Shyvana Build Guide by Zedera

Disclaimer

This is an unorthodox guide to playing Shyvana in lane, meant to express a personal playing style that I've found to be highly effective. I don't mind getting downvoted to the bottom of the list. However, I just wish to express my belief that there are other, viable ways to play Shyvana outside the norm suggested by Phreak and Phreak-wannabies. So sit back, relax, and enjoy what I have to offer.

Change Log

Going from bottom to top.


- Sunday, November 20, 2011 - Updated masteries.


- Friday, November 9, 2011 - Released the build.

Introduction

Shyvana is every inch the aggressive, offense-oriented champion that Riot intended for her to be. With great mobility, powerful area-based attacks, and a balanced set of stats that allows her to be built flexibly, Shyvana can farm, harass, and build up quickly to become a dominant threat late-game. However, because she can be built in so many different ways, most people have pursued either a middle-of-the-road build that focuses on all stats at once, failing to effectively build up any one part of her. This guide attempts to prove that she can be build differently.

I spent some time experimenting with different items on Shyvana before settling on this build. I found AP to be a waste on Shyvana, since it scales badly with both of her AP attacks, neither of which she uses with enough frequency to be worth it. I also found that building large amounts of defense detracted from her offense, which is the point of an aggressive character. So with this build, I've dedicated a small portion to building up enough survivability to keep her going, while focusing primarily on damage output. With Shyvana, you can dive into full enemy ganks and deal enough damage to turn the tide of the battle if you build her right. Which is hopefully what I've done.

Pros / Cons

Pros:
+Great Mobility
+High Attack Speed
+High Damage
+Can be very tanky
+No Mana Required
+Easy to get good positioning
+Dragon!
+Spin to win!


Cons:
-Little to no CC
-Split AD / AP on different skills makes it hard to strengthen all of her skills
-Item reliant to a certain degree
-Always focused once you transform into a dragon
-Strange Japanese Pop Dance
-Blue skin

Summoner Spells

Exhaust is a highly effective spell to pack when heading into battle with Shyvana. Lacking any cc of her own, exhaust serves as your early-game finisher, especially great for nabbing people who dare to walk into your bush as well as helping you to chase down those fleeing your dragon. I find it to pair especially well with Burnout, since the increased speed helps you to put you within range of someone fleeing who's just out of range of your exhaust, and can turn that one champion who got away into your next meal.

Flash synergizes well with exhaust, giving you both a key chasing ability for catching those who've Shunpo'd, Rocket Jump'd, or Riftwalk'd away from you, as well as giving you the ability to leap over walls and escape that Jax stalking you through the jungle. I find it to be immensely useful on Shyvana, whose innate escape abilities, Burnout and Dragon's Descent, both are limited in providing the instant getaway needed to escape run-or-die situations.


Alternatives
Alright, so you don't like the fact that Flash got nerfed, or you're exhausted of using exhaust all the time. Now what?

Heal
On any other tanky dps champion, this wouldn't work so well. But with Shyvana, who tends to take the most damage when in the thick of brutal melee battles with almost all the other champions involved, this skill can not only save yourself, but your team as well. I've seen it used effectively, and while I don't pack it myself, as it drops off later on once you've gotten Warmog's, it's still viable, and better than ever with recent buffs.

Teleport
Not a bad skill, actually. It helps with positioning, and getting you into place to launch Dragon's Descent, as well as rushing you back to defend towers. However, with Burnout available, no mana cost or anything included, I find it more efficient to ride the flames to my destination, rather than shaving off a dozen seconds or so with teleport.

Cleanse
With tenacity in this build provided by Mercury's Treads, cleanse isn't as crucial as it might otherwise be. However, it still serves its purpose well, and helps to allow you to escape faster if you don't have the patience to let that much-shortened stun wear off. Pack it if you want it, leave it if you don't.

