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Choose Champion Build:
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Top + Mid
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Jungle
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Support
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River Shen (meme)
Recommended Items
Runes: Grasp vs Melee
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Threats & Synergies
Shen
General info about matchups: Always put your spirit blade behind the minion wave so you can go for empowered Q trades without having to E (except against ranged matchups). In easier matchups, always go for slowpush to get the level advantage and fight them at lvl 2 while they are lvl 1 (taking Ignite can make kills easier). Push the wave into the enemy tower and make it bounce to setup a wave freeze in front of your tower, which allows you to further zone them from CS/exp and makes them gankable. Against harder matchups, only go for the push if they let you for free or if they leashed. Otherwise, get the first 3 melee minions and back off (taking teleport can make sure that you still have a backup if you get bullied too hard)
Kha'Zix
Anybody who has some sort of engage and/or invisibility have the best synergy with Shen when it comes to proactive ultimates. Engage champions give you the engage that Shen usually misses, allowing you to go for MANY differnt plays that would otherwise not be possible. Invisible champs will NOT be revealed when you ult them, meaning that you can surprise the enemy by coming out of nowhere. Engage examples include: Kha'Zix, Rengar, Hecarim, Nunu, Vi, Nocturne, most engage supports and many more. Invisible example include: Evelynn, Twitch, Akshan, Shaco and some more.
Kha'Zix
Anybody who has some sort of engage and/or invisibility have the best synergy with Shen when it comes to proactive ultimates. Engage champions give you the engage that Shen usually misses, allowing you to go for MANY differnt plays that would otherwise not be possible. Invisible champs will NOT be revealed when you ult them, meaning that you can surprise the enemy by coming out of nowhere. Engage examples include: Kha'Zix, Rengar, Hecarim, Nunu, Vi, Nocturne, most engage supports and many more. Invisible example include: Evelynn, Twitch, Akshan, Shaco and some more.
Who am I? |
Hey! My name is Smudey and I am a Shen Main from Germany who just loves this champion way too much. I've played a little bit in 2017 and 2020, but actually started playing seriously in 2021, around the time Akshan released. However, I've started playing Shen in Season 12, right about the time when his Q got nerfed lol. I just happened to pull
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Who is Shen? |
Shen has been classified as a Warden, which is a sub-category of tanks. His focus lies on being a big meatshield that peels for his teammates and protects them at all costs. However, unlike other tanks, Shen is at his strongest in the early game, meaning his laning phase is very strong and consistent with little to no losing matchups. With his early-mid game power and his global ultimate, he can control the entire map like no other champion. Shen’s abilities are very straightforward, making him somewhat easy to pick up, but he needs a lot of time and practice to master him to his fullest. He not only has very in-depth tech with his spirit blade, he also requires a good understanding of macro through his global ultimate, giving him a high skill ceiling and making him super fun since you can always learn new stuff from playing Shen. He is also very versatile, being able to build and play like a peeling supportive tank, an engaging frontliner or perhaps even a team carrying bruiser! He can successfully be played in a variety of playstyles (which is the reason why I want to make him work in nearly all roles to make full use of his versatility) so you can identify your own Shen in your own playstyle. If you want to a champion, that: • Has a strong laning phase • Can impact the entire map early on • Is easy to learn, but hard to master • Has satisfying blade mechanics • Rewards your macro and decision making • Can be played in a variety of ways Then Shen is the right champion for you. Start your journey now to embrace the equilibrium and achieve true balance. Shen is currently very strong, but not a lot of people play him, so if there is any time to start playing Shen, then it’s right now! |
Shen Ability Rundown |
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Top/Mid Lane Runes |
This Grasp page is the strongest page for Shen and gives him everything he wants. The Domination tree has always been seen as the best secondary tree, but the new runes that have been added to the Precision tree are a good alternative if you play against hard matchups or if you are a newer Shen player who is starting out. The Precision tree lets you get away with more mistakes, while the Domination tree awards you for being good at the game and playing Shen properly. Once you feel comfortable with Shen as a champion, you should ALWAYS go Domination secondary vs melee matchups, while Precision is always better against poke matchups.
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Jungle Runes |
Your Jungle Runes are a lot more variable because you can for example opt into taking Aftershock for a more supportive playstyle or Hail of Blades for more upfront burst in skirmishes, but I figured that Precision with Domination OR Resolve is the most consistent choice for me.
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Support Runes |
The Resolve + Domination tree is in my opinion the stongest, but if this ever changes in the future or you want to play something different, I can recommend the Inspiration tree to you.
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Items |
Shen's itemization is very versatile. Being able to build tank items, support items, AD and AP Damage items is something that only a few other champions can do. This section will cover the best and most consistent item choices to win more games, but if you want to know about some off-meta item builds, look at the "Fun Off-Meta Builds" section at the top of my guide for more frequent updates in that department.
