Yo,
My summoner name is DemnSlyr and I am bringing you a guide on Shen (My first serious guide). He is one of my favorite champions in LoL for a great number of reasons. Unfortunately, he is banned in almost every lower to middle elo match in ranked because of his ability to engage, save, and dish out some awesome damage. Shen is amazing because he can be viable in almost every lane (I haven't tried mid Shen yet) which allows him to be played in so many different ways. Although, this is a top lane guide, so let's get to it!

I use these masteries 100% of the time because if I didn't, I would be a bad Shen player. Pretty much, I will run 0-21-9 because I'm a tank and need points in defense or I wouldn't be very useful as a Shen; I also run 9 in utility for the flash mastery, extra energy, and movement speed which goes well with initiator. I love having the Initiator and Swiftness masteries together because then you can man mode chasing people with ease and even easier when you get your FM. Yeah, use these unless you wanna go damage Shen with a wits end, tri force, and atmas and pick 9-21-0; but the choice is yours ;]

Ah, runes, the thing that we all love and hate. Love because they make the job that much easier, and hate because they're so FREAKING expensive. Personally, I didn't know about runes until level 25 because I was a noob and couldn't care less about some extra little bit of help that I could waste IP on when I could save for a new champion. NO I WAS STUPID RUNES ARE AMAZING GET TIER 3 ONES WHEN YOU'RE LEVEL 20!!!! So, my rune choices:


Quints: Greater Quintessence of Fortitude x3 OR Greater Quintessense of Swiftness

I use Health quints for the simple reason that I'm a Health Tank. Nothing else to it, it helps your Ki Strike damage, your Vorpal Healing, and makes you look a whole lot scarier when you have 800+ health and they only have 500. My other choice which I have been using much more now are MS Quints, these are great for chasing because speed is key to doing so and landing that taunt.

Glyphs: Greater Glyph of Shielding x9

Your basic MR runes for most champs. MR per level for most lanes except mid lane, where you would grab some flats. You start with more MR than Armor, but scale much less. These are the right choice.

Seals: Greater Seal of Resilience x9

Flat Armor is the way to go, you're a top laner, you should be going up against an AD champ. Armor scales with level pretty well. Grab these, you won't regret it, if you don't YOU'LL DIE. :D

Marks: Greater Mark of Insight x9 OR Greater Mark of Alacrity x9 OR Greater Mark of Resilience

Marks... So for marks, I usually get 9 Magic Pen marks so that I can steal my friends pentas with that vorpal blade, or get extra damage with my Ki Strike and Wits End. There is a noticeable difference with and without these.
Attack speed marks, I will get these if I wanna get more Ki Strike procs and own people with FM. (I've been using these a lot more now because they scale much better to later game when you get your Wits End and Ionic Spark/ Trinity Force
Armor marks are what I might get if it's against a really strong AD or Darius Free week in normals xD

OR OR


Flash is pretty straightforward, if you flash taunt, it's a guaranteed kill if your opponent doesn't have an escape or their flash up. Flash is also amazing for getting away because if you flash over a wall, and shadow dash over another, you're gone (unless he's ezreal or kass, then you're screwed LOL) If you don't want flash because you always fail at flashing over a wall or have your aoe attack on and aggro baron over the wall, then you should grab ghost which is also good for much of the same purpose and can get a more guaranteed escape at times.
Ignite is my recommended after being convinced by my friends because if you taunt and your jungler gets your opponent low, you can finish them off, negating potions or scumbag heal. Personally, I still prefer exhaust so you can negate flash a bit and get an easier taunt, but it's all up to personal preference.

Every 8 seconds, Shen's next attack will deal 8% of bonus health point as bonus magic damage (base damage of 10). Each time a champion hits Shen with an attack, Ki Strike activates 2 seconds quicker.


This is Shen's main damage, it can change the tide of 1v1s because idiots underestimate your Ki Strike/Wit's End damage. it's OP.





Deals 70/115/140/175/210 (+75% of ability power) magic damage to target unit. That unit becomes life tapped for 5 seconds, healing any champions who attack it for 18/26/34/42/50 health over 3 seconds.

Cost 70 / 65 / 60 / 55 / 50 energy

Range 475



My favorite ability in the game, great harass once you get it to level 3+, low CD, and good damage. I have stolen about 6 pentas by throwing a random Vorpal Blade when my friend was about to get them LOL. Pretty much, this ability replaces your health pots in lane (even so, you should grab a couple always) and keeps me alive in the jungle.






Shen enters a defensive stance, shielding the next 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+75% of ability power) damage. Lasts up to 1.5 seconds.

Cost 45 energy

Range 20



I love this ability, it has saved me a few times against karthus ultis and other delayed nukes or DOTs like Hemmorage/Poison or in some cases ignites. This ability helps you survive and win trades in lane, you throw a Vorpal Blade and put feint up, it will block at least some of the damage they do.





