Shen Changes (Changes Previously Posted on PBE Forums During 6.2 Cycle)
Currently, the current Shen rework in the beta (and now live) is... a little boring. His new Q looks amazing on paper, but in-game he mainly just basic attacks and basic attacks and basic attacks and... you get the idea. Dash, Q, W, and then QQQQQQQQQQQ. It's pretty boring.
I suggest a change to his Q, and while this is only one change, other abilities could be changed as well. Below this Q change I really think should happen. I will list a kit molded around this new Q change.
Q- Twilight Assault Old: 140/130/120/110/100 Energy 8/7.25/6.5/5.75/5 sec Cooldown Shen recalls his spirit blade and draws it. Enemies it collides with are slowed by 35% when moving away from Shen for the next 2 seconds. Shen's next 3 attacks deal 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% (+ ~1.5% per 100 AP ) of their target's max health as bonus magic damage. If the spirit blade collided with an enemy champion, those attacks deal 5/5.5/6/6.5/7% (+ ~2% per 100 AP) instead and have +50% Attack Speed. Minions and monsters take an extra 30/50/70/90/110 bonus damage per attack.
NEW: 120/115/110/105/100 Energy 9/8/7/6/5 seconds Shen recalls his spirit blade and draws it. Enemies it collides with take 10/20/30/40/50 plus 5/6/7/8/9% (+2% per 100 AP) of their max health as magic damage and are slowed by 35/40/45/50/55% for the next 2 seconds. Shen steals 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% of the total movement speed reduced by this ability. Monsters take an additional 50/75/100/125/150 damage from Twilight Assault. The cool down of this ability is reduced by 15% for every enemy champion hit.
This new change makes Shen must more active and have to think about his positioning MUCH MORE than his current Q. Shen's current Q should probably make Riot realize something... basic attacking as a Tank isn't fun. Not only is it not fun, but it leads to conflicting build paths that make Shen just confusing to build around. Do I want Titanic Hydra or Banshee's Veil? Maybe I should get Devourer over Cinderhulk? Guinsoo's or Dead Man's? It gives the player choices, but we go back to the first point: basic attacking as a Tank is not fun. ESPECIALLY if basic attacking as a Tank does not improve the overall damage soaking or crowd control you do AND crowd control on basic attacks that is meaningful to Tanks usually isn't fun to play against. This new Q makes Shen much more about what Riot aimed for this rework: moving around to perfectly execute ability combos. Maneuvering the battlefield in order to get that perfect Twilight Assault that pierces through every enemy champion and slows them for a huge amount, setting them up for further combos! The new "movement steal" effect on it further emphasizes this by allowing him to gain extreme amounts of movement speed in order to re-position himself on the battlefield.
This, below, is a kit I made molded around this Q change.
Passive- Ki Barrier Old: After casting a spell, Shen gains a shield that absorbs 52 - 120 [+14% Bonus Health] damage for 2.5 seconds (cooldown 10 seconds). Spells that successfully affect an allied or enemy champion reduce this cooldown by 4-7.5 seconds. Shen's power manifests as a spirit blade that he can control with abilities.
NEW: After casting a spell, Shen gains a shield that absorbs 50 - 90 [+10% Bonus Health] damage for 3.5 seconds (cooldown 8 seconds). Spells that successfully affect an allied or enemy champion extend the duration of the shield by 2-2.5 seconds. The current shield is doubled and refreshed if Shen still has any of Ki Barrier remaining upon Ki Barrier activating again. Shen's power manifests as a spirit blade that he can control with abilities.
Shen's current reworked passive is a pretty decent passive for his current role as a Protector Tank, but... it's pretty weak overall. Now, instead of reducing the cool down of the shield, abilities increase the current duration of the shield. If Shen can successfully hit an enemy champion or protect an allied champion with all three of his basic abilities, the duration can be increased by up to 6-7.5 seconds, depending on level. If he can execute this perfectly, his shield will be able to stack on top of itself for double the current shield amount. meaning if he has already increased the shield to 200%, another refresh will increase it to 400%. With max cool down reduction, I wouldn't be surprised if a Shen that perfectly executes his full ability combo again and again could get an extremely powerful shield.
