Why does Shen have such low base and scaling HP?
(For a Tl;dr, all of the champions in each section have higher base HP and scaling HP than Shen, despite not being champions that need to soak up damage. Read the final super-mega-bolded statement for the best Tl;dr)
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_champions/Health
The reason why it feels more difficult to play Shen compared to other tanks (in my opinion, to each their own) is because he has such low bulk. With a base HP of 540 and a level 18 HP of 1985, it's quite pitiful how low his stats are post-rework. Even after the round of buffs he got almost a year ago. To put things into perspective, let me make some comparisons here:
To shorten this a bit, I'll just put the HP in this format: {{champion}} Level 1 HP/Level 18 HP
Now, this first group I like to call the "battle mages." These are the mages that get real close to dish out damage, and have a good amount of bulk to compensate for having to be that close. Here is a comparison of the the three bulkiest by base HP alone:
540/1985
> 589/2034
 562/2126
 559.48/2089.5
So as a tank, Shen has naturally lower base HP than these three. I will admit his level 1 armor is higher than all 3 by a few points, but even at level 18 Morgana and Rumble have 5 higher base armor than Shen, a somewhat niche anti-auto attack champion. Let's keep going.
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Next we will move on to to some **bot lane ADCs** with questionably high base HP when comparing it to Shen, considering he is a tank by class. So, without further ado, let's get this over with:
>** 540/1985**
545/1905
542.76/1936.8
554.4/1914.4
554.4/1914.4
557.76/1951.8
When comparing armor, Xayah, Kai'sa, and Lucian have 1 point less than Shen's base of 34, while Draven straight up has 1 more base armor than Shen at 35, with a whopping 91.1 armor at level 18 compared to Shen's 85. Tristana is not as gifted in the armor department as the other 4. Onwards!
Some people will argue that "oh, but these are closer ranged carries, they need that HP! That's not a fair comparison." To those skeptics in particular, I dedicate this next section to you: Ranged Mages! Here we go:
> 552/2116
 560/2124
 570.48/2236.5
Now, now, I know Zoe is a burst mage and Ryze is a shorter ranged... combo mage(?) but since Ryze has refreshable shields and has considerably higher range than most melees we can safely called him ranged. Azir has a surprisingly higher amount of HP than Shen does, but when we take a look at his armor we can see it's also considerably lower than Shen's. Ryze is in a similar boat, and Zoe as well, except her scaling armor is decent and places her only at 5 less armor than Shen at level 18. Regardless, the bulk here is surprisingly high for a class that isn't expected to soak damage. And now on to the next section!
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Now here's a section that's my personal favorite. A class meant to be bursty, daring, fragile and mobile. A quick in and out to kill their target, or they pay the ultimate price. Yes, we are talking about **Assassins**, lads and lasses! This is a fun comparison to make:
>** 540/1985**
584/2029
588/2203
585/2115
545/1990
582.8/2027.8
572.8/2017.8
587/2100
585/2030
602/2200
576/2106
570/2236
593/2123
585/2030
572/2000
Now, I know this is a lot of champions, some you weren't expecting to see. One is Ekko. He's a slayer, so we can just cut the crap and call him an assassin. Second is Nidalee. Nidalee is an assassin, despite how she's played in ARAM, get over it. Now, it's quite obvious that these champions have quite a bit more bulk than Shen, a tank, does. With the exception of Nidalee, most of these champions would make considerably better tanks with how their base HP values are.
Zed, Talon, Katarina, Shaco, Nidalee, and Akali all have lower base armor at level 1 than Shen, but their values far surpass his by level 18. Rengar has an identical armor curve to Shen, in the meantime. However, Kha'Zix (with a base of 36 base armor and 87 at level 18), Nocturne (with a base of 36 and an impressive 95.5 level 18 armor stat), Evelynn (with a base of 37 armor and a bulky 96.5 armor at level 18), and Kayn (with a whopping 38 base armor and 94.1 armor at level 18) surpass even our resident top lane(?) tank ninja. Kassadin, Fizz, and Ekko have slightly lower armor stats than Shen, nothing considerably lower than our other comparisons. Excelcior, to the next batch of champions!
Now at this point, some would still be skeptical. "Shen has a refreshable shield, that's why his base HP is low." Well, while I do acknowledge that Shen's shield scales off HP (we'll cover that aspect some other time), there are quite a few champions with more bulk that have similar, if not better shields. Let's look at our shielded scrappers! Let's compare:
> 558.48/2020.5
 570.8/2015.8
 594/2209
 575.6/2020.6
All of these champions have significant self-shielding capabilities, too. Riven, Lee Sin and Diana all have very slightly less base armor than Shen at level 1, but far surpass him by level 18. Camille, on the other hand, has 1 whole armor stat higher than Shen at level 1 and by level 18 far outclasses his 85 armor with a terrifying 99.6 base armor. Not to mention Lee's shield can have lifesteal stacked on top of it in the same ability, Riven's shield scales off AD, Camille's shield is automatically adaptive, and Diana's shield scales off AP, deals damage to close enemies, and when the three orbs detonate the shield refreshes. Now, let's move on to the next section of champions that I should probably announce here but whatever.
