Shen Build Guide by Blackbification

Introduction

So you would like to learn everything what you must know on Shen, as well as the possible styles of playing and tactics that you can follow with him... Then you are on the right place!

But before beginning... Why do you want to play with Shen?. If you look for a tanky champ, which possesses a nice capacity of harassing, that possesses a notable mobility, which can save allies of the death, as well as a great aptitude to decline the battle on behalf of his team, then Shen is your champion!

I have put some general builds but you can always experiment and find your own style. Do not be afraid! But must importantly, this guide will show the different styles and roles you can follow when playing Shen, squeezing the most of your skills and what it takes to play with this character.

Please, dont downvote just because you do not like the build. There are many ways to build Shen. Pay attention to my advice especially when playing with Shen, and see that this guide will be useful to improve. I explain all the time the reason for my choices.

Nothing more. I hope that the guide is right for you, and I hope comments so we can improve all points and share views.

Pros / Cons

Pros + Great survivability + Nice harass and easy last-hit with Vorpal Blade and Ki Strike + Good mobility with Shadow Dash + Very good ganks + Well used, can be decisive in teamfights + Great ability to save the allies of death with Stand United

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Cons - Quite expensive build - Can be difficult to master - Not the best in 1vs1 - Not the fastest in the jungle - There may be more interesting options when it comes to be support - He is frequently banned in ranked play

Masteries

As solotop

• Offensive Tree: Fury is useful to enhance our farming and harassing with Ki Strike.
  
• Defensive Tree: Focused on getting the highest possible survivability as most optimized possible.
  
• Utility Tree: Summoner's Insight is useful since we use Flash and Teleport.

As jungler

• Offensive Tree: Fury and Butcher for cleaning the jungler faster.
  
• Defensive Tree: Similar to the solotop one but with Tough Skin and Bladed Armor for jungling.

As support

• Just typical masteries for a support focusing on the Utility Tree.

Runes

In any role

• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Do you know Shen doesn't scale Magic Resistance?. These are the runes you need against those AP Carries and have a nice balance with your armor
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Armor: You are the tank of your team, so you need armor to deal with all the damage you will receive while protecting your allies!
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: It will enhance your Vorpal Blade since the start of the game.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Health: You will get a nice bonus of sustain in lane in early game with these quintessences. Also it will enhance your Ki Strike and Vorpal Blade.

As support

• Greater Quintessence of Gold are a good choice if you want an extra boost on your gold, as well as other runes of the same order.

Summoner Spells

According to the role you're going to have in the game is more advisable to choose a spell or other.

In any role

Flash is a very feasible option, because it gives great mobility, both capable of escape as an enemy hunt, combined with Shadow Dash. I almost always choose flash when playing Shen. With good use of this spell you can transform deaths in kills for your team.

Ignite is a more than acceptable choice, because we will win a bonus of damage in any fight.

Ghost is not my preferred choice, but can be specially useful in teamfights. In any case i prefer to take flash.

Barrier is not very common in Shen, since it has Feint as shield, and there are other more interesting options for him. In any case could be used as a plus...

Cleanse is not necessary with Shen. We just want all the CC over us. There are more useful options.

Revive is not useful. There are many better options.

Clarity is not useful. Shen does not use mana.

As solotop

Teleport is a very useful spell for Shen. With it you can:
- Use it if you look in a hurry at the lane , so you will not waste time and come back to your lane without losing experience, farm, and having bought new items.
- After using Stand United, so that you fulfill your function anywhere and come back as if nothing had happened.
- Aggressively, teleport to a minion and push the lane, then escape with Stand United (Very risky option, use it wisely)
- Without having Stand United aviable, we still have an option to teleport and surprise the enemy!

As support

Exhaust is a very good choice. It will be much easier to kill an enemy that might otherwise escape. Combining it by surprise with Shadow Dash can have a devastating effect on the target.

Heal is a good option too. Shen has little ability to heal ( Vorpal Blade) and help us in maintaining the lane and fighting.

Clairvoyance is a rarely seen spell in Shen because, despite its potential benefits in controlling the map, there are other spells that later can be more decisive in the game.

