Hello and welcome to my first complete guide I recommend reading the entirely guide for a better understanding of this champion

• My name is Xplor, I am playing League of Legends on EUNE since Season 2.
• I am not high ranked, I don't consider myself to be extremely good in game, but I like to do a difference, help the other lanes and players, and lead the team to victory, not with an AP or AD carry, with a TANK. A very good one.
• Shen is my main champion, I played it for a while, and now after rework (even if some people disagree), Shen can really make a difference in every game.

Masteries

From: Offense / Ferocity

5/5 Fury I was explaining before, why to have some early Attack Speed is important. Yes it is; Fury gives you a boost of +4% Attack Speed, which will help you the whole game. It makes a difference, believe me.

1/1 Double Edged Sword NEW I found overall this mastery useful, benefiting from extra damage you deal (3%), and compensating the damage you receive (1.5%), from the next mastery on this line and from the Grasp of the Undying;

5/5 Vampirism NEW I was telling you on earlier version of this guide, that Shen does not benefit anymore afterall from lifesteal / spellvamp after rework, because the new "Q" is different, removing the ability to heal himself. But after some multiple tests with this new mastery which i decided to change, Shen benefit "slightly" of some Lifesteal / Spellvamp; Not enough to make a major difference like before, but enough to have better and longer sustain in lane that earlier mastery. Keep in mind that this 2% doesn't look so much, but it stack with Grasp of the Undying from the utility tree, making him to have little more sustain in lane that before.

1/1 Oppressor NEW As the last point on this tree, you have to pick from this one and Bounty Hunter but I find this more useful early game, since you have your combo slow from Q and your "Dash", giving you in that moment an additional 2.5% damage increase. The other one is definitely better on late game if you get some kills, but me, personally, I rather prefer Oppressor because I focus on early game winning the lane.

From: Defense / Cunning

From: Utility / Resolve

5/5 Unyielding From Recovery and Unyielding , I personally choose the second one. Later you will stack Armour and Magic Resist. Unyielding gives you mid - late game great boost, while Recovery needs, is not even noticed early game. At least not on Shen. Tested already.

1/1 Explorer Well, how I said, movement speed is a MUST on Shen as well. Stack as much as you can. This utility gives you a great boost of movement speed while you are in brushes or on the river. Don't skip it.

5/5 Veteran's Scars +45 HP is a very good start, having lots of HP at first level and early games; But there are some contradiction about picking one between Veteran's Scars and Runic Armor . Before the rework, with the old Shen, Runic Armor was my main pick because of the LifeSteal Q, additional shield as well, boost the little regen you had and ... teammate's heals. But now, while Shen does not benefite anymore of LifeSteal, I am giving more importance to Veteran's Scars for additional HP on early game.

1/1 Perseverance +50% Health Regen, increased to 200% when below 25% Health There is not a must to have it, you can pick Insight instead of it, but me, personally I rather prefer additional regen during the game... more sustain on the lane. You can pick any of these 2.

5/5 Swiftness There are 2 simple reasons why I pick this instead of Legendary Guardian One of them: You are not support (at least not with this build), so Legendary Guardian is useless on early game, and the difference on late game is too small to be noticed. Second reason? Hmm... is the only viable one. It helps you this tenacity and slow resist. More that you can guess :)

Grasp of the Undying Well, this is the last one. The most important. Let me review all 3 of them from utility and tell you why I pick this one. * Bond of Stone It doesn't help you too much while you are solo on top. Actually it doesn't help you at all until mid - late game, when team needs you more. Is a very good pick for Shen support, but there goes another build and things to consider it. Until then this is not a good pick for Shen TOP. * Strength of the Ages - Usually this is a very good pick for jungle Shen, when you stack the 300 bonus HP very early. Personally I don't recommend this one on top Shen. * Grasp of the Undying - This one, my opinion is the best pick for Shen TOP; lifesteal equal with 2.5% of your own HP it doesn't look much, but it can make the difference while fighting with your enemies. Grasp of the Undying suffered a little nerf during patch 6.8 HEALTH STEAL 3% maximum health ⇒ 2.5% maximum health

There is no point to start to consider picking other end masteries from other tree lines, because this will make you change your whole Mastery tree lines. Pointless, trust me (already tried other mastery builds, but doesn't work so well on Shen. This one is the best on this champion, on my opinion. Just try it!)

