Hi everyone, I'm iSparklez, and I welcome you to my Shyvana Guide! I've worked hard to make this guide the best resource you can have when you're going to play with the Dragon of the League and I'd gladly accept all the feedback you can give me towards making improvements on this guide.

Shyvana is an amazing champion with a fantastic kit that allows her to output crazy amounts of damage while still remaining very durable. This allows her to excel in both the Jungle and the Top lane taking the role of an Attack Damage Off Tank.

Shyvana is also quite fun to play because of her passive ability Scalemail which makes her basic attacks affect each one of her abilities in a different way!

Watch the Shyvana Champion spotlight bellow to get a brief idea of what she is all about!

> Inferno Aegis gives Shyvana amazing Mobility and incredible chasing potential! > High amounts of damage in any phase of the game. > Her ultimate Dragon's Descent grants her Armor and Magic Resist. > Tons of AoE (Area of Effect) damage, especially in Dragon Mode! > Super Fast Jungler! > She turns into a Dragon!! :D

> Has no built in form of CC (Crowd Control) (Can be fixed by Frozen Mallet) > Fairly weak Ganker. > Can be kited by ranged champions. > Hard to master. > Can't be perma Dragon ;-;

Offense Tree

4 Points in Fury to grant Shyvana a good boost in Attack Speed for early game faster Jungling.

2 Points in Butcher to make Shyvana an even faster jungler then she already is! More time for Ganking!

4 Points in Deadliness for the extra boost in Attack Damage.

Taking a point in Destruction mostly to help get the 21 points in offense but also helpful later in the game or early even if you're helping an Ally take a tower.

3 Points in Havoc to aid you in dealing more damage like Shyvana is meant to do!

1 Point in Weapon Expertise for that amazing 8% Armor Penetration which works wonders with Shyvana's first ability Emberstrike.

2 Points on Brute Force for the same reason we took points in Deadliness to grant us that extra attack damage that works wonders on Shyvana.

3 Points in Sunder because the more Armor Penetration you have the better to make your enemies ragequit! ;)

1 Point in Executioner for that strong damage boost on lower health targets allowing you to clean up after a fight!

Defense Tree

1 Point in Summoner's Resolve for the extra gold when using the Smite Summoner Spell.

4 Points in Durability for that extra health that will come in handy at early stages of the game.

3 Points in Hardiness for the extra armor that will be quite helpful to your early game jungling.

1 Point in Veteran's Scars for the extra health for the same reason you take Durability .

Top Lane Masteries

Offense Tree

1 Point in Summoner's Wrath for the bonuses in Attack Damage after the use of Ignite.

3 Points in Fury for the increased Attack Speed because Shyvana is the beast of Basic Attacks.

4 Points in Deadliness for the additional Attack Damage that works amazingly with Shyvana's Skill set.

1 Point in Weapon Expertise for the 8% Armor Penetration, which will be amazing on you early on to trade.

Defense Tree

4 Points in Durability for the additional health and to be able to drop a point in Veteran's Scars

3 Points in Hardiness and Resistance for the Armor and Magic Resistance bonuses that are later boosted by your Ultimate Ability Dragon's Descent

2 Points in Unyielding to reduce those annoying bits of damage you'll be taking early on, especially if you're against someone with range like a Teemo or a Nidalee.

1 Point in Veteran's Scars for the extra health to stay in lane a bit more.

1 Point in Block to reduce the poke you'll be taking from the enemy champion.

3 Points in Tenacious for the early game Tenacity, which will be quite helpful if you're hit by some form of Crowd Control acting like an early set of Mercury's Treads.

3 Points in Juggernaut for the incredibly useful early boost in Health by 4%.

1 Point in Honor Guard because of the amazing damage reduction from all sources.

Greater Mark of Attack Damage This choice of Marks benefits Shyvana amazingly well because her 2 main damaging abilities scale off Attack Damage. That being Emberstrike and Inferno Aegis.

Greater Seal of Armor I like pick these Seals because Shyvana is an Attack Damage Off Tank and the resistances work wonders in the early game when she is in the jungle because it allows you to stay in there for longer since you're taking less damage = More Farm = More Money = More Damage when you go Super Berserk Dragon Rage Saiyan Mode!

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Again for pretty much the same reason I take the seals. Her Job is that of an Attack Damage Off Tank so you need your resistances in the early game to gank and eventually wreck peoples faces with Dragon Mode!!

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed Like I mentioned before in the Pros/Cons chapter (Just above the masteries) Shyvana isn't the best ganker, this choice of Quintessence allows you more speed when entering the Lane to allow for an easier time ganking and acquiring those kills.

The choices in Summoner Spells for Shyvana is pretty straightforward!

