-About Me
-About Shen
-Pre Game Setup
-Abilities and Usage
-Combos and Techniques
-Itemization/Builds
-Early Game
-Mid Game
-Late Game

I am a Shen main on NA, IGN: Umech4n. Besides Shen, I also enjoy playing a variety of other champions, including Draven, Zed, and Swain. I've been playing shen for about a year, and am constantly improving with him. I got my own channel, and its mostly meme videos and stuff for league and overwatch, so check that out if you want. Anyway, my hope is that this extensive guide can help you get better as Shen, The Eye of Twilight.
Youtube channel

Trav is a diamond elo Shen one trick that I've learned most of my Shen stuff from. He streams on youtube pretty often and gives good tips. His channel also has a bunch of relatively comprehensive guides for most matchups, so make sure you check him out
Youtube Channel

Why play Shen?

Do you like tanks? Do you like being the team player? Do you like making clutch plays? Do you like turning tower dives on you into double kills? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Shen is the ninja for you! Shen is a defense oriented tank that specializes in providing his team with a wide range of utilities that his kit offers. His disjointed sword makes him a very unique character to play. His ultimate gives him a truly global presence, not limited by range as long as theres an ally to ult to. Shen is not much of a mechanically advanced champion. He does not require fast fingers and isn't as mechanically challenging as champions such as Riven or Azir. However, the difference between a good shen and a great shen is considerable. This is because Shen is very reliant on exceptional game sense, shotcalling and positioning. As with any champion, when Shen is mastered, you'll find that certain aspects of his gameplay will translate into your general gameplay as a whole. In the case of Shen, playing him will improve your map awareness and game sense greatly. His kit gives him really fun ways to outplay opponents.

99/100 times, picking resolve while playing Shen top is the most optimal choice. It gives him tanky stats, helps get him through lane phase, and overall is a sensible choice for any tank. Inspiration is a great secondary tree to have, as it helps Shen get to mid-late game where he excels.


Grasp is probably gonna be your most used keystone on Shen. It gives empowered attacks, extra health, and health regen, all of which is great on a tank like Shen. The other two keystones on Shen are way too weak in comparison.



Probably the best rune in this row. Works great regardless of whether you're with your team or splitpushing. However, it does make you exceptionally better at splitpushing if you choose to do that.


Solid rune choice in general. It's great against burst and useful throughout the lane phase. However, if the enemy laner is smart, they can exploit the windows of weakness where it's on cooldown.


For the resistance row of resolve, all three of the runes are viable on Shen. Conditioning should be used when you want to scale, and give Shen a powerspike mid game. It's probably the most viable option in games where the other two runes won't benefit as much, as it's a general powerup that's solid no matter what.


This rune is probably what you want to take instead in heavy poke lanes and ranged matchups. The extra healing coupled with doran's shield helps a lot vs Teemo, Quinn, etc.


Chrysalis is a pretty nice quality of life rune, starting you out with an extra bit of health earlier, and turning it into AD after a few successful ults. If the bit of extra damage later on seems nice, this rune's for you


Probably the best rune in this row for you. Revitalize makes your passive shield stronger as well as your ult so that's always good


This is a great rune in general, being cost efficient as well as useful. Getting free tier 1 boots and a discount on tier 2 boots is a big plus, so this is my go to rune.


This rune is gonna be great no matter what. Free sustain in lane is a big plus, and is exactly what shen needs for his mediocre laning. The longer the game goes, the more value you get from each biscuit too, as it's based on health percentage, not flat health regen


This rune's cdr is pretty good for Shen's ult, which has a ridiculously high wait between uses. However, thats pretty much the only thing that really benefits from this rune in his kit. Solid rune, but there are better ones out there


Probably the only keystone that isn't in Resolve that's viable on Shen. As one of the key components to Shredder shen, it does exactly that, help you shred. The keystone activates on your third auto on someone, which is great because that means big damage if you get a full empowered q combo on the enemy. The extra damage proc also applies for teammates too, so you're bringing lots of utility with this keystone


For almost anyone in the game, this rune is great in any situation. It's no different with Shen. The heal and the extra gold could save your life and allow you to continue in a teamfight after a pick or 2.


This rune feels so good on shen. The extra attack speed you get is gonna increase your dps, help you farm, and all around make you more of a combat threat to the enemy team. If you're a fan of damage dealing, get this


A solid rune for doing damage. This rune is the most useful in its row because there's never a situation where a champ can't be low health, thus making it the most availably activated in its row

Bread and butter of almost every champion in League. Seriously, it's a no-brainer. You use it to chase, escape, taunt flash etc etc. Always get it. Unless you're trolling



I cannot emphasize how good this is on shen. Not only does it let him get to lane faster and tp gank on deep wards, its a great way to keep a global presence. You have the ability to ult down bot, get a double kill, take dragon, establish ward control, and then tp back to prevent your tower from being taken all because of tp. I personally always take this on shen. The benefits are too much to pass up.



