Shaco the Insane
I am currently fleshing out this guide, hopefully I can stick to it long enough to write every possible build setup for him.
If there is anything you guys want added or is not as it should be, please leave a message.

Welcome back everyone.
Believe it or not, a lot of **** has happened since 2011.
So I have decided to update this guide, humanity will hopefully thank me sometime in the future.

I write this guide with the intent to properly give you an insight into how to play laning AD Shaco, with some game tactics inbetween.
This build focuses on having the most bang for the bucks, while also giving you that insane backdooring power you need when you just don't feel like teamfighting.
When I first posted this guide Shaco had one of the best backdooring capabilities in the game, but somewhere inbetween then and now he got nerfed, clone, decieve, what not had their dmg reduced, but also alot of bug fixes.
[b}This guide primarily aims at you playing normal for fun, because he just is not strong enough for ranked play up top or middle, whereas his jungle build is viable

Preguide rant from the author (skip this if you are eager to start):
Something I would like to add is that this guide won't make your Shaco unkillable, it wont make him rip a whole team apart just by looking at them, and no, you won't be the BEST CHAMPION IN THE WHOLE WORLD by following this guide, the only thing that can make your champ great, is YOU.
Many guides promise you green fields of joy and love whereas by following their guide you will be the best, unbeatable, by their standards you are supposed to get a champion kill every 3minutes starting from mid game, they also give you item builds that in no degree manage to stick to how their whole guide is built, imagine if 3 others are also reading guides that say YOU WILL KILL ALL AND BE BEST, then we suddenly have a small paradox.

So before we start, expect alot of tricky stuff, alot of easy stuff, and alot of stuff you simply do not see any reason in trying, you might see me write about how easy Soraka is to kill, then don't trust me blindly, don't contionously get raped by the same champion over and due to me saying how easy it was for ME, because a game is not set in stone just by reading a guide, a champion is not OP or UP just by reading a guide, it is what you make it to be, and how much effort you want to put into it to make it that way.

Summoner spells:

A MUST have

- This spell is Alpha and Omega on Shaco, never go on the fields of justice without this amazing spell

The second Summoner spell is...?

- Great spell, against people with no flash up, or built in jump, when you pop this, what do most people do? RUN! What does that mean? They turn their back on you! 20% increased dmg on a target with 10 reduced armor, too good.

- The ultimate pusher spell, use it when you are low, use it when your minions are at an undefended tower, use it to defend an undefended tower, use it on one of your boxes to go behind enemy lines to tear down that inhibitor, so many uses!

- A valid alternative to Teleport, more use in battle. This spell works great with my Terminator: T800 item build, check the Item Builds section for more.

Pretty close to being useless

- A spell you might want to use in your first few matches as a Shaco, but its effect will diminish after a while and you will see that there are better things to go for, the heal is great, but with pots early game and lifesteal mid/late this will pretty much be useless.

- A spell used by many, almost everyone has it, but when you have it built into your character it gets pretty useless

Don't touch these summoners

Cleanse - Irelia stunning you for 9 months? Then this is the solution for you

Clairvoyance - We got trinkets for that stuff now

Revive - Just no.

Clarity - If you need this during your battle, then you are doing something wrong, consider picking up golem mid/late.

Smite - If you even considered this spell, then go find a jungling guide.

Bugs/Issues:

Acronyms:

Jitb/Boxes = Jack in the Box, your W ability
FB = First blood
AD = Attack Damage
Shiv = Two-Shiv activate
Clone = Hallucinate
Port/TP = Teleport
LoL = League of Legends

Pros:
-Insane pusher
-Even dying gives benefits
-Annoying as hell
-Great champ killer
-Super sexy
-Effectively reduce the number of players on the enemy team throughout the game, giving great possibilities for your team to push through.

Cons:
-Hard to master
-Squishy
-!!Stealth detection!!


Very Early Game
Buy Doran's Blade, a HP pot and get one of two following trinkets:
Sweeping Lens if you have a jungler friend that wants to camp your lane
Or Warding Totem if you don't expect any ganking from your friend, it also helps deter lane ganks if you show them where you ward.
Pick JitB, and start moving towards either Golem or Frog camp depending on which side you are on. Start placing boxes when there is 57 seconds left before the jungle creeps spawn.
Once the camp is destroyed by your laser beam boxes you should be lvl 2, lvl shiv and amaze your lane opponent.
Laning Phase/Early Game
You are lvl 2, opponent is lvl 1.
This is where things get tricky, you have to be some kind of Einstein at certain points.
I will give you some scenarios here.
If Tanky: Shiv when you are capped on mana, but otherwise just go full eco mode until you have lvl 3 shiv, place a quick JitB if they engage you and hope they underestimate you, once they are out of JitB attack range, use shiv. NEVER towerdive against tanky people unless you are a 1000000% sure you will get the kill.
If Squishy:Shiv all day, but ALWAYS save enough mana for Deceive and Shiv combo. If you are unsure if you will survive the skirmish, just run.
If you want to gain lane dominance, use ignite mid engagement to see how they react, if they are ballsy they will just stay and die, if they are smart they will run and TP home.
If Ranged:This is the bane of most Shaco top laners, don't expect to get the best farm this game, Shiv as much as you can, but remember to save mana for Deceive.

