26. February 2011 - Added Spell description for shens skills

25. February 2011 - The Legends Reborn - Birthday of this guide :)

There is a simple answer:

At the time i started to play ranked games i mostly played carrys and was always like "oh they got a tank, doesnt matter for me as long as its not rammus" ... but i saw very fast, that there is something better, that i have never seen before on this level in normal games ... the evil called SHEN. In normal games there was lots of shens, but almost never a real problem ...

But once i saw a shen - he was unbeatable - took no dmg - had extrem high dmg - ... IMMORTAL IN PERSON - and i thought just ... how? how can he be so damn hard, i never saw this before.

So i decided to try out shen ... and i failed hard at first ... i just thought .. im instant dead in every battle .. he stood in the battles for hours without taking dmg but how? ..

The answer is very simple ... i ignored the enemies power and just made a "standard build" which i read up in a very stupid guide ...

Thats what made me to write this guide.

After playing him VERY much and mastering him i decided to go on ranked with him. My overall stats with shen are now very nice and most of the time im kinda immortal.

I watched many Shen guides, here on mobafire and also on leaguecraft, but what i noticed was that there are some good guides, but almost every guide is just fixxed on one way to play shen (mostly the way which the guidewriter enjoys most). BUT!! There are so many ways u can play a shen - good ways - and thats the difference between a player that plays shen and a SHEN PLAYER. That´s what i want to change, because especially if u play ranked with shen u should be very flexible with ur build, jungling, duo lane or solo top (best option imo)

Included in this guide

1. The god of the Solo Lane - Shens Ultimative Power
   
   

2. Shen the jungle master
   
   

3. Shen the Mega Duo Lane Support
   

note: The characters from left to right = solobuild/junglebuild/duobuild

KI Strike - Passive

Every 8 seconds, Shen's next attack will deal 10+5 per level(100@18) (plus 3.5% of his maximum Health) bonus magic damage. Each time a champion hits Shen with an attack, Ki Strike activates 2 seconds quicker.

Vorpal Blade - Q

Deals 50 magic dmg to target unit. That unit becomes life tapped for 5 seconds, healing any champion who attacks it for 10 life over 3 seconds

Level 1: Deals 50 dmg (0.65 ap ratio) - 10 heal - 70 energy cost - 3 sec cd
Level 2: Deals 95 dmg (0.65 ap ratio) - 20 heal - 65 energy cost - 3 sec cd
Level 3: Deals 140 dmg (0.65 ap ratio) - 30 heal - 60 energy cost - 3 sec cd
Level 4: Deals 185 dmg (0.65 ap ratio) - 40 heal - 55 energy cost - 3 sec cd
Level 5: Deals 230 dmg (0.65 ap ratio) - 50 heal - 50 energy cost - 3 sec cd

Feint - W

Shen enters a defensive stance, shielding the next xx dmg. Lasts up to 2.5 seconds

Level 1: Shields 50 dmg (0.6 ap ratio) - 45 energy cost - 9 sec cd
Level 2: Shields 100 dmg (0.6 ap ratio) - 45 energy cost - 8 sec cd
Level 3: Shields 150 dmg (0.6 ap ratio) - 45 energy cost - 7 sec cd
Level 4: Shields 200 dmg (0.6 ap ratio) - 45 energy cost - 6 sec cd
Level 5: Shields 250 dmg (0.6 ap ratio) - 45 energy cost - 5 sec cd


Shadow Dash - E

Shen rapidly dashes to a target location, taunting enemies he collides with for 0.8 seconds. Shen restores 50 energy if he collides with a champion.

Level 1: taunt duration 0.8 sec - 120 energy cost
Level 2: taunt duration 1.1 sec - 115 energy cost
Level 3: taunt duration 1.4 sec - 110 energy cost
Level 4: taunt duration 1.7 sec - 105 energy cost
Level 5: taunt duration 2.0 sec - 100 energy cost

Stand United - R

Places a shield around target allied champion, absorbing 300 dmg for 7.5 seconds. After channeling for 2.5 seconds, shen teleports to the allied champion

Level 1: 300 dmg shield (ap ratio 1) - 50 energy - 180 sec cd
Level 2: 525 dmg shield (ap ratio 1) - 50 energy - 150 sec cd
Level 3: 750 dmg shield (ap ratio 1) - 50 energy - 120 sec cd

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

- This marks are the best choice, because ur main dmg on shen (especially for the early game, is and ki strike to harass ur enemy (both magic dmg)

Greater Seal of Evasion

- My prefered Seal, because u get nice power against dps champions (ad) - u can replace them with Greater Seal of Armor if u like armor over evasion (which is kinda luck based) and for jungling i also prefer armor

