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Dear Rito, you really could have done better with that Shen rework.

QQinfinity·2/4/2016, 8:37:54 AM·39 votes·3,407 views

I applaud you for even thinking of having Shen get a rework, and I really like his new appearance. His new kit has a lot of interesting new things, but the problem is that its very hard to make those new things happen.

His combo is currently hard locked into E -> Q -> W to do ANYTHING for the entire game! I have not seen any other champion who has its combo entirely hard locked so HARD that they can't do anything other than the designated combo in this entire game. Not even Amumu who is almost forced to start every fight with Q has it this bad!

You can't use Q to harass anyone unless your enemies are stupid enough to let you position it directly into their faces (not that the Q actually deals damage anyway, it gives you an attack boost and a slow which has very debatable usefulness).

Not even trying to talk about "How are you going to ever position it correctly when your enemy is either an assassin or just someone who has multiple dashes with almost nothing to punish them with."

Its already stupidly hard to taunt a Ahri Akali Ekko Fizz Kalista Kennen Kindred Leblanc LeeSin Lucian MasterYi Riven Teemo Vayne Yasuo Zed , so how is anyone going to hit those people with a Q that goes nowhere but to yourself? I would rather smack myself with my new Q, hitting myself in the face until I die from self-harm, rather than play such an unwieldy champion against them.

And please tell me how the triple hit for Q is going to give any pressure on lane with AP scaling of all things? Not to mention a a BADLY scaled AP scaling? 0.15 and 0.2? Really? I mean, sure; making max health % damage scaleable is pretty good. But its Shen we are talking about. Who can actually play Shen with no tank items when most AP items are not suitable choices for him?

If you were trying to promote a more damage/bruiser oriented Shen then you have done an abysmal job at that. The original Shen kit which has remained unchanged for several years beside the nerfs and buffs would have been better suited to go full AP damage build than this new kit, and that's saying something!

~~You designed this champion as a tank! ~~Edit: Okay, you designed this champion as a Fighter. The least you could have done would be to make more than one ability and one passive scale with actual damage like AD or a skill with flat AP damage, or let the Q have the effect of chipping away defensive stats so Shen has some semblance of fighting chance against tanky champions.

Shen is probably the worst fighter atm. Here is a list of all the fighters and their strength:

(Note: These are only FIGHTERS, I'm not talking about mages or marksmen or tanks. Just throwing the entire fighter list on here)

Aatrox Sustain, sustainable damage, can resurrect once with passive, has high attack speed, good scaling, and one mobility/CC as well as slow. Better than Shen.

Blitzcrank We usually see this guy as support, but is still counted as a fighter since that is his secondary role. Shen has one single taunt, while this guy has a long range pull, a knock up, and an AOE 0.5 second silence. This guy also has freakishly good scalings (1.0 aka 100% on Q and R, and his E deals double of his attack damage so technically it is also possible to build AD although no one does), and a very threatening presence coupled with movement speed attack speed boost and passive tankiness. Better than Shen.

Darius Do I even need to explain why Darius is so much better than Shen, with the way Shen is right now? Better than Shen.

Diana Mage/Fighter. She has been nerfed multiple times, but is still a potent champion in the right hands. Her Q scales 70% with ap, and she can dash at least twice if played correctly. Her damage is quite high, and with the right items can also be quite tanky. Add a Zhonyas and you get an annoying mage assassin who jumps in, burst people down, stand still with a zhonya, then kill people again. Her shield can be refreshed and scales with her main stat: AP. Better than Shen.

DrMundo If you haven't seen a monstrous Dr. Mundo top lane, then something must have gone terribly wrong with you. I personally played this bad man and rekt most top lanes. Even if I got a bad match up (Fiora for one) as long as I build tanky and act as the meat shield for the front line, there is still a lot of things Mundo can do. His Q always deals 25% of the target's current health, which means he can still win against tanks, and the 40% slow for 2 seconds is really powerful. It has pretty much no cost and can be spammed indefinitely with a very decent range and missile speed. His W can reduce crowd control duration and deal some damage, and the reason we can see him top lane again was because of his buffed E. Better than Shen.

Ekko abilities have very high scale, deals extra magic attack with passive, and has very decent mobility. He can also troll people with Zhonya and Ultimate. Better than Shen.

Elise Do I even need to explain why Elise is deadlier than Shen? The only thing Shen is better at is the fact that he can taunt multiple people while Elise can only stun one person, yet Elise stun has a very long range. Better than Shen.

Fiora Not going to even bother explaining this one. An insulting comparison. Fiora might not be the front line since she isn't truly tanky and has no CC, but her true damage and mobility as well as AD ensures her superiority when compared to Shen. Better than Shen.

Fizz If you have not been trolled by this guy yet, then you haven't really experienced League of Fleas. Better than Shen.

