I've been seeing a lot of posts about Shen since last week. So, let's talk Shen.

Before I begin, I've all but grown disillusioned with this champion. I don't really have fun playing him anymore and honestly that's muted any bias I may have had quite a bit. So, before anybody tries to claim I'm pandering to the champion because I am not neutral, don't waste your time.

#The Problem Shen's been a bit of an odd champion in his history. He used to be a tank made for dueling, then reworked to fulfill that destiny to a higher degree. However, one thing that has remained consistent is that Riot loves to nerf him. While I can try to be that guy who claims that Riot is crap or they have a hard-on for seeing Shen mains suffer, I'm just going to list the real issues so that we don't get sidetracked here. ##1. Shen is too powerful in organized play. The combination of Shen's ultimate and taunt make him a formidable presence in a level of the game where teamwork is perfect down to the t. You can't really play around Shen's strategy in pro play of pushing a side lane and ulting in to help in a fight. Well, that used to be the case back in season 6. Regardless, his ultimate grants him unparalleled global presence which can be powerful in the right hands. In the hands of a pro player, this power is overbearing. ##2. Shen suffers from design philosophies that don't quite mesh well with the game. Shen is listed as a tank. However, most of his tankiness comes in the form of his skills. If you don't believe me, compare his HP growth stat to any other melee and you will see he comes up short when it comes to base stats. However, some of these skills make no sense when you add them up together. His passive is the spirit sword, which he can position to debilitate his enemies and deal extra damage. However, while you would expect him to have his kit revolve around this sword, you wouldn't expect him to only have one way to use it: his Q. His W is another skill that could make sense until you look at the numbers and the specifics. 1.75 seconds for a dodge zone that you cannot fully control on a 16 second cooldown seems kind of harsh, especially considering how it's his only self-defensive ability apart from his passive shield. Its only practical use is for 1v1s, since you cannot position it for allies outside of the first second when you arrive with your ult. His kit has decent tools that are kept relatively weak because they are too strong, but they don't flow well together. There's only one combo where they do, and it depends on a skillshot on a champion who is already jumping into a fight with a flat-out stat disadvantage. It makes very little sense from a design standpoint.

So with these two main issues, let's take a look at the diagnosis: ##Shen is an unhealthy champion on a similar tier to pre-rework Irelia.

#The Solution To put it in simple terms, Shen's main strengths come in these forms:

1. Instant global interference that is almost always guaranteed.
2. Tools that are too powerful to have good numbers.
3. Kick-ass thematics.

Now, number 3 can't be helped, so we'll tackle the other two.

##Make the ultimate less streamlined. Shen's ultimate at the moment is 'press R on champion and get shield and teleport.' There's no thought or mechanical skill to using it besides timing. So, we should emphasize good timing and use and make it easier for enemies to play around. Some suggestions would be:

1. Make Shen's ultimate have a 'charge-up' period where he has to click R again if he wants to 'snap-cast,' resulting in a pitiful or no shield at all. Waiting a little longer will grant a larger shield. This will allow him to have a more powerful ultimate while making it less overbearing.
2. Make Shen globally visible to all units when he uses his ultimate. This will grant the ability true global presence, like Sion's ultimate gong, giving enemies time to react or stop Shen. This global presence will allow the ability to be much, much stronger because of its announced cast.
3. Make the shield redirect damage to Shen. This way, if Shen ults an ally under heavy fire, he can save them, but at a cost. He may come in with a lot of his HP gone, and thus lose the fight, adding another aspect to his ultimate for him, his allies, and his enemies to consider.

##Make Shen's tools less gimmicky. The title. His tools are just a pile of gimmicks at the moment, and hold back his stats because they are too strong. What can be done to fix this? Well, here are a few examples:

1. Remove that stupid W and give him an AoE shield. That, or make the W jump to an ally or himself by targeting, as well as his spirit sword, and slap a larger energy cost on it. That, or give it a higher cooldown. This would remove a lot of the issues regarding his lack of combos while giving him an actual tool to use for his allies.
2. Remove the spirit sword slow and instead give Shen a movement speed buff toward the enemy he pulls his Q toward. This would allow enemies much faster than Shen to escape his twilight assault while simultaneously making his E the only tool he has to pick his enemies. The slow at this point is a joke and a bit of an oppressive mechanic, so a movement speed buff would increase his reliance on his E, granting him the ability to catch up to his enemies if they position wrong while also making his E even more central to his kit.

#Conclusion

In conclusion, Shen sucks because of gimmicks. His ultimate, his W, his spirit sword... these are all tools that actually hold back this champion from ever being viable in solo queue. Feel free to discuss.