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She has a lot of poke, and that can be really annoying for you in the early game. But if you manage to lock her down and set her behind, she won't be too much of a problem.
Brand
He has a lot of poke and his stun can be a nightmare for you if you don't taunt at the right moment. If your partner doesn't have enough range or attack speed to deal with him once you lock him down, you'll have a tough time during laning phase
Ezreal
He's annoying, but if you build up a bit of MR and do a good job of locking him down, he won't be too much of a hassle, depending on whoever his support his
Janna
Honestly, not too much of a problem as long as you don't get poked too much. Her only CC is a skillshot that can easily be avoided by your dash, and she doesn't have too much to save her or her partner if you lock either of them down long enough for your partner to get a kill. And once she's left alone, she's pretty ineffective
Karma
Her poke's annoying, but she's far from the worst person for you to be up against. Her only other form of CC is a root, which really won't bother you too much considering you can just block whatever damage her ADC manages to hit you with, since you'll have most likely have activated your Q the second you went in
Jhin
His range is pretty deceptive and a large portion of his kit contains some form of CC. His E can slow you by quite a large amount, his W can root you if you took damage, and his ult will slow you if it hits you. But if you can keep him in range of your partner long enough, he doesn't really have a way to escape short of Flashing
Kai'Sa
She only has one long-range ability, but that ability also does magic damage while still scaling off of her AD. So trying to block that with your W won't help in the slightest. However, her main strategy is to dash to her target and unload her kit on them. But if you land a taunt on her, she'll be squishy enough for your partner to kill her quickly before she can do too much damage
Kog'Maw
The only real threat he poses is poke. He has no escapes and is very squishy. Just be sneaky and smart about when you engage, and you'll be fine
Kalista
Her mobility can be a real problem for you. I don't really have any advice here aside from trying to land your E whenever an opportunity presents itself. The more you can lock her down, the better it will be for you
Jinx
Another case of poking ability with moderate CC. Her chompers can root you, her W slows you, and Fishbones can get poke on you by simply targeting a minion near you, even if you're not the main target. But she's purely physical damage except for her E, so you can block almost all of her damage with a well-timed W
Fiddlesticks
Yes, I'd honestly put Fiddlesticks at this high of a threat level for Shen. He has a lot of poke, a lot of sustain, a hard CC, and his ult is AoE magic damage. His silence stops you from doing just about anything, his Fear can get you away from whoever you just taunted, and there's almost nothing you can do about his ult. He's not an easy fight, but you should be fine if you play safely
Leona
Her CC can be a real frustration for you, but if you end up in a duel with her, you may be able to come out on top as long as you time your abilities will with your passive. You gain a shield almost every time you use an ability, alongside some bonus magic damage from your Q
Lulu
Yeah, she's annoying. She can polymorph you, speed up her ally to get them away from your, shield them to survive your attack, and easily turn a fight around with her ult. Her Q also presents a frustrating amount of slow and poke. But if you can get a taunt on her, most of the time she won't survive it
Lux
This lady is no joke against Shen. Half of her kit is very hard CC, and she has a very long root that can sometimes be hard to dodge without wasting your E to avoid it. You can't block any of her damage outside of using your shields, but even then, she'll easily eat through it. Don't let her get any kills, or she'll be a nightmare for you well into the late game
Malphite
Yeah, he's pretty frustrating. He's tankier than you, has way more CC, and his ult can completely turn around a teamfight by simply hanging the threat of his ult over your team's head. But once he misses that ult and their damage-dealer is dead, he has almost no way out
Miss Fortune
The only real threats she pose are her Q and Ult. The range and damage on her Q can surprise you, and you have no way to save somebody who gets caught in her ult. But if you can get your taunt on her and go in, she's not too much of an issue
Morgana
