Introduction x Who am I? x Who is Shen? x Shen Ability Rundown Practice x Top/Mid Lane x Jungle x Support

Theory x Runes x Items x Tips & Tricks Extras x Conclusion x Special Thanks x Patch Updates

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 Surgeon Shen and was like "let's just try this champion", and the rest is history. I've peaked Gold I, but didn't continue grinding as I was not happy with Shen's state at that time. However, I believe that with all the new changes, I can climb higher than before! I'm neither the greatest Shen player of all time, nor do I invest enough time in playing the game to pursue such status since I am also involved in many other games, but I still believe that my knowledge of Shen and the game as a whole can help many of y'all out there to at least have some sort of direction when learning Shen and I hope that you'll join me in this journey to embrace the equilibrium!

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!

Ki Barrier Self-shield upon casting an ability. After casting an ability, Shen gains a shield for 2.5 seconds as soon as the ability's effect is finished. Successfully affecting another champion with an ability (dragging Q through an enemy, protecting an ally with your W, hitting an enemy champion with your E or successfully finishing your R teleport) will reduce your passive cooldown depending on your level. Twilight Assault Reposition your blade to your location, empowering your AAs. Shen calls his Spirit Blade to his current position and empowers his next 3 auto attacks upon blade arrival, granting your AAs extra max health magic damage and more range. Dragging your blade through an opponent increases your AA damage, your attack speed and slows the opponent if they walk away from you. We devide non-dragthrough and dragthrough Qs into normal Qs and Empowered Qs. Spirit's Refuge Shield around your blade that blocks auto attacks. Shen's Spirit Blade creates a protective area that blocks auto attacks as well as some auto attack based abilities (Udyr stun, Leona Stun etc.). Casting the ability without you or an ally standing inside it makes your blade wait for 2 seconds before activating the shield or until you or an ally walk into the area. This ability has a very long cooldown, but can turn the tides of many teamfights, skirmishes and even some trades in the laning phase if used at the perfect time. Shadow Dash Taunting and damaging Dash + Energy recovery. Passively, Shen gains energy by damaging any attackable unit with his Q or E. When activated, Shen dashes, depending on cursor location, taunting enemies hit in the way for 1.5 seconds and dealing physical damage. Can be used to engage a fight or disengage even through some walls. This is Shen's only form of mobility so use it wisely. Stand United Global Teleport and Shield for an ally. Casting Stand United on an enemy instantly gives them a shield based on your bonus HP, your AP and your allies current health (max value at 40% or below) and lasting for 5 seconds (assuming you don't die). After channeling for 3 seconds, teleport to you ally. This is Shen's most important ability since it can be casted from anywhere and can save teammates at any time, turning around a lot of teamfights and skirmishes or can be used as an engage tool if you ult an ally with decent engage (Malphite Ult, Hecarim's existance etc.). Using it correctly will come with a lot of time and practice.

If you don't want to think about runes too much, you could go these every game. This runes page enhances one of Shen's strongest aspects, his laning phase. It gives you the most power early with some additional scaling options if you want to be a bit stronger later on.

Grasp of the Undying is the best keystone for Shen and has been for a long time. It not only gives you plenty of sustain and scaling health over time (which Shen definitely needs as a tank with HP scaling), it also grants you damage in form of a single burst auto attack proc, which synergizes perfectly with Shen's trading pattern early on. Would definitely recommend taking this keystone into every melee matchup since it allows you to dominate most of them early on.

Shield Bash is by far the best out of the 3 because Shen uses a lot of shields so you can proc shield bash at least once in every single trade you take, especially since Shield Bash gives you one empowered Auto Attack, just like Grasp so this strenghthens Shen's trading pattern even more. Additionally, Shield Bash also gives you resistances, which aren't anything substantial, but can help you in some close early trades to give you the edge over your opponent.

Second Wind gives you a lot of sustain in the laning phase through a heal over time after taking damage, which is not only great against ranged matchups where you will heal their poke, it can also be great in melee matchups due to your burst-heavy trading pattern, which lets you disengage really fast after a trade and heal back up if you took damage. It also synergizes extremely well with Doran's Shield, which you will take every game. If you really want to, you can take Boneplating against All-In champs that can't proc bone plating very easily from afar (Wukong, Jax, Sett etc.) or Conditioning if you want to gain resistances in the mid game, but Second Wind is my personal favourite rune and I recommend taking it every single game.

After many meta changes and rune reworks, I am confident in taking Overgrowth every single game since it's the best for Top/Mid lane at the moment. Titanic Hydra got its active back and is now considered a core item. Titanic's damage as well as 3 of Shen's abilities (P, E, R) scale with health, which means that overgrowth not only enhances your tankiness, but also your damage and gives you a lot more agency in the mid-late game. Revitalize's effects are just too lackluster when going for a full tank or carry bruiser playstyle and it's only worth taking when you have have an enchanter on your team or if you build a lot of healing/shielding items like Sundered Sky, Unending Despair, Spirit Visage and Eclipse. Unflinching got a weird rework and kinda sucks. If you don't want to think about it, go Overgrowth every game when playing Top or Mid Lane.

With Cheap Shot, you will do true damage on your targets in usually every single trade because you can proc it with your E and your Q drag-through since it slows your enemy and counts as "impaired movement". Makes your early game a tad bit deadlier.

With the recent item changes, there are now 2 different hunter runes that you can take: Ultimate Hunter or Ingenious Hunter. Your ultimate ability has such a long cooldown and because you can easily get ultimate hunter stacks by ulting to your team and helping them, you will decrease a lot from your ultimate, which is your most important ability and can turn the tides of many teamfights. However, with the recent addition to Titanic Hydra's Active and many other cooldown items, I have started to go Ingenious Hunter every single game for more personal power. If you want to be more self reliant, take Ingenious, but if you want to be a team player that can constantly teleport to allies in need, then Ultimate Hunter is better. Overall, both of them are equally good for their own reasons.

