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Shen Build Guide by TheDirtyGuvnah

Jungle Jungle Shen: The Dark Horse Tank Jungler [UPDATED FOR 7.22]

Jungle Jungle Shen: The Dark Horse Tank Jungler [UPDATED FOR 7.22]

Updated on November 10, 2017
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League of Legends Build Guide Author TheDirtyGuvnah Build Guide By TheDirtyGuvnah 65 5 3,302,856 Views 40 Comments
65 5 3,302,856 Views 40 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author TheDirtyGuvnah Shen Build Guide By TheDirtyGuvnah Updated on November 10, 2017
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Runes:

Resolve
Aftershock
Font of Life
Iron Skin
Overgrowth

Inspiration
Cosmic Insight
Hextech Flashtraption

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Smite

Smite

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Hi everybody! I am TheDirtyGuvnah. I am an avid jungle main, always looking for ways to push the boundaries of the jungle. As you probably know, Shen got a fairly huge rework with some very cool and schnazzy abilities that still represent the core foundations of the champion. However, after changes such as the loss of his Q sustain and his Ki Strike passive, people are becoming concerned about Shen's place in the game. After playing multiple games with the new Shen (top, support, and JUNGLE BABY!!) I came to the conclusion that Shen's best role currently lies in the jungle. If you read my previous version of this guide, you will realize that I have switched it from being a duelist Shen build to a complete tank build. With the release of new items such as Dead Man's Plate and Titanic Hydra, you will be doing no shortage of damage with this build. I hope this guide provides some insight to how great Shen is in the Jungle. Remember to drop a comment with any recommended changes to this build! Hope you enjoy the guide!

-TheDirtyGuvnah
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Pros / Cons

PROS:
    Great Sustain in the Jungle! (Comes from passive shield)
    Great Ganks! (Just make sure you ping)
    Awesome Dueler!
    Amazing gank set ups with your, ultimate
Stand United! (Oh yes, use it offensively)
    Super hard to kill late game!
    Splitpush god!
    Super Hard to KS with early.
    The tankier you get, the more damage you do.
    Low Cooldowns with a little CDR (except the ult)
CONS:
    E costs a lot energy at level 1 (use it wisely)
    Ult has a long cooldown
    Once your E is used in a gank, it't up to your teammate to finish the kill


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Masteries

New Season Runes and Masteries!!!! YAY. Honestly, take any masteries that give you more health and resists. This leaves you with a few options, so feel free to do what you want!Personally I feel that Aftershock is the best, followed by Grasp of the Undying.
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Spells

Smite and Flash are the Standard
Teleport can be used in place of Flash. This is super effective for split pushing. You can easily ult back to a dying teammate if a teamfight erupts while you are split-pushing.
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The Passive: Ki Barrier

Thanks to this passive, Shen is able to survive the early clears of the jungle with ease. This shield scales with 14% of your maximum health, and activates whenever your cast an ability, so in a sense, this is Shen's new form of "sustain" that makes up for the loss of his Q healing (ty Vorpal Blade). Also, this passive include the presence of his spirit blade, which I will discuss later on in the guide.
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The Q: Twilight Assault

Shen's Q, Twilight Assault is his main form of damage while clearing the jungle. This ability causes your spirit blade to come to your current location, as well as making your next 3 auto-attacks deal % health damage based on the enemies max health. Also, if while en route to you, if your spirit blade hit an enemy champ, you get 50% attack speed, increased % health damage, and slows the champion. To be concise, this ability is dope.
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The W: Spirit's Refuge

This ability is very interesting. When you activate it, you create a radius around your Spirit Blade. Any and all ally champions inside this zone are immune to auto-attacks for the duration. So if you ever wanted to be like Jax, just give Shen a call, and he'll hit you up!
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The E: Shadow Dash

This is Shen's main form of CC while ganking. Using this ability causes Shen to dash in a straight line and taunt any enemy champion you hit. Additionally, with the new update, when every you do damage with your Q and E, you restore Energy. This allows your to keep your energy pool full since each empowered auto attack of your Q will restore 30-45 energy based on level. That's ~120 energy which is muy bueno! This ability ALSO scales with your max health, so Shadow Dash actually does damage now! YAAAAY!
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The Ultimate: Stand United

Shen's Ultimate, Stand United makes people very happy. It is basically a Get Out-Of-The-Enemy-Team-Damage-Free-Card. It also is a Dive-Extremely-Deep-Free-Card. It also is the ultimate (no pun intended) gank set up ability. Unlike a TP, if your ally is in a bush, the enemy cannot see you ulting your friend in need. This allows for Shen to gank top, get a kill, and set up a gank in bot lane is a matter of seconds, all undetected (given your ally is out of sight.) Make sure to keep tabs on the ward coverage to ensure this strategy can be used effectively. In addition to teleporting Shen to his ally, it also teleports the spirit blade to the ally too, which is uber dank because you can cast your W right on top of them if they are in serious trouble!

