Click to open network menu
Join or Log In
Mobafire logo

Join the leading League of Legends community. Create and share Champion Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

MOBAFire's first Mini Guide Contest of Season 14 is here! Create or update guides for the 30 featured champions and compete for up to $200 in prizes! 🏆
Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

x
Shyvana Build Guide by The Fox In The Middle

AD Offtank iBurnout - Unleash the Dragon

AD Offtank iBurnout - Unleash the Dragon

Updated on April 2, 2014
New Guide
Vote Vote
League of Legends Build Guide Author The Fox In The Middle Build Guide By The Fox In The Middle 18,546 Views 32 Comments
18,546 Views 32 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author The Fox In The Middle Shyvana Build Guide By The Fox In The Middle Updated on April 2, 2014
x
Did this guide help you? If so please give them a vote or leave a comment. You can even win prizes by doing so!
Vote
Comment

You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.

I liked this Guide
I didn't like this Guide
Commenting is required to vote!
Would you like to add a comment to your vote?

Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.

Overview and Philosophy


I found out that in many games especially in bronze you will have the common experience that one, two or maybe all lanes have trouble in early game. And I think as jungler you have good chances to help out your team and maybe carry the team.
So it´s your task to compensate the weak members of your team as much as possible. But why Shyvana? One of her main weaknesses is her ability to make a successful gank. That’s a big point. But in my opinion Shyvana is able to pull out much damage even without many damage items. That is a big point for her. She can be tanky and is able to pull enough damage so that she can´t be ignored. And that’s really necessary to achieve this state to strengthen your game.
And it is your nature as Shyvana to get close enough to make damage. It sounds as a disadvantage. But you can change this disadvantage into a strength. But to fulfill the two points that I mentioned before is not sufficient enough to lead your team to victory, because if your team isn’t doing well in early there is a big gap between your team and theirs in damage output and survivability. Additionally in many games you will see supports that are normally AP Casters for mid like Annie, Lux, Nidalee and so on. Even if they can be effective in their lane and help their ADCs to get some kills, you will see most of the time that they are buying only 1 or 2 support items while the rest of the build consists of ap-damage Items. But the support items are the stuff that would help to close the gap between the teams.

For example the Locket of the Iron Solari would help to give your team an aura that supports you with additional magic resistance, a shield and some liferegeneration. An item that could make the difference between losing or winning a midgame fight. But if your botlane doesn´t do well and the support doesn´t have that item because of missing money or another priority (AP stuff) a team that is behind will have lesser chances to survive that fight. So my approach is to use Shyvana as a platform that is not only good as secondary dps tank, but even help to strengthen your own team while in the same time weaken the enemy team. And I believe with the right item composition you can fulfill the task and give your team the chance to come back in mid and late game. Even if your team´s early wasn’t that good, your big chance is to turn the tide of the game in mid and late.

Especially you can try to believe in victory if one or more of the next points are fulfilled:

1) Do you have a Nasus or Veigar in your team?
2) Do you have a hyper Carry like Vayne in your team?
3) Does your caster pulls of much AOE Damage?

Maybe I have forgotten some points. But if you can say YES to one or more points in the list, you have good reasons to believe in victory and put all your effort in helping your team as much as possible and get them in to the late. And till your team can turn the tide it is your task to keep your team in the game.
Back to Top

Pros / Cons


Pros
+ High Movement Speed
+ Additional enemy health based damage through her Flame Breath and Twin Bite/autos
+ Ability to be tanky and still pull of serious damage
+ Very good jungle clear times
+ Great amount of AOE Damage
+ Very flexible to team comps
+ Good split pusher





Cons
- She has no CC exept her knock back from her ultimate Dragon's Descent
- She is kiteable
- Her ganks early are weak
- Needs to get close to pull of her damage
- No natural sustain
Back to Top

Runes


Runes

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Dark Harvest
Phase Rush


Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: This runes are nice on her, because they help her to get to her target in time. MS is one great tool besides her ultimate Dragon's Descent to get in attack range or to flee if it is necessary.

Greater Mark of hybrid penetration: Since you are doing both types of damage. Physical and magical it is good for you to get them. So it is even harder for the enemy team to build against you. And the penetration will be usefull the entire game.
Greater Mark of Attack Speed: can be very viable too. But it depends on you which are more appealing to you. But i prefer the pen.