As jungler

Smite is an almost essential spell if you want to jungle with Shen, specially since changes in the jungle of S3.

Overall

Therefore, in my opinion, the best choices are:

- As solotop: Flash + Teleport (or Ignite, but you will loose mobility for Stand United)
- As support: Flash + Exhaust (or Heal, but you will loose some ability to attack)
- As jungler: Smite + Flash (or Ignite, but you will loose mobility)

Champion Abilities

Let's take a look at Shen's abilities and and a few tips about how to use them:

Ki Strike: Shen's basic attack deals bonus magic damage and restores energy to Shen. Cooldown reduction does not affect Ki Strike, but every basic attack restores 1 second of cooldown.
How to use it: Use this skill mainly for harassing enemies and last-hitting minions easily.

Vorpal Blade: Shen throws a blade at the target enemy, dealing magic damage and marking them for 5 seconds. Allied champions that damage a marked enemy heal over 3 seconds, with the duration refreshing upon subsequent damage. If Vorpal Blade kills the target, Shen heals for 33% of the normal amount instantly.
How to use it: Use this skill for harassing enemies and last-hitting minions easily combined with your passive. It will give you more sustain in lane with the extra healing, also useful if you play support.

Feint: Shen gains a shield that absorbs a certain amount of damage. The shield dissipates after 3 seconds if not already destroyed. While the shield persists, Shen's basic attacks reduce the cooldown of Ki Strike by 2 seconds.
How to use it: It gives you more resistance and well used can get you out of more than a pinch. Use it to tank turrets too.

Shadow Dash: Shen dashes along target line, dealing magic damage to enemy champions he contacts and taunting them for 1.5 seconds. Enemies deal half damage to Shen while they are taunted. Shen gains 40 energy for each enemy champion he contacts.
How to use it: This ability is critical to manage to be useful for your team. You can use it to gank, prevent an enemy escape, save allies, escape through the walls or simply to reach a point faster. It will reveal stealthed enemies like Akali or Twitch if it hits them, and can break channeling ulties like Fiddlesticks's Crowstorm.

Stand United: Target allied champion gains a shield that absorbs a certain amount of damage. The shield dissipates after 5 seconds if not already destroyed. After 3 seconds of channeling, Shen teleports to the allied champion.
How to use it: The skill that all your opponents fear. The ability to save your allies. The hability that can change a 2vs1 and 1 death in a 2vs2 and 2 kills. The ability that can change the game.

Skill Sequence

As solotop

Pick Vorpal Blade first. In level 2 you mustdecide between Shadow Dash (if you feel confident in lane) or Feint (if you arent confident enough). It is usually preferable to choose Shadow Dash because with it you can help your jungler to gank your lane. After level 3, prioritize Vorpal Blade to facilitate your harassing and last-hitting, then Feint for greater resistance, and last Shadow Dash because the utility is the same, but if you think you need to use it more often for some reason, upgrade it one more time.

As jungler

Pick Vorpal Blade first. In level 2 you mustdecide between Shadow Dash (if you are going to do an early gank) or Feint (if you arent going to do it). Later is the same as before. Upgrading Shadow Dash would be more reasoneable because it will improve your ganks.

As support

Pick Shadow Dash first because it can give you an early kill in level 1. If your AD carry does not want to go aggresive, then pick Vorpal Blade first.

Items

The purchase order is described in the beginning of this guide. In this section I will briefly explain the reason for using these items.

As solotop

• Mercury's Treads: This will be the main option to purchase boots. But sometimes you will find teams that have just one AP character who is not the AP carry or their AD Carry is getting fed. In this scenario, it may be more appropriate buy Ninja Tabi.
  
• Frozen Mallet: Excellent combination of damage and health which fits perfectly with Shen. Also his passive allows us to chase easier and take advantage in every enemy failure positioning.
  
• Wit's End: Great combination of attack speed and magic resistance, supplying two of the weaknesses of Shen. With it, you can push the lanes way faster, do more dammage with its passive, and be a greater threat in attack.
  
• Sunfire Cape: Good item that gives us more dammage per second, health and armor. It causes considerable damage while you are close to your enemies. It will also make your farming easier.
  
