Shen Build Guide by Yomalolo

Introduction

Shen, The Eye of Twilight, is a great Tank with marvellous supporting abilities. He is a viable option for Solo Top, because then he will reach level 6 earlier, so that he get's early access to Stand United. With this build you have two options: 1. Stay defensive, focus on farming and let your teammates take the kills or 2. Play agressive and kill kill kill.





Having a Jungler in your team is always a big advantage, because of three simple reasons:
1. You have one additional solo lane (top) and the champion there gains more experience and can have all the minion kills, thus grows strong faster.
2. The Jungler can gank more successfully, because nobody can call "miss"/"ss"/"mia" for him.
3. He's the only one that makes serious use of Smite, which can be used to steal epic monsters like Baron Nashor .

Since the new masteries (Fizz patch) jungling with tanks has gotten even better. Early access of Butcher and Bladed Armor are only two reasons.





As a Support Shen never really was the best choice. But actually, since the Nautilus patch, he grew to a more useful one. In the first place that is because the amount of health reg from Vorpal Blade now scales with your max health. So if you build him with much health, you get a quite useful heal for the Carry!

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Pros: can't go Out Of Mana persistent and versatile taunt ability global ult great at escaping is a ninja

SPACE

Cons: needs to have an eye on all teammates requires a calm mind and much practice nobody knows what his face looks like rather slow jungling - - -

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Counter Picks

One of the joys of League of Legends is, that every champ has its ways to get countered. Although some are stronger than others, sometimes just one single adjustion to your strategy can help you with winning your lane. That's why I will explain 3 champs that are inferior to Shen and 3 champs who will most likely outplay Shen.

Shen's Abilities

Ki Strike (passive) : Extra magic damage (= 3.5 % of your max. health) on your normal attack every 8 seconds. When hitting this, you regenerate some energy. Its cooldown is reduced whenever you autoattack something.


It makes the lasthitting of minions easier and provides you a decent amount of damage on champions. Use this in combination with Vorpal Blade for max damage.




Vorpal Blade : Ranged magic damage, which marks the enemy for 5 secs. Any champion, who attacks such a marked enemy, regenerates health (= dependant on your max. health). You gain a flat amount of heal when you kill something with it.


The range is moderate, thus this one is good for last hitting minions and champions or just to harass the enemy. Use it with Ki Strike for max damage. Because of the healing powers (buffed with the Nautilus Patch) Shen got a more viable early Support. Heal your ally by throwing Vorpal Blade at a minion and letting him attack it.




Feint : 1.5 sec lasting, little damage absorbing shield. While active you regenerate energy with every autoattack. While active, the cooldown of Ki Strike is additionally reduced when you autoattack something.


Since Shadow Dash's duration is flat I'd rather max this second. If you choose to play Solo Top, this one is more useful because it can soak up nearly every damage that a single enemy can deal within the time of Feint's cooldown (9-8-7-6-5 sec). For instance it is also a direct counter against Karthus' Requiem.




Shadow Dash : Dash over a short distance, taunt and damage every champ in your way. While they're taunted, Shen takes reduced physical damage. On top of that you regenerate energy depending on the number of champions taunted.


This is a cheeky skill, that can be used many different (offensive or defensive) ways. You can taunt your enemies to stop them from running away or from attacking your allies, to make them walk where you want them to, to make an allied turret hit them or use the distance part to flee, to get through walls or to dodge straight line abilities like Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow. Use this on an enemy when Ki Strike is ready to guarantee a hit. I max it last because the taunt duration doesn't get longer and its damage is not as useful.




Stand United (ultimate) : Has to be activated on teammates to give them a shield that absorbs some damage. After 2.5 secs you teleport to the chosen teammate.


One of my favorite ultis in the game. You use it to save the life of a teammate, to trap greedy enemies who won't stop following your teammate, to get away from sudden ganks or just to get somewhere fast. It has to be combinated with Shadow Dash for best possible use.

