PROS + Good bait setup with Jack In The Box and Hallucinate + Doesn't need an exp or cs lead to be useful to the team + Versatile with builds and playstyles (can do almost anything) + Can tank monster objectives and dive easily with Hallucinate + High AP damage output + Extremely fun once you get the hang of it!

CONS - Some tough matchups (becomes harder the higher you climb) - Can be hard to master - Can be hard to come back if far behind - Can struggle with mana early game - High chance team will hate you or ignore helping you :^)

Before I get in to emotions and all that jazz I need to stress one of the biggest things you'll need to learn and understand before you can rise in the ranks and you may of heard it before. League of Legends is a team-based game. Riot made sure in the seasons prior that was the case. No matter how hard you don't like that it won't change the fact winning is going to be centered around how well your team works together and who has the weaker players as in most cases all it takes is 1 teammate to lose the game for the rest.

Keeping communication open for your team is always good but if you find yourself typing back a lot at toxic teammates or the enemy muting chat entirely can be equally as good. Pings can supplement it very effectively but be careful as pinging for situations to happen across the map is a risky gamble unless you know their limits but it's almost always better to use your pings sincerely and to encourage low risk fights and objective control. Pinging MIA is another thing you'll want to do if you aren't following your enemy laner when they roam you'll want to use it for your team right away in those cases and it wouldn't hurt to use the other pings if they don't respond to the first one as some people react more to caution than MIA.

Besides all that. You can also ping on timers for Rift Herald, Baron Nashor, Dragons, gold stash, player items, shop items to show team how much gold you need left on an upgrade, ultimates and summoner spells, etc.. as sometimes it's a good way to let your team know what's on cooldown. Careful not to give false info though as a lot of people take it seriously when they are deciding how they'll approach a situation. There's also a recent one Riot put in not too long ago that'll allow you to show anywhere of suspected enemy wards and speaking of wards, it's always a good idea to have a Vision Ward placed some where down to feed all kinds of information back to your team and don't worry about using them throughout the game. It's small costs are nothing compared to the value you get out of the vision.

That's pretty much it about teamwork and the tools we're provided with to help it. Now let's move on to one of the most important aspects when it comes to gaming anyone should understand if they're looking to climb regardless of what champ or style of play they use. Remember, you didn't join a game to start debates you came to learn so you can win and climb the ranks, nothing else. Keep that always in mind.

This is one of the major things that hold people back regardless of what game they're playing, emotions. It's the thing most of us should have but letting them them take over while gaming typically doesn't end too well for anyone involved. Everyone's had those days where they get frustrated and mad at their team allowing it to eventually dictate everything. A lot of this can be mitigated but when even the visual queues of a bad play or a quick glance at the scoreboard starts to frustrate you, you'll be sent on a down-whirl spiral increasing the chances of a loss dramatically. Getting upset at your teams play and making bad or toxic choices as a result will absolutely get you nowhere. You need to focus on the fact that you're just playing a game and even though you came to win, you're ultimately here to learn so you can improve and don't need to always win to grow. Basically If you allow frustration or anger to cloud your thoughts and actions you will never begin learn properly.

If you're unable to find yourself to shake any frustration you got from the last game I have a few tips to help you.

1. This one is the most obvious but many don't understand how helpful it can be, take a break between every game. Back when I struggled a lot more than I do today I took 15-20min breaks between games doing whatever to break the cycle of players I've had and to basically refresh my senses and it's always helped me immensely. I don't do it as much anymore because I rarely tilt now but I fully recommend anyone even if they don't tilt to take them as it can help in a lot of ways.

2. Find the prime time. What I mean is there are times of day different groups of people play, here in North America. Playing late will match you with players who are more serious at winning than the day crowds. That's not to say you can't get the same kind of players during the day, simply that the chances of getting them are increased at later times. If you can't play late at night then try to get up as early as possible in the morning as they typically play until the morning times. I can't say every region has it the same but I'm sure there are some.

3. If you find yourself in a slump and absolutely no way to climb and becoming too frustrated getting to where the point your MMR is so bad (lose a lot of LP when you lose and gain very little when winning) it's virtually impossible to inch your way up in the ranks then the best solution is to play on a new account. There are cases where your luck in combination with bad MMR will prevent you from ever climbing or at the very least, need to put in a lot of effort but even then a small loss streak can put you back down to where you started so I recommend starting fresh.

That's about it, there's not much else to cover. If you are just unable to control emotions then the game may not be for you or perhaps you're playing too much so if you love playing League try taking some time away from it and come back when you're feeling more ready. Now we move on to what we all came here for. How to mid lane as Shaco AP and/or Hybrid.

1. Runes 2. The Art of Itemization 3. Who to Ban in Champ Select? 4. What to max first? 5. How to Lane 6. What to Build Main Build Paths and Styles (OUTDATED and rework coming later) 7. Matchups 8. Basic Plays 9. Tips & Tricks 10. Recap 11. League & Guide Updates

There's some matchups where you need to keep a high BPM ( Jack In The Box per minute) and Two-Shiv Poison poke to make sure they don't control the lane entirely to the point where you are unable to help your team but it can be costly and dangerous during the early stages of the game using up your mana. Some items and runes will help with certain situations and mana issues such as Corrupting Potion, Tear of the Goddess, Manaflow Band in Sorcery and for support role I like to go Domination taking Dark Harvest as well as Relentless Hunter with the secondary tree being Time Warp Tonic and Biscuit Delivery from Inspiration to help with any early game mana problems but for now let's focus on mid lane Shaco where I'll explain how I make it work and try to help you guys climb with him or at the very least come out with new understandings to help better your game. Now, before I move on to explain a little about itemization I'll be going over 2 rune pages I use and why.

