If I were to ask, like, two weeks ago, certainly anyone would reply that the reason why Shen is not popular is because he doesn't have a lot to offer as a tank, his shield scales with AP instead of health, and he doesn't have the same level of teamfighting potential as other tanks.
Yet he now sees a lot of popularity as a top laner, and even as support.
Why?
BeatzBoyFTW10 votes3 letters: LCS
And yes, there are dead-brainless people copycatting them without even knowing how his laning phase goes, and then goes toxic on his teammates for his failure in it.
YumaS2Astral16 votes3 letters: LCS
And yes, there are dead-brainless people copycatting them without even knowing how his laning phase goes, and then goes toxic on his teammates for his failure in it.
People don't understand that there is a reason why pro picked X champion, and that X champion may not work on all team comps, or situations.
Vellich0r2 votesHis biggest issue in the past was the fact that he has a minuscule hit box on his taunt dash, and that is is only good way to regain energy and also costs almost all his energy to use. This led to Shen being a champion who was basically useless if he didn't hit his dash on at least 2 people. The reason he is better now is because they buffed a couple of his energy costs so you can actually do a full rotation of abilities (You could barely do a rotation before, and if you missed your dash you wouldn't be able to use more than one other spell) now you can do a full rotation whether or not you land your taunt.
Slamurai Jack7 votesV5.11: General Base magic resistance increased to 32.1 from 30. Magic resistance growth increased to 1.25 from 0. Ki Strike Cooldown reduced to 9 / 8 / 7 from 9 at all levels. Shadow Dash Energy cost reduced to 100 / 95 / 90 / 85 / 80 from 100 at all ranks.
V5.8:
Stand United NEW EFFECT: Now places Shen between his target and the closest visible enemy champion.
V5.7:
Stand United Cooldown reduced to 180 / 160 / 120 seconds from 200 / 180 / 160.
420Templar6 votesHe was picked as a support in LCS.
YumaS2Astral5 votesAnd then people decided to copy that just like every other LCS pick because they are sheeps that can't think for themselves?
Erockandroll2 votesAnd then people decided to copy that just like every other LCS pick because they are sheeps that can't think for themselves?
Disturbing, considering that What the LCS actually takes him for is the Global ult. Regardless of the fact that shen lacks the initiation tools of a more powerful tank like Maokai or Sion, he makes up for that in Global pressure. Yet this is disturbing because YoloQ doesn't always make the best use of objective based skills, or global skills.
Personally, I will look to the LCS for inspiration on what champions I should master. But I attempt to unravel the champion and figure out WHY he's a good pick. I don't pick up champions without testing them first, and I don't assume that an LCS pick is Freelo.
Also, I actually Tried Shen Support long before he was played in the LCS. He has a kit that seems to work decent in a duo lane, and he may be only support with a global. Though the main reason I tried him was I wanted a support who did not rely on Mana. I'm definitely going to pick him up now, if only for the unorthodox support pick.
Delioth1 votesYeah, he's pretty good- he can soak up poke with his W, heal both he and his laner with Q+Relic Shield, and has a long enough taunt to make initiations k. Works exceptionally well with an ADC that can throw a little more CC their way 
(with proper setup) 
(or who can just burst them down in his taunt window 
)
Risurin1 votesAnd then people decided to copy that just like every other LCS pick because they are sheeps that can't think for themselves?
Alternatively, he appears alot in high elo stream, either top or support. and people often look and ask these people for tips and picks to climb.
Alternatively, his recent buffs, make him a lot better as a tank choice, notably his ult cd reduction, the energy cost reduction on later lever of his taunt, MR/ LVLs,
And basically his strength as a pick hasn't changed, he can join a cross map fight really quickly while adding a nice shield on top of that and will usually place you in a nice spot for Taunts (for instance a 1v1 top lane can become a 3v1 with any jungler and support shen, same a 2v2 bot can become a 4v2 with shen top and any jungler, and he can even tp back to his lane to not miss any cs) .
Of course, competitive play, helped him see popularity, but its not nearly limited to that only factor. And After all, to be played he has to make some sort of sense somewhere.
CrankyChipmonk2 votesLet's not forget when they changed his ult to make him appear in between the person he ulted and the nearest enemy, making it just that much easier to land the follow up taunt.
junglerboy166 votes2 very simple and desperately needed buffs:
MR per level and shadow dash's energy cost buff (now it's 100/95/90/85/80 instead of 100 flat)
That is the *only thing that has changed since before he started showing up everywhere.
