He's the head of the Kinkou order, a Ninja with great skills and powers, raised by an order full of them and his father, the freaking awesome Ninja senior, he even jokes about the light not being able to catch a Ninja... Yet somehow he's a tank. WHAT. Am I really the only one bothered by this?
His lore describes him as the leader of the kinkou order, yes. The task he fulfills is that he is protecting the balance between the spirit world and the human world.
His class in the game is warden, which is a tank who excels at protecting. So I think it kinda fits his lore. And it would be pretty boring if we make every ninja in the game a hard hitting fighter or assassin. Ninja have more traits than just this.
Ninja are also known for magical techniques, which he uses to generate shields, teleport to an ally and protecting everyone from auto attacks. Not every tank has to be a big meat shield soaking every damage, you can as well be a tank by dodging or blocking skills from the enemy, which fits the ninja theme and is represented in Shen.
So, I personally don't mind him being a tank. It makes sense the way I think about it.
Also amumu... Is a little mummy boi that tanks the same amount as a giant man in a enormous iron suit.
Riot has commented on their goal of making shen a tank who's "tankiness" lies not in outright stats and defense. The rework has attempts at this with his W. A future Shen update would no doubt include more of that diversification.
Atleast make him a bruiser. Give him AD scalings or something.
I feel like he needs more visuals to be interpreted as a tank and even still I would love for him to be a unique type of tank, that relied more on evasion (like his current AA dodge) to be considered tanky, and other forms of utility, he doesnt need to be an assassin but overall being an evasive utility tank would be cool, where he isnt reliant being a stat checking champion like most tanks end up being (Overall I think League needs more innovative and engaging tank designs)
The original 3 ninja, each were meant to represent 1 of the 3 core ideas people have regarding ninja.
At least the 3 above was the balance until Zed completely ruined it by existing. And you know why Shen has such an issue with Zed. Because I have too.
From the television Naruto, Jiraiya explains to Orochimaru that a Ninja is one who endures. By that definition, seems like Shen is a fine one.
Personally i think the problem lies with old Shen. He was an old champion, thematic consistency wasn't exactly the first thought in Riot's mind at the time. By the time he got updated his role as a tank was pretty much fixed in the stone, changing it would have been against the ideal of keeping the core experience of playing Shen. Still, there is a discrepancy about ninjas being tanky? Yeah, but i suppose it would be a terrible idea to suddenly change his role just for the sake of consistency.
ninja tabis used to give dodge instead of a flat damage reduction
which makes much more thematic sense
unfortunately, it sucks ass from a gameplay perspective and contributes to non-interactive rng so it got changed to a flat dmg reduction.
Im not but im also not really a shen player when i do play him I like the feeling of being that last minute hero
Why is Thresh a support?
My best guess is that the lore will be updated soon. The kinkou order will most likely be more along the lines of "spiritual protectors" than they are assassins, only going as far as to hunt someone if they are a massive threat (Jhin). Hence why new akali goes rogue to fulfill what she thinks is right in her own agressive assassin-way and zed did the whole treachery thing to begin with. They would think action is a better option to move forward. Personally I'd love to see a new tanky ninja who's still affiliated with kinkou. Perhaps a new student of shen after akali leaves? Only time will tell I guess?
Or shen could just get a VGU, turn into an assassin, and no one will care
Because who plays shen unless you're in the LCS or autofilled.
Just saying.
The shen you see ingame isn't the real shen, the real shen got replaced by a cheap knockoff a while ago.
Apparently a demonstration of true skill does not require high damage
I always thought it was the entire point, "our ninjas are different" and all.
as a shen main i can understand it.
i really want shen to became a bruiser. but you know. riot balance team is strange. and btw he is a tank with 0 dmg... and in early he is squishy with his base 540 hp
It fits his motivation in the lore, he is a protector of the spirit world in the same way he protects his theme. Makes him less generic the he would be as an assassin ninja like 
.
I'm my honest opinion, I think Shen would be better being a bruiser ninja than a tank ninja. He just doesn't seem like a tank with his visuals and lore. Sure he is a protector, but he does so by eliminating those that disturb the balance.
Who cares about lore?
Not worth learning... shit only is valid til a rework.
Hate how he can get some sort of health bar boost in fights.
I'm more bothered by the fact that this ''ninja'' carries with him a giant floating fucking sword that's floating in mid air for all to see, so much for being a ''ninja''
I used to be bothered by it when Assassins were scarce in LoL. Over time I've grown to accept it. I basically just rationalize it by thinking about Naruto - they're not all edgy ninjas who dash around everywhere.
