[Guide]AP Shaco: PK Boxtrap!

[`BoØmBoØm]

I am posting in the hope of getting some constructive feedback while it is still under development. Tips and Tricks to be improved and added to. This guide to eventually have videos demonstrating everything contained within.

 

There is an old axiom that states: "Never chase a Shaco into the bushes."

To this you will get one of three responses from people:

"Duh" - the most common response, and not necessarily a bad thing for you or your team. If they never chase you, they will never kill you, your team will have control of the forests and thus most of the map. I've had games where a whole team at full health would be chasing a sub-hundred health ally of mine while I'm visible elsewhere, and all instantly break off their pursuit when he takes one step into the brush. That is the power of fear, and it is never to be underestimated...but more on this later.

"Whatever dude! I doesn't afraid of anything! especially not some little clown!" - meet your food, these are the guys that will keep coming after you again and again getting more frustrated and desparate as the game goes on. Always assuming that since the last 20 times they tried to chase you down you had a trap waiting for them, that you can't possibly have one this time...but you do.

"Well why not? Isn't he just like every other character?" - hope you had a good laugh at that one, I always do...do you really need my help with these people?

 

Now you may ask yourself: "what gives this guy the authority to tell me how to play Shaco?"

Well I can tell you that I am not the be all, end all of demon jesters, but I have been pushed to write this guide for some time by a good many people. More often then not, every game (win or loss) concludes with me being pulled out specifically, by someone on either team and complimented. Things said ranging from: "Holy ****! Scariest ****ing Shaco I've ever seen" to "That is the way AP Shaco is meant to be played" to "hey Shaco, can you teach me how to play like you?"

 

Basically, all these things added up to mean that my style was apparently in some way unique, and people suggested it be spread and copied for effectiveness.

 

 

Skills(just a brief description, more advanced tactics will come later):

 

Innate-Backstab(passive): Shaco deals 25% bonus damage when striking from behind.

 

Nice little bonus sometimes, helps a lot more early game when deceive is going for kills. Try to always strike from behind if possible, but don't kill yourself trying to position.

 

Q-Deceive(Active): Shaco stealths and warps to targeted location(or in its direction), stays stealthed for 4 seconds maximum.

If he attacks while stealthed, the attack is guaranteed to crit for 40/60/80/100/120% bonus damage.

Cooldown 8.5 seconds, only starts when out of stealth. Costs 90/80/70/60/50 mana.

Auto-attacks and daggers will drop deceive, but boxes and Doppel won't.

 

This skill is so multifaceted, it's wonderful. You get a blink, some stealth, maybe a little bit of extra damage.

 

W-Jack In The Box(Active): Shaco creates a temporary turret at target location(range 500) which will stealth after 2 seconds.

When an enemy comes near, it will pop out, fearing them for 0.5/0.75/1/1.25/1.5 seconds and attacking them.

It deals 35/55/75/95/115(+0.25) damage per hit and and lasts 90 seconds while stealthed, or 5 seconds while active.

Cooldown 16 seconds, costs 50/55/60/65/70 mana.

 

This skill is what makes the build work. It is your primary damage source, means of escape, map(forest) control, gankability, CC, and everything else.

You will learn to love your boxes with a passion, and make everyone on the other team live in constant fear.

 

E-Two-Shiv Poison(Active): Throws a dagger(range 625), at target opponent dealing half weapon damage +40/80/120/160/200(+1) and 'poisoning' them for three seconds.

Cooldown 8 seconds, costs 70 mana.

(Passive): While on cooldown, Shaco's attacks 'poison' target, reducing movement speed and chance to hit by 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% for 2 seconds.

 

(Recently) nerfed to take you out of stealth when used, it has had its use modified very much. Early on it is a decent farming skill due to low cooldown and reduced mana cost.

Later on used for heavy harassment, teamfight assistance, and great killing power. 1:1 AP ratio with 8 second cooldown in and of itself is amazing. Partially shuts down DPS problems with the miss chance.

People can't catch you, people can't get away from you. You have a built in frozen mallet effect and then some for free! Great all-around ability.

 

R-Hallucinate(Active): Shaco creates an illusion of himself, which deals 75% damage, and receives 200/165/130% damage. On death, the illusion explodes dealing 300/450/600(+1) magic damage to nearby enemies.