For the first row, you can decide between Attack Speed or Adaptive Force. I would always recommend Attack Speed due to its theoretical gold value and ease of use, but adaptive force is also good if you value raw power when trading. For the second row, always take scaling health for obvious reasons (Shen's great synergy with health). In the third row, all of them are good. Flat Health is good for early fights and winning lane. Scaling Health is also generally good for Shen's scaling and is a must-have against losing matchups where you can't go for any fights and the flat health wouldn't have nearly as much value (it also gets outscaled at lvl 7 onwards). Slow Resist + Tenacity can be a rare option against Nasus, Olaf and other champions that rely on slows (the best alternative to Unflinching since the rune got reworked).

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.

There are only 2 options: You either take PTA for a nice 3 hit proc that increases your and your allies damage in All-Ins against that target or you take Lethal Tempo for more attack speed and attack range in extended fights. You should usually take PTA since Shen can proc it more easily and it helps you AND your team to kill SQUISHIER targest faster. However, if you find yourself against a team with at least 3 or 4 tanks/bruisers, then feel free to take Lethal Tempo since it's a lot better in those extended fights. Look at the enemy team and decide for yourself.

Triumph is the obvious best choice for me. It heals you and gives you extra gold for takedowns and can definitely save your life in close call situations (nice synergy with Last Stand). Overheal is just kinda bad on Shen and you don't need extra energy from PoM, assuming you use your abilities correctly and don't throw them around mindlessly without hitting anyone.

It usually depends on the comp, but in general, take Alacrity against low or no enemy CC and Tenacity if the enemy team has at least some form of meaningful CC. Just look at their team comp and adapt.

Last Stand is in my opinion the best out of all of those because not only does it have the best numbers overall, but it's also better in longer fights because in the Jungle you won't be short trading and then disengaging, but instead, you'll be going for constant all-ins and trying to kill the enemy laner or jungler and this runes helps immensely, especially when you are very low on HP against another low HP target but you clutch it out with your Ki Barrier shield while having very low health and dealing a lot more damage. Coup the Grace might be better to finish off an enemy, but in the end, it comes down to your preference (just please, NEVER take Cut Down in your entire life as Shen, thanks).

With Cheap Shot, you will do true damage on your targets in usually every single trade because you can proc it with your E and your Q drag-through since it slows your enemy and counts as "impaired movement". Makes your early game a tad bit deadlier.

With the recent item changes, there are now 2 different hunter runes that you can take: Ultimate Hunter or Ingenious Hunter. Your ultimate ability has such a long cooldown and because you can easily get ultimate hunter stacks by ulting to your team and helping them, you will decrease a lot from your ultimate, which is your most important ability and can turn the tides of many teamfights. However, with the recent addition to Titanic Hydra's Active and many other cooldown items, I have started to go Ingenious Hunter every single game for more personal power. If you want to be more self reliant, take Ingenious, but if you want to be a team player that can constantly teleport to allies in need, then Ultimate Hunter is better. Overall, both of them are equally good for their own reasons.

For Shen Jungle, you usually decide between Shield Bash and Conditioning, with the ladder giving you more mid-late game tankiness. However, I believe that the early power and synergy that Shield Bash provides plays a lot better into Shen's early game heavy playstyle and is therefore my personal recommendation.

Overgrowth enhances your scaling, your tankiness and your overall damage when you buy Titanic Hydra. Definitely my recommended choice for Jungle. Revitalize can be better in the early game, but in its current state, it will always be worse unless you go for a LOT of healing items AND have an enchanter on your team. Just go Overgrowth if you don't want to think about it too much.

The first row is between Ability Haste, which lets you use your Q a lot more, and Attack Speed, which lets you auto-attack a lot more (mostly personal preference). For the second and third row, you should always take either scaling and flat health or 2 scaling health, choice is yours.

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.

You should usually always take Aftershock, since you want to taunt your enemies a lot and aftershock compliments that playstyle greatly by making you tankier after imobilizing a target and deal damage afterwards. But if you play against an enemy with very long range that you probably can't taunt into (like Caitlyn + Morgana), then feel free to take Guardian to peel for your ADC because you won't be taunting into the enemy anyways unless you get a gank and you have to taunt-flash to reach your enemy. If not, ALWAYS take Aftershock.

Font of Life is criminally underrated and underutilized. It heals your teammates for attacking a target that you have taunted or slowed with Q, meaning that by playing aggressively with your taunts early, you give your ADC a lot more sustain and by that win more trades and all-ins. This can also be very useful later in the game because FoL scales with your max HP so it synergizes very well with Overgrowth. Shield Bash however is a lot better when taking Guardian since you won't be able to utilize Font of Life against high-ranged comps. This also gives you additional bonuses for your Guardian shield.

Second Wind gives you a lot of sustain in the laning phase through a heal over time after taking damage. As expected, it is also a great option in the Support role because you will most likely face ranged enemies in the bot lane, except if they play something like Yasuo, Samira or Nilah and an all-in support like Leona, Nautilus or Blitzcrank. In those matchups, you could consider going Bone Plating, but Second Wind is just so much better in my opinion, but feel free to decide based on matchup. If you take Resolve as a secondary rune page, don't take any of these runes. The others give you more value in my opinion.

All of those 3 are great options in the Support role so pick based on the situation at hand. If the enemy team has a lot of hard CC, consider taking Unflinching so you won't get bursted for tanking CC for your mates. If that's not the case, you can take either Overgrowth because it will make you a lot more tanky since you won't be buying that many health-based items anyways and it also increases your effectiveness of you Font of Life heal. You can also take Revitalize, since it not only increases your Ult/Passive shields already in the early game where it's the most important, it also increases your Guardian shield, your Font of Life healing and healing items like Redemption.