Mid game:
By this time the game is starting to turn into a proper warzone, people group up, trying to get easy kills on unsuspecting enemies and such, but that is not for Shaco, Shaco is better than that....
If the enemy team has started grouping up and pushing a lane, then try swapping to a lane with no friends or foes, and where your minions are starting to bundle up, this is the perfect opportunity to push a tower down with your clone, and if you manage to keep Sheen and Boxes up while doing it, then that is for the better, sooner or later the enemy has to retreat due to your insane pushing ability or watch as you slowly tear down their towers, which means the game is over.

Late game:
When you reach this point in a game you will have gotten the tower reaper kit completely, start building Bloodthirster/Infinity/Black Cleaver depending on the team setup
At the end of the match you will have driven your enemies to insanity by constantly pushing in all lanes and being close to unkillable, not only does this brew frustration in the enemy ranks, but it also gives your team great chances to push in two lanes while the enemy is chasing after you.

Thumb rules for premades/Pubs:
Public games (You go solo):
People are idiots, they dont use vent and whine in chat, use it to your advantage.
Your team is decent/good? Keep on making that backdoor
Your team sucks? Up your game, only use port when towers are in trouble, and dont risk anything.
Your team sucks so hard that your wiener stiffens abit? If you can command them to just bundle up in a lane where the enemy is and try to hug the tower for a few minutes you can try backdooring to attract their attention.

Premade games(You go premade vs premade):
This is where you really can shine, people are better on the opposing team but that does not mean they get any smarter than the pubbers.
Sadly there is not much to write about here, the game shifts in many directions and can often lead to surprising things happening, teammates not managing to keep the enemy from pushing, sudden pushes in different lanes means you have to try to push back as fast as possible.
(Not saying that sudden things dont happen in pub games, but it is easier to get control off)

Champ types you want to lane with:
Any champ that can jungle, this gives you such a huge advantage XP and gold wise that it is almost scary. (Warwick/Fiddle/Trynd etc)

Slowers/stunners, Getting the FB after golem will be so much easier. (Ashe/Anivia/Annie etc)


AP Shaco, you will facepalm so hard when you see that the other Shaco has bought Mejai's that your hand will be stuck to your face for the rest of the match, meaning you will have a hard time controlling your character.

Any stunners, with fast reflexes you wont have much problem with such heroes, but be aware of what might come flying through the bush, Ashe might of just shot her arrow down your lane, or Sion just waited 7minutes in that bush for you to walk towards it and stun/shieldsplash you.


The thing with Shaco is that he is incredibly mobile, meaning he can swap back and forth between lanes as necessary, and he is even more awesome at taking down towers.
Once you have acquired Sheen, and think it is safe to tear a tower down, keep pushing with your creeps and once you get to the tower throw out a Jitb (which will either take the towers attention away from your creeps, or it will pop up and start shooting at the tower for added dmg), Sheen pops and you have a 100% more dmg on your next hit!
Pop Clone once you think Sheen is up again and keep that nuking up, Jitb and Shiv when you can to get Sheen up and watch that tower get torn apart.
Notice: Popping Jitb and or Clone when an enemy Champion is near the tower is not advised since if the Clone gets killed, or the Jitb starts shooting the champion the tower will direct its fire at you, meaning a possible gank opportunity for them

Champ skills and tricks explanation:
[iAnything written inside apostrophes () is my personal notes on these tricks/abilities[/i]


What to do in certain situations:
- If you are a premade, try setting up a trap for them, most arrogant teams get so tunnelvision on you that even with 4 of your players hitting them they still continue chasing you.
- IF you get caught, try waiting for their slow to run out if you can, just pulling numbers out of my ***, but I would say that 70% of the times I die is because of slows that hinder me from escaping while stealthed.
- When you get caught and want to decieve do so in the proper direction (aka: the one that gives you the longest headstart) because decieving through them will make them see you and trying something fancy will msot likely just fail, ofcourse do try to abuse the walls around as much as possible.
- When getting chased through the jungle, ALWAYS try porting to the closest bush, it will most likely confuse them and buy you some time to escape.

