Should I buy Shen?

I like him for being an impactful top lane outside top lane. Most other top laners feel me leaving trapped in a 1v1 duel that is utterly irrelevant to my team winning the game. Plus he's a tank, which every team tends to need.

Shen is fucking awesome and you should totally buy him.

The sword makes for some really fun positioning and sets up for some awesome tricks. If you are able to get it going you will be able to shit out mad dmg. I feel he should be a top laner 4 lyf. While he can't push super fast he pushes fast enough. He works well in a teamfight team and in a pick team.

Watch this and then decide:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udBa7LCcNGQ

If you are high elo yes, if you are low elo no

Hes fun but hes been getting nerfed because he is really good in pro play. So just be aware that he may be getting big changes at some point in time.

No, Shen is a lose lane, win game champion and for anyone but pros that's champ isn't really good for the meta. Of course anyone can win lane with a champion they invest enough time in, but he typically beat up on. There's also the "pro problem" where champs that are perfectly fine in soloQ get nerfed over and over because they're useful for organize competitive play... shen, vladimir, Azir, Ryze, etc etc. It's generally annoying having your champ get nerfed around splits and worlds then buff after they are over only to be nerfed again.

i mean i like him

While Shen tends to lose lane, if you are able to use your q, w, e effectively, you can at least make it an even lane. Shen also requires amazing map awareness with his ult.

The ult really could change those losing battle by protecting the carries. But if your team doesn't know what they're doing, they might run away as you're ulting them, even though the would survive. Otherwise, it's a great global ability as it allows shen to gank and go back to lane with ult/TP.

Shen's lane game is quite strong as long as your team could follow you up thanks to his kit.

No you shouldn't buy Shen.

Now most of you are wondering why? Well I have Shen as a pocket pick and I love this champion so badly. Except Shen has a target on his face. Until Riot deem him 'balanced' for pro play he will get nerfed over and over again. So if you want fun then buy him, if you want wins and a champion that will always stay consistent and keep out of Riot's banning range then don't buy him.

Shen's a really great champion when it comes to 1v1 situations, as he counters most tanks & brusiers such as . Aside that, you need to master your map awareness in order to ult in time.

The one thing that playing shen does, is make you much better at map awareness. His ult trains you to constantly be looking at the map seeing what spot your teammates are in, so whether is strong or not, I think playing him can make you a better player in general, meaning that you as an individual will end up winning more games in the long run.

So the answer is yes, buy shen if improving is important to you.

Last time I played Shen I went 18-5-41 in Aram. And outplayed/beat a swain in lane... which shouldn't really be possible.

You should totally buy Shen.

Almost always carry the team with him, even at low elo - don't listen to people who tell you "you can't unless you're pro/premade", it's horseshit. If you have a brain, you can carry, even if your team doesn't.

no. you should by 2 shen.

Last season I played Shen and one-tricked him up to D1, this season I'm going to do the same. Shen is not a lose lane champion when you can smash your lane opponents by constantly out trading. His empowered Q works very well with his passive shield and grasp heal, making his short trades very effective. Even if you can't trade, however, you can still go even and farm. In my experience, you lose lane when you make bad trades and that's my fault alone (IE don't blame jungler for that one haha). Simply put, if you go even in lane you might as well be winning lane because you're guaranteed to be more effective if you decide to ult bot or mid for a play. In addition, you have TP to come back to lane or to make another play. Something to help you win the game on Shen is to effectively peel your carries then zone enemies off them after that initial peel, giving them the opportunity to kite and fight. Although sometimes you get unlucky with a bad trade, carry or team, you can average above a 50% winrate on Shen and climb into masters if you practice him enough and develop excellent mechanics in the top lane.

TLDR: His learning curve is pretty low, it's laning mechanics and map awareness that are essential to your success. He's fun and strong when it comes to gameplay and team fights. I would recommend picking him up =)