Glacial Augment is the only option in the Inspiration tree. You slow your targets after taunting them, granting you extra slow to your CC for the ultimate utility tech. However, it sacrifices your own tankiness after taunting from Aftershock with more tankiness for you ADC, but since they will be attacking you because of your taunt anyway, it's a bit weaker than Aftershock in my opinion. You could, however, take it over Guardian, not necessarily because of Glacial Augment, but because the Inspiration tree helps you to catch up to certain high-ranged opponents, but it's kind of held back by being a lot harder to use so I would recommend Glacial Augment with the Inspiration tree for more experienced Support players.

Hextech Flashtraption is the only plausible pick here, giving you an extra gap close tool to catch up to opponents much easier. This lets you be more loose with your Flashes and go for more Flash + Taunt plays. A bit hard to use at first, but definitely worth in the long run.

Since you will be low on money as a Supporter, taking Future's Market might not be a bad option, letting you get to your items spikes a lot faster, but Minion Dematerializer isn't too bad either, enhancing your very lackluster wave clear as Shen, which is even worse as a Supporter, but Future's Market would be my personal recommendation. If you take Inspiration tree as a secondary, don't take any of these unless you REALLY dislike Hexflash.

Cosmic Insight not only gives you Summoner Spell Haste for more flashes, it also gives you Item Haste for Items like Locket, Redemption etc. and is the easier option out of those 2. The other one, being Approach Velocity lets you catch up to oponents faster via a speed boost from impairing an enemy, but is limited by either having an ADC that can impair any movement of the enemy (Jhin W, Twitch W etc.) or you being required to place your blade towards your enemies beforehand and pulling it to you, slowing the enemy and giving you movement speed. Very specific and hard to use rune, but definitely more worth if used correctly.

With Cheap Shot, you will do true damage on your targets in usually every single trade because you can proc it with your E and your Q drag-through since it slows your enemy and counts as "impaired movement". Makes your early game a tad bit deadlier.

Ultimate Hunter is the biggest reason why we take Domination secondary. Your Ultimate Ability has such a long cooldown and because you can easily get stacks by ulting to your team and helping them, you will decrease a lot from your ultimate, which is your most important ability and can turn the tides of many teamfights. No reason to go anything else in my opinion.

For the first row, always take Ability Haste since Shen has long cooldowns and will use his taunt a lot. For the second row, take movement speed when playing Aftershock for better engages or scaling health when playing Guardian for a bigger shield and more tankiness overall. For the third row, take flat HP if the opponents DON'T have a lot of CC and take Tenacity + Slow Resist if they DO have a lot of CC.

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.

Doran's Shield (Best Starter) This is the best starting item for Shen by far. Doran's Shield gives you plenty of HP and sustain, making your laning phase a lot stronger. Since you usually go for short trades, you can heal up after a trade if you take damage. Additionally, ranged matchups become a tad bit more bearable with the extra sustain. I'd recommend taking this one every single game when playing Top/Mid Lane.

Ruby Crystal (Greedy Starter) Ruby Crystal with 2 Health Potion is a greedier starting item option. It has a bit more HP and allows you to get certain (HP based) item spikes faster, but at the cost of your sustain. This starter is currently not viable and gets outclassed by Doran's Shield, but it is an option that could be viable in the future.

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 matchups or even harder matchups that usually beat you in longer fights, but you would have to take Lethal Tempo as your keystone if you plan on playing for all-ins (might work against Mordekaiser or Sett). 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.

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 Shield Bash.

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.

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.

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 Bloodsong, as well as worse in defensive power compared to Celestial Opposition.

Tiamat (Waveclear) If you want to rush Titanic Hydra, then Tiamat should usually be bought as soon as possible because Shen NEEDS a waveclear item to be a proper champion. It is not the greatest item in terms of stats + it makes it a lot more difficult to freeze a wave, but it is definitely the best early waveclear option. Being able to PROXY as Shen is only possible with this item and makes laning against tougher matchups a lot more pleasant. IMPORTANT: You NEED to have 1200g before your first base because buying long swords is not optimal. If you are forced to recall or die early, then buy Ruby Crystal because HP is a better early game stat for Shen than AD. If you are rushing Titanic Hydra, DON'T buy any extra items like Bramble Vest or Warden's Mail. This would delay your power spike by way too much.

Bami's Cinder (Waveclear) Bami's Cinder is the other waveclear option for Shen. Stat-wise, it is a lot better than Tiamat, giving you HP instead of AD. However, the waveclear part of the item, while being easier to handle, is a lot worse than Tiamat and only helps your pushing power by a slight bit. This item builds into Sunfire Aegis or Hollow Radiance, meaning that you can choose between Armor and Magic Resist depending on the matchup. However, it does not build into Titanic Hydra, which means that you have to delay your power spike a lot by building it after Bami's or as a second item. If you want early game tankiness, dislike Titanic Hydra or fall behind early, then Bami's is the better choice.

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 Illaoi's Test of Spirit (E) for example). If you plan on rushing Titanic Hydra, don't upgrade your boots until you have your first item, but if not, you can upgrade them whenever you want.

Bramble Vest (vs healing) Bramble vest can be helpful against champions like Fiora, Warwick etc. that rely on their healing abilities to be strong. However, in order to proc the grievous wounds, you need the opponent to auto attack, which can be hard against a Vladimir for example, where you have to taunt them for the effect to work. If you are fighting against healing mages ( Vladimir, Sylas), Ignite might be the better choice. If your lane opponent is the only one with healing, it might not be worth building.

Warden's Mail (vs auto-attackers) Warden's Mail can be good against champions like Tryndamere, Jax, Vayne and other champions that purely rely on auto attacks for their damage. It also scales with with your max HP so Overgrowth will gain even more value. Combining this with Plated Steelcaps against auto-attack based team comps and you'll be indestructable. It builds into Randuin's Omen, which is very good vs crits champs, and Frozen Heart, which is insane against On-hit/DPS (even with the wasted mana). The only problem is that it delays your item spike by quite a bit, but it can be SUPER good if they have multiple champs like these. If your lane opponent is the only auto-attack based champion, then it might not be worth building this item.