Ignite
I personally don't see why this spell is needed on Shyvana. As an aggressive damage dealer whose job is to do all the things Ignite does, I don't see any point in packing what is essentially a fifth fire spell to the four that Shyvana already has. It has DoT, which Burnout provides, it has some damage, which Flame Breath provides, it keeps the opponent from healing, which is important in a small fraction of the encounters you'll be in, and it has an abnormally long cooldown. :/ I say leave it to other people to bring.

Ghost
This is another spell that I feel isn't needed on Shyvana. Burnout already increases her speed, and literally burns through anything in her way with this build, rendering Ghost a moot point. I guess it could help if you're passing through friendly minions, and your Burnout is on cooldown. But in all honesty, one or another spell on this list will be more useful.

Smite
For junglers.


Bad Alternatives

Clairvoyance
Seeing as Shyvana has a skillshot that can check to see if something's in the bushes anyways, or can simply charge in with Burnout if she feels like it, clairvoyance really doesn't serve much of a purpose, except to scout out the occasional bush that you don't feel like entering.

Revive
Only good in clutch situations, such as when your inhibitor turret is about to fall. In which case you have more things to worry about.


No, Just No

Clarity
This spell is so useful for Shyvana that it has been banned specifically for her. Don't tempt yourself into using this godly skill that will perform untold wonders for this champion when used.

Fortify & Rally
Soon to be deleted from gameplay. Don't. Just don't.

Skill Sequence

I'm rather lazy when it comes to Shyvana's skill sequence. All of her skills are good, but since she's not totally reliant on her skills, I don't feel the rush to level them as I do with other champions, such as Katarina or Riven. Instead, I take the approach that helps to bring down her skill cooldowns to manageable levels, in order of importance.


Twin Bite
Though I love this skill, as it helps Shyvana in so many little ways, from farming to whacking towers to smashing groups of enemies in dragon form, I don't feel the need to build it up, and max it last. Part of the reason is because its cooldown is already reduced with each auto-attack you make, making it less urgent to level this skill than it is for other skills. Another part of the reason is that its damage doesn't increase dramatically with leveling, unlike the other skills. So in the end, I leave this to last, not because it is useless, but because there's less of a real need to level it than there is for other skills.


Burnout
Paradise. Spin to win, and make your enemies melt with fear as they see you coming. This skill is what defines Shyvana in the early game, making her nigh-untouchable in the bushes and a powerful farmer early on. The damage is by no means something anyone can ignore, and the speed boost helps to define Shyvana at all levels as a great predator and a slippery prey. I max this first to get the most bang for my buck and leave others breathing in my fumes.


Flame Breath
An ability that's less useful for the damage it offers than it is for its other features. I only max this second because the damage it can deal increases significantly with each stage, helping it to keep up with the buildup in enemy defenses during the mid-game when items start rolling in. It's most useful for poking opponents, scouting bushes, and debuffing them so you can shred them with your melee attacks once you've charged in with Burnout.


Dragon's Descent
This is my favorite skill in the entire game. Out of all the ultimates, regular skills, passives, summoner spells, and jungle buffs available, this is the one thing I'd take into a fight, more than anything else. It's not cheap like Tryndamere's Undying Rage, nor is it underwhelming like so many other ultimates out there. It turns you into a walking inferno, boosting all your abilities to frightening levels, increasing your defenses by great amounts, and scaring the **** out of all enemies you encounter. Either they will all focus you at once to remove the threat to their livelihood, or they will run away.

And the best part about it all is that it has no cooldown. Immediately after an engagement is over, I rush off to farm minions, and enter the next engagement in dragon form all over again. And the nightmare continues.

Masteries

This is a terrible mastery layout that I do not recommend to everyone. In fact, if you have a better mastery layout, please tell me right away. I only chose these masteries because they've been working for me thus far. As much offense as is reasonably possible never hurts, and the masteries in armor and magic resistance help to improve what tankiness Shyvana actually needs. The three masteries in Good Hands are only there for a lack of a better place to put them. Yes, I'm not very masterful with masteries. But these are what have worked for me so far. Following the update, the mastery tree got slightly better, but again, still not the ideal mastery tree. Someone help me here.