Shen rapidly dashes to a target location, Taunting enemies he collides with for 1.5 second(s).
Restores 50 Energy if you hit a champion.

Cost 120 / 115 / 110 / 105 / 100 energy

Range 25000



YES! The battle changing ability, the thing that I love about this ability is that it can taunt an entire team if they are stacked up next to eachother which will give your team 1.5 seconds to kill whoever the heck they want! This ability not only forces people to attack you, but you can use it as a gap closer, or you can escape with this by dash>flash. This ability also synergizes extremely well when you utli on your initiator and taunt when you arrive.




Places a shield on both a target allied champion and Shen, absorbing 200/475/750 (+150% of ability power) damage for 7.5 seconds. After channeling for 2.5 seconds, Shen teleports to the target's location.

Cost none

Range 25000



Best defensive ultimate in the game! This is the main reason anyone would play Shen because you can bait a "4v5" fight easily into a 5v5 because of your global presence. I use this ability to countergank, save my carry, or synergize with my initiator so that he can engage while losing little health. I will usually shadow dash right after I teleport in and get at least one of their carries.

The skill order that I suggest up there is if you are expecting more ganks or if you are being pushed. The skill sequence that I have maxes Q>E>W alternating solely because of the Shadow Dash nerf. Even though I put this skill sequence in the build, I usually still build Q>W>E maxing Q first, then W, then E because hitting that first taunt is really the one that matters the most. Of course, you still get R whenever available.

Alrighty now! Everyone's favorite part, items. I'll be discussing Starting items, First B items, Mid Game items, Core items, and Late/End game items.

Starting Item(s):
First of all, you'll want to start with a , , , or the typical /. If you get anything else, it'll be of your own preference; for example, if you get a , it would make sense because it goes well with and your health pot, but I find with a health item heals you enough in lane, and the will build into your .

First Recall:
If you don't already have it, get a , and if you can get your because that speed will be essential for hitting taunts and escaping ganks. Oh, and don't forget to get s and more s if necessary.

Different Core items:
By this time, you should have your boots and first core item which I would suggest be a health item like , (personal favorite), or . After you have one of these items, then you can look to get either more Armor, MR, a support item like an (An Aegis will be sure to get you some praise because this with your ulti is some good defence for your damsel in distress.), or another Health item. I would suggest building a because it makes Shen's damage output so much better due to and it gives you some extra MR. If you need more armor because their ADC is being annoying, then rush your or maybe even start building a (though I wouldn't reccomend it unless their AD is wrecking your team). If you are lacking in MR, you should build a because it goes great with the and because of the regen passive. Not to mention the speed that it gives you which makes chasing easier :D

Late/End Game item(s):
Here is the part of the game we rarely get to. The late game. So by this time, you will have all your core items for example:

You have no idea what your last item should be! Well, no sweat, there are many scenarios that you can decide your last item with. The first scenario is if you are rolling the other team, but they are persevering to try to win and have gotten smart; you have your items, but you just don't do enough damage to send the message that you want in on this fight. So for this scenario, I would choose a Trinity Force, this item is freaking amazing on Shen for tons of damage because by this time you will be spamming your and so it will be proccing your sheen every other second making your damage output quite a bit larger. If you are about tied and don't have too much bank, but still want to show them who's boss, then get an , this item will go very well with your and because of all the magic on hit damage that gets as he gets more health. Believe it or not, you will make quite an impact on their team because of the attack speed and multi target damage that you get from this item. Another item which will make you infinitely more beefy and much more intimidating would be a . This item will give you almost 1k more health which will bring you easily over 4k health (don't remember how much specifically) and you will be the fattest, scariest guy on the field. I always like to have this item earlier if I don't need the armor or magic resist. Another one is if you need a bit of armor, and would love some extra damage, I wonder what I would get if I had a 3-4k health pool and had $2,355 to spend, OH LOOK. ! I never really like getting this item after the nerf, but when you have that much health, it will give you a free 60 damage, armor, and a nice crit chance that may help you kill that guy you are 1v1ing. If you are also being focused by their team for some reason and they blow everything on you, you may want to invest in a GA, because you will tank their damage for a good 10 seconds if you tank correctly with your shadow dash, then you will be reviving until you spawn and dash away, wasting their time and letting your team clean them up because they were getting Baron while you were baiting their team, it's so troll. Pretty much your build will have a good number of health items, one or two of each defence item, and possibly a DPS item in addition to your trusty. Have fun :]

Ah wards, our anti-gank tool and a very important part of the game. Every time you go back, you may want to buy a or just to be safe even if you aren't being ganked a whole lot, you never know. I will usually put a ward in front of the objective which would be Baron for us in the top lane (A vision ward would be even better if you can afford to get one, or you know that they are constantly warding it. On the blue side, I will usually ward Baron but get just a bit of vision of the Purple tri-bush so I would know if I am being GENKED (<- Smite reference) from their jungle. If I am behind and their jungler is constantly ganking me, I would want to do a defensive blue side tri-ward because he will want to dive me with the other top laner. By doing this, I can call for help from my jungler or other lanes once I see their jungler there. This applies to both sides by the way. Pretty much, if you want to be on top of the enemy jungler and know if he's in your "ganking bush" as I identify it, then jut place it in there along with warding Baron, this will keep you in the safe and could actually get you a kill if you catch their jungler in between the two entrances to his jungle. Oh, and don't forget to ward your objectives if you're being counter jungled, it could save your buffs. Bottom line is, if you don't buy /, you suck massively at this game and you should quit.

