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Shen Build Guide by GannicusTTV

Top Shen of Steel 2.0 - UPDATED PATCH 13.5

Top Shen of Steel 2.0 - UPDATED PATCH 13.5

Updated on March 17, 2023
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League of Legends Build Guide Author GannicusTTV Build Guide By GannicusTTV 7 2 11,722 Views 0 Comments
7 2 11,722 Views 0 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author GannicusTTV Shen Build Guide By GannicusTTV Updated on March 17, 2023
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Runes: Core Rune Page

Resolve
Grasp of the Undying
Shield Bash
Second Wind
Overgrowth

Domination
Ultimate Hunter
Cheap Shot
Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
+65 Base Health

Spells:

1 2
Flash Ignite
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
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None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
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Champion Build Guide

Shen of Steel 2.0 - UPDATED PATCH 13.5

By GannicusTTV
About Me
Hi everyone,
I am Gannicus. I have been playing league on and off since season 6. I've never made League of legends my main game until this year. I have always delved more into MMORPGs, theorycrafting and making fun builds to PvP in games like (ESO, Neverwinter, Guild Wars 2, Mu Online, Black Desert Online, New World, Lost Ark, etc).

So I've never really watched many guides or tried to get better in league until recently, that toward many games in, I decided to improve in the game. watched many guides, videos, and started getting better and climbing in the game, and I peaked at D1 70 LP shortly after Season 12 ended. I am aiming for masters now during pre-season and next season.

I've been in love with Shen, and I OTP him since last year. I've decided to embrace league and Shen gameplay, and I have been learning and studying more of the game and the champion, and I started developing my own content in my YouTube Channel and my Twitch. I hope you guys can welcome me to the community and I am open to any questions, criticism, or feedback you may give. Let's get better together!

in IRL. I just got my degree in Biomedicine, and I am hoping to join PA school next year. Meanwhile, I love making content on twitch and youtube, and I am hoping to build a community. I have been putting a lot of time and dedication on my videos, so I hope you guys can appreciate it.
Why Heartsteel on Shen?
Hi guys. I played around quite a bit with the new mythical items, and I can say Heartsteel is my favorite mythic item of the preseason.
I think Shen is doing much better with Heartsteel when compared to other tanks for two reasons:

1) Shen has a Teleport ability Stand United that allows him to impact the game in a meta where tanks do not do a lot of damage.

2) Shen is the only tank with triple scaling from HP.

Shen's Passive Ki Barrier scales off HP, providing larger self-shields, increasing damage mitigation and countering the lack of early resistances Heartsteel does not provide. Shen's E Shadow Dash damage is also scaled off HP, allowing Shen to do a little bit more of damage to his enemies. Finally, Shen Ultimate, Stand United Shields his selected ally while you are teleporting. This shield is also scaled off HP.

The HP scaling is virtually infinite. The longer the game goes, the more HP stacks Shen will get, and the moore damage and the more durable Shen will be while also providing a bigger shield on his ultimate.
But do not get me wrong. the initial value is also pretty good. 800 HP is also great on Shen.

Therefore, I believe the PROs outweighs the CONs for Heartsteel. However, you must be aware of the CONs and play accordingly.
Heartsteel is an expensive item, so you must try to have a good laning phase and at least CS properly. As any other mythic for tanks, it does not give wave clearing,so it is important to land those last hits, especially cannons, but once you get hydra you will get a lot of CS side lane . Finally, without resistances, the early game might prove a little bit tough against percentage HP hitting champions and items like Fiora, Divine Sunderer or Blade of the Ruined King. However, as long as you do not feed, and you itemize properly, most of these CONs are not that much of an issue anymore as you add some armor. Also it is not nearly an issue as it is for other tanks because Shen has a shield passive that scale of hp. so technically you mitigate the lack of early resistances by having a bigger passive shield to mitigate extra dmg.
Hearsteel Video
Here is the most up to dated youtube video for this build showing how the build works, why I made a build like this, the little "drama" arch to add some entertainement to the video, some of the build in action. I hope you guys enjoy the video.
Reasoning Behind Runes
Resolve is your main Skill Tree. It provides Runes that help you survive and press the early game, but also scales well with your Tank abilities and HP. Grasp of the Undying Gives you some sustain as well poke damage in the lane phase. The damage and heal is scaled off HP, so it is not a too bad rune in the late game as well as you have a larger HP pool.
Shen is one of the only champions that benefits so greatly from Shield Bash. Shen has consistently new shields reaplied, so more resistances and extra auto-attack damage.
Second Wind Provides the sustain healing you need during lane phase, and it scales from HP as well. It reaplies from bleed or dots like those from Darius or Teemo. You could go for Bone Plating or Conditioning if you want, but I think Second Wind is more valuable
for the last rune, I believe Overgrowth is the best option for this build, since it is a scaling build and Shen already has a strong early game without it. Overgrowth eventually outscales Revitalize to give bigger shields but also adds extra HP and boosts the DMG of Heartsteel and Titanic Hydra.

on Domination, Cheap Shot is always a great pick for Shen. Whenever Shen pull his sword with Q Twilight Assault through an enemy, it slows them, so you automatically proc Cheap Shot.

