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Shyvana Build Guide by

AP Shyvana: When A Dragon Sneezes (6.16) | Melt & Burst

6 2

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10 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author spacemonsterz

Shyvana Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (10) More Shyvana Guides

Choose Champion Build:

AP Melt build (off tank)
Full AP Burst build

Spells:

Teleport

Flash

Items

start with doran for stats early

early game, bami + boots (optional: guise / belt)

Melt build core items

shoes: cdr/ tank/ or pen

example full build (notes)

Ability Order

Shyvana Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Irelia

Extreme

rip. she has sustain in her w, she can gap close and stun, then use her true aa and as to damage you up, best move will be to either harass early or tank up and burnout for later. look at her blades glow, it will tell you when it goes true damage and runs out back to normal, when true move away after the stun wears out

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Welcome to or back to Ap for season 6. you're probably asking yourself, why Ap on a Ad champion, omg noob. Wrong buddy, there are ways how this can be viable in two different methods based on how you like your hot sauce. There is the mild one, where you can just use and melt people and build up beefy and safe. Or you can go full ghost pepper Mexican and spice it up by going full ap burst, into the enemy team, unleash your combo of burst items and abilities and delete people, while firing balls of flame that hurt the same has too much hot sauce.

About the author: i'm SpaceMonsterz, been playing since season 3, June 2013, so far wasted 2,888 hours of my life playing ingame, so yeah, totally not addicted. I'm very familiar with how plays, though I don't main the character I am pretty good if I do say so myself. Why am I making a guide on ap Shyvana? simply because I enjoy using the build and the hilarity that ensues after, which led me into making a guide, plus I don't see anyone else doing one and updating it.

Side note: I hold no responsibility for the loss of any elo. Play my guides in normal queue, however if you find them effective by all means go ahead.
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Why Ap On Shyvana?

Unlike the normal attack damage based she will be magic based, meaning if your opponents don't notice and build armour it will be in your advantage.

For a start, two abilities: and both scale on ap and deal magic damage and her deals magic damage also, but scales on attack damage and a 0.1 ap scaling.

One of the best bits is that she is resource-less, meaning she can keep casting freely to harass lane opponents.

Opens up the choice of items to access more situational items, such as to counter against certain champion abilities or making use of spell effect items.

can proc spell effects from and .

can trigger on hit effects such as 's spell blade.

Has a high aoe magic burst: into target(s), follow with the aoe version of and finish on with to proc on all targets in front. (works best with a burst / full ap build though) can now add a to the mix by landing all the projectiles and reposition if you've jumped too far past them.

AP Shyvana's Unpopularity / Non-Existance

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This is all in my opinion: There are many reasons for why this has happened, some are pretty obvious ones that your sitting there thinking of, such as the common selection like the meta argument (which I could write paragraphs about), and the kit development so that most of her abilities are based on being in attack range which automatically creates the tank and fighter play style mentality that she is very well known for, and is the best use of this champion.
which in turn creates anti-mentality into thinking that there is no such reason to use 'ap' on as it goes against what her kit does and her overall play style.

Another main factor could be the Nerfs that (ap 's main ability) has been getting in the past. Currently I think its in a good place but the damages from it falls off late harshly.
Previously back in the past, during patch 3.09 rito whacked its nerf hammer making a hole in the wall of as before it used to reduce armour by 15% as the debuff and it had a much higher base damage for its later ranks. (80/125/170/215/260) And then to top it off the on-hit bonus used to scale from ap and rank (12/18.75/25.5/32.25/39 + 0.09 ap)
Then even later in patch 4.01 they nerfed it again this time reducing it's early damage from (80/115/150/185/220) down to where it currently stands. These nerfs could easily be one of the main reasons that ap popularity had died.

Regardless of all of this, I still think ap and ap offtank still has a right to exist and be played, she may not have the same effectiveness of a full tank, or ad fighter, her magic damages might go down the tube late game without fully committing to ap, she may of been more viable in the past than she is now. But it is still its own play style the other 2 your going in, where as in ap your staying back before going in, you have more burst and a lot more range on your damage and personally more fun to play then the classic run up and punch-fest.