★ Arcane Comet This is the main damage rune you'll be taking as it nicely synergizes with the slow on Two-Shiv Poison allowing you to reliably land it. In the very early levels you'll want to play around the cooldown alongside Manaflow Band, only using mana when they're available.

★ Manaflow Band A valuable rune to help deal with mana issues early game so you can keep up against most matchups. You could change it for Nullifying Orb against AP-heavy comps but more often than not you'll want to keep Manaflow Band to make everything easier.

★ Nullifying Orb Alternative rune in place of Manaflow Band. Can be useful when going up against high AP-damage matchups and AP-heavy comps.

★ Celerity Synergizes with everything that provides movement speed bonuses by increasing their effectiveness by 7%. You also gain an additional 1% movement speed. Once you see the effects of this going to work you'll see why it's a solid choice.

★ Transcendence Alternative rune in place of Celerity. Gain +5 Ability Haste at levels 5 and 8 then once you reach level 11, on champion takedown the remaining cooldown of your basic abilities will be reduced by 20%. This is mainly if you're planning to a go a Haste-focused build and will help a lot.

★ Scorch This rune provides a little extra damage based on level but it also can trigger Arcane Comet for a delayed surprise. I prefer taking this over Waterwalking and Gathering Storm as I'm not always in the river and most games don't end nearly as late to make the other rune worth it.

★ Biscuit Delivery Who doesn't like a good biscuit? This rune grants you 3 Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will given to you every 2 mins until 6 mins and what they do is restore 10% of your missing health and mana as well as permanently increasing your mana cap by 50 for each one which helps a lot for early game.

★ Time Warp Tonic Synergizes extremely well with potions including Biscuit Delivery and allows for greater bait potential but rune becomes useless as soon as you are forced to sell any potions.

★ Adaptive Damage

★ Adaptive Damage For extra tankiness, switch this to rune if facing mages or for assassins when you go for the 3rd rune shard.

★ Armor Rune Go when facing high & fast damage dealing champions and/or ones that use true damage but make sure to switch the 2nd rune shard to or depending on the matchup.

★ Unsealed Spellbook This rune lets you tap into all summoner spells starting at 6 mins with the time decreasing for each next swap to a unique summoner. Keep in mind once you swap a spell you must swap 3 more times before the first one can be selected again so try to be mindful when choosing which one to go.

★ Magical Footwear Get free boots at 12 mins (takedowns help acquire it sooner) allowing you to focus more on other items and they also come with 10 additional movement speed which always helps.

★ Biscuit Delivery Again, who doesn't like a good ol' biscuit? This rune grants you 3 Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will given to you every 2 mins until 6 mins and what they do is restore 10% of your missing health and mana as well as permanently increasing your mana cap by 50 for each one which helps a lot for early game.

★ Approach Velocity Very simple rune that boosts your movement speed by 7.5% when heading towards champions that are movement impaired and is increased to 15% for the ones you impair yourself. This makes keeping up with champions running away a whole lot easier.

★ Time Warp Tonic Alternative rune in place of Approach Velocity. Synergizes extremely well with potions including Biscuit Delivery and allows for greater bait potential but rune becomes useless as soon as you are forced to sell any potions.

★ Nimbus Cloak Although this rune was recently nerfed (and for good reason), it synergizes by far the best with Unsealed Spellbook as when you use a summoner spell you'll get a movement speed bonus depending on its cooldown on top of being able to move through units for 2 seconds and as you can imagine being able to swap out runes allows you to make use of it several times in a fight making it quite powerful.

★ Manaflow Band Alternative rune in place of Nimbus Cloak. This helps a lot in matchups where you need to keep up box placements or simply need the mana to keep up with the enemy.

★ Nullifying Orb Alternative rune in place of Nimbus Cloak. Recommended rune when going up against high AP-damage matchups and AP-heavy comps.

★ Celerity Synergizes with everything that provides movement speed bonuses by increasing their effectiveness by 7%. You also gain an additional 1% movement speed. Once you see the effects of this going to work you'll see why it's a solid choice.

★ Transcendence Alternative rune in place of Celerity. Gain +5 Ability Haste at levels 5 and 8 then once you reach level 11, on champion takedown the remaining cooldown of your basic abilities will be reduced by 20%. This is mainly if you're planning to a go a Haste-focused build and will help a lot.

★ Adaptive Damage

★ Adaptive Damage For extra tankiness, switch this to rune if facing mages or for assassins when you go for the 3rd rune shard.

★ Armor Rune Go when facing high & fast damage dealing champions and/or ones that use true damage but make sure to switch the 2nd rune shard to or depending on the matchup.

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Alright let's get talking about itemization and what it exactly entails. Basically what you should build for certain matchups, comps or specific situations. Many people are inclined to go look up online what the top players use and never give a thought as to why they bought what they did. Shaco gets to be in a more interesting spot this time around in the new season as he's already an extremely versatile champ in my opinion mainly due to the plenty of tricks in his kit, combined with the many possible item combinations and you can really find yourself a build for practically any situation.

With the new season your options become greater with the exception to early game. As they removed raw mana from most items including starting items this makes early lane phase a little harder but to make up for it they've done a minor rework on Tear of the Goddess allowing it to be bought from the start so you'll be encouraged to pick that up in the early stages of the game to mitigate any mana issues but don't worry needing to upgrade that later but the choice is completely yours though the best option is usually to sell it for other items.

I'm going to keep it short and offer some ideas that can help you choose what you feel is right in your games. One of the main components to figuring out what you should begin to build is to analyze both teams and this happens as soon as you find a game and go through the ban and pick phases. What you're looking for is the strengths and weaknesses for each side and how they all interact with eachother. Try to figure out which team is more squishy, tanky, how many AP or AD champs as well as what kind comp they're building overall and such. It helps even more to know how each champion operates individually to know exactly what you're dealing with for example against comps with high true damage, items that offer health will help to manage it.