• Runic Bulwark: This object provides a great boost on all nearby allies' defensive stats. It can decant the battles on your side.
  
• Randuin's Omen: Expensive item, but in late game a well used "active" can destroy your enemies plans. It also gives a great boost on your armor.

As jungler

• Hunter's Machete: A "must" starting item for jungling. Spirit of the Ancient Golem is a great upgrade for a tanky champion even if you dont benefit from mana regeneration.

As support

• Ruby Sightstone: Some health and free warding since you buy it. Perfect choice for a tanky support.

Other interesting choices

• Warmog's Armor: Health and health regeneration. Always welcomed. It is especially useful if you still do not have enough resistance to tank for your team.
  
• Guardian Angel: Magic resistance and a passive that provides you more survivability. Good choice in some game scenarios where you need both of them.
  
• Thornmail: Control that fed AD Carry with this item!
  
• Mercurial Scimitar: Nice boost of magic resistance and damage with a passive that allows us to chase easier and escape on difficult situations, specially against teams with a lot of crowd control abilities.
  
• Atma's Impaler: If you feel confident and want to go more aggresive, pick this one.
  
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Nice combination of health and AP. It will give you more burst damage ror example with Vorpal Blade, and more shield with Feint and Stand United.

Gameplay

As solotop

Your mission is to farm as much as possible taking advantage of your skills described above, harassing the enemy, and stay alert as soon as you reach level 6. You need to master your map awareness for using efectively Stand United, do your job, and then go back to your lane with Teleport if you picked it so you do not loose any farm and cover your lane fast.

If you do it right it can be a real headache for your enemies, they will be frustrated to find that they can not convert their chances and even turn against them. Use your abilities as much as you can. Remember you dont use mana!

When your jungler comes to gank your lane, be sure to use Shadow Dash only when you know the enemy is going to escape. If you use instantly Shadow Dash even before your jungler is visible for your enemy, you will loose more time and the enemy will escape easier.

Needless to say, it is highly recommended to always have wards on the pocket. Although you can easily escape with the combination of Shadow Dash + Flash in tight situations, never hurts to have them!

If you are near your tower and the opponent gets close enough, use Shadow Dash and take him to your tower, so he will recieve some hits from it. Some players do not realize the potential of this and dive in without knowing the consequences can be fatal to them.

As jungler

You can follow two routes mainly when face the jungle:


This route will allow you to do an early gank on top after picking Shadow Dash in level 2. This may be the most common way to do the jungle with Shen.



This route will allow to do an early gank on bot or even giving your first blue to your AP carry, but do it only if you know that you will have more benefit in early game.

Trying to get into the enemy jungle if you are in advantage may work, specially against weak early game junglers like Amumu. A tip about Feint: use it just before the creeps do their first attack so you absorb two attacks from them. In other way you may only absorb one attack and waste shield.

When ganking, your allies must begin to fight before you go in, as well you can surprise the enemies letting them less chance of escape. Obviously this must be done on the sly because otherwise the enemy will notice and avoid combat.

As before, Stand United will be critical to decline the lanes in your favor. It is important to use it when your ally is low on life, but enough to fight more than you might expect. If you do it too early the enemies will run as soon as they see that you used it. If you do it too late, our ally can be immersed in an unnecessary risk, or even die because you waited too much.

Here are examples of what I have explained in these paragraphs:

As support

Shen can be a very strong support, and many players do not understand it. The key to win your lane is a good positioning. Stand in the bushes, use Shadow Dash trying to catch both enemies, so your AD Carry will be free to do as much damage as possible with no risk. Exhaust when necessary to get that final plus to get the kill.

Spam Vorpal Blade as much as you can on your enemies, if not in your creeps if your teammate needs health. Try that your ally takes the least damage.

Battle when your enemies have their main abilities to disrupt you on cooldown, for example against champions like Blitzcrank and Rocket Grab, Nami and Aqua Prison, or Thresh and Death Sentence.

