I love Shen. in my mind, after trying ability power roles, and many other routs with him, I have found that his most effective rout is a health stacking tank. so at around 4500 health, he is very effective. his passive scales with your health, so your damage is increased as well. keep that in mind.

I play Shen as a support and as an independent player, and to be honest i think he is better playing independently than with a group. I have found that i can come out on top in a 1v1 75% of the time with this build and usually get loads of kills, and if its a bad game, i usually get tons of assists.

Vorpal Blade:
the team effect that this has i honestly not very effective. if you throw a blade at your teammate's target, your teammate will get life steal on that specific target. healing you ally.

Shadow Dash:
This is a key skill in your team play. there are many ways to use this ability, but the most common one is while your team mate is getting killed, or chased with low health. do a shadow dash to intercept the enemy and steal his attention.

Feint:
In my opinion, this ability is utterly useless. so im not going to write a lot, except that If you use it right before Stand united, it will block some of the damage that was passed to you from you ally.

Stand United:
Although it has sever uses, the main one is quite obvious; cast it on a friend when they are gonna die and you will save them... but, if you have shadow dash ready as soon as you port, you can cast it on the attacking opponent and let your friend get away.
also, if your at the base and your group is pushing, you can use it to get up with them and get in the fight, although i get "teleport" so that I can save stand united for an emergency.

after lvl 8ish, start lookin around more and more to help your team. if the game kept track of your saves, you would be off the charts every time... But don't forget about your ninja side!!! kick some butt and get some kills!!!

As far as items go, a lot of it is up to the game. but if everything goes well, the ideal build is above... but some people say that warmogs is a waste... with a potential 1300 hp at 3000g? i don't really think its a waste at all... i think it rocks...beyond that item, honestly there aren't too many good items for you. I'm not much of an armor fan with shen, although it rocks for ammu... My opinion

If you want more dps get sheen, or the God sword, i guess Zeal is good too. but if you want more ap get a gunblade or a staff. your vorp blade, feint and Stand United will scale with it's ap too.

get ninja tabi if you like the doge. thats fine, especialy if you have the utility talent that gives the speed boost. or merc treads... but i never notice a difference with either of those.. i think boots of swiftness are fast in and out of combat so that's what i like...

I always get ignite and teleport.
I love mobility with every person in the game, and with shen, you have to have it to get to your towers or team mates. I always get teleport because of that. although Ghost may be useful for chasing, but you have shadow dash for that.
Ignite is great for shen, especially early game because a lot of times shen cant quite finish people, so ignite has gotten me many kills that wouldn't have happened.
these abilities are really up to your own personal style... i just think that you have enough health that heal is worthless after early game, and you SHOULDN'T die enough for the revive spell. flash is silly since you have shadow dash.
These are the best for me.... do what you want.

simple, max vorpal blade, shadow dash, and your ult. vorpal blade first priority. but save feint for last because it worthless unless your running an AP build. but this build is far from that. i had feint blocking 200 hp at lvl 18... thats not even an auto att. it needs to be buffed.

Using shadow dash and vorpal blade, you have lots of range. good for messin with people early game.
also, if your hitting a tower and your minions are down, use shadow dash to get out of there.

Ki strike is great for hitting minions... If you want more dps get sheen, or the God sword.

If you have any questions let me know.. if it sucks or you want some more explanations let me know... just play smart and keep the mindset that your there to reduce the ammount of kills on your team, and increase the ammount of kills twords the other team, be a helper and a leader in fights.. after 3k hp. you can tower tank well, get a dps and BRING DOWN THE HOUSE!

Have fun guys.

Gadianton 22