Items

• Well, there is a standard build for Shen, and following it, can drastically increase your winning chance. Don't expect to have 30/0/10 but u can have instead 10/0/30 on it; He is not a burst damager, is a tanker, a very good one. You will definitely have more assists that kills, but playing smart you should have extremely low deaths to none.
  
• Never make AP Shen!He is born to be tank.

• Stealth Ward always
• Doran's Shield + 1x Health Potion. Now you should have around 743 HP at level 1.
• If you start against Heavily AD, take Cloth Armor +4x Health Potion
• If you start against Heavily AP, take Null-Magic Mantle +1x Health Potion
• Situational, you can pick Ruby Crystal + 2x Health Potion

• Chain Vest+ Boots
  If the enemy is not a threat, pick
• Bami's Cinder for better farming
• If the enemy is heavily AP, pick on first recall Spectre's Cowl and after that continue your normal build (Never make Spirit Visage as first item. Is wrong...)

• Sunfire Aegis (on the bottom I will explain every item)
  
  In the meantime, before or, I prefer after, end and upgrade your boots:
• Boots of Swiftness
  
  As always should be, the 3rd and 4th item is:
• Zz'Rot Portal or Spirit Visage, you pick the order, depends on the enemy team champions and status.
  
  If the enemy team is not a threat, after you build your Zz'Rot Portal, you can make:
• Dead Man's Plate, followed as 5th item, the Spirit Visage. It will not be needed early if they don't have feeded AP carry, because with your HP which you stack overall until you make the Spirit Visage, no one is a threat anymore, not even AP enemies.
  
• The last item, personally, I pick Randuin's Omen, because of another extra HP and Armor. But if they are playing very aggressive on late game, I recommend instead of last one, to take Guardian Angel. The extra armor, MR and revive, can help you in some situations.

Thornmail

Titanic Hydra

Trinity Force

Warmog's Armor

Banshee's Veil

• Although, you can pick Thornmail instead of Dead Man's Plate or I prefer instead of Spirit Visage if they have an over-FED ADC. You will watch him suicide :) TROLL TROLL TROLL

Allright, How I said, I will explain why every of these items are so important on Shen

Sunfire Aegis This is the most important item on Shen. After the patch 6.3, Sunfire Aegis got an incredible boost, +50% additional damage to minions and monsters, jumping to a total of 150%. Farming on Shen with this item was never better. You burn everything around you. Always take it. On patch 6.9 Sunfire Aegis price got increased: TOTAL COST 2700 gold ⇒ 2900 gold

Boots of Swiftness This kind of boots have the biggest movement speed in combat! you have a very big advantage over the enemy if they are lack of escaping skills. You can catch them in matter of seconds. More than that, you have additional movement speed boost from Explorer (on brushes and river). How I said before, Shadow Dash is your friend. Use it well, and you will easily succed your actions.

Zz'Rot Portal This item is extremely important on Shen and should be bought after the Sunfire Aegis as fast as possible for several reasons: Getting ARMOR and MAGIC RESIST on this price counter all opponents, giving you insane resistance and allowing you to survive as impossible... The Voids spawned allow you to insanely push, farm and destroy turrets and objectives. You got some bonus movement speed while near the turrets (and destroyed one), so escaping and catching opponents is very easy now. The fact is that you don't need to get maximum HP as early to be a good tank. Having Armor and Magic resist is way more benefite for a successful Shen Spoiler: Click to view Active: You summon a void gate at a target location for an amount of time, which continuously summon some voidspawn, something similar to minions which doesn't focus enemy champion, but explodes when attacking structures. It wipes enemy minions on the lane very fast. You earn nice amount of gold from it! "Hire some mini-merchants to farm for you" New: patch 6.6 changes: Armor and Magic resist reduced from 60 to 55 Now acts more like a pink ward, having 5 HP. Have a minimap distinct icon

