Shyvana Build Guide by Stormstryker
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Ability Sequence
2
8
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12
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1
3
5
7
9
4
14
15
17
18
6
11
16
Not Updated For Current Season
The masteries shown here are not yet updated for the current season, the guide author needs to set up the new masteries. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Table of Contents
Introduction
I fell in love with Shyvana the first time that I had played her, and I want to share with the LoL community on how to kick *** and take names. She is a melee fighter that feels a lot different than other's with the same tags.
My philosophy throughout the entire guide is choice. If you have options, you will win games.
**I will add a jungle guide soon for you Shyvana junglers out there**
Pros & Cons
Pros
+ Very fun to play
+ Strong entire game
+ Fast moving
+ Awesome farmer
+ Great AoE damage
+ Has small burst capabilities with a lot of sustained damage
+ A good balance of magic and physical damage
+ Teh dragons
Cons
- Susceptible to CC
- Can be focused often in team fights
- No form of CC through abilities
Runes
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Mark of Lethality 9 |
Greater Seal of Scaling Health 9 |
Greater Glyph of Attack Speed 9 |
Greater Quintessence of Lethality 3 |
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- Greater Mark of Desolation because the armor penetration is invaluable.
- Greater Seal of Vitality for the extra tankyness and a bit more AD from
Atma's Impaler late game.
- Greater Glyph of Attack Speed gives early game attack speed that makes farming that much easier, along with the more rapid damage output. Alternatively, you can take Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction or Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.
- Greater Quintessence of Desolationfor more baseline armor penetration.
Why not take a ton of attack speed runes like alot of the other guides?
Having a ton of attack speed early through runes on doesn't do much, because you don't get your fury resource until level 6, and and you will hardly feel it reducing the CD on
Twin Bite.Besides, there's a greater bonus out of the Armor Penetration and Health.
Masteries
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3/
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We go into 21/0/9 masteries because you get more out of the utility tree than the defensive. The experience bonus for solo top is great. Here's an alternate defensive mastery build, if you like those masteries better better:
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Summoner Spells
Flash
- Flash can synchronize very well with Shyvana. You can combine it with Dragon's Descent to cover huge distance fast, allowing you to chase or escape very well.
Ignite
- Ignite can be taken to increase your burst damage considerably. I take this when my lane partner has some kind of CC or Exhaust so that we can get some early kills.
Exhaust
- Exhaust is another great summoner spell pick. It gives you a strong CC in lane, and it can mess up an enemy carry in team fights. Don't forget to modify your masteries to include Cripple 1/1 from
Archmage's Savvy
1/3 if this is your choice.
**Summoner spells are completely up to you. Take the ones that match your playstyle or work the best with your team composition. The spells left out are not nearly as viable as these 3. **
Skills & Ability Sequence
Fury of the Dragonborn
(Passive)
Your passive enhances all of your other abilities when you auto-attack. Auto-attacking does the following:
- Twin Bite - Reduces the cooldown by .5 sec. This is the reason we build attack speed, so we can spam this great ability.
- Burnout - Extends the duration by 1 sec up to 6 seconds. This makes burnout actually useful, giving you a 9 second AoE/speed buff useful for farming and chasing.
- Flame Breath - Deals 15% of the abilities damage to debuffed targets. When you land this, you can deal a lot of damage if you stick to your target because it makes Twin Bite that much stronger.
- Dragon's Descent - Attacks generate 2 Fury and Shyvana passively gains Fury over time while in human form. This allows you to keep your dragon form up and running the more you attack in team fights.
Twin Bite
(Q)
Twin Bite is your major damage source. It works like a Sheen-esque nuke ability that applies on-hit effects from your items as well as damage and scales with AD.
Sheen-esque nuke ability that applies on-hit effects from your items as well as damage and scales with AD.- Dragon Form - Twin Bite cleaves all units in front of Shyvana. Each unit hit will be dealt on-hit effects and grant Fury twice. This is extremely powerful, the slow and increased damage from Trinity Force on multiple targets, while giving you fury? Yes please.
Burnout
(W)
Your strongest farming ability that is all around a great skill with a lot of uses. Its your top source of magic damage too. Don't forget that it is still dealing damage if you get stunned in a 1v1 situation, and that the speed bonus decreases over time.
- Dragon Form - Shyvana now scorches the earth where she walks, leaving a trail of fire for 5 seconds that will continually deal magic damage to enemies that pass over it. This is pretty much only useful in team fights, where you will be damaging multiple targets that move over it and get you assists if your not landing the kills.
Flame Breath
(E)
An underestimated ability that will make your most armored opponents melt in your claws. It may not hit for much initially but the modifiers that it gives your other damage is what makes this a great tool.
- Dragon Form - Flame Breath engulfs all units in a cone in front of Shyvana. Makes a hard to land skill shot that hits one target easy to land on multiple targets.
Dragon's Descent
(R)
Undoubtedly the best part about playing Shyvana, steamrolling people as a huge dragon. You can use Flash+ Dragon's Descent to move somewhere fast. Don't try and save it for a special occasion, and use it when you have it. You passively gain fury along with auto-attacking.
Flash+ Dragon's Descent to move somewhere fast. Don't try and save it for a special occasion, and use it when you have it. You passively gain fury along with auto-attacking.- Passive Shyvana reinforces her scales, increasing her armor and magic resistance by 15 / 20 / 25. These defensive bonuses are doubled while in Dragon Form. a passive increase in Armor and MR, making you tankier, and then double that when you activate it. This lets you safely mess around with turrets, but have your lane partner go with to ensure a clean kill.
- Active Shyvana transforms into a dragon and dashes to a target location. Enemies along her path take 200 / 300 / 400 (+70% of ability power) magic damage and are pushed toward her target location. Shyvanna must have a full fury bar to use this spell. This ability can be a bit trickier to land than you might think, because of how slow it is. Try and aim it somewhat like a close range Enchanted Crystal Arrow or Trueshot Barrage, except slower.
| Ability Sequence | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
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- I max out Burnout first because it has a ton of potential wrapped up into one ability. You get have a great farming tool, early game speed for chasing or escaping ganks and it gives you sustained damage too.
- Second I work on Twin Bite. It is your mini-nuke button that is a major source of damage.
- Grab Flame Breath at level 4. This is a one-point-wonder as the armor reduction on it is percentage based, so it is definitely worth a point.
- Remember that Dragon's Descent is usable right away when you put your first point into it, instead of having to build up fury. It is a no-brainer to take this ability whenever you get the chance.
Items
| Item Sequence | |||||||||||||||
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Boots of Speed 300 |
Phage 1250 |
Mercury's Treads 1100 |
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Phantom Dancer 2700 |
Trinity Force 3733 |
Sunfire Cape 2900 |
Warmog's Armor 2850 |
Atma's Impaler 2300 |
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& |
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Or |
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I take 
Regrowth Pendant first because it gives you the health regen you need to stay in lane longer to farm more. Another reason to take a Regrowth Pendant is for building it into a Warmog's Armor later on. If you prefer Doran's items, you can start with a 
Doran's Shield. Alternate choices for starting items are Ruby Crystal or Boots of Speed and some Health Potions.
Regrowth Pendant first because it gives you the health regen you need to stay in lane longer to farm more. Another reason to take a Regrowth Pendant is for building it into a Warmog's Armor later on. If you prefer Doran's items, you can start with a Doran's Shield. Alternate choices for starting items are Ruby Crystal or Boots of Speed and some Health Potions.
Get these next because everyone loves movement speed! Especially Shyvana. This build ends up taking a lot of movement speed items to help you stay on your target.
Shyvana. This build ends up taking a lot of movement speed items to help you stay on your target.
Phage is the first item we build for Trinity Force. It gives you a CC in the form of a slow on hit. There is no debate that this is better than the Sheen or Zeal components, when you have no CC.
Trinity Force. It gives you a CC in the form of a slow on hit. There is no debate that this is better than the Sheen or Zeal components, when you have no CC.
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Or |
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Time to upgrade your boots. Berserker's Greaves are a safe choice if the enemy team has no form of hard CC whatsoever. Otherwise you will find yourself taking Mercury's Treads every time.
Berserker's Greaves are a safe choice if the enemy team has no form of hard CC whatsoever. Otherwise you will find yourself taking Mercury's Treads every time.
2. |
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Lolwut? Phantom Dancer? I thought we were building Trinity Force next! Well your wrong, and here's why. At this point in the game, you have Dragon's Descent and you're roaming, looking for kills. You want to use your ultimate as much as possible, so Phantom Dancer is the next logical choice. The movement speed helps you get around and the attack speed gets your ult primed and ready for use as soon as possible.
Trinity Force next! Well your wrong, and here's why. At this point in the game, you have Dragon's Descent and you're roaming, looking for kills. You want to use your ultimate as much as possible, so Phantom Dancer is the next logical choice. The movement speed helps you get around and the attack speed gets your ult primed and ready for use as soon as possible.
3. |
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Shyvana benefits off of every stat on this item except for the mana bonus. It is pretty much a staple item for the "DPS" part of tanky DPS champions. The passive syncs up well with your Twin Bite, and your slow is improved too.When building this item, you will be taking
Sheen first and Zeal second. You should already have Phage, so the rest of this item is just bonus damage all around.
4. |
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Or |
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Or |
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- Sunfire Cape is for when the enemy team has a balanced physical/magic damage output. It gives health and armor, while complimenting your Burnout and Atma's Impaler (if you choose to build one later on).
- Force of Nature for when the opposing team is magic heavy. Oohhh look more movement speed :D
- Thornmail when the enemy is very AD/AS heavy. I hardly ever find myself building this item.
5. |
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Warmog's is a ton of health for you to complete the tankyness in your build. It really gives you a lot more survivability, and you'll get some damage out of it with Atma's Impaler.
Atma's Impaler.
6. |
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Or |
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Or |
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- Atma's Impaler should only be built if you have also taken Sunfire Capeand Warmog's Armor.
- Madred's Bloodrazor is great against teams with more than one tank and when your the only one on your team that doesn't have another AD/AS besides you.
- Infinity Edge should be built in the absence of Sunfire Cape, and when the enemy champions aren't tanky enough to need a Madred's Bloodrazor, I.E. a caster/ranged AD heavy team. You'll have a good amount of crit already and this will make auto attacks hit a lot harder.
**In the end, I left a lot of choice up to you because options win matches. If you aren't sure on what to build, follow the original build at the top.**
Playstyle
Early Game
You want solo top if it is available, otherwise get in lane with someone who doesn't need as much farm as you. Farm and get aggressive if your comfortable doing so, and know that you can over power your opponent. Otherwise, sit back and farm, while trying to avoid being harassed. She should play like
Irelia in the fact that you farm a lot and become an unstoppable anti-carry facewrecker.Get kills when your lane partner moves in to CC a squishy, if you know you won't die in the process. Your first base should get you
Boots of Speed and Phage.Mid Game
Now its time to roam and get kills with your ultimate. Get your Mercury's Tread's and start working on
Phantom Dancer. Get a teammate to help you kill dragon and then gank on over-extended lanes or help push back one of your lanes that may not be doing so well.A great technique is to ambush two enemies who are attacking your tower by using
Flash+ Dragon's Descent to push them into your tower and continue decimating the squishy.Late Game
You should be pushing lanes and farming whenever you can. Around level 16 you should only have your
Warmog's Armor and Atma's Impaler left to build if you had a good farm running this game. Get red buff if no one else needs it and clear the jungle if you aren't able to farm a lane safely.In team fights, you should not engage, but jump in with your ultimate right as your tank initiates. Focus down the enemy carries and then clean up the rest. Your presence here can be devastating.
Farming
All of the abilities in Shyvana's toolkit make her amazing at farming. Burnout allows you to easily decimate waves of minions. Combined with Twin Bite for ensuring last hits. You can use Flame Breath to the same effect as Twin Bite, to grab minions that aren't in melee ranged or your trying to play defensively.
- Try to position yourself between the caster minions and the melee minions while your Burnout is active and make sure to keep auto attacking to keep it up.
- Use your Twin Bite and Flame Breath to quickly finish the casters and turn and the melee minions should be almost down.
Her awesome farming capabilities allow your to have a more expensive build.
Summary
All around, Shyvana is a very fun champion and building her tanky DPS is a great way to play her.
My friend who jungles with her will be working on writing a jungle portion to the guide too for you junglers out there and I'll add Dominion guide too, once I get to play her a bit more in Dominion.
I appreciate all constructive criticism and will make changes if you feel there is something I could be doing better.
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