Greater Seal of Armor: are extremely helpful vs. the jungle creeps and to give you a basic kit to survive enemy attacks. For me they are the best choice.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist/ Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: As Glyphs I take magic resist and scaling Magic Resist, so that i have good stats in early (for possible ganks) and later on. On Lvl 18 you have around 16 Magic Resist bonus.
Back to Top

Masteries

Back to Top

Spells

This Spell is a must have. It helps with securing Buffs and clearing the jungle faster. It has a low cooldown so you can use it pretty often.


It is your secondary gap closer or tool to get away if your Dragon's Descent is not avaible. There are so many usefull situations where you can use it. For Example a Baron steal. If Baron is warded you can wait till it is low, jump in with Dragon's Descent, maybe kill one or two enemies while you smite away the baron and flash out over the wall, before the enemy team has the chance to kill you. Not a easy task, because it needs good timing but if you achieve this, your team gets a huge advantage. Similar you can use this method on Dragon . So Flash is my absolute favourite as a summoner Spell.

Exhaust can be a great help if you go for ganks in early. It helps a bit to hold the enemy in place. And it is much easier for you and your mate to keep up and do damage. You can think about it and in some cases it can be usefull for you.

A Teleport gives you the opportunity to gank on a complete different way. If your mates use wards for their bushes like the top bushes in top lane, you can gank easy from behind. You are not forced to run out of your jungle to get yourself in position. So it can safe time. It gives you the chance for easy counter ganking from everywhere. Or if the team needs assistance for destroying a tower or get Baron , kill Dragon , you can keep up very fast. But it depends on you if you go this way or not. As Shyvana you are already fast and with a good map awarness you will be able most times to be in the near if something important happens.

Ignite can be nice to secure kills or burst down a target faster. It reduces the amount of any sustain that an enemy can use to withstand your gank. Especially vs a Dr. Mundo or a Volibear it can be very helpful. But in most cases I wouldn´t recommend this spell because it is really situational. You can consider to take it, if your team has no or only one Ignite. If there is already enough take an other spell.
Back to Top

Skill Sequence and Explanation

Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Your Burnout is a great tool to kill of the jungle minions as fast as possible. Because it surrounds you with an aura that makes damage every second on multiple targets that are inside this aura. This is your bread and butter skill. So max this first. The skill which is more important than Burnout is your ultimate Dragon's Descent. Set a point in your ultimate every time it is avaible.
For the first three Lvls you can set one point for each skill that is avaible so the time between two spells is low. After maxing your Burnout you should focus on your Flame Breath because it scales better than your Twin Bite and does after applying on the enemy good chunks of extra health based Damage on hit. So you want to have the skill up as often as possible to make full use of this advantage. Of course this extra damage is oriented on the maximum health of your target not the current and will be applied on hit as additional magic damage. After maxing your Flame Breath go and finish your Twin Bite
Engaging without Ultimate: If you are pre level 6 or your ultimate isn't up. Try to come as close as possible before using your Burnout. Because you can stretch the time of the Burnout duration while you autoattack. So instead of having this skill only for 3 seconds you can have a maximum duration of 7 seconds. Of course in most cases the enemy will try to run away from you, so you are forced to use Burnout a bit earlier to get the movementspeed buff that this skill gives you, to close the gap between you and your target.
If you are in range for your autoattacks throw imidiatly your Flame Breath so you can use the full 5 seconds of the extra health based damage. After the first auto attack activate imidiatly your Twin Bite so you gain 3 auto attacks in no time. Your Twin Bite hits double and is able to reset your auto attack timer. Additionally with every auto attack the cooldown of Twin Bite will be reduced by a half second. So more attack speed means more Twin Bite's. So consider to get one Item in your build that gives you more attack speed like Blade of the Ruined King. And yeah every amount of cooldown reduction you can get with your
items will help you great too. If you can obtain 40 % CDR + Blade of the Ruined King all your skills will be able to make nearly permanent Damage on the enemy as long as you are in range to auto attack.
Engaging with Ultimate: If you want to engage with Dragon's Descent, try to activate Burnout before using the ultimate. The effect is that you leave a trail of fire on the ground. In that time while your Dragon's Descent is active you have the appereance of a dragon :-) Your defensive stats that you get with your passive Dragonborn will be doubled while you are in Dragonform. While Burnout is active in dragonform you leave behind you a trail where you go or fly. This trail makes the same damage like the burnout aura itself. Try to hit as much enemies as possible with your Dragon's Descent. The jump will cause a knockback to every enemy champion that is in your path. You can use this circumstance to clump your enemys together, so all your enemy's can taste your damage. This knockback can also be used to delay enemies from fleeing. Additionally if you hit a enemy with the jump, you make serious damage. So it can happen that you finish off low health enemies. The range of your ultimate is pretty high so you can easily jump over most walls, so you can use it as a flash and save your summoner spell for emergency cases.
While you are in dragon form your Twin Bite can hit multiple enemies in front of you. And your Flame Breath can hit enemies in form of a cone in front of you instead in a line. Additionally Flame Breath can hit enemies through walls and minions in human form and in dragon form. So you can hit low health enemies with that skill shot that try to get away from you and finish them off.