Decieve harassing:
Great for getting them low enough for a kill, or simply removing them from the lane, 1 of the first things you should learn as a Shaco player
(Due to changes in the recent patch Shaco cannot use Shiv while stealthed meaning I had to alter this abit)
Decieve harassing is the fine art of simply using your Decieve and then you have 2 options...
Option A = You are unsure if you will survive meleeing him, so just use Box + Shiv if you can afford the mana, otherwise just pull back.
Option B = You are very sure that you can safely harass him with a melee hit either from the back (passive 25% extra dmg) or just from the front and then Shiving while running back.

Cutting the supply line:
This is a little trick I have enjoyed using in the past few games where the enemy team has simply ripped the 2 towers in the middle down and then camped outside the last tower continuously waiting for more and more minions to tank it for them so that they can either attack it abit or just kill my teammates that are trying to defend it.
So, to execute this you have to have atleast Phantom Dancer + Vampiric Scepter, or just Malady, now run up to just outside the enemies middle towers range, and wait there for the mobs to come, and then simply kill them there, completely stopping any reinforcements from helping the enemy team and successfully Cutting the supply line
Better yet, the enemy champs will probably start chasing after you 1 by 1, giving your teammates a chance at scoring a kill off one of the slowpokes that was not paying attention.
What you will get from this is:
[1] Time to get your teammates to ress
[2] XP and Gold (obviously)
[3] Hopefully a kill which is essential to a great team push and for you to backdoor.
This is a very champion specific trick because there are very few champs that can kill - escape - kill - escape, Kassadin can pull off something similar, but with a way bigger risk of dying.

Downing the golem at lvl 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzSYCLMTVS8 Guide to getting golem as Shaco, I take no credit for the video.

Now depending on how early you were in, you might end up with losing one Jitb due to it ticking out, meaning that the golem will survive in most cases, so here are some simple rules to counter any trouble you might have..
Rule 1: Always have Jitb on cooldown before meleeing the golem.
Rule 2: Always melee the golem instead of the lizards
Rule 3: As ive said before, be AWARE, any smart team will check the golem spot before the game starts, meaning they have an excellent opportunity to gank you, or simply steal your buff! So for this, once you've planted a Jitb, run and check nearby places for any lurking enemies.

Reasoning behind Bloodthirster/Infinity/Black Cleaver:

When to buy Bloodthirster = When you know that you can keep yourself up with your phantom and 30% lifesteal against tough champs, the lifesteal helps alot for pushing lanes without needing to leave it for regen, beware though, Stunners and Teemo are especially dangerous when going this route, this is THE weapon to choose for most games because of the great benefits it gives.

When to buy Infinity = When there are are ****loads of CC/Squishies and/or the on the other team, buffing your crit dmg to 250%, with runes you get 300%, and then Decieve will buff it further up to 430% crit dmg, 439% crit dmg with talents, 150% increased base dmg if you have Triforce, and on top of it all 25% more dmg when hitting from behind! INSANE

When to buy Black cleaver = I personally don't use this often, the reason beeing that most non-squishy champs are easy to take down with Infinity or Bloodthirster, but in some cases where the enemy tanks are starting to piss me off I go Black cleaver for alot of extra ArP and with malady you will most likely outheal them.

If you have any questions or feedback on the guide please do leave a comment.

Here I will list some of the possible item builds you can go.

The build that makes me MOIST
Phantom Dancer Infinity Edge Statikk Shiv Ravenous Hydra Bloodthirster
Berserker's Greaves = Trinity Force or Black Cleaver
This is the build I use the MOIST, get it?
On a serious note, your tactic throughout this game should be to farm and push, after your phantom dancer is ready you should be unrivaled in 1v1.
Ravenous Hydra Gives you the sustain you need, The Holy Trinity Phantom Dancer Infinity Edge Statikk Shiv keeps you agile and deadly, while Bloodthirster gives you even more sustain and a handy shield.
Trinity Force for squishy people, Black Cleaver for tanky ones.

2010 Shaco
Black Cleaver Ravenous Hydra Essence Reaver Trinity Force Boots of Lucidity Statikk Shiv ALTERNATIVE: Berserker's Greaves and Zephyr
On your rune page you need 5% CDR instead of AP.
In the distant past, Shaco was the mobility monster, he was there, and then he was gone, and then he was halfway across the map.
Then this happened:
v1.0.0.70
Deceive
Cooldown now triggers when leaving stealth
Cooldown reduced to 8.5 from 10 at all ranks
"Not to bad" you think to yourself.
This followed shortly after:
v1.0.0.97
Deceive cooldown increased to 10 seconds from 8.5
And in the blink of an eye:
v1.0.0.99
Deceive
Cooldown increased to 11 seconds from 10
Duration reduced to 3.5 seconds from 4
As you can see, Shaco got hit by the nerfbat pretty hard back then, and it was pretty reasonable. *COUGH COUGH*
With this build you will be reliving the past, your Deceive is on 6.6sec CD, Two-Shiv Poison 4.8sec. Jack In The Box 9.6Sec Hallucinate 48sec.
In my opinion it is the most survivability centered spec I have in this guide, simply due to how often you can use Deceive and Hallucinate, therefore I always go this build if I am playing Aram, Dominion or that you are on a team is in need of a "OK I WILL MISDIRECT THEIR FIRE ON ME" tank.

