Shyvana Build Guide by Andele3025

Introduction to the inferno

I love dragons, demons, monsters, gentleman, dragons, discworld, tanky champions and dragons... oh and did i mention dragons?
Well in the start shyvana was a big disappointment because of her "dragon" form, since its actually the abortion result of a bat and wyvern, but over time she grew into my 7 favorite champions, next to Cho'Gath, Nocturne, Fizz, Olaf, Udyr and Sona.

So here is the shyvana build i have been using, its not really special but sure is effective.

Powers of dragon blood:
Anti-Carry shyvana
Wins in every melee damage trade
Build does NOT include Atma's Impaler, Warmog's Armor or Trinity Force
Pretty cheap build, total gold cost: 14990
You gain 20 hp every second with Burnout for every enemy close to you
Constant melee slow and a mid-long range 50% slow
High late game attack speed
Much more tanky than she looks
1/3 of the time in game, you run faster than if you had Ghost

Downside of dragon pride:
Does not deal as much damage mid game as she could
Lost potential as a Jungler/Counterjungler
Dragon form is actually the abortion result of a bat and wyvern...
Can be zoned by Wankplank and Nyandalee
Is less tanky than atmogs Shyvana but a much bigger threat
No reduced CC times
10 AD lost in Madreds

Runic Legacy and Masteries

Overall Runes and Masteries are just personal preference, i found 14/16/0 to be a effective all around setup for the top lane dragon girl, but no need to be bound to that, experiment and find out what works for you.

Dragon's Armory - Items

Dragons Inventory

I dont like the Stats/Cost OP triforce and its slow is weaker with only a 1/4 chance of application, so this item is a must because of shyvanas lack of cc.
Plus it gives a major health buffer and minior damage boost.

Some people like it, some hate it. Honestly for me just the AD, pretty long range active and spellvamp make it worth on Shyvana.
It also boosts the damage of you Flame Breath, its procs and Dragon's Descent.

Boots are always personal preference and build to counter the enemy, but with Quicksilver Sashs against cc and MR, Madred's Bloodrazors Armor and her Dragon's Descent passive i dont find that she needs more defensive stats and the 15% CDR is a pretty big deal for her damage.

This item screams Shyvana, nice attack speed, some ad (not if you build both Piokaxe and Madred's Razors you will lose 10 AD on the upgrade), 8% of enemy hp with her Twin Bite and a aoe 4% hp shred in her dragon form... you cant ask for more and it will sherd the cheap atmogs champions.

50% attack speed, 20 magic damage pre hit and magic resistance sherd on the enemy, in my opinion this item beats Wit's End on almost every time, because the shred lets your allies do more damage, while Wit's End just has a bit more damage, lower attack speed and some MR, its not that Wit's End is bad, just sub par with the nice defensive stats buffers Shyvana already has.

A must on most champions that can be kited, one good placed CC can shut you down, so with this you not only get the nice magic resistance boost, but can pop out of those pesky stuns and suppresses.

- Everything you need if the enemy is focused on long sustained fights or/and doesnt have cc thus making Quicksilver Sash a waste and it gives a nice movememnt speed boost and massive regen (its about 70 hp pre second).

- Attack speed, more armor reduction for your team and a nice chunk of AD, overall a good replacement for Malady if you want to hit harder or debuff, but your overall dps will suffer a bit because of that.

Treasure and Knight Defense

- Optional items

- Really cost effective item that lets you hold your lane warded 24/7 with nice sustain. Pick it up if your jungling or really worried about securing dragon... or just to cheap to buy wards (also a nice pickup vs your soul brother Renekton, the zealous Spin2Win Garen and the orange eater Gangplank)

- Not a bad item if you like the AD and lifesteal, but over the course of a battle you'll heal for more via Gunblade and it doesnt have the nice catch up active, feel free pick it up if your ahead or just dont feel like your hitting hard enough.

