In between my Talon matches over the past two weeks I’ve found myself playing a lot of Shaco. I’m not sure what brought me back to him – maybe the bug fixes, maybe that a friend was looking to learn him – but whatever the case, I’ve really been enjoying Shaco.

I think part of the turnaround is that I realized how similar Shaco is to Lee Sin. The real power of Lee Sin is that he can provide strong ganks incredibly early in the game. It’s entirely possible to hit level three before the enemy mid does. The same is true for Shaco. By setting up a box nest at lizard and the double golem camp, shaco can burn through one side of the jungle and hit level three long before the enemy mid. It’s just a simple matter of ganking.

That said, Shaco’s ganks aren’t particularly strong, especially early in the game. His slow is minimal and his early crit doesn’t deal much damage. For that reason, positioning is key to successful Shaco ganks. My ganks have a much higher success rate when I take the time to get behind my target. That extra 20% damage makes a big difference at every stage of the game.

Shaco still has the same old Shaco problems. He’s not survivable enough through the mid-late game to contribute to teamfights. He’s mana-starved in the early game. His jungle is heavily dependent on the level one nest. Despite those things, though, I still enjoy Shaco immensely. If you’re in need of a new jungler, he’s at least worth a shot.