Dead Man's Plate This item definitely worth the gold to get on Shen. The elementary status it gives is insane allowing you to troll your enemies with your health and armor, discharging the energized passive you got from moving around to your enemies, having one more output damages from a full defensive item. And the movement speed you got at full charge is good to catch some enemies from behind or have an easy escape if they keep tracing you.

Spirit Visage This items gives you lots of HP, cooldown reduction and MR as well, some additional health regen, and increase the received healings by 25%. Very useful if you have Soraka, Sona, Taric, Nidalee, Kayle...etc etc, around, or any other healings input. Spoiler: Click to view Spirit Visage Got some major changes during patch 6.9 It got down some magic resist down, but now you won't need so much if you get Zz'Rot Portal earlier, and you get some other good benefits. TOTAL COST 2800 gold (unchanged) COMBINE COST 900 gold ⇒ 800 gold MAGIC RESIST 70 ⇒ 55 HEALTH REGEN 150% ⇒ 200% PASSIVE HEALING INCREASE 20% ⇒ 25%

Randuin's Omen Additional HP, Armor, some lower dmg received by critical strikes, useful passive, and a mass- slow which is very useful late game when the horde are sticking together. Hit all at once, and your team can do the rest. But, sometimes is not very useful like Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel As a tank, on late game you will have to take lots of damage. Always there is a possibility to die as tank, well anyone can die, that doesn't mean you should get on any champions, but a good tank can change the balance of the teams. Is very important to survive. If you can't, then, revive. Annoy them. TROLL TROLL TROLL :) Spoiler: Click to view During the patch 6.9, this item got some changes, small nerfing but 300 gold cheaper TOTAL COST 2700 gold ⇒ 2400 gold COMBINE COST 1180 gold ⇒ 880 gold MAGIC RESIST 60 ⇒ 45

Thornmail It's a very good situational item, and you should pick it even more often, specially when the opponent team have a very good AD Carry or feded one. Works perfectly against Talon, Zed, Yasuo And other AD champions who have high kill potential. Just picking this gives you the best chance to win against their over-fed AD based champion... how?!? Well, first of all. +100 Armor is a huge boost. But that's not the only reason It returns 15% of the attack damage the enemy carry deal, plus 0.25 of your bonus armor. I will pass to make here some calculations, but the point is clear. The attack damage you receive from your enemy AD Carry is reflected in a great amount to him, losing a huge proportion of his life only by attacking you. And he will deal so less damage due to huge bonus armor. Stack more armor, the reflect damage is bigger. It's a very good item to consider to pick against an AD enemy team or feeded AD carry.

Titanic Hydra Hydra is a very good element which you may consider picking only in situational teams, the point of this item being of farming. If you want to be a farm based Shen, Titanic Hydra with Sunfire Aegis will wipe out minions or jungle very easy. You get as well extra HP, AD, Health Regen and some extra damage increased by your Maximum Health. Being a tank, this would be in your benefit. It's a very good item to pick sometimes, but don't forget your role. You are a pure tank.