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist

- Depending on ur playstyle, flat magic def or magic def on lvl (if enemies got very high early magic burst champions i prefer warding else shielding glyphs)

Greater Quintessence of Evasion

- For the Solo Lane this quintessence is the best option and also for the duo lane, because when u engage with taunt u will get hit by autohits, which can be evaded

Greater Quintessence of Health

- Fortitude is the best option for Jungle Shen, because ur much saver in the jungle with the + ~90 life

2 Different builds here - Jungle and Lane Build

Laneing Masteries

because of the masteries i prefer lane-shen over jungle-shen. Here u can go for 0-21-9 which gives u the nice 4% reduced damage taken (of all sources)

Also in the Utility Tree u can get +5% xp and !! +1gold/10 !! i didnt fought that it will change anything because ... 1 gold ... what is 1 gold / 10 sec? .. nothing, but when u realise that this is more than 10% more gold on time than the other players get it seems better than on the first watch ...

Jungling Masteries

U dont benefit from the 4% dmg reduce to all, thats the bad thing on it, but u get some more gold by giving 1 point in the advanced smite.

Very important here is got get the +2 buff duration because ur not the fastest jungler, but definitely one of the savest.

Depending on what u strategie u took - Jungling or Laning u start with

Laning:

Jungling: + 5 x


The laningphase is very easy with shen and u should get every creep kill usually which makes a very good farm.

If u have no problems on ur lane and dont have to go back (because enemy dont harass u or u just dominate him) u can easily stand on ur lane until u got 2275 gold and then instant buy + else ur first item should be and then building with prio on

First Item

: This is a must have Item - Its good against Caster, Melee and Ranged dps, it provides u with Defense, Magic Resist and Health so the N1 prio item against EVERY team

Second Item

: Also Heart of Gold is a must-have item ... why? simple, u get Gold over Time (so u should build it very fast to profit from this), Health (good against every team), Defense (good against AD) and u can build of it (if u need it)

Third Item

Finishing ur Boots now (depending on ur Enemies).

: If ur enemies have some nice CC������´s - Mercury Threads is a must - I prefer Mercury's Treads over every other boot for shen because magic dmg is always in the enemies team and 1 stun / snare or anything same ... If they really got no snares / stuns ... u can probably build

Forth Item

From now on ur itembuild is 100% based on ur opponents, so i just list up the recommended items, for which situation:

I listed a description of every item and his pros of using it on the table below, here are some builds i go - against the different Teamsettings:

Heavy AD Carrys - Decent AP

-> -> or ->

Heavy AP early game Champs - Decent AD

-> -> or ->sell and build / or dont sell and build

Hard AP late game Champs - Decent/Hard AD

-> -> ->sell and build or dont sell and build

Nice mixed team of AP / AD - squishy mages (low life)

fast -> -> or depending on cc������´s in enemies team->

Nice mixed team of AP / AD - heavy(lifebased) mages (vlad 4 example)

fast -> -> -> (Banshee and Guardian can be swapped depending on situation - more cc banshee first more dmg guardian first)


Can fit in every build depending on the Description on the bottom of the Items page

Notification: This builds are all just examples, every game needs different playstyles depending on - is the heavy caster vlad in enemies team a total n00b and u can ignore him - their yi is only feeding and wont be able to carry the team in any case - their malphite is extremly fed from top lane and is a real danger

: Ur enemies consist of much AD based champs or AS based champs randuins is the perfect item to counter them

: Ur enemies have some squishys and good AD based champs and no good AP / or lategame AP champs - rush on Sunfire Cape, which gives u great HP and the FIRE-Buff

: In Addition as a Last or 5th Item u can build a Rylais - First i didnt believe it myself, but its a VERY Strong Item for shen, because with ur KI Strike u deal every 8 seconds magic dmg which slows for 35%, also every few seconds u can spam ur vorpal blade, which slows for 35% and even ur taunt slows the target for a short period after ur taunt. And its also a nice Life Bonus

: One of the best anti mage items ingame. So if the enemies team consist out of VERY MUCH AP based dmg, this item is definitely a very good choice. I prefer it as a 5th item even against heavy mages, because before nature is better imo. Reason for this is, because u havent got that much life that natures passive works fine without banshee

: One of my primary items on shen, because its a very good anti mage / cc item which gives u a nice amount of life also.

