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Shyvana Build Guide by

THE BEST SHYVANA GUIDE FOR S13 - AP, AD, AND TANK! (PICK YOUR POISON, THEY ALL WORK!)

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Shyvana Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (10) More Shyvana Guides

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Runes: AP Shyvana Runes

1 2 3

Inspiration

First Strike

Magical Footwear

Future's Market

Cosmic Insight

Domination

Zombie Ward

Treasure Hunter

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+15-140 HP (lvls 1-18)

Spells:

1 2 3

AP SHYVANA

Flash

Gustwalker Smite

Items

AP Shyvana

Starting Items

First Back

Boots

Core Items

AP Burst Build

TANK / AD Shyvana

Starting Items

Boots

First Back

Standard Build

VS AP Heavy Comp

VS AD Heavy Comp

AD Bruiser Build

Ability Order If Going AP

1 2

Shyvana Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Nunu & Willump

Extreme

If they are good they will put a TON of pressure on the map while you are stuck farming. You need to be extremely efficient on getting to lvl 6 ASAP, because a good Nunu will make sure your team is ready to FF by the time you hit your powerspikes. Late game if you get ahead you can shred him, but if you're behind he will eat your E damage and walk it off like nothing. DO NOT TEAM FIGHT HIM IN PHYSICAL RANGE, you will get perma CC'd and die. Make sure you kite around the chaos of the fight and keep a safe distance.

Malphite

Ideal

Great top laner to play with, they usually allow their laner to overextend making ganks easy. Their ult is an amazing tool for you to hit a free dragon from E on the enemy team. In my opinion Shyvana plays best with tanks who can CC and distract the enemy. You Do NOT want to be the tankiest member of your team.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Malphite

Ideal

Champion Build Guide

Introduction

Hey everyone, my name is Freakstar I'm a YouTuber & Twitch live streamer who uploads regular gameplay and commentary on Shyvana. First of all, I'd like to thank you for checking out my guide. Before I go in depth on I'd like to introduce myself and give you some of my back story.

How it all started…

I've been playing League of Legends since early season 9. Prior to that, I had only heard of the game from my ex girlfriend. I had never played a MOBA before and I figured I'd just download the game and give it a try. I had no idea what I was doing and fed very badly. However, in the process I fell in love with the game.

I started as a mid lane 1 trick, but after a couple hundred games I decided I wanted to be a jungler instead. I wasn't bad as a mid laner, but I thought the idea of jungling was just cooler. I decided to focus on macro and played mostly tank junglers during season 9. After some grinding I made it to Gold 1, my games essentially being Diamond games with me as the lone Gold player. I was proud of my accomplishment - I had made it to the higher tiers of gameplay in just 1 year.

However, in the process I also realized something: Playing tanks was fun but very frustrating. It began to take its toll on my mental when I was sure I was making the "correct" macro play, but not having my team follow up correctly was discouraging.

To combat this frustration, I made the switch to learning "carry junglers". One of the junglers I've been focusing on is , and she’s become one of my main champions. Trying her out for the first time in season 10 was great and I was amazed. I was able to play in anywhere from Bronze - Gold ELO with 85% + winrates. This is exactly what I wanted out of League of Legends.

Welcome to The Best Shyvana Guide for S11 - AP, AD, and Tank!

(Make sure to check in on this guide again soon because I'll be updating it often!)

Why Play Shyvana?

Why play ? This is a very important part of the guide because the mentality of a Shyvana player is important. If you don't want to carry the game and you are not a "clicky" player this champion is probably not for you. Shyvana requires a lot of quick clicks to move in a way that makes her effective. You need to find the right angle to shoot , kite melee champions, and most importantly dodge skillshots successfully.

Currently, Shyvana is in a weird spot. Because of this, I’ve become more flexible with my playstyle and have revised this guide to include a variety of ways you can build Shyvana in season 11. The AP build doesn’t feel as strong as it used to be since Runic Echoes has been removed from the game, removing a crucial power spike that made the AP playstyle very viable. To be honest I feel like she could use some buffs & a small rework.

That being said, you shouldn’t feel discouraged if you like the champ, Shyvana is still a viable pick this season! Shyvana is kind of a mix of many champions put into one. Because there is no single way to build her, this champion is very versatile. You can choose to build her full damage AP, bruiser AP, full tank, or AD Tank depending on your team comp / the enemy team comp.

Shyvana Pros & Cons

PROS

+ Scales very well
+ Has the ability to solo dragons early
+ Can be built according to team comp/enemy comp
+ One of the best power farming junglers
+ She has easy mechanics
+ No mana! Yay!
+ Can split push & waveclear quickly in dragon form
+ Low pick & ban rate, so you’ll get to choose her almost anytime you want

CONS

- NEEDS to farm to get strong
- Weak pre-6, meaning unreliable ganks early & prone to invasions
- Can be kited easily
- Shyvana has no utility whatsoever
- Ult-reliant to be useful in teamfights
- Can be frustrating when your teammates don’t understand how your fury mechanic works

Abilities

How to max your abilities when playing the AP playstyle

> > >

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

How to max your abilities when playing the AD Tank playstyle

> > >

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Ability Overview

Passive: Dragonborn

gives Shyvana 5 bonus armor and 5 bonus magic resistance. Additionally, this passive lets her deal 20% more damage to dragons. Every drake her team gets gives her an additional 5 bonus armor and 5 bonus magic resist. While getting drakes is important for any champ you play, it is even more important for . If the game goes on and by 20 minutes your team still doesn't have a drake, you essentially have no passive.

Q: Twin Bite

Using makes Shyvana attack twice on her next auto attack, the second attack dealing 20/35/50/65/80% AD. It also is an auto attack reset, so always make sure to auto attack before using to get the most out of this ability. Auto attacks on champs and monsters reduce the cooldown by 0.5 seconds.

In Dragon Form, turns into an AOE attack where she cleaves all units in front of her while granting double Fury. In both human and dragon form, applies on-hit effects.

W: Burnout

Activating deals magic damage (+0.2 per bonus attack damage) to nearby enemies and gains increased movement speed that decays over time. During the spell duration, each autoattack deals increased damage and increases the duration of as well (up to a maximum of 4 seconds).

Dragon Form increases the range of .

E: Flame Breath

is your main damage dealer when playing AP Shyvana. This spell scales greatly with Ability Power and marks all enemies hit. Basic attacks against marked enemies deals additional magic damage equivalent to 3.75% of their maximum health.

In dragon form, explodes upon colliding with an enemy champion or reaching the end of it's path. What's left behind is a flame zone that deals magic damage per second and marks enemies with the same passive.

R: Dragon's Descent

Passive: At level 6, 's basic attacks grant 2 fury in both human and dragon form. While in human form, fury will generate passively per second.

Active: When activated, lunges Shyvana towards a target location. Enemies she collides into take magic damage and are pushed into the direction she's lunging. Upon transformation, Shyvana gains bonus health and attack range. Her dragon size also increases per rank. Fury is lost at a rate of 5 per second, so auto attacking in dragon form will help the duration of last longer. Once all fury is lost, she returns back to her normal state.

AP or Tank / AD?

AP PLAYSTYLE

AD PLAYSTYLE

1. If your team is in dire need of magic damage, then you should go AP Shyvana. Her AP scaling is pretty insane & the AoE can get off TONS of damage in teamfights.

2. The enemy team is really squishy? These are fun games for AP Shyvana, especially when she gets ahead. Like I said, her AP damage scales really hard. A squishy team will have an extremely hard time not getting 1-shot by your in dragon form. This works even better if they’re immobile too.

3. If the enemy team has 2 or more tanks and you still want to go with AP Shyvana, then you should consider going for a more AP bruiser build with and (& other AP + HP items).

4. AP Shyvana is best when her team has a reliable frontline, crowd control, & engagement. This gives you guaranteed one-shots & some form of protection from being engaged on from the enemy team, which you don’t want if you’re building glass-cannon.

5. High-priority Mid and/or Bot lanes. Ideally as AP Shyvana you have priority in both Mid & bot-lane so you can secure drakes with ease.

1. If your team already has 2 champs who deal primarily magic damage, then the AD Tank playstyle will help give your team a more balanced composition.

2. When your team is squishy and has no frontline, it’s much better to go with AD Tank over AP Shyvana. Without a frontline, your team will get destroyed in teamfights as long as the other team has an established frontline. Having no frontline is pretty troll. (This is why we tend to dislike toplanes...)

Runes

AP Shyvana Runes

Primary Path: Domination

Always go on AP Shyvana! It will make your damage scale hard as long as you make sure to get those stacks. You can easily stack your by throwing whenever the opportunity arises.

easily provides an additional 2k+ healing over the game. is an alternative you can choose if you'd like, though to be honest I never feel satisfied when running this rune.

is one of the most powerful runes in the entire game because it gives you FREE vision just by clearing wards. As a jungler, vision is one of your top priorities. Since you'll want to pick up an anyways, you'll get free wards every time you destroy one. Also, Shyvana kills wards quickly thanks to your auto attack rest with .

can heal you 10k plus HP over the course of a game. This is actually massice since AP Shyvana is a squishy. You can survive longer through those hectic teamfights and get off even more damage thanks to the healing from ravenous.

Secondary Path: Sorcery

is important because it gives us a good amount of ability haste. You need this for AP Shyvana so you can get off more s in those crucial teamfights.

ensures that if the game goes late our damage will be HUGE! We're talking 1 shot 's on their ADC - YES. Mixed with , this rune will allow you to be a MONSTER in the late game!

AD Tank Shyvana Runes

Primary Path: Precision

CONQUEROR

PRESS THE ATTACK

The basic combo for to proc is + + auto + + auto. Conqueror will allow you to last longer in teamfights, meaning you can tank more for your team & get off a good amount of damage.

If you want, you can run on Shyvana for better duels in the early game. It also gives your allies more damage, which does offer some utility to your team (which Shyv doesn't have in her kit).

will save you from dying so many times thanks to it's healing on enemy takedowns. You can't complain about that!

There is so much crowd control in the game that you should definitely take when building tank Shyvana. 30% tenacity when fully stacked (& potentially paired with Merc Treads) is no joke!

As AD Tank Shyvana, you're always getting deep into the fights. will help you get off more damage as your health bar gets lower. It's great to bait the enemy team into fighting you since they won't expect your extra damage.

Secondary Path: Domination

is so valuable since it gives you free vision. You'll be wanting an anyways, so you'll be sweeping & destroying enemy wards regularly.

with gives you so much healing. This is great for AD Tank Shyv since you do a pretty good amount of damage anyways.

What about shards?

Shards will almost always be the same for Shyvana. I always go for:
+ +

Summoner Spells

or or + or
SUMMONER SPELLS
-

FLASH: Flash should be your pick if you’re still fairly new to the champ. It’s one of the best summoner spells because you can use it offensively or defensively according to the play. Flashing over walls is a classic escape (considering you don’t mess it up!) and you should never underestimate using your to hit a low health target with your . I highly suggest you take Shyvana into the practice tool to get a good feel for the range of while in .

EXHAUST: Exhaust is a great choice if you’re playing against champions who have stronger early games or the enemy comp has a lot of damage. If you think you’ll need to deal with 1v1, will help your dueling capability. It also gives you a bit of utility since you can the enemy’s carry or ADC in teamfights.

IGNITE: Ignite is a good option if you’re playing against strong early game junglers or champs who have healing in their kit. If you’re playing AP Shyvana, it’s probably not the best option since you don’t want to be skirmishing early anyways. But if you’re playing AD Tank Shyvana and taking , then can definitely help make a difference in an early game skirmish.

BLUE SMITE: As , you usually want to take over . This is because Shyvana doesn’t have a reliable source of crowd control. Blue smite will help you chase down enemies to keep on them if you’re playing the AD Tank playstyle & to get better aim on your , which is the main source of damage when playing AP Shyvana.

RED SMITE: is the better option if you're playing against champions who have slow resistance or take . I usually won’t take red smite, but against champs like or , it's just the better option vs . 20% damage mitigation is pretty huge - so definitely consider it if you’re looking to survive in potential 1v1s & skirmishes.

AP Items

Which Mythic?

NIGHT HARVESTER

✦

Night Harvester is the mythic I build on Shyvana most often. Out of all the AP Mythic options for Shyvana, it offers the most pop on . It definitely compliments to help you collect kills on low health targets. It also gives much needed ability haste, additional ability haste on each of your legendary items, and 25% movement speed.

HEXTECH ROCKETBELT

✦

Hextech Rocketbelt is a great option if you’re looking for more mobility. It gives you a dash (could be useful if you took or instead of ), insane movement speed, and additional 5 magic penetration for each legendary item you build.

RIFTMAKER

✦

Riftmaker is the way to go if you’re going for a more AP Bruiser build. While gives you less health than or , it offers 15% omnivamp (livesteal), increasing damage in combat, and an additional 5% magic penetration with each legendary item you build.

AP Shyvana Core Items

Night Harvester

Nashor’s Tooth

Dark Seal

No matter what, make sure to rush first every game to help speed up your clear speed significantly. Once you have your Nashor’s, you’ll be able to pick up your Mythic in no time. Also, AP Shyvana is pretty good at fighting in the early mid-game once she has dragon form (considering nobody on the enemy team is ridiculously fed), so it’s not bad to put your Mythic off until later. In my opinion, is the best mythic on . Always pick up a early in the game if you have some extra gold. You can get easy stacks with assists since your has a large AoE. It also helps with snowballing a lead - so don’t underestimate it’s power!

Boot Options

Sorcerer's Shoes
When playing AP Shyvana, you're pretty much always going to want to pick up . Since you'll be building generally squishy, you won't want to be getting close enough to be auto attacked or crowd controlled by the enemies anyways. So in this case it's damage over safety!

Ionian Boots of Lucidity
I've been hypothesizing about cooldown boots for a while, so I'll leave them here as an option for AP Shyvana. Since ability haste has no limit in season 11, Ionian Boots can help you get off more s in teamfights, which is always very useful!

Situational Items

Mejai’s Soulstealer

Cosmic Drive

Morrelonomicon

Zhonya’s Hourglass

Void Staff

Rabadon’s Deathcap

Rylai’s

Banshee’s Veil

Lich Bane

Demonic Embrace

Horizon Focus

Elixir of Sorcery

AD Tank Items

Which Mythic?

SUNFIRE AEGIS

✦

In most of my AD Tank Shyvana games I build . It offers well balanced resistances against physical & magic damage, making it the best option to build consistently. Bami’s Cinder is amazing at helping speed up your clear speed. The Immolate damage on your autos gives you tons of dueling strength and 5 ability haste on each of your Legendary items is valuable.

FROSTFIRE GAUNTLET

✦

If you’re going into an AD heavy team comp, then you may want to consider building over . 50 armor is a nice power spike against AD and not to mention the AoE slow it gives on your basic attacks. Instead of ability haste, Frostfire Gauntlet gives you an additional 100 health & 6% increased size for each Legendary item you build.

TRINITY FORCE

✦

While I don’t build much on Shyvana, you can definitely build it if you’d like. I’d only build it if I was EXTREMELY ahead of the other jungler. It may not be a bad option if there is someone else on your team building full tank & you could use some more physical damage. Trinity Force offers some ability haste, AD, and 10% bonus attack speed on each of your Legendary items - which is pretty big for Shyvana.

AD Tank Shyvana Core Items

Sunfire Aegis

BOTRK

Wit's End

You’re almost always going to build on AD Tank Shyvana for the well-rounded resistances. For & , you’re only going to want to choose one or the other depending on how your game is going. Choose BOTRK for more dueling capability & Wit’s End if the enemies have a fed magic damage champion.

Boot Options

Plated Steelcaps
Armor boots are the way to go if the enemy team has a lot of AD champions, auto attacking champions, or if their ADC gets really fed. Mitigating 12% of ALL basic attacks is pretty huge and can make the difference in whether or not you survive in those skirmishes & teamfights.

Mercury’s Treads
Go for Merc Treads if the enemies has tons of crowd control or fed mages. 25 magic resistance is already more resistance than the penetration offers. 35 tenacity will help a ton against stuns, roots, charms, etc.

Randuin's Omen

Thornmail

Spirit Visage

Death's Dance

Dead Man's Plate

Sterak's Gage

Force of Nature

Titanic Hydra

Maw of Malmortius

Mercurial Scimitar

Gargoyle Stoneplate

Ravenous Hydra

Guinsoo's Rageblade

Elixir of Iron

Elixir of Wrath

First Clear & Scuttle Crabs

First of all, if you can SAFELY ward the enemy's blue or red buff, this valuable information will give you a good guess on where the enemy jungler started and where they'll path. This can help you decide which scuttle you should try to take. If you're starting without any invades and you're getting a leash, this is the best case scenario! You're almost always going to want to start on your , since 's on Shyvana early is pretty much useless. Here is how you want your first clear to go, whether you're getting a leash or not:

Red Buff > Krugs > Raptors > Wolves > Blue Buff > Gromp > Scuttle

If you're looking to secure the scuttle and you haven't gotten to Gromp by the time it spawns (3:15), then don't hesitate to put it off until after you get scuttle. However, if the enemy jungler has a strong early game and can destroy you in a 1v1, you'll want to make sure you either:

1. Take the scuttle on the opposite side of the map of where they are if you know where they pathed. This is why the early ward I mentioned is so valuable.

2. Choose the side that has more priority & ping for assistance when you're on your way to scuttle. Your laner or support should help you secure the scuttle & help you 2v1 the jungler if they try to contest it.

3. It's never a bad option to completely ignore the first scuttles if you're at a real risk of dying. Obviously this is not ideal, but you definitely don't want to fall behind on Shyvana.

If you took one of the scuttles and have a feeling the other is still available, you can check & potentially double scuttle - this is always a win. Weigh the risks & rewards though. If your lanes have absolutely no priority AND the enemy jungler is stronger than you early or you don't know where they are, then don't risk dying early for greeding the double scuttle.

Early Game

Pre-Level 6

During Shyvana's early game you don't have dragon form, you don't have any AP/AD/Tank items, and you don't have any real ganking tools. This means you are essentially not a champion. If you are forced to fight, you can shoot that does negative damage, run quickly with , or dish out for negative damage. This makes you terrible in early game skermishes and you must learn how to communicate with your team that you guys lose almost all 2v2s, 3v3s, etc.

At this point of the game you have these main objectives - their importance goes in order so keep that in mind.

1.Don't die. This is pretty obvious since dying early is pretty devastating for Shyvana, especially if the enemy jungler gets the kill on you and clears your jungle. If the enemy jungler knows anything about the game, they'll keep on invading you at this point to put you even further behind. This is why not dying early is arguably the most important objective when playing Shyvana.

2. Get whatever farm you can without dying. Like I've mentioned a million times, Shyvana's early game isn't the best. Most games you'll be able to do a first full clear without too many problems. But if you find yourself being invaded at your second buff and your laners being pushed under turret, it's not the worst idea to avoid fighting & retreat safely. It really depends on the matchup, what runes & summoner spells you have, and whether your teammates are roatating to your aid. Also, don't be afraid to punish the enemy jungler for showing themselves on the map by invading their jungle. Just make sure you know where they & their teammates are before entering their jungle.

3. Sneak the first when you have bot and/or mid prio or when the enemy jungler dies or shows top side. Shyvana's passive makes her able to solo Drakes quite fast. Just make sure to use your , have your ready, and ping your teammates that you'll be prioritizing the dragon even if you won't be requiring their help. Dragons are so important for - so getting as many of them as you can is a top priority!

4. IF POSSIBLE try to help your team and gank when the opportunity arises. While early game Shyvana is pretty weak, it doesn't mean you should completely ignore your team. Is the enemy bot lane extremely pushed up with low health? You may want to consider dropping by for a gank. Your mid lane mage has hard CC and can help set up a gank? Go for it! Early game Shyvana is still capable of getting kills! And even if you don't get a kill, you can get some early stacks on .

Early Human Form

When you are in human form Shyvana once you have you have 1 goal:

FARM UNTIL YOU GET 100% RAGE

That's it! If you farm every time you don't have rage then look for a gank when you do, you will be extremely efficient. You should almost never gank without 100% rage because Shyvana is only 1/2 a champ without her dragon form.

Obviously think about the current situation, but that concept should be the main thing on your mind. You are not useless in human form at this point of the game, but you are not strong either. You are "below average". The way you fight as human form Shyv at this point in the game will depend on whether you're building AP or AD Tank & the matchup.

Early Dragon Form

During this phase of the game Shyvana changes from a weakling to a beast. In at level 6 you are much tankier than most squishy champions, but you deal a pretty decent amount of damage in dragon form. Failing to get yourself a lead during this stretch is one of the main ways you will lose as Shyvana. You NEED to get a few kills & farm up consistently during this point of the game to give yourself a nice lead. Remember, your team was essentially playing 4v5 up until this point, you need to make your presence felt!

How to Dominate With Early Dragon Form

1. Find over extended champions and destroy them, mix your with auto attacks (don't forget to use !), get in melee range and beat them up.

2. Like I said, you are tankier than you think during this period, especially if you use my build. Beat them up, make them fear you, steal their farm, and take every objective you can.

If this sounds fun to you then Shyvana might be your champ.

Mid Game

Mid game starts at around 20 minutes. You should have at least your core build finished by now. Here is what you should focus on during the mid game regardless of whether you're building AP or AD Tank:

1. Always keep your eye on the timers. Ping the timer to your teammates to remind them that they need to help you secure the Dragons.

2. Always have your on cooldown while making sure to save it to prep for objectives. Since you'll be running if you use my runes, you'll want to have as much vision control as possible. Always sweep when you're running around the jungle & clear wards at record speed with auto attack + .

3. Farm, farm, farm! Shyvana is one of the fastest power farming junglers! You should basically NEVER fall behind in farm. In fact, you should bascially ALWAYS be ahead in farm if the game hasn't completely fallen apart! Take all your camps when they're up, catch some lane minions wherever you can, & invade the enemy jungler when you know you can do it safely or you are with your team.

Late Game / Teamfights

The late game is ALL ABOUT TEAMFIGHTS. Knowing how to play the teamfights according to your playstyle is essential to dominating with . You are NOT going to play the same way you play AD Tank Shyvana when you're building full AP, glass cannon Shyvana. That's 1000% trolling! One thing remains consistent, though:

KEEP YOUR RAGE FULL AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! PUNCH ANYTHING YOU CAN
(jungle camps, minions, & even champs IF you must)

How to Play AP Shyvana in Teamfights

The PRIMARY use of should be as a way to reposition yourself to hit on the enemies. Ideally you want to get 2 or more enemies and/or the high-priority target(s) in your E's AoE to chunk them down.

You can launch into the enemy team under these conditions: the enemies have already used their cooldowns & your team has multiple enemies crowd controlled. Your ultimate does allow you to be unstoppable, so you can actually do a ton of damage by ulting into the enemy team & throwing your at them immediately after. If you have or (or both), then I highly recommend you use it to safely reposition yourself away from the enemy team after ulting into them and then throwing after.
( + + + GTFO OF THERE & THROW ANOTHER )

How to Play AD Tank Shyvana in Teamfights

Use to get onto high-priority targets. However, similarly to ulting into the enemies as AP Shyvana, you don't want to go in by yourself. Follow up on your team's engage with your ultimate & use on crowd controlled targets if possible. Don't forget to turn on your and beat them up with your autos, . Basically you just want to body the enemies & try to get onto the priority target (usually the ADC).

As AD Tank Shyvana, you can protect your carries by chasing enemies away with or using into anyone trying to engage on your ADC/carry. Also, you don't always need to use your ultimate straight away. A good way to bait the enemies cooldowns is by running towards them with as a gap closer & save to become immune to their crowd control.

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