Getting the most out of your clone

If you are AP it will explode for quite a large amount of damage and you can use it as a time bomb of sorts to chase down wounded people into areas you wouldn't go yourself. It is also a decent way of baiting out the enemy's ultimates when you both turn six. Before the change enemy Ryze's were just dying to explode someone and would often fall prey to a clone.

But what if you aren't AP and your opponent's aren't really falling for it anyway?

It is important to note that the clone has all the items that Shaco does. That provides a few options. Malady, Madreds Bloodraiser, Wits End, and so on will all proc making your clone quite dangerous. If you buy a Sunfire Cape your clone also has one so you get double duty out of it. He'll get a second life from a Guardian Angel and if you buy an Aegis of the Legion you'll get the armor/MR buff twice (although only on yourself, not the whole team).

Overall it might be a little weak but it fits the spirit of the character well enough to be somewhat forgivable. If you are clever you can get some extra mileage out of it but it does lack the same impact as many other ultimates.

Perhaps it could have some double-click functionality? What it should do when you double-click, I don't know, but it might be the way to go if they're looking for a buff. (Explode in a larger area and put a DoT on everyone? Explode into a stun or slow? Something not explodey? What could it do?)

By the way, Blitzcrank grabbing a Shaco clone and having it blow up in his face? Priceless.

For physical shacos the clone has limited success but for AP its really a one trick pony that allmost never works out the way you want it to. For the most part i use it to get the heat off me for a few extra secs and eek out the kill or escape.

I agree the clone need helps. I use it as a bomb and it never really works that way. I know its for tower diving but its lack of life and low range AoE death make it only work once every 3 games at least. I would like to see The clones AoE double in range or have some side affect to make me really work to place him. At least let it proc his poison and any other debuffs you might have.
or a stun of its own.

Is it a bug that u cant ping the clone? If so then thats good to know and i look forward to the fix. if not then we really need something to help the clone out. stun would be nice. punish them for not pinging it. Any good shaco will tell u the moment the other team finds out u are good with your clone they ping u way before u enter battles so u have the mark already on u. I mean seriously i do it when i fight a shaco. y not? its there. this way u never have to even guess who is who. its already marked.

If the thing controlled better that would be a real improvement.

I've played shaco for a number of games and I only had a problem with his ult before I learned that you could control it with the ALT+click thing..before that I would typically left-click it then use right clicks but that sucked because I would lose control of it sometimes and send my real one to his death :P.

As of now, I don't seem to experience the same problems you do. Okay, early game you only use it to kill a couple of creeps, maybe damage a hero, or be the target of some CC spells that will buy your real one some time. But late game, when it only takes 35% increased damage compared to your hero it works wonders. It slows, it puts stacks of black cleaver or whatever item u got, it takes just a little more damage than the real one so in the middle of a fight people tend to get confused and hit that instead of you. Hell, I even played a game when I was fighting trynd and because he got 2 crits on the real one and got my health real low (my decieve was on CD so I didn't try to run), he thought it was the clone so he started hitting the clone instead. Outcome? he killed the clone right when his ulti ended and died from it while I left with 1 hit to die...

I always go trinity force, black cleaver and bloodthirster with this guy, it gives him enough health, and great damage and atk speed, even though I feel something is missing..

In the last 2 games I died as shaco and I can control the clone. Seem for me like a bug. But it was funny. The other player found they kill my clone lol

I think the clone rocks. i mean aside from the fact that it blows up for extra damage its like sumoning 50% more damage for beating people down. let you throw your shiv with ease while the clone still keeps procing slow on them while your cool down comes back around. I thinks its one of the better ability's personally.

When you spec Shaco with attack dmg primary and attack speed secondary, by level 16-17 he can solo turrets within 10 sec with his clone active, depending on the items. It took me a while to figure out how to really setup this character but attack dmg by far takes the cake. With his critical modifier on you are slapping things for a normal of 150-250 dmg and the critical is much higher ofcourse.