Runes

Runes are a flexible deal with Shyvana for another reason. Because she can be built in so many different ways, I decided to go with the theme I've been following thus far.

Greater Mark of Attack Speed: Shyvana runs off of attack speed, and having some right away will help her throughout the entire game, allowing her to stay in dragon form longer and in general helping her to farm better.

Greater Seal of Armor: Armor helps to protect Shyvana from enemy melee fighters, who are more than happy to tear her dragon form apart the first chance they get.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: The magic resistance pairs well with the armor to help keep Shyvana viable when her hp is low.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation: A little armor penetration goes a long way. I've thrown these in to help with the damage dealing, allowing Shyvana to deal with tankier enemy lanes.

Items

This is it. An item build completely out of the ballpark in comparison to other Shyvana builds. Hear me out on this one though, because there is a reason to this madness.


Mercury's Treads
After trying out several different boots, I've decided to stick with these. The tenacity really works well with Shyvana, since her aggressive playing style is essentially shut down by any form of cc. Tenacity is one of the best early-game counters to them, apart from packing Cleanse. The magic resist is another bonus, helping to augment Shyvana's own stat, which is low in comparison to her armor stat. I will not recommend any other boots to you apart from these. They are the best. Get them.


Phantom Dancer x2
When I first saw Shyvana, I thought for sure that these would be on her recommended build. Aggressive playing style + attack speed, critical hit, and mobility = victory, right? Apparently not. They gave her a whole ton of attack speed items in her recommended build, but none of them happened to be Phantom Dancer. The reasoning behind Riot is that Shyvana is meant to be a hybrid champion, and should be built that way. So far, most of the builds here have agreed with that mentality. I beg to differ. Shyvana isn't Jax, who mixes AD and AP in his attacks, or Kayle, whose auto-attacks become epic with the inclusion of flaming ranged rings of death. No, Shyvana has only two abilities that benefit from AP. Her Flame Breath, with a rather long cooldown and poor AP scaling, and her ultimate's initiation, which is primarily used to initiate her dragon form, rather than actually deal damage. Building AP on her would benefit two things, but at the cost of powerful auto-attacks, an insane burst attack with Twin Bite, and paradise in a skill itself, Burnout. I say screw AP, and build attack speed up to insane levels to get that dragon out there, build movement speed up so that Burnout moves faster than ever, and critical hit so that your auto-attacks deal twice as much damage and make the enemy think twice about approaching you. That is my logic behind stacking Phantom Dancers.


Warmog's Armor
I stumbled upon this completely by accident. I was going for Frozen Mallet as usual, my mouse clicked somewhere random, and I ended up staring at Warmog's Armor on the shop screen. I thought about it for a moment, then went ahead and experimented with it. The results were astounding. While I am almost always an advocate of Frozen Mallet over Warmog's (see my Riven guide), in this one instance I support the reverse. Warmog's gives a significantly larger chunk of hp than Frozen Mallet for a cheaper price, which is critical when considering that Shyvana is meant to be tankier than other dps, with her armor boosts and general aggressive nature. In addition, the health regen allows Shyvana to regenerate in between conflicts, rather than only during conflicts with lifesteal. This turns Shyvana from a base-dependant champion who needs to recall after each battle, to a mobile, independent, and much more survivable champion who can stay out there and farm back up to Dragon's Descent once more.


The Bloodthirster
Compared to other items on this list, Bloodthirster is a fairly tame choice by comparison. It offers damage and lifesteal, both of which are necessary on any high-attack-speed champion, one way or another. I choose this over Wriggle's Lantern because it offers more benefits end-game, and I choose this over Hextech Gunblade because it's cheaper and focuses more on the benefits offered by this build. Pretty self-explanatory.