Finally, Ultimate Hunter is great for Shen's Ultimate Stand United, which has a long base cooldown. The more times you can use your R in a game, the more you impact the game, and the more skirmishes/team fights you participate, the more you stack Heartsteel.

As I said before, you could consider Ingenious Hunter. But unless you are laning even after laning phase with the same tank over and over stacking, I do not see it being better than Ultimate Hunter, and even then, more ultimates mean more fights which turns into more heartsteel procs at once. generally speaking, team fights do not last long enough to get multiple stacks on several enemies anyway
Reasoning Behind Items
Heartsteel is the mythic item of this build, and as explained before, it stacks infinite HP on Shen, which boosts his passive Shield Ki Barrier. Shadow Dash damage, and the Ally Shield from Stand United. It makes Shen very durable, and the proc adds some damage and burst to kill enemies.

Titanic Hydra is the most important item in this build after your Mythic. It is an item that gets directly buffed by all the extra HP scaling from Heartsteel , Overgrowth and Health rune, so even though you go full tank after that, you going to still do a LOT OF DAMAGE. The item also has better wave clearing than Bami's Cinder and also does extra damage to turrets which enhances your split pushing threat. Not to "tryndamere" levels of power, but something that the enemy cannot sleep on or you can take the game.


Plated Steelcaps Got buffed on 13.5 and absorbes a lot more damage now. In this build, since you are giving up some early resistances, I believe this boots performs a bit better. but if you feel confident, you could still go Ionian Boots of Lucidity if you really want to snowball. Shen benefits so much from Ability Haste. Ability Haste enhances Shen's dueling power, as well allows you to make more ultimates. This boots also reduces your Ignite and Flash cooldowns, which also enhances your team fight and dueling power and escapability.

Howerver, if the game is heavy with CC you could consider going Mercury's Treads

Frozen Heart is still a great item to build. Provides you with even more Ability Haste, reduces enemy attack speed, and their auto attack from Rock Solid, which is even stronger with a larger HP pool from Heartsteel

Force of Nature is by far the best Magic Resistance Item simply because it gives you a lot of RAW Magic Resistance, and the passive of 25% extra mitigation helps mitigate a lot of Magical Penetration effects from Sorcerer's Shoes and Void Staff.

Spirit Visage is a great item if enemy team has more magical damage, and if your team has healers or supports with extra shields. This build grants you a lot more HP; hence, larger Ki Barrier values which are enhanced further by Spirit Visage passive.

Anathema's Chains is a great item to place on a AP champion if it is the only source of AP, or a difficulty lane like Illaoi or Mordekaiser, or some fed AD carriers especially after they completed Infinity Edge with Lord Dominik's Regards. The item also provides you a large HP pool and Ability haste, further enhancing your shields and damage in this build.



As Shen, you will not do that much more damage late game anyway, and I find it better to just group with my team mates after 25/30 minutes, and the gold income reduces a little bit unless you are fed with kills.
Stacking in lane and in team fights.
In lane, you generally want to Last hit well and make as much gold as you want. If possible, kill your laner and snowball for make more gold so the sooner you get Heartsteel, the more HP you will stack, and the stronger you will be.


While rushing Heartsteel, I recommend buying Crystalline Bracer in your first back, especially if you are going Ruby Crystal start to provide you with some HP regen, then Kindlegem and Giant's Belt


By the time you build Heartsteel you should always stack on your lane opponent when it is available. You can click on your opponent and check when the debuff is going to expire so you can stack again. Also look at the map for ultimate opportunities, just as you would anyway. Engaging ultimates are generally better than reactive ones, unless you have a shutdown to protect. Eitherway, when ulting to a skirmish/team fight, or save a team mate, use these times to stack your Heartsteel as well. They are the best times to do it, and you will also help win the team fights with your extra damage proc. However, do not tunnevision stacking over peeling for your ADC, or fed team mate, or engage. Stacking is important, but sometimes peeling, or sticking to a certain enemy is more important, so make good judgment of the situation.
Conclusion
I believe that Heartsteel is the best Mythic Item for Shen. Our champion is the best tank to scale from it because of multiple abilities enhanced by HP. The gameplay is fun, and it is nice to have that extra burst that reminds me of the old Titanic Hydra Active Crescent.




I thank you for the taking the time to read my guide! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, and also provide any feedback!
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