Shen Build Guide by antimatter
This build has been archived and is for historical display only.
PLEASE NOTE: This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.
Build Guide
Discussion (7)
Champion Build: Shen
| Health | 3961.8 |
| Health Regen | 17.35 |
| Energy | 0 |
| Energy Regen |
| Armor | 111.3 |
| Magic Resist | 104.3 |
| Dodge | 0 |
| Tenacity | 35 |
| Movement Speed | 405 |
| Gold Bonus | 0 |
| Attack Damage | 115.25 |
| Attack Speed | 153.027 |
| Crit Chance | 0%S |
| Crit Damage | 0% |
| Ability Power | 0 |
| Life Steal | 0% |
| Spell Vamp | 0 |
| Armor Penetration | 0 |
| Magic Penetration | 7.83 |
| Cooldown Reduction | 0% |
Recommended Runes
Ability Sequence
Mastery Tree Is Outdated
WARNING: These masteries are still using the old tree and have not been updated to the new tree by the guide author. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Introduction
Hello people of LoL! I give you a Shen guide. I wrote up this guide because other guides out there did not capture what felt is the essence of Shen. If I were to describe Shen in three words it would be these: zone, protect, push. The revamped Shen's laning phase is top notch, as he can last hit efficiently while continuously harassing opponents. He can protect carries not only with his well-known ult, but also with a group taunt and potentially high damage to draw attention to himself. And lastly, his split pushing ability is second to none, something I feel is not enhanced enough in typical Shen builds.
Well let's get started shall we?
Runes
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9 |
Greater Seal of Scaling Armor 9 |
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9 |
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health 3 |
||||||||||||
Runes and Masteries are a more personal choice as opposed to items and skill order. I suggest these runes because they work out best for me.
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration I choose these marks because they amplify Shens early game damage. His Vorpal Blade and his Ki strike both do magic damage. This combo allows you zone pretty hard. I will elaborate on this later.Greater Seal of Defense I feel defense per level wins out against flat defense because Shen should be stacking health early, which compensates for it. The defense per level makes for a very tanky Shen late game.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist Same reason as the defense per level seals.Greater Quintessence of Vitality Shen is built around health. The more you have, the merrier he is, and of course the more damage he does :D
Masteries
| Masteries | |||||||||||||||||
|
4/4
|
4/4
|
1/1
|
3/3
|
3/4
|
4/3
|
2/1
|
1/2
|
1/1
|
3/1
|
3/3
|
1/3
|
||||||
Defensive Tree
Resistance
and
Hardiness
give basic defenses that help early game. Durability
gives you decent health late game.
Veteran's Scars
gives you decent health early game.
Indomitable
damage reduction is nice, but its mostly filler for...
Siege Commander
One of Shen's jobs is to push, and every little help in that area counts.
Initiator
I like movement speed. How about you?
Honor Guard
Now here's some real damage reduction. Juggernaut
The ultimate tank mastery- a little bit of tenacity and health go a long way.Offensive Tree
Mental Force
Mostly filler for this level, you could take a couple points in
Butcher
instead if you wished. Sorcery
Filler and some cooldown reduction. I'm ok with this. Arcane Knowledge
more spell penetration that is good late game.Utility Tree
Since you should be taking 21 in defense, you are split between offensive 9 or utility 9. Personally, I don't see anything in utility that is as useful to Shen as there is in the offensive tree.
Items
Ah, the items. This is the interesting part. I challenge you to both read my block of text and read it with an open mind. I'll start out by saying building Atmog's or an ap tank wastes his potential:
Atmog's splits the damage as ad and ap. If you take armor pen reds, then your early game suffers. If you take magic pen marks, you're late game suffers. If you take hybrid marks, then BOTH suffer. In all three cases, you are sacrificing attack speed for either Defense or power in your item build. Ap tanks are a little simpler to counter. you just can't get enough ap to be worth a damn. That and you wont have decent attack speed.
Now why am I stressing attack speed? You may not realize it, but early-mid game attack speed wins vs damage in taking down towers. And alas we get his core build:
This core allows for Shen to do his three primary functions. Early health gives him the damage to harass hard. Mid-game attack speed allows him to split push hard and contribute in team fights.
Late game items are dependent on the game's situation. However, 9 times out of 10 I go 
Force of Nature and 
Randuin's Omen to round off my resistances. Not every game is this simple, and sometimes you have to deal with the failure of a fed team. Here are some suggestions:
An alternative to round your resistances 
Guardian Angel and 
Aegis of the Legion. You are going to see Guardian angel and Aegis of the Legion a lot in these "suggested last two items" sections. Both give decent resistances for both ad and ap, allowing you to the coveted attack speed for pushing while getting a specialized second item for the defense needed.