The Sixth Item
What I love about Shyvana is that even after being built so far in a certain direction, she's still flexible. I chose The Black Cleaver for this build because it offers the best mix of more attack speed, more damage, and armor penetration, which is otherwise lacking in this build. However, a slew of other items are also viable. I've personally found The Bloodthirster and Infinity Edge to work extremely well for sixth items, while Last Whisper doesn't make a bad choice either. For those who want overkill, a third Phantom Dancer is always an option, though I personally will not endorse that one. The results of such a choice may be...brutal.

Item Sequence

Early-Game

After experimenting with dozens of different setups, I finally settled on this for early game. This helps to get you up and running right off the bat with the right mix of damage and tankiness to help keep you out there farming for experience and gold. Doran's Blade is a great starting item because it offers all the things that Shyvana needs: health, damage, and sustain in the form of lifesteal. While none of these stats appear in any great quantity, they're good for the first few levels. On the first trip back, pick up either Boots of Speed or Vampiric Scepter, depending on which you feel more need for. If you need the mobility to stay away from skillshots or avoid other enemy attacks, go for the boots. Otherwise, I recommend the scepter to bring your sustain up by a good amount and keep you out in the field where you need to be. On the next trip back, if possible, try to polish out with Mercury's Treads. I've found that in any game I've played, without fail, I'd have at least one kill or assist at this point, which will put me where I need to be to buy the treads. If you're not there, buy the components and build towards it anyways. Treads are by far the best item for Shyvana. While some would argue in favor of Bezerker Boots, I've tested both on Shyvana, and found that the Treads offer more consistent benefits throughout the game, with tenacity helping at all levels and the magic resist helping to buff Shyvana's otherwise lackluster stat up to reasonable levels. Throw in a Dagger somewhere along the line if you're feeling the need for more attack speed.

After here, I deviate from the norm and shoot for Zeal, without the intention of building Trinity Force. Zeal gives you quite a few benefits, with attack speed being the most obvious, though the movement speed and critical help out, as movement speed stacks well with Burnout and critical chance, once stacked up well, can vastly increase your damage output. Then, I start building towards Warmog's Armor with Giant's Belt and Regrowth Pendant. Both help to make you tanky in a multi-faceted way. Rather than building too heavily into armor and magic resist, which require multiple items to build efficiently, Warmog's helps to achieve tankiness with just one item, giving vast amounts of hp and enough regen to keep you in the field for a very long time.

So, at this point, you should have all 6 slots filled, with Zeal and Doran's Blade providing offense, Mercury Treads and Giant's Belt providing tankiness, and Vampiric Scepter and Regrowth Pendant providing sustain. This is a pretty strong early-game build, and is very cheap for what you get out of it.


Mid-Game


I consider mid-game to start once I get Warmog's Armor. Now, as a tanky item, I see many people go for Frozen Mallet instead, and in many ways, it is an extremely viable item for Shyvana. The reason I go for Warmog's over Frozen Mallet will be discussed later on, but let it suffice for now to say that I value defense over offense for this item and this item only. After completing Warmog's, it's time for a second Zeal, which is both cheaper and more cost effective than upgrading your first Zeal to Phantom Dancer. Finally, save up roughly 1450 gold, then head back to base and trade in your Doran's Blade for a B. F. Sword to go towards The Bloodthirster. At this point in the game, you're essentially all tankiness and attack speed, with some sustain and additional movement speed putting you ahead of the pack. With Burnout on, you can outrun anything except dashes and Yi.

I find the least time to buy items during mid-game, as this is the transition phase between laning and pushing, where quite a bit of movement is required and little time is allowed to go back to base. Because of Shyvana's role, she has even less of a chance to go back to base than most, meaning that the early-game build is crucial for survival at this stage, and is the reason why I build all the tanky items I'll ever need beforehand.


