Hello, I’m Zell a deviant user of the MOBAFIRE community. I decided to contribute to the set of firm guides we have on this site and hopefully it is efficacious in doing so.

Do note that this isn’t a laning guide although many of the techniques said here can be adopted to the lane but the content is still foremost for the purpose of jungling.



It is also likely that we both may not necessarily agree with one another on certain points but I find that such news is neither troubling nor surprising as we’re both humans (at least I think... unless your cat is reading this?) in addition to many of the content here being subjective. I’d appreciate it if you don’t have the audacity to hold me responsible if you happen to not do so well in following this guide as there is an absurd amount of external and internal causes to take in account. As such I encourage you not to down vote me if you don’t like said champion or style of play however if you gain satisfaction from troll voting/commenting and come upon the need for said emotion then go ahead. Without further adieu let us start.


Shen is a an extraordinary tank and a semi-AP Carry, his durability strives from having the best base armor than any other champion at 18 even after the nerfs. Being the sole energy resourced tank is what allows him to thrive with his fluid play-style along with his fair mobility furthermore proper management of said source is what makes Shen a force to be reckoned with.

Shen is often found in the top lane but I find him just as amazing in the jungle if not more so as it takes advantage of his truly outrageous map wide presence more so while not being drawn-back in having to protect towers at top lane and being concerned over being out-pushed in certain match-ups - Cho'Gath being a prime example. I have had ravishing success with playing Shen and intend to hopefully share this success with you through this guide.



(I'll hopefully upload more games in the future when he isn't auto-banned so much)

Brings healing utility with Vorpal Blade which comes in use in prolonged fights Tremendous survivability due to his overall skill set and base stats Multi-target control with his Shadow Dash Global reposition ultimate Fantastic split-pushing potential He’s a fricking Ninja Cons Can become energy starved if abilities are used incorrectly Slow clearing time in contrast with Shyvana, Udyr etc If you have another fellow Ninja with you ( Akali & Kennen) you lose a single health point for each Ninja on the team due to Law of Inverse Ninja Strength which is game breaking

I’d like to quickly take this opportunity to inform these new to the game to not bother buying any Tier 1 or Tier 2 runes and instead carry on levelling as it doesn’t take that long to reach level 20 to gain access to Tier 3 runes which you will be used for the rest of your time playing without any need of replacement or upgrading.

During this section I’ve tried my best to not only cover the standard set of runes but also give my insight upon more unorthodox runes which on paper may look appealing to some. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to over every rune as I see that as inefficient and many runes are self-explanatory in whenever or not a tank or jungler would wish to uphold such runes.

Marks

Greater Mark of Attack Speed – The attack speed gained helps decrease clear time and attack speed in general is a useful stat on Shen as it synergies with his passive Ki Strike and various on-hit items that you tend to get akin Wit’s End.

Greater Mark of Armor – You are not Rammus with Defensive Ball Curl being able to clear camps fairly swiftly with the unique function of Spiked Shell as an added bonus. You already have the talents, base stats, items etc. for armor. Anymore would be overkill in my opinion.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration – As likely to be mentioned all of the damage dealt by his abilities is magical damage and these runes help Shen offensively. Greater Mark of Attack Speed does much more than just give some offensive power; it assists his utility and essence of his resource hence why I take these runes over Greater Mark of Magic Penetration.

Greater Mark of Precision – Well, I did say I would cover unconventional runes as well didn’t I? Still, Shen main damage output on champions is clearly one-sided in that the majority of it is magical damage and Greater Mark of Magic Penetration offers almost twice the ratio given by Greater Mark of Precision. From an armor penetration view-point it will aid clearing slightly and have no real effect outside that. I really wouldn’t recommend using these runes as I strongly feel that there are better options.

Seals

Greater Seal of Armor - The standard flat armor seals for the majority of junglers , mitigating damage done by jungle creeps, minion aggro, towers and of course attack damage dealt by champions.

Greater Seal of Defense –You really shouldn’t get these runes. The scaling on them is really poor thus taking you 10 levels before they actually surpass Greater Seal of Armor, beforehand leaving you really vulnerable early on especially when you need to be prepared for 1vs1 confrontations from invasions.

