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Spells:
Flash
Exhaust
Ability Order
Fury of the Dragonborn (PASSIVE)
Shyvana Passive Ability
Introduction

BLARG DRAGON FORM BLARG




People often say 'Why would you choose an on-hit build with a character like
Shyvana (or indeed any character at all)? It reduces the damage you get from crits and the heal from lifesteal!'
On-hit builds are very underrated. They are incredibly cost-efficient for the damage they produce, especially when stacked with an innate on-hit effect such as
Toxic Shot,
Bio-Arcane Barrage, or in
Shyvana's case,
Flame Breath. They also give some great resistances and as a result, you end up with a huge damage output and hefty durability for an affordable price.
Why is this?
The core of a tanky on-hit build is
Wit's End, an item costing 2000 gold. Let's look at it a little closer.
So overall we have an item worth 3440 gold for a much cheaper price!
Wit's End is basically amazing.
So what added benefits does
Shyvana get out of having an on-hit build? Along with cost-efficiency, her
Twin Bite will now deal two procs of any on-hits she has. Her
Flame Breath passive from
Fury of the Dragonborn can be activated more. And, for
Shyvana, a bruiser champion with no innate attack speed skills such as
Xin Zhao's
Battle Cry,
Jarvan IV's
Demacian Standard etc. she desperately needs attack speed through items. What better way than to stack items like
Wit's End and
Madred's Bloodrazor?
That is why I build
Shyvana like I do. On with the guide.

On-hit builds are very underrated. They are incredibly cost-efficient for the damage they produce, especially when stacked with an innate on-hit effect such as




Why is this?
The core of a tanky on-hit build is

- 40% attack speed, needed for activating your on-hit effects more frequently. This is worth 1050 gold (
Recurve Bow).
- 30 magic resist, increasing to 50 after 4 attacks in quick succession. This is worth slightly more than a
Negatron Cloak at max stacks, roughly 740 gold.
- 42 damage bonus magic damage upon EVERY ATTACK. This is worth slightly less than a
B. F. Sword roughly 1650 gold! It also makes your attacks deal both magic and physical damage, making you a hard champion to counter.
So overall we have an item worth 3440 gold for a much cheaper price!

So what added benefits does











That is why I build


Pros
- High damage output
- Great durability
- Huge AOE during
Dragon's Descent
- Very mobile
- Manaless
- Huge scaling - late game carry, think
Trundle
Cons
- Little crowd control
- Vulnerable to stuns
- Needs Level 6 for a boost in stats
- Farm dependant - requires a solo lane for levels and items
- No built-in sustain
Runes




This is the Rune Setup I use. It gives a mixture of damage and survivability for the early game and late game.
Marks
Greater Mark of Desolation - These runes make an autoattacking champion do more damage throughout the game. 100 armor goes down to 85. 30 goes down to 15. I'd recommend them, especially as a lot of

Alternatives

Seals
Greater Seal of Defense - A lot of solo top opponents deal a lot of physical damage -



Glyphs


Alternatives




Quintessences

Alternatives




This improves


+3 Attack Damage. This will increase your damage from



4% Attack Speed stacks with our runes to provide 14% in the early game - a nice chunk of damage!

The most important mastery out of the offense tree - 10% armor pen will come in handy throughtout the game.


This pair will increase both your armor and magic resistance by 6, again good things to stack with Greater Seal of Defense and



These health masteries will increase your bulkiness by a surprising amount.

Lane sustain is something


Movement speed is necessary for chasing down targets and although it often isn't


Not the best mastery on the list, only negating a small portion, but it's a place to put points - I'd rather have it than


An amazing mastery for only a single point, 3% extra health and 10% CC reduction to stack with










Alternatives




















This passive defines how





Your main damage skill. Giving you two autoattacks for the price of one, it's great for harrassment early game and for raw damage late game. Each hit will proc on-hit effects which can lead to some impressive burst damage. In Dragon Form, it provides a good AOE cleave that can hit 2 or 3 champions at once.
I take



Tips
- Use
Twin Bite immediately after an attack to get three attacks in the space of one.
- Use
Twin Bite on a target affected by
Flame Breath for increased damage due to armor reduction and the 15% damage from
Fury of the Dragonborn.
This skill gives



I take

Tips
- It might be better to delay your
Burnout until you are sure you can get an autoattack in, otherwise the full duration may be wasted.
Burnout is usually more useful for chasing than running due to the increased duration when attacking.
- During Dragon Form,
Burnout will leave a trail behind
Shyvana much like
Poison Trail. This can deter people from chasing you, especially squishies.

