I am Split King, and I am known for about 3 things, Split Pushing, Late game dominance, and unusual playstyle. I also have a youtube channel that I spend a fair amount of time on.

WHY would you want to read my guide? Well because I am
Grandmaster, and also one of the best Shyvana players in the world. LolSkill rates me as the 30 best Shyvana in the world (at the making of this guide). But I would like to point out that if you are looking for a guide on how to play Shyvana like everyone else does, this guide is not for you. This is the Split King Way.

The Video Guide works with this written guide to explain everything: Play Video
If you want commentary and need to know how to carry in even high elo watch this Clip:
(Part 2-4 can be found on my channel) Play Video
To see my Shyvana in all her glory watch this Clip: Play Video

Feel free to enjoy some Season 8 DOMINATION. Press The Attack really shines on Shyvana Play Video
BEHOLD! THE MIGHTY SEASON 8 GUIDE! I have to say, even I was taken away by the raw power Shyvana can now provide, as seen at the end of the video. Play Video

What does the changes mean for Shyvana? To me it seems like a pretty decent buff.

Let us have a look at what matters:
The first dragon spawns later but they spawn faster after that. With a high focus on dragons this is actually really nice. It also forces us to farm in the early game while we wait for the dragon to spawn. Overall I like this change

A even nicer change is the fact that early dragons have significantly stronger buffs than before. So we can now excel at the dragon dance and get our team even more ahead than we normally could. Shyvana players rejoice!

Celerity
was sadly nerfed HARD. I will have to do some testing to see if an alternative rune choice is needed now.

Honestly right now there are a quite a few better junglers out there. But Shyvana has not been a weak champion at any point since her release. She stays reliable.

BUT She COULD be the best jungler for YOU!. I mean right now she is the best jungler for me, and there has to be someone out there with a playstyle close to mine. If I can play her this well at the top of the ranked ladder then anyone can at least get some value out of her.

I encourage you to try her out for a few games and see how it goes. If you lose 10 out of 10 games then it is time to find another champion that fits you better. But who knows, you might just be the next big Shyvana player. I wish you luck.

Season 8 completely changed the game. As Shyvana players we love that, because she is currently insanely strong!!!

Watch the Season 8 guide update video in the "Season 8" Section to see the runes in action.

Press the Attack
This is the strongest rune on Shyvana. Take this if you like winning games :)

Glacial Augment
This rune is also strong, but it requires a different playstyle. If you run Glacial Augment you should focus on ganking and team fights. I will not go into detail about Glacial Augment though, as this is a split pushing guide. NOTE: After Patch 8.4 taking Press the Attack is now a MUST.

Triumph
Triumph is the strongest rune in this tier by a landslide, Shyvana does not use mana and Overheal Is a terrible rune.

Legend: Alacrity vs Legend: Tenacity vs Legend: Bloodline
This is the only rune choice I change depending on what champions I face. If there is a lot of cc that counters Shyvana on the enemy team you should take Tenacity. If there is little to no cc you can pick either Bloodline or Alacrity, both are strong. If you use Bloodline you can delay the purchase of Warmog. Alacrity really helps with clear speed and turret destruction though. The choice is yours :)

Last Stand
Last Stand is better than Coup de Grace on Shyvana. This is because Shyvana is quite tanky and can stay within the Last Stand threshold for a long time. Watch the end of the season 8 guide video to see how strong this can be.

Celerity
This is not as strong as it used to be when it gave bonus stats based on your movement speed. But it is still an ok-ish rune. Decent synergy with Waterwalking as well.

Waterwalking
This is for dueling power in the river when fighting over the Scuttle Crabs. More Importantly though is that it greatly helps in taking down drakes, rift heralds, and barons! :)

My item builds often seem odd at first glance. I never just copy builds of other players without doing all the theorycrafting myself. So instead of building what SEEMS strong, I build what IS strong. Half of the testing is done in-game, to see what works and what doesn't. The other half is math. Anyway, let's get started

START:
If you have not noticed by now. The runes, the leveling order, and the items are designed for 1 thing. A very specific early jungle route. So there will be no Hunter's Talisman as the first item.
Go watch the video guide to see the jungle route and the proof as to why Hunter's Machete is the ideal start.

