Hello! My name is b4kk0n and I'm a Gold IV jungler and aspiring semi-pro player. I've been in Gold since Season 9 and had a brief high stint in Diamond in Season 6 playing in my Dad's account. In this Shen guide, I'm going to provide instructions to one of the strongest offmeta junglers; Shen!

Shen provides a lot in the way of CC, damage and tankiness without giving up mobility and flexibility. His jungle clear is very reliable and he can easily do a full clear and finish close to full health. More details to come!

PATHING
Your pathing is usually very dependant on match ups. If you have a very hard match up like Elise or Olaf, you'll usually want to go Red > Krugs > Blue > Gromp > Gank Mid/Top > Wolves > Raptors > Gank Bot. The ganks are only applicable if your opponent hasn't ganked yet, which considering the match ups, will hardly be the case. Depending on your elo, of course.

If you are on easier match ups, like Amumu or Master Yi, you can go Red > Level 2 cheese Gank bot > Krugs > Blue > Scuttle > Gank top/mid > gromp. Of course, these pathing options are assuming that ganks don't go badly. If any of your ganks go badly, stick to farming until level 6. Shen can fall behind quite easily.

EARLY GAME!
Jungle Shen's early game is pretty much the same every game. Farm and look for gank opportunities while keeping track of the enemy jungler. Shen will hardly ever have the pressure to contest early drakes, so try to focus on Heralds and top scuttlecrabs. Whenever the enemy jungler is doing an objective, attempt a cross-map play to capitalize.

Ex.: Enemy Kha'Zix is spotted doing the Ocean Drake, Shen ganks toplane and gives Darius a kill, and then grabs Herald. Overall, this was better for Shen and his team because it gives one of his carries a kill and grabs the objective. These scenarios do not account for mid prio and objective timers.

ITEMIZATION
Unless you want to go for the Lethal Assassin Shen or Deluxe Support Shen builds for the JG, your bread and butter is going to be Sunfire and Titanic Hydra. The synergy of Titanic Hydra + Sunfire's Passive + Shen's Q is insane and provides a lot of constant teamfight damage. These two items are the core of nearly every Shen build out there. Only go Frostfire Gauntlet if the enemy team is 5 AD or 4 AD and Mage Support. You'll also ALWAYS build Merc Threads.

MID GAME
Jungle Shen's midgame is poor compared to Top Shen's. He falls of heavy in that 1st to 2nd item gap, since Titanic Hydra can be a pretty hectic item to complete unless you go for Bami's + Tiamat first back, which sets you behind in the early game. Generally, in the mid game, you'll look for gank opportunities to set up your teammates for glory while you capitalize on assist, experience and farm to build up to the powerful late game Shen has.

TEAMFIGHTING!
Shen is easily one of the best teamfighters in League of Legends. His kit provides really good defense whilst simultaneously providing great offensive opportunities in the way of E+Flash, or Flash+Q to apply the passive Slow. Try to hold back the enemy frontlines while keeping your backline safe from threats. Yes, you can ult during teamfights, and a lot of clutch plays come from these sudden teamfight big shield ults, because Shen's R shield grows the more health your target loses.

LATE GAME
You've arrived at the promised late game, and if all went well, you have your SUnfire and Titanic hydra, on the way to your 3rd game-dependant item (either Randuin's or Abyssal Mask). You are tanky whilst also dishing out a fair amount of damage and provide both jungle and side lane pressure. Abuse that. Abuse the fact that you are a jungler with global pressure and push side lanes, invade the enemy jungle, go for objectives and try to create plays. What differentiates a good Shen from a mediocre Shen is using your ult, and mediocre ults will only use defensive ults. His ult is also an offensive engage tool!

SUMMARY
Overall, Shen is a great off meta pick but relies heavily on his teammates and communication. Whilst this can be a bit of a turn off for SoloQ, he still has a carry and 1v9 potential that you can abuse if you have a strong early game.

PROS

Great teamfighting.
Tanky
Good damage output
Excellent utility
Excellent front-to-back teamfighting power
Good mobility
Good scaling

CONS

Dependant on the team to perform ideally
Dependant on item spikes
Heavily countered by strong AP junglers
Weak early clear
Prone to invades

And that's about it! Thank you so much for reading this guide! Please leave a comment with feedback and your thoughts!

- B4kk0n <3