I take

Tips
- During
Dragon's Descent,
Flame Breath becomes an conal AOE armor reduction. This can GREATLY increase your team's DPS in a team fight.
- It has a deceptively long range - use this to your advantage against that
Gangplank hiding in the brush.
- If the projectile doesn't travel the full distance, it's a surefire way of telling someone's hiding in the brush.
Your signature ultimate! It's a great teamfight, escape/chase and burst ability. The passive of

As an ultimate ability, I take it whenever it's available (6, 11 and 16).
Tips
Dragon's Descent deals a decent amount of burst damage and can be a great finisher in a duel if the enemy uses
Flash to get away.
- This skill can disrupt channelled abilities, if you see a
Nunu & Willump charging up
Absolute Zero then SMASH HIS FACE IN by flying straight over him.
- You can drag enemies into your tower, or away from their's.
- The bonus armor and magic resist during Dragon Form can help survive a lot of damage.
Shyvana can fly over most walls in Summoner's Rift with this ability. You can use it to get away from someone who doesn't have
Flash or just to force a flash from your opponent.
Starting Items
I start with



Other Possible Starts
Going up against a really tough opponent like

This is a standard solo top start. Usually the




Here's a quick flow chart to demonstrate this.
Core Items
As soon as I have the money, I port back to base and buy



This map shows where you should place your ward. On Purple Team place at the Purple Circle. This will give you coverage of gank routes from the jungle. On blue team place at the blue circle, but if your team has ward coverage at the lower yellow circle place at the upper yellow circle.
After the armor from






Your Choice of Boots






Sorceror's Shoes - the standard choice for mages, these will make your on-hit effects like







Further Items









My last two items are the famous 'Atmog's' combo, replaceing the



Situational Items
These will, for the most part, be alternatives for Atmog's at the end of your build. You will rarely find yourself in this situation, as the build up to this point is expensive enough. Atmog's is good on