Facing mostly AD comps you could lean towards items like Zhonya's Hourglass which is also good into more balanced comps and even Guardian Angel if you were looking to throw in some hybrid gameplay (which lets you double Stopwatch bait once). When you're hard down in lane it's ok to throw in a Bramble Vest (selling it later) especially if some of them lifesteal or heal health as its new low cost makes it effective into heavy-AD & auto-attack comps. When it comes to Mythic items, Everfrost helps you sustain and control fights and is good into invisible and fast-moving enemies. Sometimes if your comp lacks a tank or any frontline and/or crowd control. You could build Bramble Vest, Plated Steelcaps, etc. as a first buy and open yourself to tank-oriented builds, you'll be surprised they're more effective than you think if your team needs it. These kind of builds can also double as an excellent way to come back in to the game if you lost to AD champs like Zed, Talon, Irelia, etc and there are situations where support items come in handy too but they're rare. Knight's Vow can be good as your 5th or 6th item as well as Zeke's Convergence as Shaco really only needs a few items to be useful without a lead and you could build those items to empower your team. Whatever you choose to build, try to always keep in consideration both team comps and items they build throughout the game so you can build accordingly, anyway that's all for now when it comes to itemization.

Keep in mind though that I do not consider Tear of the Goddess a necessity even with all the items stripped of mana from the new item changes. It does still help a lot and offer more efficiency later in mana-based builds giving you plenty of damage once its fully upgraded but it still puts you behind early in damage. This can obviously be solved with maintaining a lead or just knowing the nature of the game and the matchups but be warned there is a little risk involved if you didn't already grab a lead before buying it.

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Despite the list I have here, you must remember that every region's elo and ranks are different for the most part. You may see for example more Kayn or Darius players in Diamond, but in Platinum you may see something else entirely. You may use lists online to help figure out what to ban but it's always better to take note of the kind of players you are getting to make that call. Many champions in the current meta are viable bans but they aren't worth banning if people aren't playing them at your ranks so keep an eye for any patterns in champion picks to determine what you should be banning.

Ⓢ Sylas My main ban in the current patch. Even though you can manage him in lane, what makes him strong is his ability to use your teams ultimates so unless your team picked champs with lackluster ults it can be a struggle.

Ⓢ Xin Zhao Third main ban I sometimes pick. Always seems to be a mad man who plays on the champ and so it's best to just ban it if you see a problem in your elo with them.

Ⓢ Lulu This is the next main go to ban and it's mostly because my adcs/supps usually don't know how to deal with her in any matchup.

Ⓢ Hecarim He can make it hard for your team and if he happens to grab a decent lead there's not going to be much chance for your jungler to do anything to help it.

Ⓢ Graves Looks like he's making a show back in lane. He's an extremely strong threat and his kit allows him to succeed where most other junglers (and apparently many laners) can't.

Ⓢ Viktor This is a solid ban. His kit can be very annoying to deal with and if he grabs a lead it can spell disaster for your team.

Ⓢ Syndra This is another strong ban. She's a personal threat to Shaco but it shouldn't be too hard if you adjust your playstyle accordingly.

Ⓐ Olaf Ⓢ Elise Both are very annoying to deal with. I myself don't get too frustrated with them as much anymore and almost never ban but they still remain solid ban choices.

Ⓢ Kassadin Another champion I don't find myself banning as much if at all anymore. I've learned to deal with Kassadin personally and I usually ban Graves or Syndra before thinking about banning anything else but he still remains one of the best late-game champs and can be hard in lane depending on how good they are and such so a very good ban choice here.

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In many close-ranged matchups, crowd control and assassin-based enemy comps you'll want to prioritize leveling Jack In The Box as it increases fear duration among other things that help with both engaging and counter-engaging which compliments Shaco and his kit very well when going AP. Against matchups that are more ranged-based and/or players who are more careful around your box placements you'll want to either put a few points into Two-Shiv Poison first before switching back to max your boxes, you can also alternate leveling each ability or just max it first if it's already working well.

In many long-ranged matchups you can benefit more with better Two-Shiv Poison execution damage earlier than the fear and damage the boxes give but it comes at a downside as until they are near maxed they'll be a little weak in some situations for example you won't be able to push as fast or efficiently take advantage of multi-box situations. In my experience both are very strong routes to take but knowing what you should be leveling can make your lane a whole lot easier but just try to keep in mind that regardless of the champion you are facing, whether they're ranged or not, their playstyle and behavior towards Shaco ultimately comes down to the player and you'll need to take a few moments to see how they operate to know what you should really be maxing.

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Keep in mind for the early game while working your way up to your first items, you'll want to space out your ability usage especially if you're using Manaflow Band and Arcane Comet for efficiency's sake to help save mana on the side for any early team fights. In general you don't need to worry about poking them down as much more so than reaching your level 3 so keep that in mind. There are plenty of times you should be aggressive early but having your mana low in the first few levels can be a bad idea. Also remember the difficulty in most matchups depend heavily on how well the enemy knows their champ and Shaco but overall you should be fine as long as you respect each matchup and play accordingly.






1. Stopwatch helps a lot and is very good in the meta currently so it should be fit into almost every build. This is something you would want to fit in early on after your first item and then look to complete Zhonya's Hourglass asap. I don't need to go over it much but basically it makes you invulnerable while unable to do anything for a bit so you can set up some interesting plays. If unused when you've completed Zhonya's Hourglass you can buy another Stopwatch for a threatening combo that can bring your enemies closer to tunnel on you while increasing their chances of getting punished by your team dramatically. This item and what it builds into Zhonya's Hourglass and Guardian Angel are 2 excellent choices to help boost up your mage and AD or hybrid builds and gameplay.