Cooldown 105/90/75 seconds, costs 100 mana. Lasts up to 30 seconds.

 

Affectionately referred to as 'Doppel,' Shaco gets another very multi-faceted skill. Used for intimidation, distraction, map awareness, scouting, tanking, killing power, and a risk-less AOE Nuke. And he's spammable! What more could you ask for?

 

Masteries:

9/0/21

You want to build up to Archaic Knowledge and Presence of the Master, making sure to max Archmage's Savvy, Perseverance, Greed, Meditation, Quickness and Intelligence...all pretty standard.

 

Runes:

Nothing is to be set in stone, but my setup is the most efficient way to get everything you need.

Marks: Greater Mark of Insight(.95 magic penetration)

Seals: Greater Seal of Clarity(+1.8 mana regen/5 seconds at level 18)

Glyphs: Greater Glyph of Focus(-.65% cooldowns)

Quintessences: Greater Quintessence of Swiftness(+1.5% movement speed)

 

You're doing magic damage, and the build offers few magic pen items, but between the runes and the mastery you get a decent amount.

Mana is a problem early and mid game, but the scaling regen runes are the same as the non-scaling at level 4, and before then you should have golem buff.

skills are key, you want them as spammable as possible.

And you need to be able to move fast, and an early boost is nice for harassment and ganking.

 

Summoner Abilities:

Teleport - warp to boxes, move around early for ganks, get back to lane quickly to prevent underlevelling. Great for solo ninjas and general map control.

Flash - double the gtfo and chasing power, great in early game when mana shortages and long cooldowns are a problem.

Exhaust - super slow enemies, they won't get away, follow, and pesky DPSers can't kill you.

Ignite - add a little extra oomph to those early game ganks, when you don't have infinite mana to chase people down with.

Clairvoyance - very underrated skill, gives you even MORE map control. And watch enemy junglers cower in fear when you drop one right on them.

 

personal preference is to flash and teleport.

 

Items:

this one pretty strict. Strongly suggest you keep to it.

-(*)2x health potion

-(1)meki pendant->(2)philosopher's stone

-(3)boots of swiftness->(7)boots of mobility

-(4)meki pendant + (5)amplifying tome ->(6)fiendish codex

-(8)amplifying tome->(9)mejai's soulstealer

-(10)dagger + (11)dagger->(12)stinger->(13)nashor's Tooth

-(14)blasting wand + (15)Needlessly Large Rod->(16)zonya's ring

-(17)amplifying tome->(18)sheen->(19)lich's bane

-[sell Philosopher's Stone](20)blasting wand->(21)void staff

 

most games won't last long enough for you to get all of this, and most will end somewhere around the blasting wands and the ring. formerly, a haunting guise would come in instead of the Nashor's. It gave some early magic pen, and almost the same cooldown. The rushed Nashor's has allowed me to push towers so much better with the extra attack speed, but occasionally caused MR stacking to become a problem. If it is, you'll want to rush the void staff before your Zonya's, and then MR no longer matters again. in extreme cases(like a pesky TF) it may be prudent to replace the void staff with a banshee's veil.(haha, now his ult can't see you)

 

Once you get the Nashor's, you pretty ready to take on the world. Your cooldowns reduced by max(40%). Your mana shouldn't be a problem anymore, you will be moving very fast, and every kill(or assist) you get will be souping up your AP. Zonya's Ring is the best AP item out there, and the recent buff to it makes it very good for Shaco, but more on how to abuse it later.

 

Ability Build:

Jack In The Box

Deceive

Jack In The Box

Two-Shiv Poison

Jack In The Box

Hallucinate

Jack In The Box

Two-Shiv Poison

Jack In The Box(MAXED)

Two-Shiv Poison

Hallucinate

Two-Shiv Poison

Two-Shiv Poison(MAXED)

Deceive

Deceive

Hallucinate(MAXED)

Deceive

Deceive(MAXED)

 

Basically, you want your boxes as high as possible for fear time and damage. If you gonna get early kills, these are (probably) what you gonna do it with. A single level in deceive, since only the damage goes up in level, and you not using it for the damage. Mana goes down, but better things to spend your points on. At level 9, your boxes max, making them extremely deady, and a single one will be able to half-health most non-tank champions who find themselves caught in them. (and if you do the math, it means that 2 boxes very often kill people from full straight up).

