Shen is the first hero I become good at, and I've been great with him ever since. Once you master Shen get ready to be idolized by your team but cursed by your enemies. You can single handily change the outcome of the game.

Shen is the Lego tank, because their are many ways to build him. I put an item build up top as the best general build for Shen, but it's important to know that once you are comfortable with Shen you will constantly be changing your build depending on the team your up against. I'll explain more about changing your build depending on the enemy team later, but as Shen their are two main tactics you need to master.
1: Taunting with
2: Map awareness with

I use magic penetration marksfor your Vorpal blade: if your going to be killing someone it's going to be using that. Then dodge sealsis always nice on a tank, albeit expensive. Theflat magic glyphs resistances really helps early game against maages you have built enough magic resistance to go up against yet. Late game you should have enough magic resistance by building whatever items you need, so magic resistance per level becomes less important. Health quintsare just great early game/late game, i can't tell you how many times i've escaped with >80 health.

I Usually go for Ghost and Exhaust. Ghost provides that extra speed you need to catch up to enemies for that extra taunt for the kill. Great for saving allies and catching enemies. Exhaust is great for protecting allies from enemy AD champions and for slowing down enemies for the kill.

Start out with Dorans Shield (pretty clinch with health/regen/armor) and a health potion. Try to keep in the lane until you have 1460 gold, enough for Boots and Giant's Belt. As a tank, you absolutely need the extra health early on because you need to be able to take damage. You won't be able to build any significant resistances yet, so health is the way to go. Then finish your Mercury Treads, or your Sunfire Cape depending on what champions your dealing with in your lane (more detail later). By now the laning phase should be over and just go back periodically to get the above items. By going heart of gold then negatron cloak, you should now have plenty of resistance and health to successfully tank in most team fights.


Core Item Build:,,,,.

Tank Items

Here we will go over the optional tank items for Shen.

- This item is the best magic resist item in the game, the regen is nice but the movement speed is perfect for shen, making it easier to catch up to enemies and to taunt them with Shadow Dash.


- the Sunfire Cape is the perfect mix of health and armor for early game, although now that sunfire's passive damage cannot be stacked, it's still useful.


- Aegis of Legions is OK. Get it if your team is squishy and needs survivability, but it's weak in the sense that it isn't going to help you tank. Like, It's more useful for support/off tank characters


- Banshee's Veil is a very useful item to have for AP nukes or powerful casters. Don't let the mana make you underestimate this item, if your getting killed by a certain enemy spell it's very useful.


- I don't like Warmogs. Shen's power comes from people underestimating his resistances and attacking him. If you build it early your life is going to melt under enemy fire too fast, and theirs too many other good items to chose from with a balance of health/resistance. Personally i don't build it, but it may be viable as a last item.


- With health, armor, regen and a great active ability, Randuin's Omen is the best armor item for Shen.


- Coming back to life is never a bad thing. With a balance of armor and magic resist on top, it seems like a great tank item. Personally i've never had luck with it, and without any health bonus it becomes less clear as an option. Possible last item.


- This is another OK item. If your playing against a smart team, they won't be focusing you for most of the fight which makes this item mediocre. Yet the 100 armor bonus is appealing, and you can always force them to focus you with taunt.


Keep in mind while building these items that your going to want to balance health and resistance, making Banshee's Veil and Randuin's Omen appealing.

Possible Builds

High Attack Magic Damage Teams:

- Even if the enemy is very high in magic damage, your going to want some armor so you can tank turrets with your team.



High Attack Damage Team:

The reason why i suggest getting a negatron cloak before randuins is that even if they only have one caster on their team, you don't want to be completely helpless against them with only Mercury Treads as resistance.



Another possible build:


Again, the reason why this guide is called "Lego Shen" is because you can build him many, many ways. This last build was just an example. Look at the enemy team and your team, then judge what items you need to build.

Skills


Vorpal Blade: This is your bread and butter spamming skill. Use it to farm minions and poke enemy champions. If your running low on health fell free to hit minions with this move, then attack the minion for the health regen.

Feint: I usually level this up last, although if you are laning against excellent pokers like Zilean you may want to put a second point in this ability before level 10. It's also a great way to block Ignite.

Shadow Dash: These next two abilities make the difference between a good and bad Shen player. This is the ability that will get you and your team kills. There are a couple ways to use it.

1. To Taunt Squishy/Weak Champions During the laning phase your going to want to get close enough to champions like Ashe, Zilean, Tristana, Morgana, or pretty much any squishy champion so you can taunt them. Combined with exhaust, you and your partner should have an easy kill. When you are running after weak champions, you should constantly be trying to trap them in your taunt. Be careful not to overextend with it either, as this is your get away move.

2. During Team Fights There's two ways to use Shadow Dash during team fights. The first way is focusing squishy carry champions like Ashe or Miss Fortune and taking them out quickly with the help of taunt and your teammates. The second way is to try to taunt as many enemy champions with one dash as possible. The best way to do this is to wait until their grouped up then dash them all.

3. To taunt enemies within your tower range.If an enemy is attacking your tower or a minion within your turret's range, try to taunt them to attract aggression from your tower to them. Make sure you have enough health to do this, especially if you were tower hugging.

4.Saving Allies If you see an ally getting focused or hurt, taunt the enemies with your dash and/or exhaust them. As a tank you should have enough health and resistances to survive the onslaught while your teammate gets away.

= If one of their squishy champions comes out in front of the enemy pack during a team fight close enough to taunt them, do it. remember, always stay in front of your team during team fights and protect your teammates and carry's.

Also, when you know your going to be using taunt, make sure to save your energy for it.

Stand United: This move requires high amounts of map awareness as soon as you hit level 6. Constantly check your minimap display when you see your allies and enemy champs' bubbles close together. This ability, like taunt, also has quite a few ways to be used.

1) It's best used in 1v1 situations, so you can ult your teammate and quickly wrap up the kill with taunt.

2) At the start of a teamfight if one of your champions overextends and is being annihilated, ult them to keep the fight 5v5 instead of 4v5.

3) If your ally is running away and is being hit by enemy champion(s) and will die, by all means don't be afraid to ult them. Don't waste your ultimate if their your ally is going to get away. The best way to use this is when the enemy champion tower dives to kill your ally. Then quickly ult your ally, and try to taunt them as soon as you get there.

4). If you are suddenly ganked and cannot possibly get away, find one of your allies quickly by pressing f1-f4 and ult them for a clean get away.

There are two things to remember with Shen's ult. Never ult into a situation that you cannot possibly save your ally. In another words, don't give them a double kill when they should only have had one. You should be able to judge when and when not to ult. Also, you might not always want to ult your teammate right away. Don't waste your ultimate if your teammate can get away. Inevitably, you will waste your ultimate sometimes. But you want to wait until there's a good chance that your ally isn't getting away alive. In situations when your teammate's 1v1, you want to wait until the enemy's health is low enough for you two to wrap it up. Many times you want to wait until the enemy tower dives so you can ult your ally when the tower is killing them. If you find yourself waiting too long to ult your ally, stop hesitating and ult right away. It takes practice.