About The Author: Hey guys, I am 9Fporco, a high elo 3v3 player in NA and have been playing 3v3 almost exclusively now for the past few months. My team is currently high LP in Diamond 1 (we were challenger but got kicked out once we stopped playing daily) with over 200 ranked 3s games. I started the team a year ago in low Silver and am the only player who has played in every game on this climb. I play both top and bot on my team and am the player who comes up with most of our comps and strats.

My Summoner Profile

About Shyvana: I have loved shyvana since her release and played her a ton in season 2, but that was in 5v5 and in the jungle. Due to the meta change where people expected more cc oriented junglers, shyvana fell off a lot of peoples radar, including my own a bit. After playing against her in the jungle a few times recently in ranked 3s, I became inspired to pull her back out but in the top lane.

Shyvana is amazing in 3s at the moment due to her insane pushing power, ability to steal the enemies jungle quick and safely, insanely strong 1v1 potential vs any other melee champ early game, and even her 1v2 abilities with only a sunfire cape. I believe she is current God Tier in both top and jungle at the moment and would like to share with you my way of playing her.

Pros

Out DPS's almost every other melee brawler level 1
Very quick waveclear
Very safe between M/S boost from Burnout(W) and ult.
Insane AOE + puts out crazy damage from burn out when being chased in dragon form
Max HP % damage on AA's with her E
Relevant all game: has amazing early game and doesn't fall off.
High hybrid damage

Cons

No CC besides ability to push people with ult
Can be kited

6x Greater Mark of Attack Speed
3x Greater Mark of Attack Damage
9x Greater Seal of Armor
9x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
3x Greater Quints of Attack Damage

Marks
There is debate about what marks to go on shyv. Many players go Hybrid Pen, which I don't think are bad, but I prefer the 10% A/S. Attack Speed marks benefit shyvana a lot due to the fact that AA's reduce the CD of TwinBite(Q) by .5 seconds and they give her better dueling potential early.
Using 6 A/S marks, 3 A/D marks and 3 A/D quints, you sit on a good balance of 9.6 AD and 10% A/S.

Seals
Typical armor seals since a lot of TT comps involve 2 AD champions.

Glyphs
I run flat MR glyphs as I prefer to have strong stats up front. A combination of flat MR and MR per level is viable as well. If they aren't running any AP at all (rare) or you just want to 'cheese' runes to really secure the lane, you can run flat CDR glyphs

Quints
AD Quints for the balance of 10% A/S and 9.6 AD. Hydra is almost always my second major item so I don't use lifesteal quints.

Running 16/14 is my typical mastery page for shyvana. In offense, I put 4 points into both Fury and Sorcery (A/S & CDR) because shyvana benefits greatly from those extra stats and it really helps pump our more Twin Bite's in combat. Some players go for the hybrid pen in both runes and masteries by putting 4pts into Blast and 1 into Arcane Knowledge. Once again, I don't see anything wrong with this, I just prefer to focus my runes and masteries on her AD side.

9/21 masteries are a good idea against champs like renek, trundle, and garen or anyone with range that will try to kite you.

Starting Items:
Dorans Blade + Cloth Armor + hp pot
or
Dorans Shield + Cloth Armor + 2hp pots (vs aa champs like jax/trynd or ranged champs)

Getting a second dorans blade (or mixing dblade/dshield) isn't a bad route, however you're goal is to rush a sunfire as quick as possible.

First Big Item:
Always rush a sunfire cape unless vs a double AP comp or vs a double ranged comp. Sunfire is amazing on shyvana and if completed early (8-9 minute mark) you usually have the ability to easily 1v2. You gain more out of rushing a sunfire over btrk/hydra because Burnout(W) only has a .2 Bonus AD ratio making it not scale very well. However, the high base damage combined with the power of an early sunfire is ridiculously strong. If vs a double AP comp though, Spirit Visage first is the best route.

Boots:
Mercs are the best option the majority of the time unless A) they have very little cc or B) you plan to build another tenacity item. If A or B are true, Tabi, Ionian, or swiftness are good.

Core Build:
Assuming you've started Sunfire and Mercs, you want to start on your main offensive item. I've been preferring Hydra to BTRK on shyv in 3s due to the fact that you gain even more AOE, however, BTRK is very strong on her and is great for chasing and escapes. After Hydra, I start working towards my Frozen Mallet to help make up for the lack of cc, help me to not get kited, and for even more HP. Assuming the enemy AP didn't get insanely fed early, now is about the time that they will really start to hurt so I work on my MR item. I almost always go Spirit Visage for the CDR and more hp, however Witts End or Maw Malmortius would work well if you need more damage.

Leveling your ultimate when available, you will max Burnout(W) first, Twin Bite(Q) second, then Flame Breath(E) last.

Despite Burnout(W) having a very low AD ratio, the base damage being rather high and the M/S boost it gives makes maxing W first the best route.

You want to max Twin Bite(Q) second. I've seen people maxing Flame Breath(E) second lately and personally I'm not a fan. Level 5 Twin Bite is an instant double Auto Attack spell that applies On Hit Effects twice, is an Auto Attack reset, and gets down to a 6 second CD (4.5sec with 24% CDR on top of .5 seconds off per aa).

I max Flame Breath(E) last because it scales off of AP and the only benefits are a higher base damage and lower CD. While having the 2% of their max hp on hit is nice, its not worth leveling to have up more often over Twin Bite.

Dragon Form Burnout: IMO, this is one of the most underrated spells in the game. People always forget that Shyvana is scorching the ground with Burnout in dragon form and mid game its equivalent to "dont chase the singed".

Before the game: Shyvana works best with an aggressive jungler such as LS, Trundle, or J4. You want to be able to shove the lane to the enemies tower then move down into their jungle to steal camps or find a pick. If you have a weak early game jungler, pushing into their jungle will most likely not be the best option.

In Lane: As soon as you get into lane you want to begin the aggression, especially against champs with little wave clear. Use the bushes to drop minion aggro when you can, but ultimately you do not want to let the pressure up. Shove the lane as far as you can safely (dont push all the way to the tower if you're jungler is still in your own jungle), then make your way down into their jungle looking for either a gank or to begin to suffocating their jungler by taking his camps. Ideally, you want to make sure that the minion wave top reaches the tower before you go into their jungle to ensure the enemy top laner doesn't freeze the lane and take back the advantage.

Team Fights: The way you team fight is very dependent on your comp. If you're running a hard carry AP like Cass, Annie, or Ahri you will want to focus on peeling for them. If you're running a more support AP like Morg, Karma, or Lulu, then you'll be using their utility to help you dive. Something to always keep in mind is that you want to be fighting as many people as possible because of your AOE. For example, if your team catches their jungler, gets him to half hp but he flashes away and his 2 teammates show up, you want to focus the 2 together instead of the 1 solo.

I hope you have enjoyed this Shyvana guide! Shes one of my favorites and one of the strongest brawlers in 3v3 at the moment. Shyvana is just one of the few champs currently that you will see not only lead tank but lead dps many games. By following this guide, you should be on your way to, in the words of Phreak, "turning your enemies into dragon steak". Im hoping to start streaming soon to give advice and help any players interested in getting better at Twisted Treeline! Also, this is my first high elo guide: I welcome all feedback!