> I'll be more then happy to continue this further in guide discussion upon request.

Stat Prirority

Melt Build |Off Tank

Health
In the early game, runes and Dragonborn passive already give you MR and Armor, buying health will make them more effective. That is why Doran's Shield followed with Bami's Cinder is a great combination.
> Armour / Magic resist
This is based on your lane, and the enemy team's main damage output. It can be better to have Spirit Visage earlier if your having a hard time in lane fighting a magic user. I normally go Sunfire Aegis for the extra armour and the damage Aoe passive regardless.
Penetration
It is more effective to have penetration over Ap using the melt build to increase damage output, with item magic damage effects doing the work, lowering enemy's resistances will be better overall.

Burst build |Full burst

CoolDown Reduction
reaching 45% cdr should be one of your main goals, it allows you to use Flame Breath more which in turn increases your harass. This is why Fiendish Codex is an early item. Aether Wisp is also there for extra move speed and to build into Luden's Tempest faster for early burst.
Ability power
this is Full Burst people! throw all the Ap you can find at the store and pay the shop keep and tell them they can keep the change.
Penetration
as the game goes on, the enemies resistance grows overtime, to counter it and if they're wising up to us by building resistances, penetration will cut through to inflict more damage than what getting extra Ap would do.

Masteries, Skill Order and Runes

Masteries

Melt Build |Off Tank

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(18/12/0)
DeathFire Keystone

this keystone fits the theme of the build and adds synergy to the melt

extra info:
The mastery adds 7% to total m-pen, added with the m-pen runes and items this comes handy.
The mastery adding 2.5% damage when slowed, with ryali item this applies all the time and the 2% ability adding to it as well, throwing mastery's 2% when alone, +5% more when enemy is under 40% health... It all adds up.

Burst build |Full burst

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(12/18/0)
ThunderLords Keystone

this keystone adds to the burst when combo'd together with abilities making the burst bigger.

extra info:
The mastery gives free cool down reduction.
Chose mastery instead as has nothing on her own to proc the bonus from and killing at least 3 different enemies will provide more bonus damage.

Skill Order

Melt Build |Off Tank

Dragon's Decent
Burnout
Flame Breath
Twin Bite

Information:
You will want to max out Burnout as it is your main source of damage and escape with its move speed gain, pick up ultimate as always. Go Flame Breath second to reduce cd by 1 each rank. Twin Bite should be ignored as it scales based on auto attack, put 1 point in at level 4 and use whenever it is land-able.

Burst build |Full burst

Dragon's Decent
Flame Breath
Burnout
Twin Bite

Information:
Maxing out Flame Breath is key to the burst build, it reduces the cooldown from 12s to 8s then 45% cdr makes it near 4 seconds each cast. Will definitely want to get your ultimate when upgradable as it plays a big part of your burst. Burnout second, it will be too risky to use it normally from being squishier, but you can still use it for the movement to position Flame Breath better or escape. Treat Twin Bite the same as the melt build, though if you get spellblade passive items you can use it to instantly activate it.

Runes

Melt Build |Off Tank

x2 armour quints
x1 M-Pen quint
x9 scaling health
x9 magic resistance
x9 M-pen marks

Information:
take two armour quints to give near the same as what 9 armour seals will do, add in a magic penetration quint to add onto the same marks, this will increase damage against people taking magic resist glyphs and synergies with the masteries. Take scaling health as it is one of the main stats for the build and will become better for later past early-game.

Burst build |Full burst

x3 Ap quints
x9 armour seals
x9 magic resistance
x9 M-pen marks

Information:
I take three ability power quints to increase early damage on Flame Breath along with a Amplifying Tome to focus on harassing in the lane. the rest is the standard mage runes, armour seals and magic gylphs for extra stats. The magic penetration marks used to counter the enemy's gylphs, since the main focus of the build is on increasing total ap and cdr these marks will be invaluable.

