For a long time, Riot Games had planned changes to the League of Legends (LOL) champion Shen – and now they are finally confirmed.
The ninja, who has recently mainly been played as support, not only receives a visual update but also an update to his abilities. For example, he now has a Ki Blade that he can control using his abilities.
These are Shen’s updated abilities in LoL
Passive: Ki Barrier
After using an ability, Shen receives a shield. This shield has a long cooldown if the ability cast did not hit an enemy or allied champion.
Q: Shadow Strike
Shen calls his spirit blade to him. This causes the next 3 basic attacks to deal damage equal to the target’s max health. If the spirit blade collides with an enemy champion moving towards Shen, Shen deals increased damage and gains significantly increased attack speed. If enemies move away from Shen and collide with the spirit blade, their movement speed is reduced for a short time.
Brief explanation: The spirit blade
- spawns at the beginning of the game and on respawn next to Shen
- de-spawns upon death
- appears at Shen’s location when using a global teleport in LoL (Shen Ultimate, Tahm Ultimate, Recall (B), etc.)
- appears near Shen (but still far away) when he moves far from the blade (off-screen)
- The Q ability turns the blade into a “homing missile” that lands on the ground next to Shen when it reaches him.
W: Spirit’s Refuge
A protective barrier surrounds the spirit blade, allowing Shen and allied champions to dodge all basic attacks nearby (Yes, you read that right!). The ability is only triggered when an allied champion is within the ability’s area. If not, the ability is delayed until an ally enters the area.
E: Shadow Dash
Passive: When Shen deals damage with his Q or E ability, he receives a fixed amount of energy back.
Active: As is currently the case, Shen dashes in a specified direction, dealing damage to all champions he hits and taunting them briefly.
R: Stand United
There is no major change here either. Shen teleports, with a delay, to an allied target and gives the selected ally a shield. The new aspect is that he also brings his spirit blade along.
Overall, Shen’s playstyle has remained relatively loyal. His combat options have been adapted to the game so that the laning phase and later skirmishes are not as “bland” as they used to be. Because, let’s be honest… he wasn’t really a “true ninja” before. Whether the updated abilities will change that, we will see in the future.
His various skins have also been adjusted:
On the PBE servers of LoL, you can soon test how the new Shen plays. Let us know – Do you think the update is more “Yay” or “Nay”?
The next completely reworked champion will be not a ninja.