Summoner Spells

Exhaust :

Reduce the damage of an enemy to prevent him from killing your allies and yourself or slow enemies to ensure a kill.



Ghost :

Having faster movespeed for some seconds is a nice advantage. You are able to get away alive or to chase down fleeing enemies. Why this is more useful than Flash? Simply because of the shorter cooldown in relation to the distance per time you can travel with them.



Smite :

It deals big damage, that increases with your champs level, to minions and summoned beasts like Annie's Summon: Tibbers. Take this with you if you start at the jungle. I'd never jungle without it because it makes it faster, thus you can start ganking earlier. On top of that you might use it to steal Baron Nashor one day.



Clairvoyance :

Take it as Supporter. Enlightening an area makes it easier to counter ganks or to chase down fleeing enemies. This skill also enlightens bushes, which is very useful in the early game.







Heal :

A heal may save your allies or your own life, is useful to stay on your lane longer or to trap an enemy in a 1vs1 situation. I don't take this one because of the relatively high cooldown.



Cleanse :

This spell removes all debuffs and reduces the time of new debuffs for 3 secs. It's good for escaping sudden situations or for getting enemies who try to get away by stunning, slowing or fearing you.



Flash :

With this one you are able to teleport over a short distance. That can give you the last hit for a champion kill or an escape out of a teamfight. Anyways, you as a rather tanky champ can't make full use of it, because the enemies will hardly focus you. But then again it's a good to position you for a Shadow Dash.



Ignite :

No doubt, that it's a good spell as it gives some extra damage and reduces the enemies healing power for some time. But in my opinion it's not the right choice for a tank, so I'd pick Exhaust instead.



Promote :

This new spell can be casted on a siege minion to boost his stats and to give you gold for the minions he kills. I don't know how to make serious use of it but otherwise I don't have much against it so use it if u know how to.



Teleport :

Activate Stand United to help a teammate and then Teleport back to where you were before. It's also a useful tool for the Solo Top lane if you think you play against an enemy that's stronger than you. Then you will be able to get your kills elsewhere.







Revive :

You aren't supposed to die very much so you don't need this.



Clarity :

You don't have any mana, you have energy.



Barrier :

For a very short time this spell gives you a shield. It's okay to last a bit longer in battle but not really worth taking, because the enemies will rarely concentrate their damage on you.

Masteries & Runes

For single laning I choose 5/22/3 with focus on survivability, as you are a tank.




Greater Mark of Magic Penetration :

Magic Penetration provides higher damage infliction with Vorpal Blade and Ki Strike.



Greater Seal of Scaling Health :

More health means more survivability and more damage with Ki Strike. I don't take the flat ones because from level 5 on Health/level seals grant more Health than the flat ones would.



Greater Glyph of Magic Resist :

Magic Resist glyphs are the best choice for tanks. The flat ones are for laners because they might need it early and...



Greater Quintessence of Health :

Health quintessences give you the health boost you need early game and therefore more Ki Strike damage.







The main tools for my jungling are survivability, Bladed Armor and Butcher , which results in 6/21/3.




Greater Mark of Armor Penetration

With Armor Pen you deal more normal damage to the jungle mobs.



Greater Seal of Armor :

Armor is necessary, because it makes you more sustainable in the jungle.



Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist :

As a jungler you should choose the per level ones. I guess it's clear that you don't need MR earlyon because you'll spend your most time with minions that deal physical damage only.



Greater Quintessence of Health :

Health quintessences give you the health boost you need early game and therefore more Ki Strike damage.





Greater Mark of Armor :

Armor is necessary so you are more sustainable in the jungle. You can use these even though they're not primary runes, because then you can go with a health boost for seals, so your Ki Strike deals more damage to the jungle mobs.



Greater Seal of Scaling Health :

More health means more survivability and more damage with Ki Strike. I don't take the flat ones because from level 5 on Health/level seals grant more Health than the flat ones would.







When supporting, I go hybrid with survivability and utility mixing to a 1/11/18. You need the gold boosts because you won't get any gold through kills or minions.





Greater Mark of Magic Penetration :

Magic Penetration provides higher damage infliction with Vorpal Blade and Ki Strike.



Greater Seal of Scaling Health :

More health means more survivability and more damage with Ki Strike. I don't take the flat ones because from level 5 on Health/level seals grant more Health than the flat ones would.



Greater Glyph of Magic Resist :

Magic Resist glyphs are my favorite choice for tanks. The flat ones are for laners because they might need it early.



Greater Quintessence of Gold :

Through the gold gain you will be able to compensate for the kills you dont get.

Items [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Feature Legend:


Core: You have to buy these items before any other equipment, because they are the key to your success.

Followed by: These items are next after you've purchased the "Core" items. They are highly recommended as they function well in most situations. If you feel like not needing them, take the "Situational" items instead.

Situational: These items aren't as commonly needed as the "Followed by" items. But in some situations they may be the better choice. Items not mentioned in "Followed by" and "Situational" are not worth the cost and should not be bought!

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Boots of Speed :

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Health Potion :

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Sight Ward :

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Mercury's Treads :

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Kage's Lucky Pick :

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Sunfire Cape :

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Rylai's Crystal Scepter :

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Twin Shadows :

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Enchantment: Furor :

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Abyssal Scepter :

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Thornmail :

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Aegis of the Legion :

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Runic Bulwark :

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Randuin's Omen :

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Frozen Mallet :

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Enchantment: Captain :

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Vision Ward :

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Hunter's Machete:

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Health Potion:

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Sight Ward:

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Madred's Razors:

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Boots of Speed:

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Wriggle's Lantern:

Armor, Attack Damage, Lifesteal and sometimes big damage to minions. Additionally its active lets you place a regular ward. It's build with Madred's Razors.







Mercury's Treads :

Movespeed, Magic Resist and Debuff Reduction. Yes, this does not grant you any feature for the jungle, but 70% of all matches are decided in the late game. At that time you won't stay in the jungle very often anyway.



Wit's End :

Attack Speed, Magic Resist and with its passive some additional Magic Damage on every hit. Then you can clear the jungle faster, deal more damage to champs and survive longer.



Warmog's Armor :

Health and Health Regeneration that rise for every minion you kill. Boosts your Ki Strike, your Attack Damage together with Atma's Impaler and your survivability.



Atma's Impaler :

Armor, Critical Strike chance and additional Attack Damage in relation to your max Health. It works perfectly with your Ki Strike and Atma's Impaler.



Enchantment: Furor :

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Trinity Force :

It gives you a bit of everything you need for physical damage, for example 150% additional attack damage after using an ability, speed for yourself and slow for the enemies struck by your autohits. The mana bonus is a waste indeed but that should not be the problem.







Banshee's Veil :

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Quicksilver Sash :

Just in case you lack a bit of Magic Resist against a heavy AP team or you get annoyed by the many CC they have.



Guardian Angel :

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Blade of the Ruined King :

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Enchantment: Captain :

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Ninja Tabi :

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Vision Ward :

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Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation:

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Explorer's Ward :

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Cloth Armor :

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Vision Ward :

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Sight Ward :

Place a ward that enlightens the area around it and stays for 3 minutes. You should always carry at least one of these. They're the main tool of a Supporter. Keeping the jungle and important paths warded is considered "Map Control". Therefore you can always react to where your enemies are and more important to where they're not.



Boots of Speed :

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Emblem of Valor :

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Kage's Lucky Pick :

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Sightstone :

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Mercury's Treads :

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Aegis of the Legion :

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Ruby Sightstone :

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Shard of True Ice :

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Enchantment: Alacrity :

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Randuin's Omen :

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Vision Ward :

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Runic Bulwark :

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Locket of the Iron Solari :

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Twin Shadows :

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Enchantment: Captain :

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Ninja Tabi :

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"Why do I buy Oracle's Elixir?" might be your question.
There are two reasons: 1) If you want to use the moment of surprise.
2) If they got an invisibility champ.


"When do I buy Oracle's Elixir?" might be the next question.
There are two proper times: 1) When you think the time has come to make the enemies blind by freeing the jungle from their wards. No wards means no protection against ganks. I know 400 gold is much but an Oracle's Elixir can really decide the outcome of a match! Besides: Every ward gives 25 gold when destroyed.
2) When you want to take the enemy invisibility champ out of the game. Invis-champs regularly rely on that particular skill and if they lose it they're quite useless.

Note, that it is not permanent until death anymore but only lasts 5 minutes!

How to play - Early Game Laning & Jungling

Because of his defensive abilities Shen doesn't have much problems when being on his own. And for the sake of a good game, let a mate choose a jungler while you pick the solo lane.

When laning against a single enemy: Think about which champion you are facing. The key to not failing in lane is knowing what your enemy is capable of (check the chapter "Counter Picks" for some hints). If the enemy is stronger than you, stay defensive. If you think you can own him, poke him with Vorpal Blade and use Shadow Dash into Ki Strike to kill him. Don't forget to farm continuously.


When laning against two enemies: If the enemies got no jungler (that means no champion with Smite) you'll have to face two enemies on your lane. So if you aren't quite sure if you can hold the lane against them, buy Doran's Shield as your first item. It's more expensive and you'll have to get more gold before you're able to buy your Mercury's Treads cause you're missing the Boots of Speed, but it can help you alot.

Play defensive, use Vorpal Blade to kill minions and Shadow Dash to make your turret attack the enemies if they get in range of it. Absorb damage with Feint.

It is not a shame to stay at your turret and to loose some experience. The most important thing is that you don't die so your jungler can do his job efficently!








0: The Blue Golem (1) spawns at exactly 1 minute and 55 seconds. Until that time you and your teammates from top and mid have to scout the river. This way you are preventing a gank on you when battling the Blue Golem (1). Your mates may return to their lane, when their minions have arrived.


1: Be here at 1:55. Don't attack the Lizards before the Golem is dead! Use Vorpal Blade on the golem and use it again, whenever it's ready. Use your first Health Potion directly after the first damage you've taken. Use Smite on the golem, when he has around 445 health. After that, choose Feint as your second ability and proceed to spot 2.
The Golem will respawn 5 minutes after he and the Lizards were killed! By that time your Caster might want to take it with your help.


2: Kill the big Wolve first! Use Vorpal Blade and Feint when they're ready. The next target is 3.


3: Kill the small Wraths with Vorpal Blade and Feint first. Choose Shadow Dash and either proceed the jungling at the the Golem spot (4) or start a first gank at one of your lanes (crossed swords). Initiate with Shadow Dash and deal damage.


4: Don't forget your Health Potion! If you decide to kill the two Golems first, head towards them. If you want to help mid first, do so. The gank is a success even if the enemy just flashed out. Then your next gank will propably result in his death.


5: Kill the big Lizard first and use Smite when he has around 525 health. If you did not gank yet, now is definately the right moment, because the slow effect of Red makes ganks devastating.



>> The rest of the game is up to you!

Note: This is just one way to jungle, which indeed seems to be the best imo.
But you should know, that Jungling is about more than just the Creep Sequence. If you want to know about more and deeper thoughts, pls visit Hahano's Jungling 202: Beyond The Basics (link).
Even if you think "haha, no need, i am a serious jungle pro, i know everything about it" - No, propably even you can learn more.







If you play against strong early game champions: Just stay back and let the Carry kill the minions. If he loses some health you use Vorpal Blade on a minion and let him kill it.

If the enemy champions are in your turret range, use Shadow Dash on them. After they hit you once, your turret will target them.


If the enemy champions are weak for now: After reaching level 2 and choosing Shadow Dash, enter one of the two long bushes. Your enemies will now hold longer distance to you because they're afraid of getting taunted and hitted. If they stay in range, use your Shadow Dash, Vorpal Blade and Ki Strike on one of them. Return into the bush after that. Repeat this harrassing combo whenever they dare to get in range while your partner kills their minions. Unless your minions get in hostile turret range the enemies on your lane won't be able to kill minions.

As soon as you reach level 6 your real game begins. Teleport back to base and buy the right equipment, then get back to your lane or help the other lanes pushing. Keep an eye on all teammates (the portraits on the left side of your screen and the minimap are very useful tools) and be ready to activate your Stand United if necessary.


Where to place the Vision Ward:

Put it where the enemy has placed his ward to steal the vision he wants. The best choice would be their river ward, because then your jungler can gank the lane without them knowing.

How to play - Late Game & Teamfights

When most turrets are destroyed and ganks might happen everywhere, all 5 members of your team have to stick together. As the main tank you decide where to go. You may choose between two options.

If the enemies are "clever" enough to send somebody out solo, try to gank him by taunting him with Shadow Dash while your teammates do maximum damage.

If they are clever enough to stick together, only a teamfight can decide who deserves to win the match. For that you are the player that initiates. That means you decide for your team when the teamfight has to begin. You do that with Shadow Dash! It's best to get their Carry or Caster with it, because then you take the champs that deal the most damage out for some seconds.

If your party gets surprisingly attacked by the enemy party, your job is to activate Randuin's Omen and to use Shadow Dash and Exhaust on the most dangerous enemies while your teammates bring them down. Be prepared to use Stand United if needed.

Be aware that you got only one try on Shadow Dash, because it has 10 secs cooldown, which is more than the important part of a teamfight usually lasts.

If you win the teamfight, chase down fleeing survivors and enjoy a push without annoying enemies. If you don't win the fight, make the best of a bad job and get away by activating Ghost if necessary.







Another option is to let your 4 teammates push together while you push a side lane on your own. Shen is one of the few champs that is able to do this properly!
Keep an eye on the minimap and remember two things - First: Be ready to activate Stand United to join a teamfight that might happen to your teammates - Second: If you see any enemy appearing near your location, run away. Likely the enemies will try to gank you, because they think single enemies are easy to kill. But you won't die because of your marvellous escape features. You can use Shadow Dash to get over walls, Ghost and Randuin's Omen to be faster than your chasers, or (my personal favorite) Stand United on any teammate as your very last possibility to disappear before the enemies can kill you. Be careful for hard CC that will prevent your teleport though.


Both tactics work, so try them out and then decide which comforts you most.

General advice

Use Stand United if :

- there's a chance that your ally won't make it without your help,
- your team won't get a kill without your appearance.


Don't use it if :

- it seems that you'll die after being teleported to him,
- ally will die anyway, because the enemies make that much damage, that the shield breaks.


Ultimate rescue combination (if the enemies do very much damage) :

1. Stand United (think of how to use Shadow Dash)
2. Ghost (prepare for a run)
3. Shadow Dash (try to taunt all of them)
4. Run counter your ally (to pull the enemies away from him)







A Sight Ward is a very powerful tool in League of Legends because Map Control is the key to a good game. So whenever you got an item slot free and too less gold to buy your next item, take some wards with you and place them at important places like Dragon or Baron Nashor (after 25 minutes you should always have a Sight Ward at Baron Nashor !).
If you don't know how to make the best use of them, i recommend you to read this simple guide to sight wards (link). It will help you alot!







Not much to say at this point. Just do as the headline says. WATCH. THE. MINIMAP.!
Sorry for the Caps, but this is one major issue for a lot of fails. You can avoid a lot of moaning if you just watch the minimap (it is located at the bottom right of your screen, in case you haven't noticed yet).

Three Basic Rules: 1. No matter whether your mates called "miss" or not. If there's a portrait missing while you are laning, an enemy is propably heading towards you to catch you off guard.
2. Before engaging on an enemy while you are on your own, watch the minimap. If all the enemies are alive AND missing, stop right where you are, turn around and get back to a safe location. A lot of players get killed because they do not reckon that enemies plan an ambush while their ally is chased.
3. Never run out too far if the enemies are missing. The farther you are away from a safe turret the harder it is to survive. You better back up before getting surrounded by them.







