Shen Build Guide by DarkOpe

Introduction

This is my first build and as i expect it would be nothing but failure but i dont really mind because i had fun.Shen as we all know is a champion with many alternative ways to be played, so in those two builds i just focused on pure tank build and the off-tank build for solo top.

Pros/Cons

Pros

• exeptional survability
• good at ganking
• supportive skills
• can teleport easily

Cons

• The shield does not absorb that much damage
• you will need to die a lot in order to save teamates
• ulti's cooldown is raised
• try avoiding killstealing

Masteries

While choosing masteries you simply have to decide what part of the team are you,I mean if youre gonna be the tank you should choose more defensive masteries such as Resistance , Hardiness and then proceed to Durability and then Veteran's Scars .Though if you're going to go solo top then you'll have to be a little more aggresive,so it would be better to choose masteries from the offensive tree such as Arcane Knowledge so that your spells would inflict more damage due to magic penetration and would also be capable of inflicting more physical damage due to Greater Mark of Desolation however, in order to last longer in your lane you've got to be durable as well so defensive masteries are recommended,for example keep enough points so that you can have Juggernaut because fits Shen well especially during late game. Other optional masteries are as well Weapon Expertise combined with Arcane Knowledge for maximum damage,or if you prefer Summoner's Wrath combined with Exhaust instead of Teleport in order to minimize the opponent's armor and magic resistance while threating you or while he is turret-diving.

Runes

The runes you are going to use clearly depend on what your role on the team is.
If you are to play as a support,tank you will need a lot of armour in order to survive longer on your lane and indeed health runes in order to make Ki Strike usefull.However some armour penetration marks will also help inflict even more damage to the opponent.So,I recommend Greater Quintessence of Health in order to start with more health and be more durable early game also Greater Seal of Armor and Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist in order to raise your armour so that you can be more durable.At last bring some Greater Mark of Magic Penetration to be able to inflict more damage to your opponents by penetrating their armour.You can also use Greater Glyph of Magic Resist and Greater Mark of Desolation while playing solo top.

or while playing bot.

Items

To begin with, I DONT LIKE DORANS ITEMS such as Doran's Shield for shen,at the begging it's preferable to begin with Ruby Crystal to empower Ki Strike and begin with about 800 hit points.Then you can proceed and turn Ruby Crystal into Heart of Gold to have a steady income while supporting the carry of your team by letting him taking all the minions.My main priority while playing Shen is to buy Warmog's Armor,because of it's passive it's easy for you to increase your Health and your health regen just by taking assissts.For boots try Mercury's Treads so that you'll gain tenancity or if the enemy team has champions as Vayne, Darius or Caitlyn then purchase Ninja Tabi to take less physical damage.Furthermore, try to combine Force of Nature with wormog's armor to gain massive health regen . When you enter the late game phase try buying Guardian Angel and Thornmail those two are items that usually make you untargetable so you would be able to last even more during team-fights and save even more teammates.One of my favourite items is also Randuin's Omen which slows your foes after using your Shadow Dash making them unable to run away from a gank or a team-fight,those are more supportive items for playing bot,now let's see some more offensive items.While being at the top lane alone you'll need to farm as many minions as possible,so start with a Ruby Crystal to have an emppowered Ki Strike to last hit minions,then buy boots Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi and then turn your ruby crystall into Phage.After that i recommend buying a Spirit Visage to make Vorpal Blade even more useful, then buy a Sunfire Cape to have some AOE damage and then buy a Warmog's Armor to make shen a monster of durablity.Now all you have to do is turn your Phage into a Frozen Mallet and buy an Atma's Impaler to gain increased damage.Other option items are Trinity Force instaed of Frozen Mallet and Maw of Malmortius instead of Atma's Impaler.

Skill Sequence

Your main goal while playing shen is to max as soon as possible Vorpal Blade to provide your teammates the massive health regen. After that max Feint so that it will provide you a greater shiled to protect yourself while taunting,after that max your Shadow Dash to reduce its cooldown so that you'll be able to use it more frequently.Also there are two ways to play during early game,you can either choose to give a point to Shadow Dash at lvl 1 to protect your jungler or to play aggresivly in your lane to draw first blood,or take Shadow Dash at lvl 3 or lvl 4 and then start taunting your opponnents to pick up kills

Summoner Spells

the summoner spell wich will ensure escapes if it's correclty combined
with Shadow Dash to pass through walls up to two times!

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take it if youre gonna play at bot to slow your oppoennents to make
sure your AD carry would inflict a large amount of damage

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it will make you return quickly to your lane while playing solo top

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cleanese in case the enemy team has a lot of disablers such as Leona

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take either to chase or either to flee!

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okay it can save both you and your teamates during teamfights!

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if you prefer to play aggresive choose it to harash your opponents at top

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promote your minions...okay!

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for an instant revive to come back to the teamfight!

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take it if you want a temporary buff during a teamfight

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your best choice if you're a jungler!

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reveal a small area in the map to reveal your enemies and make your team know what to plan for an attack

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if you're planing to troll all the players and be funny choose it ;)

Farming

Farming is quite easy for Shen all you have to do is throwing your Vorpal Blade to the minions that have few hp or approaching them and hitting them with Ki Strike.Make sure to farm as many minions as you can while playing solo,to give you and example a well amount of minions at 11th minute is 60 so try to have about that amount of minions and continue with that pace.While farming keep in mind for upcoming ganks from the enemy junglers such as Udyr, Amumu, Skarner, Lee Sin etc.So do not harash your opponent in a large amount.

Team Work

The main key to win a game is using your Shadow Dash correctly.While a gank is about to occur try to taunt the enemy team's carry to make your teammates focus on killing it and reduce the damage output of the enemy team. Vorpal Blade can also provide health regen to your teammates when they attck the target markes by it,so use it to show your mates wich target they should attack.You're the tank so dont mind dying for the sake of one of your team's carry with a killing spree,if they are in danger use your Stand United to shield him,after that you'll instantly teleport to their location and then use taunt to drag away those who chase them.

Summary

I hope the guide helped you understand what Shen is capable of and make him a nightmare for your opponents.I hope you liked it an im looking forward for your comments and opinions.Make sure to follow the instructions and make your teammates happy by leading them!

"A demostration of superior judgement"
SHEN