Early Game Items |
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Ruby Crystal (Greedy Starter) Ruby Crystal with 2 ![]() ![]() |
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Doran's Blade (SUPER Greedy Starter) If Ruby Crystal isn't greedy enough for you, you can take Doran's Blade + 1 pot and beat the hell out of your opponent during trades. This strat can definitely work against easier or even matchups. Keep in mind that one tiny mistake will put you SUPER behind and you'll probably be useless for the rest of the game, so keep this in mind and only take this if you are nearly 100% certain that you can win lane that way. |
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Mosstomper Seedling (Jungle Starter) All Jungle items are viable, but I believe that this item fits the best into Shen's identity as a champion. It also has great synergy with ![]() |
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Bloodsong (Offensive Support Starter) This Support item is best against low-ranged and/or all-in champions. It incentivizes you to play aggressive early to make use of the additional damage and gain a lead that way. |
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Celestial Opposition (Defensive Support Starter) If you took Guardian as your keystone and play against a matchup that doesn't allow you to taunt into them, then go this item. You can block a lot of damage with it. |
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Solstice Sleigh (Hybrid Support Starter) If you can't decide between offensive and defensive, then take this item. It's heal and movement speed after impairing an enemy can be used offensively to chase them down or defensively by using the heal and movement speed to run away. However, this item will always be worse in offensive power compared to ![]() ![]() |
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Tiamat (Waveclear) If you want to rush ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Bami's Cinder (Waveclear) Bami's Cinder is the other waveclear option for Shen. Stat-wise, it is a lot better than ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Boots (Movement Speed) Boots can be good when you are low on gold after dying/recalling or if you want to get to lane faster. They are also good in matchups where you need to dodge important skillshots (like ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Bramble Vest (vs healing) Bramble vest can be helpful against champions like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Warden's Mail (vs auto-attackers) Warden's Mail can be good against champions like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Spectre's Cowl (vs heavy AP) This item can be super helpful against hard AP matchups in lane (namely ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Dark Seal (A LOT of AP when ahead) A rare tech where you buy Dark Seal and hope that you can get stacks. This item is the best choice when you want to change your Adaptive Force form AD to AP (which can be good with some runes). AP mostly increases your ult, but also gives you a bit of bonus damage for your Q, but your auto-attacks themselves will be a lot weaker. Only build this if you know what you are doing. If you are a beginner, don't touch that. |
Boots |
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Ionian Boots (Ability Haste) Ionian Boots are the best in my humble opinion. Shen has VERY long cooldowns, but these boots allow you to have your abilities a lot more often in longer fights and greatly enhance your Q-Uptime (a concept that I'll explain further below). Since it also gives you Summoner Spell Haste, you can go for more ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Plated Steelcaps (vs AD and Auto-Atackers) Plated Steelcaps should be built against 4+ AD champs that are also auto-attack based. If not, these boots would lose most of their value. They work very well with ![]() ![]() |
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Mercury's Treads (vs AP and Crowd Control) These boots are, similar to ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Boots of Swiftness (vs slows) Rare tech against champions that utilize a lot of slows (such as ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Armor Items |
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Iceborn Gauntlet (Slow Utility) Iceborn Gauntlet is one of the best Armor items for Shen. It utilizes ![]() ![]() |
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Sunfire Aegis (Damage over time and waveclear) If you built ![]() ![]() |
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Thornmail (vs healing and auto-attacks) If you have built ![]() |
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Randuin's Omen (vs Crits) This item can be upgraded from ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Frozen Heart (Attack Speed Slow) Frozen Heart should only be built into AD heavy comps where any of the armor items above don't have much value. The mana will get lost from Shen not utilizing it, but in some games it is probably necessary. This item also has insane synergy with ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Unending Despair (Healing over time) An offensive Armor item that gives you a lot of value in longer fights due to its sustain every few seconds. This item also has incredible synergy with ![]() |
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Dead Man's Plate (Ramping Movement Speed) Very fun armor item that gives you movement speed for better rotations, engages and potential one-auto-bursts. Recent community effords have made this item look OP as well as an option if your team lacks any sort of engage. |
Magic Resist Items |
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Kaenic Rookern (MR Shield) By far the best Magic Resist Item at the moment and completely overtuned with 80(!) Magic Resist + a giant shield that scales with max HP and therefore has great synergy with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Hollow Radiance (Damage over time and waveclear) This item is the MR equivalent of ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Abyssal Mask (MR + Flat Magic Pen) This item gains the most value when both teams have AP damage. The MR from the item and its passive will tank you from their AP damage while you amplify your teammate's AP damage by reducing the enemy's magic resist. Very good item given the right circumstances, even after the nerfs. |
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Force of Nature (MR over time and movement speed) Worse version of ![]() |
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Spirit Visage (Heal and Shield amp) This item sounds good on paper, but is reliant on you having additional sources of healing such as an enchanter ( ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Quicksilver Sash (Cleanse) Super niche item vs ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Other Tank Items |
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Heartsteel (Infinite HP Scaling) On first glance, this item seems OP on Shen, but it actually turns out that it is HORRIBLE! Let me explain: You need to get this item as early as possible so you can start stacking in the mid game and be OP in the late game. However, this requires you to either skip your waveclear item (making you not able to control waves and potentially not gaining gold fast enough) or buy the item after your first (waveclear) item, which means you'll get it WAY too late into the game. By the time you have like 2 or 3 stacks, the game is already over and you either won without doing anything or lost because you didn't do anything. Don't get me wrong, if it somehow works out, it can be super fun in the late game, but if you want to win, don't touch this item. |
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Jak'Sho, The Protean (Resistances over time) Probably the best late game tank item right now. It gives you SO much resistances, especially in longer fights, making you near indestructable in the late game. You can theoretically always build it as a 4th or 5th item and it will always be useful. |
