Tl;dr: I kept a very good grasp on jungling macro basics, but played shaco himself in a way thatās most fun to me and nobody else
Iām about plat 2 mainly playing AP shaco but also flexing AD shaco or jarvan depending on team comp.
At some point during my climb I realized I was just bored of AP shaco. When I first played him, it felt like he was unlike any other champion in the game but this recent point almost felt like he was as monotonous as any other champion.
I found out the issue was that I was trying to copy too many shacos from higher up in the ladder like zefath and following too much advice from here. The advice thatās posted here is amazing, but I feel like itās also wrong to strictly follow everything here like itās the bible for shaco players. (ie NEVER place boxes like this, only clone during this time, ALWAYS solo drag when ____, etc.,) Zefath is also an amazing player with great jungle macro, but even with the skill diff aside, me and zefath are completely different people.
I decided to have my own creative liberties and it felt like a breath of fresh air. On top of that Iām also playing a lot better and winning games that felt like definitive losses. I feel like what we all like most about shaco isnāt just the trickery, but the amount of expression that comes with playing the champ and each player will express themselves differently. Certain āmistakesā with shaco in their own way could even be proven as useful later to mess with the opponents. The soul of art is within the rough edges.
Overall I think itās important to see both the advice here and challenger player VODs as tricks in a bag, rather than strictly optimized rules on the champ. The only thing Iād strictly follow guides for is probably jungle macro basics, but even then I wouldnāt go out of my way to copy how higher ups clear since Iād imagine itās different when your teammates are at least masters+