Shen is a unique top lane champion, distinguished by his global TP ultimate. He is a solid pick that has held its niche audience ever since he was released back in 2010. To make the most out of Shen, today we are gonna lay down the best build for this champion, used by the highest-ranked Challenger players.
Best Shen Items
The Sunfire Cape
The majority of the champions you will be facing in the top lane will be AD champions, for that reason, the first item we will go with is the Sunfire Cape. If you happen to match against someone playing AP, you can simply substitute this item with some magic resist item we will list further down.
Sunfire Cape is a general Shen item you will want to build pretty much every game. Its passive Immolate will serve you great as you taunt enemies, since it will gradually melt them by using your bonus health.
Thornmail
Shen’s gameplay and kit make it pretty evident that he is a utility champion, therefore, we will be playing into his strength by building utility-heavy items. Thornmail is a perfect candidate for this task, as it will give you a bunch of healing reduction, and it will serve really well to protect you against heavy auto-attacking champions.
Kaenick Rookern
After covering our bases with Sunfire Cape, and Thornmail, we will build our first magic resist item. As previously mentioned, this item can also be built earlier should we be facing some AP monstrosity in the top lane. Kaenick is a great tank item due to its powerful base stats and AP shield passive.
Jak’Sho the Protean
Jak’Sho is a powerful hybrid item featuring both magic resist and armor. Its power grows the longer you are in combat, as it has a passive that stacks resistance. The item is really fun to build and it will give you an immediate powerspike.
Iceborn Gauntlet
We will finish off our set of items by building the Iceborn Gauntlet. This great utility item will make us great at peeling our team mates and catching enemy carries. Its strength comes from the “Spell Blade,” a passive ability that creates a frozen field that slows the enemies.
Boots
The boots we will want to run on Shen are either Plated Steelcaps or Mercury’s Treads. The first option is great for auto-attack-based champions (such as Vayne), while the second option is key for increasing your tenacity and fighting against CC-heavy champs.
Shen Runes
- Grasp of the Undying
- Shield Bash
- Second Wind
- Revitalize
- Cheap Shot
- Ultimate Hunter
Grasp of the Undying is the greatest keystone pick for Shen. We are taking it for lane sustain, and long-term health scaling. Shield Bash has a great synergy with our shield W, and will give us the much-welcome armor and magic resist.
Second wind is a great rune for denying poke, it can also be substituted with Bone Plating against enemies with heavy bursts. The next addition to our kit will be Revitalize, which will increase our W, and R shields.
Finally, we will want to take the Cheap Shot to enhance our damage, and our non-negotiable last pick will be Ultimate Hunter. Ultimate Hunter is mandatory since Shen R is a key part of his kit, and this rune will reduce its cooldown.
Final Thoughts
Shen is a powerful utility top lane pick. It is great for playing around your carries, and winning the game through correct macro decisions. To get the most out of Shen, we will want to build tank utility items, and do the most we can to help our carries win the game!.