2. Oblivion Orb is a new and interesting item for Season 11 in that it's the AP equivalent to Executioner's Calling and with the same cost at 800g allowing you to access healing reduction faster than ever before with mage builds. This is a very strong item when facing multiple enemies who use some sort of healing and should be rushed asap in these specific cases, preferably right after getting a mythic first or after your second item but there are situations that you'd want to get it before and that mostly depends on how much the enemy can heal in the early game. It's tanky counterpart is Bramble Vest which is a good replacement if the enemy is heavy AD and auto attack a lot. You may go a full tank build and build it out later to Thornmail but that's only if your team needs a tank and you already have plenty of AP.

What Oblivion Orb builds into is Morellonomicon which costs 2500 in total and provides 80 AP and 250 Health which helps alot and its passive applies "Grievous Wounds" (reduces their healing by 40%) for 3 seconds when you inflict magic damage and if their health is below 50% of their maximum health their healing is reduced by 60% instead. This is an all-around good item and a good choice when facing several healers.

3. Verdant Barrier is another interesting item and not something you would take often but it's there if you need it against AP-heavy comps that also have good pick-potential as this item further builds into Banshee's Veil but basically it's the AP equivalent to Seeker's Armguard with slightly different stats. This is pretty basic but can be strong and again it's not something you exactly need to go so don't feel compelled to include this in your build and instead get a Null-Magic Mantle to see how it works and decide if you need more resist.

4. Control Ward might be a joke to put on this list but its value goes underappreciated. Back in the hay days of League there were green wards that acted similar to our basic trinkets today but now we've got Control Ward's to fill its spot and the only trade off is you can only have 1 on the map at a time but you can unveil other wards, champions and traps giving you valuable control on the map so please get these and try to maintain 1 on the map at all times, they help too much to not invest in them!

5. Boots and its upgrade (except Mobility Boots) provides an opportunity to create a lead but mainly for early game. If you find yourself backing with plenty enough gold, grabbing Boots before the enemy or even upgrading to either Sorcerer's Shoes, Ionian Boots of Lucidity or Boots of Swiftness (which are the preferred ones to go when building AP) provides you with a nice advantage in speed allowing you to gap close, dodge abilities, roam or run away all that easier until they build the same items but if you manage to grab anymore kills you further the advantage which allows you to do more overall with the extra lead you got and this can really discourage the enemy. Any rune that benefits or adds to speed also synergizes greatly here!



That's about it! The main take away points here is that Stopwatch and Oblivion Orb are valuable items, Boots can add a real boost to your gameplay and Control Wards should always be prioritized when you have an open slot and the extra money.



Ok let's get talking about the several starting item choices. The first being Tear of the Goddess, best for solving mana issues throughout the early stages of the game but you won't be as strong or tanky, the second being Refillable Potion and Dark Seal which adds extra AP and health if you need it and its item value increases with each stack, Doran's Ring as the third option, giving less AP than the second option but offers more HP and helps you last hit better and has another passive that helps to gain back mana when killing minions which is very good into matchups that are slow and not as threatening) then the last being Corrupting Potion and is more often than not the item you want to start out with as it gives health and mana regen early with a little burn damage on the side and goes well with Time Warp Tonic.

Once you decide what starting item you'll take, grab 2 Health Potions (unless you're going Refillable Potion or Corrupting Potion) and Stealth Ward, then wait in lane before the first minions clash (most times you want to avoid level 1 teamfights but there can be opportunities to flank the enemy if they're leaving from an invade). Now here are 2 ways you can play the first few levels with the first being aggressive, at around 50 seconds start placing Jack In The Box down on their side of the lane just before the enemy turret vision range (should have 2 or 3 ready for the first wave of the game) and once they trigger on the wave place another box down to start pushing the minions to their turret and get ready to grab level 2 first on the next wave to potentially line yourself up to poke them down for a kill and/or help your jungler. Since you're pushing up you can place a ward over the wall into the enemies jungle camp when you get the chance. What you're basically trying to do here is get the first push going and then later look to reset the wave after you reach level 3 so you can manage it better.

Instead of pressuring the wave hard early, you can play it more passive by placing down boxes outside minion paths instead to punish the enemy when they try to move to the sides but letting them push if they want while avoiding poke, conserving mana and last hitting when necessary and although you're playing passive if you place your boxes outside of minion range they'll punish the enemy pretty hard and if they're pushing you can request the jungler to try for a gank if they aren't already planning to. Both styles can open up opportunities to get any early kills and a lead but your main goal is to try to farm safely towards level 6 getting the gold along the way needed to start building towards a Mythic to finish it asap. You may pick up any items like Corrupting Potion if you didn't get it as a first buy or just stick to Amplifying Tome to start off your build, Cloth Armor or Null-Magic Mantle if you need it (mostly depends on the matchup) and getting a Vision Ward whenever you can to maintain it throughout the game.

The point to getting Cloth Armor or Null-Magic Mantle and sitting on them just helps a lot for early game as you aren't capable in most cases of trading back reliably without draining all your mana until you get some items so they can help pretty well to mitigate enemy poke damage. When it comes to the main items, in general you'll be looking to go Lost Chapter but Sheen (later building into Lich Bane which compliments hybrid/AD/on-hit and any movement speed-based builds very nicely) remains a useful early side-buy option if you're going up against champions Kassadin or similar ones with magic resisting abilities or sometimes if the enemy team is simply going for magic resist items early, you can also get Oblivion Orb early but only when facing against several healing champions so try and pay attention to your matchups and what they build.