I mean, it's not a bad summoner at all. It's just very situational. You only want to take this into lanes that you know you're gonna lose very very hard because you're up against a buttmunch like Darius, who usually should be banned anyway.



I guess you could take this into an insanely cc heavy team. Maybe. Usually people don't make good use of this unless they're challenger korean players but if you think you can do it, go for it.



Outclassed by Flash in a lot of ways. Its not worth taking because Shen doesn't really need the movespeed for anything when you have flash to get the job done better 99% of the time.



Shen simply can't make good use of this spell in a solo lane. He's not a lane bully, and he's not exactly gonna be controlling everything with this summoner. Simply put, Shen doesn't have the offensive capabilities to back ignite up



You could take it if it works for you I guess. It doesn't work for most people above bronze



Same as heal



You're not a jungler if you're looking at this guide. Besides, jungle shen got gutted.



Wait how'd yo-

After casting a spell, Shen gains a shield which blocks 47 + (3 x level) (+14% of bonus Health) damage for 2.5 seconds. Abilities that affect other champions reduce the cooldown of this effect by 4 - 7.5 seconds (depending on level).

Shen's power manifests as a Spirit Blade that he can control with his abilities.

Very important to take into account when trading. It scales with your health, so the more health you get, the more this is gonna shield for. Not only that, the increase is exponential.


Shen recalls his Spirit Blade to his location. Enemies the blade collides with are slowed by 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% for the next 2 seconds when moving away from Shen.

Once it arrives, Shen empowers his next 3 basic attacks within 8 seconds to gain 75 bonus range and deal 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (at levels 1 / 4 / 7 / 10 / 13 / 16) plus 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4% (+ 1.5% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health as bonus magic damage.

If the Spirit Blade collides with an enemy champion, the empowerment is enhanced, dealing 2% (+ 0.5% per 100 AP) of the target's maximum health as bonus damage and Shen gains 50% bonus attack speed.

Twilight Assault deals double damage to monsters, up to a maximum of 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 bonus damage.

Shen's main damage ability and dueling tool. Use it to cs, as your empowered autos work on minions too. Always get the pull through proc by walking past your opponents in a fight. The attack speed increase is incredibly strong and is a must if you're trying to get a good trade or all inning

Shen's spirit blade creates a defensive zone for 1.75 seconds. Basic attacks that would hit Shen or an allied champion in the zone are blocked. If there are no champions to protect in the zone when it starts, the spirit blade will not activate until one enters or 2 seconds pass.

Usage of this ability is very important on shen. Don't just randomly throw it out whenever you can. Use it to protect you and your allies from an enemy teams fed adc, or from strong on hit abilities.

Passive: Dealing damage with Shadow Dash or Twilight Assault recovers 30 / 35 / 40 Energy.

Active: Shen dashes to a target location, taunting champions and monsters he collides with for 1.5 seconds and dealing 50 / 85 / 120 / 155 / 190 (+12% of bonus Health) physical damage to them

A staple of Shen's kit. The taunt that comes with this dash allows shen to draw aggro off carries on his team, as well as help him make good use of his w. You'll want to know how to taunt flash, as it is beyond useful when done correctly. It's important to play safe when this is down in lane because it's your only escape with a long cd at early levels.



Shen channels for 3 seconds, shielding the target allied champion for 5 seconds. The shield blocks 175 / 350 / 525 (+130% of ability power) damage, scaling up to 280 / 560 / 840 (+130% of ability power) based on the target ally's current health (shield maxes out at 40% health).

Upon completing the channel, Shen and his Spirit Blade teleport to the target ally's location.

In League of Legends, nothing screams team player as much as this ult does. Shen's Stand United can turn fights around and help turn small engages into winning teamfights. Sounds perfect right? Except for the fact that the cd on this ult is insanely high even when fully leveled. You should be using this ult only when you know you're gonna get a lot of benefit from it. For example, using it to shut down a fed enemy adc or for turning a teamfight after splitpushing is great. My favorite play is to ult bot lane and get two free kills along with dragon control. However, you have to weigh in what you lose from ulting too. For example, it might not be the best idea to give up first tower gold just to save a 0/9 katarina who probably is worth less than a minion. Basically, make good decisions and you're set

In Progress

Boots:

Still op even after its nerf. Ninja tabi is great against champs that are autoattack reliant, and gives a decent amount of armor. If you're up against a Yasuo, Fiora, etc, you can't go wrong with this

You don't wanna be getting these just for the MR. There are plenty of items that are more cost efficient at giving that stat. The reason you wanna get these boots is for the tenacity it gives. It's great into heavy cc teams, which conveniently deal magic damage most of the time. Against a team you know thats gonna keep you stun locked for god knows how long (i.e Lux, Morgana, Maokai, Nautilus) this is gonna be a solid pick.

