Overview
If you love staring at your teammate’s health bars and the minimap for the vast majority of the game, then you might just be a Soraka main. But you might also be a Shen player, which is why you are here. Shen’s ultimate is one of the best utility abilities in the game as it can instantly turn around a fight and allow you to join the action from across the map. Click here for the latest data on his best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Shen
Stand Untied [R] is typically thought of as a defensive ultimate, but it is just as deadly as an offensive tool, as you can time it with an ally's engage to instantly gain a numbers advantage.
Shen is a great pick into teams that are reliant on auto-attacks as you can block them with Spirit's Refuge [W]. His kit makes it easy to split push, but in an actual 1v1 fight end game, you will have trouble against some of the dedicated duelists.
Strengths
The main reason anyone would pick Shen is his Stand United [R], which allows him to instantly shield an ally and then teleport right next to them. This will help him maintain a TP advantage over his counterparts throughout the game, and if you’re able to properly maintain your waves, you can gain a big split pushing advantage for your team. It also allows you to instantly turn some fights early in the game -- this can be critical to preventing a snowball or in helping your team push the issue. Additionally, he’s a great pick into comps that are reliant on auto-attacks, thanks to Spirit’s Refuge [W] blocking the damage.
Weaknesses
If you are not coordinated with your Stand United [R] -- meaning you are using it reactively to help your team out of pinches -- you could quickly find yourself behind in experience and gold as you vacate your lane to go help. This allows the enemy top laner to push in your lane, which will cost you minion waves and help them gain access to plates. At the minimum, it will force you to use your TP back into lane. And once you’ve ulted, the cooldown is over three minutes long, which means you have to be very careful about whether or not it’s worth it to ult.
Game Plan
Early Game: Because you don’t have mana, you want to play in a manner that lets you win over time -- this means playing around the cooldowns on your Twilight Assault [Q] and Spirit’s Refuge [W] in particular. You can play to out-sustain enemies.
Mid Game: At this point, you want to be in side lanes as much as possible. Between Stand United [R] and Teleport, you should always be able to join your team in a fight across the map, so you want to make sure you are applying pressure on a side lane.
Late Game: The strategy won’t change much at this point in the game from the mid game -- it may be better to proactively use your ultimate for engages now, though, as enemies can sometimes burst down the target of your Stand United [R] even through its shield.
