Rough Day/ Shaco Support

Greetings Summoners,

Today has been a fairly rough day for me on Summoner's Rift. I agreed to two ranked games with my longtime League Of Legends friend, bestdeesnuts, and we lost both. I dropped 2 positions in my Bronze 3 division, and lost all League Points I may have had, but I have escaped demotion for now.

In the first game, I played Thresh, supporting bestdeesnuts' Ashe. I had a fairly spectacular game, if I do say so, including a kill with a perfectly placed ult, but midway through the game, our Morgana left in a rage, and the match was a slow descent afterwards.

During the second game, I took on the role of ADC using Tristana. This was an adequate performance, including a positive KDA, and the second-highest CS, but it was not nearly enough to make up for the rest of the team going negative, and ultimately resulted in a loss.

The silver lining thus far has been a third, follow up match in the teambuilder queue. I played Shaco, and proved why he is a legitimate choice for a support, despite many people's initial impressions of the idea. I mean, just take a look at the match summary:



(Thanks to good buddy rekka02 for the awesome Nutcracko skin which I got to use for the first time this match.)

This brings me to the real point of today's entry - I wanted to discuss exactly why I believe that Shaco is a viable support. Here are my reasons for thinking this choice is a hidden gem:

The Ability Kit

Passive - Backstab - Shaco deals 20% bonus damage when striking a unit from behind with his basic attacks or abilities. 

This is a great ability for chasing down kills, which is almost exactly what I gear Shaco towards. Boots Of Mobility + Furor Enchantment combined with the passive slow from his Two-Shiv Poison ability means that Shaco can stick to a fleeing enemy like glue, while dealing bonus damage by attacking their backs while they run.

Q - Deceive - ACTIVE: Shaco instantly blinks to a target nearby location and enters stealth for up to 3.5 seconds. Dealing damage will break stealth early. His next basic attack within 6 seconds is guaranteed to critically strike for modified base critical damage. 

Oh, the practicality granted by Deceive! Stealth gives you SUCH ability to scout out enemy locations. I've even discovered that placing a ward while stealthed does not reveal Shaco, allowing you to ward some otherwise too-dangerous locations. The teleport gives you unprecedented mobility, and with maximum cooldown reduction, walls mean very little to Shaco. Scouting, baiting, positioning for fights, and escaping are all incredibly easy and incredibly fun with Deceive.

W - Jack In The Box - ACTIVE: Shaco summons a box at the target location that stealths after a 2 second delay and lasts for up to 60 seconds. When an enemy comes within 300 units, the box springs open, causing surrounding enemies to turn and flee while it attacks nearby enemies for up to 5 seconds. 

This is the fight initiation, and escape meat and potatoes ability. In lane, Jack In The Box lets Shaco very easily control lane bushes. (Just be sure to place your boxes to the side of the bush furthest from the center of the lane to avoid having the minion wave trip the box.) When starting a teamfight, a well-placed Jack In The Box can fear the enemy team for a crucial 0.5-1.5s. When escaping, placing a Jack In The Box along your escape path can secure your exit.

E - Two-Shiv Poison - PASSIVE: Shaco's basic attacks poison his targets, reducing their movement speed for 2 seconds. It also gives affected non-champion units a chance to miss their attacks.

ACTIVE: Shaco throws a dagger at a target enemy dealing magic damage and applying his slowing poison to them for 3 seconds. The passive is deactivated during the cooldown. 

As I mentioned before, this ability is the escape killer! Slows on basic attacks means that Shaco is incredibily difficult to flee from. Even champions with slow-breakers like Lucian or Evelynn, have a hard time escaping. If they dash away, simply use Deceive to close the gap, and re-apply your slow with Two-Shiv Poison.

R - Hallucinate - ACTIVE: Shaco vanishes for 0.5 seconds, then creates a clone of himself that will last for up to 18 seconds.

The clone deals 75% of Shaco's damage and receives 50% extra damage. This clone deals 50% damage to towers and inhibitors. At the end of its duration or when dying the clone will explode, dealing magic damage to enemies within 250-range. 

Shaco's ultimate is a fantastic tool for tanking, distracting, doubling on-hit effects (yes, both Shaco and his clone's basic attacks will proc Two-Shiv Poison's passive slow - try adding a Frozen Mallet to your build for extra utility!), and dealing a little extra damage in fights. Also, having your clone nearby will allow Shaco to proc the Spoils Of War stacks gained by the Relic Shield, Targon's Brace, and Face Of The Mountain items. This is great for some small, emergency heals and quick gold.

The Build

Continued in another post titled, Shaco Support Part 2 - The Build.