Shen's rework failed his fantasy and his playstyle.
I don't like the new Shen and would like to propose changes to his current state. Before I start here is a short introduction (with a huge post on Shen for the curious). Started playing league around season one, mained Shen ever since. I was actually looking forward to the rework when it was announced, just imagining what cool things the devs could come up with. The rework happened, I didn't like most of it. Spammed Shen until I could at least do decent with him, but he feels like a shadow of his former self. I made a big post comparing what old Shen had compared to new Shen if anyone wants to read it:
Now on to why I think the rework failed. Shen is very strong in a coordinated team, wether saving the ADC from certain death from across the map or enhancing upon a strong engage comp and turning losing battles into winning ones. All of this is tied to his global presence tied to his ultimate, because of this almost all his stats got nerfed in the rework (with a particular insidious nerf to his energy pool). Just because he has global presence he's not allowed to be strong on his own, while he can be if he can get ahead somehow. Playing a ton of new Shen feels awkward, it feels like every time I engage I am signing my own death sentence. I'm litterally rushing Zzrot so I don't have to deal with my lane opponents anymore, where in the past I would rush a Sunfire cape and put its insane synergy with old Shen to use aggressively. It feels like Shen is weak, and it makes him less fun to play for me. Hes lost a lot of reliability in the rework and his skills don't feel as synergetic as they used to.
Proposed rework:
Shen is about saving his allies through tanking and shielding them, that's what feels good about him. Hes a ninja, but the only sneaky thing about Shen is his ult. I enjoy saving my friends from certain death, and turning a losing fight into a kill for our team. I also enjoy duelling my lane opponent in toplane, so my list of proposed changes is Duelist/Peelerish.
R - Global presence has to go, it hurts me to say it. But Stand united is keeping Shen down. Shen's ultimate is his signature move along with his taunt, and changing it for something completely new is not something I oppose but given the choice I would like to keep the teleport to teammate.
Proposed changes:
- Reduce the range massively a la TF, decrease the cooldown to compensate.
- Keep current cooldowns reduce range to less than TF at level 1, same as TF level 2, global range at 3.
- Remake it entirely: I honestly have no clue for a worthy substitute.
Stats - Shen's stats took a beating which I have described in detail in the link I provided above.
Proposed changes:
Rewind his currently nerfed stats to his old state, make his energy pool 200 again like the other energy users. This will allow Shen to be tankier from bases and run energy runes if he so desires. It also won't punish him as hard for missing his taunt since his energy regen isn't artificially halved.
Passive - I prefer Ki strike. But with his new Q it no longer has a place in his repertoire. I'd rather make his current passive more reliable and versatile.
Proposed changes:
Remove the spirit blade entirely, causing his passive to trigger instantly upon activation of skills(only delayed activation after ult channel). Make Q auto's reduce the cooldown for each hit, nerf its scaling accordingly. Reduce cooldown with each target hit by E.
Q - Shen's only noteworthy damage ability, tied to his gimmicky spirit blade. I like the animations, the % health doesn't feel unfair. The slow is mediocre, and hard to land. I particularly like the animations, though for nostalgia's sake I would have included a dual wielded animation.
Proposed changes:
Change the spirit sword hit to something like: If Shen or a ally near Shen is below 50% health the AS boost/additional damage triggers. Add a small slow effect to the empowered auto's, or a strong slow effect to the third empowered auto. This would allow Shen to peel for low health team mates, or duel enemies if hes in a prolonged fight. Reduce energy gained per strike to half its current amount, reduce energy cost to half its current amount.
W - Shen's aa dodgepool, it feels useful for a good 1 second and then its on its massive cooldown. Easely baited by people that know what they are doing. I'd rather have the reliable and boring feint than this. Since we're ditching the spirit blade, this field will need some work or removal. Its something that is overpowered vs a AA heavy comp and useless vs a skillshot oriented comp.
Proposed changes:
- Keep the pool as is dropping it where Shen is currently standing, remaining immobile if Shen moves from it.
- Make it a small range skillshot so Shen can dictate where to drop it.
- Remake it entirely:
Feint 2.0: Shen blocks the next skillshot/attack and turns a portion of its damage into a temporary shield. It would not remove aoe attacks or stop CC from happening, only the damage part would be removed. Hard countered by DoT spells, counters burst and late game ADC auto's. Would not trigger Shen's passive. High cooldown low cost.
Mark Target: Shen Marks targetted champ/minion/monster, allies including Shen attacking the marked target regenerate a portion of Shen's max/bonus HP. Marked target is revealed for X seconds preventing stealth (could even use Shen's old Vorpal blade toss animation). No damage if point + click, some damage if skillshot, moderate cooldown and cost.
E - Shen's signature move along with his ult. Shen's versatile mobility spell with some hard CC attached. It has damage that scales with his maximum health. In all honesty, I preferred his old E without damage.
Proposed changes:
- Remove damage, slightly reduce cooldown. If Shen dashes through an ally, he provides them with his passive Ki barrier shield. Energy gained from taunted enemies doubled (the old amount).
- Keep damage as is, return 50% damage reduction from taunted foes. Reduce cooldown slightly. Energy gained from taunted enemies doubled (the old amount).
Let me know what you think.