Along the way keep focusing on farming and building out your chosen Mythic making sure to not feed off any kills in the process while looking for potential plays with the jungle and putting a huge focus on securing Dragons, Rift Herald and such but careful on some of the plays that you try to take with them though as in the earlier stages of the game if they fail or become a waste of time you could be put behind and make the game more difficult. A lot of times for most matchups you can attempt to take out the enemy in these early levels. This is why I recommend Flash, not only for getaways and such but to also be aggressive in lane and be able to quickly help your jungler if they're nearby. You mostly want to focus on staying alive though so don't do anything too crazy until you get comfortable. Eventually when you learn matchups and how fast situations can move, you can begin doing crazier baits and plays. Now, as the game goes on you'll need to spread out your Jack In The Box remembering to put them down in crucial areas as it can drastically dictate fights even when behind and the more AP you stack the longer those boxes stay up and more damage they'll do then you'll get to think less about where you place them and focus more on how often they are placed but against champions like Syndra, Heimerdinger, Zyra etc. or if the enemy likes to pressure your boxes, you'll need to place them carefully out of their sight and in ways where fights can lead to so keep on eye for that.

Remember Jack In The Box is one of the most useful tools for early game and then later on once you get stats to improve its damage and how long it sits invisible, it not only provides an extra ward that does damage and helps to proc runes, it can block abilities, create safe zones and pressure the enemy to get Oracle Lens so they need to invest into wards to keep up vision against your jungler.

Keep in mind that a lot of matchups can become harder if you leave lane and miss cs even if you manage to get kills so keep note on how the wave is before you help your team. Most times you'll want to just stay in lane pushing towards the turret before helping your team to prevent mismanaging the wave but if they're close already where it won't matter as much then help go help them especially if it's to secure Dragon or Rift Herald.



Now before you could split and have items to help with any pushes on the wave but with the new item changes there isn't really a cheap option to go so your split potential isn't as good anymore but that doesn't mean it's bad, just slower and luckily most everything else stays the same, just don't worry when pushing onto their side of the map because even if they use Oracle Lens and try to foil any of your setups, your team should be in a position to take a turret and/or other objectives while you distract with the rest of your kit. Keep in mind a lot of what I do for mid can be applied to support role, you can break off from peeling your adc and begin taking charge in other lanes to apply and draw pressure. Eventually you whittle down their turrets but there are times that's hard if the enemy team has good anti-sieging abilities, strong splitters or good pick potential and this is when you'll want to stay with the team to help them from getting caught and look to securing major objectives like Baron and Elder Drake to help close out the game as a team. Just remember to keep a focus on boxing all over and maintaining good vision with them and wards.

Lastly, remember to practice awareness as it becomes more important the higher you climb. Being able to check the map at a glance and grab vital info can make or break situations for you or just knowing when to go in or disengage from a fight is very helpful. You need to be able to enter any kind of scenario and assess several opportunities and outcomes so you can make the best out of anything that goes on. A lot of this comes with time and practice but just remember wards are your friend and the map is free information.

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In the older seasons, generally we would go "Hextech Protobelt-01" except that item has been changed to Hextech Rocketbelt and performs a little different now so our main focus will be on 3 builds that use each of the Mythics built from Lost Chapter as I'm currently testing the 2 Mythics that use Hextech Alternator.

Alright let's continue on, I'll be going over some of the items starting with Liandry's Torment and how they help to accomplish what we need in order to control and close out games.

Now let's go over that item. It completes at 3400 gold (same as the other 2) building from Lost Chapter and Fiendish Codex offering 80 AP, 600 mana and 20 Ability Haste. It features 2 passives which basically burns the target for extra damage based on maximum and bonus health so it does well into tanks. What's special about Mythics too is that each grant a passive to all other completed Legendary items and this one gives 5 Ability Haste so it helps a lot for your abilities cooldowns and makes it good for both damaging and haste-oriented builds so combining it with items like Demonic Embrace and/or Cosmic Drive can net positive results. Demonic Embrace for example makes up for the lack of health on the Mythic and gives you some armor and magic resist on the side once you damage the enemy and increases a little extra for each additional champion affected which is nice. Cosmic Drive also offers some health as well as plenty of AP and 20 Ability haste on top of having a passive that boosts you in bonus movement speed and grants another 20 Ability Haste once you have at least 160 AP! Both these items are strong in their own right and can work well together giving you the tools you need to thrive and last in fights so give them a try and see how you like them!

The rest of the build here is your choice but you typically would throw in items like Zhonya's Hourglass for extra tankiness and play-making which remains valuable in the current meta, Morellonomicon for enemy healing or even Void Staff to cut through the enemies magic resistances or on the reverse get Banshee's Veil with the other choice being Hexdrinker (which you would sell later) if you need to get magic resist yourself. Abyssal Mask is an option as well but the other items especially Zhonya's Hourglass which gives you access to the cheap item Stopwatch will help sooner unless you're leaning to go a more tanky build overall.


The next Mythic to talk about is Luden's Tempest and admittedly I tested this the least as it doesn't really excite me as much compared to the others but it may for you and still remains a decent choice regardless. It has the same stats as Liandry's Torment the only differences are it gives 6 magic penetration as well and the passive can be used every 10 seconds (reduced by dealing ability damage) and triggers when you hit an ability causing extra damage to the target and 3 others nearby while also granting you 15% movement speed for 2 secs. The Mythic passive grants other Legendary items an extra 5 magic penetration. Comparing both Liandry's Torment and Luden's Tempest they more or less share the same build afterwards so that's why I prefer the other item over this one but there are still positives here being that the 10 sec cooldown is good which can be reduced, gives a short boost in movement speed and does offer more pen overall so it will do well against enemy comps running magic resist. In the end I find Liandry's Torment is better into more balanced and well-rounded comps and Luden's Tempest would purely be for the squishy and magic resist stacking comps though I'm sure there are arguments to be made that you should just take Liandry's Torment always in the end so give them both a test and see how you feel about them.


