If you came looking for a guide, this is not it. I'd recommend reading xPetu's guide cause I believe he knows Shen better on certain levels than I do.

This "guide" is meant to explain a build I have had great success with so far as the new season has started. Some prioritize using new items on Shen but with full honesty, building a full tank is boring and does not yield results and if it does, they are boring ones.


To action:

This build has a full focus on having as much damage per tanking. You can acquire more damage by building just damage items but building tank items helps Shen do his things.

Itemization:

Titanic is self-explanatory. Good early dueling, wave clear, tower damage, a reset. It's just so good

Boots in subjective preference order:
Lucidity > Mercs > Tabis

Damage options. It's best to keep up your lead and double down on damage while still gaining good defensive properties.

Wits: I love it.
>Highest as of any item (55%)
>Synergy with Titanic due to as
>On-hit that scales with just level, no need for ap or ad
>Good amount of mr
>20% tenacity so basically mercs but as a damage item minus ms

Iceborn: Not as good but a side-grade
>Good armor and health which Wits lacks
>Damage scales with base ad and Shen is just getting a buff for it.
>CC slow
>Damage reduction (quite situational but does come in handy)

Pick Wits if the enemy team is more reliant on magic damage, be observant of the enemy team.
Pick Iceborn if opposite
If indifferent: go Wits


Tank options. While Titanic provides good waveclear, making bamis less efficient, we're taking them to maximize damage per tanking.

Sunfire:
>Good armor and hp
>Highest damage output out of bamis items
>Subpar wave clear

Hollow:
>Good mr and health
>Less damage than sunfire
>Clears waves with Titanic way too quickly

Now, which one to take:
Go with Sunfire if the enemy team is 50/50 in physical and Magic damage and you went with Wits before or if the enemy team is really heavy on physical damage.
Go with Hollow for the same reason but you took Iceborn before or if the enemy is heavy on magic damage.

Bamis with Titanic? Nuh uh. Or Yuh uh?

Now hold your horses!
We're not building sunfire/hollow for wave clear but for team fight damage. Sure hollow might be more for waveclear than damage but it is our damage choice for mr. Other mr items don't provide damage outside of this and Wits that we might have built already.

One option is to go with Iceborn now after Wits as a substitute for Sunfire as an armor item but since team fights become more common at this point of the game, you'll get more damage output out of Sunfire. BUT I highly recommend taking Iceborn if the enemy has only 1 member who is carrying the team. Focus on locking them down with Iceborn.


There are many other item options but they do not suit this "subjective preference" build path that optimizes most damage per tankyness. There are tons of items to choose but I strongly believe that Shen utilizes these items the most. There are items like Heartsteel but honestly, I don't think that item is as good on Shen as it is on other champions. Also is personally dislike Heartsteel even when it also provides scaling for other items but I feel like component-wise and usage-wise it slows down your tempo. Scaling is slow and games are decided fast.

Nevertheless, this is what I would be building for each game until I feel like it doesn't yield as good results as I wished for. Just want to point out that in the past weeks, I've gotten more S (not S-) games than I got in seasons 13 and 12 combined (9 and counting).

TL;DR
A build that works most of the time:

Titanic
Boots
Wits
Sunfire
Abyssal
Jak'sho

Yes, Guardian keystone on Shen. Why? In many games, some matchups seem difficult to the point where you don't get to utilize Grasp that much. In some matchups wanting to proc Grasp means that you trade your hp for their hp, but some matchups are so that the trade is more favored for them. Some examples are Riven, Gwen, Darius, and Mordekaiser. Some matchups straight up deny you from getting to proc grasp while being able to dish out damage to you. Some examples are all ranged matchups like Teemo, Gnar, and Quinn.

I take Grasp whenever I can due to the trading potential it has (which is good) but for some matchups, I know that I won't be able to get any value out of it, thus using Guardian which procs as we ult, making your total ult shield bigger, allowing you more time to get to your teammate and help them.

What about aftershock, you might ask.
Aftershock for me is a really big... eh. In able to proc it, you'll have to use your E on an enemy. Now, during your early game, using your E to initiate a fight can be a death sentence. A good usage of E during a fight is to either get away from the fight or go in after trading with the enemy for an extended fight to kill them. In said extended fights you get to proc Grasp several times whereas Aftershock only once. Though you do not get to use Guardian at all, if there comes a need to use Guardian, you won't be going in for fights or even trades but rather just farm safely. I don't mean that there is no use for it but it feels situational. At times where you could be using it, you're better off using Grasp meanwhile at times when you don't get to utilize it that often, Guardian is a better alternative.

This guide is subjective. It has worked for me but I don't guarantee that it will work for you and your playstyle. Mastering Shen requires game knowledge and assessment of your matchup. Every match is different and the same builds don't always work in favor.

What this guide aims at is to give you an offensive build with the benefit of being able to work as the tank. The season has only just started. There are many build varieties that might work better than this does.

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide if you did.