Spectre's Cowl (vs heavy AP) This item can be super helpful against hard AP matchups in lane (namely Mordekaiser, Gwen, Teemo and some others). Can even be built before Titanic Hydra to ensure that you don't fall too behind. This item also builds into Kaenic Rookern, which you should always build against AP champs.

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 Flash plays with your Shadow Dash (E), more All-Ins with Ignite and many more. Lastly, it is also 150g cheaper, which means that you can be more flexible with your recalls early on. The only downside is the lack of defensive stats that are usually provided by Plated Steelcaps and Mercury's Treads, but I believe that to be a worthy trade-off. You can never go wrong with these boots.

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 Warden's Mail for an indestructable anti-auto-attack build together with your Spirit's Refuge (W).

Mercury's Treads (vs AP and Crowd Control) These boots are, similar to Plated Steelcaps, best against 4+ AP and a lot of CC. Without enemy CC, these boots would be wasted gold. These boots could go very well with Wit's End, which together gives you so much Tenacity that you are basically immune and can often tank potent CC skillshots (like Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow (R)).

Iceborn Gauntlet (Slow Utility) Iceborn Gauntlet is probably the best Armor Item for Shen. It utilizes Sheen, which synergizes perfectly with Shen's Twilight Assault (Q), and turns it into a slow field. This is great against high movement speed and high-ranged opponents that won't be able to run away from you, letting you beat them up in the process. The Sheen effect also allows you to take towers a bit faster with its additional damage. Lastly, you can not only use it offensively in teamfights to potentially catch and slow their backline, but also use it defensively by setting up the slow field to run from danger (you can also attack minions, jungle camps etc. to create the slow field). Very good item.

Sunfire Aegis (Damage over time and waveclear) If you built Bami's Cinder as your waveclear item and your matchup is AD based, build this item. It gives you a lot of damage in longer fights, but lacks any sort of utility for you and your team. I wouldn't recommend building this item after Titanic Hydra, but it's otherwise fine.

Thornmail (vs healing and auto-attacks) If you have built Bramble Vest, you can upgrade it to this item. While the healing reduction doesn't really get stronger, the item itself does a lot of damage against auto-attackers based on your armor. Combining this with other Armor items against a 4+ AD team will give this item a LOT of value, but other than that, it's kinda meh when it comes to reducing healing. Don't build it if they only have 1 or 2 healing champs and ESPECIALLY not if they aren't even auto-attack based (the effect will only proc on auto-attacks).

Randuin's Omen (vs Crits) This item can be upgraded from Warden's Mail and is especially good against auto-attack based crit damage ( Tryndamere, Gangplank, Wind****ters etc). Not only do crits deal little damage to you, but you also gain an active that slows the enemy within a certain radius, which can be very beneficial against crit-based ADCs. Don't fall into the trap of building this into On-Hit damage ( Vayne, Master Yi, etc.) or you will greatly decrease the value of the item.

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 Unending Despair because the passive from Frozen Heart will actually proc the heal from Unending Despair, making it a strong combo against On-Hit/DPS champions like Bel'Veth, Master Yi, Viego and ADCs that build items like Blade of the Ruined King and Guinsoo's Rageblade.

Unending Despair (Healing over time) An offensive Armor item that gives you a lot of value in longer fights due to its sustain every 7 seconds (even lower if you have Ingenious Hunter). This item also has incredible synergy with Frozen Heart, which has already been mentioned above.

Dead Man's Plate (Ramping Movement Speed) Very fun, but niche armor item that gives you movement speed for better rotations, engages and potential one-auto-bursts. However, its stats are VERY lackluster, which makes the item super unoptimal, especially because Shen isn't supposed to engage fights (it is an option though if your team lacks in that department).

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 Overgrowth and Shield Bash. Always prioritize this item when the enemies have AP (with the exception of Wit's End).

Hollow Radiance (Damage over time and waveclear) This item is the MR equivalent of Sunfire Aegis and should be build for similar reasons. However, it trades a bit of its damage over time with better waveclear, letting you LITERALLY one-shot a canon wave with this item and Titanic Hydra.

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.

Force of Nature (MR over time and movement speed) Worse version of Kaenic Rookern. It gives you similar MR, but it takes a bit of time to reach that value, which also depends on if the enemy has CC or not. Only build this against 4+ AP and CC.

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 ( Soraka, Lulu, etc.) or Ocean Dragon . The low MR on this item makes you kind of squishy compared to other MR items. Only build this when the perfect circumstances are given.

Quicksilver Sash (Cleanse) Super niche item vs Malzahar's Nether Grasp (R), Nocturne's Paranoia (R) and maybe Warwick's Infinite Duress (R). Only builds into Mercurial Scimitar, which is a very unoptimal item for Shen. Sell it in the late game because in that stage of the game, these champs usually focus your carries instead of yourself, diminishing the item's value entirely. (IMPORTANT: THIS ITEM NO LONGER WORKS ON Mordekaiser's Realm of Death)

Anathema's Chains (Debuff an enemy) This item is super versatile and underated because the debuffs that you apply are very strong. It has 3 main uses. The first is against an isolated damage type. If you play against 4 AD and 1 AP champion, you only build Armor items and later in the game you put the debuff on the 1 AP champion. Way cheaper and more effective. Another use of this item is against true damage, specifically maxHP true damage ( Fiora, Gwen, etc.). Against these champions, you can't build HP because of maxHP damage, but you also can't buy any resistances because of their true damage. In those cases, you just buy Anathema's and put in on them (it is also good against Hybrid damage from champions like Kayle or Jax, who utilize both AD and AP equally). The final use is against generally fed enemies. If your team is struggeling against a fed enemy, you can build this item to turn them from super OP to "just strong", giving you a possibility to kill them and gain massive amounts of gold. I highly recommend building this item in those cases, it is honestly insane.

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.

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.