Smite you'll obviously have to take this summoner spell because you're jungling! Never try to Jungle without Smite you might be successful at first but eventually you'll have your buffs stolen from you because your opponent actually has a brain and took smite...

Flash now this is where you can variate. Flash allows you to have one extra escape move but you already have your ultimate Dragon's Descent which can work like a Flash and you also have the amazing speed boost given by Inferno Aegis

Exhaust this is what you can choose to take instead of Flash like I mentioned before on some occasions Shyvana has weak ganks and using this Summoner Spell can give you an advantage when you're ganking but of course it's not going to be up and ready every time you're going in for a gank so keep that in mind.

Ignite is a must have when playing Shyvana at Top Lane. It's commonly known under the nickname "First Blood Spell" but it's also very useful throughout the game to pickup kills on low health enemies that try to escape or to stop someone like Dr. Mundo when he uses his ultimate or Fiddlesticks when he uses his Bountiful Harvest.

This is Shyvana's passive ability and in my opinion it's a big part of what makes her such a fun champion to play. What this amazing ability does is making your auto attacks affect each one of your active abilities in an unique way.

This is Shyvana's first ability and quite an amazing one. On her next basic attack Shyvana hits her target twice applying on-hit-effects with each of the strikes this includes her passive ability.
Fury of the Dragonborn effect - Shyvana's auto attacks reduce the cooldown of Emberstrike by 0.5 Seconds.
Dragon's Descent effect - Shyvana's attack hits all enemies in front of her applying on-hit effects and receiving fury twice from all enemies hit.

This is Shyvana's AoE (Area of Effect) Ability and it's also what makes her an amazing jungler and aids her in ganking. During the next 3 seconds Shyvana will deal AoE (Area of Effect) magic damage to nearby enemies and her movement speed will be greatly increased.
Fury of the Dragonborn effect - Shyvana's basic attacks extend the duration of Inferno Aegis by 1 second up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
Dragon's Descent effect - Shyvana will now scorch the earth where she walks leaving behind her a trail of fire that will deal continuous damage to targets that stand on it.

This is Shyvana's third ability and it can be quite effective to put out a quick burst of damage on the affected target. Shyvana sends a fireball forwards in a line (This is a Skillshot) hitting the first enemy in its path dealing a small amount of Magic Damage to that target and reducing the armor of the target by 15% for 4 seconds.
Fury of the Dragonborn effect - Your basic attack against a target debuffed with Molten Burst will additionally deal 15% of the ability's damage to the target.
Dragon's Descent effect - Shyvana will shoot this ability out in a cone infront of her engulfing all the enemies in front of her and applying the debuff to all of them.

This is the best part about playing Shyvana a side from the crazy abilites, sick damage output and so on.... <.<. You turn into a mothertrucking Dragon! This ability passively grants Shyvana additional Armor and Magic Resist. When activated Shyvana turns into a DRAGON and flies to the target location dealing magic damage and dragging with her the champions in her path. Shyvana can only use this ability when her FURY is at 100. While in DRAGON mode Shyvana looses 6 FURY per second, when the bar hits 0 she returns to her Human Form.
Fury of the Dragonborn effect - Basic attacks grant Shyvana 2 FURY and she also gains 1 FURY every 1.5 seconds.
Dragon's Descent effect - What the hell do you want?! Double Dragon?!

You'll want to start by maxing your Inferno Aegis first because it provides you with amazing mobility and great damage to use when jungling and engaging in a fight!
Next comes Emberstrike I max this ability second because it's only really gonna do good damage when you have the Items to boost your attack damage and give you the on-hit effects that Emberstrike is used to apply.
Then finally comes Molten Burst this ability is saved till the end because all it's used for is the Armor reduction since this skill scales with Shyvana's ability power and no one in their right mind plays Ability Power Shyvana.
And of course taking the points in your ultimate at levels 6,11 and 16 for that sweet passive and just all around awesomeness of becoming a super strong amazingDRAGON.

This item is quite important for your early game jungling and even late game survivability because it provides you with a 30 Armor boost, 15 Attack Damage boost and 10% lifesteal allowing you to heal yourself at a decent rate.

These boots give you the extra resistances you need while ganking plus Tenacity which is incredibly helpful if you get hit by any form of Croud Control because it will reduce it by 35%, this is incredibly helpful while ganking in case you are stunned, slowed or something else.

Shyvana is the monster of on-hit effects thanks to her Emberstrike ability so what better to compliment her play style and abilities then an Item that gives you a huge boost in Health along with an amazing on hit super slow?

This item is just an amazing must have on Shyvana it increases your attack speed which helps you with your Scalemail and since Shyvana is all about the basic attacks what better then an item that gives extra magic damage on them and also boosts up your magic resistance while you're doing it?