The 3rd and final Mythic that builds from Lost Chapter and is debatably the most useful and interesting out of the 3 is Everfrost. This is the replacement for the old "Hextech GLP-800" and although it isn't exactly the same, it at least brings something greater to the table that stands to be just as useful. This one too shares the same stats as the others but like Luden's Tempest it gets an extra stat with this one being 200 health. As you may of figured out now, each of these items passives are 3 styles. The first 2 are passives but Liandry's Torment has no cooldown whereas Luden's Tempest does. On Everfrost though you get a similar active to the older item, it operates a little differently, instead of missiles it now blasts out in a cone that is smaller but at the center of it will root any enemies caught for 1.5 seconds and with its short cooldown of 30 seconds this item provides nice damage and utility as it can shutdown slippery champs like Akali and especially Samira as it goes through her Blade Whirl.

All of the items that the other 2 use can also be used here so really you just have to figure out your last 1 or 2 items and those could be Rabadon's Deathcap, Demonic Embrace, Mejai's Soulstealer if you're untouchable or even Lich Bane but usually games end before you have a chance to reach full build.

Now that's about when it comes to some of the AP Mythics you can buy. There are of course other interesting Mythics like Riftmaker and Night Harvester and then some of the AD Mythics like Galeforce and Duskblade of Draktharr to help with hybrid and AD-oriented builds that I'd like to go over in the near future once I get more time with them and you may notice that the next section is hidden away because of it but don't worry as after all the testing I should have a comprehensive view and understanding of each type of damage in the game enough to share what's viable but one things for certain hybrid/AD/crit builds are definitely back.

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Level 1-3

Keep in mind that this works well into melee matchups but anyone can get careless so keep on eye out for it. At these early levels it's usually better to play safe but there are many instances where the enemy gets too confident and moves up ever so slightly around the moment when you grab level 2 first. Since you should always put a point in Two-Shiv Poison second (You only ever want to get Deceive second if they have a Twitch or other jungler you know who will pressure you at the first couple levels but usually you can just play safer until you get all 3 abilities up) you'll get immediate access to its passive which makes your auto's slow if your Two-Shiv Poison isn't on cooldown. So what you do is once they get up close, try to plant a box around them the same time you get level 2 and when they move in begin to auto slow them and they'll think your trades are meaningless as most of the time you'll be pushing them away from the wave and taking aggro from their minions but once you get them around 200-300 health is when you activate Ignite and throw out your Two-Shiv Poison.

Many of them don't expect the extra damage on your Two-Shiv Poison alongside your Ignite when they are below 30% health and some actually flash in the process lining you up for another play depending on the champ as in certain matchups you can keep staying even if you are low. Katarina, Yasuo, Yone and similar champs that like to constantly go in and pressure can be easily abused if you take the time while they're walking from base to plant boxes in the middle of the lane. In rare situations you can keep staying for a third time, again depends on the champion and then on the player if they try to dare go in for another attempt. Doing any of this is of course risky without vision on the enemy jungle but if yours is near that risk is lowered greatly so be careful and always ensure a way out if things do go south.

Bonus Play - After hitting level 2, you can place a ward in the enemy's Raptors camp to see if it's up. If it is, work your way to level 3 (while keeping on an eye on it) and if the enemy jungler appears you can potentially make a quick play over the wall. Most times they'll be half or less health giving you a chance to pop right in to secure them for a kill but keep in mind it's a risky play if your enemy laner has any idea what you're up to but you can minimize that by moving straight out to the side instead of directly towards the Raptors camp in from of their view first. They'll think you're just doing a quick check or planting a ward. This play works well if you have Ignite on hand to use on them before they smite the camp to lesson how much they heal from it.

Level 3-6

A lot of the times you'll just want to be sitting in lane but there's many cases where you'll want to extend your help to the jungler. In my case, my junglers tend to be the losing matchup and that's just how it goes but luckily many times they fight near the sides and sometimes even further in their jungles near the main red or blue buffs. Since you will be pushed up most of the time, you are heavily encouraged to roam when your jungle needs it which could end up being a waste of time but could also help you grab an even further lead. The power of Shaco to enter and leave fights starting at level 3 is a little insane with Flash and being able to Deceive, the distance you can cover in such a short time is greater than most other champions at that level and typically when you leave to enter a jungler's fight they'll both be low health allowing you to easily come in to deal with any situation and leave immediately after to get back to lane without missing any waves.

Level 6+

Once you have Hallucinate you can make a play at bot lane. Due to how experience is shared, solo lanes reach levels faster than lanes with more than 1 so this gives you an opportunity to roam. Depending how bottom lane went, the enemy could be up to 2 levels behind with no summoners up or not much health which makes your clone dive very strong especially at these lower levels when no one has built any resistance. If you started red (top side) then you can make your way down through the water way, then going behind the dragon pit and over the wall below next to where one of the blast cones spawn. You can sit in the small bush in between both enemy turrets and wait for when they are pushed in or if they are already low enough proceed to send the clone in by itself and wait to see what they do in-case you need to use Flash or Ignite if they're up. This almost always secures 2 kills and in such a short play, allowing you to get back to your lane with nothing much else changed other than the extra lead you got from roaming. For the red side, it's a similar path but you'll want to cross over the river to where one of their blast cone spawns near the tri-bush (south of the blue buff) instead and do the same as you would for the other side. You could roam for top lane at any point but it's better to just go bot most times especially if Dragon is up and see what you can do there to help as going top usually leads to nothing at all even if you get a managed to secure anything and Rift Herald should already be taken by you and/or your jungler.