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Locket of the Iron Solari (Shield vs burst) This item, similar to ![]() ![]() |
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Warmog's Armor (Infinite HP regeneration) The healing this item provides is very good for splitpushing and fights where you go in-and-out. However, it loses HARD to maxHP damage and is overall very lackluster in the current moment so watch out when buying this item (it is one of my personal favourites tho). |
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Sterak's Gage (Anti-Burst) If teamfights are rather short and burst-heavy, then consider buying this item in the late game. The shield scales with bonus HP, meaning that it synergizes with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Damage Items |
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Titanic Hydra (Damage and Waveclear) This is THE BEST Shen item in the entire game in my opinion and also my favourite. This item gives Shen a lot of dueling power, letting him fight enemies that he usually shouldn't. The waveclear is INSANE, letting you nearly one-shot waves as Shen, especially through its active! Let's talk about the active real quick. The cleave is HUGE and therefore allows you to clear waves and camps super fast + it does good AOE damage in teamfights. The best thing about it is the auto-attack reset. You can use the active to go for a super quick burst that can potentially 100-0 squshies and tanks alike while also being skill expressive. I could ramble about Titanic Hydra all day, but all you gotta know is that this item has saved Shen and is literally the reason why I gained the motivation to finish this guide. Do yourself a big favor and buy this item 1st or 2nd every single game. It is a mandatory item for Shen. |
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Overlord's Bloodmail (HP into AD conversion) This item rewards you for building a LOT of HP by giving you AD for it (similar to ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Wit's End (![]() Wit's End is the best damage MR item out there. It synergizes perfectly with ![]() |
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Hullbreaker (Splitpushing) This might seem like a joke at first, but Hullbreaker is actually kinda nice for Shen. He has always struggled with side laning due to many broken Top Lane champs that can easily kill you in a 1v1, as well as Shen's lackluster tower damage. This item removes all of these problems to an extend, giving you a lot more agency in the sidelane with its stats. Since the range limit has been removed, Shen can now use ![]() |
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Riftmaker (Damage and omnivamp over time) I LOVE building this item as one of my last items if I encounter a lot of tanks/bruisers or if the fights are generally long. The item's effects really start hitting when fights go longer than a few seconds. Not only are you basically unkillable with the Omnivamp, but the HP to AP conversion makes your Qs hit a LOT harder, as well as make your ![]() |
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Sundered Sky (Crit Damage with Heal) This item is basically Divine Sunderer, giving you a LOT of combat power as well as sustain, making it good in short and long trades equally. However, you are going to be VERY squishy and you will not be able to utilize this item's full potential if the enemy just statchecks you. Only build this (as a 2nd item AFTER ![]() |
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Edge of Night (Spellshield) "Wait... WHAT IS A LETHALITY ITEM DOING HERE???", I hear you ask. Well, for those of you unaware, ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Banshee's Veil (MR, AP and Spellshield) I have expanded the Spellshield idea from ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Support Items |
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Redemption (AOE Heal) Build this item in longer team fights to get the most value out of the heal. |
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Knight's Vow (Protect Ally) This item is similar to ![]() |
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Moonstone Renewer (Heal and Shield amplifier) You can get the most value out of this item by building it 3rd after ![]() ![]() |
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Trailblazer (Movement Speed and Engage) This item is ![]() |
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Mikael's Blessing (Cleanse) With this item, you can clease and heal a teammate of yours. Take this item against (near) undodgable CC like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Zeke's Convergence (Offensive Ultimates) This item got a tiny rework and lost its Mana in exchange for better stats, which means that Shen can finally use it! Zeke's creates a damaging and slowing aura around you when you are using ![]() ![]() |
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Vigilant Wardstone (A lot of vision) This item can store multiple control wards. Good last item if you need a lot of vision (best in high-elo). |
Tips & Tricks |
Even though Shen seems to be a super easy champion on the surface, he actually has quite a few tricks up his sleeve that a lot of people are not aware of. This part of the guide will go over every part of Shen's kit and how you can make the most out of his abilities.
Early Passive |
Shen's Passive
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Q-Flash |
Q-Flash is a very simple, but effective mechanic. Catching up to your opponent without having your
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Titanic Hydra Qs |
The addition of
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W skip for extra Q damage |
In matchups where your
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6-Q Combo |
When trading as Shen, you usually
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Triple-Q-Leash |
This is a specific
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Q-Uptime |
Q-Uptime is a concept that has been developed by the one and only xPetu and revolves around Shen's
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Q-W-Protecting |
Most Shen players use their
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(video clip coming soon)
P-W-Overlapping |
P-W-Overlapping is one of the most common mistakes that Shen players, even in high elo, do. When trading, most Shen players will use their
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E-Flash |
E-Flash is probably the most known and utilized Shen mechanic. Using flash after using your
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You can even use it to hit multiple targets by using E on one target and then flashing onto another one, which can be super beneficial in clutch situations and just looks cool.
Saving your E |
Your
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Towercrash Taunt |
The towercrash taunt is an advanced trading pattern that lets you poke the enemy under their turret without taking much damage yourself. In order to do that, you need a minion wave under tower to initially tank the tower for you. You then walk under the turret with your
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(video clip coming soon)
Consistent Ultimates |
Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you wanted to use
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1: Your F-Keys (F2-F5) lock your camera onto an ally, letting you ult them regardless of their or your camera's position. But hitting your F-Keys is very inconvenient. That is why I have rebound by F-Keys to Space Bar, C, X and Z (Y for be because of the different layout). With that, you can easily keep track of your teammates by sliding your thumb to the corresponding button for the champion. You can rebind your keys however you want, but as long as your are comfortable with it, it should be fine.
