My name is Jack and I main Shen. He has great movability, can sustain damage and his taunt can win team fights. I have put together my first guide and broke it down as much as possible for you summoners. If you have found it useful than thanks, if not then I guess I can only improve. The item builds will be at the end after I talk about his role as a top lane tank. Enjoy :)

Shen's early game is sustainable with good poke from his "Vorpal blade" (Q). This is what you want to level up first. However, you may want to level up his E first (Shadow Dash) if you are invading the enemies team jungle. This way you can taunt any enemies found in the jungle allowing your team to follow up and hopefully grab that first blood. Once in lane, use your q to poke the enemy as much as possible as "Vorpal blade@ can deal a surprising amount of damage. Once you level up, you now want to take your dash if you haven't already levelled up from the early invade. Once "Shadow Dash" is available make sure to use this wisely. A good time to use it is either for ganks as it will taunt the enemy. When in lane you can use it when you clear the enemy minion wave and they are too pushed. This way your minion wave will also all attack the enemy making their health bar diminish rapidly early game, as everyone underestimates minion damage early game. Once hit level 3 you want to put that straight into your W "Feint". Use this either when the enemy is attacking you or just before you go in for the taunt. The W is strong early game and can prevent a turret hit as you will only lose very little health from it once the shield is activated. This makes it great for those early tower dives. From here on out, you want to max your Q "Vorpal blade" first as the poke and damage is unexpected from a tank like Shen.

Once hit level 6 and your ultimate is up remember to keep an eye on the map and health bars of your team mates, DO NOT rely on ping's and the chat bar. By the time you've seen the ping or read the chat, they are probably already dead and you will waste your ultimate trying to save them with 100hp or even less., however use your initiative to see if you can make plays or in fact just save them, DO NOT be stupid. When you use your ultimate effectively try and push that lane as much as possible as top lane is now a free lane for you enemy and the tower will take some damage or even fall early game if not careful. Trading towers can be acceptable and possibly a drake once you have used your ultimate from top to bottom lane. Once you have 2 or 3 core items and have pushed your lane, you can act as a jungler within reason looking to make ganks and helping your team. try not to roam to far from lane so I suggest possibly helping mid out or killing the rift herald. Remember to always keep an eye on your teammates for your ultimate. Once you land a good ultimate your team will be amazed and forget any other mistakes you've made that game.... even if Illaoi is 4-0 after 10 minutes...

Shens late game can be strong too. However if an enemy has true damage like yi or and olaf. They can still deal some serious damage. As well as other champions who have "Lord Dominik's Regards" as this will deplete your health bar. You can always use your E "Shadow Dash" to run away over walls and away from fed champions...GG bot lane.

In team fights, you lead the charge! You are the front line guy who will try to taunt a squishy champ, whether that's the 7-1 Leblanc or the 11-2 Jinx. Another tactic is to 'Flash-taunt' this can be done by simply flashing then immediately pressing "Shadow dash" into the enemy or vice versa depending on your timing. This can close the gap between you and the enemy in no time at all. If you fail then you may even burn a flash from them too. If they have a Rengar or any champ who can one shot your ADC, try to save your taunt from there. When a Rengar pounces on your ADC, quickly taunt him ASAP. This gives your ADC the best chance to survive as he can't use all his abilities quick enough to kill her/him.

If you are against an AD champion then a good first item would be 'Sunfire Cape'. This gives both health, armour, and AOE damage when near an enemy, monster or minion. This also helps you to start to become invincible. If they have an AP champion top lane, then spirit visage is a great option. It gives you health regen, CDR, health and Magic resist. When I play Shen I look for movement speed as you need this to catch up with then enemy if they are out of position. I have selected some movement speed items which can be handy in team fights as well as laning phase. I have seen some people use tri-force on shen, however I think he works better full tank and can sustain more damage. Hope you find this guide useful and hopefully you will become a fan on Shen yourself.