Variks the Loyal9 votes2 very simple and desperately needed buffs:
MR per level and shadow dash's energy cost buff (now it's 100/95/90/85/80 instead of 100 flat)
That is the *only thing that has changed since before he started showing up everywhere.
Not all, he also got a reduced CD on his passive as he levels.
junglerboy161 votesReally? I never saw that in any patch notes, which one did that change? this last one or one before it?
Variks the Loyal2 votesReally? I never saw that in any patch notes, which one did that change? this last one or one before it?
The same patch as the MR boost and Shadow Dash buff.
junglerboy161 votesguess I missed it then.
Sinlaire1 votesAlso. before they changed his taunt cost it was 120 flat. then they said "too much" and made it 100 flat. so he's come a long way.
OperationDEEZ13 votesAlso, his Q heals his teammates more because of the 
buff.
junglerboy162 votesfair enough, I hadn't considered that (although that really only benefits other tanky members on his team, since most squishies don't build SV).
SouL1ess1 voteshow? Is his Q considered a self-heal even on teammates?
CrankyChipmonk2 votesThe spirit visage buff is that it increases healing from all sources. Aka soraka will heal someone with a spirit visage more now.
SouL1ess1 votesThen how does Shen heal his teammates more if he has a SV?
The ADC/Bruiser isn't going to buy a SV specifically for Shen's Q because the heal isn't very significant in a short period of time.
CrankyChipmonk1 votesAh yeah i think the guy meant more as a slight additionalfringe case buff where someone else was building a SV anyway. Idk.
Mostly I misunderstood what you were trying to say when you said "self heal on teammates"
Fadedpf1 voteshis dash was 120 energy before if im not mistaken, at that point he was completely unplayable.
junglerboy161 votesyeah, but I was trying to point out what changed since last patch that made Shen go from no play to picked/banned in almost 2/3rds of LCS matches in NA.
back when it was 120 it was really hard to pull him off, and that buff made him marginally viable, but this last set of buffs is the reason he is played in LCS now.
Silents4292 votesIt was 100 energy actually.
Sinlaire1 votesthought it was 110-120 back near the end of season 4 before being patch somewhere around when they fixed his R randomly misfiring.
Silents4291 votesChanged patch 4.21 along with his texture rebalance.
wilsuport4coffee3 votesbecause he got some really beneficial buffs a few patches ago.
Rinky Dinky3 votesBecause people are sheep
M Schumacher2 votesLC$
Old Man Teeto2 votesShen allows for a free farm lane by his opponents, meaning the best goal is to put a hard scaling champion (Jax was favorable in previous seasons) against him and trying to survive until late game.
Not too many teams are playing hard scaling top laners, Ryze being the most favored of them with Jax being played by only a few (Werlyb)
Shen's goal was to win the mid game and then split push heavily in the late game.
Playing with and against a Shen is different than ANY OTHER top laner. This means teams have to get used to playing with a Shen. Shen is difficult to practice in solo-que because of the lack of communication for Shen ports so once Shen was fixed, teams had to decide if he was worth practicing, and then actually practicing him.
With the buffs which are huge for him, Shen can actually taunt more than once reliably in a fight, and has much better damage and shield uptime thanks to the passive increase. This means his resiliency is WAY better in a team fight then before.
Poke compositions are huge currently, and teams who aren't practiced against a Shen team can find themselves falling behind in the mid-game due to his near permanent map pressure between his ultimate and teleport. Additionally, the main strategy against a poke composition is to flank, Shen offers an easy way to get a dive/flank buddy in. (Another reason we've seen some Nocturne).
Taredom1 votesShen allows for a free farm lane by his opponents, meaning the best goal is to put a hard scaling champion (Jax was favorable in previous seasons) against him and trying to survive until late game.
Not too many teams are playing hard scaling top laners, Ryze being the most favored of them with Jax being played by only a few (Werlyb)
Shen's goal was to win the mid game and then split push heavily in the late game.
Playing with and against a Shen is different than ANY OTHER top laner. This means teams have to get used to playing with a Shen. Shen is difficult to practice in solo-que because of the lack of communication for Shen ports so once Shen was fixed, teams had to decide if he was worth practicing, and then actually practicing him.
With the buffs which are huge for him, Shen can actually taunt more than once reliably in a fight, and has much better damage and shield uptime thanks to the passive increase. This means his resiliency is WAY better in a team fight then before.