Another basic play that can be used throughout the game is to push up the lane and get out of the vision of your enemy laner then use Hallucinate. Use R to control him (ALT+Right click to target specific buildings later in the game) and move him in alone. There's 2 types of plays you can make here, 1 involving making them think it's you and the other giving up the illusion off the bat and allowing your clone to whittle them down low enough so you can go in to secure a kill if it wasn't able to by itself. Deciding what type of play to make depends on the matchup but also the enemy jungler. Most of the time you'll just want to send in the ol' pal to auto them under turret as it doesn't focus the clone and making sure not to step in or you'll take the aggro unless you need to take a couple hits and grab the focus off the boxes your clone drops once it dies off to help complete the play with you.

The other type of play is simply tricking them in the time you have with the clone until they make a move they shouldn't do and that could be using their summoner spells or ultimate and other major abilities. Champions like Zed, Fizz, Syndra, etc. are usually eager to make a play and they'll go in if you give enough illusion that it isn't you. You can do this by moving the clone towards bushes or taking longer routes as well as even just standing still. Some of the animation is weird when clicking back and forth fast (doing it slow and in long paths is fine) or doing sporadic patterns giving up the illusion completely so you just want to do basic movements for the most part. Once they go in you can follow up easily to secure with Deceive and Two-Shiv Poison or Jack In The Box if it's near.

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That's pretty much the gist of what I do and how Jack In The Box is utilized but here are some other tricks & tips before we come to an end.

✦ You can Deceive over any wall no matter how big depending on where you use it from.


✦ If you time it correctly you can negate a skillshot with Jack In The Box and have it take no damage.


✦ You can fit Jack In The Box over any wall no matter how big depending where you place it.


✦ Whichever side your mouse is on when using Hallucinate is where Shaco will appear making wall jumps and team-fight positioning easier.


✦ During the early levels where mana can be crucial you can place down a Jack In The Box before leveling the ability up to save on a little mana while retaining damage level increase.

✦ If using Time Warp Tonic you can use refillable potions on the fountain if you stand near the edge and then reset it to use again by moving back and forth from the position so you can get back your health and mana faster.

✦ Featuring AD or helpful items like Doran's Ring or Tear of the Goddess for their passives as well as Sheen, Muramana, Hexdrinker, etc. lets you last hit better.

✦ Always keep in mind your cooldowns before doing anything big.

✦ Most matchups even if considered hard depend mostly on how well they know their champ and the Shaco matchup so don't be afraid to act on them if they don't know it properly. The champs I've listed as threats usually only are at higher elos when you encounter other OTP players.

✦ If you absolutely need to keep your sanity you can mute all in-game chat by going to where League is installed, open "Config" folder and then open the file "PersistedSettings.json" finding the "Chat Scale" line and changing it to "-100" so it can sit in negative space. You can also mute the lobby chat by blocking the ip "172.65.244.155" in your firewall but the downside is you can't interact with your friend's chat anymore (unless you enjoy showing offline) and a couple other client features. Note : This IP is meant for the NA server, if you need help finding out the IP used in other regions let me know and I'll get them for you.

✦ If the enemy is focusing your boxes a lot, put them further away and around the sides as they give a lot of gold when killed.

✦ When you're ready to be charmed with Eve's E it'll show you an indicator to which side she's coming from.

✦ If the enemy is freezing lane try faking a back as most players will push when they notice you're gone.

✦ You can use your Two-Shiv Poison on the enemy to lure minions next to them towards you to safely farm.

✦ If you activate Corrupting Potion before using your ult even though it doesn't get the heal, you'll still get the visual FX which help tricks most enemies into thinking it's you.

✦ If you're low on all resources (no mana, health, fruit or boxes around) then back as you'll just make your team angry if fights they take go south.

✦ Keep in mind you can take crowd control and Deceive away at the same time to stop abilities and waste their effectiveness while invisible.

✦ You can use your potion if you're far away from a big team fight for the extra movement speed when using Time Warp Tonic and it should be ready by the time you enter the fight.

✦ The more boxes you place down the more likely the enemy will forget the placement of the first ones.

✦ Always box up behind turrets if the enemy is pressuring with Baron Nashor and try not leaving the nexus if the turrets are down to prevent enemy backdoors until each inhibitor is back up.

✦ You can use your W to trigger some placed abilities like Jhin with his Captive Audience, Teemo and his stinky Noxious Trap, Maokai's Sapling Toss, etc. some traps can only be triggered by champions though like Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Trap but it's ok to place your box on them as the enemy will percieve that spot as safer due to their teams placements.

✦ Your Deceive goes into deeper shadows and while using it near Twitch and Evelynn will reveal them to you while you remain invisible to them.

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(Levels 1-3) Push the lane asap with Jack In The Box (or let the enemy push if you're doing a passive style) playing safe while working up to level 3 for Deceive to not worry as much about ganks and helping your jungle accordingly. Start placing Jack In The Box around at the sides to prevent enemy ganks and potentially kill them if they try to go in for you and lastly remember to keep enough mana to ensure a way out of any situation.

(Levels 4-6) Should still be in lane pushing for 6 and after once you do, you can begin to make bigger plays/baits and make more effort to join your team in ganks as you can easily dive with Hallucinate at these lower levels and then again later on once you get more items. Remember to keep boxing around the sides as well, it helps throughout all stages of the game even if it gets no use. If going Unsealed Spellbook you should swap to Teleport as your first spell to either get back in lane or quickly help out another lane if the opportunity presents itself.

(Levels 6-11) Make sure to help your team at Dragon and Rift Herald while giving your team all the information necessary to prevent your matchup from getting out of hand. If you managed to grab a solid lead you can start splitting for any other outer turrets left up otherwise stay near teammates so you can foil any enemy plans against them. Keep in mind at level 9 you can get Farsight Alteration for further map vision control.