Stand United can be used in your own lane in tight situations. If you use it in other lane, make sure your partner is aware so he can mantain a defensive position until you return. Try leaving your lane as less as possible. Everything is based on evaluating the risks and benefits that may lead your decision!

Here are examples of what I have explained in these paragraphs:

Teamwork

Shen needs to be complemented with his allies to take advantage of their skills. Stay alert to use Stand United when necessary as we explained before. Your main potential is that you can do split pushing while your teammates are togheter. This forces the enemy to send at least 1 of their foes to stop you. In that moment, your team have to force the teamfight converting a 4vs4 in a 5vs4 situation. With this we have an advantage in any combat and can be a real problem for opponents if they do not know how to deal with it. This potential is enhanced as soon as you get items like Wit's End and Sunfire Cape.

Normally you will be the main tank. That means that you must lead the group in front and know when to start the teamfight and when not, at any time pondering whether it is worth initiate the combat.

Protect your carries. It is essential that you know their positions at all times, and if necessary rearrange your team. Taunt as many enemies as you can with Shadow Dash, focusing on the enemy carries and in some situations, on some champions who has a great crowd control ability who can disrupt all team's planning. It will give you some energy back and they will be more vulnerable.


Remember to put wards at key points, more even if you are the support. Besides improving the control map it allows to take advantage of Teleport, using it in your sight ward.

Here are examples of what I have explained in these paragraphs:

Bonus tips

Top Lane: Match-ups

Hard

He can be tougher than you thanks to Carnivore. Pay attention and dodge Rupture. He can deny Stand United's teleport with Feral Scream. Make him us mana and then go in.

Dodge Crescent Strike. Feint can be overtaken by Pale Cascade. That big AP damage forces you to play defensive. Just go in when your jungler ganks.

He can be a big problem for Shen. You will be zoned out with Shock Blast. You may hace to max Feint faster. You will have to play defensive many times.

Reckoning + Righteous Fury is a terrible combo on Shen outharassing you always. Max Feint and play defensive.

Big harass tools like Thundering Shuriken and easy escape with Lightning Rush makes him a difficult lane for Shen.

Granite Shield makes Vorpal Blade useless on him. He can deny Stand United with Unstoppable Force. Force him to use mana and then go in.

One of the most difficult lanes for Shen. Avoiding Siphon of Destruction is a tough task. Also his passive Iron Man makes your harassing almost useless.

He can do way more damage and has more mobility than you with Cull the Meek and Slice and Dice. Keep aware of his fury bar. Just play defensive and go in when jungler comes.

Outharass you with Flamespitter and Electro-Harpoon, making Vorpal Blade useless thanks to Scrap Shield. Play defensive and keep atention on his heat bar.

Annoying lane with constant poke with Blinding Dart and high mobility with Move Quick. Wait your jungler and go in.

Transfusion can make your harass almost useless. Defend the lane and wait for a gank, even he has Sanguine Pool to escape.

Resist that spam of ghosts upgrading Feint and you will be able to keep the lane on control, but you will not be able to kill him many times without your jungler.

Medium

Why Darius is not in the "Hard level"? Because if you control the range of Apprehend and Decimate and you harass him with Vorpal Blade and upgrading Feint a little, you will defend your lane easily.

A lane where you both know you can not kill each other if you play well. Lunge should not be a problem since you have Feint on.

Similar to the last one. Make this a passive lane, max a little more Feint and farm as much as you can.

Max and use Feint against Parrrley. Vorpal Blade and Shadow Dash are countered by Remove Scurvy.

In early game should be easy to outharass her and have more survivability, but as the game continues he starts to become a serious threat if she farms well, so care.

Golden Aegis should not be enough against your harassing with Vorpal Blade and Ki Strike, but be careful as soon as he buy his first AD items.

The key to outharass him is to block the start of his combo with Feint, then go Shadow Dash and Vorpal Blade + Ki Strike. He will improove a lot with his first items so care.

Keep balance between Vorpal Blade and Feint to absorb his decent damage and be able to harass him. Better play a bit defensive and wait for your jungler many times.

Great sustain but if you dodge Sonic Wave you will disrupt his combo and he will not be able to kill you.