Once you have your Hunter's Machete and Hunter's Talisman, you have to do 1 of 2 things. If the enemy team is ad heavy buy Ninja Tabi before completing the Stalker's Blade - Bloodrazor item. More mobility and less damage taken in the jungle is insane for such a small price. You continue by buying Dead Man's Plate and then Trinity Force

If the enemy team is ap heavy then you should complete Stalker's Blade - Bloodrazor before buying Mercury's Treads, as Merc treads don't help you in any way in the jungle. Buying Boots is always a good choice though. Finish Merc Treads immediately after buying Bloodrazor. You continue by buying Wit's End and then Warmog's Armor. Wit's End is so insane on Shyvana as a counter to magic damage, every single component of it makes Shyvana insanely strong. Wit's End is still sold so that I end with my End build, but if you are against 5 ap or something like that, feel free to keep it, it is just that I tend to win the game very fast if they are too ap heavy.
If you are unsure if you should itemize against AD or AP, check the "Mid Game: Adapt" Chapter.

END BUILD:
Trinity Force Sterak's Gage Warmog's Armor Dead Man's Plate Randuin's Omen
This is the endgame build in most cases. The Randuin's Omen is the least important item, and if there is more AP than AD on the enemy team then replace Randuin with something that gives Magic Reist
This Shyvana can take a serious beating and still come out alive.

If you have any money to spare when you get to base feel free to invest in a Rejuvenation Bead. Shyvana has decent base regen, and Rejuvenation Bead sells for 106g, so even if you are going to sell them later, they essentially only cost 46g, cheaper and more effective in the long run than a single health potion. I love this item :D

Situational Items:
Some setups have cc that is crucial to get out of, and in that case using a Mercurial Scimitar is the best option.

If the enemy team has equal AD and AP on their team and a total lack of hard cc, but still quite a few slows, then you should buy Boots of Swiftness. But this only happens in 1 out of 20 games or so. I still sell them in the end though.

When I have 3 ocean dragons and can use extra MR, I replace my Warmog's Armor with Spirit Visage. Warmog's Passive will not be needed because the ocean drakes will do the job, especially when amplified by 30%.

Titanic Hydra is also a decent item on Shyvana, but only if you plan to team fight instead of Split push. This guide is about Split pushing, so it is not included in the end build. See my Shyvana Hard Carry series to see me use Titanic Hydra.

The Wit's End path is actually the one that I have the highest win rate with. It really is that strong. But only if you can justify buying magic resist. Don't buy it vs Tryndamere :P

Build Explanation:
My Shyvana is all about that Trinity Force. With the max cdr Twin Bite will be able to activate the SPELLBLADE with almost 100% uptime, and since Sterak's Gage boosts base damage, That SPELLBLADE is going to deal huge amounts of damage. (Sterak has been changed to no longer ad base damage but instead bonus damage)

In short: This Shyvana is insanely tanky, yet she still cuts through towers and players like butter. Throw down a Zz'Rot Portal and Nexus will be gone in no time. Don't worry Bob will do his job (watch the video section to get the reference)

I used to run Exhaust but after it was nerfed to no longer reduce Armor, Magic resist or attack speed, I felt like Flash was a better option. I cannot think of a better choice than Flash right now. It fits perfectly with my new Dragon controller strategy, as it allows me to use Flash around the dragon pit. This is especially important since I will be taking the first dragon much earlier than I get to level 6, so Flash is my only escape at this point. See the video guide for further info.

With the recent buffs to Shyvana AP scalings and nerf to other items, AP and Hybrid builds start to shine on Shyvana. I am still working on the details but have a look: Play Video

Shyvana is the best dragon slayer in the game and at the same time she has Fury of the Dragonborn that rewards her even further for slaying dragons. That is why I now Specialize in securing dragons for my team. I kill the first dragon at the 3 min mark, and then I keep the dragon supply flowing every time they spawn.

Let me show you how this wins me games. Imagine the enemy team has a Lee Sin. A jungler that is known for his early game pressure through ganks. Shyvana simply can't keep up with Lee Sin in early ganks. So I must do something different. Just surviving till the late game is one way to do it, as my late game Shyvana has the value of 3 Lee Sins. But this method relies too much on my teammates' ability to play defensively.