Items

Melt Build |Off Tank

Starting items

Doran's shield
the reason behind taking Doran's Shield is that gives health, some regeneration and reduction passive which combined with Dragonborn passive along with the runes makes you one of the tankest champions early on which is needed since to use Burnout you need to be up close to your foe most the time.
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x1 Health potion and ward trinket

Early items

Bami's cinder
acts as a mini Sunfire Aegis and is one of the build items for it, this item gives health which as mentioned with doran's above makes everything else more effective.
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Boots of speed
boots are a main part of any build, even more so on Shyvana as moving quicker can keep Burnout on the enemy for longer or make a retreat quicker from any ganks.
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Haunting guise (optional)
Haunting Guise is a another option for its extra magic penetration passive which will combine with runes and Piercing Thoughts mastery, downsides is that it is more expensive than bami making it longer for sunfire, it may shorten lindary's build time, but that item's passive is not usable without having a ryali built.
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Giant's belt (optional)
this is also a good item idea in theory, you can use it to become more tanky and if you want to rush into a Rylai's Crystal Scepter first for the crowd control, this item is the way to go, starting on the ap parts might give the game away if you're trying to hide it.

Core items

Sunfire cape
this should be the first item you rush to get, reasons being that it increases your damage and functions the exact same as your Burnout but turned on permanently and should be used in exactly the same way. This in turn can also help you to farm lane minions from the weaker auto attacks you'll have.
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Rylai's crystal scepter
this should be bought before liandrys, buying this item will turn Shyvana from having no crowd control, into a never ending slow. Using this with the Burnout ability will stick you onto the guy your chasing like glue or making near impossible for people to get in auto attack range as you get away. In your dragon form, the Burnout leaves behind a trail of slow too.
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Liandry's Torment
adding this item in next turns up the heat on the melt, after freezing them with rylai, cook them alive with the %hp ticks. One thing that should be noted is that it takes from current health, not maximum health.

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Burst build |Full burst

Starting items

Amplifying tome
reason for taking Amplifying Tome is to add on to the ap already gained from the runes to focus on harassing with Flame Breath at a distance and to build up into the next items in the build paths faster to save gold.
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x1 Health potion and ward trinket

Early items

Fiendish codex
buying this item will give you an early 10% cdr and some ap which is the main attraction, it doesn't lead into any the core items, but it does build up into a Zhonya's Hourglass where stasis active can be very useful. Don't bother with Morellonomicon as Shyvana is manaless, and you won't need the 20% cdr as the core items come with cdr built in. Banner of Command can be a good pickup for sieging, magic resist and fun in general.
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Aether wisp
might actually be better to start on, from the facts that it builds up into 2 of the core items which will make your burst items quicker. The item itself provides a percentage of move speed that will stack on Boots making you hard to catch with Burnout bonus, and easier to get a bit closer to land a Flame Breath if your enemy is managing to dodge them and get back.
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Hextech revolver
this item has been reworked, so that when you basic attack it triggers a bonus damage on hit, this will give us a early burst, and plays a part of the path to one of the core items. downside is that you need to trade attacks or the item to work, if you're low hp you can't use the passive without risking death. also only works on champions, not minons.
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Sheen
sheen now has cooldown on it, and it will build up into the core item Lich Bane, along with the burst on Twin Bite sheen can provide early burst as well, but will cost the most out of these 4 items.
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Boots of speed
see other side.

