Shen - Current Ult Unique Balance Idea

New Kstabs··3 votes·2,253 views

I know from reading a few other posts that people are upset with the current state of Shen. Obliviously due to the nature of soloq vs pro play it's extremely challenging to balance a champ. In order to boost shen's laning and team fighting strength riot would have to nerf his ult. Similar to the small changes made to galio recently. I have an out of the box idea for balancing his current ult.

But first I wanted to address the obvious idea of nerfing the range on his ult. I've read several posts suggesting this. But I feel this ruins the core reason players love picking Shen. Galio and Kench already offer similar mobility and fit better into most team comps particularly in pro play. Kench allows teams to 1-3-1. And Galio can mid unlike shen. There's more value in having a half global ult in mid lane.

As most players know, the main problem playing against Shen is his ability to split bot late game while his four teammates pressure Barron. I believe the easiest solution is to remove Shen's ability to take teleport. While adding a free teleport to an ally tower while his ult is on cd. Early game he will remain exactly the same with his ability to help/save other lanes without getting punished to hard for leaving. Tower plating already makes the decision to leave lane risky. Late game in close games a smart team would prioritize removing the first tier towers in top and mid therefore the cd teleport wouldnt be as strong. Now the other team can almost match his global pressure with teleport. Some quick bull points:

  1. Restrict Shen from taking teleport
  2. Add one free teleport to an ally tower while ult is on cd.
  3. Allow ult to be cast on wards, minions, and towers (to allow his ult to still function as a teleport in backdooring scenarios)
  4. Can play around with allowing him to take one or two summoner spells (Remember the power of that second spell would come out of his stats)
  5. Riot can test out giving him a lower ult cd or faster channel speed than teleport giving his team a small advantage

Shen would still carry a unique global pressure advantage but it wouldn't be as extreme. Allowing a buff in his team fighting and dueling. Shen would more closely fit his role as a defensive global tank. Early game he can still travel around helping. Late game his second teleport isn't as extreme of an advantage if the other team has removed the first tier towers in top and mid. He could still potentially teleport to the second mid tower and beat his opponent to a Barron. Although hopefully is would significantly lower his advantage. He could now be balanced into an anti split push niche role. For example if he's playing against a Fiora splitting he can ult into a quick fight on the other side of the map and then tele back before she destroys a tower. Forcing the split pusher to group.

The hope is that these changes would move Shen into a unique anti split pushing tank role. And keeps intact a kit that differentiates him from other champs. Please let me know your thoughts and opinions below. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

10 Comments

starfoxe1 votes

terrible idea

New Kstabs1 votes

Any reasons? Are you happy with the current state of shen? Do you have any alternative ideas?

starfoxe1 votes

[{quoted}](name=New Kstabs,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=f9yEeRze,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2019-03-08T06:15:32.492+0000)

Any reasons? Are you happy with the current state of shen? Do you have any alternative ideas?

Yes i am happy with the current state of shen. he is plenty strong into most matchups and is well balanced making him able to trade with most top laners. only top laners shen will have a hard time with is ranged champs but that is true for most top laners. even so you dont pick shen to win lane you pick shen for the team fight and to take away his option to have double tp is to take away shen himself.

you are complaining about him having double tp and being able to split and then join his team at most times. i would assume by this then we will need to remove quinns ult too. she is able to do just the same thing. 3 items at level 12 can get from bot to baron in 5 seconds which is faster than shen ult and can do this all the times since her ult has a 3 second cd.

Kazekiba1 votes

Revert the spirit sword mechanic, bring back Vorpal Blade. Give his W to Irelia, its way healthier than hers anyway and has ALWAYS been "why is this not on Irelia?" Seriously they had an entire Ionian champion themed around spirit swords and ...

Or if you really want the Galio treatment, remove the shield from Shen's R and buff the CD to 150 / 120 / 90 seconds (also a terrible idea, dont worry. I know.)

New Kstabs1 votes

I agree the sword mechanic was a total miss. I was just focused on trying to balance the ultimate. Removing the shield would hurt but pro teams would still abuse the mobility. Similar to how they use teleport if the other teams top´s tele is on CD.

ZephyrDrake1 votes

And nothing was done. This accomplishes nothing. People don't like Shen due to his stupid "spirit blade" or whatever its supposed to be nonsense. Get rid of that garbage then you can talk about adding random restrictions to a champion

kstabs1 votes

You have the problem backwards. If shen had a generic ult they could easily revamp his terrible spirit blade kit. Riot knows they cant balance his current ult. So why would they waste their time reworking his kit? And shen's ult is too iconic for them to completely change without backlash. Regardless of what his q, w, and e are, Riot will be forced to nerf shen into an unplayable champ. Unless they change his ult.

ZephyrDrake1 votes

{quoted}

You have the problem backwards. If shen had a generic ult they could easily revamp his terrible spirit blade kit. Riot knows they cant balance his current ult. So why would they waste their time reworking his kit? And shen's ult is too iconic for them to completely change without backlash. Regardless of what his q, w, and e are, Riot will be forced to nerf shen into an unplayable champ. Unless they change his ult.

either you get rid of the garbage spirit blade or you leave his ult alone. Simple as that.

kstabs1 votes

Idk what you dont understand. He cant function as a solo lane champ with his current ult. Therefore it's a waste of riots time to change the rest of his kit. Unless riot commits to making him a support. Which isnt a terrible idea

Midg3t1 votes

Bad idea.

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