Locket of the Iron Solari (Shield vs burst) This item, similar to Jak'Sho, The Protean, gives you both armor and magic resist. But this item is better against burst because of its active shield that applies on you and nearby allies. It is also a LOT cheaper than Jak'Sho, The Protean so if you fight against a lot of assassins and burst mages, consider buying this item (commonly built as a first item when playing support).

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).

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 Overgrowth, as well as Shield Bash due to the shield size (very similar to Kaenic Rookern). You also gain tenacity, which is great against CC chains, as well as some extra AD for more combat power. Very underrated item.

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.

Stattik Shiv (Damage and waveclear) If you, for some reason, don't want Titanic Hydra or Bami's Cinder waveclear or want additional waveclear, then this item is the last alternative (even though I basically never build it).

Wit's End ( Mercury's Treads, but as a damage item) Wit's End is the best damage MR item out there. It synergizes perfectly with Titanic Hydra because of the high attack speed paired with hydra's on-hit damage. Build it if you want to carry.

Maw of Malmortius (Damage and MR Shield) This item is similar to Kaenic Rookern, but as a damage item. Best against burst, but Wit's End is usually the better item.

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 Stand United (R) without losing all of these stats and can even siege towers together with his team a lot better. Very underrated item.

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 Stand United ginormous, especially later on when you have bought a lot of items that contain HP. Really underrated item, but also very situational.

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 Titanic Hydra, NOT before) if you got ahead early and want to carry the game by yourself.

Edge of Night (Spellshield) "Wait... WHAT IS A LETHALITY ITEM DOING HERE???", I hear you ask. Well, for those of you unaware, Nocturne is seen as a direct Shen counter because his Paranoia (R) blocks our Stand United with its nearsight effect, making us unable to save our teammates from him. However, as it turns out, the spellshield that this item provides actually BLOCKS Nocturns Ultimate, meaning that we can save our teammates as long as the Spellshield is active. The stats are also... ok. It gives us HP, which is nice, AD, which is alright, and Lethality, which sucks lol. Credit goes to GannicusTTV, who (probably) found this interaction and showcased it in his build guide.

(Disclaimer: These items are not limited to the support role and can theoretically be built in every lane)

Redemption (AOE Heal) Build this item in longer team fights to get the most value out of the heal.

Knight's Vow (Protect Ally) This item is similar to Anathema's Chains, but instead of debuffing an enemy, you buff an ally by marking him as "worthy" (usually your ADC or a fed ally). Damage that your worthy ally recieves will partially be dealt to you, while the damage that your worthy ally deals will heal you for a small portion. A super solid item when playing support, usually built 2nd.

Trailblazer (Movement Speed and Engage) This item is Dead Man's Plate, but as a support item. The trail actually serves a purpose and boosts your allys' movement speed, meaning that you can engage as a team! Build this item if your team lacks engage (and if they have AD of course since it gives armor).

Mikael's Blessing (Cleanse) With this item, you can clease and heal a teammate of yours. Take this item against (near) undodgable CC ( Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow, Twisted Fate's Pick A Card, etc.).

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).

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.



Shen's Passive Ki Barrier usually has a 10 second cooldown after using an ability. However, successfully affecting another champion with an ability (look at the "Shen Ability Rundown" section for further details) will lower this cooldown by nearly half (depends on your level). That means that you can often go for trades or engage into fights a lot earlier than you think without losing any value for your shield.





Q-Flash is a very simple, but effective mechanic. Catching up to your opponent without having your Shadow Dash (E) is quite difficult. Q-Flash, however, lets you flash onto your opponent with your Twilight Assault (Q). This not only gives you 3 empowered Qs, but also slows the enemy, letting you finish them before they can run away. This is even better with a teammate that has to land a potent skillshot to CC the enemy. Slowing the enemy with Q-Flash will make it a lot easier for your teammate to hit their skillshot. IMPORTANT: You need to first press Q and THEN flash. This will make the combo a lot faster and less predictable.



The addition of Titanic Hydra's active has opened up a few more combos for Shen. With the active, you can cancel the endlag of your auto-attack and immediately attack again, which is absolutely broken with Shen's Twilight Assault (Q). If you EQ your opponent and then go for your 3 empowered Qs, you can perform the first auto-attack like normal, but then canceling the rest of the animation with the active and immediately doing your 2nd auto-attack followed up by the 3rd. This gives Shen insane burst potential that can kill certain enemies in just one rotation. But this trick does not only apply to champions, but also minion waves and jungle camps. By doing the exact same thing again, you can kill entire canon waves and AOE camps in a matter of seconds, not only giving Shen insane pushing power, but also a good jungle clear. To do these tricks consistently, I always put Titanic Hydra on my "2" button, but I've seen a lot of other Shen players putting it on "1" or any other button of their choice. As long as you can easily reach that button, it should feel natural to do these combos.



In matchups where your Spirit's Refuge (W) is useless due to the enemy mainly utilizing abilities instead of auto-attacks, it is advised to put a second point into Twilight Assault (Q) for extra damage in trades and more pushing power. You will skip your W entirely, but in these matchups, it is definitely worth it. This is mostly used in the Mid Lane where you usually face mages and assassins instead of tanks and bruisers.



When trading as Shen, you usually Shadow Dash taunt in and get 3 empowered Twilight Assault Qs at max before disengaging. The 6-Q Combo, however, doubles that amount by letting you hit 6 empowered Qs successively. In the laning phase, you should usually put your blade behind the enemy to get empowered Qs without having to taunt. What you can do instead is using Q to drag your blade through the enemy and then waiting for your Q to be at around 1 second cooldown. You can then taunt into the enemy, hit your 3 empowered Qs and by that time, your Q should be back up again for an additional 3 empowered Qs. However, this combos is very situational since it not only requires you to have your blade placed behind the enemy, but you also need to hope that the enemy doesn't disengage after your first Q. It is especially hard to hit this combo against high-range opponents that stay at a distance anyway + you probably have to use your Q a lot to shield a bit of the enemy's poke. Still, the damage that you will deal is absolutely massive and going for it isn't all too risky.





