You guys have it wrong about Shyvana.
She is not weak early game, nor is she strong late game. Her power comes from reaching her spike faster than anybody else, and her damage peaks about mid-game with Sated, Bork and Titanic hydra. Then falls off later as she spends the rest of her budget on survivability and sticking power such as dead mans plate and spirit visage or thornmail.
A smart Shyvana will achieve both sated and Bork within the first 17 minutes of the match. (I usually obtain sated around 13, which is absolutely disgusting and not acceptable, hence the rift herald nerfs)
This gives Shyvana insane sticking potential and she can just run you down with retarded amounts of damage, about 25.5% of your health (IN ONLY PERCENT HEALTH DAMAGE) with an AA Q no matter what, due to her Q proccing sated which procs bork and E. (This is assuming your target hasn't built a ridiculous amount of armor by now. A frozen heart with a chain vest or hp would be needed within 20 minutes to stop this pain train.)
She can also be stopped, and if she doesn't get her mid-game spike before everybody else, she loses out on her greatest strength. This can usually be achieved by having excellent objective control, if you take dragon and rift before she finishes her sated you will set her behind by 5 minutes at least, and these are usually free because Shyvana wants to save them for her Devourer. As soon as she finishes devourer off (7 or 8 minutes at the latest if you don't buy swifties or mercs first) she will ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT head to one of these, usually the one where her side is pushed up. But if you haven't taken an objective by the time her devourer is finished or stop her from getting one after, you are in for one painful match.
But let's get to the nerfs, I've rambled on long enough on how she functions:
Twin Bite (Q) second hit's % of AD bonus physical damage lowered to 40/55/70/85/100% from 80/85/90/95/100%
This was a bit too harsh but I understand where it is coming from, nobody likes having a dragon land on you and deal half of your health in one auto, but honestly, that was more-so Titanic Hydras fault then hers, so all this does is smash her balanced early game instead of her mid game. This nerf seems to be going in the right direction, but it overshot it's target by a very large sum, 50% of an abilities damage taken off at level one is just ridiculous. Imagine if Jax's empower gave 20 bonus magic damage instead of 40, that's around the same ballpark for what is happening to Shyvanas Q. (of course these are 2 different champions so comparisons always have other factors, but I'm way too lazy to put brainpower into finding and listing them all)
Ahhh this one...
Burnout (W) [effect removed] no longer deals extra 20% damage vs monsters.
This one makes quite a bit of sense, her clear speeds would be fast enough without it sure, but also, it makes her first clear that much harder, and exposes her to risk of encounter when counter-jungling. Which I would be all for if not for the fact they are HALVING her early q damage, when she ALWAYS, no matter what maxes w first.
In my opinion I think one of these nerfs needs removed, or both need toned down. But also there is a lot I am probably missing, so she could still be a problem after these nerfs. But also, I checked these forums every single day, and not once did I see a complaint thread about Shyvana, not once did I see anyone asking for the nerfs I thought she needed. (if I had to choose I would make E %health damage scale, it is RIDICULOUS)
This leaves me to believe her playstyle is not toxic, but rather, hard to notice the impact of. (or is that considered toxic?) This isn't a champion that is broken due to her outrageous scalings and abilities, but due to items, meta, and good objective control. This champion promotes better play with use of Devourer to gather objectives, which in turn helps her ENTIRE team win.
Now if only sated wasn't so ridiculous.
