Champion Guide

Shyvana Guide

By LoLSuggest

Jungle

Reworked Shyvana is an on-hit bruiser jungler who powerfarms, builds Fury and turns into a dragon for fights. Scalemail grants her stacking armor and magic resist from takedowns on champions, large minions and large monsters. Emberstrike makes her next attack hit the area around the target and can be recast, Inferno Aegis shields her and speeds her up before detonating around her, Molten Burst launches a fireball that slows the first large target it hits, and Dragon's Descent transforms her into a dragon and makes enemies in her path flee. In dragon form her abilities are empowered: Emberstrike gains a heavy single-target recast, Inferno Aegis heals her when it hits a champion, and Molten Burst leaves a trail of fire.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Shyvana build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Start Mosstomper Seedling, the safest companion. Kraken Slayer is the best first item and Dusk and Dawn the best second, keeping mid-game pressure high; Trinity Force is a core alternative. Gluttonous Greaves are the top boots, with Plated Steelcaps against physical damage and auto-attackers or Mercury's Treads against crowd control and magic burst. Sundered Sky is the standard third item, then Jak'Sho, The Protean and Sterak's Gage. Against heavy physical damage take Death's Dance and Randuin's Omen, Maw of Malmortius against one big magic burst threat, and against tanks Black Cleaver and Titanic Hydra; Spear of Shojin and Riftmaker are other strong options. Run Press the Attack with Triumph, Legend: Haste and Coup de Grace, plus Cosmic Insight and Magical Footwear; swap the secondary to Conditioning and Unflinching into crowd control or burst, or take Conqueror for longer skirmishes. Take Flash with Smite. Max Q, then W, then E.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

Clean, fast full clears and strong objective damage.
Kraken Slayer and Emberstrike resets give her reliable damage after one item.
Dragon form makes front-to-back teamfights much easier.

Weaknesses

Pre-6 ganks are more limited than they look.
Squishier after recent durability nerfs, so blind or late entries get punished.
If she cannot stay on a target, or misses Molten Burst, her damage falls apart.

Laning Phase

The default plan is to full clear more than you gank and arrive at the river with real resources: start Red Brambleback, Krugs and Raptors, and be healthy for the Scuttle Crab at 2:55. Use Emberstrike as an attack reset for your on-hit loop, and open fights with Molten Burst to slow your target, then keep your attacks flowing. Pre-6 ganks are weaker than they look, so take them only when the lane state already says yes. Your best fights come when level 6, your Fury bar and your item spikes line up.

Mid & Late Game

Follow the rule farm, Fury, form, objective: walk into fights with your Fury almost full, and only press Dragon's Descent when it will win the next fight, dragon, tower or reset. Do not cast it from maximum range just because it is up. In teamfights act as a front-access bruiser: kill the target you can keep hitting, then keep moving the fight forward, and use Inferno Aegis in dragon form to heal as you hit champions. Late-game blind entries lose games, so wait for a real window.

Key Tips

Ultimate Haste increases how fast you generate Fury, so haste items help you transform more often.
Molten Burst explodes on the first large target it hits, so throw it from a clean angle past minions.
In dragon form, Emberstrike's extra recast deals massive damage to one target.
Dragon's Descent makes enemies in your path flee, so use it to break up a backline or peel.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.

Toughest Matchups

Fiddlesticks