I'd honestly say Morgana is Shen's hardest matchup when it comes to support. She has a root with insane range and duration, her W is an AoE DoT which can completely ruin a 1v1 for you, her E completely negates your taunt, and her ult can make it very unsafe for you to go in, since she can stun you long before you can do anything effective. Try to single her out, or bait our her E by making it seem like you're going after her or her lane partner, and then immediately lock down the other person. As long as she has that E available, there's almost nothing you can do to help your ADC get a kill
Nami
Her stun can be annoying for you, but her abilities cost a lot of mana. Once she gets low, you and your ADC shouldn't have too much trouble getting a kill or two on them
Nautilus
The only way he can kill you is if he hooks you and goes all-in. But that is also where you thrive in combat. You can either dodge his hook with your E, or you can get a taunt on him immediately after he hooks you. The best he can do is throw up his shield and try to get some damage on you, but if you can single him out, he won't be very effective
Pyke
You can dodge his abilities very easily. See him throwing his hook? E to the side. See him using his stun? E out of the area. You can very easily win a fight against him by simply getting your taunt on him and making sure your health doesn't drop low enough for his ult to kill you. And once he uses up his kit, all he can do is hit you with basic attacks for quite some time, which you can completely negate with your W. But be careful in the early game, where you're still quite squishy and one good hook could get you killed. Then again, everyone's playing him Top and Jungle, so you probably won't see him anyway
Rakan
Man this guy's annoying with the right ADC. If he gets his knockup on you or your ADC, the best you can do is try to taunt him as soon as he jumps into the air to try to prevent him from dashing away to his ADC. His poke can be annoying, but it's mobility and CC that will really cause problems for you in the early game
Sivir
She has more range than you initially think and her spellshield will absolutely ruin your engage. Try to bait it out of her and then go in once it goes down if you're able. And be careful about standing near ally minions
Sona
She's got poke, she's got a heal, she can give her allies movement speed, and she has a stun that will probably get you killed if she lands it. But she's very squishy
Soraka
She's squishy, but she can manage to survive long enough for you to end up dead if you engage at a bad time. And if you focus her ADC instead, she can just keep healing them while you attack. When the opportunity presents itself, engage on Soraka always. Most other supports can do some form of damage, so focusing on them isn't always a good idea, but Soraka is worth focusing purely because of her sustain. Get her out of the lane as often as possible and you should be fine
Tahm Kench
He's tanky, he's got poke, and his W can ruin an engage for you very easily by either swallowing his ally or eating you and carrying you into pure death. Don't every try to fight him 1v1, and only go in when you outnumber the enemy so he's forced to spread around his CC or risk sacrificing a teammate just to take you temporarily out of the fight
Taric
His stun and ult are really annoying, but you can easily win in a fight against him as long as you're careful about your positioning. If you see his stun charging up and you're right next to him, simple dash behind him. He'll get taunted and you'll dodge the stun
Thresh
He has a decent amount of CC and can easily save his ADC with a well-placed lantern, but he's not quite as tanky as you are. And as long as you don't try to chase him after he ults, you should be fine. And even if he lands a hook on you, it shouldn't be too hard to escape
Tristana
Most her damage comes from her Auto attacks, much like Jinx. But unlike Jinx, she doesn't have a form of CC that can get you killed, aside from her landing on you with her W. If you see her engage, meet her with a taunt and W, forcing her to focus on you and deal no damage while your ADC kills her
Twitch
AoE poison, stacking poison from range, going invisible. He's annoying and you can't block a lot of the damage he deals. But like Jhin, he has almost no mobility and he's pretty squishy. Lock him down and he's not gonna be able to do much
Varus
He has better poke than a lot of ADCs. And most of his damage seems to come from his abilities, which can be a big problem for you. And considering he has a surprising amount of CC in his kit, with a decent slow and a root, he can be a bit of a hassle if he's well-protected.