Late-Game


I consider the purchase of The Bloodthirster as the transition point into late-game. From here on out, it's all offense being built, with both of your Zeal being upgraded to Phantom Dancer and that last, sixth slot opening up for the item of your choice. Once everything is in place, you should be the dominant force on the battlefield. Unless your prey has amazing escape abilities, Burnout + 2 Phantom Dancers should take care of any runners, while those two Phantom Dancers will virtually turn you into a perma-Dragon, with high attack speed helping you to shred minions like no tomorrow. Do not engage in fights without Dragon's Descent ready to go, and if need be head into the jungle to knock up some creeps for what you need.

With this item layout, end-game for you would be to wipe out minion clusters and push lanes, but above all to help your team win team fights and ganks. Bloodthirster and Warmog's help to keep you in the field where your team needs you, with that sixth item helping you to deal out damage to shred through anything with Burnout.

Alternative Items

So you don't like my items. Most people won't. Here's my run-through of all viable alternatives for Shyvana.


The Sixth Item: Merits and Flaws


The Black Cleaver
This is my recommendation for the sixth item in the build to most people. It offers increased attack speed, damage, and stacks armor penetration up to a level just above Last Whisper. For most Shyvana users, this is the item to go for, and in some cases is worth getting before upgrading those Phantom Dancers. The only problem is that it requires you to auto-attack the target a few times for the armor penetration to set in. While this wouldn't be a problem for most dps champions, Shyvana is unique in that she has a whole slew of great initiation skills, and one of them, Twin Bite, benefits most when at max armor penetration. This means you're going to have to whack the target three times before you can Twin Bite them, and despite the high attack speed of this build, lots of things can happen in those three attacks that can allow your prey to avoid the brunt of the damage from Twin Bite. So either you hit them right off with a weaker Twin Bite, or you whack them a bit and hope that your stronger Twin Bite actually hits. Up to you.


Last Whisper
The more reliable version of Black Cleaver. It doesn't offer that beautiful attack speed, but it still offers reasonable damage and armor penetration right off the bat. If you're feeling the need for a cheap item end-game, this is a solid choice.


Youmuu's Ghostblade
As much as I love this item, I found that it didn't work well with Shyvana in battle. The myriad benefits it offers don't come in any significant quantity, other than cooldown reduction, and I often don't feel the rush for cooldown reduction with Shyvana, auto-attacks filling up the gap in between the use of abilities. Apart from cooldown reduction and a rather sweet active ability, it's a weaker version of Last Whisper. A good sixth item, but not the best.


Infinity Edge
My personal favorite for the sixth item, though not one I'd recommend to the masses. It offers the most raw damage of any item on this list, boosts your critical chance up to 80% and increases damage on those critical hits, turning you into an absolute auto-attack monster. The only thing holding this item back is its high cost and lack of such stats as attack speed and armor penetration. Otherwise, I'm all for this item.


The Bloodthirster
Surprisingly, a second Bloodthirster works well on Shyvana. It brings your lifesteal up to 30% without stacks, and can go much, much higher when stacked. The problem with doubling up on Bloodthirsters is that you're twice as reliant on an item with wild damage swings. Get this item if you haven't died very often and want to keep from dying very often. Only in situations of absolute superiority does this item shine.


Phantom Dancer
I'll admit, a third Phantom Dancer is more ridiculous than a second Bloodthirster. Why would you want so much of those same crazy stats? My reason is that...I have no reasons. Do it for the fun of it if you are so far ahead in the game you're going to win anyways. Then you can boast about the ridiculous things you did in that game afterwards.


Madred's Bloodrazor
Alright, back to serious items. This is the obvious item to go for if you see warmog's anywhere on the enemy side of the map causing trouble. It works best late-game, hence why I list it as a good sixth item, as that's generally when hp is the highest and the threat to your livelihood is the greatest. Being the expensive item that it is, almost as expensive as Infinity Edge, I highly suggest building up for it quite a ways beforehand if you can see the hp growing. However, the rewards can be significant. Its passive procs twice with Twin Bite, allowing for 8% of the enemy's health to be taken down in one strike in addition to the damage already done by Twin Bite. That's huge amounts of damage, and should not be taken lightly.


