Am I the only one who thinks Shaco didn't really get a buff at all this patch?

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He got a fix to Decieve so that he still gets the crit even if he uses ability before attacking. I don't know about you, but so far I've had no problems with attacking to proc the crit, as well as the passive slow from Two-Shiv to prevent my victim from moving away from JitB, then place a quick box between the victim and his escape route to make him walk into it, walk the long way around it or burn Flash. It works pretty well most of the time.

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He gets his Two-Shiv proc from his clone now, but again, to me that hasn't really been an issue so far, either. I save using the active on Two-Shiv for when they use Flash/stun me to get away, etc, anyway, or to deliver the finishing blow when my opponent is low enough in HP. That, and 99% of the time I have my clone attack the same target I'm attacking, so it was getting slowed by me in the first place. Unless the slows stack, which I seriously doubt.

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Boxes had their CAST range increased. May be somewhat useful in some cases, but I doubt it'll change how I play Shaco.

Activation range was DECREASED, meaning that if you don't make a nest, it's somewhat of a nerf if you're ganking and using it mainly for the CC (fear), as it'll now be easier for your opponent to move around it.

Base damage was lowered for every rank above rank 1, which is a significant nerf to AD Shaco (seeing as how that's the skill 99% of shaco players max first).

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The AP scaling was nerfed by .05, which wasn't really nessecary. Do you ever see Shaco played in tournaments or in high level streams? A few times in high level streams, and I can't remember the last time I saw Shaco played in a tournament.
You know why? Because before this patch AP Shaco was completely worthless. Now it's even more worthless, and AD Shaco was "ok" if you're really good with him, relying heavily on early game success to be able to snowball into mid-game. Late game Shaco is pretty useless unless fed to kingdom come.

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I would have settled for the reduced arm timer on JitB, as that would actually make ganking early a little more reliable against people who actually know how Shaco works, and would make it easier to use it in team fights, but Riot decided to take that away from us.

When I read the preview to the patch notes I was excited about Shaco possibly becoming a more viable pick, because I like the champion, but now I'm just very disappointed.

Riot nerfing JitB based on noob games with Shaco stacking 5 boxes in a bush and sitting there for 5 min until some clueless newb comes along and facechecks it is just stupid, and I honestly can't see why else they would have made those changes to JitB, as this change does very little for its usefulness late game, other than those very few moments where you need that extra bit of cast range on JitB.

My 2 cents about this patch.

Bracing for downvotes from an army of angry newbs who don't play Shaco and facechecks brush every time they play against Shaco.

I am in the same boat. I don't get how any of these changes are buffs? If anything he got more nerfed than buffed. I thought they changed the time it takes to arm the JITBs but I cannot see anything about that in the notes anymore?

I agree with you fully, and its laughable that these changes did literally EVERYTHING to make his Assassination weaker (I consider Deceive a bugfix, the patch notes even acknowledge it) and NOTHING to stop nests. If you're going to walk into a brush 350 vs 300 activation range doesn't matter. The most crucial question is whether 300 is just the new activation range, or also the new FEAR range. Because if Fear is only a 300 radius now his teamfights just got even worse.

And there is no activation timer reduction. Phreak had a thread about that being errata. Patchnotes are WYSIWYG.

They announced it in the preview patch notes (and the accompanying video) that they were reducing the arm timer for JitB, and then Phreak posted on the EUNE forum that they "made an error" and that they weren't reducing it after all. I have no idea why.

I would be fine with them reducing the damage of JitB if they made it into a more viable and reliable CC tool by reducing the arm time. But in reality they nerfed JitB as a CC by reducing the activation range from 350 to 300, making it easier to avoid it when you see it placed (as it's still 2 seconds).

Who cares if the CASTING range for JitB is longer when anyone with half a brain can just move away from it with ease now that the activation range is only 300?

I don't get why shaco needs buffs when really all he needed were fixes. Champion wise shaco is fine, just take a lot of skills to do well with.
I've seen him played quite often in high elo stream actually.

He didn't get a buff, he was effectively nerfed again.

box cast range increased+activation time reduced=huge buff and you would know that if you ever played shaco
edit: nvm...didn't read patchnotes properly i hope they just forgot to add the activation time redux in there if not..well then i'd call it bugfixes coupled with some moar nerfs

No, they did not "forget" to decrease the arm time at all. Phreak posted that they decided not to decrease it.

The increased cast range is negligible because the radius for the boxes to be triggered has been reduced to 300 (which is the same range as the fear has). That means you still have a full 2 seconds to get out of the range of the activation which really is no problem especially after the reduced range.

I think this patch turned the "better nerf Irelia" meme into "that's why we nerfed Shaco".

I think that shaco is fine just learn to get in situations where you can be effective to the max.

by finishing off weak enemies by being around after the teamfight.

just dont be so ignorant fantasy is what you need to play him properly.

i find him all balanced and fine no need for nerfs and buffs.

my 2 cents here.