dragon! I understand that you will want to be sneaky, but if anyone catches you... your pretty much screwed. GET YOUR TEAM TO DEFEND YOU/HELP YOU, the enemy will most likely want to dodge a teamfight and let you take dragon!

Warding and Oracle

Warding is very important through-out the game. Shaco is very lucky to be gifted with a free ward his JiTB! The obvious downside however is that it attacks and eventually dies off. "Permanent" (time-based) wards such as the Wriggles Lantern ward are also key to control the jungle and provide more map awareness.

Warding the map for your team can save them from getting ganked (even though a few might be blind and not see the ganker, etc.) It gives them a better chance to react to the situation.

There is a guide on Mobafire which gives an excellent in-depth look at warding:

WARDING GUIDE

For quick reference, check out the little awesome mini-map picture below

ORANGE= Most Important (REQUIREMENT)
GREEN= Important (OPTIONAL)

Oracles on Shaco, IS A MUST. I am very very tempted to add it to the item builds, however I feel that when you get it can be situational. In a good game, I rush it after I get my Wriggle's Lantern whilst in a bad game I get it when I notice I am dying less often.

You see there are Vision Wards that can SHUT YOU DOWN, they will cause you to be exposed and reveal you whilst stealth, this destroys your element of surprise and can ruin a gank/escape for you. Oracles also counter wards being placed by the enemy team, there is nothing more satisfying that making the enemy team WASTE 75 gold for wards.

Grabing an Oracle can also counter other stealthers.. and an interesting fact about stealthers is that they are REALLY SQUISHY, so if you reveal a stealther.. they are pretty much D.E.A.D. Stealthers include: eve, akali, twitch and shaco.

Trinity Itemization

Building a "healthy" Shaco is very important, for Shaco to be "healthy" he must have a balance between Survival and Damage. Getting the right items to provide Shaco with this Healthy diet can be very expensive and that is why getting a strong early game is a requirement.

Wriggle's Lantern - Must have, it gives you a boost in armor, damage and lifesteal! But the most important part of this item is how cost-effective it is, for 1600g with a steady build-up makes this pure gold. Not to mention the ward, to help you always have eyes on baron or dragon.

Boots of Mobility - Personal preference I guess, it helps you really control the map by quickly getting to places and it also really helps quick escapes or catching up to enemies. Deceive will also allow you to loose aggro, thus making the boots more effective. The only other alternative could be Mercury's Treads, but I get that if there is ALOT of CC

Sheen - Getting an Early Sheen is a great item, Sheen gives Mana, Ability Power and a strong Base Damage boost. This item is what will make you "burst"! Mana is very useful on Shaco because he is usually Mana-hungry, getting more Mana will make not having Blue-Buff less punishing. Ability Power scales with Two-Shiv and JiTB, so yes they will hit much harder. Q + The Sheen Effect + Auto-attack will give a huge burst, sadly Q doesn't stack with the effect.

Zeal - With the Aid of Red Buff, Zeal will make you very strong. It gives Shaco much needed mobility and also boosts the speed of auto-attacks which will help you deal damage faster. The critical strike will not show as much but when it does, it will be a very noticeable burst! If you are lucky enough to get a critical after Deceive, with the addition of the sheen effect. Lol gg damage.

Trinity Force - This item is amazing. What else can I say.. After you get this item, Red Buff and Blue Buff become less important and you can focus on what Shaco does best, Gank and make the enemies fear over-extending. The balance between power and survival is the definition of this item.

Wit's End - Calculations prove that this item does slightly less (but very similar) damage to a B. F. Sword, it also adds a wonderful magic resist which will stack up very fast with all the attack speed. Just take some time now and admire how well each of these item's sync with each other. Yes, Wit's End is a top tier item for Shaco. Another interesting fact is that it does magic damage, so now you deal both melee and magic damage with your auto-attacks, ahuehaueahuea armor stacking against shaco? PSSSHHHHHHHHHH.

Guardian Angel - With the addition of Wit's End you have leaned way too far in the path of damage, and now it must be balanced with an item that will help you escape and live through Team-fights, ganks and all those other forms of combat. This item will give you more Armor and some nice Magic resist (although it isn't fully focused on those stats it is a much welcomed addition), the passive is great on shaco because once you revive 90% of the time your Q is back up to make a quick flash-out escape. Don't think your god with this item because the 5 minute cooldown is pretty damn long. If you are facing more CC oriented enemies or you just don't like guardian angel Banshee's Veil is an alternative.

The Bloodthirster - If you ever get this far, Welcome to Late Game. Shaco is probably the weakest champion Late game, because he dies way too fast, on the other hand... He is one of the best 1v1 champions at this stage of the game. At this point you will want to maximize the damage he deals and the Lifesteal he receives. Backdooring is the best part of late game Shaco, and your main aim will be to die less, so farming up B.T is relatively easy. Since so far you haven't been building raw damage, you will need this item to properly and effectively drop down turrets.

Infinity Itemization

So you decided to ignore my first build, maybe because you don't like it.. Or.. Maybe because you have a greed for Insane Damage. It is hard to question the drawbacks of this build besides the obvious cost and painful build up, the only time I would ever recommend this build is when you are getting fed or confident you can farm up the money to afford this.