There are other good choices for a sixth item, and they're completely up to you. I just name the ones that I feel are the most viable choices for the majority of players.


Other Offensive Items


Wriggle's Lantern
This is a much cheaper route to going the Bloodthirster route that offers up a very cost-effective early-game item. Its active is also highly useful for keeping track of those places you want to keep track of. My issue is that this being a guide to laning with Shyvana, this item isn't as useful in the short run as it would be for your jungler, and won't be as useful in the long run as would saving up for an eventual Bloodthirster.


Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Sacrilege, isn't it? This is one of two AP items in this entire guide that I will recommend to you. Savor it. Rylai's Crystal Scepter, however, isn't being recommended to you for its AP, but for its passive. It gives you near-constant cc with Burnout, turning the flames into frozen fire and allowing the enemies to enjoy the burn a bit longer. To fit this into the build, you can either take the direct and brutal route and sub this in for your Warmog's sacrificing personal survival to help the team effort in a small indirect way, or you can build it immediately after your second Zeal or Bloodthirster, pending the situation, and treat it as your sixth item built early. Either way works fine.


Frozen Mallet
This is probably a more reasonable form of cc than Rylai's. I used to use this all the time on Shyvana while training with bots before realizing the magical wonders of Warmog's. However this remains an extremely viable item and I will not tell you not to use it in place of Warmog's. The alternative route would be to follow what I did with Rylai's and insert it after your second Zeal.


Malady
The only other item offering AP that I will recommend in this entire guide. But the reason I recommend this item isn't for the AP, as usual, but for its ability to lower enemy magic resistance. This is extremely useful when using Burnout, as you can chase them, attack them, and watch your flames become super effective against them. Replace one of your Phantom Dancers with this and see whether or not you like it. I don't. You might.


Zeke's Herald
This offers a myriad of benefits, all useful for Shyvana and for any allies you have thanks to its mighty aura. If you feel close to your teammates, get this and feel closer.


Other Defensive Items


Force of Nature
The king of magic resist items. If there is any reason to suspect that you will lose the match due to a certain annoying enemy caster, get this, insert it after your second Zeal, and treat it as your sixth item gotten early. It offers great health regeneration, especially coupled with Warmog's, and should be by no means ignored in any situation approaching desperation.


Atma's Impaler
Your armor item of choice. This works as a great defensive sixth item, not only giving you armor and a good chunk of critical chance, but pairing well with Warmog's to add great amounts of damage to your character. Get this if you have to go head-to-head with enemy dps.


Thornmail
Great for getting back at your enemy if you're being focused, especially by dps. Helps to shrug off the brunt of their damage and pay the back with damage yourself for their fear of your dragon. Get this only in clutch situations against huge amounts of focusing, and only if you intend on remaining tanky.


Wit's End
In spite of its attack speed and its passive, I list this as a defensive item because the only time you want to get this is if you are on the defensive. Replace one of your Phantom Dancers with this item to help boost your magic resist and add some power to your attacks, though you'll be attacking slower, have lower critical hit chance, and move slower.


Hexdrinker
Great magic resist and great passive, while still offering some of that damage you'd need. It essentially acts as a much weaker, much more offensively-oriented version of Force of Nature. If you'd rather have this than Force of Nature, by all means, go for it.


Randuin's Omen
Probably one of the best alternatives to Warmog's on this list, this item offers some armor, a minute amount of cooldown reduction, and a nice passive that allows enemies who dare to attack you to possibly move slower and let your Burnout consume them, all in exchange for some of the godly hp and hp regen offered by Warmog's. Get this if you need some armor, or otherwise want to feel ominous.


Other Utility Items


Executioner's Calling
I've never thought of this item before writing this guide, to be honest. It offers insane amounts of attack speed, but is otherwise a weaker Wit's Edge with its passive. However, it's active can be very useful if the enemy has significant amounts of healing being done, and comes with a short cooldown timer to boot. If you feel like replacing a Phantom Dancer with this to ruin that Yi's meditation, more power to you.