Warmog's Armor This item gives you the best HP boost, and in some situations when they have tons of damage, you should pick it. It is a purely defensive item and doesn't give you any kind of offensive options. Good to pick sometimes. Spoiler: Click to view During patch 6.9, this item got some changes: TOTAL COST 2850 gold (unchanged) BUILD PATH Giant's Belt + Kindlegem + Crystalline Bracer + 400 gold HEALTH 850 ⇒ 800 new: COOLDOWN REDUCTION +10%

Trinity Force With trinity, you will deal some bonus damage, stacking it passive with your Q, and get some additional status. But there's not a big point to pick it in a game. Spoiler: Click to view It's very expensive; actually the most expensive item in the whole game. 250 HP would not make such a big difference on late game. Mana status you receive is disabled. Crit strike will not proc only from autoattacks. Little of AD, and some additional movement speed, is very benefit for Shen; Extra movement speed which proc on hit or kill is very benefit. The passive grants you 200% of your bonus attack on next hit. You will not have high attack damage because of your tanky build. so this extra damage is not as it should be like on any other champions like Jax. My personal opinion? Avoid to build Trinity Force on Shen and focus on other main items you should pick.

Banshee's Veil It's a good pick sometimes on Shen, For some extra MR, HP and Health Regen, but first time for it's passive, a shield which block the next enemy ability. It refresh after 40 seconds of not taking damage from enemy champion. Imagine a situation when Blitzcrank uses his Rocket Grab. You will block his pull, saving you from an ugly situation. Very very benefit. Or a good pick against Veigar There are so many situations when this item could be benefit for Shen, you pick it when you think you should have. But I strongly prefer if I pick it, to be on mid-late game, not early. Spoiler: Click to view As well, this item got some minor changes during patch 6.9: TOTAL COST 2900 gold ⇒ 2450 gold BUILD PATH Spectre’s Cowl + Negatron Cloak + 530 gold HEALTH 500 ⇒ 300

Guardian Angel Good pick, sometimes; I was talking little earlier about it. Only late game, not earlier. I rather prefer the last item, if it's the case to choose it. This item was boosted in the patch 6.5 and patch 6.9 somehow...

Ganks, Tips and Tricks.

With Shen you don't need to be jungle to make a gank and to help your teammates. You can do it very well with Shen, and in time, improve them until the point that you change the balance of the game!

• Use Stand United only when your teammates need you or you think that you can do a successful gank. Don't use it just to teleport.
• You still can use it when your team goes at drake and there are enemy around.
• Using Shadow Dash require a little practice; predict enemy trajectory for a successful Dash all the time.

I was telling you before that we will speak about some tricks with Shen and Twilight Assault.

Spoiler: Click to view

You should position your sword if possible, to collide with the enemy champion before attacking. This gives you extra damage and a bonus of 50% attack speed.
There's one trick at level one you can do, it works against melee champions, but you should not do it against ranged ones. It will need lots of practices, but a successful trick can gives you first blood at level one, or at least pushing him at turret and easily winning the early lane.
WARNING! If you fail, and you panic, can result in your death.The ideea of this trick is simple, and I succeed a couple of times. It worth trying if your jungle doesn't need your help or you are not planning an invade.
There are some points in the image I should explain.

• Put your sword into the 3rd brush from your lane, before minions come. The enemy should not see the sword or the beam to you.
  
• Take position in the area indicated with red dots
• When your minions and the enemy minions are spawned, they should meet into that area marked with yellow.
  
• The enemy champion will come and start farming like usually (only works with melee champions. is risky to try against ranged ones, because you may FAIL)
• You approach easily to the minions fighting area, the place where the enemy champion should be
• Make sure that while you approach, you aim the beam to pass through him.
• Activate Q running into his direction. If you succed, the enemy is slowed for the next 2 seconds if he try to run, if not, is in your advantage. You will deal extra damage, and the most important thing, you just have on this point +50% attack speed, with a total of 69% Attack Speed at level 1, +3 hits with extra bonus damage.
• If you succed attacking him, you just outdamage him, and he wants to retreat, or if he keep attacking you, you just got the First Blood. Don't forget that you have Ignite as well.
• If the enemy flash back, or heavily retreat, don't follow him, because in this case, his minions can became winnions!
  
• If you fail, retreat!

