Shyvana is a tanky aggressive melee. With this build she is very self dependent and can PvP or Lane with ease. With dragon form she can take quite a few hits while dishing out a huge amount of damage, so it's fun to 2v1. Due to Shyvana's passive (which lowers her cooldowns per auto-attack) her damage scales with attack speed.

Is she powerful enough to have an effect on the game? You tell me...



So, on to her items...

1) Start off with Prospectors Blade for some early power.
2) Boots of Speed to rush top tower for dominion (though Shyvana is great at bottom, she isn't the ideal champion for that role).
*Note: Make sure you spam her W for extra speed as soon as the game begins.
3) Upgrade to Berserker's Greaves because the attack speed helps maximize her damage.
4) Recurve Bow then Null-Magic Mantle to build a Wit's End. At this point you can hit hard.
5) Build a Trinity Force starting with Sheen, then Phage. After its built Shyv is a POWERHOUSE.
6) Build towards a Kitae's Bloodrazor or Thornmail depending on how many AD champs the other team has.

24 points the offensive tree for Armor/Magic Penetration and extra damage. The crit abilities are not needed as Shyvana relies on attack speed.

6 points in the defensive tree towards Resistance and Hardiness improve Shyvana's overall tanky-ness.

Everyone has their favorite summoner spells based on their own play style, however I highly recommend:



Exhaust
This is a must have with Shyvana.
1) You can run away with exhaust.
2) Shyv has no CC, so this helps stop fleeing champs.
3) This usually guarantees a kill in a 1v1.



Ignite
Some people prefer Surge with Shyvana, but honestly Ignite is a far better choice in my opinion because:
1) Better burst damage than Surge. Taking down a champ faster helps with a fast tower cap.
2) Shyv lacks power in ranged and damage over time abilities. Ignites works great for fleeing enemies.

...and if the enemy champ is:
-fed (too powerful)
-extremely tanky
-or just really good

...using Exhaust then Ignite in combination is ultra-effective in duels. If you are appointed bottom as Shyvana I highly recommend hitting your opponent with both of these very early in the match for a quick kill and cap of the bottom turret.

Now here is where many guides differ, and it is important to tweak runes according to your play style. With that said, I still recommend my selection of runes as they works for all Classic, Dominion, Offtank, and Offensive Shyvana builds.

Marks
9 Greater Marks of Desolation. The armor penetration is incredibly helpful in dishing out extra damage.

Seals
5 Greater Seals of Resilience and 4 Greater Seals of Fortitude. This mix of armor and life runes is to improve her overall tanky-ness. Trust me, you will notice the difference.

Glyphs
9 Greater Glyphs of Alacrity. Shyvana has no mana to worry about, so more attack speed compliments her passive and allows her to spam her abilities more often.

Quintessences
1 Greater Quintessence of Fortitude and 2 Greater Quintessences of Desolation. The life quintessence is to boost her tanky-ness even further (it's worth it), and the armor penetration quintessences are great for more damage.

Q - Twin Bite - Max this 3rd after Burnout and Ult. Shyvana attacks twice on her next attack. This builds rage faster and deals a tremendous amount of damage. In Dragon Form Twin Bite gains an AoE effect swiping every enemy in front of you. During team fights make sure to align yourself such that you can swipe the maximum amount of enemies in front of you.


W - Burnout - Max this ability 2nd after your Ult. Shyvana surrounds herself in fire dealing magic damage to nearby enemies per second. Shyvana also gains a LOT of movement speed for a few seconds as well. On dominion, spamming her W to increase your movement speed is crucial, especially at the beginning of the fight. This will help you jump enemies as well as push lanes with the fires AoE magic damage. During Dragon form this can be a great kiting tool as it leaves behind a fairly deadly trail of fire.


E - Flame Breath - Add 1 point at level 3, max this ability last. Shyvana unleashes a fireball which does a small amount of magic damage (plus a weak DoT), and melts targets armor for 4 seconds. Always open up a fight with this ability. Hit the enemy with your fireball to melt their armor, Burnout up to them, and Twin Bite their reduced armor faces for maximum damage. Dragon Form shoots 3 fireballs in a cone.


***QUICK EXPLANATION OF RAGE***
After putting 1 point into Dragon's Descent, your rage bar fills up to 100. Only when your rage bar is full can you cast Dragon's Descent. After activating this Ult, you remain in dragon form as your rage bar slowly drains back to 0, at which point you return to normal. The rage bar gradually refills itself over time, and also refills with every auto-attack. Naturally Twin Bite which auto-attacks twice is great for filling up on rage. Auto-attacking while in dragon form prolongs the ability.


***ULT***
R - Dragon's Descent - Max your Ult first (of course). Shyvana turns into a dragon, takes flight in the chosen direction, deals damage to enemies she runs into, and knocks them back. This flight is very versatile in that it can be used for:

- flying over walls for a daring escape (or just flying away in the opposite direction)
- catching up to fleeing enemies (everyone's scared of dragons ROAR)
- push enemies off their turrets (though it doesn't push the enemy too far)
- simply dishing out an extra chunk of burst damage

While in dragon form Shyvana gains Armor and Magic Resistance, and defensive bonuses are doubled as well. This basically means she turns into a tank while in dragon form. A big AoE blasting tank of destruction. Shyvana's super effective at dishing out damage in team fights due to all the AoE effects her abilities gain while in dragon form.

Shyvana is self dependent, a powerful laner, an even more powerful dueler, and ROAR she's a dragon.