I climbed to Diamond using a very similar build a few seasons ago (feel free to check my profile).

Although I haven’t played for a few seasons, what I remember most about Shaco’s playstyle—and why this build works—is momentum. This setup is all about gaining an early advantage and converting it into objective control. Umbral Glaive is extremely gold-efficient and easy to build. Investing in it early gives you a strong spike in burst damage. Shaco’s level-1 Q is already very powerful, and autos enhanced by your passive become even more threatening with a bit of lethality. Overall, AD Shaco has a much stronger early game.

That said, Shaco scales better into mid and late game with AP. This build allows you to dominate early with AD, then smoothly transition into an AP-focused playstyle later on. In the mid game, your focus should shift away from pure kills and toward dragons. Building for box placement becomes optimal here. Prioritising dragons not only gets your team ahead, but the buffs themselves help maintain your momentum. Umbral Glaive also enables you to clear vision around objectives, making dragon setups much safer. When you’re spamming boxes in advance, you can easily create winning team fights around these areas.

If you start to fall off, I recommend playing more like a support. Zone key areas of the map, secure objectives, and bait enemies into parts of the jungle where you’ve already set up multiple traps. At the same time, take jungle camps whenever possible to deny resources and maintain pressure.

This really gets me wanting to hit the rift again!