Spoiler: Click to view

Ok guys, I will speak about another trick, maybe is not working very well on high ELO, but on Silver and Gold or lower, it should work just fine.
Everyone wants a first blood right?

This trick is very good to try on level 2, but only against melee champions; As the other one above, don't try against ranged ones, because can be tricky. I don't promise you that's going to work or not, but it gave me lots of times the first blood.

• You have level 2, not 1, not 3.
  Normally, you and him should farm. Provoke him at 1vs1, by attacking him only with "Q" once, wait again for shield if possible, and twice. He will respond. Is important for him to have the same level 2.
• Against many champions, if you attack only with Q and he attack with both skills, you should both of you have the same hp fading, because you are a tank with early game mastery, runes and build focus; If he have the same tanky status like you, don't try this;
  
• Keep an eye on your E and Ignite.
• Prepare him a surprise, if he see that he can't survive and try to run.
• Dash him and Q again + ignite. First blood.
• If you got outdamaged, pass him through the minion waves attacking him in the same time, so you can dash him jumping in your turret way. Then fast react if it's worth to keep fighting, if you deal enough damage, if you have back your Shield and Q, if he is not running trough minion wave.
• In this moment you have 2 points. Attack at your risk, but normally you MUST have good odds, or run back after you dashed into your turret way.
• I don't recommend in some situations to do this on level 3 because they will have like you 3 skills. Your "W" can be or CANNOT be useful in this "duel", but his 3rd skill can outdamage you and eventually to get first death.
• I will try in the most simple way, to make a short video about this, and upload here. Just wait for it :)
  I hope you understand my point. Sorry for some English mistakes.

Support Shen

In the support Shen there are some minor changes according to standard Shen usage.

Masteries:

Ferocity Removed Fury Removed Double Edged Sword Removed Vampirism Removed Oppressor

Cunning Added Wanderer Added Assassin Added Merciless Added Bandit

Resolve Removed Perseverance Added Insight Removed Swiftness Added Legendary Guardian Removed Grasp of the Undying Added Bond of Stone

Spoiler: Click to view

The points from Ferocity was removed due to the need of some extra points to reach Bandit , one of the main masteries for any kind of support.
Wanderer is better when you are not on combat, recall and get back to lane, etc. Some extra movement speed. I rather prefer this one.
Assassin I pick this because there's nothing else to pick. One of them gives you biscuits with mana, second one jungle buffs longer. You don't need mana, you are not jungle. I stuck with Assassin for the moments you are alone on the lane or on the map :)
Merciless was the only viable pick because Meditation is totally useless on Shen - It doesn't use mana;
Bandit is a MUST for support Shen because of the extra gold it gives you passively, when ADC kills a minion. Additional, if you hit the enemy champion, you get sometimes some additional gold.
Perseverance was removed, and instead was added the extra point to Insight . It is much more recommended to have lower CD Exhaust and Flash because you will use it more often.
Swiftness was removed and Legendary Guardian was added, because of the extra armor and magic resist you stack when enemies are near (you are not alone on TOP anymore, so you need this.)
Grasp of the Undying was removed, and Bond of Stone was added.
What does Bond of Stone ?
Well, first time, you have some additional damage reduction.
Second time, it protect your ADC much more, redirecting 6% of the damage he take to you. Is very good since you are tanky and you need to protect your ADC

RUNES

• I recommend the same runes to use as support Shen like on top Shen
• I know that you may reconsider to remove the extra 15% attack speed, since the masteries one was removed, but there's not anything else useful to put instead; Is better to have it.

Skill Sequence

• I recommend using the same skill sequence like on top Shen. Is the best option.

Summoner Spells

My advice for support Shen is to take, first of all, Exhaust Like on many other supports, rolling exhaust increase your chances for your ADC to take a kill, or to help him escape.

