Shen is so close to being perfect, what's stopping Riot from giving him the help he needs?

There's a champion that is supposed to be functioning well right now but isn't and could really use some attention. That champion is . I'm curious as to why a champion with such great potential has been left in the dust. I know the update team have been hard working on the wonderful Warwick update, however this is also important!

The only followup to the nerf he received late last year was one that improved upon his scaling base stats. At first glance it was alright, however this had the unfortunate implication of following a nerf to his shield, and after a patch note that stated that he's supposed to build damage items instead of the tank items he actually needs to function. Needless to say it wasn't as good as it sounded.

Nevermind that, let's focus on where we can go from here. I honestly believe that some low-effort work on him can go a really long way.

Now, first I must mention that his base kit is actually REALLY GOOD in terms of balance and fairness. All three of his base abilities are nicely designed to the point where even if they had been buffed into absurdity, he still wouldn't be overbearing as a champion! His Q is a fantastic bread and butter ability that goes the extra mile and gives him two potential windows of power depending on how well he uses it. His W is a situational powerhouse that works ONLY against certain champions in his time to shine. His E is a simple yet incredible ability that despite the picky hitbox can be both effective and fun to learn the naunces of. What's stopping Riot from buffing these if he's underperforming?

Shen has one, teensy little huge issue. The one that ends up getting him nerfed yearly. His ultimate! His ultimate has the issue of supporting a playstyle he doesn't support as much anymore. Shen's update changed his gameplay, that much is true. It's as if he's gone from his old inconvenient passive supportive brick wall champion into, gameplay wise, a powerful, unrelenting duelist that when used cleverly can provide good situational pick potential. I believe him being used with appropriate smarts and precision make him very worthy of a champion to be popular in League of Legends, ONLY when he is balanced correctly.

#I suggest that the shield on his ultimate needs to take a hit for the team. Hurting or even removing the shield wouldn't cripple Shen much as much as you would think, it would actually promote clever, fairer gameplay while giving up some of his power budget in favor of buffing the more well-balanced parts of his kit! Shifting his ultimate from a passive defensive one to a more devious one would not be as bad as it sounds - over in Korea, they've enjoyed the use of his ultimate for the longest time, especially in situations where the shield isn't even needed!

Where do we go from here? Well, Shen's bread and butter Q ability would need to deliver a bigger punch. You could say that increasing % health damage would be a bad idea, however Shen was fine in the past when the damage value was higher and newer champions have the same or more percentage damage than Shen does now! The newest champion Camille not only has a shield for a passive too but also a Q ability that deals True Damage!

I would also suggest updating his ultimate to provide some kind of self buff in place of the shield. Honestly, this could be a very low-effort update; add two sound effects, an aura particle and either the ability to replicate empowered Q's for a limited time, or the ability to dash twice after using his ultimate and everything would be perfect. Note that said Q buff would still require him to land his Q blade in order to inflict the slow!

Keeping up discussion on Shen is something I'd love to see on this board, considering how he's in an unfortunate state right now despite the meta. I fear that if he goes untouched the upcoming yearly LCS-nerfs will end in a total catastrophe for him. I'd like to hear what you think.