Vayne
Almost all of her damage comes from her basic attacks, but her kit's mobility and CC is what really causes problems for you. If you're too close to a wall, she can easily stun you, and if you don't surprise her with your E, she can easily roll out of the way. You can still block most of her damage, but she's a hard one to keep close to you
Xayah
She can be a bit of a nuisance because of her Q, but she doesn't have any way to escape outside of becoming untargetable with her Ult. Mind where you are in relation to her and her feathers, and be careful not to get rooted
Zilean
The only way he can damage or stun you is to land a skillshot. A skillshot that is very easily dodged by any champion with a decent amount of mobility and awareness. Outside of that, he can also slow you or speed up an ally, getting you killed or denying you a kill, and he can also resurrect whoever you do kill. But he can also deal a lot of damage if he manages to land his Q. Try not to stand too close to teammates unless you're using the Guardian keystone
Zyra
She is a nightmare during laning phase. She has a lot of poke with her plants, her root is really annoying, and her ult can completely ruin your plays if you find yourself in the center of it. But once you head into the mid and late game, her usefulness really starts to fall off. If you can single her out, she's basically done for
Alistar
He needs to go in on you in order to secure a kill. Unfortunately, he can also stun and damage you while you're next to him, which does no favors for you since you need to get off your basic attacks in order to secure a kill. If he starts to use his trample, just get out of range of him and try to punish him if you can
Bard
He's not too much of a problem as long as you dodge his Q effectively. He's also extremely squishy and he doesn't have a good way of immediately saving teammates without using his W, which won't do a whole lot for them unless it's given time to charge. The worst he can do is ult you in a bad situation. Just be mindful of his basic attacks and you'll be fine
Blitzcrank
While the other hook supports are lower on the threat level, Blitz does present a much more constant threat to you. His hook pulls you to him immediately, unlike the others. Thresh's slowly pulls you to him a short distance, Nautilus brings both of you together over an equal distance, and Pyke pulls you a certain distance, but not necessarily right to him. But Blitz can unload his kit on you as soon as that hook lands, not only stunning you as you fly through the air, but he can also knock you up. That's about 2 seconds of you not being able to do a damn thing while him and his ADC attack you. Not to mention he's really tanky, has a small amount of mobility to either secure a hook or escape, and he has a passive shield to save him from taking too much damage
Braum
He has poke that doubles as CC. He can also jump to an ally to increases their damage resistances, block a huge chunk of damage from any pojectiles, his ult is some devastating AoE CC, and he's very tanky, so the early parts of the game against him can be really annoying. But if he has no allies around, he's about as dangerous as a baby ram
Draven
He does a lot of damage and you can't really do much against him unless you are able to completely lock him down. Even then, he has a movement speed increase in his kit, so once he gets out of the taunt, he may be able to get away anyway
Ashe
She's a nuisance when in bot lane. Her W's really annoying, her ult can get you killed if anyone else is around to follow up, and she can provide vision anywhere on the map long enough for everyone to get an idea of what's happening where. However, her usefulness really falls off in teamfights, as she doesn't really have any form of AoE outside of her W, which can be easily blocked by your or other tanky teammates, keeping your other teammates nice and safe. Just be careful during laning phase and try not to get her fed
Lucian
His mobility and his reliance on using abilities to deal damage instead of focusing entirely on basic attacks can make it much harder for you to be effective with your W. However, you can interrupt his Ult by simply dashing into him, which can prevent a large amount of damage if you can land the taunt. But, due to him being able to dash, that may not be so easy
Hi! And welcome to my first official champion guide that I've published. My name is Panda, and I'm a support main who specializes in ranged supports like Bard, Nami, and Karma. But I also love playing Shen and playing him has forced me to analyze what items I'm building and what runes I'm picking much more than any other champion I've played.