Some interesting points to jump in (red arrows)



You need RAGE to unleash the Dragon...


If you hit level 6 and put a point in your ultimate you will see a new full orange bar. This is your amount of rage. On 100 points it means your ultimate is ready to use. While you are in human form the amount of rage grows by time from 0 till 100. In the first lvl of your ult slow and faster with lvl 3. Your rage grows faster while you attacking things with your autos. In that moment while you activate your ultimate your full rage bar will get consumed slowly. So on lvl 1 of your ultimate you can use the dragon state for a shorter period than on lvl 3. You can stretch out the time while you are in dragon form by autoattacking. So after successfully killing your enemies ;-) try to keep up your ult as long as possible through farming. You will experience that you can kill waves much faster in that form.

Puh that was big chunk of text. But if you understand that points completely, you can use the full potential of this badass Dragon XD
Back to Top

Items

How to build now Shyvana? If you choose the path to build only tanky items, you will soon lose the focus of the enemy team on you because you are not considered as an immediate threat to their team. Even with Dragon's Descent, because without any damage items your efficiency will fall off in mid and late. So the enemy´s will spare you until they have finished up your not so strong team members and kill you as the last. And all the money spent on tanky items will be nearly useless if you´re facing a 1 vs 3,4 or 5 situation because all your mates are already dead.

If you try to solve the problem with building too much damage items, the enemy´s see you as threat and focus you down before you are able to pull out any of your damage. If you use your ult Dragon's Descent to close the gap they will try to use their cc to kite you to death. And because of your lack in survivability it won´t take them so long to kill you. So you can´t simply take the role as a damage dealer when your adc is not doing well. And that is the case in most games you play as Shyvana. Especially when your team is behind.


Early




So what are your priorities now on building her? First you must concentrate to keep yourself long enough alive to pull your damage out. And till midgame your base damage is enough. So build your Spirit of the Ancient Golem and your Ninja Tabi (you need them very often) and you have some sort of tankyness in the beginning. If you think that you won´t go out of the jungle to gank the lanes, you can consider a Wriggle's Lantern. But in my opinion you limit yourself than to one area.


Mid (Magical Damage-Part)


OR later


What´s next?
Look at your enemies. Who is the biggest threat to your team? If the enemy AP caster does the highest amount of damage than get for your team a Locket of the Iron Solari. Cause it strengthens you AND your whole team. And now if the amount of ap-damage is still too high you can consider to get additional magic resistance. But this time you can get instead of an additional tanky item the opposite. Why not use an Abyssal Mask? It gives you more survivability and in the same time it lowers the magic resist of the whole enemy team while you are fighting them. So you make more damage with every spell that pulls out magic damage. Especially your Burnout will be stronger and the additional enemy health based damage you do with your Flame Breath + autos. And don’t forget your ult Dragon's Descent^^

But the best part is, that everybody in your team who pulls out magic damage will see that his damage rise too, especially that of your ap caster. So you can correct me if it is nonsense what I am telling you but I think it is a good way to close the gap between the teams. And even if the enemy is stacking up mres it will give your team a little advantage because mres items are expensive, and every defensive item they get is one damage item less for them. So maybe you have more time to recover for your team. And to solve the damage problem your ap caster can rush his Void Staff after the Rabadon's Deathcap. Especially if your Caster is the type who does mainly AOE damage your measure should boost his damage up even if he gets slow his items. So you help him a lot with that.

If you don´t like the option with Abyssal Mask, then use a Spirit Visage. It gives you so much great stats like MR, 20 Percent CDR and it amplifies every bit of sustain like lifesteal, regeneration and your Perseverance and Second Wind.