Oh that AD Carry is so FED
Guardian Angel and 
Thornmail Guardian Angel and 
Sunfire Cape Guardian Angel and Randuin's Omen Aegis of the Legion and Thornmail Aegis of the Legion and Sunfire Cape Aegis of the Legion and Randuin's OmenOh that AP Carry is so FED
Guardian Angel and 
Banshee's Veil Guardian Angel and 
Quicksilver Sash Guardian Angel and Force of Nature Aegis of the Legion and Banshee's Veil Aegis of the Legion and Quicksilver Sash Aegis of the Legion and Force of NatureOh hey I'M REALLY FED!
Madred's Bloodrazor
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Abyssal ScepterEmphasis on REALLY FED, don't forget that you are a tank!
Summoner Spells
Ideal Spells
and
are the two summoner spell I go with 99% of the time. I take teleport because as a solo top it is good to be able to back without skipping a beat. Late game, you can save a tower or back door with teleport. I feel at least one person on any team should have teleport. I take heal because 1) So you gotta save a carry and he is half health? no problem! Ult + heal can turn around a teamfight significantly 2) It is a great bait spell at top because almost no one takes it at top lane. 3) Shen doesn't need an escape. He has a dash and it is sufficient.
Other Viable Spells
Great spell for dodging getting caught or initiating.
Spell is nice to shut down an AD carry or offtank.
I wouldn't suggest other spell besides these 4.
Tackling Various Phases Throughout the Game
Here is where Shen really shines. He is hard to counter because of his High sustain/High harass combination. Many people cry OP! because of this, however it can be dealt with effectively. You may be playing a strong character, but that does not mean you can play him in a stupid fashion.
Levels 1-2: Farm. No harassing yet. Shen gets pwnt during these early levels. *cry*
Levels 3-end of laning phase: ZONE. zone zone zone zone zone zone. Did i mention zone? When you hit 4, you really do some dps. The 4 hit combo of Vorpal Blade > Shadow Dash > Ki Strike > Vorpal Blade can do a LOT of damage. Play it smart though. Use that after a sustain or shield skill to put them in their place. Deny the siege minion by forcing them to attack you. Did they ward? Your Jungler's got CC? Fine. Hold them in place for that Udyr or Skarner to stun/suppress so you can finish the job.
Mid-game: You are doing either one of two things - pushing or protecting. Its a simple matter of if your top lane is present or not. If he is? farm. If he isn't push. Oh, but anti, what about the 4 vs 5 teamfight that's just about to start?! I'm gonna miss out on the killing! Don't worry my dear! Shen has an ult for a reason.
Late game you should be cautious when trying to split push. Generously ward. That will save your life. Other than that its the same as mid-game.
A note on pushing. Always emphasize bottom lane first. When bottom lane is pushed to the inhibitor, you can double threat a final push and baron. Your opponents will have to either guard one, or they will split up. Counter accordingly.
Summary
| Masteries | |||||||||||||||||
|
4/4
|
4/4
|
1/1
|
3/3
|
3/4
|
4/3
|
2/1
|
1/2
|
1/1
|
3/1
|
3/3
|
1/3
|
||||||
| Ability Sequence | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
|
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9 |
Greater Seal of Scaling Armor 9 |
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9 |
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health 3 |
||||||||||||
| Item Sequence | |||||||||||||||
Boots of Speed 325 |
Health Potion 35 |
Health Potion 35 |
Health Potion 35 |
Ruby Crystal 475 |
Sight Ward 75 |
Health Potion 35 |
Mercury's Treads 1200 |
||||||||
Giant's Belt 1000 |
Warmog's Armor 2830 |
Wit's End 2400 |
Ionic Spark 2100 |
Force of Nature 2610 |
Randuin's Omen 3100 |
||||||||||
and
/
/
Other things and silly nonsense.
Thanks jhoijhoi for her excellent tutorial. I Would have been lost without it.
Thanks to Hyfe and Dufftime that opened the door to learning the subtleties of the game.
Enjoy, comment, and rate. Always open to suggestions.
|
|
|
|
|
Shen: God in Ninja Armor
By Roronoa EvrIs |
|
|
Simply Shen: Top Lane
By SmokedCarpenter |
|
|
The S3 Jungle Shen Guide: He really is everywhere!
By NAPKEtheBLOODY2 |
|
|
Shen - The Victorious Toplaner
By Extise |
This Week's Free Champions
Scheduled Tournaments
|
MOBAFire Community Cup NA June
Registration Open
|
|
Dominate Dominion #62
Registration Open
|
|
MOBAFire Community Cup EUW June
Finished
|
|
|
Dominate Dominion #61
Finished
|
Drop-in Games
 |
MOBAFire Inhouses
Registration Open
|
