Each season of Teamfight Tactics brings us the emergence of some incredibly “toxic” 3-cost champions that can carry the game. In Season 1, we had Rengar and Volibear, in Season 2 there was Nocturne the Blade Master, and in Season 3, it’s none other than Shaco. This Dark Jester is overly powerful and serves as the main damage dealer for many compositions like Pilot – Spy and Dark Star…
This dominance has led to Shaco being nerfed continuously, both directly and indirectly; one could say that the most recent rework of Dark Star was partly due to the overwhelming damage buffing playstyle for this jester. However, at this moment, the Dark Star trait in general and Shaco in particular are still extremely strong and need to be toned down. Riot Mortdog, the lead designer of Teamfight Tactics, has confirmed this without hesitation.
A gamer asked: “Hello Mort, will Shaco continue to be nerfed?”
Riot Mortdog: “Absolutely, I assure you that Shaco will continue to be weakened in the next patch.”
There are two issues that Shaco is currently facing, making this jester too strong: firstly, his item build is too perfect for both survivability and damage output. The second point is that the trait – system of Shaco amplifies his power too much. With the items Guardian Angel, Bloodthirster, and Infinity Edge, Shaco at just 2 stars is already quite annoying as he has lifesteal, high damage, and an additional life.
Meanwhile, the trait – system provides both damage and attack speed (the spell power from Dark Star also increases critical hit rates from skills) making this champion nearly unbeatable when he is the last survivor in a Dark Star composition. If a nerf is to be implemented, the best way would be to directly reduce the power of both the Dark Star trait and this champion, and potentially tone down the dominance of the Guardian Angel as well.
Riot Games has actually been looking to nerf Dark Star on the PBE servers already; you can find the details HERE. The Guardian Angel also needs some adjustments as this item proves too strong and can be used by any carry of any team composition; reducing a bit of health after resurrection seems like a reasonable decision, maintaining the essence of the item while providing opponents with more opportunities to counter Shaco.