Lategame (Physical Damage-Part)


or


On the AD Side you can consider to get a Tiamat (later Ravenous Hydra) + Black Cleaver. It can be a very effective combination of Damage items to mainly shred down the armor of a whole team + pull out some serious Damage, because the cleave passive of the Ravenous Hydra procs the passive of the Black Cleaver. And your team profits from this two items because the armor reduction applies not only for your advantage. Everybody in your team who pull out AD damage will profit from this. Especially the AD-Carry. So even if your ADC is behind he will be able to come closer to the damage of the enemy carry or even excel his damage. If you are afraid to be too squishy in the time while you go on this damage items put an additional armor or mres item between those two items. Because it is important for you to be tanky enough and in the same time to be a big threat for the enemy team. So your option could be to build a Randuin's Omen. You get a nice passive that reduces the attack speed of everyone who attacks you. The Active can slow the enemies movementspeed by 35 percent for a minimum of 2 seconds. Additionally you get some nice chunk of health and 70 Armor. Overall a nice item.
An other great item instead can be the Frozen Heart. It slows the overall attack speed in a range of 1000 units by 20 percent. A stat what is great for your team. Only the 400 mana will be a complete waste.

With the Spirit of the Ancient Golem (you have to sell it in order to get your last item) , Locket of the Iron Solari (and/or Black Cleaver) and a Frozen Heart for example you have full 40 percent cdr. And that isn’t so bad on a Shyvana. (More Twin Bite, nearly constant Burnout, more Flame Breath = more Damageoutput)
And you still have your 40 Percent CDR even if you sell your Spirit of the Ancient Golem to get your last item.

A great alternative to the Black Cleaver and the Ravenous Hydra could be the Blade of the Ruined King. This item helps you to make more health based damage. So it supports greatly your Flame Breath. It gives more Attack Speed, so your Twin Bite will be up more often. And the Active gives you some nice single target slow + a heal. So use it when you have lost already some health. With Randuin's Omen you have a good CC kit.

Conclusion



So if you read the guide till now you see that they are 2 blocks in the build. One that concentrates on the magic side of your own damage and your teams and one which concentrates on the physical damage part. So it is very important to consider which part is most needed first. It depends on your team composition and how well or bad the single persons are doing. If your team consists of more AD´s than concentrate on getting the AD Part (Damage and Resistances) of your build first to help your team doing more AD-Damage. Build the AP side later or do something else like getting normal armor and magic resistance.
And of course it is useless to build a Locket of the Iron Solari for example if the enemy team consists of 4 or 5 AD´s.
It can be very complicated but you have many choices to help out your team, and in the same time you have the biggest responsibility to lead your team to victory.
Back to Top

Team Work and General Tips



Communication is a big key to success. So it is important to inform your team if you go for split pushing for example. Because they can use the time, while you try to get the attention of the enemy team, to get some objectives or defend and farm up a bit to close the gap between the teams. Especially if your team is still to weak for Teamfights you must concentrate to avoid engages.

One way to achieve this is with split pushing. Tell your team to play defensive while you try to distract the enemies from killing them. Don´t forget that Shyvana is really potent in split pushing because of her ability to clear up waves fast. Additionally she has good escape mechanisms. Use wards to give yourself vision.
So if you play a strategy tell it your mates. They can´t read your mind. If you do well most players will follow you.



Map Awareness is a another great point. As Jungler you need the highest amount of map awareness. It is necessary to know where the enemy jungler and mid lane is, when you go for the gank or if you counterjungle or to be in time for a countergank.

Initiating
You must be able to see where your mates are when you try to initiate a Team Fight. So you have to watch out if your mates can keep up with you. Don´t forget you are really fast. So you can kill yourself if you jump in and most of your members can´t be in time there to keep up with you.

You are the jungler you have to take responsibility if you want to win. Blaming teammates is useless and only leads to defeat. You have to observe closely what the enemy is building AND what your team is building. If somebody of your team builds really wrong, than don´t hesitate to give a tip. But don´t waste too much time in discussions.

Try to remember your team to fight for dragon when he is up. Give your APC and your ADC blue and red. You can only win with your team not against them.
Back to Top

Ganks in early

As mentioned above. Shyvana has not the best ganks, because she has no CC to keep the target in place. So they can simply run to their tower. You have the possibility to take a slow as summoner spell so you make it easier for your Mate to keep up. But it is still very hard. If your mates push to hard it is senseless to try a gank. Their tower will defend the enemy and if you dive you risk only your life and that of your mate. So go only for a gank in the case when the enemy is pushing too hard or in order to counter gank. Your main task in early is to farm in the jungle so you can be more of a use in later stages in the game. But if you try to gank than wait till your mate initiates before going in. Know where the enemy jungler is to be prepared if he helps the lane or in best case is far away and can´t help his mate. For Example if you go top to gank, than try to suprise the enemy. If you come from the river you will experience that most time it is warded. So if they go back to their tower go away and farm.