If you dodge Javelin Toss and harass her when he has it on cooldown this lane should not be too dificult.

Dodge Undertow as much as possible. You should have more sustain than him even against his Vicious Strikes. Reckless Swing makes your armor useless.

Dodge Spear Shot and Shadow Dash if he is going to initiate his main combo.

This lane should not be a big deal since you have a nice amount of armor and you can avoid her main combo with Stand United. Anyway be careful and do not overextend in trades.

Easy harassing in early game but remember his passive Chosen of the Storm because it can give the odd scare.

His kit makes him a difficult champion for Shen. Do not let being harassed and try to keep position waiting for a gank.

Easy

Easy lane since you can harass easily but keep in mid the lane will be tougher as the game continues.

All his abiliites can be denied with Feint and you can harass him is quite easy.

He needs to stay in a close range to play his style so harass hard with Vorpal Blade and try to zone him out so he can not farm easily.

Bait and force him to use his Feint and then use Shadow Dash + Ki Strike + Vorpal Blade. Be careful with ganks.

Easy harass with Vorpal Blade. You can deny most of the damage with Feint.

Key is to go aggresive early game and no letting him to farm. Just be careful with Fling!

Easy harass with Vorpal Blade. Killing him will be dificult since he has Undying Rage.

Easy harass with Vorpal Blade. You have more sustain even if he has Hungering Strike. Care ganks after level 6 because of Infinite Duress

Razor Shuriken should not be a big deal for you, and he has no sustain, so harass him hard and that's all.

Bottom Lane: Synergy

High

If Ezreal knows how to use his mana, it can be a very powerful lane. Use Shadow Dash so Ezreal can hit the enemy with Mystic Shot easily and get advantage with Rising Spell Force. Enjoy the great mobility of both champions and dominate the lane playing aggresive.

Great ability to quickly damage our targets with Shadow Dash + Buckshot and Quickdraw. It is another lane with high mobility and is recommended to play it aggresive.

Although Vayne is not a good early game champion. Night Hunter + Tumble has great synergy with Shadow Dash in early game and can provide a first blood. If Vayne can stun with Condemn kills are guaranteed. It is another high mobility lane.

Shadow Dash + Rapid Fire and Rocket Jump is an awesome combo. Great sustain thanks to Vorpal Blade + Explosive Shot makes this lane one of the toughest for the enemies.

The enemy will not have escape option with a well done Shadow Dash + Volley and Frost Shot. Enchanted Crystal Arrow adds the finishing touch to the kit.

Shadow Dash allows Twitch get the maximum benefit with Deadly Venom + Expunge. If necessary Venom Cask will ensure that no one escapes. I recommend playing as aggressive as possible once arrived level 3.

Constant harassing with Shadow Dash + Gatling Gun and great mobility combined with Valkyrie makes this lane one of the most irritating for the enemies.

Shadow Dash + Caustic Spittle and more slowing strengh with Void Ooze is a very good combination. High attack speed and constant poke makes this lane fearsome.

Although not very habitual, AD Jayce can be a nightmare with Shen thanks to the continous harassing and ability to catch the enemy wihout escape chances. Very strong lane in early game.

Medium-Low

Easy harassing with both champions but not a good lane for getting kills. Average combination.

If Miss Fortune did not have mana problems, it would be a good lane, but she is a very mana dependant champion, and Shen can not solve it.

This lane needs too much coordination and it will be hard to beat the enemies.

This lane has good harassing but is difficult to combine well the abilities to get the kills until Varus raises level 6 and gets Chain of Corruption.

Boomerang Blade fits great with Shadow Dash but mana problems in early game will appear fast, so it is not a recommended combination.

Difficult coordination. Anyway Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverse + Shadow Dash can be a crazy combo.

Summary

And that's it!
I hope the guide has been helpful and you enjoyed reading it as much as I writing it. If it is the case, please vote me up. I appreciate all kinds of constructive comments and suggestions about the guide.

I want to thank:

• jhoijhoi's guide: Making a guide
• Summoners like JesTarifa and Oyomadna, who have been involved in one way or another in the creation of this guide
• The people who work for this site

See you next time! ;)