Vladimir Putin
Ravenous Hydra Bloodthirster Blade of the Ruined King Berserker's Greaves Phantom Dancer Spirit Visage or Infinity Edge or Last Whisper
I like going this build when they have a ton of bruisers on their team, because Shaco struggles to fight them.
The idea is to engage fights with your team, deal as much dmg as possible and try to escape when you are low either into the jungle or into the nearby lane, and this is where the magic happens. One Crit, One use of Ravenous Hydra or simply 3 Auto attacks on minions will fill your hp bar to full, giving you renewed strength to pick off the stragglers from the last fight.

Items Explained:

Shaco is love, Shaco is life.
Here are some tips:
Mana Conservation
People die when they are low on mana. But sometimes they have Flash.
And sadly that goes for Shaco as well. But he does not use Flash.
Always save enough mana for 1 Deceive, that spell is your everything, your escape, your possible kill, your best friend.
Don't always Instashiv
Far too many times I see people use Two-Shiv Poison STRAIGHT AWAY, no matter what engagement they go for.
The slow this thing provides is so utterly amazing when dealing with people who are just too tanky to kill instantly, but if you Two-Shiv Poison and remove your passive you pretty much give them a get out of jail card.
Obviously if you went for Blade of the Ruined King then you should be golden.
Keep calm and Farm
If you have ever played Shaco in the jungle, you know what really sets you back.
Not getting kills is one, but the gold you need to buy weapons of mass destruction is just massive. Ravenous Hydra for example, which is the most bought item on this champion, costs a whooping 3300gold...
But when it comes to being in a lane with a constant stream of minions a whole new dimension opens up, gold is suddenly not a problem any longer, and that is truly what makes Shaco the monster he is, so what if you die once to that Riven, the next time you go up to that lane, let her push it to tower, and then you can FARM, FARM, FARM, FARM!
Jack is a good warder
Place Jack In The Box at the entrances to your lane when you have spare mana, especially if the other team has Lee Sin, the boxes are not only great wards, but give you enough time to escape should the jungler come waltzing out of his forest.
But keep in mind, you have limited mana.
Later in the game, spam JITB whenever you are pushing the lane or clearing the enemy jungle, think out your escape route before you or the enemy engages.
Shaco always wins the trade
Most top picks are melee, most top laners are agressive.
When the enemy comes up to melee you, melee them back, and then when they run, melee again.'
If they turn around to attack you, just continue meleeing them, the dmg you deal is insane.
The reason you should win the trade is because the moment the enemy turns around you melee once and Shiv, for 20% increased dmg. Simple as Backstab
BUT remember two things:
1. Minions hurt, especially canon minions. Make sure that you at least have the same amount or more hanging around.
2. If you feel they are going in for the kill, and that you have a slight chance of losing, then Deceive away.
Flight or Fight
Shaco is squishy, and gambling with his life is no laughing matter.
Deceive is a defensive ability first and foremost, it is better to let Jax engage the fight with his jump, than for you to jump on him with your only ability that grants you invisibility and flash, 11 seconds is a pretty long time and against most champions you won't last that long.

Shaco comes in to gank my lane, what do I do?

Passive:Let Shaco in melee range before you start moving towards your target. The best thing you can do is to act completely normal until Shaco has moved with his Deceive up to the target.
Passive/Aggressive:Bait the target into attacking you if you are low, or seemingly lose the trade in a bad position. This gives Shaco a longer chase potential and also an easier time putting up a box to block escape routes.
Aggressive:Instigate the fight and make this an easy gank for Shaco.
By the time Shaco comes troubleshooting your lane, you should have learned if the people you are laning against are passive or aggressive.
Now most higher level players tend to have every orifice tingling the moment they see someone missing on the map, but they ain't flawless either.
The biggest mistake I see players do, especially when I lanegank, is that they run towards the enemy, scaring them off before I get in melee range to at least slow them, then my Deceive stealth runs off and I expose myself in the middle of the lane without any escape.

Shaco keeps split pushing instead of teamfighting, why?

I will list a few reasons for why I personally split push.
1.I just want to finish the game (You will see me go Triforce 100% if this is the case)
2.I Had a good laning phase and don't need to worry about losing a 2v1 vs either the top lane and jungler. Which mainly leads to me to reason 1.
3.My team comp is well suited for defensive tasks, like 3+tower vs 4 enemies etc, meaning that I can rely more on them keeping the other team occupied.
4.I had a bad laning phase and need some gold.