Don´t waste time with waiting. You make only yourself a target for the enemy jungler. Try to use other routes maybe use the bushes in the top side when you can´t be seen from the minions or the enemy. Than engage when you can get behind the enemy. If you gank mid than try to get from behind so that the enemy is forced to go to other side. So if you gank from left (not the bush, use the way below or above the bushes). He will go to the right and try to get through the bush. But if your mid goes soon enough to this position he will have less options to flee because you cut of the bottom/top and left side and your mid the top and right side. Remember watch out for the enemy jungler. Bot lane is the hardest to gank. So you have to be creative to gank it. But as mentioned before try to concentrate more on farming than on ganking.
Back to Top

Jungling

Try to start blue if you are playing the top side. Red if your playing in the bot side. Make some creeps and than get red (blue). If you have the opportunity than kill the top lane with level 3. Otherwise go farm. Your smite has a short Cooldown so you can use it to secure your first buff and it will be up for the next.
I use in the beginning a ward trinket. So when I am doing the red buff for example I set it in the bush or behind the wall in order to see if the enemy jungler try´s to kill me. Most time they will wait in bush till the buff is nearly dead or already dead to get both. The buff and the kill.


So if you see the enemy jungler is coming in order to steal red or kill you or both. Call imidiatly for help.

Ping. If your mates come it is nearly a definate kill. Try to leave that kill for your top or mid. That makes 1 kill and 2 assissts for your team in best case. :-) And this jungler will think twice to counterjungle you again. If your mates don´t help. Use your remaining pots while you are doing the red. Try to be as healthy as possible and smite that red away. If you think you can kill the jungler do it. Or use your Burnout to run away. So try to keep an eye of the cooldown.


Later in the game you swap your ward trinket for a red trinket in order destroy enemy wards. So after you finished your golem you should be tanky enough to kill it even alone. So buy your red trinket, make some minions till the cooldown is up. Clear the wards if they are any^^ and in the worst case you can kill the dragon alone when nobody helps. But remember that you have to know where the enemy jungler is (if he is top it is your dragon time). Use your smite to secure the Buff. Most times I can kill the first dragon without getting interrupted because Shyv is able to kill this crucial objective very fast. Especially in Dragon Form.
Back to Top

Counter Jungling


If you have spare time use it because you can get fast into the enemy jungle and out. You can ward enemy Buffs in order to see when they are up. When the enemy jungler is far away you can kill it fast and get out there without problems. Especially a Sejuani for example can be hurt hart if you do some counter jungle. You don´t need to be afraid to do this cause you have good ways to escape. And don´t forget that you are a good duelist. So you can handle a big amount of champs in a one on one situation.

Counter jungling is a great way to help your team out, because it cripples the early of the enemy jungler and his ability to gank your lanes efficient.

You can get the first enemy Buff around 7:15. After that you have to use your wards and memory. In the options you can set that the chat shows the time of an entry. If you write EB (Enemy Blue) you have a good time stamp for yourself. Same with Dragon and Baron. These objectives plays a major role for your strategy to bring back your team. So use them.
Back to Top

Summary

I think as jungler you have great potential and influence to take your team to victory, because of your high map presence. Use this advantage. Communicate with your team. And buy items in a way that will help you AND your team. Help them to compensate a potential weak early. If you doing well in most cases the team will follow you.

So in my opinion carrying your own team doesn´t only mean to get the highest amount of damage to the enemy or the most kills. For me carrying means to strengthen your whole team with your play. To lead and backup even the weak parts of your team, give hope and motivate them to concentrate on the objectives. Most of the efforts you do you won´t see later in any statistics but a good leadership will bring your team to victory.
Back to Top

Future Tasks


I managed to finish most important tasks yesterday 27.12.2013 and today with typing the text, formatting, making the design and layout and get critics and use them to improve this build.

My future tasks are to add images and videos that explains some difficult stuff like the usage of the abilities or some examples how to gank even with a shyvana and so on. I hope you stay tuned. See you in the fields of justice!
Back to Top

Hall of Fame

Here i will post my own stats and of people who won with the help of my guide.
Download the Porofessor App for Windows

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide