Hello everyone I am Effigy. Today i'll be teaching you a bit on how to play one of my favorite Top Lane carries Shen. I've had a certain interest in playing Shen alot after watching Pros like Toyz and my personal favorite Dyrus play Shen so I take from both of them so sorry if it seems a bit similar. Shen is a very viable champion for his Mid/Late game. If a Shen is fairly well farmed early game his Mid/Late game can be very devastating for those who try to stop his split pushing 1 on 1.

Flash Teleport

Reasons as to why I picked Flash and Teleport for my Shen is because with Flash you can catch enemies with a very well timed Flash Taunt which can win the game for you or/and change the tides of battle. Teleport is there as to take to the lanes that have more pressure added to them with your minions that the enemies don't seem to notice. So don't be afraid to Teleport don't Bot or Top to split push just remember with Shen map awareness and communication with your team is key. Know when to use your Stand United on a ally and Taunt in to support the team in a 5v5 team fight or even 4v5. Your are the General of the team and the fight is in your hands.

When building Shen look at the enemy team and discuss with your teammates on who has Crowd Control, which AP casters you need to worry about early/mid/late game, or if the enemy tam consists of a high DPS team.

Start the game off depending on who you're laning against. If the champion you are laning against is an AD Bruiser then start out Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion or even just a Doran's Shield.

If you're going against an AP Bruiser then try starting Long Sword and 2 Health Potion and rush a Hexdrinker for some MR against your opponent.

For boots depending on their team comp of CC or DPS for early game it's best to go Mercury's Treads first. Late game sell your Mercury's Treads for Ninja Tabi to be more tanky in team fights.

Now for your Core Items. Get a Giant's Belt for health and build it into a Sunfire Aegis . This is good for added 450 HP, 45 defense as well as it's passive doing 40 magic damage on nearby enemies and creeps. It's a great AoE for wave clearing and split pushing and to burn a little HP off of the enemies team when engaging into 4v5 or 5v5 fights. Makes it a bit easier on the ADC,APC,and Jungle to punch them down with your your Sunfire Aegis passive with your added AP from your runes.

If you don't feel like you have enough health grab Warmog's Armor for an additional 1000 HP along with it's passive that gives you 1% HP regen every 5 secs. It's always nice to have more health as a tank and it is a necessity too.

With a good discussion with your team's Jungle and Support depending on if they say it's ok for you to build it get Runic Bulwark for a aura that gives your nearby allies 10 armor, 25 Magic Resist, and 10 HP regen per 5 secs. This also gives your nearby minions 50% health regen, Armor, and Magic Resist. Really good item to have when your team. But I usually give it to the Jungle or Support as I want more pushing items.

Which brings me to our next item Wit's End. This is a very good item if you will be doing a lot of split pushing in Bot Lane or Top Lane. Wit's End grants you 42 Attack Speed and 25 Magic Resist. It also has a passive which takes 5 Magic Resist away from the enemy on hit which stacks up to 5 times. Basic Attacks do 42 magic damage on hit.

Randuin's Omen is a good item against champions with high AD. When you have this item attacks attack speed with be lowered byt 15% and their movement speed with by cut down to 10 % for 1.5 secs. When you activate this item during a team fight or chasing down a high priority target you slow their movement down by 35% for 2 secs +1 for ever 100 Armor and Magic Resist you have. Very good for slowing the last enemies you want to dead at the end of a team fight or chasing a lonely support or jungle for the ADC or APC to deal tons of damage on. Or use it to run away when you are at low health.

Other Items you can consider are Blade of the Ruined King, Guardian Angel, Trinity Force, Ravenous Hydra, Thornmail, and Abyssal Mask.

Blade of the Ruined King can be used for the same purpose as Randuin's Omen but upon slowing the target with your active it takes 15% of their health and grants it to you. Very great for disengages or for the chasing and securing a kill.

Guardian Angel is good for those second chance fights. When you get taken out you will be granted a a revival on spot so you can 1. run away from the enemy if possible when losing a team fight. 2. Get focused a lot. 3. Those last Nexus pushes where the enemy team has no turrets but they have 2 or 3 champions still up trying to stop you. You never know that revival can save you and win games for you depending on the situation.

Trinity Force is used to be a hyper carry as Shen. I don't know why but I don't like using Hyper Carry to describe Shen when using this item so i'll just say Carry. This item is great when combined with Warmog's Armor and/or Sunfire Aegis. Just gives you that hybrid damage and can make you scary. Just like Phreak always says just makes you do "Tone of Damage!".

Ravenous Hydra is one of my favorite items to put on a top laner. But at the moment i'm not using it til the Hydra bug is fixed. But this is great for team fights after taunting the enemy team you can activate this item to do 100% of you attack damage to the enemies while on the outer radius of the active does 60% decaying damage of the 100%. Very good to use in team fights and to win 1v1s when split pushing.

Thornmail is one of those items you build that is considered "God Tier" to use against the AD champs especially melee ones too. When they hit you with 15 damage or more of a basic attack you return 30% of that damage to the attacker. making hitting you being a mistake of their life.

Abyssal Mask is good for the APC with tons of Magic Damage. This item grants you 70 AP and 45 MR. It also gives a aura that takes the enemies magic resist and reduces it by 20%. Making it easier for your Mid Laner to land some of those AP burst combo or a Proc'd Sona Q

With Shen you are the captain and the General. As you are pushing Top/Bot/Mid Lane keep your eyes on the map and your teams health. if you are 1v1ing while split pushing and the enemy team sees that they will try to fight your team 4v4 while their top distracts you. This is where you come into play when they engage on your team wait for the signal from a team in game like a ping or a shotcall from a buddy on teamspeak use Stand United on wither the closest ally to the enemy force and Shadow Dash their team or use Stand United on a dying teammate to save then then depending on your distance from the enemy team and the dying ally you can Shadow Dance if they are close or Flash an Shadow Dash after Stand United on the dying teammate and initiate the team fight that can turn the tide of battle.

In easy words:

Stand United & Shadow Dash correctly to initiate team fights

Try to Flash Shadow Dash as many enemies as possible

Peel for you high damage dealer

When split pushing keep your eyes on the map and team health indicators

Don't miss your Shadow Dash into 5 people or else you are dead meat.

Will all that said Shen looks best with the TPA Shen skin and Warlord Skin.
Have good map awareness and practice at it as well so you can play Shen efficiently.
Don't Taunt 5 people and only get 2 that is bad.
Shen's entire ability chart is about trading so put it to good use.
Shen's damage is high sustained and works well with HP and Attack speed build.
Remember to laugh when you win a team fight so everyone will know the General does not mess around.