Shen Rework

So Shen is the next rework slated to come out, and Taric is coming out after (to my understanding). I heard that there would be a thematic change to avoiding damage rather than just taking it, but he will be maintained as a tank. Here are my thoughts on what the rework might include, but if a Rioter would respond to give some more info, that would be amazing :).

Passive: I think it will be likely kept the same, except maybe a change to how the cooldown works (maybe a specific number of seconds that scales down at levels 6/11/16). This might be moved as a passive to a different ability, and he might get a new passive in its place. However, this passive is definitely going to stay somewhere in his kit. A potential new passive would be a dodge mechanic every so often, with the cooldown lowered when Shen takes damage from a basic attack (synergy with Taunt).

Q: Vorpal Blade is Shen's way of sustaining himself, and I don't think they would want to cut that from his kit. The life tap mechanic is also very interesting, and is part of why he can be played support, something they would likely want to maintain. It is also his only way to poke. However, I think it will likely be significantly changed while maintaining the life tap mechanic, but probably losing his ability to poke. I imagine it could be a melee skillshot where he swung his sword in a small arc, life tapping all units hit. It might even apply on-hit effects or reset his passive.

W: This ability will most likely be entirely scrapped and replaced with a new one. This is likely where they would add the evasion thematic to his kit. Maybe he could block damage and then immediately counter attack, like in many fighting games? After all, Shen looks very similar to Subzero from Mortal Kombat (I don't actually know much about the series, other than the fact that it's a fighting game).

E: Shen's taunt is an iconic part of his kit, is pretty well balanced, and is still an interesting ability. I don't think this will see much change, except maybe to values.

R: This is his most iconic ability; I don't see any way where they would possibly want to change it except its scaling. It might get a shift to scaling with his HP instead of AP, but it should stay as the global shield teleport. Although this ability is hard to keep balanced, it is the thing that makes Shen who he is. Riot has to keep this to preserve who Shen is. They might add a passive to it, because Riot loves to add passives, and passives are rarely a bad thing (some exceptions being Tahm Kench ult passive and Illaoi Q passive).

As for whether Shen will still be AP or if he will get AD scalings instead, I'm not entirely sure. I would like to see a shift to AD, due to the better itemization available for bruisers, but him being maintained as an AP tank would be fine as well. He scales better with attack speed than AP right now anyways, so it wouldn't be a huge difference.

If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them!