Fixing Shen's gameplay and theme, simply

Hi! Embarrassingly, I'm Gingerfap, and I just got diamond playing ranked solo (!) as little more than a Shen one-trick. Skip to bolded "here it is" if you don't want to read preface.

Riot has recently conceded that Shen's rework falls a little flat thematically and came out a little clunky for payers. Other champs, however, need more attention than new shen, so these changes are likely to stay as they are for now. I propose that a few tweaks, which won't hugely change his style, can take his (imo) good rework to the next level. Here are what I consider to be the problems with new Shen.

• Dragging the spirit blade around seems clunky and unrewarding, especially with only one repositioning option

• At level 9 and beyond, it is rare that he WON'T be using the spirit blade. Empowered, Shen's q is easily one of the best tank-shredding moves in the game, but at max level it's never really off cd

• His lore paints him like Geralt of Rivia meets the Avatar, which is extremely badass. The spirit world nor his two swords really come through in game. Shen's cutlass is just normal, whereas his spirit blade is unarguably better

Also, here are things that absolutely cannot change in his kit:

• Ult

• taunt dash

• being a flippin' ninja that has the stamina to fight for days and days but also likes to be upfront about it

Proposed changes, therefore, involve only his q and w.

Here it is:

• Shen no longer lugs a blade around behind him; his q is no longer recalls anything
• Shen's w stays the same, but always originates from him
• Shen's q is reworked into something like Jinx's q. It's a switcheroo between his cutlass and his broadsword

When broadsword is activated, Shen:

gains access to his w deals %max hp damage on ht loses energy at a fixed rate (either per auto or per second) Shen's eyes glow as danger indicator

When the cutlass is active, Shen:

loses access to his w gains bonus attack speed gains bonus energy for his first three attacks

What these changes do:

Thematically, Shen more closely represents his lore-self. Shen now has a reason to use both swords, rather than trying to use one every opportunity he gets Enemies get more clarity, as Shen has definite windows of power, and cannot maintain tank-shredding mode indefinitely Shen players are faced with a strong kit with a meaningful choice, rather than "spam q off cd when fighting"