Items:

As of the time I am writing this guide, titanic is must build on shen 99% of the time. The waveclear and stats it give shen are simply too valuable to pass up, and tiamat rush is extremely strong.


Solid item on Shen because of the decent amount of armor and health, as well as waveclear passive. Since the passive does magic damage, Sunfire synergizes very well with Wit's End. However, if you already have titanic built, you don't need any more waveclear, so Randuins, Deadman's, or Thornmail would be better options depending on your situation.


This item is super good against most adc's and autoattack reliant crit characters, like Tryndamere, Yasuo, and Quinn. The active is also useful for chasing.


Like Randuins, but reflects damage and stops lifesteal at the cost of lower stats. Thornmail is great if you're looking to duel champions that build lifesteal or have in it their kit, such as Aatrox and Yi.


Probably the funnest item to build on Shen. It's an insanely cost efficient item, and is pretty cheap, making it your go to against Ap. Shen's damage is half magic and half physical, so Wit's end works very well on him. The more magic resist you shred through, the more you get, and the more damage you do.


The other main mr item shen builds. This is for when you want to be as tanky as possible, or when the enemy team has 2 or more super fed mages. It's great in combination with warmog's, giving you a garen passive on steroids. You won't be building this as often as wits end, but its still a good item regardless.


Overall not a bad item at all. It gives good armor and health, along with a passive thats super good for chasing and peeling. I personally don't build it, just because it feels a little weird for me. If it works for you however, go for it


A great item for splitpushing and putting pressure on the enemy team. Its passive helps you escape easier when you overextend with a split push. Along with these things, Shen can never pass up some dual resist.


While it doesn't give any resists, Warmogs is a fantastic item to get tankier in terms of health, which is great when someone on the other team does a bunch of true damage, like Fiora. It's passive combined with Spirit Visage makes it a feel good item for when you want to bait out something in a teamfight or re-engage, because once you get low, you can just bail for a few seconds, heal up all your health back in a jiffy, and come back full strength like you were never gone.


Useful mr item for champs with spammable abilities or dot spells such as Ryze, Rumble, Cassio etc.

Tank shen usually consists of all health/resist items. It's very team reliant and isn't too good for carrying, but will solidify any lead that your team begins to have. As tank shen, your job is to peel for your team's carries, and tank everything that you can possibly soak up so your team doesn't have to. Tank shen has a pretty good engage, but let hard engage do the work such as Alistar and Braum if possible. Tank shen has a pretty versatile build path, so you can itemize accordingly to whatever you're up against. Tank Shen's dueling potential is considerable but not amazing. It's somewhere around Rengar/Xin level, but doesn't come near the likes of Jax and Yi.

For the purposes of concision, I'm gonna be calling this build shredder shen. Shredder shen is a more DPS based carry oriented build. As Shredder Shen, you would play similarly to how Jax or Trynd would play. You want to be splitpushing as much as possible, only joining teamfights with ult if necessary. Being much squishier than normal, you almost always never want to be the engage, as you'll be blown up in an instant. The build path for a bruiser style shen is much more restrictive, as there's only a select few items that shen can maximize the potential of for damage. The dueling potential of Shredder Shen is somewhat weaker early, but is up there with Jax and Yi lategame. No, seriously, you could outduel a lategame yi, provided you're the same level.

In normals this is fine and all, but please don't do this seriously just because Tilterella said it's good or something. I'll admit, its fun to try and has its upsides. However, unless you're a god shen and you know exactly how to play around this style, it's more than likely gonna end in disaster. The only good ap scaling shen has is on his ult, which is still on a massive cooldown. There's some people that argue the q ap scaling lets shen do more damage, but the fact that tank shen can do more than that with a titanic makes that argument useless. Simply put, it's more of a meme build than anything else. The top korean solo queue shens aren't where they are because they go ap

Early Game

Early game as Shen, you're almost always gonna be pushed in and farming under tower. Master last hitting minions in lane, and just make sure you don't fall too behind in cs. If there are windows where you can proc grasp and play to Shen's strengths, capitalize on those. If played skillfully enough, you can even end up with a lead.

Mid Game

This is your time to shine as Shen. Starting level 6 and beyond, you're gonna be looking to find good ults to either protect fed carries, shut down fed enemies, or set up objective control. You can ult bot lane to set up dragon control. If you have your tp up, you can get back to lane instantly after, making it as though you never left. You usually aren't gonna get to splitpushing yet, so mainly just stick with your team when ult is down, or lane swap when prompted to.

Late Game

This is when your macro is gonna be the most important in any game. You wanna be switching to blue wards and splitpushing with titanic whenever you can. Even if your team is behind, they can effectively stall for you to split and force 1 or 2 enemies to have to deal with you, in which you can now ult in and fight with winning numbers. Remember, if you are in position to take any objective without fail, Nexus > Baron > Inhib > Dragon

Alright, thank you for taking your time in looking at this guide, and good luck in your ranked games. As always, stand united!