If you plan to buy
















Shyvana is generally a good laner, but often cannot come back from dying once or twice. The first kill in top lane is always most important. Some important notes:
How well
Shyvana does in solo top lane is often a matter of the champion you are against. Some opponents may dominate you with superior harass, range and sustain, but you won't come across them often (hopefully -
Swain comes to mind). Common opponents include:
Nasus - His main purpose at top lane is to farm his
Siphoning Strike. If you don't let him do this, he's toast. However, his sustain is strong with his lifesteal and his slow is annoying too. Let him push, kill him, deny him. The best way to deny
Nasus is to block him out of experience range and only last hit the creeps ONCE in order to maintain the position of the creep fight.
Shyvana's early game damage is vastly superior to
Nasus'. Take advantage of that fact.
Renekton - He is a tough opponent. His heal will let him stick around for a while, and his
Ruthless Predator allows him to deal TONS OF DAMAGE.
Anyway, if he pushes you, get your jungler to gank - you're sure to blow his ult, flash or something else. Try not to let him escape by using
Slice and Dice twice through the minions.
Rumble - A big lane bully -
Flamespitter is going to devastate you if you aren't careful. Get your
Wit's End/
Mercury's Treads combo and you should be okay - ganks aren't always a kill on
Rumble due to his shield, slows, aoe damage and speed boosts. It can be very difficult at times. You may have to rely on
Rumble's pushing tactics in order to land a successful gank.
Garen - Oh boy. I like to start
Cloth Armor and 5x
Health Potion against this guy - his damage is obscene and once he reaches level 6 you can't stick around in lane below 50% health or risk dying to his combo. Try to get ganks on him early and don't let him sit in the bush healing - else he will outlast and outdamage you.
Yorick - Your
Burnout helps against his ghouls so he should be too much of a problem - outrun the ghouls, don't let him heal and force him to burn mana harrassing you. Strong pre-6 ganks will help too. After 6 his
Omen of Death can turn a 2v1 back into a 2v2 and allow him to stall you with his ghost while he escapes.
Cho'Gath - With crazy sustain, heavy AOE farming and a wealth of CC, he won't let you push his tower, or even let you make him recall. An AOE knock-up will protect him from ganks but only so much; if he misses then do your best to DPS him down.
Irelia - Again, another opponent with built in sustain. You can often gank her if she dashes to you or is overly aggresive. Try to dodge
Transcendent Blades - it will heal her a great deal as well as cripple your health bar. Lucky we got boots :) Irelia's DPS is crippled when
Hiten Style is on cooldown - strike then.
Singed - Singed is one of my favourite champions - he's a lot of fun to play. Generally, singed players will push the minions to your tower, and simply run away when the jungler appears to gank. It can be truly frustrating, but catch him with some hard CC such as
Terrify or puncturing taunt and he's yours to kill.
Jax - Like you,
Jax is farm dependant. Like you,
Jax deals both magic and physical damage (though he does do mostly magic so an early
Null-Magic Mantle comes in handy). He's going to be stronger in a duel but if you have some strong CC on your jungler then he's toast. Try not to fight him directly after level 6, which is where he begins to snowball in damage. Also, it's best to save
Twin Bite until AFTER
Counter Strike has ended in order to not grant him bonus damage, and deal more damage yourself.
- If you opponent moves towards you, makes a threatening move like activating
Death's Caress or anything else out of the ordinary WHEN THEY SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO WIN A FIGHT, assume that their jungler is there. I can't tell you how frustrating it is when you think that you've finally got your opponent dead, why are they being so stupid and fighting me? I'm going to win... then
Udyr shows up and murders you.
- Often you should focus on farming.
Shyvana is very item dependent and level dependent. If you don't think you can harrass your enemy -
Vladimir - or they'll just kite if you engage -
Vayne - try to put levels into
Flame Breath, poke at your opponent regularly and force them away so you can get into melee range for last-hitting.
- Last-hit. It's so important. You might think it's too much effort, it's difficult or it's just boring but not having the minions pushed means they can't gank you, so you're safer, so you can farm more.
- If you can get enough levels on the jungler or the bottom lane you will dominate the game. At this stage... it's god mode.
- The trade-off
Shyvana has over someone like
Irelia is much higher damage, yet less utility.
Irelia has two heals, a gap closer and a stun.
Shyvana has a gap closer ultimate that gives her AOE damage, a speed boost which also does damage, projectile for more damage and a pure damage ability. Dragons like damage. In a typical 1v1 scenario you're generally going to win. Post 6, you are one of the most effective 1v2 champions.
How well









Anyway, if he pushes you, get your jungler to gank - you're sure to blow his ult, flash or something else. Try not to let him escape by using

























Your job in a team fight is to KILL THE SQUISHIES.
How do you do this? Well, once the fight has started by an initiation from a tank or other offtank, pile in on the other team with
Dragon's Descent. Turn on
Burnout, try to catch as many of the other team as you can with
Flame Breath then find the most vulnerable person near you, like poor little
Kog'Maw. After making friends, kill him mercilessly by autoattacking and spamming
Twin Bite and
Burnout to keep up the chase. When the carry dies, go back into the fight and clean up any survivors.
Alternatively, you can initiate yourself with
Dragon's Descent, disrupting the enemy formation heavily. Make sure your team follows you in! Unfortunately, this may lead to you being focused and killed, especially by kite-happy enemies like
Ashe and
Janna.
Always attack champions in this priority order except in special circumstances (for example, if
Gangplank is building pure DPS and is fed)
How do you do this? Well, once the fight has started by an initiation from a tank or other offtank, pile in on the other team with






Alternatively, you can initiate yourself with



Always attack champions in this priority order except in special circumstances (for example, if

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