With this guide, I'll be trying to explain the general ins and outs of playing Shen, and I hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave feedback for any areas you feel I can improve the quality in
Pros / Cons
Pros / Cons
Pros:
+Great engage that can double as mobility
+Global ult that can very easily save a life or turn a fight around
+Great damage without needing to buy damage items
+Passive shield on a low cooldown
+AoE shield that can protect all nearby allies from basic attacks
+Very fun and effective to play once you understand him
+Skill ceiling is very high, allowing room to always grow and improve
Cons:
-Very susceptible to CC
-Poorly-timed ults can get you or a teammate killed
-Difficult to initially learn, especially learning how to position your spirit blade
-Has no form of poke, making certain matchups very slow and frustrating
-Requires good communication between you and your ADC
-Unable to save your ADC if they get locked down by CC
Shen is a very fun and rewarding champion to play once things line up just right. Even in your early levels, simply landing a stun and getting a few basic attacks off with your ADC can halve your target's health, forcing them to either back or use up their potions and maybe one of their summoner spells just to survive.
But against champs with hard CC or a lot of range or poke, Shen will have a very hard time in the early game. Shen's laning phase is very poor, due to his lack of AoE, but this isn't really a concern when you're playing support. But, until you start building up more health and armor, it won't always be easy to win fights, especially if your team or lane starts to fall behind
Team Work
Team Work
When playing Shen, I recommend you DuoQ with an ADC. Having immediate communication while playing such an engage-focused champion is crucial to successfully winning your lane, and there are a lot of situations where I felt confident going into a fight, but my ADC felt otherwise and stayed back. If you're queuing solo, I recommend telling your ADC at the start of the game "When you want me to go in, ping the target," that way you can at least be on the same page, since your ADC will most likely have their cursor hovering on or around the enemies a large amount of time. While you do have great engage, you're probably better off not being the shotcaller, as you are not the main damage dealer. You want your lane partner to feel comfortable going in before you commit to a kill.
When it comes to teamfighting, you'll almost always end up being the second or third person to go in. Your engage is better in small-scale fights, like 2v2 or 2v1, but you'll almost always end up dead if you're the first person to engage in a full on 5v5. So you want to be quick to follow up whoever it was that engaged the fight. Whether it was Lux rooting some of them, Mundo charging straight at them, or Nocturne ulting someone, you want to be the person to follow-up, since you can block all of the basic attack damage your targets will be doing. And since you'll have positioned your spirit sword in a way that can protect most of your teammates for the duration of your W, you'll have saved them from a lot of damage.
And always be mindful of when you should use your ult. Shen's ult has a huge cooldown, so using it too frequently can occasionally lead to a teammate dying when they could have actually used it. If you see an enemy fighting two of your allies and one of them is really low, go ahead and use it on them. If that enemy doesn't runaway from seeing your ult, then they'll surely end up dead trying to win a 3v1 with Shen there. (Quick tip for using Shen's ult; target the teammate's portrait on the side of your screen. Instead of trying to aim your camera or hopelessly clicking around a mess of champion icons and risk shielding the wrong person, you can very quickly and easily make sure you shield protects the right champion without wasting any time.)
But most importantly, don't be afraid to engage a squishier target if you have a teammate nearby. If they're close enough to you, you can easily survive the damage your target will deal while your ally runs over to you to secure the kill. You're really tanky, and you only get stronger as the game goes on, especially once you start stacking up health thanks to your passive shield
Summary
Summary
Overall, Shen is a very powerful and fun champion to play. It can be difficult learning him at first, but once you do, he'll be a hard champ to put down. Having decent communication with your lane partner is important for knowing when you can and should engage.
Be mindful of enemy champions with CC, and do your best to dodge it and follow up with a punish. Even getting just a few hits in will do a surprising amount of damage to them and force them to run off if they're being put at a disadvantage.
Don't be afraid to experiment with runes, either. Shen can be played very aggressively, depending on your team comp, and he can easily apply pressure to the enemy laners with some follow-up by your ADC. Or maybe you'd prefer to play a bit passively and focus on protecting your ADC, so you'll use a different set of runes. Find whichever ones work for you, and whichever ones provide you with the most fun
[8.12]Equilibrium (Shen Support)
Build Guide By SadPandaLoL
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