This is a specific Twilight Assault (Q) setup that lets you deal the most damage to the first jungle buff and can be used when you are leashing as a Top Laner or when you are the jungler yourself. Firstly, you use your Q at 1:17, then again at 1:25. When the buff spawns, you use the 3 Qs you got from the previous Q and then Q again after the 3 auto-attacks. This not only gives you the most damage, but also grants you your Ki Barrier passive shield for additional tankiness. As a Top Laner, you usually shouldn't go for this kind of leash and just go for 3 Qs because you usually want to push for the level 2, but if you are the jungler, you should ALWAYS do this. (Developed by Shending Help)



Q-Uptime is a concept that has been developed by the one and only xPetu and revolves around Shen's Twilight Assault (Q) and how it works in tandem with your auto-attacks. Your Q is your most damaging ability and you want to have it up as often as possible in order to avoid having to use your normal auto-attacks in longer trades/fights. However, you do not want to have your Q up while you are still auto-attacking them with your prior Qs (with the exception of the 6-Q Combo). The most optimal Q-Uptime rate would be between 80-100% Uptime, meaning that after using your Q and auto-attacking them 3 times, your next Q should already be (nearly) up, giving you insane damage in long fights. To achieve this, you need to maintain the equilibrium between your Ability Haste and your Attack Speed. Too much Attack Speed will lower your Q-Uptime, meaning that you'll be normal auto-attacking too much (happens by far the most), while too much Ability Haste will cause your Q to already be up while you are using the other Qs. However, I have found out myself that you can easily achieve this by building Ionian Boots of Lucidity. These boots, along with other items that give you a little bit of Ability Haste, are already enough for a solid Q-Uptime at the percents mentioned above. Building more attack speed from there (items like Wit's End) will probably cause you to use 2 or sometimes 3 extra normal auto-attacks, but this will overall still be fine, especially because you will not be auto-attacking a stationary target in real matches, but rather kite and reposition during fights, which alone will bring your Q-Uptime down if you happened to go over 100% Uptime. While this isn't a fancy mechanic or something along those lines, it is still a cruical concept that will help you understand Shen's maxium damage output and how to use it to its fullest potential.





Most Shen players use their Spirit's Refuge (W) on themselves to shield themselves (or nearby allies) from melee auto-attacks or On-Hit effects. However, since the W shield is on your Spirit Blade, you can actually shield your teammates by using Twilight Assault (Q), but pressing W right before that. The shield will only activate when you or an ally is standing inside of it, meaning that it activates as soon as possible mid-flight when you hit an ally from far away. Protecting allies like this will cause the W hitbox to become disjointed and can even protect allies when the shield is already past them. Q-W-Protecting is probably the most specific mechanic to use, requiring you to setup your blade in a very specific situation and having your teammates play around it. In most cases, your allies will just chill next to your spirit blade, allowing you to W when for example a Rengar jumps onto your ally. Using your W like this creates a whole list of new optimizations to protect your teammates in teamfights, but this will require a high amount of time and patience to fully master.

(video clip coming soon)



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 Shadow Dash (E) to engage and then their Twilight Assault (Q) to deal damage. Immediately after, most Shen players use their Spirit's Refuge (W) preemtively to shield them from auto-attacks. However, this is wrong. When trading like this, your Ki Barrier (P) shield will get activated from the trade. Using your W during the shield will cause your passive shield to be useless and not block any damage. What you instead should do is waiting for your passive shield to run out or get destroyed before using W. This will greatly decrease the amount of damage that an auto-attack based champion will deal to you. But what if the enemy isn't auto-attack based? Wouldn't the W be useless? In those kind of matchups, you don't actually use your W to protect yourself, but rather to activate your Ki Barrier. At the end of a trade where your Q and E are down, but your passive shield is up, you can use W to activate the shield, which can be very beneficial in close-call situations. Always think about your passive and how you can activate the shield as often as possible.



E-Flash is probably the most known and utilized Shen mechanic. Using flash after using your Shadow Dash (E) not only gives your E a lot more range, but it also makes it harder to react to. This is a core mechanic and should probably be used every single game to catch opponents that you usually wouldn't be able to reach.

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.






Your Shadow Dash (E) is your only mobility spell and wasting it can be detrimental for you and can cost you a lot of kill opportunities. You need to understand that you don't HAVE to use your E to engage into fights. At any given opportunity, using Q-Flash or another ally's CC or slow can already be enough to kill an enemy while still allowing your to chase them when they flash away or disengage when the fight doesn't look winable. It is also important that you don't overlap CC by taunting an already CC'd enemy. You usually want to wait for the inital CC to end before thinking about taunting. This way you'll maximize the amount of time that the enemy is CC'd for. Use your E wisely.



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 Twilight Assault (Q), Shadow Dash (E), your Ki Barrier (P) ready and set, and can even stack up your grasp beforehand. You then drag your blade through them, auto-attack them once with your empowered Q and cancel the rest of the animation by taunting out of the turret. If you want, you can even auto-attack them another time before disengaging. That way, you damage them with empowered Qs while either avoiding the turret shot completely or tanking the shot with your Ki Barrier. The enemy will be missing CS during that time and also be a lot lower on HP, allowing you (with or without your jungler) to dive them and further push your lead. This mechanic isn't as strong as before because some minion changes from a bit of time ago make the minion hit the tower instead of the enemy after doing the towercrash taunt, but this is still a great mechanic that enhances your laning phase in Top and Mid Lane. IMPORTANT DISCALIMER: This mechanic is a lot harder with Bami's Cinder since you will automatically deal damage to the enemy as soon as you get near them. You not only need to perform the towercrash taunt very quickly, but will also most likely tank 1 or 2 tower shots extra. I wouldn't recommend going for it if you have Bami's Cinder, Sunfire Aegis or Hollow Radiance.

