Garen vs Shen
Skill matchup
Build vs Shen
Build adapted to this matchup
Recommended items for Garen: Stridebreaker, Phantom Dancer, Mortal Reminder, Berserker's Greaves, Dead Man's Plate, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Black Cleaver, Infinity Edge.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Shen's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
After casting a spell, Shen gets a shield. Affecting other champions reduces the cooldown of this effect.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 8s | 16s | 18s | – |
| 6 | 6.5s | 16s | 18s | 3m20 |
| 9 | 5s | 14.5s | 18s | 3m20 |
| 11 | 5s | 13s | 18s | 3m |
| 16 | 5s | 10s | 14s | 2m40 |
| 18 | 5s | 10s | 10s | 2m40 |
Playing as Garen
Tips to maximize your impact
- Silence, spin, back off
Trade with Decisive Strike (Q), then Judgment (E), and back off: the Decisive Strike silence stops your opponent from answering with spells.
- Stay closest to your opponent
During Judgment (E), stay closer to your opponent than to their minions: the nearest enemy takes extra damage.
- Back off to regenerate
After a trade, back off until Perseverance (passive) kicks in: without recent damage taken, you regenerate part of your health every second.
- Courage just before impact
Activate Courage (W) just before the bulk of the damage: you first gain a shield and tenacity, then a longer damage reduction.
- Save your R to finish
Save Demacian Justice (R) to finish: its true damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Shen
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Stay on the same side as his blade
Stay on the same side as his spirit blade: if it doesn't pass through you, Twilight Assault (Q) deals much less damage.
- Trade after his E
Take a trade after his Shadow Dash (E): it's both his taunt and his only dash, on an 18 to 10 second cooldown.
- No autos into his Refuge
Don't waste autos on targets inside Spirit's Refuge (W): they're blocked there. Use spells instead, or wait for the zone to end.
- Interrupt his ult
If you have CC, save it for Stand United (R): Shen channels before teleporting, and interrupting him keeps him away from the teamfight.
- Push when he leaves
When he leaves lane with Stand United (R), ping your team and push your wave: each ult costs him minions and tower health.
Other Garen matchups
Patch 16.21.1