League of Legends - Shen Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

This page contains a champion character strategy guide for Shen - The Eye of Twilight in League of Legends (LoL), including stats, skills and abilities...

 

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Shen

Basic Information

Shen – The Eye of the Twilight
Class Tank Role Warden
Secondary Bar Energy IP / RP 3150 / 790

Champion Stats

Lv1 Per Lv Lv18
Health 540 +85 1985
Health Regen 8.5 +0.75 21.3
Energy 400 +0 400
Mana Regen 50 +0 50
Attack Damage 60 +3 111
Armor 25 +3 76
Attack Speed 0.651 +2% 0.651
Magic Resist 32.1 +1.25 53.4
Movement Speed 340 340
Melee 125 125

Lore

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Skills

Icon Description
Ki Barrier

INNATE: After casting a spell, Shen gets a shield. Affecting other champions reduces the cooldown of this effect.

Twilight Assault
(Cost: 140/130/120/110/100 Energy, Cooldown: 8/7.25/6.5/5.75/5)ACTIVE: Shen recalls his spirit blade and draws it. Enemies it collides with are slowed by 35% when moving away from Shen for the next 2 seconds. Shen’s next 3 attacks deal 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 (+@CharAbilityPower*.01@)% of their target’s max health as bonus magic damage.If the spirit blade collided with an enemy champion, those attacks deal 4/4.5/5/5.5/6 (+@CharAbilityPower2*.01@)% instead and have +50% Attack Speed. Each attack deals 30/50/70/90/110 extra magic damage to monsters and minions (max 75/100/125/150/175).
Spirit’s Refuge
(Cost: 40 Energy, Cooldown: 18/16.5/15/13.5/12)ACTIVE: Shen’s spirit blade creates a defensive zone for 1.75 seconds. Basic attacks that would hit Shen or an allied champion in the zone are blocked.If there are no champions to protect in the zone when it starts, the spirit blade will not activate until one enters or 2 seconds pass.
Shadow Dash
(Target Range: 600, Collision Radius: 60, Cost: 150 Energy, Cooldown: 18/16/14/12/10)PASSIVE: Dealing damage with Shadow Dash or Twilight Assault recovers 0 Energy.ACTIVE: Shen dashes in a direction, dealing 50/75/100/125/150 [+0] physical damage to enemy champions and neutral monsters in his path and taunting them for 1.5 seconds.

Stand United
(Target Range:
Global, Cooldown: 180/150/120)ACTIVE: Shen grants a shield to a target allied champion that absorbs up to 250/550/850 (+135% Ability Power) damage for 5 seconds. After channeling for 0 seconds, Shen and his spirit blade teleport to the ally’s location.

Strategy

  • Positioning is very important when playing Shen. Always be mindful of where your Spirit Blade is, and try to position it somewhere near you so you can quickly recall it with (Q) Twilight Assault.
  • The optimal combo for Shen would be (E) Shadow Dash + (Q) Twilight Assault + Auto Attack.
  • Use your (E) Shadow Dash when an enemy champion is near your turret, as it will tower aggro your enemy and help you in getting a kill.
  • Regenerate your energy by constantly using (Q) Twilight Assault on minions and champions.
  • Map awareness is another skill you need to master when playing Shen, so that you can use your (R) Stand United anywhere. The skill has a long cooldown and cancels when the hero you will teleport to dies, so you have to time your skill.
  • A trick to catch unsuspecting enemies who are far away is using the (E) Shadow Dash + Flash combo. Cast your (E) Shadow Dash and right when he is in the middle of doing the skill, immediately press the flash in front of the champion you want to taunt. It takes a lot of practice but it’s really worth it in the long run.

Runes & Masteries

Summoner Spells

Mid Lane Support
Flash Icon Teleport icon Exhaust icon Flash Icon
Flash Teleport Exhaust Flash

Item Builds

Top Lane

Starter Items
Dorans shield icon Health potion icon Warding totem icon
Doran’s Shield Health Potion Warding Totem

 

Core Items
Sunfire cape icon Spirit visage icon Titanic hydra icon
Sunfire Cape Spirit Visage Titanic Hydra
Mercurys treads icon
Mercury’s Treads

Sunfire Cape – Sunfire Cape provides excellent health and armor for Shen. The passive also increases his wave clear in the laning phase, as Shen is a fairly weak farmer due to his abilities and low damage input except when (Q) Twilight Assault is up. Moreover, this helps him bully or throw down against his lane opponent.

Spirit Visage – Spirit Visage gives Shen magic resistance and health. This item fits perfectly well with Shen since his skills rely on his health. Furthermore, Titanic Hydra makes this item very valuable, as the more health Shen has, the more damage he will deal with the active of Titanic Hydra.

Mercury’s Treads – Mercury’s Treads is an excellent boots upgrades for Shen. It gives him extra magic resistance and tenacity which decreases the duration of any crowd control effects on him.

Full Build
Sunfire cape icon Spirit visage icon Mercurys treads icon
Sunfire Cape Spirit Visage Mercury’s Treads
Titanic hydra icon Warmogs armor icon Thornmail icon
Titanic Hydra Warmog’s Armor Thornmail

Warmog’s Armor – Warmog’s Armor greatly increases Shen’s overall health and regeneration. Furthermore, this item also increases the effectiveness of Ki Barrier and Shadow Dash since both these items scale with health.

