After the mess that was the Executioner’s Calling Jungleplank, I wanted to get back into the jungle this week with someone I knew how to play. Shaco certainly isn’t the most reliable jungler in the world, but he has a nice kit for ganking and I can’t help but love the guy. I would bet he’s among my most played characters in normal games and certainly one of my favorites. Allow me to introduce this week’s Champ of the Week: Shaco, the Demon Jester.

Shaco has a bit of a troubled history in the League. He started as a character capable of nearly 1-shotting squishy mages at level one thanks to the old elixirs and crit damage runes. After that situation was nerfed, he transitioned into an aura champion, relying on his clone to deal massive damage thanks to stacking auras and a nasty Bloodrazor bug. That too was fixed, leaving him in what some would say is a relatively underpowered state. I actually think Shaco is in an okay place, so long as he can get a strong start.

Shaco’s early jungle is unique to the League in that it’s one of the most susceptible to disruption and yet most powerful at level one. Because Shaco relies on a Jack in the Box nest to take the buff camps, he’s not as flexible as other junglers. Most teams will try to gank him early, but with the right allies that JitB nest becomes a powerful level one damage source in a team fight. The success of that fight really depends on how well Shaco’s team can support his early jungle.

I think Shaco has some uncelebrated counter jungling potential. While his most common path is to take Lizard buff first, he can take Golem faster than just about anyone at level one, giving him plenty of time to set up at the enemy Lizard. Deceive gives him an unparalleled ability to jump in and out of the enemy jungle, which means he can effectively counter many of the game’s strongest junglers.

Unfortunately, Shaco is also vulnerable to counterjungling because of his reliance on Jack in the Box. The skill makes him a bit slower than other junglers, at least until he has his razor. It’s a problem that counters like Nunu can easily exploit.

I’ll be focusing on effective builds and survivability issues with Shaco. With the recent bug fix on his clone crits I think a straight physical build could trump the typical Bloodrazor rush. Check back later in the week for more impressions on Shaco’s relative jungle strength.