: If in ur enemies team arent that strong AP champs and ur dominated by something like yi / trynd or any other AD carry, frozen heart can stop them quite easy and its also a very nice CDR Item which makes ur ulti even more faster to use, which gives u an amazing power

: This is a core item for the l8game depending on the enemies power, if u see ur allready immortal and dont die even if u go into all of them and tank for ur team - u dont need it - if u tank, but still get nice amount of dmg and its a bit risky to just run in and get out save - buy it, that ur still alive in case that u suddenly die

: as a nice addition against heavy ad champs u can build Thornmail as a 5th or last item it can annoy every AD champ which attacks u with autohits and its a very cheap item (but dont forget - no benefits against AP champs)

: Leviathan is a very nice item if the enemies is quite balanced, some ad some ap - and u have to be a bit higher skilled if u play on Leviathan, because if u do u should go for stats like x-0-xx that its worth it .. but once u reach 20 stacks ur IMMORTAL

: This item got a nice buff in the last patch with higher mres. The only point in a game where i get this item is !! A FED MALZ / WW !! so they cant focus u down with their ultimate because u just cleanse out of the surpression and say byby

Again 3 Different ways depending on Solo / Jungle / Duo Lane

Solo - Lane

- Here u go for fast because its the best harass u got with nice dmg and heal for urself - Also lasthits can be made easy with it. And then once and once starting with . And everytime u can for sure

Jungle - Lane

- Here u also for because u need it to stay on high life in jungle with the lifegain. Then go for to block some dmg. With lvl 4 u skill first time and start ganks.

Duo Lane

- Duo Lane is kinda different from the other builds, if u think u can get a kill with ur duo lanepartner start with and then go for for longer taunt duration. After skilling go on with

And it goes on with the 3 different builds :)

Solo - Lane

+ : Teleport is a 100% must if u go solo lane top, that u can make at lvl 6 on lanes for ganks / jungle ganks / life safes without loosing ur Lane which is for a short moment alone and could be easy pushed to tower.

if u pick or is everyones little secret .. i prefer flash

Jungle - Lane

+ : Well smite is the allround must have for a jungler (even if he dont need it) for baron / dragon / buff stealing. And is the best option for jungle Shen because of the better and easier gangs

Duo - Lane

+ : + is a great combo and again flash / ghost as u like it more

Shen is atm my most played champion in ranked games and i got almost every game very good stats with nice KDA.

He is a very common pick in Ranked and played quite often, but not always good, because most of the shens dont know how to conter a team with the right Itembuilds, which i hope i could explain with the guide

Pros:

very good solo laner

very good support / life safer

very good in combo with a jungler, that ganks the other jungler (ulti)

very high survivability

Cons:

only single target attacks

kinda slow jungler, compared with others

ganks before lvl 4 almost senseless

on duo lane lack out of money (if u let ur carry the most lasthits)

Well to the Creep part:

On the solo lane u have it quite easy to get creep kills but its also very easy to push ur lane forward, which u should prevent not to do. So watch out that u lasthit with ur ki strike only if the creep is almost dead (even if u could kill the creep 2/3 seconds earlier).

Use ur on the enemies champion and harass him with ki strike, this gives 2 things - lane control - and heals u


Jungling:

I got a really nice routine on the jungle which makes it MUCH faster then most of the shens do it.

First start with the big wolve of the wolve camp (just the big one), by hitting with vorpal blade first and then everytime its ready.

After big wolve go for blue buff (if possible let ur mid lane hit him first, that u get aggro in grass and spend some life). By shooting out ur vorpal blade and hitting him u get him very easy down (and get lvl 2 right after golem), on the 2 little minions at golem just make 1 time vorpal blade and kill it with autohits then (for more lifeleech).

Then go on with the 2 little wolves here same like with the 2 minions only make vorpal blade it it run off to get the max lifeleech out of it and use ur .

Then go over to the wraiths and kill the big one first (by spaming vorpal blade and autohits) the 3 little ones just kill with 1 vorpal + autohits.

next watch that ur energy is full and take out lizard by vorpal blades + feint whenever its needed so no spaming or u run out of energy very fast and propably dont manage to kill the lizard.

Last but not least take the 2 golems and reach lvl 4 - now hopefully ur lanes didnt push and u can go ganking after buying ur

Well this is the part where shen gets really strong!!

u should always try to on the weak but strong enemies (like for example veigar / malzahar ...) so that they cant use their bursts.

: Ur ultimate - plz dont use it as a life-saver only .... its more than that ... by nice teammates u can use it as nice conter attacks / pushes / ganks (by hiding in the grass and popping out when ur ulti is still on the friendly target) - One very good example is pantheon ... combine panthe ulti with shen ulti is a very awesome combi

Also if u have a shaco for example its very hard jungle conter - shaco deceives in u ulti him while he is stealthed and after his attack ur there and can make for a (usually) 100% kill

Dont forget!! Ur ultimate ONLY shields the person u make it on, not urself - this got removed with a patch. So ur ulti is not the best getaway skill if the enemies got cc, if not / or they allready used it its kinda nice.