2: If you don't want to rebind your F-Keys, there is a second solution. The champion portraits that are usually above your map can also be used to ult to your allies. This is even more accurate than the method mentioned above since the portraits are stationary, but it might be harder to keep track of what is happening when you don't move your camera.
In the end, it comes down to personal preference.
Reactive Ultimates |
Reactive
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Another important thing to know is who to ult. Your first priority for reactive ults should be a shutdown on a teammate. If you want to save a teammate, but there are multiple teammates in danger at once, you need to set your priorities right. Ulting your 4/0 Vayne who is getting ganked by the enemy jungler is probably more beneficial than ulting your 0/5 Katarina that dies solo again. Wasting Shen's ult is one of the biggest mistakes you can do, but it's also one of the most common mistakes. Knowing when and who to ult reactively comes with practice. Your understanding for ult timers grows together with your fundamentals and understanding of the game.
(video clip coming soon)
Proactive Ultimates |
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(video clip coming soon)
Melee Ultimates |
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(video clip coming soon)
All Shen Roles |
The final chapters are going to cover Top, Mid, Jungle and Support. I'll talk about how to play the Early, Mid and Late Game as well as your mindset when playing the different roles since (nearly) all roles play completely different from each other. Since I am not really proficient in every role (except Top/Mid), take everything that I say about Jungle and Support with a grain of salt.
It is also important to not that not every role is equally strong for Shen. Depending on the current balance of the game as well as Shen himself, certain roles will become better or worse. Here is a tier list so you can better understand which roles are stronger/weaker, including an explanation for every role so you can understand why I ranked them like this.
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S-Tier: Top Lane has had some major changes in season 14, which have positively affected Shen's Top Lane presence. Void grubs, map changes, item changes, rune changes and many more have indirecly buffed Shen, as well as a direct buff to Shen by 4 AD. Shen can now properly push waves with Titanic Hydra and can take towers a bit faster than before due to the addition of void grubs. Your early game lead against the enemy top laner can finally be translated into either top AND bot lane objectives, giving you a lot more freedom. Shen isn't forced into a supportive playstyle anymore and can now build Full-Tank, Bruiser and Supportive, without one being superior to the others. I believe that Shen can finally play Top Lane again without getting shafted by OP Top Laners. I'd always recommend going Top Lane.
A-Tier: Mid Lane still works in season 14 and is a very underrated role. It plays very similarly to Top Lane, but you'll have a better map presence in exchange for worse matchups, which are mostly ranged matchups that are trying to poke you. However, if the enemy mid picks an assassin, you are going to have a great time since Shen as a tank directly counters assassins. You can also go for Ignite a lot more often than Top Lane because you can get to lane faster and are not that much reliant on a good wave state and don't get punished too hard for roaming since most mid laners don't really have good auto-attacks compared to top laners. There are definitely arguments for Mid Lane also being in S-Tier, but since we don't have a great response to perma pushing mages (that are more common in mid compared to top), I'd keep it a spot lower for now.
B-Tier: Support Shen, although rarely seen, is actually not that bad and makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Shen is a supportive, selfless champion by design and fits really well into the role. He is very strong in the early game with his taunt and can therefore play very aggressively (similar to
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C-Tier: Jungle Shen is honestly very underwhelming in its current state. With full clear being the meta, Shen has a lot of trouble to get ahead early with his super lackluster clear speed. Because of this, his income is extra low and often times, he is not able to get a
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D-Tier. Yeah... Bot Lane is a joke. The only time that Bot Lane works is with a fasting
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Top/Mid Lane |
Top Lane and Mid Lane play very similarly, with the only big difference being the position of the lanes and matchups. Most of the things you'll be reading here apply to both roles unless stated otherwise. (This section will provide 1 or more videos for matchup demonstration and overall better visualization)
Early Game |
Before the lane even starts, you have a couple different options. You can either 1: Look for an invade with your E (high risk, but high reward (better with engage support like
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Against most melee matchups, you want to place your blade behind the minion wave, usually farther than the caster minions. If the enemy contests the wave, you punish them by pulling your blade through the enemy and hitting them with three empowered Q, then backing up. This trade, however, usually depends on the matchup. Against super weak level 1 laners (
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However, this is the best case scenario and doesn't always happen like that in practice, especially if you are a newer Shen player. If you happened to play against a ranged opponent or a generally bad matchup, the lane looks a lot more different. If the enemy doesn't let you push early without taking a big chunk of your health bar of even killing you, you usually can just sit back and watch them push (in those cases, you should not place the blade behind the enemy so you can utilize your
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From this point onwards, regardless of how the lane went, you can look for potential
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Mid/Late Game |
At this stage of the game, you should usually go into a sidelane (top or bot) and splitpush. This sounds weird at first because Shen isn't really considered a "splitpusher" by modern standards, but as a Top/Mid laner that has a built-in teleport through
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One exception to splitpushing is if either your
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If there is no objective, but you still need to splitpush, you need to ALWAYS setup vision through
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(picture of the map with the minion line)
If you are currently pushing bot and the top as well as mid lane wave are somewhere in the middle of the map, you do NOT want to push further than the middle of the map as well. Doing so can lead to you getting jumped by multiple opponents at once, costing your life and potentially your shutdown if you have one. The only time you can push further is if you team is also pushing alongside you on the other side of the map. That way, the enemy has to deal with multiple people at the same time and either has to split up (which raises your chance of living if they want to kill you), or they jump one lane, but lose an entire tower on another lane. NEVER push further if you are alone.