Gangplank BARRELS! BOOM BOOM BOOM. CANNON FIRE! BLAST BLAST BLAST. ORANGES! NOM NOM NOM. Do I need to say more? Better than Shen.

Garen Long duration silence, able to reduce damage received by 30%, high damage with spin to win, and an executing ultimate. Let's not forget his passive... Better than Shen.

Gnar Deals % damage with passive as mini gnar, and has multitudes of tricks to employ as mini as well as big gnar. Probably not the best tank for front lines, but his ultimate alone warrants a spot in the front for the "crowd" control. Better than Shen.

Gragas Haven't seen this guy for a while, and according to LolKing, Gragas's win rate averages around 45% while the Old Shen kit was around 51%. (There is a comical plummet in popularity in the Shen chart though.) Gragas can build AP because he scales well, has some sort of sustain with his passive and W, and a big crowd control with his ultimate. Shen doesn't have any form of sustain anymore if you discount the energy return from E. Maybe he is better than Shen? Need more info.

Hecarim Better than Shen. Illaoi Better than Shen. Irelia Better than Shen, LETS NERF IRELIA JarvanIV Er... I am not quite sure actually. Jarvan is a pretty horrible top laner right now. Jax Better than Shen. Jayce Better than Shen. Kayle Better than Shen. Khazix Better than Shen. LeeSin Are you kidding me? Definitely better than Shen. Malphite Better than Shen. At least this guy has scalings! And a very reliable ultimate. MasterYi Better than Shen. Master YEE Mordekaiser Not quite sure, but this guy has actual scales and deals much more damage than Shen. Edit: Okay, someone said its better. Nasus Better than Shen. Let's farm all game long. Nautilus Better than Shen. Loads of CC. Nidalee Are you kidding me? Definitely better than Shen. Nocturne Better than Shen. Though this guy is pretty much a glass cannon most of the time. At least he has scales, right? Nunu This is hilarious, but this guy is better than Shen. My lord how Shen has fallen. Olaf Better than Shen. Pantheon Better than Shen. Poppy Better than new Shen. She might not have been better than the Old Shen though. Quinn Are you kidding me? Definitely better than Shen. Rammus Better than new Shen. Probably the same level as the Old one. RekSai Better than Shen, by miles. Renekton Better than Shen, by miles. Rengar Better than Shen, although this guy probably never builds tank. Who needs tankiness when you can burst down an entire team? Riven Are you joking? Rumble Better than Shen, by miles. Ryze Better than Shen. Oh god this guy is scary. Sejuani Better than Shen. She can't fly across the map but is much more threatening than Shen. Shyvana Maybe better than Shen? I am not quite sure, need more information. Singed Maybe? Sion Better than Shen. He could run across the map with his ulti, and has very nice damage even if built as a tank. Skarner Better than Shen. Swain Better than Shen, by miles. Talon Better than Shen, by miles. Taric The same as Shen. If Taric is unpopular, then Shen is going to become very unpopular very very soon. Thresh Better than Shen, by miles. Trundle Better than Shen, by miles, even after all the recent nerfs. Tryndamere Are you kidding me? Udyr Not quite sure, not enough info. Urgot I haven't seen this guy in ages! No comment. Vi Better than Shen. Volibear Better than Shen. Warwick Better than Shen in the sense that a fed Warwick is much much scarier than a fed Shen, especially the new Shen. MonkeyKing Better than Shen, by miles. XinZhao Better than Shen, by miles. Yasuo Shen can't even reach his toes. Yorick Who was this guy again? Zac Who was this guy again? Zed Better than Shen.

Personally, my advice on fixing this abomination of a Q skill is to change it into this:

(This will be staple) Twilight Assault: Cost 120/110/100/90/80 energy ACTIVE- Shen sends his Spirit Blade to the target location and deals 60/100/140/180/220 (+60% aka 0.6 AP scaling) magic damage to all enemies along the path. (Minions take reduced damage, reduced by how much will be somewhere between 30% to 50%, rito decide) This skill can be activated again for half the cost to recall the blade to Shen's location. Enemies can only be damaged by Twilight Assault once.

----changeable parts----

If a champion was damaged by Twilight Assault, his next three basic attacks within 8 seconds deal extra 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% of target's max health as magic damage. (+1% bonus health scaling)

If a champion was damaged by Twilight Assault, slow them by 35% for 2 seconds. His next three basic attacks within 8 seconds will deal 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% of target's max health as magic damage. (not scaleable)

If a champion was damaged by Twilight Assault, his next three basic attacks within 8 seconds will deal 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% of target's max health as magic damage. (not scaleable) and reduce the target's armor and magic resist by 10% for 4 seconds every hit. (max 3 stacks)

I like the dodging buff for W and the passive energy return when hitting people with Q and E on the new E, but those two could use rooms of improvement as well.