Quicksilver Sash
While this offers generous amounts of magic resist, it is the active that makes you want to get this item. Offering essentially a free cleanse, this item offers great utility, and should be considered whenever cc becomes so crippling that your tenacity cannot hold out.



I will add more items to this list as need arises. However, for now, these are all the items I would recommend for Shyvana as alternatives to items seen on the main build.

How to Burn

In case you haven't noticed already, this is a laning build. You can either solo top or duo bottom. I tend to go with the latter. Right off the bat, I take a buddy and sprint to bot using burnout, hiding in the bush closer to your turret, leaving the other one open. I stay off to one side to avoid skillshots, then wait for them to scout out. The moment they're in the bush, I hit them with burnout, and chase them back to their tower. At level 1, Burnout is almost certain death in close encounters, and I've used it to incinerate such champions as Rammus, Malphite, and Jax in these first encounters, almost always getting First Blood or an assist. After that, it's a matter of taking over all minions by burning through them, using Burnout as a way to get last hits with a great deal of success. Flame Breath makes for a great harass, keeping enemies behind their minions and out of trouble, then burning through their minions to reach them and Flame Breath them again. I use Twin Bite to carve through the tougher minions, and in general focus on getting to level 6 as fast as possible. If the enemy turns out to be stronger and pushes you back, I pull back to my tower, let the minions crowd in, then burn through all of them with the tower for support. If things get really bad, I fall back on Flame Breath to hit minions while camping behind the tower. Either way, I stay in lane as much as I can until I reach level 6.

At level 6, I push as far forward as I can, then retreat a ways and hide in the bushes, calling on my buddy to bait the enemy laners into advancing. Once they're either heading into the bushes to scout or have passed the bush, I tear out at them with Dragon's Descent, either killing them as I chase with Burnout or scaring them off enough so that I can take down their tower. In every game I've played, the enemy tower in my lane always falls shortly after I reach level 6. From there on out, it's a choice between pushing and ganking mid while letting your laning mate hold the lane for you. I do a bit of both until things either look like they're going well or going badly in mid. Then I transition to pushing mid, forcing the enemy to crowd together to fend off mid. It's here that Shyvana truly shines, as massive mid battles are a terrifying place to be with Shyvana in dragon form spewing damage from three AoE attacks. By the end of the game, you should be burning a trail up to the enemy nexus, preferably the tank in front of you, everyone else alongside or behind you. And that is the way to burn.

The Proof

I apologize in advance for my ramblings, but each and everyone one of these victories has a story to tell.

FAQ

Q: Dude! Y no Trinity on your build!?!?!?
A: Because it's an expensive item with a mix of benefits that doesn't really achieve any one thing for Shyvana. The proc is nice, the slow chance is useful whe it hits, and the stats are middling but overall usually helpful, but altogether I feel that it isn't worth it for an item worth more than 4k gold, unless you have money to blow at the end of the game on that sixth item. I prefer specialization to generalization.


Q: Y u no like Phreak's build!?!?!?
A: Because he's playing the way Riot's telling him to play. I'm playing the way I want to play.


Q: Halp! I'm using your guide and I'm still sucking!
A: Well, there are several ways out here. You can blame it on your team. You can practice learning how to use Shyvana properly. Or you sit back, relax, and eat cookies. I like cookies, don't you?


Q: How good are you in Dominion with Shyvana? What build do you use there?
A: I have yet to use Shyvana in Dominion. However, I'm sure I'll achieve spectacular results. I'll get back to you on that.


Q: TL:DR
A: That's not a question >.>
Q: ...WHY SO LONG!?!?!?
A: Because there's a lot to say about playing Shyvana my way.


Q: Your guide sucks, I'm going to pwn you with Jax.
A: ..........I'm calling the police.

TL:DR