What if Shen's duality theme worked more like Shadow of Mordor

Big Lincoln··42 votes·1,238 views

Not sure whether or not this belongs in Gameplay or Story. Kind of a weird thought, but I felt it was cool enough to share; if Shen's duality with protecting two planes of existence was a bit more literal, and he was consciously aware of his existence in both planes simultaneously and able to act in both planes at the same time.

It relates to Shadow of Mordor mostly for the gameplay aspect; if instead of the silly floating sword he actually had a projection of his spirit to perform combos with while he fights and offer up other utilities. It might be a little tricky to see in the gif but you can see that the player and his revenant are attacking in between each other's swings; something like that would be incredibly cool to see on Shen, and I think it'd be fairly fitting considering his ties to two worlds.

https://i1.wp.com/www.effsgamingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ShadowMordor_HeadExplode.gif?fit=480%2C270

29 Comments

Melledoneus11 votes

While I love Shen I would prefer if the Q at least gave an auto reset upon the buff activating.

An idea to replace current Q if I had to would be a "mark" system where Shen would attack someone, and if they stayed within a certain range for a long enough time he can pull off a series of slashes with after-images of him using his spirit sword rather than a literal planar version of himself.

Another idea would be that if an enemy hit him while he activates his Q and its buff is active (for a short duration) he gains the buff. This would play into him using his E to combo and force his opponent into an unfavorable trade.

But as it stands I've grown comfortable with the spirit sword mechanic and would be perfectly content with some buffs to its reliability, smoothness, and power.

Arakadia1 votes

Your first Q idea sounds really rad actually.

Second idea sounds a bit cancerous. Forcing your enemies into bad trades isn't very fun unless your Shen.

I've thought about making it so whenever he pulls his spirit sword to him with Q, he drops his metal sword which than floats and uses his spirit sword. Some sort of permanent buff swapping maybe?

Melledoneus3 votes

So Shen would switch between %HP magic damage and %HP physical damage. That sounds freaking awesome.

Arakadia1 votes

I can imagine a real smooth animation with the sword maybe flying into his hands.

Arcus Diabolus5 votes

I think his current theme of having a different blade for a different kind of foe to be kinda cool in its own way. Tbh, I don't want his Q to change. I love his new Q and its made playing Shen such a blast.

What needs to go is his W. Its too gimmicky to use and its not useful for much. Blocking auto attacks for such a short time frame isn't helpful for a tank like Shen, and due to the nature of how he is forced to move the sword around, he isn't getting much use out of it in terms of saving his squishier teammates either.

Big Lincoln4 votes

that's fine, I know some people like the current Shen, it's just sort of a what-if that popped into my head while I was writing today

What needs to go is his W.

I actually like this ability a fair amount? It works kind of crappy with his sword mechanic, sure, but it has a lot of potential to be something good, honestly. I think it should be more rewarding, for sure; if the duration scaled up to a maximum for successfully eating auto attacks, it'd be an incredibly good ability.

Arcus Diabolus4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=T2xyAByG,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2017-03-24T04:08:07.810+0000)

that's fine, I know some people like the current Shen, it's just sort of a what-if that popped into my head while I was writing today

I actually like this ability a fair amount? It works kind of crappy with his sword mechanic, sure, but it has a lot of potential to be something good, honestly. I think it should be more rewarding, for sure; if the duration scaled up to a maximum for successfully eating auto attacks, it'd be an incredibly good ability.

Maybe if it always triggered on his person so it was active immediately it would be useful, but as it stands it takes too long to start up and lasts for too little by comparison. Increase the range a tad so you can actually use it to protect allies.

hhaavviikk4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Arcus Diabolus,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=T2xyAByG,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2017-03-24T03:44:23.907+0000)

I think his current theme of having a different blade for a different kind of foe to be kinda cool in its own way. Tbh, I don't want his Q to change. I love his new Q and its made playing Shen such a blast.

What needs to go is his W. Its too gimmicky to use and its not useful for much. Blocking auto attacks for such a short time frame isn't helpful for a tank like Shen, and due to the nature of how he is forced to move the sword around, he isn't getting much use out of it in terms of saving his squishier teammates either.

