Shaco · Jungle

Shaco Abilities and Combos

Abilities & combosData-drivenExpertPatch 16.19.1

2KUpdated 16 hours ago

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This guide is assembled by the site from match data and the game's own information — nobody wrote it by hand. Official and community guides appear alongside it when they exist.

Overview

This guide goes through Shaco's kit ability by ability. The kit brings crowd control (fear) with Jack In The Box and mobility with Deceive. Its ultimate is Hallucinate.

Strengths

High physical damage: Riot rates it 8/10 in attack.
Crowd control: Jack In The Box applies a fear to set up kills.
Mobility: Deceive lets you reposition, engage or escape.

Weaknesses

Hard to master: Riot rates its difficulty 9/10.
Falls behind if the early ganks fail: every wasted trip is lost farm.

Build cheat sheet

Pick the build that fits what you want to do this game.

Standard buildBalancedRecommendedThe default path: Bastionbreaker, Black Cleaver and Serylda's Grudge give the attack damage, armor penetration and ability haste this class relies on. Pick it when you have no reason to adapt. Built from Riot's item tags and the champion's class; Riot publishes no build statistics.

Builds

Standard build

BalancedRecommended

Open build

When to use it

The default path: Bastionbreaker, Black Cleaver and Serylda's Grudge give the attack damage, armor penetration and ability haste this class relies on. Pick it when you have no reason to adapt. Built from Riot's item tags and the champion's class; Riot publishes no build statistics.

Where it's played

Picked before the game: the main lane first, then the alternatives.

Summoner's RiftRed side · bottom leftBlue side · top right

JungleMain100% of matches
SupportPriority 2

Jungle priorities

StartRed buff

1Voidgrubs
2Gank mid
3Rift Herald
4Scuttle Crab
5Dragons
6Baron Nashor
7Atakhan

Guideline, not a measurement: an early skirmisher starting red side. Take the void grubs and look for ganks while your early damage is ahead, then Herald and dragons.

Starting items

Scorchclaw PupHealth Potion

Core items

1Bastionbreaker
2Black Cleaver
3Serylda's Grudge

Boots

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Situational

Death's DanceAgainst heavy physical damage.Mercurial ScimitarAgainst heavy magic damage.Guardian AngelAgainst burst and assassins.Chempunk ChainswordCuts the enemy's healing.

Runes

Primary· Domination

Secondary· Precision

Shards

Summoner spells

Flash
Smite

Abilities

BackstabPassiveShaco's basic attacks and Two-Shiv Poison deal additional damage when striking from behind.Passive. It works on its own: play around it.
QDeceive13/12.5/12/11.5/11s40 mpShaco becomes Invisible and teleports to target location. His first attack while Invisible is empowered, dealing bonus damage and critically striking if he attacks from behind.
Cooldown
13·12.5·12·11.5·11
Cost
40
Range
400
Basic ability — moves you and grants invisibility. Keep it to escape unless the kill is certain.
WJack In The Box15s70/65/60/55/50 mpShaco creates a hidden animated Jack-in-the-Box. When triggered, it will fear and attack nearby enemies.
Cooldown
15
Cost
70·65·60·55·50
Range
500
Basic ability — applies a fear and hits an area. Use it on the target your team can kill.
ETwo-Shiv Poison8s75 mpShaco's Shivs passively poison targets on hit, slowing their Move Speed. He can throw his Shivs to deal damage and poison the target. The thrown Shiv deals bonus damage if the target is below 30% health.
Cooldown
8
Cost
75
Range
625
Basic ability — slows. Part of your regular rotation.
RHallucinateUltimate100/90/80s100 mpShaco creates an illusion of himself near him, which can attack nearby enemies (Deals reduced damage to turrets). Upon death, it explodes, spawning three mini Jack in the Boxes and dealing damage to nearby enemies.
Cooldown
100·90·80
Cost
100
Range
200
Ultimate — hits an area. Plan your fights around its cooldown.

Strategy

1The kit

The kit brings crowd control (fear) with Jack In The Box and mobility with Deceive.

Backstab — Passive. It works on its own: play around it.
[Q] Deceive — Basic ability — moves you and grants invisibility. Keep it to escape unless the kill is certain.
[W] Jack In The Box — Basic ability — applies a fear and hits an area. Use it on the target your team can kill.
[E] Two-Shiv Poison — Basic ability — slows. Part of your regular rotation.
[R] Hallucinate — Ultimate — hits an area. Plan your fights around its cooldown.

2Skill order

Put a point in Hallucinate at levels 6, 11 and 16. Between the basic abilities, max first the one that does most for your lane — usually your main damage or wave clear — and keep the utility one for last.

3Combos

A simple sequence that follows from the kit: open with Jack In The Box, follow with Deceive and Two-Shiv Poison and finish with Hallucinate. The disable first means everything after it lands.

4Using your ultimate

Hallucinate is the ability the enemy plays around. Use it where it changes the fight, and remember its cooldown: after using it, you're a smaller threat for a while.

Tips

Using Deceive over terrain can help you make a clean escape.
Try getting items with on-hit effects. These will also benefit your Hallucination clone.
Backstab's damage can be increased with increased Critical Damage effects like Infinity Edge.
Land Jack In The Box first: every ability after it is easier to hit.
Keep Deceive out of your combo unless the kill is certain.