This is the first build of mine that I have posted on Mobafire. I have made this guide in an attempt to demonstrate the MANY ways Shyvana can be built and all the ways she can be effective. Shyvana is a very adaptable champion, I say this because she can be built up to fill just about any role.

I will consider developing a more conventional build for Shyv in the future but I enjoy playing outside the box far to much.

This build guide is meant to outline an effective but overlooked build that has worked great for myself. Shyv is the first champ I have purchased on the first day of release and right at the beginning I noticed with her crazy passive along with AP and AD scaling abilities there must be more ways to play her than the obvious ATS/AD build.

I would like to hear your constructive feedback on your own experiences playing with a similar build.

Also one note about the runes and masteries posted here. These are the runes and masteries I have been using on all my champions with very slight changes and in no way should these be considered optimal. Just out of personal choice I prefer movement speed Quints on all my champions.

Pros

-Great armor debuff
-Very adaptable (most adaptable champion I have played)
-Intimidating while in dragon form(tends to get focused even if she is built tanky)
-DD can be used both defensively and offensively (like a 2nd flash...with damage)
-Can check bushes with Flame Breath (makes a distinct sound if it hits someone)
-Massive AoE during team fights (dragon form)
-Very good burst tower diver once you get Dragon's Descent.

Cons

-Squishy early on
-No real CC
-Requires good situational and positioning awareness to hit as many targets as possible
-Relatively weak laning
-Primary ganking tool/nuke requires good aim even though it travels very fast (suck on it Morgana!)

I will start this guide off with explaining my choice for items since this will most likely be the biggest point of contention.



Quite frankly in any serious match every champion needs some form of tenacity. Especially a champion which prides itself on being in the thick of battle for the longest time possible. I wouldn't even consider getting anything else unless they had no CC...but again, this guide is for serious matches.



Simple to build and very useful if you are leveling up your Flame Breath and Burnout first and second. BOTH abilities work with the spell vamp, and I am unsure but Shyv's passive with her Flame Breath may also benefit from the spell steal. As a jungler this item also makes having to buy health pots less of a necessity as well.



Note: There is no negotiating a slowing item on Shyv. She is an excellent chaser but lacks any abilities to stop someone from escaping. and as such is required to have some way to slow enemy champs so your slower allies can catch up. EVERY shyv needs to either have Frozen Mallet or Rylai's Crystal Scepter by games end and preferably sooner.

Rylai's is probably what I would consider AP/ATS Shyv's most important item. The health bonus paired with your Hextech Revolver spell vamp makes you beefier while amping up the damage for Flame Breath and subsequently the additional damage from Shyv's passive. The real key here though is the slow. Almost all of her abilities triggers the slow effect!

It is far to useful to slow someone with Flame Breath, catch up to them with and begin attack them before Burnout expires and suddenly you got a possible 6 second slow on the enemy champion.

All those benefits even before I mention Dragon form! Burnout slowing them while in human form you say? How about leaving a trail of slowing fire while in Dragon form. Flame Breath and slowing an enemy champion in human form you say? How about slowing an entire enemy team in Dragon form with a Flame Breath that hits everything in front of you.

Comparison: Rylai's Vs. Frozen Mallet

Frozen Mallet gives you the higher slow percentage and a little more health but forces you to be in malee range to slow a single target. The damage you gain is minimal even with Twin Bite.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives a slow to almost everything you do. The 200 health which is lost is the only downside but in return the AP does far more for your overall dps than the +20 damage from the Mallet. The damage you should be dealing at this point is considerable but you may start looking like the target of the enemy team which is why...



Note: No matter if you like this build or the more typical build. The important thing to note is getting health before getting attack speed is paramount!

What better way to make use of Dragon's Descent passive than to compliment that with a ton of health. Shyv farms very easily and can quickly build this up to its maximum potential. The important thing with this item is the confidence it gives to the player, and as any Shyv player knows by now "Shyvana rewards AGGRESSION!". Shyv needs to be in a fight for as long as possible to really make use of her Twin Bite.

TURNING POINT!

This is where Shyv becomes very versatile. By this point in your game you need your attack speed item...but which one? some enemy champions should be building defences to counter the largest threat on your team. Find out who this person is and help them keep doing damage. If its an AP champion then you should get...



