One of the most frustrating parts of playing Shaco is that after a certain point he is just way too soft for his own good. Past level nine he basically can’t initiate a fight without expecting to die. He’s typically much better off waiting until the fight is mostly over and then cleaning up the stragglers. I wouldn’t call his durability a problem if it didn’t manifest so early in the game.

I just played a game that perfectly exemplified Shaco’s durability crisis. I started the game at my own lizard, taking it and the wraith camp to get level two before running to the enemy jungle. I was up against a Fiddle, so I quickly set up a nest of JitBs at his lizard, knowing that he would come to drain it for the massive lifesteal. Sure enough, he stumbled into the brush, giving me first blood and golem buff. I could have left, but I still had three health pots and his lizard was still up. Time for another nest – same spot, same story. He came stumbling along at level 2 and, now that I was level three from the kill and sporting both blue and red, I worked him. I ran to some nearby brush to hide from his teammates, but not before Irelia could dash in and slow me. I dropped a JitB at our feet and tried to fight through an exhaust, barely picking up the kill before a Resolute Smite from Galio dropped me. All told, I was 3-1 at the five minute mark. Hell yeah.

Not so much. By the time I hit level nine I couldn’t go anywhere near Irelia or even Fiddle, who I had counter jungled so hard that he didn’t see another buff in the first 20 minutes of the game. Either champion would utterly smash me in a fight, forcing my Flash or Deceive for the escape. It was maddening.

The problem, of course, is if he gets a serious survivability buff, he becomes way too easy to jungle with and he could snowball with the best of them. Despite my poor fortune with Irelia and Fiddle, Shaco does fare pretty well against many of the game’s softer toons, which makes that survivability buff a bit of an issue.

I still love Shaco, but the metagame has shifted in a way that leaves him looking a little weak. I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts later in the week.