I was going to buy Shen because I've played him, liked him, and liked his skins, but I always wonder, why is he underplayed? (I haven't checked the actual stats, but it just seems like he is), Is he underpowered also, or am I wrong, and he isn't underplayed? Should I buy him?
He is one of my favorite top-laners, but as has been said already he's much more of a team player than most, so because of that his solo power isn't remarkable. Simply put, he isn't good at dueling, usually it's just "win by out-tanking them" in lane. But (also been said before) his abilities are incredibly useful in the right hands. His Vorpal Blade's heal can seriously dish some healing out if it's on a big target. His Feint can get his Passive up quite quickly if used against numerous small attacks like minion autos and his Shadow Dash (E) can make up to 3 people really regret their life decisions.
He used to be a very strong pick for his split-pushing power (he could pushtop all day and still contribute to a teamfight, effectively allowing him to be present during a team push without actually being present). His ult took a huge it its cd now though, and while it is one of the last truly global skill you will feel that ult's cooldown.
My opinion: He is one the best frontline tanks in the game but requires great timing and very good awareness to play well. Once you get him down he'll be very rewarding, but until that point he may prove a bit frustrating.
If you know what youre doing with him then hes not underpowered at all. Play the lane right, push your advantage when you can. His in-lane sustain is really high and he can bully some top laners.
His issue right now is that he can get bullied himself by Jax, Renekton, Fiora, and a few others. To win the game when you're being bullied top means you have to use strategies like split pushing with ult/tp pressure. And to get perfect positioning in fights.
His Shadow dash, taunt, is a very powerful CC tool and can easily win a fight for your team, it can also be the reason you lose fights. Missing or going in 1v5 when your team isnt ready can be devastating because, other than taunt and ult, shen is very ignorable.
tl;dr use him right and he's as strong as any other champion, go even in lane and win the game using strategy and teamfights.
Shen is strong but underplayed.
Shen is lose-lane-win-game. He's a strong laner because he's extremely passive: You can last-hit at a range and easily last hit under tower due to your Q and passive. He's also basically immune to poke due to his W, with the exception of Teemo's 100% uptime poke. Later game he becomes a stronger duelist, but at that point you mainly want to splitpush and ult a teammate when you need to teamfight. However, he's also extremely vulnerable to super sustain top laners like Warwick, Mundo, Nasus, and Vlad.
Even though late game he's good at dueling, his strongest strength is split pushing and team fighting. Ulting bot lane at the perfect time means getting a bot tower and/or dragon while you only lose top tower. Landing the perfect taunt means that Ziggs can land his ult easily. He's a strong splitpusher because if he gets caught or a teamfight starts he can just ult and continue as nothing ever happened.
The reason why Shen isn't seen as often anymore is because the meta is against him along with a lot of direct and indirect nerfs. Top lane is filled with Jax, Renekton, and Shyvana, all with an interrupt ability to stop his ult. Jax and Fiora also outscale his 1v1ing power late game. Sunfire Cape and Spirit Visage, two core items, were nerfed at the start of S4. Randuins got nerfed too. At the end of S3, his E width and length were nerfed as well.
If you're on the fence on whether you want to buy him or not, flip a coin. Heads is buy, tails is no buy. If you don't like the coin flip, flip it again "for real". Keep flipping until you're satisfied with your outcome
While I don't don't know how Shen performs in lane, Shen is usually a champion that requires a lot of precise communication between teammates to work. The worst thing that happens with Shen is when Shen ults someone in danger while the ulted person flashes to safety.
On his own, he is weak, but that is because to much of his power is put into his ultimate. He needs to make plays with his ultimate in other lanes because he should not be winning lane if his opponent knows what he is doing. It is relatively easy to feed your botlane and let them carry you lategame while you try to mitigate the relatively strong toplaner by splitpushing and drawing him to you.
It just depends on whether this is your playstyle or not, it isn't mine.
I think Shen is just incredibly team dependent. He can be really powerful (he saw a lot of professional play in the past, and will be played occasionally even now), so I wouldn't say he's really underpowered, but his kit is somewhat reliant on his team (ult is a team-saving tool, and his taunt really relies on your team following up on opportunities you create). I think if you like the champion and are willing to put in the time to get good with him, pick him. Any champion can be OP in the right hands. I feel like with the greater emphasis on teamwork and also the increase in popularity of teleport, Shen is a really good top laner and could see more and more professional play in the future.
He has huge scaling issues and his laningphase is quite easily counter, due to him lacking mr per lvl and being incredible vulnerable to sustained ap-dmg early on (kayle, lulu, kog´maw...). He really could use some buff to his e, you really are totally screwed if you ever miss it - as it´s the only thing that makes the opponent notice a shen is around + it´s his only form of energy-recovery.
I would relly prefer if Riot would take some power of his ult (no longer global range, similar to other such ults like tf, panth) and add some more power to the rest of his kit (mr per lvl, energy recovery on kii-strike, dmg).
i like them line ninja taunt......shen is pretty ok now compare to him before where his ult make him immune to all CC + damages ,god he is broken as fuck back then
