Shen mage or tank?

Dangperson·Jan 4, 2019·1 votes·1,564 views

Hey riot, quick question. Why the hell are Shen's main abilities ap scaling? When is he ever gonna build ap?.................... Its so useles even when you do build ap because there are to items that would work for him........ most of the major ap items like deathcap and ludens would make him way too squishy. He does so little damage with items like nashors that's there's no point in build it. And when you choose the hp ap items its still not enough durability or do any damage to the other team..... The ap scaling on him is so useless..... he might as well not have any scaling at all..... Please explain the thought process behind it.

5 Comments

Critmaster GarenJan 4, 20193 votes

the main reason why tanks have ap scalings is so that baron buff does something on them.

theyre not expected to build ap. this goes for all of them, not just shen.

Zac Sejuani Alistar Taric Leona Nautilus Malphite

etc. etc.

WeaselRuneJan 4, 20191 votes

Yeah except AP Malphite is more of a summoner 4 CC one rotation nightmare in this high damage meta than Annie ever was. His ult gap-closes, knocks up, and nukes all in one go, and there is no "charge indicator" to let you know hes about to do it like Annie was given.

He has point and click poke, naturally tanky and hard to poke back, and has high bases meaning at level 6 + summoner 14 he will Q you till you leave the lane or he kills you.

He is gankable, but by the same note his jg will be sitting close by cause its a 100% kill 2v1, Malph gap closes and CCs and the jg gets to put some hits in, you can only flash after the knockup ends....

The main problem with a mage having to lane vs him is Malphs Q, at level 3 does 170 damage +60% of AP. Its point and click, rolls right past minions, slows, and can be used at a range of 625. Thats 25 less than Caits AA range, 50-75 more than many midlaners AA range meaning if you want to AA a minion, he can Q you from farther away than you can AA him while standing in the minion wave. Malph repeats this till you are either forced to leave lane, or youre low enough for him to ult+combo+ignite.

This build and playstyle is mostly a problem for mages only, they lack to mobility to avoid the ult, and are squishy enough to die to it easily. Malph doing this to a tank would result in them not dying, and then them beating his ass till he leaves the lane once they build an MR item.

The others cant build like a mage though, they lack the burst, and any that have good scalings dont do an entire rotation before their lane opponent hits the ground.

The rest of them tho... they dont build AP, or really shouldnt.

FTGloryJan 4, 20192 votes

He is a tank,like most tanks he have ap scalings.Your mission with Shen protect your carries but in current meta he is struggling against Conqueror users and his Ult shield blows away due to high damage.He is cool champion imo but i think Riot will never buff him because he can be good in LCS.

InfernapeJan 4, 20192 votes

Unlike most tanks Shen is AA based not ability based. If anything his ult should keep its AP scaling and his Q should gain a small AD scaling, while losing its AP scaling. No one builds AP on Shen.

At least before the update, all of his damage from his kit was magic (passive, Q and E) and the latter two had AP scalings to boot.