The Current State of Shen

As you may recall, Shen got a few changes while back that nerfed his low level damage but ( ideally ) scaled him better into late game to get his damage on the level of other tanks such as Amumu, Alistar, and Malphite. After the dust has settled and more testing has been done, it seems this change just wasn't enough. Couple this with his rather linear gearing options and we are ripe for some tinkering.

Here are some of RiotStatikk's thoughts on Shen and how to improve him.

I agree that we overnerfed him but really not by much. He doesn't really fit into this high DPS environment ("meta") especially when champions with % HP damage are popular such as Vayne and Malzahar. I really feel he is overshadowed by picks such as Amumu and Alistar who bring more to the table.

The 2 things we are looking to do:

- Give Shen better offensive scaling (primarily through AP ratios) so he isn't always forced/pigeonholed to buy Warmog's, Sunfire, etc. even when he wants to build damage to become a threat

- Make Feint something more exciting and fun

One thing to really look out for is that Shen's ultimate is likely to not be touched with the global changes happening to other champions such as TF. This may cause a spike in his power and popularity, we'll see.

- RiotStatikk, QA Analyst, via the official forums.






I like the idea of bulking up Shen's ability power ratios a bit. Being an energy based tank with low ratios, Shen has a very few gear paths. Item's like the defensive Frozen Heart and Banshee's Veil, as well as the offensive Rod of Ages,  are very popular amongst tanks who have mana but are either not viable or are cost ineffective for those without mana. Factoring this and his very poor ratio's together leave him to little in the way of gear choices outside of HP/Regen items. By buffing up Shen's ratios, hybrid defensive/offensive items like Abyssal Scepter, Haunting Guise, and Rylai's Crystal Scepter could possibly become viable or staples in Shen's gear line up.

I also like the idea of Feint doing something interesting. Newer champions, such as Rumble and Orianna, have built in shields with interesting and fun secondary effects that give them a bit more of a unique play experience. My ideas for sprucing the ability would be something like a small group buff when it pops or an energy boost / reduction if the shield is depleted before the duration runs out. I s'pose a complete revamp could be plausible as well. Maybe something that akin to Garen's Courage ability or a shield that grows in strength based on the amount of enemies around you.

 What are your thoughts on the manner? Do you think Shen needs more tweaking or do you think that his Global ultimate holds the key to his power, thus he should suffer a bit to make up for it? Let me know in the comments below!