With Shyvana during a teamfight you're the one that will have to be in the middle so let's pick up a new amazing Season 3 Item to help you destroy an entire team just by punching one guy repeatedly in the face!

There is nothing worse then a Shyvana that can wreck your entire team with a couple hits and then when you finally manage to kill her after so much effort she decides to rise up again and get a pentakill....

Solo Top Items

When playing Shyvana at the Top Lane there are two choices for boots, Mercury's Treads and Ninja Tabi you should choose between these two depending on the type of Team Composition they have. If their team is dealing High Magic Damage or have some forms of Crowd Control, you should be taking Mercury's Treads if they are mostly doing Physical Damage with their abilities and relying significantly on their Basic Attacks then Ninja Tabi are the best boots to take.

This Item has great Synergy with Shyvana because she relies mostly on her Basic Attacks combined with her Emberstrike ability which is an Auto Attack modifier allowing her to apply the Slow from Frozen Mallet constantly, this combined with her Inferno Aegis Ability will enable Shyvana to stick to her target and never let it escape.

Currently in Season 3 this Item is just too damn good to pass on, it was already normal for Tanks and Tanky DPS champions to build this item. The Amazing Health and incredible Health Regenaration it provides will allow you to heal up fast when you're in Lane and allow you to take a lot more hits.

This is probably one of the best Items in the game to be built on Tanky Champions, it grants you Bonus Attack Damage based on how much health you have, and by the time you build this Item you will be having tons of it from Warmog's Armor and Frozen Mallet it also gives you a nice boost in Armor to aid in your role of the Tank and some nice Critical Strike Chance.

This is just one item that I can't pass on Shyvana no matter where I'm playing her, be it Jungle or Top Lane. You're the Monster of the Basic Attacks so why not make you even better then by giving you an Item which deals Magical Damage with your basic attacks and stacking Magic Resistance while you punch people in the face...

This is another amazing item that I can't see myself passing on anytime soon. It's my favorite Item that came with Season 3 for Shyvana the bonuses it gives you are pretty damn good and it's Passive/Active effect is amazing when you're standing in the middle of a team fight doing your job.

Shyvana is an Attack Damage Off Tank meaning that you will be relatively Tanky while still pumping out your huge constant flow of damage through your skills and your basic attacks.
With this in mind you need to realize that Shyvana is the one that will have to initiate the fights assuming you don't have anyone better for that role (Dont forget to have Inferno Aegis activated during the fight!) and she will have to be one of the members in the center fighting while getting assisted from behind by the Attack Damage and Ability Power Carries and the Support so that she can take all the damage and CC while the carries devastate the enemy team!

Shyvana doesn't have mana so you can (and should) start at the red buff or the Wraiths.

1 - Elder Lizard (Red Buff)
2 - Wraith Camp
3 - Wolf Camp
4 - Giant Golem (Blue Buff)
0 - Small Golem's - These are optional in your starter Jungling path but Shyvana can do them assuming you can play decently.

Ganking with Shyvana is pretty straightforward.

1st - Allow your opponents to push a bit so you can gain more room for movement.
2nd - When you go into the lane activate Inferno Aegis for the movement speed increase.
3rd - Hope your team isn't blind and helps you.
4th - ????
5th - Prof.... I mean kill!

When to Gank

You can't just run into a lane and expect to get a bunch of kills. Ganking requires thinking... and a decent amount of it.

The things you need to consider are :

1st - How is my Health?
When ganking you need to be aware of your Health and also your opponents Health. If you're at let's say 40% and you're opponent is at 80% it wont turn out well for you. It might but odds are it wont so don't attempt it unless you're 100% sure you can do it.

2nd - Mana Status.
While Shyvana doesn't have mana the enemy will most likely have it, if you're going to gank you need to be aware of how much Mana they have to use Crowd Control which can = a failed gank and 1 death for you.

3rd - Can he run away or beat me?
Shyvana only has her Inferno Aegis movement speed increase and her Dragon's Descent to get into the lane for a kill. You must be aware if a Champion can escape you or not. A big Con to Shyvana is that she can be kited with ease by ranged champions and other champions like Kassadin and LeBlanc can simply use their mobility abilities to escape you with ease.

4th - Be aware of who you're ganking!
Some champions like Singed and Tryndamere for example are especially hard to gank because of their skill set, Singed can Fling you back and escape and Tryndamere can use is Spinning Slash and Undying Rage to survive and escape.