Greater Seal of Vitality – The reason why I dislike these runes is that armor is vastly underrated due to the effective health it dispenses, a common factor overlooked. Just calculating purely the armor from Greater Seal of Armor at level 1 conveys approximately 128.53 effective health to my calculations. Of course the main flaw is that this effective health has no effect whatsoever against magical damage. It is also good to note that armor makes all heals on yourself more effective in that it takes more effort to expend said health than on a target with armor then one without while the effort to restore said health remains the same.

Greater Seal of Endurance – Great choice for a tank, right? Nope, don’t judge a book rune by its cover. Greater Seal of Vitality offer a total of 175 health at level 18, 1958 health equals to about 8.95% health increase. So in order for Greater Seal of Endurance to surpass that value you would need a total of 3888 health even as a tank that figure is a joke.

Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - The reasoning of why you get Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist over Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is that you are very unlikely to take any magical damage before level 6 and once your 6 they’ve nearly out valued the stats of Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - If you don’t have Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist or simply don’t wish to buy them at present time I guess you settle for flat Magic resist although they won’t be as effective later on.

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed - There is no reason for you to get these runes, the ratios are inferior to that of their marks counterpart Greater Mark of Attack Speed and if you need a faster clear time you should take Greater Mark of Attack Speed as that will suffice from the rune front. Consequently getting them will make you too vulnerable against magical damage.

Quintessence

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed – I value movement speed abundantly. A lot of the times you will have no means of escape after all you’ll be using Shadow Dash to control the dangerous targets and may very well not have chosen to opt for Flash. A lot of champions base movement speed exceeds that of Shen, so this provides the vital edge in making up for that loss. Theoretically, let’s say you Stand United onto someone to turn the tables on a 1vs1 situation or 2vs1 tower dive the enemy will likely react by turning back as soon as they spot the shield. Movement speed corresponds to this by allowing you to catch up to be within Shadow Dash taunt range.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power – I prefer the efficacy of Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed other than the partial damage boost it offers early on it doesn't put much on the plate. Adds some numbers to your sustain so it’s certainly a viable option nonetheless just not one I would recommend.

Greater Quintessence of Health – Gives an adequate amount of health, however I’m inclined to say that the value of it decays as the game progresses while in contrast Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed just keeps getting better and better seeing as the flat % keeps on scaling. It also has absolute no effect on your ganking power or jungle clear speed – two vital factors.

Greater Quintessence of Endurance – Same story as Greater Seal of Endurance but different numbers.

Ki Strike

Vorpal Blade

Feint

Shadow Dash

Stand United

The skill sequence is fairly straight-forward without really any need of adjustment to adapt to the circumstances of the situation. You level your ultimate foremost Stand United as to lower its cooldown and increasing the strength of its shield. Next you level Vorpal Blade as it is your primary source of damage and brings a healing niche for your fellow team-mates. After, level Feint to increase its shield power to mitigate further damage and reduce its cooldown by 1 for each rank. You leave Shadow Dash for last as you only gain 35 damage per a rank as oppose to the 45 damage per a rank of Vorpal Blade which has a lower cooldown as well, levelling thisdoes not increase the taunt duration at present time as it had done in the past so we just level it once and rank it up last. The time of which I level Shadow Dash depends on when I wish to gank, if I want to try for a level 2 gank then I will get it at level 2 otherwise I'll normally just get it at level 4.

Starting Items

Shen is extremely flexible in terms of his starting items as he already has incredible sustain from his Vorpal Blade and as such doesn’t need to start with the traditional Cloth Armor + 5x Health Potion route that many junglers are restricted too.

Starting Boots lets you manoeuvre around the jungle hastily being able to run away from nasty situations if needed against early aggression. The outstanding element is that they’re great for early ganking if you wish to do such a procedure in order to give your lane the upper hand and possibly first blood (most likely forcing Flash though).

I recommend this start for novice players who may not have a complete mastery page or the appropriate set of high tier runes. They’re of course the safest option which later on will be built into either a Ninja Tabi or Randuin's Omen.

This start is with the intentions to fast track straight into Heart of Gold promptly. For these in doubt of any sustain problems that may occur I can confirm that with the runes I run I don’t fall below 200 health in doing either the Red Path or Blue Path mentioned later in this guide. Chances are you won’t unless you get a dozen critical strikes from the wolf camp.

Boots

These are the tank designed boots with the purpose of being a defensive against magical damage but also granting your tenacity to reduce CC duration which otherwise you wouldn’t be able to viably get. Hands down they’re the boots I most typically use easily, the defensive physical damage equivalent being Ninja Tabi.

They’re pretty cheap and really effective against heavy AD compositions with an auto-attacking niche for example: Tryndamere, Ashe etc. If the enemy team has a formidable amount of CC I don’t obtain this item even if they have a bruiser top.

Core Items

This is the collection of items that I dub as the core of Shen which work in harmony with one another in one or many ways to achieve the aspects of which you would wish to succeed at: ganking, split-pushing, durability & utility.

I already prior to this praised Ki Strike as well as attack speed, touching upon how the two interact with one another. A critical shortcoming of Shen is his slothful clear time, this subsides that crucial defect. It is honestly pretty cost efficient with the passive (42 bonus magic damage) only costing 263 gold, it helps Shen in the damage font which is a fundamental principle for one intending to split-push as a capable 1vs1 dualist.

I’m going to be blunt and say that I hate this item. It is atrociously cost inefficient with a lousy passive and on any other champion I wouldn’t get this item for instance when playing Rammus. So you may be intrigued as to why exactly I’ve included this item into my Core Items set and rightly so. This item is required for Shen to split-push so effectively, without the passive of this item his pushing ability will be severely gimped (Keep in mind that Shadow Dash does not work on minions!). It gives a reasonable amount of health and some armor on the side which is fine enough too, accompanied by the passive effect making camps clear faster.

The art of causing disruption among the enemy team is more than just CC via Shadow Dash yet dismaying a sufficient amount of damage to be accounted for as a threat. This item helps accomplish this goal hence why I’ve placed it among my core items. All of Shen abilities scale off Ability Power in addition to some elements scaling off health both of which are featured from Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Without straying from the path of becoming a legit tank by ascending your health which is always useful for counteracting against the true damage by everyday champion picks such as: Irelia, Vayne etc. The passive functions as an applicable aspect of the control kit that Shen possess, Vorpal Blade does proc this item making it a nifty range snare utility in chasing down enemies or peeling off enemies from your carries.

Optional Items

I tend to get this item against double AP compositions. The aura more or less eliminates the magic resist ambience portion of Aegis of the Legion thus boosting the magical damage of your fellow allies moreover, just yourself. No need to worry about whenever you’re in range seeing as it covers a 1000 range dimension, although you ought to be cautious about its debuff icon as it appears even when within the brush hence giving your position away.

If my team composition is somewhat naturally durable ( Mordekasier, Ryze, Graves & Taric as an example) then I consider buying this item telling my support ahead of time so he can rush Shurelya’s Reverie instead. It may not stack for your team-mates but it does for these with the item, similar method as you would do with Will of the Ancients. A neat item when taking an enormous amount of AoE damage on both fronts such as: Defile, Broken Wings etc.

Force of Nature doesn't strike a chord with me. The regeneration isn’t that appealing in full on fights, no effective health to scale with either Ki Strike or the healing of Vorpal Blade and gives less movement speed than you would get from Zeal. The health from Banshee's Veil (375) grants a 5.625 bonus to Vorpal Heal a tick for your whole team, whilst on the other hand Force of Nature passive will give you 10.5 a tick (at 3000 health) – Of course Force of Nature has the edge healing wise not only number-wise as the tick happens constantly while Vorpal Blade ticks won’t happen if you happen to be stunned or controlled in some way. To be frank I contemplate this item to be that of a selfish one, if you really like it go for it I guess but I wouldn’t recommend it.

First of all I’m going to state that the passive is practically useless, people aren’t stupid enough to waste a stun or what not on a shield even disorganized teams. However, in saying that it is handy against certain combo reliant champions like Sion but if the enemy team composition has no other means of breaking the shield then it’s very questionable. In most cases the shield gets popped by poke (that’s how most people pop bubbles no?). A slab of health and magic resist but it’s still more appropriate as a defensive item for let’s say AD range carries and I feel that there are better options out there.

Zeke's Herald Since the revamp of this item it is more suitable for supports now than for fellow tanks as it was in the past. I don’t usually take this item unless my AD carry is doing really well and has become extremely fed, even then it’s better for your support to get this item rather than yourself.

Despite me getting this item in both builds I didn’t place it in my core item set for the reason that I don’t regularly get to buy this item before the game draws to a close. Some may question the point of buying Warmog's Armor so late into the game except Shen even at 50mins will be split-pushing whenever his Stand United is up till a team-fight occurs in which if the outcome is of your favour then your Warmog's Armor will be almost fully stacked just from that single fight nevermind the farm from split-pushing. Also, gives a good boost to your Ki Strike.

Possibly my most favourite item, it brings a handful of stats to the table of relevance to being a tank. The passive works outstandingly well with Shadow Dash, the on-use active is amazing and you can assume it to last to 3 seconds. Keep in mind that the calculations only count for every 100 armor/magic resist so even if you have 99 armor it won’t administrate it. If you foresee yourself building this item then getting Heart of Gold ahead of time in order to fully manipulate its gold per 5 passive is a wise move to make.

One of the most efficient items in the game with the passive practically counting for as a B. F. Sword while having a share of armor. It doesn’t give as much damage that you would get from Rylai's Crystal Scepter meanwhile being a nifty bonus to your shields and Shadow Dash damage.

Quite a cheap item; therefore you may wish to attain this item if you’re behind, an adequate amount of health and magic resistance. The passive syncs with Vorpal Blade although it’s of minor significance, the cooldown reduction is slightly better.

The less talented sibling out of the lime light of Wit's End, rarely taken seriously due to it being less consistent and less reliable while costing 300g more. If the enemy team has no magical damage whatsoever than I may consider taking this item instead of Wit's End although in the current meta that is highly implausible.

The never, never, ever list

There is no rational reason to buy this item. The passive does not stack with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, gives less health than Warmog's Armor and the amount of attack damage is comparable to a 2% discount for a £900 wide-screen TV aka it’s irrelevant.

This is a tank guide, not a “The enemy is incredibly **** and I’m going 16/0 in less than 20mins” guide.

This gives no defensive stats whatsoever except indirectly the spell vamp & life steal helping you sustain. Still not a tank item.

I won’t go into too much depth about warding as there are plentiful amount of resources on the internet about warding and where to do it.

You want to be buying wards throughout whenever you can afford so whilst at the shop. Your main priority will be warding objections. At times you will wanting to ward your own jungle against eager invaders as to stop them in their tracks and hopefully with your fellow team-mates catch them out of position.

Guidelines

• Red outlines = Urgent Objections Wards
• Orange outlines = Protective Wards
• Yellow outlines = Situational Wards

This image is the basic fundamental ward placement spots on which areas you’d want to be covered. Later on as the game transitions into late-game with towers down the momentum of the game deepens into more various areas in which you’d find your ward placements progress deeper within the jungle areas.

The Red outlined wards are ones which cover the main objections in the game: Dragon & Baron Nashor. You can substitute said wards for a Vision Ward in which you’d want to have it just outside the crater in order to gain vision inside of it to eliminate any wards that may be placed within.

The Orange outlined wards are defensive wards with the purpose of protecting your lane. A lot of the times you will alternate between positioning of wards depending on where the team-mate of said lane is warding (at least he should be), typically at mid you’d cover the side which he hasn’t placed a ward at. If for whatever reason your top lane isn’t warding or his ward is about to elapse then you can move the Baron ward as shown in the above diagram to the left direction as emphasised by the black arrow.

The Yellow outlined wards are situational wards which may or may not be placed depending on the circumstances of the game. In cases when you really want to attempt to deny the enemy blue and have a strong enough mid-lane to contest it then ward the enemy blue buff bushes as to have vision on it to smite it even if they pull it back into the bush. If top lane is losing badly and the enemy laner is constantly pushing then roaming in your jungle (most famously done by M5 at IEM Kiev) than you’ll want to have a ward within your jungle to keep track of the enemy movement and to have sight on your red buff. The ward within the enemy jungle near the Wraith camp is to allow yourself or the mid-lane to steal the Blue Wraith and to assist in knowing the whereabouts of the enemy jungler to try minimize the possibilities of counter-ganks and such.

Often a disregarded aspect but in the end of the day it matters and does actually make a difference. The time of which you should “pot up” is when you feel that a major team-fight is coming up in which the outcome will likely decide the aftermath of the game. You should step it up and bring you’re A game so pot up. Whenever builds are completed during time enduring games you should just spend on-going gold accumulated on elixirs. I’m also going to cover Oracle's Elixir here.

The elixir which should capture probably the most attention for you. Basically a miniscule Heal, I tend to get this even earlier than late-game if I feel that I need a clutch heal which is most notable for against Requiem. It bypasses similar effects to that of Ignite, so no need to worry about it being made redundant.

Usually you won’t be able to achieve the cooldown reduction cap but with the following: Sorcery, Randiun's Omen, Blue buff (stolen from the enemy hopefully…) and Elixir of Brilliance you can. Not to forget the ability power is certainly a welcomed sight.

Last on the “to buy list”, the crit chance is simply “whatever”. Main point of buying this is the attack speed which is nice.

Oracle's Elixir is endowed in a heavy ward environment which can be expected from organized 5vs5 teams and high level play. Discarding the vision granted by wards can prevent aggressive and energetic play (roaming, counter-jungling etc) from said lane. Of course the added effect of being able to detect stealth is invaluable against certain stealth mechanic champions for example: Akali, Vayne etc. Later on you can bait or force major objections like Baron Nashor particularly if they don’t have Clairvoyance. I’d only recommend getting an early Oracle's Elixir if you know what you doing. Do not get this item if your support already has Oracle's Elixir, as it just makes your team even more valuable and that trading equal amount of kills with non-oracles targets will end in favour of the enemy team unless bounty gold is involved.

Shen is quite a versatile jungler whom is fairly flexible with the capability to start wherever he pleases as a result of his astonishing sustain and being an energy resourced champion. Nevertheless some paths are superior to others and the procedure you undertake will be according to the conditions of the game and the way your enemy/allies play it out.

Red Path

1. Start a Wraith camp spawning at 1:40, if feasible ask your mid lane to collaborate in taking down the camp while making sure you pull it as to prevent any chance of resets that may cause further delays.
   
   
2. Red Lizard camp should spawn at 1:55, if you get a leash cool if not, no problem. Chug down a Health Potion if you have any as needed. Smite it down once it reaches 445 health.
   
   
3. Move onto the Golem camp, if on the blue side some bot combinations (not all since the v1.0.0.135 Patch changes) will have cleared this in which you’d find that the camp won’t spawn for further 10-20 seconds. If you are on blue side and your bot lane wishes to do Golems than take the Blue Path route.
   
   
4. After Golems you can either gank top if you see an opportunity present itself in which you’d want to level Shadow Dash instead of Feint at level 2 if not, Wraiths would have respawned allowing you to clear them again.
   
   
5. Move towards the other side to clear the Wolf Camp, if you’ve taken Shadow Dash at level 2 to gank top then you may wish to gank mid if you see the chance.
   
   
6. I often prefer to donate the first Blue buff to mid in order to give them the advantage in lane. If there is no need than you can take it along with all the exp for yourself. Smite when appropriate as always.

Blue Path

1. Start a Wolves camp spawning at 1:40, hopefully your team-mates can assist in damage (without taking exp…) once again make sure you pull it.
   
   
2. Blue Golems spawn at 1:55, move on to it promptly after Wolves so you’re mid doesn’t miss the first cs whilst pulling. Use Health Potion when necessary.
   
   
3. Clear Wraith camp.
   
   
4. We don’t bother with Golems as they aren’t as valuable as other camps so top/bot can clear it whenever they like instead we clear Wolves camp for a second time.
   
   
5. Go straight to Red Lizard camp and use Smite.
   
   
6. Clear Wraith camp for a second time, afterwards gank with red buff if you see the chance.

Counter-jungling is to get down to the point of it the method of depriving the enemy jungler of the resources (gold & experience) from his own jungle by “stealing” them. Shen may not be the most acclaimed counter-jungle in the game when put into analyzation in comparison to the likes of Shyvana, Lee Sin, Trundle etc. I feel that Shen to an extent is underestimated when it comes to counter-jungling as he may not clear camps as a whole that quickly but he can bring down single targets abruptly. Applying this to counter-jungling he can take down the larger jungle creep (the one which contains the majority of exp/gold) while leaving the rest so it won’t respawn and with Shen being the nimble champion he is he can escape sticky situations via Shadow Dash or Stand United in an emergency. If time allows you can take all the jungle creeps, leaving only a single minor jungle creep as for it not to reset for when the enemy jungler comes back.

If you have placed the urgent objection wards or some of the situational wards outlined above at the warding chapter you’ll have vision on aimed targets. When the enemy is donating blue to the AP mid than you have a chance to steal it with your Smite when nearby even if you can’t do so you’ll be able to keep track of it with a timer as typed by yourself in chat in order to know the exact time it spawns next. The same applies to elsewhere, if you can’t contest the objection than best you can do is keep a timer on it. Below are the respawn timers of the objections.

Just going to give a brief rundown of some enemy junglers you may encounter and how your abilities or their abilities interact with one another. Along with general info and advice, I may miss a few junglers but I only wish to cover the fundamental ones. On certain profiles I’ll add a WARNING tagline to indicate an extreme threat or mechanic you should be cautious of.


Risen in fame thanks to the debut of Snoopeh of CLG.EU using him effectively at the Kings of Europe tournament. Very powerful early ganks, he’d probably go mid or top at level 2 to try to force a Flash with his Headbutt/ pulverise combo leaving his jungle vulnerable.

There is a reason that Amumu is always crying. You can go toe to toe with him so don’t be scared to assault him, very predictable in that he is blue reliant unlike yourself.


If he’s running Exhaust be very cautious as he’d probably want to roam around your jungle to pick a fight in which it will come down to whenever or not your lanes are stronger or quick enough to react. Consider taking Ignite.

Haha, haven’t seen this twig for ages. You can interrupt his Bountiful Harvest & Crowstorm channels with Shadow Dash; just make sure you have sufficient wards to foresee any upcoming Crowstorm. You can tell if hes nearby due to his A Harmless Scarecrow passive which he can't turn off.

Remove Scurvy works against your Shadow Dash. His ultimate Cannon Barrage is global wise like yours and he provides his team and himself a movement steroid with Raise Morale.


One of my main junglers, an excellent duelist and his mobility is at such a high level that it excels even that of your own. He will likely be ganking early if your lanes are pushing so try to predict said gank so you can intervene for the counter-gank as to prevent any casualties.

WARNING A LOT OF EARLY BURST DAMAGE

You can stop his Cataclysm if you time Shadow Dash correctly. Be careful not to get knocked up by Demacian Standard + Dragon Strike combo mid-way through a Shadow Dash as it will cancel the taunt.

A surprisingly fast jungler with some scary initiations with Unstoppable Force, make sure to not be cluttered up close together with your team-mates like a flock of sheep as it’s just asking for a Flash + Unstoppable Force.

Tell your team not to allow him to get away with his optimal route popularized by TheOddOne of TSM in which he’d sink three Sapling Toss at Wraith camp taking it out in 1-2 seconds allowing him to do it twice. Simply walking near enough to the sapling to gain aggro will be enough.

WARNING ARCANE SMASH WILL INTERRUPT Shadow Dash IF USED IN MID-CAST

Shroud of Darkness will block your Shadow Dash and activate his attack speed steroid, its easy enough to spot as it’s just a shield animation on him. You can Shadow Dash out of range from his Unspeakable Horror if needed.

WARNING YOU CANNOT Stand United DURING Paranoia UNLESS YOU HAVE SIGHT ON THE TARGET

R.I.P the old king of counter-jungling.



You can spot a Shaco from a mile away from the “footprint” left by his Deceive even in fog of war it leaves a red puff of smoke in which you can in reaction spam ping your lane to go back or prepare for the worse and either make your way there if your nearby or get ready to Stand United. Whatever you do don’t get tricked by Hallucinate… it’s fairly easy to distinguish the fake .........one from the real one especially if he has some form of buffs.

Made widely popular by the team M5 and their performance at IEM Kiev. Shyvana is usually keen to counter-jungle so warding your own jungle in this situation may be a wise move even if it’s just for your mid lane to steal the exp from Wraiths rather than her. She has crazy amount of mobility from Burnout making it difficult to catch her.

WARNING ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE COUNTER-JUNGLERS

Practically almost has a permanent slow once he reaches his target with Shattered Earth. Fast and dangerous just like a scorpion. If you see him use a clutch Flash towards a vulnerable ally Shadow Dash him asap to prevent them from getting caught with Impale, same goes for Shurelya's Battlesong if you see him near 350 range of said ally.

Making any target squishy with his Agony ultimate. You want to try to snare him off your carries as to stall his Rabid Bite on the AD carry and Agony whoever they’re focusing. As far as I know his Pillar of Filth can’t interrupt your Stand United channel.

WARNING Pillar of Filth CAN BE USED TO BLOCK Shadow Dash

A common ban at all ranges of elo. During team-fights he’ll try to manoeuvre close enough with Powerball to get into Puncturing Taunt range of a key target, using Flash if necessary. You want to be blocking the path to collide with his Powerball as to cancel the component. Make sure to ward out when using protective wards for your lanes as he is so quick with Powerball ...............that if he isn’t spotted ahead of time he’ll be upon the laner before they can reach safety.

WARNING Shadow Dash WHILE Rammus IS IN Powerball WILL NULLIFY THE TAUNT EFFECT

You can deny any attempted initiations he makes with Infinite Duress by simply Shadow Dash to interrupt it. Very difficult to kill once he’s completed his core item set and he will still heal himself during taunt with his Eternal Thirst passive. Remember that he can turn off his Blood Scent passive if he wishes to sneak up on a target.

Ganking is a craftsmanship that all junglers have to acquaint themselves with. It is the tactic of which you use to influence the lanes and as a common League of Legends expression says “win lane, win game”. If an enemy lane is pushing aggressively so he can roam and such you should notice this giving them a just punishment via ganking. A customary answer to a losing lane is a gank. Being aware of where wards are is important, you can tell instintively by how the enemy laner reactions once you approach the lane, in the best situation your lane will ping the ward location and put it on timer. I’ll talk selectively about the three main techniques of ganking as follows.

River Gank

The most conventional type of gank carried out, simply by going through either the tri-bush or river to confront the lane and then Shadow Dash upon the target. You might need some form of CC by your ally in order for this type of gank to work.



First image is from the point of view of purple side and the second from the point of view of blue side. When ganking against a enemy blue side the likelihood is that it will be pushing as it naturally does so, as such you can just go straight through the river otherwise when ganking for blue side as said before chances are it will be pushing forcing you to go through either tri-bush or river depending on the state of the lane.

Lane Bush Gank

This type of gank requires your lane to have sufficiently pushed enough as for you not to be spotted by a minion as you enter the first bush of the lane. Once in a bush be patient and wait for them to go for the furthest cs than strike with your lane partner. You can tell him to attempt to bait it by fighting 1vs1 but that can be risky in that their playstyle beforehand has had to be very aggressive or else they’ll detect something fishy.

Counter-Gank

This is where Shen shines, anyone in general can counter-gank simply by being at the right place at the right time. What would have been an easy gank and a tower dive to deliver the finishing blow becomes a lot more complicated when you come in the picture. You can Stand United if you can’t reach the location within time but make sure that they’re actually committing for the kill or else if you blow your ultimate before they’ve actually used up anything than it will become obsolete.

Once again I’m just giving a brief rundown of enemy champions that you may encounter during a gank at either top or mid lane. The reason why I’m only doing these lanes is that they’re the primary solo lanes to gank and that at bot you have a support dedicated to warding the area thoroughly, of course aspects like Vision Ward and timing wards come into account but nevertheless the aforementioned lanes are the ones you will find yourself frequently ganking. This is mostly written from my perception and as such may be subject to biased even if I try my best not to do as to effect the validity of the content itself.


Either you or the top lane should have a Vision Ward at hand to be used against Twilight Shroud or else she’ll be able to slip away easily. Post-6 you want to keep track of her Shadow Dance charges as she can use it to on an enemy minion to escape.

Has no escape mechanism but can Rupture the ground to stop you at your tracks and slow you if he catches anyone. Equipped with a cone silence Feral Scream as well, a good Cho'Gath can be hard to gank but he is more vulnerable early on pre-6 before he can start advancing his Feast stacks.

Ugh, has a movement steroid from his Raise Morale and can simply eat an orange Remove Scurvy to remove Shadow Dash taunt or any other type of CC. Not to mention kiting potential with Parrrley combined with Grog Sloaked Blade. You don’t have to watch Wickd of CLG.EU to see how challenging ganking Gangplank can be.

A piece of cake to complete a gank on once Decisive Strike is forced pre-emptively. Just be wary of being too low on health as you don’t want to be executed by Demacian Justice.


Better buff Irelia, she can Bladesurge onto an enemy minion or yourself so know how the minion wave is developed. Be aware of your health or she may just Bladesurge followed by an Equilibrium Strike stun on top of your head. Best to gank her early on as you don’t want her to farm up and become a late-game beast.

He’s a ninja like you, and like a ninja he is hard to pin down due to Lightning Rush. If Lightning Rush isn't forced before the gank than the gank will likely fail unless he has pushed up severely.

Quite burdensome to gank, he can Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike on an enemy minion as to close the gap and then simply Safeguard / Iron Will upon a minion of his own or a sight ward if he has any on him. If you do somehow manage to catch him he can always just kick you away with Dragon's Rage. Try not to waste too much time on him.

Pretty slow champion at 310 base movement speed, hence why he has Seismic Shard. Unstoppable Force can be used as a means of escape but besides that he doesn’t have that many options except being a hard rock.

This guy naturally pushes with his Maces of Spades and Siphon of Destruction in order to maintain his shield and he is one of the strongest hyper-carries in the game, making him a prime target to gank. With coordination you should be able to take him down but be cautious of the healing/damage done by Children of the Grave.

**** this *****. You want to gank her before level 6 when she gets her Aspect Of The Cougar as once she attains that she becomes a pain in the *** to gank.


Most of the time he’d just want to Aegis of Zeonia on to you than Flash away, if he doesn’t have Flash up than you should be able to Shadow Dash on to him before he escapes out of range. Some players will try to be funny by going in the bush and escaping with Grand Skyfall but you’ll just teach them that Ninjas aren’t funny and that you can interrupt his Grand Skyfall ..............simply with Shadow Dash.

So many dashes it’s not even funny. You want your lane to force Broken Wings first or else it makes the situation a lot more difficult.


Early on his means of escaping with Scrap Shield will only have a 10% boost on most occasions so he isn’t that hard to gank unless you have an incompetent lane partner.


Wait for her Burnout to die out before proceeding with the gank, analyse her rage bar as to see whenever she can Dragon’s Decent away if her rage bar isn’t full she’s likely stuffed.


This can be tough. With Spinning Slash and Undying Rage you’d be forced to tower dive in most scenarios which is always dangerous, try to make sure you take tower aggro depending on your health.

Your lane has to bait the fight well as for Blazing Stampede and perhaps Iron Mantle to be used or else ganking him becomes quite demanding.


A smart Vladimir will simply Sanguine Pool just before you Shadow Dash making ganking him an almost impossible obstacle.


Listen carefully; do not get tricked by the Warrior Trickster. If you are confident in your abilities you can Shadow Dash him while he has used Warrior Trickster and break the stealth by the taunt effect but that requires quite accurate precision which takes practise.

For a change I’m going to simplify this section into separate clear cut bullet points as oppose to me waffling on paragraph after paragraph.

• Control your enemies through the means of Shadow Dash, Randuin's Omen active, Rylai's Crystal Scepter passive etc. In particular these that consist to be doing the most harm towards your team, this tending to be the carries.
  
• Vorpal Blade upon the target that is getting focused on the most as to make the most of its healing tick ability for your team-mates.
  
• Put Feint up in between whenever possible as to mitigate oncoming damage, preferably do so when Ki Strike is on cooldown as to fully take advantage of the passive on use effect.
  
• Don’t forget that you can use Stand United to apply a shield on a prime target when necessary if you are unable to control them any further.
  
• When split-pushing keep a watchful eye on your team-mates as to be able to Stand United as soon as needed and to foresee anyone accidently getting caught and possibly amending the situation.

Shen is fortunate enough to have a handful of wonderful skins available. I won’t cover Yellow Jacket Shen as it’s a Legacy skin which is no longer available so not much point except making readers envious to give a featuring video.

The cheapest of the Shen skins at a 520 RP price. This skin resembles Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, so if you’re a Mortal Kombat fan then this may very well be the skin for you.

The medical themed skin at the price of 975 RP. There has been no confirmation on what it is referred towards but there has been speculation that it is towards “The Adventures of Dr.McNinja”. If you’re inspiring to become a doctor or some form of physician then this may very well be the skin for you!

Last but certainly not least is the Blood Moon Shen skin, costing 975 RP. The mask worn in this skin is identical to that of the Japanese Noh Theatre. If you have a passion for Asian culture or simply like the colour red then this may very well be the skin for you! WARNING the video below contains annoying loud music.

Against mixed compositions

Against double AP compositions

Here I’ll keep track of all the patch note changes done to Shen, the jungle or drastic changes to the champions mentioned within this guide. Including modifications done to the guide. Date format is day/month/year.

6/3/12 - Released Guide

9/3/12 - Made some modifications based from koksei review

21/3/12 - Made further modifications based from latest reviews

Many thanks to all these who have read, commented, voted and the MOBAFIRE community as a whole. I hope you have enjoyed reading the guide and that it wasn’t too long. If you have found the guide truly useful than you can go a step further and +rep me if you wish to do so.

Special thanks to Jhoijhoi for making the banner for the guide and for being such a great asset to the community overall. Also check out her Guide to Making Guides which I used.