He seems like the dude that everyone loves to hate and hates to love, and there is good reason for it. But before you go out and do your best Pink Ward impression, how about we dress Shaco up as well? The dude has nine skins under his psychotic belt (as of this writing) and I don’t want you to spend your hard-earned allowance on a skin that isn’t worth it.
10. Asylum Shaco
Released: November 7th, 2011 Price: 975 RP Unfortunately, Shaco has quite a few skins that are fundamentally just chromas. And yet they have the price tag of a full-fledged skin! So I’m starting off with Asylum Shaco, a skin that just turns you blue, and yet expects 975 RP. You’ll see as we go along here that a lot of the skins are on the minimal side, but this one is just ridiculous. Especially when you also take into account that it isn’t even that rare nor eye-catching in any way. I will say that I like the design on the daggers, and that they chose a good shade of green when designing his ult clone, but that’s about it.
9. Workshop Shaco
Released: March 29th, 2011 Price: 975 RP Workshop Shaco is our second chroma skin and shares all of the issues as the last one. But unlike the last skin, this one turns you dark-green! Truly a revolutionary design idea. And I also have to point out that your clone is also green, be it a lighter version, so you can theoretically full yourself just as much as the enemy. I will say that the splash art feels like a war crime, and seems completely random as far as themes go, featuring cogs and watches when nothing of that sort is present on the character model. But at least it is rare, and that’s kinda it. You’ll hardly ever see someone with this skin. And unless you’re a collector I think we’d be better off leaving it that way.
8. Royal Shaco
Released: September 12th, 2010 Price: 520 RP The last of our chroma-in-disguise choices is Royal Shaco. I’ll be honest here: I think it’s the ugliest of the three. The bright purple just looks really off on Shaco, and even the bright green they chose for the ult clone seems somewhat off. So, why is it not in last place? Well first off, it’s more realistic about its worth and only demands 520 Riot Shekels, which is more than I can say about the previous two skins. Secondly, have you seen that splash art? You can’t tell me that it isn’t one of the most badass Itachi vibe splash arts you’ve ever seen. For those two reasons, it sits here.
7. Masked Shaco
Released: January 8th, 2013 Price: 975 RP Finally, we’ve reached the real skins. I want to start off with Masked Shaco as I think it’s fairly average across the board. It isn’t really that cheap or rare, but it isn’t half bad either. The character model design is very clean and clear, and the design on the daggers is quite eye-catching too. However, I will say that they could have given the mask a bit more detail. It’s the most interesting part of the splash art, the design resembling a Guy Fawkes mask, and yet you can hardly see it on the actual in-game model. That’s my only real nitpick with the skin. But it does make the overall package a bit less dull, and therefore less appealing.
6. Mad Hatter Shaco
Released: June 8th, 2010 Price: 520 RP You might be furiously screaming at your screen right now saying “I thought we were done with the chroma skins!” However I stand by this decision. You see, this skin also changes his usual jester hat into a far more suitable top hat. The exact reason why such a small change made me like this skin way more is something for me and my therapist to figure out. That aside, it’s an extremely cheap skin. And I do think it’s well made considering what it is. The color pallet works well on Shaco. And the ult clone is visible but not irritatingly bright. Plus, if you’re facing an Annie with the Annie in Wonderland skin, you can chuckle to yourself while stabbing her in the back. And isn’t that what League of Legends is all about?
5. Nutcracko
Released: December 14th, 2010 Price: 975 RP I like a good gag skin. And this is one of the better ones out there. Because not only is he somewhat funny looking, but he’s also somewhat terrifying, which is the space where Shaco thrives. He’s once again given a top hat, which is canonically a plus in my books, and the overall theme just works very well. I do wish they had a bit more fun with this skin, though. Maybe added some Christmas terror to his recall animation. But it’s a fairly good one overall. Plus it’s the only other Legacy skin that Shaco has aside from Workshop, so it works as a collectible.
4. Wild Card Shaco
Released: May 20th, 2015 Price: 750 RP Most of the time I would put a skin like this at number 1, being that it enhances the original design many times over, yet remains cheap and affordable. But the thing is that Shaco really needs newer animations, therefore newer skins. Wild Card Shaco is an excellent skin in my book. It just cranks up the jester horror to a hundred. I really like the design on his daggers here, and his W is just unique enough to get a bonus point. His ult is on the subtle side, which can be an issue to some, but I think it’s the best value skin you can get for this champion. But as I said, when a champion is somewhat outdated, new tends to be better.
3. Dark Star Shaco
Released: June 13th, 2019 Price: 1350 RP Besides better, new is also more expensive. Thematically this skin is a bit random to me, as I don’t think Bezon would go to space if there were killer jesters out there. But the animations make up for the randomness. The character design is beyond cool, with lots of blues and purples to give you that outer space vibe, and some gold ornaments to represent the amount of money Riot made from this skin. The animations are slick as hell, too, with the backing animation having you turn into a black hole. Not to mention your W featuring little dragon-like creatures. The only reason I didn’t put it at number 1 is that I can’t get used to the ult clone design. I don’t know why they went with this negative filter type style, but it just looks too distracting.
2. Arcanist Shaco
Released: July 9th, 2020 Price: 1350 RP A lot of people were quick to point out two things about this skin: One, that it’s just Asylum Shaco, and two, that it feels like a visual update more so than a skin. And listen, I get that Shaco mains have not had it easy, considering the lack of actual skins for the dude. But this is as close as we’re getting to a visual upgrade in a while. And our boy needs it. It has the same blue color palette as Asylum Shaco. However, it features a lot of extra details. His face is more terrifying than ever, he has two separate & extremely well-made magical daggers, plus we get a few other minor improvements. His animations are all a lot clearer, both visually and in terms of sound cues. And his ult actually opts to go down a different route and make the clone red, which makes sense in my mind. His W also has little Veigar soldiers, which I find hilarious. Arcanist Shaco might not be the most creative skin that you’ve ever seen. But I think it gives Shaco a lot of much-needed visual upgrades – and it might be the best at doing so.
1. Crime City Nightmare Shaco
Released: August 26th, 2021 Price: 1350 RP Okay nevermind, I take it all back; this is Shaco’s visual update. For ages Shaco mains have complained that Shaco looks like a generic murder clown instead of a proper demon. And this skin finally addresses that problem. With Crime City Nightmare Shaco you get a voice filter that does the unimaginable and actually makes you sound even more terrifying. Plus you get a backing animation that’s a few Latin chants away from being a satanic ritual, and a character model design that finally makes you look visually terrifying. The new ability animations and particles aren’t actually all that flashy, and they instead just making the base ones better, while the ult features the best clone design I’ve seen. This right here is Shaco’s champion fantasy since day one – and so I see no other option than to crown it as the best in the business. Note: this content was created under Riot Games’ “Legal Jibber Jabber” policy using assets owned by Riot Games. Riot Games does not endorse or sponsor this project.