After you've considered all of the following ideas explained above you need to know when you enter the lane for a gank. You can't just simply go in and tower dive them because you want a kill... no don't do that you'll get more reports then a guy playing Insta-Lock Tryndamere....
If you notice the lane is being pushed against your team mate and their opponent is playing aggressively leaving you open room to come in that is when you need to gank to aid your teammate in recovering his lane and possibly get a kill.
If you have a teammate that is having trouble winning a lane you should give special attention to that lane, gank that lane more often then others so that you can aid your teammate in recovering and possibly tanking the lead.
Don't forget that a jungler is kind of like an extra form of supporting, you're enabling kills for your team and for yourself.

This map shows where you and your team should be dropping sight ward.

Green - To protect your buffs from being stolen by the enemy jungler.
Yellow - So you can counter jungle your opponents buffs.
Red - To protect Baron Nashor and the Dragon.
Blue - To avoid being ganked.

Shyvana is an amazing counter jungler because of her super fast jungle clear time with her Inferno Aegis ability. When you are sure the enemy team's jungler is not in the area that you want to steal you can invade their jungle and steal their camps leaving only 1 small creep behind to make sure the camp doesn't respawn to make them loose out on tons of experience.
Now paying attention to the map there are 2 ways to enter each side of the opponents jungle.

1 - Sometimes the Champion in the mid lane might drop a sight ward there, you should ask your mid if they were ever out of lane in that zone.
2 - This is usually a safer access area for the Small Golem's, Elder Lizard and Wraiths camp but sometimes the solo top champion will drop a ward there to avoid ganking, communicate with your top champion to be aware of sight ward placement.
3 - Now this Area is usually of easier access because of all the times I went in to counter jungle that side of the jungle there isn't usually a sight ward there to stop you.
4 - This one is a bit tricky, when I play support I like to sight ward the bush and the dragon but sometimes supports will ward a bit above the bush and it will clear up the entrance so you can be revealed and caught by the enemy team. In order to counter jungle successively you must have good communication with your team to be 100% sure on sight ward placements.

When to Counter Jungle

Thanks to her wonderful clear times on Jungle Camps, even at low levels, Shyvana can invade the enemies jungle and steal their camps (Counter Jungle) before they even notice it.

In my play style I always try to Counter Jungle after a Gank (successful or not) and also when I'm sure I can get in enemies jungle without being caught by a ward or by the opponent jungler, but also be sure you have enough health to survive and escape (Or kill) the enemy jungler if he happens to run into you.

The Solo Top Lane is no task to be taken lightly, it's possibly the most decisive Lane in the game. This Lane is quite random and holds incredible snowballing potential, one kill on your opponent and you may of secured your lane for the rest of the game, this is why the Solo Top lane is constantly pressured by the Junglers in order to secure a kill and the lane. Many professional players dislike playing the Role of the Solo Top due to this Lane behavior regarding snowballing and unpredictable behavior and events.

The Map above represents the 3 areas of the Solo Top Lane and shows you that in order to be a good solo top champion you must be aware of your exact positioning at all times.

Safe - This part is your Safe area, it's where the jungler cant touch you unless he plans on taking a few tower hits to do so.

Careful - This is the central part of the Lane and it's where most of the farming and small trades will occur, when positioned on this part of the Lane you must be careful because a jungler with a strong gap closer will be able to jump on to you, to avoid this you must have wards. When playing Solo Top try to keep your lane warded all the time to stay alive.

Danger - You are now overextending in the Lane which gives the enemy jungler a perfect attempt at killing you and remember the Top Lane is has amazing snowball capability so one kill on you and your lane can be done for, your only chance of avoiding this is buying the strongest item in the league Sight Ward this will reveal the junglers approach and allow you to run for safety.

In conclusion Shyvana is an Attack Damage Off Tank with crazy amounts of damage output from her abilities like Emberstrike and Inferno Aegis while still remaining incredibly durable with Armor and Magic Resists boots coming from her ultimate Dragon's Descent. All these skills combined make her one of the best and fastest junglers in the game lacking a bit in the ganking department because of the lack of built in Crowd Control that can be easily fixed with Items.


Please upvote my guide if you enjoyed it and found it helpful and please only downvote it if it's absolutely necessary and if you do this please give me feedback on what made you downvote my guide on the first place. I accept feedback from everyone on how to improve my guide!

Happy Jungling and Top Laning with Shyvana from iSparklez.

In the future I'm planning to add a solo top build and chapters dedicated to Shyvana in order to make this the best guide about Shyvana *Completed*

January 29th 2013 - Added a small "When to Gank" Guide in the "Ganking with Shyvana Chapter.
January 29th 2013 - Added a "When to Counter Jungle" guide in the "Counter Jungling with Shyvana" Chapter.
February 21st 2013 - Added the Solo Top Build, Mastery and Item explanation and a chapter about the Solo Top Lane.