Shaco runes: a setup that makes sense, and why
A rune page for Shaco reasoned from its class, range and damage type — with the thinking shown rather than a win-rate table.
Start from what the champion is trying to do
Rune pages get copied far more often than they get understood, which is why they stop working the moment the matchup changes. Shaco is a assassin whose job is to delete one target and leave, which makes target selection matter more than the fight.
At 125 attack range Shaco has to walk into damage to deal it, so every trade begins with a decision about whether you can afford the walk.
Runes, and why these ones
Domination — Assassins need a target dead inside one combo. A burst keystone that triggers on a three-hit sequence is the one that matches that pattern.
Electrocute
Hitting a champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities in 3s deals bonus adaptive damage.
Cheap Shot
Deal bonus true damage to enemy champions with impaired movement or actions.
Sixth Sense
On a long Cooldown, automatically sense a nearby untracked and unseen ward, tracking it for the team. Level 11: Also reveal the ward for 10s.
Treasure Hunter
Unique takedowns grant additional gold the first time they are collected.
A starting point reasoned from class and range, not a win-rate ranking. Matchups change it.
Skill order, and how to reason about it
Take Hallucinate at levels 6, 11 and 16 — the ultimate is always worth the point it costs.
For the basic abilities, Deceive (Q) gains the most from being ranked: its cooldown falls by 2 seconds between rank 1 and max, which is the largest improvement in the kit. That is the usual argument for maxing it first.
This is reasoning from the cooldown data, not a win-rate ranking — a matchup that punishes you can invert it.
- Q · Deceive — cooldown 13/12.5/12/11.5/11s, improving by 2s across its ranks
- W · Jack In The Box — cooldown 15s
- E · Two-Shiv Poison — cooldown 8s
When to change it
The page above assumes an even matchup. Against a lane that beats you up early, survivability runes buy you the levels you need; against one you outrange, damage runes compound the advantage.
Shaco is mana-gated, which is the real limit on how often you can contest a wave early.
Riot's own notes on playing Shaco
These are the designers' words, not ours — the tips shipped in the client for 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.