Poke compositions are huge currently, and teams who aren't practiced against a Shen team can find themselves falling behind in the mid-game due to his near permanent map pressure between his ultimate and teleport. Additionally, the main strategy against a poke composition is to flank, Shen offers an easy way to get a dive/flank buddy in. (Another reason we've seen some Nocturne).
This guy pretty much nailed it, as i mentioned as well, scaling MR was a massive buff too. Also upvoted because i love Nocturne and shen makes him that much better.
Khell DarkWolf1 votesI only know of him getting MR per lvl like he should have.
But I been playing him top and trying to play around to see how to play him differently then quote "full tank".
EndlessSorcerer5 votesShen has low attack range and damage scaling which, combined with the fact that taunt will usually place him deep in the enemy team, means that Shen works best when he's durable.
If you want to build damage on Shen, I would recommend picking up one or two of the damage items which scale independent of your abilities. Some good options:
junglerboy162 votesWit's end is actually pretty frickin' strong on Shen because all his ability damage and passive damage is magical, in addition to people taking damage from Sunfire and thornmail. It is also the best option for an offense/defense cross on him, especially landing against an AP.
YumaS2Astral2 votesI would add 
Yeah, building a little of AP on Shen works very well. I've actually tried using Shen with AP runes/masteries recently on top lane, and he works very well. Although he loses some of his dueling potential that he has when he builds BotRK/Triforce, and it's harder to last hit, Shen gain two things; first, his early game burst damage is impressive. Second, his abilities scale very well with AP. His Q and his E do more damage and his W and his ult have a better shield.
brad4 votesI would add
Yeah, building a little of AP on Shen works very well. I've actually tried using Shen with AP runes/masteries recently on top lane, and he works very well. Although he loses some of his dueling potential that he has when he builds BotRK/Triforce, and it's harder to last hit, Shen gain two things; first, his early game burst damage is impressive. Second, his abilities scale very well with AP. His Q and his E do more damage and his W and his ult have a better shield.
why the actual fuck would you build rylais on shen
Pæan2 votesthe slows? o.o and it gives 400 hp which helps your passive, i dont build it but i could see how it would work on some ap builds
Delioth2 votes 
Are great on Shen. His Q is spamable enough when combined with his w/e, he has good enough ratios on all of his abilities (with just these 2 items his Ult can get up to ~800-900 hp shield at 2nd level.), and he has enough natural tankiness to keep himself alive while building AP. AP helps his own shield quite a bit as well.
The damage makes it harder for the enemy team to just ignore you, and rylai's/Luden's procs on Q is quite an annoying poke. Esp. with Rylai's buff.
(Ratios for reference: Q: 0.6 AP, W: 0.6 AP, E: 0.5 AP, R: 1.35 AP)
The Yetii Rider1 votesThe reason Shen is seeing more play top, aside from the aforementioned LCS spotlight and buffs, is the introduction of the Bami's Cinder item. Shen has always required Sunfire Cape to farm and split push effectively in the top lane, and now he gets the passive even earlier than he did before, which gives him more gold and thus better item scaling into the mid game. It's true that Bami's Cinder has been out for a while, but now that people are taking Shen top more because of the LCS, they're building this item they never had a chance to build on him in previous seasons and seeing a much better lane phase as a result.
WutsKraken1 votesSome small buffs + some item buffs suddenly made him able to utilize his actually pretty dang decent early game
TendajiX1 votesI love shen, I play him because his global assistance ult is really strong (and i love ninjas)
insaiyanbacca1 voteshe got buffs mr per lvl and a buff to his taunt cost
Sire Hippington1 votesHe recived buffs for his passive and E, which massivly helped his poor lategame, and his global ult is still incredible powerfull. He's the only champion in the game that can port from top to bot without useing the TP summoner.
Also, people finally figured out that he is a great support...
woobee1 votesFor me it's because he looks cool.
For real.
He's a flippin' ninja.
KayVaugn1 votesI played shen support before it was cool D:
Phife1 votesHe was buffed 3 times in a row. last one was a ridiculous buff.
Has nothing to do with LCS. just #'s and stats.
Subject 51 votesI played jungle shen and hardly ever shen top, I also supported him before the big 'lc$'
Taredom1 votesNot sure if it's been mentioned but they buffed his weaknesses, his mass taint/dash that halves damage taken scales to become cheaper, which helps his energy problems and he now starts with more MR and has scaling MR, which is absolutely massive for someone like him.
He was already a big, sustaining lane bully with a global presence who can split push well, now he's just the whole package. Im shocked that i don't see him more.