Shen deserves a lot more love, Riot.

Let's talk about Shen and why he could use a lot more of your attention, Riot.

First of all, he's a ninja. He clearly got a theme going on but what part of his kit really reflects this? In reality there's nothing "ninja" about him, he's simply slow and sluggish. He's a tank gated by high energy costs and lack of escape the second he engages. That makes him very risky to play as since his dash has a very high cooldown along with some crazy energy costs. This makes him quite easy to kite aswell. Other melee range champions have decent movespeed (345-350) whereas he's stuck at 335. Then there's the total lack of mr scaling on him.

Is there a reason why he's a tank who isn't allowed to acquire free magic resistence with each level, despite being a melee champion? I got the feeling you've been putting his scaling into places where it shouldn't be, such as his absolutely pointless ap-ratios for example. Why not give him additional scaling based on his hp or ad at least? Why does it have to be ap? It entirely contradicts his common build-paths.

Then there's his Shadow Dash. His E is the only tool he has to even stick to someone, and that only if you manage to hit the taunt. Too bad it's on a high cooldown and has unreasonably high energy costs which make it very hard to use. Did you ever consider giving it a short stealth effect during his dash-animation? At least it would properly reflect his theme as a ninja and it would be a great way to set up unique plays with him. Just imagine dashing between brushes with him. I don't get why a ninja would even need a taunt, so much for his lore (wasn't he supposed to be emotionless?). Couldn't you come up with something better instead?

Then there's the issue with his ultimate. Yes, you have reduced its cooldown in the most recent patch but besides lategame splitpushing (which he's absolutely horrible at by the way) it's very hard to use without getting punished by it. Your ultimate forces you out of your own lane thus leaving the enemy top laner with an exposed tower which will most likely break or take tons of damage while you're somewhere else trying to get 1-2 assists. All of this doesn't even make up for the amounts of cs you miss out on while you're gone from your lane. There's no real scenario in which Shen actually profits from using his own ultimate, it doesn't even protect him. His kit basically consists of only 3 abilities, that's it.

Shen absolutely lacks any waveclear, even with an item like sunfire cape he still struggles to properly farm compared to other top-laners, especially when you're pushed back to your own tower. He actually plays like a second support since he lacks any real kill-potential and heavily relies on level based scaling instead of gold. Speaking of gold, his income is among the lowest in the game. Just looking at the result-screen of any game tells you everything you need to know. I feel he lacks the proper compensation for all those things he's losing out on just to play the team's meatshield.

I think it's about time you start considering a rework for him.