(video clip coming soon)



Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you wanted to use Stand United (R) on your ally, but you had problems with your camera or you couldn't hit your ally because they were dashing around, leading to them dying?. No worries, because there are 2 ways to fix this.

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 Stand United is Shen's ult in its intended form. Reactive means that you only ult at given situations (the enemy jungle ganks your bot lane, your adc gets jumped by an assassin, your jungler gets caught out while invading etc.). The key to reactive ultimates is knowing when to ult. In most cases, you want the enemy to fully engage before ulting. This not only means that the enemies wont have an escape route, but also that the ally you are ulting is lower on health, meaning that your shield gets increased and can block a lot of additional damage (even though it might not be enough sometimes). The problem with reactive ults, however, is how limited they are. The most common problem when playing in lanes is that your ally needs your help, but your wave state is bad (usually when a big wave is slow pushing under your tower and you don't have teleport). These cases are always a lose/lose situation since you either need to sacrifice your allies life or a giant minion wave. I would always recommend to NOT ult because it is never guranteed if the play you are ulting to is worth it, but getting the minion wave is usually 100% guranteed. Another common problem is that reactive ults are not well communicated with most Shen players. Most people don't anticipate Shen's ult when it's not communicated beforehand so what happens is they flash away while Shen ults them, meaning that the ult is essentally wasted (some people even flash like a second or 2 AFTER getting ulted because they are physically blind or whatever). This means that you also need to keep track of your teammates summoner spells and save your ult as the VERY LAST escape option from a bad fight. With experience, you'll be able to anticipate the enemy's plays and can ping beforehand so your teammates know that you plan on ulting to them.

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)



Stand United isn't just limited to reactive plays and can actually be used proactively. Instead of waiting for something to happen and reacting with your ult, you already start ulting beforehand and create plays with a teammate. One good example for this would be some sort of diver or generally a champ with good engage ( Hecarim, Nunu & Willump, Rengar, any engage support, etc.). This way you can setup your wave state beforehand by letting your team know that you are pushing in the wave and then want to ult an ally that engages into a fight. This strategy is even more effective with champions that utilize stealth ( Kha'Zix, Twitch, Evelynn etc.) because your ult will essentially be invisible to them until you arrive out of nowhere. The only downside with proactive ults is that they are not always possible due to a strong toplaner that keeps pushing you under your turret or teammates that won't cooporate, which is why this strat gets better the higher elo you go because high elo players actually understand what you are trying to do (+ premates will be super op since you can communicate better). While proactive ults are a lot harder to do, they give you the most value out of them all and can give you a lot of free wins if everything works out according to plan.

(video clip coming soon)



Stand United is not only a global mobility spell, but is also very good at protecting allies with its giant shield. In teamfights, if one of your allies gets jumped on, you can ult them even if you are standing besides them, which gives them a massive shield. You then either teleport to them or don't if you get canceled by CC, which are both fine for you. However, since your ult has a super long cooldown and takes a bit of time to channel, it is advised to use your ult after using both your Spirit's Refuge (W) and Shadow Dash (E) as a "final option" to protect your allies. You can also ult right before you die because dying doesn't cancel the shield. This way, you'll actually be able to be useful while dead (similar to Karthus and Sion) and can turn around some teamfights. Very important mechanic that should be used in most teamfights.

(video clip coming soon)

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.


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 Nautilus or Leona) with an aggressive ADC like Draven or an early game Jungler like Lee Sin. His roams are also very effective, with him being able to taunt and slow the enemy laner/jungler as well as ulting to lanes that are very far away (for example saving your top laner to then secure void grubs). However, Shen is also very good at playing passively (similar to Braum) with his Ki Barrier shield that can face tank a lot of damage, as well as his Spirit's Refuge that can block many auto-attacks and on-hit abilities, and his Stand United, which can save teammates that are getting engaged on. Shen also has build variety in support, able to build like a tank or even supportive items like Redemption since Shen synergizes with Heal & Shield Power. The biggest downside with this role is that he is sort of a "jack-of-all-trades" support and doesn't really accel at anything. His engages and disengages will always be worse than Nautilus or Rakan and his healing and shielding will never come close to Soraka or Lulu. And also, because this role is so underutilized, I've put it down here, but it can definitely go up to A-Tier if played more.

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 Tiamat early and can barely get Bami's Cinder, if even at all. With invades and ganks being nerfed, Shen cannot utilize his strong early game at all, with him only able to watch as he slowly gets outfarmed and outscaled by the enemy jungle. I would not recommend picking Shen jungle in the current meta.

D-Tier. Yeah... Bot Lane is a joke. The only time that Bot Lane works is with a fasting Senna, but even then it would just be Support Shen.

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)



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 Nautilus or Blitzcrank)), 2: Leashing your jungler (only Top Lane, you should usually just do 3 Q auto-attacks and then leave to contest) or 3: you can just run to lane and prepare for the matchup.