One important thing to remember is that all of this also applies to the ENEMY. If you see an enemy overstepping during the splitpush, you can look and try to ambush that enemy, which can be even more beneficial if there is an objective near them. It is not advised to 5-man-gank a feeding enemy midlaner on bot lane while baron is up. This would just be stupid. Try to capitalize on the enemy's mistakes while minimizing your own mistakes at the same time and only looking for plays that are likely to work and give you an advantage (towers, baron, drake soul). That's how you win games in League of Legends.
One final thing to mention is that if ALL of the sidelanes are pushed in, you can also look to roam and group with your team. You can then setup vision, objectives, tower sieges or an ambush (for example on the jungler in his own jungle so he can't smite away the next objective). As Shen in the late game, you are not that strong yourself and most enemies have seemingly outscaled you and can 1v1 you for sure. Look to engage and peel for your carries so they can clean the battlefield for you. Make sure that they don't die, no matter the cost. You can tank every skillshot and even ult them before you die so they can deal a lot of damage while they should be dead. Look to protect them while you siege turrents/inhibs and win the game through that. Always look at you win condition and play for it.
Example game 1: Shen Mid Lane vs
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q99uJjskUJ4
Example game 2: Shen Top Lane vs
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8taqzSAm3RA
Example game 3: Shen Mid Lane vs AD
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6N5rzDnjH4
Jungle |
Jungle can be very hard in the beginning since it needs a very specific approach. As an early game champion, you don't want to just sit back, farm and "scale". You need to use your early power to get your team ahead and end the game early. As stated before, since I'm not a Jungle main myself, take everything that I say with a grain of salt.
Early Game |
The most important thing to keep in mind is that Shen is at his strongest in the early game, meaning that you should ALWAYS focus on ganking instead of farming. You also have a very slow clear before Tiamat/Titanic so full clearing, even though it is a viable and safe option, is usually the worst choice and can lead to you getting outtempo'ed really quickly. If you recognize that a lane might get pushed in, doing a 3 or 4-camp-clear into gank might be the best choice and can lead to your ally snowballing.
Invading with
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Some tips for your first clear: Going for the Triple-Q-Leash is mandatory to have at least a half decent clear. Starting on Red or Blue Buff depends on where you can make an early impact, as well as the enemy jungler. 3 or 4-camp-clears are good to catch people that don't ward a lot off-guard (or just take Sweeper instantly). If you path towards a lane that you can gank, make sure that the enemy jungler can't stop you (or they won't stop you either way if they are a farming jungler). However, if you path to a lane that pushes the enemy away AND the enemy jungler started on the other side (+ is preferably weaker early), then you can look to invade the enemy jungler since you have priority and your laner can follow you if something happens. You can also go for EARLY invades right after your first buff (
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This cycle of looking for early plays to secure kills and/or objectives repeats until the...
Mid/Late Game |
Your playstyle doesn't change all too much, with the biggest difference being
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If your team is ahead, you can be more on the farming side and even look for invades if you think the enemy jungler has camps up. You should usually win most fights if your team is near you. Save your ult reactively and make sure the enemies can't get back into the game by killing your fed mate and cashing in 1000g shutdown. Make sure that EVERYBODY is alive and near the next objective in order to secure it. Your teammates can do most of the work if they are ahead, so make sure they do NOT die if a fight breaks out. Saving your ult and using it in melee range is sometimes even mandatory to ensure that you win the fight.
If your team is behind though, you should focus more on ganking. It is very likely that your laners are getting pushed in and the enemies are overpushing to the tier 2 tower. Help them get that shutdown so they can come back into the game. Using your ult proactively is recommended so you can engage on a fed carry and catch them off-guard (even better if you kill them before an objective). In most elos, the enemy won't play perfectly, so you can capitalize on their mistakes and act accordingly. For example, if half of your team is dead and the enemy goes for dragon, you usually won't be able to go for that objective and flipping might just put you further behind. Look for crossmap-plays. Take their top half of the jungle and push the top wave to maybe secure a turret. That way the enemy actually loses something for killing the opbjective instead of you dying to a smite flip and just dying while the enemy didn't lose anything. As long as you don't fall further behind, there is ALWAYS a chance to get back into the game, so don't just surrender after a single death in the early game.
Support |
Early Game |
Before the lane even starts, you can go for an invade with your team. Your
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The most optimal way to play the laning phase is aggressively with
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However, not all lanes can go that smoothly. There are matchups that just don't allow you to taunt into them due to their supperior range and/or reliable disengage or denial of your taunt (
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Mid/Late Game |
Your playstyle changes a LOT when reaching the mid game. The enemies have started to outscale you and your engages become a lot more telegraphed, unreliable and overall risky. Your playstyle now changes from aggressive to passive. Your main goal is to protect your carries and keep them from dying while they tear everything appart. Help out your laners when they are in trouble and secure vision to prepare important objectives.
If you are ahead, you do NOT engage at all. Since you are ahead, you can just go for objetives whenever you like, but only as long as you allow your teammates to do exactly that. Make sure that nothing is stopping them from winning the game. Use your ult reactively, even in melee range, to ensure that nobody in your team dies. Items like
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If your team is behind, then you are forced to become a lot more active. Using your ult proactively is mandatory to ensure that you don't stay behind and slowly bleed objectives and your LP. Items like
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Example game 1:
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Conclusion |
If you have come this far, I want to thank you SO much for reading through my guide. I've started this thing a year or two ago, but never thought I would finish it (well... here we are). If you have any questions, just ask in the comment section and I'll try to answer as quickly as possible. There might be times where I'll be inactive and the guide will be outdated due to a lack of motivation or giant patches that change the game so much that I need more time to figure things out. However, even if I'm not actively playing, I'll still keep the guide fresh and new for y'all so you don't miss out on the latest runes and builds for Shen. Check out the "Patch Updates" section for first impressions when a new patch drops.
