The build is different form standard Shen builds wich max Vorpal Blade first. That doesn't make it better or worse, it is just used in another way and very effective at that.
What you get from it and what you shouldn't do because it isn't optimized for it:

[+] Great chasing and ganks with repeated s. [+] Tanking and sustain without items due to ing. [+] More s. [+] Not depending on blue. [+] Has huge map presence.

SPACE SPACE

[-] Money starved in jungle - don't expect to carry on your own. [-] Can fall behind in levels - don't forget to farm the jungle. [-] No early s - your energy level has to stay high.

Shen needs Armor, Magic Resistance (MR), Health (HP) and Tenacity for tanking since his initiation will force enemies to attack him more than others. To consistently use his abilities, he also needs Cooldown Reduction (CDR) and Movement Speed (MS) to get the right positioning and timing. Because we don't forget that most teamfights are not resolved with just basic stats, he should carry some Ninja-tailored utility from active and passive item effects. Lastly he desperately needs jungle clearing speed or Attack Speed (AS) and AOE damage for split pushing (from items).

Looking at Summoner Spells only Smite and Exhaust/ Teleport/ Flash make sense.

When considering Masteries and Runes distribute your points how you feel it suits your team compostion and playstyle. I run a 4/2x/x-ish mastery setup, runes are Resistances, AS, CDR and sometimes MS.

• 4x 1x 9x 3x
  These give you 15% CDR early game so you can give your blue away and still get the 40% CDR cap asap. I know the runes are expensive, but they are working exceptionally well.
• 8x 1x
  Some AS is mandatory for quicker jungling and these work best. You always take a crit mark for luck!
• 8x and full defense masteries
  Are very usefull for the big monsters, tower dives and scale best with him overall.

You will start your game with Hunter's Machete and Health Potions else you cannot clear camps fast enough.


Because shen's jungle speed relies on his auto attack damage, Madred's Razors is absolutely required. Obviously you buy boots asap and try to get a ward to either keep track of your enemy to countergank, counterjungle or to babysit a lane with troubles.


You can upgrade your Razors to a Wriggle's Lantern, as this item is very cost effective, the wards you get throughout the game add up to a nice amount of money and the improved monster damage makes for easy jungling. This is not mandatory, however, and if you are struggling, you should rather invest money into Resistances ( Cloth Armor/ Null-Magic Mantle) and HP ( Ruby Crystal). While doing that, you may also want to get the remaining CDR ( Kindlegem) you need to get to the cap. Sometimes you will also try to get an early oracle up now else Vision Wards work really well. Sooner or later, your build will look like this:


A really important item early game is Locket of the Iron Solari its cost-effective and really cheap. Get it together with another Kindlegem to bring your CDR to 35%. It will cap with the upgrade to either Spirit Visage or Zeke's Herald. Your boot choice should obviously be between Ninja Tabi and Mercury's Treads. Depending on your enemies and allies the enchantment type will vary between Enchantment: Captain for quick follow up chases, Enchantment: Distortion for more Teleport presence and Enchantment: Alacrity if you feel you are too slow.



Afther the core build you have some options:

• Split push items like Tiamat or Sunfire Aegis allow you to clear very quickly.
• Pure Tank items like Randuin's Omen and Runic Bulwark when your team has none.
• Shield and Damage items include Abyssal Mask and Twin Shadows.
• Sometimes the utility from Shurelya's Battlesong comes in handy.

You should note that your strength lies in your Shadow Dash and therefore AP isn't such a bad option at all. Also due to your increased Ki Strikes Bonus Health will make your damage go up.

Obviously you sell Madred's Razors/ Wriggle's Lantern late game for a bigger item, but it will rarely come to that.

HHH Ki Strike (Passive): On-Hit passive that gives back a lot of energy and damage if you can manage to keep your shield up. The scaling with HP is very weird and should not be focused on, as HP stacking doesn't really work well with his other abilities. But it is good to know that your average tank items HP (~2k) gives you good damage.
HHH Vorpal Blade (Q): I don't take this not because it is bad - it is a pretty good skill overall - but because it is has some downsides that I want to avoid. The energy cost is too high to be used in conjunction with spamming his other skills. Its heal is smaller than his shield by far. But simply put, this skill is just not needed to jungle and gank. Your damage output from dash and passive is compareable to its damage, the saved energy is huge and your shield gives you a lot more sustain. However, you can manage Shen's energy if you use it instead of Feint late game - e.g. when you take no damage.
HHH Feint (W): The shield absorbs ridiculous amounts of damage and can be refreshed after it expires when shen reaches 40% CDR. This also means that you can pretty much 1v1 anyone that can't nuke you, because while they loose hp, they just tear through your shield again and again. Mind you, if your shield is destroyed and you have no HP, you can be nuked easily, so make sure you have enough tankyness to survive burst damage. An interesting and exploitable fact is the enhanced passive that you get while shielded. This gets you an every 3rd attack passive with nice energy replenishment and damage. Always activate this BEFORE you attack, since the 3 second CD decrease on your passive starts counting with the attack that triggers it.
HHH Shadow Dash (E): Most people use a one-rank-dash to initiate and get around the map faster. Low levels have a huge CD, that doesn't allow for consecutive dashes. However, when ranked and with CDR you can use this every 4.8 seconds giving your enemy only 3 seconds (!) time between taunts. And something most people dont realize... a 50% damage reduction on AD carries while taunted means you really take no damage. Since you will hit many enemies (if you don't, don't play shen) this thing pays for itself, but it requires you to only use either Vorpal Blade or Feint, as your energy level won't be high enough else.
HHH Stand United (R): CDR has the biggest impact on this skill, allowing you to gank more lanes and turn around small clashes. Ulting on allies in bushes can be a big surprise. If your ally dies during the channel, get some AP, as this greatly boosts the shield (or tell them to get resistances). End game this ability is a double edged sword in that the channel and teleport can be disrupted with cc, and you remove your powerfull taunts from the game for 3 seconds. So make sure you blow your cd before you ult, or place yourself into the path of cc to disrupt the channel... the shield will be activated always.

Thanks for reading and credits to JhoiJhoi. Feel free to post your feedback.