W- Spirit's Refuge Old: 40 Energy 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 sec Cooldown Shen's spirit blade creates a defensive zone for 1.75 seconds. Basic attacks that would hit Shen or an allied champion in the zone are blocked. If there are no champions to protect in the zone when it starts, the spirit blade will not activate until one enters or 2 seconds pass.
NEW: 60/55/50/45/40 Energy 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 sec Cooldown Shen's spirit blade creates a defensive zone for 1.75 seconds. Basic attacks that would hit Shen or an allied champion in the zone are blocked. If there are no champions to protect in the zone when it starts, Shen can reactivate this ability while it is still active to cause the blade to dash to him and refresh the current duration remaining on the ability. If an allied champion enters the field anytime before this, this ability cannot be reactivated. Reactivating this ability costs an extra 20 Energy. NEW PASSIVE: Whenever Shen's Spirit Blade passes through an enemy champion while it is dashing to a location, the remaining cool down on Shadow Dash and Spirit's Refuge is reduced by 6/7/8/9/10% (+1% per 500 bonus health).
A couple things to talk about with these changes. One, why? To emphasize the big idea of this rework. Shen is a high mobility, non-straight up deal less damage Tank. Meaning he doesn't just give his allies shields or anything, he makes them able to completely avoid damage through specific ability combos and such. He deflects the bullet, he doesn't give you a bullet proof vest to reduce the damage the bullet inflicts. Spirit's Refuge does this. Allies become able to completely dodge basic attacks while inside of it. However, the current iteration is almost a little too hard to make use of due to the short duration and extremely limited time effect on it. It almost makes Shen have to predict the fight TOO MUCH. With this new form, if Shen has already used Twilight Assault and desperately needs to protect an ally, he can reactivate this ability in order to perform a "clutch" save with his W by using his mobility to get to his ally in order to get by his allies.
E- Shadow Dash Old: 180 Energy 18/16/14/12/10 sec Cooldown Passive: Dealing damage with Shadow Dash or Twilight Assault recovers 30-40 energy. Active: Shen dashes in a direction, dealing 50/75/100/125/150 [+ 12% bonus HP] physical damage to enemy champions in his path and taunting then for 1.5 seconds.
NEW: 180 Energy 14/13.5/13/12.5/12 sec Cooldown Passive: Dealing damage with Shadow Dash or Twilight Assault recovers 30-40 energy. Active: Shen dashes in a direction, dealing 40/55/70/85/100 [+ 7% bonus HP] physical damage to enemy champions in his path and taunting then for 1.25 seconds. Shen takes 50% reduced damage from the basic attacks of taunted enemies.
Shadow Dash remains overall the same, but with some edited values in order to be more balanced with his new, more active play style. This means the taunt is slightly shorter and the damage is reduced. However, with a usual Shen build, hitting five enemies with his Q will reduce the cool down of his Shadow Dash by around 70%. This is a rare case, but performing perfect combos are now reward much more. The early cool down is also lower significantly due to only one-two enemies usually being in combat with you at once so it's cool down cannot be reduced by as much. However, it now has a slightly longer cool down late game for obvious reasons. We don't need Shen taunting enemies for extremely long times.
Finally, rejoice, for his R does not need any changes... ever. It is an extremely balanced ability that shouldn't need to interact with the rest of his kit since it's more of an engaging move than a combo move.
Opinions on these changes? While the changes seem like a lot, especially on Twilight Assault, I do not believe they would be too extremely hard to perform since Twilight Assault already has an effect coded onto it upon hitting an enemy champion. The main part that would be hard to code would be the W changes since they add ENTIRELY new effects to his kit. ANOTHER NOTE, all of these changes do not have to occur. Heck, you could only do the Q change and Shen's kit would likely be better, I just wanted to try to mold his kit around it.
Thank you for reading.
These were changes I posted on the PBE forums while Shen was on the PBE. Since he is now live and almost every reasoning made here still applies, Im also posting this here for more open opinion.
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