And finally, if I somehow decide to post more League content, you can find my social media here (depending on my current activity in the game, you might find something interesting, maybe not even League based):
Main YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Smudey
2nd YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Smudextra
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Smudey_
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/Smudey_
xPetu: I wouldn't even play Shen if it wasn't for the Shen GOAT. This man single handedly ignited my passionate fire for Shen, Off-Meta builds and League as a whole. A lot of concepts that I have learned originated from him and I can't thank him enough for inspiring me and many other with his videos. You will always stay my GOAT <3
Shending Help: My laning phase with Shen would never be as good as it is nowadays without him. His video guides as well as his spreadsheet have helped me a lot with numerous matchups formerly thought of as impossible for me. This man showed me how incredibly in-depth and fun Shen's laning phase can be and I owe him for that.
The many Shen OTPs: This goes to people like TheBlueNinjaShen, Gannicus, God Shen, IMainTopLane and many more. In xPetu's darkest times, your videos have been a great change of pace. From simple gameplay to full guides and off-meta builds, your videos have definitely kept Shen alive during times where he was very underwhelming, but you pushed through. Thank you so much for being here and PLEASE, keep pushing Shen's metagame. I can't wait to see more from y'all.
Coach Silphi/PlayersHUB Academy: When trying to get better at League a few years earlier, I have stumble across a german channel called "PlayersHUB", which had a lot of VODs with people getting coached by Silphi on how to play the game. His explanations were very plausible and he was also a very funny dude overall, which lead me to book a coaching myself. After our session, I was definitely brought back to the ground. It probably took me muliple months to fully understand everything that we have covered, but over time, I saw myself getting better and better, while applying the concepts that I have learned during the coaching. I probably wouldn't have hit Gold before all of my friends if it wasn't for his coaching. 5/5 Stars, would definitely recommend the PlayersHUB Academy to everyone who speaks german.
AloisNL: His videos popped up out of nowhere, but the way he explained and demonstrated Top Lane Fundamentals was insane. I could see the game in a much brighter light and found myself winning and snowballing more and more games when applying those concepts in my games. Great content, keep going!
Mobafire devs: The guides for BBCode and many more have helped me tremendously when creating the guide. It was very easy to understand and apply, which also made it very fun to create the guide, even though it took quite some time. Thank y'all very much!
and finally, YOU: Thank you SO MUCH for reading my guide! I hope I could bring your Shen to another level and I also hope that I can inspire a lot more people to play Shen in the future. Thank you!
Patch 14.11: Absorb Life, which is a new viable rune for Shen, actually gets better scaling, making it an even more prominent choice. Celestial Opposition doesn't proc off of Knights Vow anymore, making it a better choice for Shen Support since he usually builds Knights Vow. However, Knights Vow also gets a nerf, decreasing its HP and AH. It is still a great option for protecting teammates, but doesn't offer as many stats to you as before, making you weaker. Lastly, Statikk Shiv got buffed all over the board, got 100g cheaper and even gained movement speed. While it might be a much more prominent choice for Shen as it was before, it is probably still quite a bit inferior to Titanic Hydra and Bami's items.
Patch 14.10: GIGA PATCH INCOMING!
- Precision Tree (only affects jungle): Lethal Tempo got removed and PTA slightly nerfed. Overheal got replaced with Absorb Life, which doesn't matter since we are going to take Triumph anyway. Legend: Tenacity got replaced with Haste, which is SO much better for Shen and should always be taken. Cut Down got a weird change, but we don't take it anyway. Instead, it is now worse against HP so we can build more HP items now.
- Domination Tree: Predator got removed, which is devastating for River Shen mains lol. Sudden Impact got a tiny change which makes it better for Shen, but still worse than Cheap Shot. Relentless got nerfed, which isn't great for Jungle. Ingenious got removed, which isn't great for Bruiser Shen players like myself. That means that Ultimate Hunter is always the best (except for Relentless maybe in jgl).
- Resolve Tree: Font of Life got slightly changed, nothing too crazy tho.
- Inspiration Tree: Cash Back replaces Futures Market. Only good for bruiser/tank builds, but not support. Time Warp got buffed, but is probably worse than triple tonic.
Items:
- Anathema's got removed, which is horrible for us if we are even/behind against scaling champs. Keeps us from making a comeback.
- Symbiotic Boots might be viable for Jungle and Support, but still unsure
- Overlord's Bloodmail is great and synergizes with Overgrowth, Heartsteel and Warmog's, as well as items that give HP in general. Great for Tank Shen.
- Some changes to ADC items and runes make building HP more viable in general
- Randuins loses Rock Solid, but gets more armor. Probably not that great for Shen.
- Abyssal Mask is a bit cheaper, but loses MR. Overall a nerf I believe.
- Knight's Vow loses armor, but gains HP regen and a better passive. Overall a buff.
- Bami's loses 100HP, but is 100g cheaper. Overall worth I believe
- Sunfire and Hollow Radiance lose HP, but get AH. A nerf for Shen.