 

What to do:

Start of every game, you're gonna want to grab your starting health potions and meki pendant, and head over to the golem. Beginning the game with a golem buff is very important, and very easy to do. While sitting in the back of the bushes, stack boxes(5-6 depending on how quickly you got there) at the edge of bushes by the golem. When he spawns head over, smack him, have him chase you back, boxes will take him down, and give you a healthy mana stream.

 

When you come out of the woods, you will be almost level two. Drop a box in range of the minions and wait for the level before approaching the front lines. You want that single point in deceive before you put yourself in any potential danger. When you get that point, deceive past the enemies if necessary and put a box in the close side bush, far enough in that minions won't trigger it. The bushes are your territory, and the paramount focus of the laning phase should be maintaining control of them. The rest of the laning focus depends strongly on enemies and partner. If you're against two tanks that avoid the bushe like the plague, then you'll want to just focus on last-hitting minions and farming normally with boxes and daggers. Against curious jungle-centric squishies like Teemo or harassers like Zilean, you can likely get an early first blood or just kills in general. If you can trap them into the pushes into a stack of 3+ boxes(or wait for them to enter of their own valition), then the boxes will likely ne you a kill themselves. But you can always deceive them, slow them, and chase with daggers to help your odds. You have many skills and strengths to net you early kills. If you are anywhere except up against your own turret, you should also have at least one box waiting in the river bush to protect against mid ganking you. This is known as a 'safety box' and acts as a ward with the assistance of fear for more getaway time. If the mid is squishy however, you may opt to stack boxes instead and often get a free kill from an overconfident mid who has no choice but to go through the bush before approaching you. Overall, during the laning phase, you will be most effective being reactive as opposed to proactive. Watch for openings and opportunities to capitalize on. This means that ganking mid is often more difficult if they are at full health. And you will likely need to do it when they are low, with a little assistance from your mid. Or you can just bloody their nose so they have to town and give your side some time to push.

 

post-laning: You have a lot of options here, and rightfully so, it's what this build is based on. If any of your lanes have pushed down a tower, then that is your lane. Push right up to the next tower. Why you ask? Because a full team of five can come from behind to gank you, and unlike the rest of your team, you can get away without breaking a sweat, and maybe kill a few in the process. Keep at least a safety box to your side but more preferably a stack. Two boxes can be the difference bewteen you getting killed and you killing them.

Alternatively, you can make the woods your home, yours or theirs. Set up two or three boxes at key high traffic areas and rip apart anyone who tries to enter your forest. If you can bait them into your traps, then do so by all means. Having control of the woods just gives your team so much advantage between the buffs and the lane safety. Always keep an eye on the map though, you can traverse the map quickly with your boots so if you see an opportunity for a kill anywhere make sure you get there. From this point onward, Shaco is primarily a solo artist. Most of the time you will be holding the attention of at least two of the other team making it a favorable 4v3 in your side's favor should a fight happen. You can also go anywhere without fear, something few others can say. Push and distract, your kills will come, you'll level fast, and you'll help your team very much.

 

Late game: at this point you can tank a tower...yes, even as AP build. Just send in doppel first(smach tower once if you have lich), then drop a box, and keep auto-attacking. Between the three sources of damage, towers will often die, or at least take a lot of damage before they get through doppel's health. Once he's down, retreat though, since the box is only good for a hit, and then your damage is almost gone. Daggers, oh how fun they are now. With their 1:1 AP ration, they will take out squishies in 2 hits(which is why they called 2-shiv), and they have a cooldown of about 5 seconds with very good range.

Boxes are crazy strong, like always, and even tanks will will be whimpering after running into two or three of them(if they not completely dead). Basically, the map is your playground. Nobody can kill you, because noobdy can see you. And if they can see you, they can't catch you. And if they do they catch you, they get a little smile, and kill you, and then explode in their face because it wasn't actually you...it was doppel.(and then you dagger them in the back and they die). Continue to take advantage of any open lanes, between pushing or ninjaing towers. chuck doppels, boxes, and daggers like mad into team fights(never deceive into them), and you will assist your team greatly. After a winning teamfight, you one of the best chasers with your natural mobility, deceive, and ranged nuke/slow daggers...there is no escape for them.