Levels 12-16+) In my experience games don't last nearly as long to make it to late game and level 18 so your best option is to play depending on how much of a lead you got if you managed to do so. Generally you want to play around team the longer the game goes on boxing all over as any slip up from them could net the enemy major objectives. It can be equally as rewarding or more if you start a split but that's hoping your team will be ok and as you can imagine, that's not always the case so choose what you do carefully.

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That's pretty much it! There are of course things I've missed or left out as I wanted to try to cover mostly basic points and not get too critical and complicated with it. If there is anything crucial I missed or anything you wanted to ask you can contact me here, on YouTube or Twitch both @Impossible2Gank where I stream most days of the week. (*Currently taking a streaming break to heal some injuries so for now you can catch some full games over on my YT channel)

I do have more tutorials planned in store not only for here but for YouTube as well which is mostly used for my montages and other game-related videos at the moment so make sure you stick around for more!

👍 = Good patch (either buffs/fixes or no negative changes to Shaco and his abilities)

👌 = Not too bad of a patch ( Shaco is affected in 1 or more ways that limits or changes specific build paths but remains relatively the same everywhere else)

👎 = Bad patch ( Shaco is hit with multiple nerfs to himself or items used that dramatically affects off-meta/solo lane capabilities and potential)

✸ = Major patch





11.17 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco, only a small bug fix relating to how much gold the clone receives when taking out wards.

11.16 - 👍 "I guess they do care" Visual change to Shaco and his VFX where his orange smoke that enemies could see when you use deceive from fog of war is now removed and several bugs relating to clone interactions were fixed.

11.15 - 👌 "Why let me suffer just slay me already" Small nerfs to Shaco for his VFX that's displayed when using Deceive from fog in that it will now always display orange smoke to indicate to enemies Shaco is about to slap them down with a wet noodle and give them free gold from his box.

11.14 - 👎 "So this is why my legs feel slower" Another unloving nerf to Shaco. Riot takes down his main health (587 ⇒ 560) and movement speed (350 ⇒ 345) base stats in a continuous effort to unintentionally mess with lane Shaco. Oh well guess that means I'll just have to play better.

11.13 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

11.12 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

11.11 - 👌 Slight nerfs to Shaco and his Jack In The Box and Two-Shiv Poison abilities. It's not completely bad as it's only ratios so everything should still remain the same.

11.10 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

11.9 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

11.8 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

11.7 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

11.6 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

11.5 - 👎 Nerf to Jack In The Box, slightly decreased damage overall but new passive added that does extra damage to monsters. This shouldn't affect the kit too much as a big part of why the champion works mostly relies on his other abilities imo.

11.4 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco. More item adjustments continued from the last patch helping to make other build paths more viable and useful.

11.3 ✸ - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco. Item changes and rebalances that open up more builds with the exception of Chemtech Putrifier nerf for non-enchanters

11.2 - 👍 Buff to Shaco's passive Backstab with its damage going from 10-25 (level 1-18) to now 20-35 (level 1-18) which will make last hitting and some matchups easier!

11.1 - 👍 Moving into v11 it's looking alright. No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.24 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.23 ✸ - 👎 Sadly I find Shaco was made weaker due to the item changes and new additions. Although it should open up more creative gameplay, itemization and such, overall damages have been lowered across the board. Testing still needs to be done but how well you approach and deal with lanes will depend more on the runes you take in champ select now.

10.22 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco though a range indicator was added to his Hallucinate to make it easier to setup plays.

10.21 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.20 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.19 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.18 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.17 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.16 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.15 - 👍 Minor buff to Spellthief's Edge and its item path making AP support Shaco even more viable.

10.14 - 👍 Minor buff to Hallucinate now properly giving assist credits in takedowns where only the clone was involved.

10.13 - 👍 Minor buff to Jack In The Box now being able to properly activate Manaflow Band.

10.12 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco. Interesting buff to elemental terrain that makes camping in enemy jungle a little harder but doesn't do much other than that.

10.11 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco but adc buffs make Jhin combo (among other champs) even stronger especially when playing support role.

10.10 - 👌 Bug fix for Hallucinate to help ensure nerfs from 10.6 properly takes affect

10.9 - 👍 No big changes other than a couple bug fixes for Two-Shiv Poison and Hallucinate that don't affect anything

10.8 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.7 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco

10.6 - 👌 Nerf to Hallucinate making Muramana and on-hit builds a little less effective

10.5 - 👌 Nerf to solo lane Frostfang users but otherwise remains untouched overall

10.4 - 👌 Minor nerf to Stopwatch builds (cost increase on Stopwatch itself and Perfect Timing no longer having the passive that reduces cooldowns of items that use Stopwatch by 15%) but buff to Shaco player's who take Exhaust

10.3 - 👍 No nerfs or buffs to lane Shaco





1.0 - (May 25, 2020) - New section added (Who to Ban in Champ Select) and most other sections updated and/or changed to reflect recent updates and current build paths. Note : Any further updates or changes for patch "10.10" will be mentioned here.

2.0 - (July 20th, 2020) - New sections added and others updated and/or changed to reflect recent League patches and current build paths (adjusted/added threats & synergies, ability and build paths, tips/tricks, etc.)

2.1 - (August 11th, 2020) - New section added (Basic plays) as well as others updated and changed with more information added to reflect current patch.

3.0 - (January 2nd, 2021) - Huge overhaul for item builds and some sections as well as adjusted certain information bringing everything up to date with the current state of League. Please keep in mind some of the information may be incorrect and leftover from before preseason changes so it'll take a little time to go through it all until everything reflects what's going on with League of Legends. More changes and updates to come.

3.1 - (January 19th, 2021) - Everything brought up to date with the first patches for Season 11 and other information updated or changed to reflect current state of League.

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