- Mercurial Scimitar is now worth building if you REALLY want to keep the QSS.
- Steelcaps is 100g cheaper and gains 5 armor, but loses 4% AA-reduction. Now better against AD in general, but worse against champs like Vayne, Jax, Yone or Fiora (Auto-Attackers with AP or True Damage).
- Unending Despair loses 2s cooldown to make up for Ingenious removal. Great change.
- Warmog's gets 250HP, but loses half of its HP regen. Still worth tho imo.
- Zeke's is now viable with a good engager on your team. The biggest buff by far.
Other stuff:
- Ghost is getting nerfed. Only impactful if you regularly use this niche spell.
- Exhaust gets adjusted and heal gets buffed. Great for Support Shen.
- Azir W does no longer go through Shen W. HUGE for the mid matchup.
I will update my guide once I have time. This will probably take a week at max.
Patch 14.9: This patch introduces nerfs to bruiser/carry items that Shen can build. These include Steraks (more cost and longer shield cooldown), Sundered Sky (longer cooldown and less healing on passive (doesn't do much to Shen since he doesn't really use that much base AD)) and Eclipse (-2% maxHP damage). While I enjoy playing Bruiser Shen with these items, I can also understand the nerfs since these items were quite strong. Tank Shen seems to become stronger every patch so it might be better to focus on tankier items. Also, we got DIRCET SHEN BUFFS... in Arena. Not that great for people who enjoy regular league, but for Arena enjoyers, this is actually huge because Shen not only gains bonus health scaling with levels, but his Ultimate has been decresed to a 60 SECOND COOLDOWN, which is a highly necessary change for Arena and actually makes Shen playable in this gamemode! Overally nice patch for Arena Shen enjoyers, but not that great for Bruiser Shen enjoyers like me (honestly, nothing really matters here because next patch is going to be SO HUGE that I probably need to rework half of my ENTIRE GUIDE LMAO)
Patch 14.8: Not really any changes to Shen directly, but some system changes that indirecly affect Shen in the Top lane. Firstly,
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Patch 14.6: DIRECT SHEN BUFF INCOMING!! His Ki Barrier passive cooldown refund finally makes sense now. Before the buff, the CD refund (which is caused by affecting champs with your abilities and is a big part of Shen's skill expression) was very random and only got stronger in the mid-late game, which isn't Shen's strong point. By making it more consistent throughout all levels, Shen gains a lot more personal strength in the early-mid game. I LOVE this buff because it only rewards SKILL EXPRESSION instead of just throwing raw stats that any braindead player can use. Mastering Shen's passive cooldown is a huge part of his skill expression in 1v1 combat and buffing it like that is great and actually rewards players that take their time to learn this champion. Thank you, Riot! When it comes to itemization, they removed the ability to buy Doran's items as a Jungler, which nerfs Shen's early jungling a bit since he could buy Doran's Blade early to carry the game. They also nerfed Solstice Sleigh even more, which makes it even less optimal than it was before. Bami's Cinder gains 1 extra damage, but loses 0.5% bonus health scaling, which is HORRIBLE for Shen, but great for everybody else who isn't a tank (but many other Epic Items got nerfed as well so it isn't that bad). Overall a great patch for Shen players that like to build more bruiser-like and carry games themselves, which I personally enjoy 1000x more than the tank builds.
Patch 14.5: Celestial Opposition got a tiny buff, while Solstice Sleigh got nerfed. Overall a nerf to Shen Support. Frozen Heart got rightfully nerfed, but is still strong given the right circumstances. Heartsteel got nerfed in the early game, but buffed in the late game. Still a bad item for Shen. Sunfire Aegis got an HP and Damage buff, making it fine to build again (even though the damage is flat and not scaling with HP). Finally, Spear of Shojin got a tiny rework that should make it IN THEORY work on Shen's Q since Attack-based spells now also grant stacks. However, for some odd reason, this does not apply to Shen's Q. Let's just hope that they fix this bug in a hotfix patch. Otherwise, this patch was ok for Shen, with some buffs, but also nerfs to his items.
Patch 14.4: Lethal Tempo lost some early game power, but scales better. This makes matchups like Yone and Yasuo easier to deal with in lane. Terminus stacks faster than before and might be viable for Shen (especially if paired with PTA/LT). Otherwise, a very insignificant patch for Shen.
Patch 14.3: Kaenic Rookern shield strength and cooldown got nerfed, but it's barely noticable. Sundered Sky got an AD nerf, but huge HP buff, making this item a LOT better for Shen and maybe even core 2nd item if it turns out to be broken. Titanic got a tiny HP buff, but they nerfed the active maxHP damage. This is only for the primary target, so dueling got weaker, but waveclear should still be as strong as before.
Patch 14.2: SHEN FINALLY GOT BUFFED... by 4 base AD. This might seem like a joke, but it's actually kinda nice. It enhances our early game by giving us more combat power, easier last-hitting, better pushing power and more tower damage. We definitely take what we get. They also changed the minor runes and made them a bit more Shen favored! Check the note for runes incase you want to know when to take which one.
Patch 14.1b: Not a lot happened here. They buffed Tiamat's AD, which isn't that beneficial for Shen compared to other champs. They nerfed Titanic Hydra's base stats a bit, but not the cleave passive/active so our wave clear is still strong with it. They also buffed Heartsteel by 100HP, but I'm not 100% sure if it is worth a buy, gotta try it out today and will update if it turns out very well (Update: Don't build this item).