Cheaper and more attack speed than the alternative, my default pick if the team is well balanced for damage. If this item is chosen you have decided to do maximize your damage with your Flame Breath debuff. Also note your Burnout despite scaling off of AD does Magic damage so this will amplify your spell vamp and damage.

The alternative...



This will take significantly longer to build but is a popular choice for your typical Shyv...but you haven't read this far to read about your typical Shyv. Can still be useful even if you have built according along with the build up to this point although I have never built it for Shyv personally.

IMPORTANT! Do NOT build Malady AND Black Cleaver.



Shyv plays out like a balancing act. She does decent AP and AD damage (even with this build). Hextech Gunblade provides all the offencive power you can get for a true hybrid while increasing your precious spell vamp and adding in life steal. This item is just a natural choice on even AD Shyv's and is especially useful on this champion since you have already built Hextech Revolver by this point. Also the active ability is nothing to scoff at.


I have yet to play a game which has gone on long enough to purchase the final item on this list. I would recommend hanging onto wiggle's until you are able to complete the Deathcap in 1 buy.




You are a tank at this point capable of crazy aoe damage. You probably aren't the focus now with your Warmog's Armor and Rylai's Crystal Scepter so this is the chance to become a greater threat.

Not much to say here that I did not say at the end of the introduction to this build guide. The runes are pretty standard among all my champions. The only thing I change are the marks to either attack damage or magic penetration depending on the champion I am playing. If I find Shyv to be one of my main champions for ranked in the future I will consider trying to optimize the rune page.

Your typical nuke rotation with this build is: Dragon's Descent> Flame Breath> Burnout> Twin Bite

the key to remember is that unlike other builds, your Twin Bite is not being used so much for the physical damage but just to proc an instant 2 ticks of your Flame Breath debuff. One other thing about Twin Bite...the ability is best used directly after an attack as it resets your timer allowing for 3 almost simultaneous hits!

The only debatable part of the skill sequence comes at level 4. The alternative to the guide would be to go and level up Flame Breath to 2. As a jungler your job when ganking is to show up (or attack from the bush itself) and to dispatch the gankee as quickly as possible. Ranking up Twin Bite is useless for this because the chance of a getting to use this twice against the same champion during a gank is slim to none.

Burnout gives a respectable 5% move speed increase per lvl, and an aoe damage increase. The move speed is the focus for ganking while the aoe damage is great once you get back into the jungle.

Flame Breath hits significantly harder with each level (not to mention increasing the passive debuff damage). The important thing to note while ganking from the jungle is to do as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible.

The level 4 skill mostly comes down to your team and the other guys...
Are there low health/gankable enemy champs still out laning? Then get Flame Breath level 2!
Are there low health/gankable enemy champs turret hugging? How lucky do you feel? Flame Breath!
Otherwise? Burnout level 2. =(

Its fairly basic.

You start at the wraiths...using Smite on the big one and once you are about to land your first melee attack activate your Burnout. Activate your first potion when you know you wont be wasting any of the heal, walk over to the wolves and work away on the big one with your Burnout running. As soon as the big one dies you should level up, take Twin Bite and use it asap. begin to head for the golems. Use Burnout to move faster to the golems and use a health potion as needed. Save your Smite because after the golems your going for the red buff.

Important!

Your health is probably at 50-60%...you will probably need to stop for 15 seconds or so in front of the red buff to heal up a bit before engaging. When your at about 75% health you should be fine to engage big red. Stand almost right on top of big red if not just a little behind him to make sure you hit him with Flame Breath (if you engage head on you will usually hit one of the side monsters instead). Engage big red with your Flame Breath, then Burnout and then Twin Bite.
Smite of course when it will be enough to kill it.

Return to base...commence ganking...hopefully at least one lane has an opportunity.

It seems all to obvious to really have to explain these.

While Ghost or Exhaust would be the possible candidates to rival Flash there is no better skill than Flash on Shyv. Flash allows you to set yourself up better to run through more enemy champions with Dragon's Descent. A quick Flash behind an enemy with a Dragon's Descent back in the direction you just came from can drag an unsuspecting enemy out of position.



As for Smite...well this is a jungler build.

I have yet to play Shy in Dominion and may consider making an AP/ATS build if its viable there but there are currently no plans for this.