W Spirit's refuge: Shen primes his Spirit Blade for 2 seconds, causing it to project a protective zone around it for 1.75 seconds if he or an allied champion move nearby, granting allies in the zone 100% dodge chance.

-> Shen primes his Spirit Blade for 2 seconds, causing it to project a protective zone around it for 1.75 seconds if he or an allied champion move nearby, granting allies in the zone 100% dodge chance and reduce the duration of control effects by 30/35/40/45/50%. OR reduce the traveling speed of enemy projectiles by 50/55/60/65/70%.

E Shadow Dash : PASSIVE- Shadow Dash's and Twilight Assault boosted basic attack's damage recovers 30 / 35 / 40 energy. When Shen taunts a champion, increase his movement speed by 50 when moving towards visible enemy champions for 2 seconds.

PS: I have been waiting for the Yasuo mobility nerf for a very long time. Instead of letting him have infinite number of dashes as long as there are infinite amount of new targets to dash to, why not give it a 'stock' function like Vi E, Vel'koz W, Akali R, etc? 3~5 seems like a reasonable number when compared to being able to dash at least 6 times in lane.

54 Comments

Wolfess2/4/2016, 9:30:24 AM12 votes

new shen can get shoved out of lane way hard. no sustain and his new W only lasts 1.75 seconds and is on an 18 second cooldown, and his qi barrier requires you to spam abilities. Any ranged top laner will harass the unholy crap out of new shen.

Old shen may have felt archaic, but that was probably due to just old animations and model. If they wanted to make him look a bit newer and fresher, they should have made a small visual change to his Q and made him throw Qi Kunai instead. would probably look cooler than throwing one of his swords. His other abilities just a bit of a visual polishing up and his new model is actually doing well. They could have had his qi barrier reworked to be the same as the new one where it scales with hp. His old kit wasn't bad, just a tad visually dusty.

He4rtkiller2/4/2016, 2:32:20 PM7 votes

Spirit sword does not feel right. It's there to make his kit more complicated and it serves as a tool that allows Shen some extra power if used in a certain way and to allow his opponent a way to avoid that (counterplay). The sword serves it's purpose but feels forced on and not much fun.

Deus Imperator2/4/2016, 6:59:06 PM6 votes

So Shen went from "Boring but practical" To "Flashy but useless"?

Should i even consider buying him anymore?.....

Paroe2/4/2016, 8:43:13 AM4 votes

  1. Shens E is currently 'bugged' - the change was actually unintentional. (but yes, it was changed)

  2. Shen was reworked into a fighter, he is no longer 'designed' to be a tank

I agree that keeping the AP scaling - the very damn thing that should have been changed on his original kit in the first place - is extremely stupid. It should really gain 1% per 500~ bonus HP. thats about a percent per item, and is a good place.

... Also the armor and armor per level nerfs need to be reverted.

MrWasjig2/4/2016, 1:13:23 PM4 votes

One of the biggest issues I have with new Shen is that they have most definitely nerfed Shadow Dash. They said they've left it alone but I'm calling bullshit on that. It is way, WAY harder to hit than it used to be because the hitbox is minuscule. Every time I've played him I'll miss a Shadow Dash, still thinking I'm playing Old Shen only to miss by the smallest amount, because most of the times I scrape someone's shoulder and the game decides "What!? No I wasn't looking, doesn't count!" Meanwhile I would have nailed it with Old Shen.

The Taunt along with his Ult are what Shen was picked for (outside of his tankyness) and even now his taunt is worse off because it's impossible to hit unless someone is in your face, which defeats the purpose if it being a dash. Might as well just play Rammus at least that can't miss. It was already a challenge to hit, but now it's just taking the piss.

HellhamerX2/4/2016, 1:32:10 PM3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se55YLN7R2M Actually is recommended you use Q>E>W so the sword travels while you move to the position the taunted enemy is, triggering the passive of the Q by going through the enemy and then auto. "those attacks each deal additional 2% (+ 0.5% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health bonus damage and gain 50% bonus attack speed." Shen summoner 4

HoukagoFapTime2/4/2016, 9:13:30 AM3 votes

This also leads to an incredibly boring champ. As if the old shen wasn't boring enough.

Karma Deified2/4/2016, 2:45:04 PM3 votes

Gameplay aside, that giant sword floating around is a thematic (I don't know a word that describes failure via IMMENSE stupidity).

The whole rework in general seems like someone had some random ideas for a new champ, but not enough to make a decent kit, so they just decided to mess with Shen since an Ionian with him in the lore was being released.

The sword doesn't even fit Shen visually for Urgot's sake.

KICK OUT AT 22/4/2016, 9:35:06 PM3 votes

Seems like they can't make one good rework (poppy) without having 3 bad ones after it.

I played shen a lot before the rework, he could be picked into every matchup. I found him to be very fun and even carried a few games.