Thornmail – Thornmail increases your armor while deflecting some damage. This item also now applies Grievous Wounds to the attacker, making this item very useful for quick skirmishes and weakening your enemies in team fights after hitting multiple enemies with Shadow Dash. 

Situational Items
Guardian angel icon Zz'Rot Portal icon Gargoyle Stoneplate Icom
Guardian Angel Zz’Rot Portal Gargoyle Stoneplate
Trinity force icon Titanic hydra icon
Trinity Force Titanic Hydra

Guardian Angel – Guardian Angel provides a decent amount of armor and damage. Its passive also helps a lot in the late game, considering that Shen is tanky and hard to kill to begin with.

Zz’Rot Portal – Zz’Rot is another great buy for Shen. It gives you a strong lane presence. Shen is also weak pusher, so this item may help you in laning and pushing towers.

Gargoyle Stoneplate – Gargoyle Stoneplate increases Shen’s armor and magic resistance while giving him more initiation power because of the active and passive of this item. He has a chance of diving into the enemy line and deal less damage because of Shadow Dash and the Gargoyle Stoneplate active.

Trinity Force – Trinity force is a good offensive item if you want to build Shen as an offensive juggernaut. The only problem with the item is that you won’t be able to maximize the effect of the item, as it gives you mana and Shen is an energy-based champion.

Support

Starter Items
Relic Shield icon Health potion icon Warding totem icon
Relic Shield Health Potion Warding Totem

 

Core Items
Face of the Mountain icon Sightstone icon Locket of the iron solari icon
Face of the Mountain Sightstone Locket of the Iron Solari
Ninja tabi icon
Ninja Tabi

Face of the Mountain – Face of the Mountain is the best gold income item for Shen since it can provide a shield for you and your team mates that scale well with your health. It also gives you a shield when you are out of combat, making this item perfect for Shen.

Locket of the Iron Solari – This item provides another good protection for your team, as it grants a decaying shield to allies based on your health. Aside from that, it also gives Shen extra magic resistance and armor.

Ninja Tabi – Ninja Tabi is good when playing as support since you are facing an ADC. It can also block some damage when initiating with Shadow Dash.

Full Build
Face of the Mountain icon Locket of the iron solari icon Gargoyle Stoneplate Icom
Face of the Mountain Locket of the Iron Solari Gargoyle Stoneplate
Thornmail icon Randuins omen icon Ninja tabi icon
Thornmail Randuin’s Omen Ninja Tabi

Randuin’s Omen – This item also fits perfectly well with Shen. The critical strike damage reduction and the extra health and armor helps him become buffier in team fights. Moreover, the active also helps his team in slowing the movement speed of nearby enemies, creating more opportunities for his team mates.

Situational Items
Redemption icon Mikael's Crucible Icon Sunfire cape icon
Redemption Mikhael’s Crucible Sunfire Cape

Redemption – Redemption is a good item for supports because of its large AoE heal. Get this item if you think Locket of the Iron Solari is not enough in helping your team.

Mikhael’s Crucible –  This item provides decent stats, and an active where you can remove all forms of crowd control on an ally and grant them slow immunity for a short period of time. Buy this item if you really need anti-crowd control for your team mates. However, the downside to this item is that Shen doesn’t have mana and this item is meant for mana dependent supports with the +100 base mana regeneration.

Sunfire Cape – Buy this item if you want to be more aggressive as a support. It provides armor, health, and the immolate aura if you want to go semi-carry as a support.

Generally speaking, you may opt to try AP Shen, since (R) Stand United has great AP scaling. But this will leave you rather squishy, especially if you’re playing support. This is why it is still advisable that you focus on getting health, armor and magic resistance items first. Afterwards, if you still have an item slot, you an then decide if you want to invest in AP items.

Playing Against

  • Shen has a weak early game due to low damage and no wave clear. If possible, harass Shen in the laning phase to get him far behind the game.
  • His ultimate, (R) Stand United, can be cancelled with stuns and knock-ups. Be sure to put crowd control on him immediately when he is casting his ultimate.
  • Back away when Shen uses his (W) Spirit’s Refuge on himself or his allies because it will block any basic attacks on them. However, you can still inflict magic damage on the enemy inside the zone.
  • Be careful when laning against a Shen and you are near an enemy turret. He can use (E) Shadow Dash on you and you will get tower aggro. Do not attack Shen when you are in tower range.
  • When Shen reaches level 6, try to be cautious of team fights because Shen can easily teleport and give a shield to his allies.
  • It is a good time to punish Shen if he has low energy. Shen loses half of his energy if he fails to taunt an enemy champion with (E) Shadow Dash, so juking this skill can make Shen very vulnerable.

Hard Counter

Vladimir – Vladimir can easily dodge Shen’s Shadow Dash with Sanguine Pool. Vladimir can also harass him with his poke Transfusion and Tides of Blood.

Quinn –  Quinn in the top lane can demolish a Shen easily. Her Blinding Assault reduces the vision of the target, making it very hard for Shen to land his Shadow Dash. Furthermore, Quinn is also agile with her passive and ultimate, making it very hard for Shen to land a good dash.

Jayce – Jayce is a versatile champion that can switch between melee and ranged in an instant. He has a lot of poke  with Mercury Cannon that can give Shen a hard time laning against him. For example, Jayce can trade blows with his Mercury Hammer, and if Shen lands a taunt, Jayce can just use Thundering Blow to disengage and reset the fight.

Strategy video

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