Patch 14.1: They FINALLY brought back Tiamat and Titanic (which is currently overtuned and gets nerfed next patch) active, giving Shen his cool attack cancel burst combo and a lot of waveclear without being reliant on Bami's, speaking of which, they also removed mythics, giving you a LOT more freedom in your build paths and making off-meta builds easier to create. So I updated the entire item build sections for every role and will keep updating it with the future item changes. Shen now has an easier time playing Top Lane because he can play aggressive early with Ignite again and actually solo-carry the game with Titanic. Void mites allow him to have more impact early on the map without being reliant on his ult + allowing him to take towers more reliably. They also added lore quest for some champions, including Shen, who gets an extra 30% increase to his KI-Barrier passive shield (not that difficult to get because Shen is good vs Zed and Zed's AH-items are gone, making it a lot easier than before). Shen is overall in a great spot starting this season and I can't wait to see how his meta develops. Not being forced to play supportive only is a huge deal and makes Shen a lot more enjoyable to play (especially because of the skill expression involved when building Titanic).
Patch 13.23: Turret gold got buffed again, basically neglecting the change they made a few patches ago and nerfing Shen again lol.
Patch 13.21: Hullbreaker is getting nerfed, but still seems to be strong. Let's just hope to god they remove the item at some point. I also updated the runes to give you more options as well as the items to fit into the current meta. Items like Iceborn Gauntlet and Jak'Sho feel pretty good and it seems like you aren't forced that much into a supportive playstyle. Try them out for yourself and let me know! (Credit for my inspiration goes to IMainToplane, goated Shen player)
Patch 13.20: Not really any direct Shen changes, but a lot of other changes that indirectly affect him. Turret gold is getting nerfed, meaning that roaming around the map early on isn't as punishing anymore. However, early drakes are getting nerfed, which means ulting to secure the first few drakes isn't as worth it anymore (in Top Lane). Most runes are getting nerfed later on, except Grasp, which means it is overall a bit stronger and better for Shen. Doran's items (including DShield) are getting buffed a lot so you might opt a lot more for DShield instead of Ruby Crystal, even against melees. Jungle is getting nerfed, which means Shen Jungle is even more **** pls never play this unless Shen gets direct monster damage buffs. Death Timers are also lower, which might make early kills not as impactful anymore. Let's just hope riot listens and fixes Shen (they are already rescripting Fiora so we might be able to block vitals with W again).
Patch 13.18: Guide rework after a little hiatus. Added new runes and updated my item section based on the current state of the game. I also acquired more experience and knowledge about Shen Mid and can confidently say that this is Shen's best role by a landslide. Try it out for yourself!
Patch 13.6: SHEN FINALLY GOT THE SKIN WE WERE WAITING FOR! Oh and also no relevant balance changes
Patch 13.5: Grasp got a little nerf to it's healing, but in return, you receive more HP per proc, which is quite nice for Shen's scaling. Triumph now heals off of your max health as well as missing health so it's overall better for Shen. Plated Steelcaps got buffed because they were a lot worse than we thought. Now they are actually good, but still worse than Ionians (except if you play against full AD/Auto-Attack based teams).
Patch 13.4: Doran's Shield got nerfed, diminishing our early power in lane quite a bit, especially against ranged enemies. However, I've already thought of a good alternative to Doran's Shield. Both support items for Shen got buffed, giving you a lot more health regen, which helps against poke laners.
Patch 13.3: Iceborn Gauntlet finally received it's bug fix and properly works on Shen, meaning it's actually a viable option! Radiant Virtue, while getting nerfed for most tanks, got even stronger for Shen since his Ult cooldown is super high by default so he just gets more stats for free. This item is a must-build in my opinion if you want to play like a supportive tank (the heal and ability haste amp removal is still a nerf tho).
Patch 13.1: Nerfed Jak'Sho so it's no longer OP, but "just" strong. It has been discovered that Radiant Virtue is super strong so build that. Iceborn is apparently still bugged for Shen (not applying the debuff if you are shielded) so don't build it until it gets fixed.
Patch 12.23: They buffed Sunfire! It now cost 100 gold less and also gives you 100HP more, very very neat. They also buffed a lot of tanks this patch and Shen is generally good against tanks. Overall pretty happy with the changes.
Patch 12.22: PRESEASON PATCH! New Top Lane tank mythics are out, guide will be updated a lot over time, but right now, Jak'Sho and Heartsteel are the best imo, Radiant Virtue felt kinda lackluster to me and a bit too support focused. IBG feels weird because no MR and it lost synergy with Demonic, probably wont build this item ever again. You should still take bamis cinder and build it into sunfire, pretty good item on Shen (or build tiamat into titanic if they literally have no AD). You don't need a damage item anymore and can go straight into tank items. Randuins and Frozen Heart are both viable now in the right circumstances. Turbo Chemtank is super situational and is basically Dead Mans, but against AP. Abyssal Mask got changed and is no longer viable in my opinion. Gargoyle might be super strong combined with the new tank items. We'll see how this turns out over the preseason.
Patch 12.20: Demonic Embrace got changed, but it's a nerf for Shen since they nerfed the Health for more AP and nerfed the max health ratio on the burn effect. Demonfire might be strong still but the -100 health and -0.2% max health ratio nerf hurt a bit. Sterak's Gage got buffed, might be worth building again in some very rare cases (probably in combination with titanic hydra).
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