Since you are not TOP anymore in this game, you won't necessary need to have Ignite You will better need Flash instead of it, in this case, for a better chance of combo (I succed some combos, when our jungle come on bottom lane with high speed - Hecarim was in this case, and I used a combo Flash + Shadow Dash + Exhaust to daze the enemy ADC, even if I was far away and he didn't expected. It was a successful gank which repeated a couple of times.)

Team Work

• Your ADC need to know to play with Shen support or to be very smart, for a successful win;
• Make sure that your Shadow Dash never or rarely miss!
• Use Spirit's Refuge to save you ADC!!! If the enemy ADC is attacking yours with autoattack, use this skill to cover the damage and immune him for 1,75 sec. Be near him, and use your Q to bring your sword if is not there.
• This time matter! In this time, your ADC can outdamage him, and then with that combo "
• Flash + Shadow Dash + Exhaust will give your ADC a free kill.

Jungle Shen

Masteries

Ferocity Removed Double Edged Sword Added Feast Removed Vampirism Removed Oppressor

Cunning Added Wanderer Added Runic Affinity

Resolve Removed Perseverance Added Insight Removed Grasp of the Undying Added Strength of the Ages

Spoiler: Click to view

You gonna need in jungle Runic Affinity - your buffs will stand 15% longer
Insight have a very big advantage over Perseverance, which is removed from this Jungle tree. Your summoner spells, specially Smite, is gonna need this 15% CDR (cooldown reduction).
Strength of the Ages is a MAIN mastery for Jungle Shen, because of the stack of HP it gives once you start wiping big monsters from jungle. Is a free 300HP in mid-late game. Not to mention that after you reach this limit, you gonna have 6% Health Restored from these kind of monsters who gave you the bonus HP until now.

Runes

• The same kind of runes you should use like on TOP / Support Shen. Here I will change nothing. Not yet at least.

Skill Sequence

• Use the same skill sequence. There's nothing better. Only that you will start with Q, and continue on level 2 with W.

Summoner Spells

There's nothing to explain to Smite, because is the basic jungle spell. Make sure you use it right, because in some situations is crucial to have it without cooldown and to use it smart, like taking / stealing dragon and baron.

Since you are going jungle, you travel all over the map continuously, helping your allies and aiding to a successful gank. Sometimes you are going to need Flash to make a good combo and to catch the enemy champion, and in different situations.

Items

• In the upper part of the page, pressing the right arrow near the name, navigates you to the additional builds, where you can find Jungle one as well.
• Shortly? It's the same build, only that Sunfire Aegis is removed, because Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk is going to replace it, mostly because of the same passive, which is very efficient.

• With patch 6.4 Shen got an Important jungle buff.

Now you can daze jungle monster with your Shadow Dash. A very good buff for Shen Jungle

Ranked Play

Shen montage compilation - Part 1

Spoiler: Click to view

This is the first montage I made with Shen, with some nice and funny moments captured on some ranked games. I hope you will enjoy it :)

Xplor as Shen vs Illaoi on top, ranked patch 6.4

Spoiler: Click to view

In this ranked game (silver) I am playing on top with Shen vs Illaoi, honest to be, a hard counter for Shen, actually main counter, with threat level: 10.
I had very bad farm, but won the top lane finally and leaded my team to victory with Shen even if I was against my main counter. The point here, is skill-up and following my main guide which I wrote.

Summary

• Shen is a very addictive champion. It was and is still considered one of the best tanks in game.
• Shen works as well as support and jungle.
  Playing with him, like with every champion, increase your skill, and you will get into one point when you consider the opposing team at the same level with bots.

• This is Shen, and if you read the whole guide, I wish you good luck and try my builds, because is working extremely well on this point.
• I apologise for some English mistake I made, this being just my secondary learned language, not main one.
• I will keep this game updated every time something changes on Shen or to the build I wrote, and I will try in time to add lots of new stuff and useful hints.

• Here's my Youtube Channel where I am uploading very often League of Legends games:

• And if you liked my guide, you can take a look on my other guides :)