Let's say Lee Sin has a high impact game and that he has somehow killed or assisted in killing 3 people before the 4 min mark. But then at the 4 min mark, I kill an Infernal Drake. What does that mean? It means that I now have 5 more armor and magic resist permanently as well as 10% more ad and ap permanently. The rest of my team obviously also have the 10% ad and ap. THAT IS HUGE. If I have a Riven top lane with 100 ad, I just gave her 10 ad by killing the dragon, which is 350g in value. In other words, I gave my Riven a more than a kill worth of stats simply by slaying the dragon. If I went AFK now, that bonus would eventually be 16 ad when she gets to 200 ad and so on. So killing the dragon essentially is the same as giving my team a TRUCKLOAD of gold. I actually did more by slaying the dragon than Lee did with his 3 kills/assists. This is, however, the best case scenario, when the first dragon is infernal. But the other dragons are quite powerful as well, especially early on. I can consistently get 5 dragons for my team in Diamond Ranked games. That is just HUGE. (Cloud Drake actually has a higher win rate than Infernal)

Keep in mind that after I hit 6 I start killing people as well.

You should also know that if the first dragon is an Infernal Dragon, there is a far higher change for the second and third ones to be Infernals as well.
The Win rate of the dragons are as following: Cloud > Infernal > Mountain > Ocean
As of season 8 I no longer rush dragon if it is an Ocean dragon. I only take it if I have time to spare.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO WHEN PLAYING SHYVANA THE WAY I DO, IS THIS: DO NOT DIE EARLY ON. Play Safe, and encourage your team to do the same. I am running scaling runes for a reason. Also, remember that Shyvana can take out the Rift Herald very fast as well, further helping her team through other means than ganks.

When the Dragon and Herald are dead, it is time to choose a lane you want to dominate. I always adapt my build so it fits with the lane I decide to camp. Example: If the jungler and mid are ad champs, that opens up the botlane for me. I can itemize against physical damage well knowing that if I stick to bot I am well equipped to deal with anything the enemy team throws at me. I could still do this if mid is a mage but then I would have to back off every time mid is missing.

I rarely camp mid. The lane is short so it is hard to abuse my high movement speed. Also, since it is the center of the map, it is very unpredictable what happens there. Everything goes so to speak.


Essentially: Look at top and bot and decide which one is easier to fight. The choice is often an easy one. Would I rather gank a Tristana and a Janna, or a Rumble? Obviously Rumble, as Tristana and Janna can keep me at bay, Rumble can't. If their jungler is Elise the choice is even better, since I can then go with my Wit's End - Warmog's Armor build and be able to deal with both Rumble and Elise.

If all lanes are very hard to gank, feel free to spend your time counter jungling instead. It is pretty safe after level 6.

Late game is simple. Start split pushing and keep split pushing till their Nexus is a thing of the past. If you don't know how to split push. Read up on it or play another champion. Not split pushing as Shyvana is a crime against humanity.

I can quickly sum up how to split push:
Put deep wards so you can see the enemy team coming a mile away. If there are too many people to handle, back off. Not entirely, just enough for the enemy team to turn around, and then continue split pushing. ( Warmog's Armor will ensure that you are always topped off)


If they send only 1 or 2 that you are confident about killing. Well kill them and put their heads on spikes to remind people to stay far away from you.

That is mostly it. In rare cases I intentionally pretend to overextend just to hold back the enemy team for a while, so my team can kill Nashor, take out an inhibitor, kill a dragon, and so on. I do not play for KDA I play to win, and I do not mind dying for the greater good. (if the greater good has something to do with winning)

My Channel is filled with Split Push tips, tricks and guides, so feel free to go there to learn the basics.

Hold your horses I am about to throw math at your face. I would not recommend actually reading it all. I hated doing it. But if you do feel like you want the explanation as to why I max Twin Bite second, feel free to read it. I will sum it up. With this build maxing Twin Bite is far superior to maxing Flame Breath. MATH DOES NOT LIE



WARNING THERE IS A LOT OF MATH, AND IT IS VERY BORING:

Twin Bite Rank 1:
9 Seconds Cooldown.
140% Damage.

Twin Bite Rank 5:
5 Seconds Cooldown.
200% Damage.

9/5 = 1.8
200/140 = 1.43

1.8*1.43 = 2.574

In other words, Twin Bite Rank 5 deals roughly 260% damage of what Twin Bite Rank 1 does.
So a 160% INCREASE in damage.