Core items

Luden's echo
Luden's was meant to be the replacement deathfire, but instead works more like a magic version of statik shiv. This item can be applied in 2 main ways, you can fire it along with Flame Breath to increase poke greatly but if it hits minions and splashes to more, you can charge it back up and try again. Or hold onto it and jump in with Dragon's Descent.
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Lich bane
This is THE burst item, and plays a nice part of the all in combo, when using Twin Bite when the hit lands it automatically uses the spell blade and in turn creates a burst of damage. Only thing is to use it you need to trade attacks and being squishy it is best to stay back with just Flame Breath and poke, using the blade on minions.
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Hextech protobelt-01
protobelt is a new edition to the game with the mage update, this item is perfect when used with Dragon's Descent after jumping to them, you can then activate the item and get most to all of the rockets straight into your target. Outside ultimate, it gives you even more mobility and burst. one combo can be belt in, land lich bane and luden, then run back and wait for the cooldowns.
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Extra items to consider and experiment with

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This section will be going on about the other ap items, as you should generally avoid building the exact same items each game and making your own adaptions to the builds provided to fit your unique situation and playstyle.

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Zhonya's hourglass
This item can be a lifesaver with the active and becomes even better when fighting against attack damage champions with its armour stat. Burnout remains active while you're invulnerable, they'll be taking damage while they wait next to you for zhonya's to end, which rarely can be just enough to win the 1v1 if you were both on low health.
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Nashor's tooth
Nashor's offers some great stats, and provides a on-hit passive to boost up your auto attacks and Twin Bite's damage. At 3K gold it is quite expensive but in my opinion worth the investment, as the items before it give the nearly same stats and can fit into the early game.
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Wit's end
Wit's End acts the same as nashor's but instead of cooldown reduction it will give you a decent amount of magic resistance which put with the passive mr steal provides a neat counter item to ap champions in lane, granted that you are able to hit them. The on-hit will deal a larger amount then nashor's, but then these items can be put together to make a magic on-hit build.
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Guinsoo's rageblade (with nashor's or/and wits end only)
To build up on the idea of on-hit from the last two items, rageblade will complete the synergy from its main passive of applying on-hit again, adding Twin Bite's effect of counting as a second AA with Lich Bane can provide a powerful punch. With all the extra attack speed there will also be a great deal of sustained damage to follow up which the full burst lacks entirely.
Weaknesses to this is that you'll be squisher and reliant on auto attacks which makes it a high risk later on. As a additional idea you could swap protobelt to a Hextech Gunblade for the stats and slow active.
NOTE: 25% of Burnout now gets put on AA while active, which with all this extra attack speed you can guess what that means.
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Abyssal scepter
This would only be a viable choice when fighting against a high magic based team or sometimes in lane. A strategic idea can be to start with Fiendish Codex and go zhonya's for ad, and this item for ap. Secret combination with Wit's End granting high magic resist with quite a bit of penetration, which will be a great problem for enemy mages. Only downsides is the lack of health stat and range of effect.
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Deathcap
Every mage needs their wizard hat. This item is most effective after your core items and not to be built so early as you can't take full advantage of the 35% boost. If you ever get to snowball, this is the go to item for those big numbers and one shot combos you can only dream of... If they've not surrendered by the time you've gotten the small loan of a thirty eight hundred, from the minions.
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Banner of command
banner is a viable option in my opinion as I enjoy using it's active to send free pressure to a lane, especially if it is empty or as a team fight is about to break out. You could experiment it with Zz'Rot Portal to apply even more pressure at the expense of delaying the core items, both item's active minion/ voidlings can grant some minion gold back though. The item is best gotten when fighting against ap as the item has MR and promoted minion ignores any magic damage.
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Conclusion

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Thank you for Reading my Guide!
Please leave a vote if you could.
Anything you want to ask me, leave a guide comment.
Anything you think you could give as feedback good, or bad would be nice also.

Currently looking for anyone's image and title content for this guide.
and anyone's end screen scores for the current season with either build.
plans for a gameplay video are up there, though nothing is set in stone at the moment.

till next time,
SpaceMonsterz.

last update: 20/8/2016

Build Results

If you are still in doubt that ap is terrible and is just a troll idea that you think you'll never use and can't get a decent score take a look at some end screen results from myself and other results that were submitted:

season 6 - send me a PM to have your game posted here!

tried out and here are the results:

full image link here

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send me a private message to have your results posted. This can be done by sharing emails and sending images. Or by sending a image link using postimage website. You will be credited along with said image.