Riot Games recently reworked and buffed Shaco in League of Legends Patch 9.20, much to the dismay of many bottom lane players around the world. Their fears were proven right when the patch went live because the new changes allow Shaco to get to level three in record time.
The key change that’s made Shaco broken in the jungle is how his Jack-in-the-Box ability works against neutral camps—the boxes now attack multiple targets in its area-of-effect. Additionally, the boxes fear non-champion targets for two seconds.
This means that Shaco can now place four boxes down at the raptor camp and clear it while simultaneously taking the red buff with help from his bottom lane.
He can then head straight down to the golem camp and clear that, which puts him at level three about 38 seconds after the jungle camps spawn in. This clear will allow Shaco players to gank the bottom lane in less than two and a half minutes. Both the enemy AD carry and support should still be level one at this time.
His early-game potential has now skyrocketed because he can affect his lanes so much earlier than other champions, which was one of Riot’s intentions with this rework. Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo said in the patch notes that Shaco “should feel empowered to interact with enemies, especially in the early game.”
Of course, the best way to counter Shaco’s early aggression is by ruining his box placement and activating them before the camps spawn. There’s a specific timing for Shaco players to put their boxes down, and if you can disrupt that, then his rapid clear time will be cut down enough for your bottom lane to grab an extra level and defend themselves.