- Dont like the need of being close up hitting the enemy for a slow or do you just want your Flame Breath do to something as a spell not being there for the proc? Pick this up, boost your Flame Breath and Dragon's Descent while making your Burnout a perma aoe slow.
- Replace Frozen Mallet or Hextech Gunblade

- Again i dont find it worth it on shyvana because Malady boosts her damage much more, but sure go for it if you face a Fizz or just like the stacking mechanic.
- Replace Malady or Quicksilver Shash

- Also a AA stack item, gives fair shair of AP and AD and boosts your attack speed the more you auto attack... not a real fan but it aint bad.
- Replace Hextech Gunblade

- I find this item a cheap way for people to boost their damage because it has 4 stats given for free... And a waste of mana but if your building Atmogs pick it up because it reduces your honor and worth to the one of a gipsy stealing lollipops from kids.

- Wanna feel like Jax or Twisted Fate, get a hp and attack speed buffer while dealing even more aoe in teamfights, this lightining bow thing does that, but again unless its on a Jax or Twisted Fate, it falls off late game to much to be worth taking it over Malady.

Skill Sequence of Spite

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The reasoning behind this skill sequence is that Burnout is a ghost with a aura thats as if you were auto attacking everything with magic damage and has the highest damage of your spells even if you just hold it up for 3 seconds, Flame Breath is leveled not so much for the outright damage but for the CDR, procs (you have a free wits end) and armor reduction (reduction, not penetration as in your allies also do more damage), Twin Bite is maxed last because its a 1 point wonder, even on a ad carry style build the difference in damage is around 40 points, you take one rank at level 3 just so that you have it.

When in a fight try always using Flame Breath, auto attack, Burnout, another auto attack followed by a immediate Twin Bite.

Farming

For the first 4 levels, try to focus on farming much more than on zoning the enemy.

Upon activation, Burnout instantly ticks one time, use that to get minions you would have otherwise missed.

Twin Bite resets the AA timer so if a bunch of your caster minions are shooting at 1 enemy minion and you couldnt get it with just a normal attack, dont be aftaid of using it for the hit

If your getting zoned by GP or Nyandalee (or the enemy jungler is close/waiting to gank you) get a second rank in Flame Breath to last hit minions from afar, in combination with the cooldown reduction you have, getting 4/6 minions wont be a problem.

Try holding your creep count on: Current Minutes X 7.5 - 5 for every 10 min passed
So on the 22 min you should have around 155 cs to hold up on item timings, getting dragon or a kill usually counts as 10~14 creeps.

Reptilian collaboration

Dragon's Descent isn't and should not be used as a initiation unless you are going atmogs Shyvana, its a mid fight disruption and burst ability.
As Shyvana you want to say inside of a fight but still on the edges, sticking to the enemy carry and forcing them to leave the fight or kill them, then carpetbombing the rest of the enemy team with a Burnout+ Dragon's Descent combo.
Dont use Exhaust as a slow, use it as a damage disable while slowing, since a enemy Ashe, Caitlyn or even Master Yi will try to get you once they are in a nice position, so when you are expecting burst damage, its worth using, if you just want a slow, use the Hextech Gunblade.
Note: Exhaust is great vs burst casters since they will deal 35% less damage than they expect, so timing it so that it makes them useless for 9~ seconds or wait and not get their full combo out is usually worth it.

As for the junglers, if the enemy has strong cc (in lane or jungler), you need to get 2 wards every time you go back, one for the tri brush one for the river.
When you see a ward being placed, ping the location and type in chat the current time +3 to notify your jungler when he can gank without getting seen.
If your jungler decides to gank top, dont change your playstyle, Shyvana has no cc or real way of baiting (unless you are pretty low and just used your ulti and flash), so the jungler will need to initate, but getting overly aggressive or passive will alarm the enemy that something is cooking and that he will get burned if he tries to open the oven to see whats in it (the enemy will get suspicions and retreat or ask for a gank from his side).

She does really well in a team with medium damage team with every other member having at least 1 soft and 1 hard cc ( Taric/ Janna/ Alistar support, Caitlyn/ Vayne/ Ashe ad carry, Veigar/ Cassiopeia/ Brand ap carry and Cho'Gath/ Rammus/ Maokai jungle)