When playing shen you can choose between ninja tabi and the mercury threads depending on the enemy champions if they have a Ap carry use mercury treads if the enemy carry is Ad use ninja tabi. Intead of going warmog's, atma's and sunfirecape, I often buy ryalai's, rod of ages and Zhonya's hourglass for some damage and stronger shields. if your agaist ap you can buy banshes vail and force of nature Shadow Dash can allow you to dash through thin walls. Interrupting Stand United's channel with crowd control, or killing its target before Shen teleports, cancels the ability and puts it on full cooldown. However, the shield will remain on target regardless.Play shen as an agressive tank that paralyzes the enemy team with the taunt. use your Q to heal teammates and yourself by using it on a minion and attack. You can use your E to pass trough wall use that when being chased. Shen is very powerful solotop vs melee champions. and note that when using your (R) at someone focus saving the carry's. You are the tank you enter the teamfight first. When you play Shen Solotop and you are ganked you can escape by flashing and using your E. when enemy's are attacking your turret taunt them then the will take damage from the turret.Also when you are ganked in lategame you can ulti at a ally to escape

Passive: Every 8 seconds, Shen's next attack will deal bonus magic damage equal to 4 + (6 × level) + (10% of his bonus health). Whenever Shen hits an enemy unit with a basic attack, the cooldown is reduced by 1.5 seconds. Shen restores 10 / 20 / 30 energy when he Ki Strikes.
Q: (Active): Shen throws a sword at an enemy, dealing magic damage. The enemy is life-tapped for 5 seconds; allied champions that damage a life-tapped enemy are healed over 3 seconds, with the duration refreshed upon subsequent damaging. If Vorpal Blade kills a target, Shen is healed for 33% of the normal amount.
Range: 475
Cost: 60 energy
W: (Active): Shen is shielded for up to 3 seconds or until it is destroyed. While Feint is active, Ki Strike's cooldown reduction on hit is doubled to 3 seconds.
Cost: 50 energy
E: (Active): Shen dashes to a target location, dealing magic damage and taunting enemy champions he collides with. Shen gains 40 energy per enemy champion he collides with while dashing, and has 50% physical damage reduction from taunted targets.
Range: 600 (estimate)
Cost: 120 energy
Taunt Duration: 1.5 seconds
R[ULTI]:(Active): Shen begins channeling for 3 seconds, immediately shielding an allied champion for up to 5 seconds or until it is destroyed. If the channel completes and the target is still alive, Shen teleports to the target's location.
No Cost
Range: Global

Shen lore
There exists an ancient order originating in the Ionian Isles dedicated to the preservation of balance. Order, chaos, light, darkness -- all things must exist in perfect harmony, for such is the way of the universe. This order is known as the Kinkou and it employs a triumvirate of shadow warriors to uphold its causes in the world. Shen is one of these shadow warriors, entrusted with the sacred duty of Watching the Stars - exercising judgment untainted by prejudice.
Born to a clan whose members have decorated the ranks of the Kinkou for generations, Shen was trained his entire life to become the Eye of Twilight, and thereupon to dispassionately determine what must be done in the interests of equilibrium. As his final trial to ascend to this position, he was made to attend the Takanu, a ceremony in which his father was tortured before his eyes to test his resolve. Any reaction whatsoever would have resulted in his immediate disqualification, but he never averted his gaze and never blinked, not once. As the Eye of Twilight, Shen must make decisions which would buckle the wills of ordinary men, removing all emotion from the equation. He now works with his fellows Akali and Kennen to enforce the balance of Valoran. This hallowed pursuit has unsurprisingly led the triumvirate to the Fields of Justice.

"The Eye of Twilight sees not the despair of its victims, only the elegance of equilibrium."

Development of shen

Ever since Gangplank joined League of Legends, we have been weathering a virtually constant influx of nepotism complaints from organizations in a certain clandestine industry. The exact source of these complaints has been difficult to verify, however, due to their reclusive and mysterious natures. Luckily, our talented public relations department (with the help of a few favors from some friends in the CIA) has managed to pinpoint the exact source of this criticism, and we have decided that it is a demographic that we cannot afford to ignore. For those who haven't yet devised the identity of this group, I am, naturally, talking about: ninjas.
In an effort to keep ninja public opinion on our side, it is with great pleasure that I, on behalf of the Riot Games Design Team, am empowered to introduce: Shen, the Eye of Twilight. For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath to sport your ninja pride, courage! Just don’t let us catch you gaming in an outfit that looks anything like this[1]
Shen is the first champion in the League of Legends to use energy to cast his abilities, rather than mana or health like most other champions. This system caps the maximum amount of energy Shen can have at 200 energy, and regenerates Shen's energy very rapidly (10 energy per second).