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 ( Nasus, Yorick, etc.), you can even go for more auto-attacks and then place your blade behind the minion wave again, rinse and repeat. Against champions that can win longer trades (usually Conqueror users) OR against enemies with reliable disengage/ability to equally trade back, you usually just go for 2 (sometimes 3 if they are bad) empowered Qs to ensure that the enemy doesn't deal the same amount of damage to you. The goal of all this is the level advantage. By pushing the wave into the enemy, you ensure that you get level 2 before them, which is a big powerspike for Shen. You usually get your level 2 by killing the first melee minion of the 2nd wave, which is a very crucial thing to know because you can use this to bait the enemy into trading you. You want to save both your Ki Barrier and Twilight Assault and just walk up to the enemy, before the minion dies. The enemy usually doesn't realise this until it's too late. You'll get level 2 together with your Shadow Dash, taunt into them and use all of your empowered Qs in the process, then disengaging while blocking any incoming damage from the enemy or the tower with your Ki Barrier (DISCLAIMER: If the enemy laner plays SUPER passively under tower, don't force these kind of trades or you'll likely put yourself in a bad spot by overextending. You might take multiple tower shots and can get ganked by the enemy jungler if you are not careful. Only go for this if the enemy doesn't respect you). At this point, the enemy laner should be at least halfway low under tower, giving you 2 options. 1: If you have Ignite, you can try killing them by using Shadow Dash (maybe even go for E Flash), hitting your empowered Qs and igniting them. They will probably die and even burn their flash, but this is kind of a risky play and can get you killed if you are not careful. If you don't think you can kill them yet, you could go for a Towercrash Taunt to poke them a bit and make them lose CS. Option 2 is recalling, buying something nice and thining the wave that the enemy is pushing in. In order to stay ahead, you NEED to kill a lot of minions and zone the enemy laner from the wave. That way, you'll essentially checkmate them. They either stay for the wave and die in the process, or they recall and lose a lot of minions (even though they could have TP, but this shouldn't bother you if you recalled as well). From there, you can setup a freeze by killing most of the enemy wave, but leaving 4-5 minions alive so the wave stays in front of your tower, while keeping relatively high HP (usually done by utilizing your Ki Barrier and Spirit's Refuge to block attacks). Not only is the enemy laner forced to walk up for exp/CS, by which point you can zone them from the wave, but they are also a lot more gankable, while you are safe from the enemy jungler. By that point you can use your lead to either keep zoning the enemy laner, or go for plays around the map with your Stand United, further snowballing your lead and getting your laners ahead/keeping them from being behind.

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 Ki Barrier a lot more (mostly against ranged MUs)). You want the wave to push to your tower so you can farm safely and start slowpushing it into the enemy tower. You do this by ONLY hitting the minions when they are LAST-HITTABLE. That way, you can slowly create a massive wave that the enemy can't contest, letting you recall and buy safely. Of course, this also depends on how the enemy reacts to your plan. Some players, mostly ranged opponents, will keep pushing the wave under your tower. This is actually GOOD for you because you can keep farming under tower (can be hard, but should be learned) and be safe from ganks, while the enemy is always gankable. This, however, also means that you can't go to any river skirmishes without sacrificing a large minion wave, which means that you can only ping your teammates away because the enemy top/mid laner is coming. However, if the enemy tries to thin out the wave that you are trying to slowpush (mostly hard melee matchups), you NEED to contest them or they'll setup a freeze and essentally kill your lane. You will probably lose a bit of your health (or even die if you do it too much), but the enemy will also lose a bit of health to your larger minion wave. This way, you can keep slowpushing and taking damage wasn't even bad because you are planning on recalling anyway. At this point, you might as well be level 6 and can use your Stand United to help your team since your lane is doomed anyway.

From this point onwards, regardless of how the lane went, you can look for potential Stand United roams (or regular on Mid Lane) to snowball your own lead or create a lead elsewhere, because most of the time you'll get outscaled by the enemy laner anyway and staying in lane and farming acomplishes nothing. The one exception, however, is if you entire team is already doing well and has a Shutdown. In that case, you usually want to safe your ult so you can use it reactively whenever a shutdown is in danger, because killing them would be the only way for the enemies to come back into the game. If that is not the case (you are even or behind), then look for proactive ultimates that can get you a lead. This can be a 4 man gank on the bot lane to secure a dragon, an invade to delete the enemy jungle from the game or anything similar (you can also just look for void grubs and are not forced to use ult). Mid Lane specifically is a great role for this because none of those plays force you to use you ultimate because of your position on the map, but this, of course, also depends on the matchup and wether the enemy mid keeps you under tower or not. The only big problem with roaming is that the enemy can just push waves and get plates (mostly applies to Top Lane because Mid Mages have worse auto attacks + you can get back to lane faster on mid compared to top). The only way to counteract this is by either having a wave so large that the enemy takes ages to clear it, or you need to make a play elsewhere that outvalues the gold that the enemy mid gains (double kill bot into drake, top + jgl kill into void grubs etc.). As long as you are trying to get you and your team ahead, you are not doing anything wrong (unless you are going for unnecessarily risky plays). Don't forget to return to your lane after a roam to catch the wave. This cycle repeats until the...



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 Stand United, it is your duty to farm the sidelanes. Your goal, however, is not necessarily to take towers. While you can do that, it is inherently risky for Shen since his tower damage is very low and you can get caught off-guard if you don't apply vision correctly. Titanic Hydra and other items allow you to clear wave very fast, as well as duel the enemy depending on the matchup. The goal of this is crossmap pressure. You usually want to go Bot Lane when Baron Nashor is up or go Top Lane when a Dragon is up (this can vary depending on if the other splitpusher has TP or not, but is still a good rule of thumb). That way you can always TP to your allies incase a fight breaks out, while the enemy is busy with farming the wave, or everybody is at the fight, meaning that they'll bleed CS and get tower damage.

One exception to splitpushing is if either your Stand United or your Teleport (if you even have it) is on cooldown (even worse if you don't have Ultimate Hunter). In those cases, splitpushing on the other side of the map is very bad because you'll not be able to join a fight that could break out in front of an objective. In those cases, you either want to push the lane NEAR the objective or GROUP with your team, setup vision and prepare for a fight.

If there is no objective, but you still need to splitpush, you need to ALWAYS setup vision through Stealth Wards, Farsight Alteration and Control Wards. Since there is no objective to prepare for yet, the enemy can only farm or pick off overextended splitpushers like yourself. Always keep sure that you don't overstep the global minion line (I just made up that name, but it's an actual concept).

(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 Sylas (lost early, but got ahead late)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q99uJjskUJ4

Example game 2: Shen Top Lane vs Fiora (how to dominate lane with Ignite against a hard matchup and translate that lead into other lanes to end the game at 20 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8taqzSAm3RA

Example game 3: Shen Mid Lane vs AD Twisted Fate (behind on gold the ENTIRE game, but still won by capitalizing on the enemy's mistakes and acknowledging our win condition)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6N5rzDnjH4