A lot of people, espacially new players, just see a kill as some bonus gold. As a conclusion they see their death just as a little bonus gold for the enemies.
But I tell you, it is more than that. This happens when you are dead:
1. You miss from 30 up to 90 seconds of your game/farm time (that includes death time and the time required to get back to your lane or wherever).
2. Your enemies can push easier for 30 - 90 sec and might get your turret down because of that (+ 750 gold for them).
3. You can't help your ally that might get in a dangerous situation for 30-90 sec, thus secure a second (third, fourth, fifth) kill for the enemies.
4. You might loose the Red/Blue Buff and pass it to an enemy for at least 2:30 seconds.
5. You might give the enemies a 100% chance to kill Baron Nashor , because your team is too weak to steal it for about 30-90 seconds.

You see, a kill is so much more important / a death is so much more disastrous than it seems to be from the first view. The enemies won't just get stronger, you will also get weaker, so it will get more and more impossible to catch up with them again. Remember these words when you're having a 4-10-4 game the next time.







What I've been experiencing lately is people that want to stay near Baron Nashor or Dragon while the enemies are killing it. That only results in them getting killed. What you have to learn is to let things go. If they are 5 and their jungler got Smite, then why are you staying there? You can't steal it but will only get yourself killed. So just retreat when you can't help the situation anyway.







Some say Shen is among the Top 10 Twisted Treeline Champs. I know that his Shadow Dash should prove itself to be very useful because if there are only 3 enemies it's easier to catch all of them with one shot. But anyways, I don't play TF, so I have no evidence for that. If you do, please give him a chance and then tell me about it in the comments. Thanks :)

Update Notes

19-12-2010 : 20-12-2010 : 05-01-2011 : 06-01-2011 : 10-02-2011 : 02-03-2011 : 18-04-2011 : 19-04-2011 : 27-06-2011 : ^ 03-07-2011 : 20-07-2011 : 01-08-2011 : 17-08-2011 : ^ 19-08-2011 : 16-09-2011 : 24-09-2011 : 25-09-2011 : 17-11-2011 : 09-02-2012 : 11-02-2012 : 15-02-2012 : 10-04-2012 : 13-12-2012 : 15-12-2012 : 13-01-2013 : 20-03-2013 : 23-03-2013 : 29-03-2013 : 30-03-2013 : 31-03-2013 :

Changed some minor details Removed Leviathan and added Soul Shroud instead Changed build design with the new Mobafire Guide Setup Added AD-Offtank build Changed build name Now using Exhaust for both builds Added a picture for Summoner Spells and a link to the Bible of LoL (by Condon) Mentioned the importance of wards Flash and Guardian Angel are now part of the build. (Thanks to PsiGuard) Added the Jungle build Changed some minor details Added more detail Added some colors Removed AD-Offtank and added Offensive Tank instead Edited runes (Thanks to Hahano) and layout Finished the situational items Now using Wriggle's Lantern when jungling Added the Dominion chapter and renamed build Changed the items for Dominion Added the new masteries and summoner spells Now using more Feint Adapted abilities to the Nautilus Patch Changed various details and added the Support build Adjusted the Jungle items and the Shadow Dash change New masteries and some item changes Some text and many item changes Items and runes texts changed Minor detail changes Finished Counter Picks First attempt to finish the "Items" chapter Changed some minor details Removed Dominion guide

Ending

If you haven't seen the Bible of LoL by Condon yet, you've missed a great work. It's teachful for newbies and amusing for experienced players.

You want to spice up your build? Read Making a Guide by jhoijhoi. It's a must-read for those who want to publish aesthetic builds.


Remember that as a tank you need to change your behavior and your way of buying items according to the enemy team.

Even though this is my first guide, I tried my best to explane everything. Thanks for reading! I am looking forward to read criticism and questions!