Getting Vorpal Blade early allows Shen to farm well and stay in the lane/jungle due to its heal and Ki Strike allows Shen to jungle along with Vorpal Blade. Because he uses energy instead of mana, the only reason to recall is when his health is low, so keep it high with Vorpal Blade's heal.
Vorpal Blade is effective for last-hitting due to its low cooldown and rapid energy regeneration.
Vorpal Blade will also heal allied champions that attack the marked target. Try using it on siege minions to allow you and your laning partner to get a bit of a heal without killing the minion too fast.
Vorpal Blade will also heal Shen can use Vorpal Blade if it kills the target.
In laning phase you can use the Vorpal Blade to harass the enemy champion.
Vorpal Blade and Feint combine to make Shen a potential jungler.
With regard to jungling, Crest of the Ancient Golem increases energy regeneration by a fair amount, so it is still useful for Shen.
Feint can almost completely eliminate an enemy's damage early in the game.
Using Feint at the right time can reduce the damage dealt to you by otherwise fatal ultimates, such as Demacian Justice, Requiem and Absolute Zero.
Feint can be used offensively, as it doubles the cooldown reduction Shen's Ki Strike per auto-attack.
Shadow Dash unstealths enemies it hits, such as Evelynn, Teemo, Shaco, and Twitch.
Shadow Dash breaks channels such as Katarina's Death Lotus or Malzahar's Nether Grasp.
Failing to hit a champion with Shadow Dash can severely cripple Shen's energy for several seconds, limiting his capabilities.
Use Shadow Dash in team fights to give your carry the upper hand.
While using Shadow Dash, try to line up multiple champions to guarantee at least one successful taunt.
Bear in mind with recent changes, hitting more enemy champions is now better than just one for Shadow Dash's energy refund.
If an enemy is pushing your turret, Shadow Dash them; when they are forced to attack you, the turret will target them, dealing substantial damage.
If an enemy tries to tower dive you, a well used Shadow Dash can spell the difference between life and death, as it reduces damage for the duration of the taunt.
Use Shadow Dash through thin walls both to ambush and escape.
Stand United relies on vision. During Nocturne's Paranoia, Shen cannot cast Stand United unless they are in his line of sight; even hitting F1–F5 or clicking a champion portrait on the left will not allow you to target an ally until Paranoia is finished.
Stand United is also good for helping a teammate backdoor. The shield protects them from turret hits and you join them to supply additional damage.
Stand United does not break the target ally's stealth, and produces no other visible effect. Use this to ambush enemies more effectively.
Stand United can either save an ally or help gank an enemy, and can be combined with other global ultimates.
Shen is a very powerful solo top thanks to his sustain and harass with Vorpal Blade, Ki Strike and can absorb any form of enemy harassment with Feint.

Shen is a natural tank; items that grant health and resistances are best for him.
Heart of Gold is a good item to get early, because as a tank you benefit from the health, and are also not as effective at farming or killing as other champions.
Due to Ki Strike building some attack speed and health on Shen is a viable choice, but reduces his potential tanking capabilities.
Locket of the Iron Solari is a great choice providing a couple of tanky stats with active synergizing with his supportive role; items it builds from make laning easier and its active helps in teamfights.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter can be viable since it increases Stand United's shield strength, provides health, and provides Shen with a cheap ranged slow via Vorpal Blade.
Shurelya's Reverie also synergizes well with Shen as it allows him and his team to initiate a fight quickly or escape from a fight while providing decent cooldown reduction.
Sunfire Cape provides both health and armor while making farming easier.
Thornmail supplements Shadow Dash well since enemies are forced to autoattack him. Since Thornmail calculates reflection damage before damage mitigation, it will reflect full damage while you are taking reduced damage.
Warmog's Armor and other high-health items boost the damage of Ki Strike quickly
Atmas is great with warmog's. Because Shen's Hp is 4027 + Atmas that make him capable of dealing damage and being a great tank.