 

Basic(Obvious) Tactics:

 

Juke: A simple tactic that many people overlook. When running from a team, you're far from any relative safety of your turret. When you deceive, you shouldn't keep going where you were running, instead deceive back to them and run the other way(you're invisible right?) Just make sure you are aware of wards and oracles before going into them. Even with sight it may be prudent to flash off the side, or in some unexpected direction(bushes work).

 

Box-Trap: very simple, set up a series of boxes stacked on top of each other at a high-traffic non-lane location(usually in the woods) and either bait enemies into it, or move on and leave it to work on its own.

 

Lure: feign fear. Be low health, slowed, injured, make sure they see your deceive is on cooldown(like use it for a fail-initiation), and get them to chase you into your boxes. If you can get an enemy to chase you as AP Shaco, you've already won.

 

Doppel-Scout: very often, especially when your mejai's stacks get high, you WILL be targeted. They will sit in the bushes for days waiting for you to surprise stun you and burst you down. Your clone has almost no cooldown, so always send him through the woods in front of you to check. His survival is less important than yours.

 

Chaseoff: You are AP, and your Doppels hurts. People know this, they don't like it. Make an obvious Doppel and rush it at the enemy to force them away. This can be to force them away from your tower when they're beating on it, or to force low health people away from their own getting the tower down easily with no interruptions.(and after they are out of their turret range you deceive in and kill them anyways.

 

Advanced Tactics(videos to come):

 

Doppel-Dodge: What happens when going invisible isn't enough, but you need to truly disappear. Shaco can, unlike most characters, for a slit second. But often, such as the case with Karthus' ult, a split second is all it takes. A little practice on the timing is required; but when you cast your ultimate, you are completely off of the map and not subject to anything for roughly half a second before yourself and your clone re-appear.

 

Doppel-Bombing: Your doppel is made to explode, that is his goal in life. Like a spartan warrior, his only dream is to die in glorious battle. And you can grant him that wish. During a teamfight, or just when you see a team gathered together, this tactic can be used to soften them all up or kill any at under full health. Start by deceiving into all of them(making sure none of them have oracles), drop a box slightly off to the side. Then instantly hallucinate. Tell doppel to auto-attack one of the enemy, as you run away as fast as your boots of mobility will carry you. Reaction by most players when they see a box appear and a Shaco jump out is to CC and attack him. This works especially well if they have a knee-jerk reaction stunner like Poppy or Pantheon. Congratulations, they played right into your hands, doppel explodes pretty much instantly with 5 people attacking, and now their entire team is under half health. Perfectly set up for your team to punce on them. If done properly, you can make it back to a bush or fog of war during the 4 seconds of invisibility, and they have no idea where you are. Note that most of them will be in range of being one-shot by daggers whenever your deceive comes back online.

 

Zonya's: Oh no! you're low health! you got withered and can't get away! and your deceive is on cooldown for a few more seconds, what can you do? Drop a box just slightly behind you and off to the side, and then activate your Zonya's Ring. It will make you invincible for 2 seconds, and the box becomes active in -what a coincidence! 2 seconds! Between the two seconds of invincibility and the 1.5 seconds of fear, you should have enough time to get your deceive up again, and a clean getaway with the entirety of the other team QQing against you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ShaCo SkinsS ~>   

 

 

 

 

Credit's = *Disclaimer*

[Airwaves]

waaaaaaaay to much text...

 

1. if you get philosophers stone and fiendish codex->nashors thooth why you get those mana reg runes... seems like a waste

as in early game where you need mana you should have golems buff

2.its zhonyas hourglass now not Ring and zHonyas<- with H in it

  is that a copy/paste guide cuz of my point 2. it seems its

  outdated

3. not all skins are listed.... again outdated?!?!

 

EDIT: i looked at the skills and their ratios and now i know for sure that guide is OUTDATED

[icshiba]

some guys ( like me dont know exactly the names from items ) so add images pls.

[Noble®]

great idea!!! im gonna make a shaco guide tonight both ways(ap,ad)! with laning or jungling issues! :)

 

Ontopic.

1)Nutcracko skin is missing :)

2)boots of mobility is a must for stealth assasins like eve,twitch.shaco!

3)mejais is low level item

4)no rabaddons deathcap?

[Yakamoto]

great idea!!! im gonna make a shaco guide tonight both ways(ap,ad)! with laning

 

Only English language is allowed.  Editted by Bleik.