Flame Breath Rank 1:
12 Seconds Cooldown
86 Damage.(60 + 30% AD is added as base damage from level 9, for fair calculations)

Flame Breath Rank 5:
8 Seconds Cooldown
260~ Damage

12/8 = 1.5
260/86 = 3

3*1.5 = 4.5

In other words, Flame Breath Rank 5 deals 450% damage of What Flame Breath Rank 1 Deals
so a 350% Increase in damage. Which is vastly more than Twin Bite.

But What if Shyvana is in dragon form? Well, the bonus damage from dragon form does not come from ranking up the skill, but from levels, so Flame breath increases in power
despite not putting points into it. I could do the calculation on that as well but it is pointless as these calculations are not very useful in the real world. They just show how much
each skill increases in power relative to itself with each rank. What we want to know is: Which Shyvana is strongest. The one that has rank 5 Flame Breath or the one that has Rank 5 Twin Bite?

There are a few things to consider:
Twin Bite is Melee single target but can be used on turrets!
Flame Breath is AOE and Ranged, But cannot be used on turrets!
As a Split pusher the turret part is quite important, but since Flame Breath helps in wave clear, so that we get faster to said turret, I would say they are somewhat even in
that aspect. Flame Breath being the winner because it is ranged.

Flame Breath does however not scale nearly as well as Twin Bite does, ESPECIALLY if you run Trinity Force like I do. Further more Twin Bite is greatly amplified by Fervor of Battle.
It benefits more from the stacks AND helps generate stacks faster. Twin Bite also benefits greatly from Bloodrazor, which Flame Breath gets no benefit from at all.

SO MUCH TO CONSIDER! I am however not a fan of guess work. So I will do the math. Math never lies.

When I am done getting my second skill to rank 5, I usually have Trinity Force and Bloodrazor (Deadmans Plate as well, but it does not add any damage to either of the skills.)

I am level 13 when I get Rank 5 in my second skill so I will have 102 base attack damage. I get roughly 8 damage from my Natural Talent mastery at this point, and trinity force gives 25 damage.
With 8 stacks of Fervor of Battle, I get another 48 damage.

I will have 27% Cooldown Reduction at this point.

102+8+48+25 = 183 Attack Damage.

So, Rank 5 Flame Breath will deal
220+0.3*183 = 275 Damage

Every
8*0.73 = 6 Seconds.

Resulting in a DPS of 275/6 = 46
But this is in human form, and Flame Breath is far more powerful in dragon form.

While a dragon, Flame Breath deals 135 more damage on hit as well as leaving an AOE DOT on the ground. 1 Tick of this dot is almost always applied, adding another 95 damage.
Thus, the dps in dragon form is (275+135+95)/6 = 84

(I know that I have not yet taken into account the fact that the on-hit damage from Flame Breath is also up more often, but I keep it out for simplicity, simply because a high rank of Twin bite also procs the on hit more often)
ALRIGHT.... Moving on to Twin Bite.

Twin Bite is harder to calculate due to the way it's cooldown works.

The cooldown is 5*0.73 = 3.65 seconds.
But it is also reduced every time I aa.
instead of calculating this, I have simply tested it, and I knock off roughly 1.3 Seconds of the cooldown.
3.65-1.3 = 2.35 Seconds cooldown.

The attack damage is still 183, But there is also 20 on hit damage from burnout.
Bloodrazor also deals 4% of max health damage per hit. The typical level 13 has about 1500 health, but it will obviously be far more powerful on a high health target.
4% of 1500 is 60

Meaning we deal 183+20+60 = 263 Per hit
Twin Bite Attacks Twice, so obviously, it deals 263*2=526 damage.
Resulting in a DPS of 526/2.35 = 224.
Which is FAR greater than the DPS of Flame Breath at rank 5.
and this is without even taking the Spell Blade passive on Trinity force into account!!!
Low cd on Twin Bite means smooth proc rate for Spell blade = very high DPS.

Obviously, the calculations do not stop here. Because when I have rank 5 Flame Breath I still use rank 1 Twin bite for damage and vice versa
So We have to know the DPS of those rank 1 Spells to get the actual difference in Rank 5 Twin Bite and Rank 5 Flame Breath.