WARNING!!!! BIG ***** WARNING!! DO NOT IGNORE THIS MESSAGE!!!
After countless games of Shen, and extensive research, I have determined that when you play Shen, most of your teammates will develop a condition called I-Think-Shen-Ult-Is-On-A-10-Second-Cooldown-itis. This is a serious condition that if not properly treated, can lead to increased teammate toxicity, and potentially death of your LP. The only way to treat this condition is to rationalize then that mathematically, a 150 second cooldown is not a 10 second cooldown. In most of the cases I have studied, this reasoning will not work. If all else fails, and your teammate starts giving you a brain aneurysm, you must press the mute button. During this stage, they will wallow in their own toxicity, and then proceed to report your for Refusing to Communicate. And for a small donation of $420.69 a day, you can provide much needed funds for research and potential cures for I-Think-Shen-Ult-Is-On-A-10-Second-Cooldown-itis. Please, don't delay another minute. Pick up the phone and dial 1800-Lel-420-xD for more information on this horrible disease.
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The Spirit Blade

Shen's spirit blade is his amigo, compadre, friend, homie, and brotein shake. When walking around the map, try to use your Q to bring your homie closer to you as it does take more time to travel the further away you are. Having your spirit blade close to you can allows for your W to be effective. The position of your Spirit Blade can mean life or death for you and/or an ally.
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Shen Combos

There are 2 main combos that you can use on Shen to make plays, and impress your teammates (they might even honor you!). The first on is the simple Flash + Shadow Dash combo. Basically, this combo allows you to increase the range of your taunt by a substantial amount. To do this correctly, simply E in the direction you want, and Flash near the end of the dash. If all goes as planned you taunt your enemy, kill them, they rage quit, your team says how much of a god you are, and you get the freelo. This is where the second "combo" comes into play. Generally, after you dash to taunt someone, you will end up behind them. This is a great time to use your Q (and W if need be) and guarantee that your Spirit Blade hits the enemy champion to grant you those bonus stats. Once you style on those nubs, proceed to Penta and carry your FailFish team!
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Jungle Clears

With the recent changes to the jungle, your best option is to start either red or blue buff. You should usually start on the side of your bot lane to get a better leash. In addition, Raptors and Krugs are a real pain to clear as Shen has no AOE. However, once your Cinderhulk is completed, they shouldn't be a problem.
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Jungle Clears: Tips and Tricks

Shen actually has a surprising amount of micro actions that can may your jungle clears more bearable. First, use your Q before you start to attack the camp. The Spirit blade has a travel time, so Q'ing early will allow you to get your shield and your 3 empowered auto's off. WARNING: Unfortunately, you cannot get the bonus stats from having your Spirit Blade pass through a monster.
Second, your W can block monster auto attacks. Generally, you can only block one, however, if you W the split second before a monster auto-attack hits you, the W will last long enough to dodge 2 autos instead of one.
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Invading

I have recently gotten a couple of comments asking me to discuss invading. So in short, if you are playing jungle Shen, DO NOT INVADE. There are many reasons for this.
1.) You are squishy: Hunters machete doesn't make you the tankiest of champs at level 1.

2.) Ability Dilemma: Lets say you were to invade. You would have to start E in hopes that maybe you get a pick on an enemy. However, if you start E, you will have a miserable time clearing you camps since the only damage you will be doing to the monster will be your basic autos. It just isn't worth it.

3.) Clear speed: To be honest, Shen's clear speed is not the greatest at level one. This will allow a lot of time for the enemy jungler to move around the map and possible counter-jungle you as well.
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Ganking

When it comes to ganks, Shen has some of the best ganks out of any champion. A taunt is crippling to the Gankee and allows for easy set up for secondary CC. Also, do not be afraid to go for a tower dive. Your Passive shield can tank a few tower shots for your team.
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Items

Ok, now the fun part: This is a list of recommended items for jungling with Shen!

1. Smite Enchantment - If you read the previous version of this guide, you may remember me choosing do go Devourer on this build. Unfortunately, Shen has no more meaningful on hit effects for Devourer to complement. So, it is only reasonable to go Cinderhulk now. Cinderhulk makes for insane scaling with your Passive, Shadow Dash, and Titanic Hydra.

2. Titanic Hydra - An absolute must with this build. The fact that you can deal damage based on your max health is any Shen player's wet dream! Rush this item as soon as possible

3. Boots - To be completely honest, choose the boots that best fit the context of the game. I know that Boots of Swiftness are all the hype, but do not forgot about the other boots. Mercury Treads are great for Shen, giving some MR along with Tenacity which is great for a mobile tank like Shen.

3. Dead Man's Plate - MORE ON HIT DAMAGE. Health, armor, flat damage, move speed, what else needs to be said? Always build unless the enemy team is all AP.

4. Wit's End - Oh yes. The forbidden Item. To be completely honest, the only reason I like this item on Shen is that it is the only tank item that grants attack speed. I feel that some attack speed is great in this build so as to get off all 3 of your Q empowered autos in a timely fashion, and to proc your Titanic Hydra more often.

5. Warmog's Armor - Do I need to explain?

6. Situation Item - This last item slot can include a few things. Items such as Spirit Visage, Randuin's Omen, Thornmail and Zz' Rot Portal (oh yes) can be used here. Use this last slot to adapt better to the needs of the game.
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Summary

In all, I hope this guide can shed some light on the shadows (pun intended) where jungle Shen resides. I hope you give jungle Shen a shot even if you think my guide is trash. AP Shen is surprisingly scary. Anyway good luck, and thank you for reading the guide! Please drop a comment on how I can improve this guide or if you have any other ideas for items/masteries/runes or anything you can think of for this build! Also, be sure to check out my Jungle Nasus Build Guide here!

- TheDirtyGuvnah
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