Played him for a couple games now, and I gotta say that sword thing sure is an annoyance. He gets countered by so many things, shield is hard to proc. Just unfun and bad.

Death by Kayn2/4/2016, 12:48:57 PM2 votes

You just really don't like the champions in this game much, do you bud

EmollientNut02/4/2016, 11:57:33 AM2 votes

I kinda like that as a catchphrase now, "Better than Shen." Since Everything with range higher than 200 pretty much just is.

However you forgot to mention Riot basically gave him Mordekaiser's Q and released him, and even after all the nerfs Morde's still scales and does better damage. (Both even come with a shield, originality at it's finest!!)

Mordekaiser ....................... Better than Shen.

optimalroat2/4/2016, 5:44:58 PM2 votes

I agree, the new Shen has a really really really flawed kit, he is really underwhelming, and comparatively to other 'fighters' if riot wants to make him a 'fighter' he's on the lower side of the spectrum, his kit is just bland, underwhelming, and nothing special nor reliable is contained in his kit, it seems like they tried to keep him thematically the same, but at the same time overthought so many changed, and made his skills far from special, unique, or at this point even useful.

Let's begin with his Q, I don't even know what it's called anymore, I know it used to be called Vorpal blade, I probably didn't spell the first part right, but oh well, it used to be a poking spell with sustain, or something to farm with if you were against a ranged opponent top. Now it has three empowered attacks, really riot? More three hit things?? That aside, it's super underwhelming, it slows an enemy if your invisible blade thing which is his passive, which, admittedly, I think it is pretty damn unique, it's just the rest of his kit. Then it gives you three empowered auto attacks? Couldn't they do something in which like it resets your auto attack, maybe gives you some sustain when you hit things with the three empowered auto attacks, or maybe even a speed boost after those three auto attacks, it just seems really really underwhelming, bland, and for the most part, useless.

His W, it used to be a tiny shield that would block an auto attack or two, then in late game block a turrent shot, or some minion aggro when taunting an enemy, which I think is great that they moved his shield into his passive, I always thought the shield shouldn't take up a whole skill, well, If there was a passive to the spell, which as I recall, didn't, then yeah, it wasn't that much of a spell, which now blocks enemy auto attacks in the area when people are in it, which is a pretty good idea, but it doesn't last long, and it's pretty confusing, wouldn't it be a better approach of no one could auto attack in that area? Like Imagine if Shen get's a 4 man taunt, then casts his W around all of the enemies, the couldn't auto attack me, or the enemies, while the people out of the radius could auto attack them inside the area. I don't know, something along those lines, something more should be done with the W.

Then his E, I am so glad riot kept as a taunt, it's one of my favorite spells in the game, and it's just a really cool spell, nothing I am complaining about here, as riot didn't change anything serious about it, I have no idea if they changed the range, hitbox, or duration of the taunt, but as far as I know, I am satisfied with it.

His ultimate, is the same, which I would imagine would remain the same, I just love the spell stand united, making a 1v1 a 2v1, or a 2v2 into a 3v2, and my favorite part is you can ult onto champions with stealth and then when they reappear, a shen will be there too.

I also absolutely love his new splash arts, I have every shen skin now, I was originally missing warlord, and bloodmoon shen pre-rework, but decided to get both of them, both of them were on sale too, warlord on my revel shop, and bloodmoon was on the skin sale.

I played so much shen pre-mastery system, so I haven't racked up too many mastery point with him, he's really close to level 5, I haven't played him pre-rework as much as I should've, I moved onto other, more flashy champions, but always will I remember the old shen, and remember how much fun he was and I hope riot ends up fixing, or making him more useful with him, and his skills.

anyways, peace !! [slayer-jinx-catface]

Mooninites2/4/2016, 9:16:03 AM2 votes

It felt rushed and unnecessary. The old shen had a very archaic kit and you could feel it, but I think there are other champions that should have been higher priority on the rework list like warwick. I agree they could have done better

Over Innsmouth2/4/2016, 1:23:35 PM2 votes

Sorry, while I agree with most of what you're saying (although I personally am very happy with the Shen rework).

You said that Aatrox was better than Shen.

You said that Aatrox was better than anybody.

Aziriously2/4/2016, 11:10:48 PM1 votes

So you're completely disregarding the fact that Shen can TP+shield an ally from across the map? Or apply huge split pushing map pressure mid-late game, potentially forcing the enemy team to give up baron? Or the fact that his W is, while linear in terms of the order in his combo, a very strong ability against certain champions that no other champ can offer to his team? Or that the new Shen is likely a better jungler than top laner anyway due to be very matchup dependent?

Shifune2/4/2016, 11:33:10 PM1 votes

Bring back my jungle Shen.

IsmokeOregano2/4/2016, 2:31:04 PM1 votes

Its already stupidly hard to taunt a Teemo ?