Playing with Shyvana on your team

I see a lot of confusion from fellow players when I get on Shyvana. People asking why she isn't peeling, why she is building damage, why she isn't grouped despite being the team's 'tank'. This is an explanation for these things, in case you need the info in a hurry there is also a TL:DR at the bottom. If you want to know more about Shyvana in general ask somebody who isn't in silver, or ask me separately below/in client.

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What role is Shyvana? NOT A TANK. That is the most important thing to remember. She has no CC other than a very buggy push on her ult that is hardly reliable and rarely intentionally used. Without CC she cannot properly initiate a teamfight and certainly cannot peel for you. She is a Juggernaut according to Meddler on an official answer. But really she plays most like Olaf and Udyr, a semi-tough champion who relies on hard dive damage, map control and surviving long enough to DPS. Again, Riot says Juggernaut, but I think the old description was more accurate "Tough DPS". Meaning she is there to deal DPS and be tough enough to survive in melee range to do so, NOT to lock anybody down, NOT to peel.

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What are Shyvana's abilities? In short... Passive: Armor/MR

Q: Does a double basic attack, CD reduced by basic attacks, applies on hit effects twice. Scales well with on hit and attack speed.

W: Does AoE damage and flat damage on hit while active, gives movespeed, duration increased by basic attacks. Scales well with attack speed.

E: Does initial damage in a line, marked targets take %HP damage on hit. Scales well with attack speed.

R: Leaps a long range, stopped by CC, deals AoE damage, makes her other spells more AoE and makes her tougher. Has a buggy, unreliably push during leap.

As you can see, no reliable, effective CC to act as a peeling or initiation tank. Just a ton of damage.

Important! Once Shyvana's ult is down she has no natural escape in her kit, and while her ult is down it is almost impossible for her to hard engage especially under enemy towers.

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What damage type is Shyvana? VERY IMPORTANT! Shyvana deals a lot of magic damage. If you ever find yourself questioning why she was picked on an AD heavy team or why she has a wit's end, it's because she doesn't build AD, her AD and AP scalings are rather garbage so she relies on on hit damage and the base power of her kit. She ends up dealing between 35-60% magic damage depending on what build and gameplay style you are following. She doesn't benefit a lot from armor pen so don't expect her to buy your team's black cleaver. Her W/E/R all do magic damage initially, and her W/E do magic damage on hit as well.

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What does Shyvana DO? 1 Farm: Shyvana is a jungler as of now, she use to be a very effective top laner but with changes to her and the game she was pushed into only jungle(Note exceptions for some oddball off meta players and one tricks). She has extremely fast clear, but her lack of pre-6 CC and gap closers means she is nearly useless at ganking. An inexperienced Shyvana will just power farm until she hits 6 then try for ganks. An experienced Shyvana will likely make counter ganks to turn them on the enemy, invade their jungler a lot with her massive dueling power and go for early dragons(sometimes sneaking them, she can solo it with only I've even done it without the complete stalkers blade). Don't expect her to gank your lane, play safe unless you are well warded and are on the strong end of a lane matchup. She won't gank. It isn't going to happen. Until 6 literally all she can do is run at the enemy.

2 Split Push: Shyvana is a VERY powerful duelist, few champions with equal or lesser gold can beat her, and she almost always has a gold advantage due to her massive jungle clear speeds and strong invade potential. Don't ping her to back over and over, if she is split pushing she usually has her ult and summoner spell up. Her ult is a 1000 range leap and her summoner spell is usually flash or ghost, sometimes exhaust. She is tanky enough, fast enough and powerful enough to get out of most situations. Pinging danger is coming is fine. But if she KNOWS that enemy ADC and tank are coming, spamming pings isn't going to change her strategy, likely just frustrate her, you and your team. Don't expect her to group a lot, inexperienced Shyvana's may overcommit to grouping or splitting, but even experienced ones tend to waver between the two. She won't always group, she is a very strong split pusher and can take down enemy towers fast. Use the numbers advantage. Grouping 5v5 mid and diving the enemy tower isn't always a good idea anyway...

3 damage: Shyvana as we said has NO reliable and effective CC. She does however have damage. She has damage and mobility, a strong movement speed W, a 1000 unit leap, flash/ghost, either mercs/swiftees and even some movement speed items. Some Shyvana's even advocate movespeed for quints. So she can move, and deal damage, hybrid damage. So in a skirmish, gank or teamfight you can expect her to deal damage. That is it. She has no other tools, just damage and mobility.

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Who should I play with Shyvana? CC champions. Shyvana doesn't bring any reliable and effective CC to a team other than her summoner spell options, red buff and late game perhaps a mallet. So if you are a mid mage? Pick one with CC. If you are a top laner? CC. ADC? CC. Support? CC. People like Leona, Ashe, Malphite, Annie, Syndra, Nautilus among others, go well with her. But another subset do as well, hard initiation champions. During team fights or Skirmishes Shyvana ulting in means she intends to stay in, she doesn't have natural escape once she blows her ult, and her ult is susceptible to CC. So playing people who can hard dive, hard initiate and win team fights works well with her. In general, she works well with strong team fighting champions. Because her attribute is damage, so the rest has to be covered. Also because if she is split pushing, you may have to team fight without her entirely. So CC and hard dive are both great with Shyvana.

Overall, treat her like you would Riven, Olaf, Tryndamere or Irelia. Even if they aren't in her group, they like her exist mostly for their damage and/or are strong split pushers. Treating her like you would them, will prevent you from tricking yourself into thinking she is a tank.

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How can I help Shyvana? Experienced Shyvana's invade a lot, but due to lack of natural escape pre-6 are susceptible to being collapsed on. Be ready to help her in counter jungling. She is a dueling monster but early game cannot do crude to mid, top and jungle all closing on her. Pinging mias is obvious, but for Shyvana it is essential, she is 100% about map awareness and situational awareness, helping her by pinging enemy location or mia enemies is a big help.

Only help her with dragon if she pings for help or it's an obvious "We just killed bot lane, now we go get dragon" situation. She can solo it, and probably is, unless a laner heads towards her or the enemy jungler shows up, she will be fine. Even then, she can situationally deal with most enemy junglers even at dragon, but may need help.

Crowd Control. Can't say it enough. Don't expect her to be the team's tank. In fact, if she is selected in champ select, purposefully note that "We don't have a tank yet, can somebody pick a tank?" If you want, she will appreciate it ;D. Shyvana isn't a tank, she is a Juggernaut, a Tough DPS. She is there to do damage and split push.

Ban: Vayne, Blue Ezreal and Caitlyn.

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TL:DR Shyvana is not a tank as she lacks CC, her kit synergizes with attack speed, she cannot peel or initiate well because she relies on her team for the crowd control. She is a split pusher and won't always be grouped. She does a lot of damage. Pre-6 she can hardly gank and lacks natural escape. She can solo dragon. She does hybrid damage but does not scale well with AP or AD. Once she has burned her ult she has no natural escape. While her ult is down initiation is almost impossible for her. Don't expect early ganks. Play CC and team fight oriented champions with her. She will not fill your team tank role.

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Thank you for reading, hope I clarified some misconceptions and helped out some people who otherwise would have been confused on what to do with the Shyvana on their team.