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Here I will start listing oddities and explaining why, by the logic of Shen having his W to block autos (and thus having less bulk to compensate), these champions should not have higher HP either. ***Keep in mind that these are not my arguments, but I am using other peoples' logic.*** Here we go:
>** 540/1985**
(580/2025) - As a champion with a guardian angel for a passive, his base HP should be lower because it gives him significantly more life. Also, his sustain should justify him having less HP to compensate for such a powerful innate mechanic.
(574.4/1934.4) - As a champion who can stack HP to terrifying degrees much faster than Sion can, and infinitely, Cho'gath should have a lot less HP to begin with to even out that power curve. Also, his lane sustain and the HP scaling damages on his ultimate and E should force him to be punishable early, so lower HP amounts are justified.
(550/1995) - Lane sustain, riposte, and just overall mobility should not allow her to have so much bulk. Shen pays for having nullification abilities with his HP, why can't she?
(551.12/1979.1) - He's bursty and has a resistance stacking mechanic, and he's very damage oriented. Why should his HP be so high when he already has mechanics in place to negate damage?
(607.2/137.2) - Mobile, has sustain, and has a unique mechanic refresh on her Q, what justifies her being so tanky?
(576/2191) - He's super ranged, has two sets of abilities, and has tons of utility and CC. Why is he so bulky?
(586/2371) - She's ranged and has a heal, and she has a very powerful ultimate. She should not be allowed to have so much access to large amounts of HP, especially with how high her level 18 amount is.
(598.56/2162.6) - Invulnerability on Q that also damages, a % damage mitigation on his W, true damage autos, a slow-nullifying ultimate... the sheer amount of defensive utility here does not justify him having so much HP.
(542.64/1783.6) - For a champion with an infinite stacking mechanic for HP, he starts off with quite a bit of base HP, doesn't he?
(575/2105) - Constant heals and refreshes, a %HP spammable shield that also hits an ally and grants an armor buff? An AoE invincibility for an ultimate? Multi-pronged CC? Dang, better hit those HP numbers, that's not fair.
(625.64/2291.6) - Why the hell would a champion who doesn't care what his HP is for 5 seconds care about high base HP?
#Now, enough nitpicking. Let's ask the real question here: Why does have the base and scaling HP of 
and 
?
The only tank in the game with lower HP values than him is Sion, who has an even higher base HP amount than Shen at level 1, and has an infinite HP stacking mechanic that more than makes up for that deficit in his HP scaling. I understand Shen has 2 pieces of utility (1.75 second dodge zone and a global shield/teleport) but does that really justify how low his HP is?
I'd like to propose we increase Shen's HP values to be at least somewhat on part with melee assassins, if not with tanks. That way we can feel like we're actually playing a tank instead of some niche, flimsy fighter whose one good matchup in top lane now beats him easily (thanks Riot for buffing Riven's animation cancelling).
#Buff Shen's base and scaling HP please. I want to play a tank again, not this flimsy mess. Thank you.
has low base stats.
that have some shield in their kits that helps in their trades have some compensation for that.
In Rivens case it isn't her base health, but her health regeneration. She has basically no natural way to heal back up a lost trade if she doesn't use her shield right in her trades.
gets sustain from landing her Q, this is a design decision made to not make her a backline healbot, but to encourage interaction with the enemy laners (no seriously, how obnoxious do you think raka standing in the backline healing someone for 400 HP every two seconds is)
has the lowest AD growth rate, but she's giving this up for SCALING. her passive deals bonus damage of (50-100% total AD) on the first auto attack she lands, this applies to her Q as well, so while any ad can build upwards of 300 AD, only she can do a critical + passive + duskblade + shiv + damage from q from a relatively safe distance without risking anything.
as an example since his whole reason for existing is to counter tanks.
with whisper, crit, etc etc..
couldn't do a smack thing about me. I got so fed, I was doing more damage than my entire team with just one ap item (Nashors) and health / cdr items.
P: mini aoe lichbane
Q: ranged poke that does %max HP
W: dmg reduction and aoe taunt, free magic damage shield
E: dash, knockup
R: dmg reduction on target, AOE knockup in area that has 0.5 second channel and 1 second travel time (shen channels for 3 seconds)
all get a fairly comparable shield, which scales better than %max hp...
I never had such an issue with dying tbh on Shen. one good taunt against enemy team and you'll increase your winning chance by so much.
With this build you will never have any issues on Shen.
40% CDR
Tenacity in
So much Defensive stats
A lot of hp
A nice extra damage from Titanic with his Q to take down targets if not peeling
Overall you'll have total stats of:
almost regardless of matchup. Tabi is enough to deal with lack of armor and you can outduel a lot of the roster with these items. Let alone adc's you can blow them up with a single combo if their support isn't a top tier shieldbot. Not really a tanks job but hey it doesn't feel like building armor matters. Eventually I'll add a 
followed by 
or 
