Shen buffs? Let's do it right. (Everyone encouraged to participate)

#Tl;dr Buff Shen's base stats to make him tankier (more scaling armor/HP) and/or make his abilities less clunky (bigger hitboxes, indicators) and more impactful (Increased W duration, passive shield increase) to accentuate his identity as a dueling and peeling tank.

So, Shen is planned to get buffs since he was nerfed for having a useful ultimate or something like that. So, what are we going to buff? It's a matter of what would help Shen fulfill his identity and not push him over the edge.

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#Maintain Shen's identity as a dueling and peeling tank.

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Shen is meant to go toe-to-toe with front liners during fights, peeling for his carries or putting pressure on enemy carries while doing so. While bigger, badder raid bosses like Darius and Nasus would prove a little more problematic for him, lots of bruisers have issues killing him if he does his job right. Which is what Shen is supposed to do: He's meant to be a warden that can also duel.

Now, I'm not saying we should make Shen one of THE best duelists in the game (// tier), but we should make it so he can fight what he's meant to: bruisers and fighters that rely on getting in your face (, , ). As it stands right now, Shen has some of the worst stats when it comes to tanks. A list of buffs to fix these issues would include buffing some of his more lacking base stats (scaling armor, scaling HP) or giving him bigger windows/power to do what he does best (Increased W duration, bigger shield on passive).

##How to avoid pushing Shen over the edge

Remember to keep in mind that Shen relies on his passive shield to tank a lot of the damage he normally would. Early on it helps, later on it can become absolutely terrifying when utilized correctly. Remember that Shen needs to land his abilities and keep a combo going to get these rewards, so buffing his base stats too much would be bad. For example, giving Shen an increased 5% max HP on his passive shield is a very risky move because it would create instances where Shen's shield gives him almost a second health bar. We need to keep in mind things that scale hard, and avoid overbuffing them.

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#Oil the gears to make things less clunky

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As it stands, Shen's mechanics have disillusioned many Shen mains because the abilities he has can be inconsistent and conflict with the way the character feels and operates. Right now, we have hitbox issues, kiting problems, and overall problems that make Shen feel like he was released without being fully tested and tweaked. For example, Shen's Twilight Assault (Q) allows him to pull his spirit sword toward him and grant a buff for three auto attacks that deal an empowered % of an opponents max HP in magic damage. The empowered % increases if the sword is pulled through an enemy champion. However, the hitbox for the Q sometimes does not actually grant the buff when it looks like it should have. Opponents in many instances who are running and are on top of the sword are not slowed when the sword is pulled while they are directly on top of it. Furthermore, the travel time of Shen's Q can sometimes throw off the timing of combos because of how slow it can be.

Another issue we see sometimes is that Shen's Shadow Dash (E), while your model collides with an enemy, DOES NOT TAUNT. This is one of the biggest gripes Shen players have, as many a Shen have dashed at an enemy just to stop short on top of them with no CC applied. Furthermore, while dashing it is possible for an opponent at mid-range to sidestep the ability too late, get hit by your champion model and the spell effect and still not get hit. It is almost impossible for players to know if their E will land or not because the hitbox is smaller than the champion model, which serves as the only indication of the move's area of effect. Several ways to fix these mechanical issues include increasing clarity (hitbox indicators on the ground for Shen's E and Q), buffs to fix inconsistencies (make Q give a small AoE effect when pulled to affect opponents standing on top of it, buff Shadow Dash to match the hitbox of Shen), or increase the speed at which mechanics occur (Q travel time increase, E missile speed increase).

##How to avoid pushing Shen over the edge A very noteworthy thing to bring up is that we need to keep counterplay in check. Making Shen's E too fast, or his Q too large would make Shen difficult to get around and turn him into a serious lane bully. Additionally, hitboxes too large would result in a smaller distinction between good and great Shen players, as it doesn't matter since the Q's hitbox could be the size of a refrigerator like Morgana's Q. Enemies should still be able to dodge abilities if they have the tools or are insightful enough, but should also be punished for not respecting Shen's presence.

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I hope you enjoyed this read, and let me know what you think!