BUY !!!!!!!! (And oracles ;D)

Okay, so is a very passive laner who takes much advantage from ganks and turret shots. There are many champions that you can beat pretty easily, and many that you will be completely owned by. Let's get started. I will talk about every champion, but will only go into more detail about more commonly played top champions or champions I'm experienced with. Let's get started.


Ahri is a very commonly picked mid lane champion that is rarely seen in the top lane, but if you ever do get into a lane with her I would suggest passively farming and asking for ganks because she is quite vulnerable in top lane pre-6 because of her lack of escapes. Beware of her taunt and orb combo though, and she will become very annoying post-6 because if she catches you with the combo and she is farmed, you're probably going to die :P


Akali is one of those champions that brings a lot of burst and a great escape kit with her. I haven't been against many of these lanes, but I sort of know how she works. First of all, you are the alpha ninja (Zed has nothing on you) and you have a bunch of abilities that can counter hers. Your can trade with her Mark of the Assassin pretty decently as long as you it to absorb damage, but vorpal blade can also heal you. This is how trading with her will go: You throw a vorpal blade, she will throw a mark, you can block some of her mark damage with feint and you then can trade with her by using ki strike which will restore health with vorpal heals and do extra damage. Just do this while

You will usually be top lane, and the great thing about is he doesn't have too many direct counters that are commonly played. Another thing is that 's abilities allow him to escape and stay alive from a DoT like or minion aggro that may kill you as you're escaping with a sliver of HP. Even if you get your hell match up , if you get your jungler to camp your lane or just heal off of his minions and use it to CS from range, you should be fine as long as you don't play stupid and die. I suggest maxing in a lane where you get countered and poked a lot. After the laning phase you can use your to gank another lane or counter jungle. You could also sustain your lane but put more attention into looking at teammates that may get caught or almost die during a fight. So when you're helping your teammates, you could also help take their turret and get into the team fight phase!

Jungle Shen is something that I have been picking up on recently and I have to say it is pretty awesome, you have so much sustain will and that you will have pretty much full HP by the time you are finished with on jungle clear. There is only one problem with Shen jungle, the speed. Shen has amazing jungle sustain, but he lacks the speed that , , , and are known for, you will make up for this by having safer ganks though.


I honestly think that can build the same thing in the Jungle that he does in lane and be just as effective, but can actually be an amazing tool which will solve his slower jungling speed while giving him a free ward and making his sustain even higher with the life steal and armor you recieve from this item. As jungle , I also find myself building more because it again also helps your clear time while giving you health and armor, both of which are great for you. Other than that, your build will be pretty similar to your laning.


Ganking as Shen is in my opinion pretty effective due to having , but it is a win or lose situation because of the long cooldown on it. You will want to gank through the tri-bush or the river opening and try to focus their ADC or in some cases their support if it's an easy kill, bt usually you want to try to taunt onto the Carry to try to get them killed or just to burn their flash in which case you can gank again if they are dumb enough to overextend. Another great thing is as an energy using champion, you have the choice to start at Red Buff and do a level 2 gank top which will for sure burn a flash, or even get First Blood for your team.

Enjoy the jungle my friends :]

Yes, that will be your main goal in team fights, taunting their whole team and allowing your team to waste 'em for a second. You will want to focus their carries as you should while making sure your teammates stay alive by doing clutch taunt saves or saves. There really isn't much to it, you may also be focused because they know that you will taunt them again if they don't take care of you, but just because you aren't with 6 feast stacks using surge and doesn't mean you can take one heck of a beating. Just keep in mind that will allow you to take less damage from the taunted enemy which just allows you extra tankiness. Another big tip that people (like me) sometimes forget is popping your item actives, specifically because that will be your core armor and team fight item. If you play correctly, it is very hard for an organized team to lose if they have on their side.

Well, here has been my guide for,
- Eye of Twilight
I hope that you have taken the time to read over my guide and see how I play Shen and how I have gotten used to using him. If you have any suggestions or critique for my guide, then post it in the comments below as this is my first real guide for any game of any sort and I will be expanding it in the near future as I learn more about making guides. Thanks for reading and I hope you can own some people with this build and carry your team to victory!

-DemnSlyr aka Philip


Your Team: - "WOOO!"

Enemy Team: - "I suck :["