Champion Guide

Shaco Guide

By LoLSuggest

Jungle

Shaco is a slippery trickster who wins with surprise: Deceive and Hallucinate to outplay, and Jack In The Box to control areas and vision.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Shaco build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Our AD jungle page is Hail of Blades with Sudden Impact, Sixth Sense and Relentless Hunter, plus Cash Back and Approach Velocity. Take Smite and Ignite and start Gustwalker Hatchling. Statikk Shiv supplies attack speed from items. The core is boots, Statikk Shiv, Umbral Glaive and Mortal Reminder, then Infinity Edge; Youmuu's Ghostblade, Phantom Dancer, Essence Reaver and Lord Dominik's Regards suit a very long game. We rate AP jungle Shaco even higher: Ionian Boots, Blackfire Torch, Liandry's Torment and Cryptbloom, then Cosmic Drive and Rabadon's Deathcap. As support, an alternative setup runs Arcane Comet with Axiom Arcanist, Transcendence and Gathering Storm, plus Legend: Haste and Cut Down, with Ignite and Teleport. It starts World Atlas, upgrades to Zaz'Zak's Realmspike, and builds Imperial Mandate or Blackfire Torch with Boots of Swiftness.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Strengths

Huge area control and vision with Jack In The Box.
High damage, self-sufficient and extremely slippery with Deceive and Hallucinate.
Can be picked into almost anything, play from behind, split-push and secure objectives.

Weaknesses

Very high skill floor; specializing in him helps.
Squishy, and AD Shaco loses a lot of damage if he misses a backstab.
No direct crowd control without setup; tanky junglers like Hecarim, Volibear, Udyr or Rammus are tough, and Zyra's plants trigger his boxes.

Laning Phase

As support, laning is Shaco's weakest phase, so focus on stopping enemy plays. Set boxes around the wave where enemies want to step up; it gives you time to react and often opens poke for your ADC. Against engage supports, also place boxes behind you for gank protection and an escape. Throw Two-Shiv Poison when enemies face away for bonus passive damage, and use its passive slow on autos during all-ins.

Mid & Late Game

In the mid and late game, use boxes to lock down objectives and the enemy jungle and to clear waves quickly. Hallucinate is a strong engage and can dodge big abilities like Karthus's Requiem; its clone explodes into mini boxes when it expires. Use Deceive mainly to escape, and remember you can cast boxes and Hallucinate while stealthed. Mages with strong area control, like Orianna or Galio, pair well with jungle Shaco.

Key Tips

Boxes arm after 2 seconds and last longer with more AP.
Hallucinate can teleport you over small walls.
Best ADC partners can turn every box into poke or a kill — Caitlyn and Jhin especially.
Ban Zyra: her plants can trigger your boxes.

Matchups