Combos · Jungle

Shaco combos

the Demon Jester

3 Shaco combos explained key by key: in which order to cast the abilities, when to use them and what each step does. The main combo is Q › AA › E › W. Further down: every ability's cooldown, cost and range, and the skill max order measured over ranked games.

Shaco combos

The backstab assassination

Q › AA AA › E › W

When: A carry is isolated.

Deceive makes you invisible and teleports you; the first attack is empowered, a critical strike from behind. Two-Shiv Poison slows and the thrown dagger deals bonus damage under 30% health.

The trap

W › E › AA AA

When: An enemy is chasing you.

Jack In The Box terrifies then attacks nearby enemies when triggered; Two-Shiv Poison slows their chase.

The duel with the clone

R › Q › AA AA

When: A close-quarters fight begins.

Hallucinate creates a clone that attacks (reduced damage to turrets); when it dies it explodes, spawning three mini boxes.

Common mistakes

• Attacking from the front: you lose your backstab bonuses.
• Placing boxes without thinking about their visibility.
• Using Deceive with no plan for what follows.

Cooldowns, costs and ranges

A combo only comes back once its abilities are off cooldown: these values (rank 1 to max rank, in seconds) tell how long to wait between two combos. Source: Data Dragon 16.19.1.

Ability	Cooldown (s)	Cost	Range
Q · Deceive	13/12.5/12/11.5/11	40 Mana	400
W · Jack In The Box	15	70/65/60/55/50 Mana	500
E · Two-Shiv Poison	8	75 Mana	625
R · Hallucinate	100/90/80	100 Mana	200

Official ability descriptions

PassiveBackstab

Shaco's basic attacks and Two-Shiv Poison deal additional damage when striking from behind.

QDeceive

Shaco 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.

WJack In The Box

Shaco creates a hidden animated Jack-in-the-Box. When triggered, it will fear and attack nearby enemies.

ETwo-Shiv Poison

Shaco'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.

RHallucinate

Shaco 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.

Skill order

Max order: E > Q > W52.1% · 48 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q		●						●		●		●	●
W	●													●	●
E			●	●	●		●		●
R						●					●

Max order: W > E > Q73.8% · 42 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q		●												●	●
W	●		●		●		●		●
E				●				●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 113 games).

Riot's official tips for playing Shaco

• 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.

How to play around Shaco's combos

• If Shaco is doing well early-game, it is worth the investment to place Stealth Wards near his Jungle camps.
• If Shaco uses Deceive to enter a fight he won't be able to quickly use it again to get away. Work with your team to quickly focus him down.

Frequently asked questions

Build, runes and counters: full Shaco guide · every champion's combos · tier list