I completely disagree, big floaty spirit sword has 0 relevance to shen not to mention it does not fit a ninja, if someone says ''floating sword'' I think of irelia, you know, the champions who's lore and identity is about floating swords, not shen, a ninja

Arcus Diabolus1 votes

{quoted}

I completely disagree, big floaty spirit sword has 0 relevance to shen not to mention it does not fit a ninja, if someone says ''floating sword'' I think of irelia, you know, the champions who's lore and identity is about floating swords, not shen, a ninja

Sooooo, you mean you agree. I addressed that I liked the idea of having two different types of swords, however I mentioned that I didn't like his W's sword mechanic. I'd rather he carry the sword on him.

Melledoneus1 votes

His sword mechanic is his passive, not his W.

Sraeg20132 votes

Tbh, I don't want his Q to change. I love his new Q and its made playing Shen such a blast.

You are possibly the only person to think that.

Arcus Diabolus1 votes

{quoted}

You are possibly the only person to think that.

But farming is so dumb easy to do with it. Its far easier than even his old Q.

Sraeg20131 votes

Well, I can farm with Karthus' basic attacks alright, so I don't know if I have a say in this.

Leaf on Bush1 votes

Blocking auto attacks for such a short time frame isn't helpful for a tank like Shen

Thats a good point, you build tanky so why would you want to dodge, but then again there are auto attacks that can really hurt even a full tank Shen Vayne Fiora Camille

And ADC's in late game always hurt.

DarkRitual1 votes

As a Shen support player, this is most of the reason he can still work in the role.

Specifically as a pick against Jhin and Caitlyn.

Teridax685 votes

One passage in Shen's bio that really stuck with me was when he was fighting these opponents in the spirit realm: to an outside observer, he was popping in and out of the physical world, but in reality he was constantly shifting between planes mid-battle. I'd say a potential alternative to his W would be to have him physically exit the map for a few seconds, carrying everything around him along for the ride, move through a "spirit" version of the world, and have him and everyone else in the spirit realm shift back to the physical world at the end of the duration. It would work with his warden theme, since he'd be able to spirit allies away to safety or remove threats from a fight for a short while, but could also give him a kind of stealth for interesting plays with his taunt, though he'd also be blind to the physical realm while in the spirit world.

Beyond that, though, I think giving Shen any kind of mechanical complexity is not a good idea, because Shen is meant to be all about strategy: since his ult already requires a large amount of map awareness and team coordination to do right, you don't want to make him focus on some other in-game object like a floating sword or even some independent spirit clone. Timing and awareness of other players should be a key part of his gameplay, but otherwise I don't think he needs to keep track of much else, nor does his finesse need to be expressed through precise aiming or even exceptional positioning.

And A Real Hiero1 votes

Not a bad idea, since the ghost thing already exists with the devourer doublehit passive.

LyingOnLine1 votes

Ugh.

I'd rather forget Shadow of Edgedor exists.

Big Lincoln3 votes

i thought it was fun

uruk grooming was really enjoyable once you got them hard enough

Supreme Senpai692 votes

How do you get an Uruk hard, if you don't mind me asking?

Blitzidious1 votes

It honestly isn't too difficult of a task. I mean, half of them already are pretty hard. Just listen to some of their lines. cough, I mean, Combat master and Immunities are common, ya'know?

Big Lincoln1 votes

mostly game progression and trial and error, cull the weak ones til you have one you like then either let them kill you so they get stronger or see of they do it on their own

just realized how I worded that though

Supreme Senpai691 votes

Yea I've actually never played the game lol I just wanted to point out what you did there

BLACK REALM GOD1 votes

everyone knows - shen's a butterfingers. how else could he manage to constantly drop his spirit sword.

Silverjust1 votes

they could chang his passive-transparent-sword-thingy to a spirit-version of Shen. I think it would make more sense, like his q: he reunites with the spirit-shen and deals bonus damage and his w: his spirit version protects him and his allies, not his sword

Arakadia1 votes

I want to see him sort of blink out of existence maybe too.

This sounds even cooler though!

GULAG 4 U1 votes

So tank see sort of?

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