Wriggle's Lantern - Must have, it gives you a boost in armor, damage and lifesteal! But the most important part of this item is how cost-effective it is, for 1600g with a steady build-up makes this pure gold. Not to mention the ward, to help you always have eyes on baron or dragon.

Boots of Mobility - Personal preference I guess, it helps you really control the map by quickly getting to places and it also really helps quick escapes or catching up to enemies. Deceive will also allow you to loose aggro, thus making the boots more effective. The only other alternative could be Mercury's Treads, but I get that if there is ALOT of CC

Double Dagger - Shaco has good base damage stats, and can deal pretty big damage early game. Getting two daggers will help you farm harder, push lanes harder and finish your jungle faster. So yes to summaries, double daggers = Harder and Faster (that's what she said amirite?). Farming is a must this stage, you need to rush your infinity edge!

B. F. Sword - During Mid game, you will notice a drop in your damage, time to bring it up back to standard by getting this lovely item. Combining this with double daggers is quite scary considering you will be hitting big damage very fast. The faster you get this item, the more you will own all game. It also makes your deceive deal some HEAVY critical damage.

Infinity Edge - This item is going to make the enemies cry. Plain and simply put, this is the best damage dealing item on Shaco, not only will your critical hit like a truck, but your general auto-attacking DPS will hit the roof. You will be eating squishes alive before they can even retaliate. This item is if you get super-fed remember that, if you don't get this item pretty early, it won't be as effective.

Phantom Dancer - Utility, Critical strike and attack speed synchronizes with Shaco and his Infinity Edge very well. Will boost your damage to amazing levels, however this will also make you more vulnerable to Thornmail. Beware, but enjoy the DPS.


Banshee's Veil - A great defensive item, the reason why I feel it would be better on Infinity shaco as opposed to Trinity shaco is because Infinity Shaco is squishier and more mana dependent. The ability to block off one spell is really good, as it can save your life, also the catalyst will help you alot with mana issues. After you get this item, say Bye-Bye to Blue Buff, since you really don't need it as much anymore. Guardian Angel will always be a valid alternative, so grab that if you prefer it over Banshee.

The Bloodthirster - If you ever get this far, Welcome to Late Game. Shaco is probably the weakest champion Late game, because he dies way too fast, on the other hand... He is one of the best 1v1 champions at this stage of the game. At this point you will want to maximize the damage he deals and the Lifesteal he receives. Backdooring is the best part of late game Shaco, and your main aim will be to die less, so farming up B.T is relatively easy. Getting a fully stacked B.T will boost your critical damage to around 900+. A very strong item that should always be considered when you get Infinity Edge.

Situational Items

Note that this section is quite short since I need to analyze the best possible situational items, this sectional will get updated later on.

Hexdrinker - An item barely seen in solo-games, and low to mid ELO. However this item is one of the most used in high ELO. This item benefits not only Shaco but many AD Carries, it basically reduces the Nuke/Burst damage you take. So it is very useful against Karthus, Anivia, Malzahar, and many other bursty AP nukes! It's a bit like a ... mini-banshee's.

Catalyst the Protector - Since Shaco is very mana-dependent and mana-hungry (two things that DO NOT go well together), this item can be rushed after B. F. Sword or Zeal in order to maintain mana and be less dependent on Blue Buff.

Philosopher's Stone - This is a decent item for shaco, since its cheap and has some great regeneration stats, usually when I get denied from any gold, or I feel gold starved, I get this item. Heart of Gold is an equally magnificent item since it gives you more health which is always nice on shaco.

Masteries

Pretty much standard Shaco mysteries. I get offensive mastery instead of alacrity for a faster jungle. Alacrity isn't really effective with only 2 points, whilst Offensive mastery is. Plus with the addition of runes you already have great attack speed. Offensive mastery will also greatly boost your backdoor capabilities!

The biggest argument I assume will be why I choose 2 Points in utility mastery instead of 1 point in Havoc+utility mastery. Well longer buffs will equal in more ganking, which a fundamental part of playing Shaco, I have mentioned earlier that his damage base stat is good and he can still have successful ganks without Havoc. The new Havoc however does make a big difference in damage, and can allow more successful ganks.

You see it is very debatable, I myself run 1 point in Havoc and Utility Mastery. My recommendation would be...



If you are new to Shaco, get 2 points in utility mastery
If you are experienced with Shaco, get 1 point in Havoc and utility mastery

If you are planning to run Exhaust on Shaco, use this Alternative mastery page:

Runes

ArP runes, will greatly increase the DPS you deal, it is more efficient for Jungling too.

Attack speed yellows, for a faster jungle and also to deal more DPS when ganking.

MP5/s, Shaco is VERY mana hungry pretty much all game.. thus it has become a requirement that Shaco maintains his blue buff, however if you do not get the blue buff you don't want to be completely shut down. These runes will help you out in those situations, you can also place more boxes.

I choose to take 2 Health Quints to survive better and it also allows me to play a bit more aggressively. 1 ArP Quints to boost my already strong damage.

These runes are based more on the risky side, Seals and Glyphs being attack speed will speed up your jungle to ridiculous levels, not to mention boost your general DPS against enemies. Sadly you will have to be more careful with these runes.

Generally a great selection of runes for a jungler, its very safe and allows most junglers to jungle relatively fast, purchase these runes if you cannot afford the best and most optimum runes for Shaco.