Twin Bite Rank 1
9*0.73 = 6.6 Seconds CD
140% damage.
It still hits twice though!

so it deals 183*1.4 = 265 damage.
2*20 + 2*60 = 160
265+160 = 425 damage.

I tested rank 1 cd as well. It gets reduced by exactly 2.5 seconds (5 aa's)
so the cooldown is 6.6-2.5 = 4.1

The DPS is therefore 425/4.1 = 60

Flame Breath Rank 1
12*0.73 = 8.8 Seconds CD
60+0.3*183 = 115

The DPS is therefore 115/8.8 = 13


Twin Bite Rank 5 + Flame Breath Rank 1 DPS:
224+13 = 237

Flame Breath Rank 5 + Twin Bite Rank 1 DPS:
46+60 = 106

Conclusion: Twin Bite wins by a landslide. These calculations are without SpellBlade!!!
Twin Bite Rank 5 in human form even beats Flame Breath Rank 5 In dragon form by 93 DPS.

To double test, I have also tested DPS on target dummies.
Rank 5 Twin bite: 900 DPS
Rank 5 Flame Breath: 800 DPS
But target dummy testing should be taken with a grain of salt, they have 10000 hp, so Bloodrazor and Flame Breath on hit effect deals waaaay too much damage.

If you like my guides or want to support me for some other reason please take the time to subscribe to my Youtube channel, follow me on Twitch or become one of my patrons. Even a little support goes a long way and it will help me make better guides that are always up to date. Thank you!

Links:
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Link: Solo Queue Shen
Shen: A tanky split pusher with a supportive Kit. This guide can teach you a lot about split pushing and map awareness even if you don't want to play Shen.
Viable Elo: Mid to High.
Shen is a weird champion since he actually gets stronger the higher rank you are. Throwing a well-timed Shen R on a Diamond ADC does a lot more than throwing it on a Silver ADC. I do not recommend playing Shen Below Gold.

Link: World Famous Shyvana
Shyvana: A tanky Split pusher with very high sustained damage. I am disgustingly good at this champion. learning to play Shyvana does not take long. You can become fairly adept at Shyvana even with limited time on your hands if you follow this guide.
Viable Elo: Any
Shyvana is a very stable Champion. She is viable in almost all patches and all ranks

Link: Control Mage Teemo
Satan: A squishy Satanic Hamster that can control the battlefield with his shrooms. The map control is amazing. You can use it for vision resulting in a safe split push, or you can use it to place a heavy line of defense that makes it very hard for the enemy team to finish. A full build Teemo is also very scary. If you have sold your soul to the devil this guide is for you.
Viable Elo: Low to Semi-High
I can only play Teemo effectively up to about Diamond 3. Most players above that Rank knows too well how to abuse his weakness. I will however highly recommend using Teemo for climbing if you are below Diamond. You can climb fast and reliably with Teemo because he does not rely much on his team. Be a one-man army.

Link: THE Rek'sai Guide
Rek'sai: A void monster that burrows underground to stalk her prey. I got to Grandmaster with this champion and it's possible that I am even better on Rek'sai than on Shyvana. Rek'sai is extremely fun to play once you master her but it does take some time since she essentially has 7 abilities instead of the standard 4. You should use this guide if your main concern is to get as high rank as possible.
Viable Elo: Mid to VERY High.
You could still use Rek'sai in low elo with great success if you become good at her, but since she is harder than most champions to learn I would advise against this. When I play ranked on a new account I rarely start out by playing Rek'sai as there are other champions that can carry better with enough kills. You can, however, reach any elo with enough skill because Rek'sai is so extremely strong right now.

LINK: Rammus Guide
Rammus: A Tanky Tank. Rammus gives zero ****s because he cannot die. This guide is ideal for newer or low elo players since Rammus is extremely easy to play. You can learn the basics of the jungle without having to worry about learning a difficult champion at the same time.
Viable Elo: ANY (If picked as a counter) or LOW-MID (If picked every game)
I played Rammus alongside Rek'sai and Shyvana when I got to Grandmaster the first time. BUT I only pick Rammus against certain setups otherwise he is just too weak. The guide contains a section about WHEN to pick Rammus. Rammus is designed as a Counter Champion to AD.