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This passive is a passive that you don't really think about at all during a match- the passive is just there. That being said, it is a great passive for Erlang Shen as it allows him to proc certain item passives twice. Items such as Death's Toll and Stone Cutting Sword allows him to proc their passives TWICE per basic attack. If you aren't aware of which passives work and do not work with this passive know that 1) Stone Cutting Sword, The Executioner, Atalanta's Bow, and Toxic Blade will apply two stacks of their passives per basic attack. 2) Howling Celestial Dog does not count as an ability and will not apply ability item effects. 3) The applied from Howling Celestial Dog with Qin's Sais and Malice will only apply 15% of the item's original passive. So if a proc of Qin's Sais does 30 damage, Erlang Shen's dog will deal 4.5 damage. 4) Never build Odysseus Bow on Erlang Shen as the fourth attack will be activated by Erlang Shen's dog, which in turn will have a significantly reduced damaging effect. |
Spot Weakness is a simple ability- on activation you do more damage. There's not too much to say about this ability but try to always have it available when you are fighting as the difference in damage when using and not using this ability is significant. Also Spot Weakness does not reset Erlang Shen's basic attack hitchain which is helpful to know when boxing your opponents. I prefer to level this ability second as it scales well per level in terms of damage, and in the mid game, being able to deal high damage while being really tanky will give you an edge over some gods. |
Pin is another simple ability: does damage and roots enemies in the center. There is not much to say about this besides that it resets your basic attack hitchain which is nice to know when boxing in lane. I level this ability up last as you mainly use it for the root and not for the damage, and it also doesn't scale well per level. |
72 Transformations ES is Erlang Shen's most important ability in his kit. The way each transformation is handled is similar to Sun Wukong's 72 Transformations with each form being dependent on how far or how close you aim your ability's targeter. In the solo lane, you will often want to use Mink form to clear the wave as it has good damage when you pass through enemies and also grants you an attack speed bonus which will help you clear out the surviving minions and also help to fight your opponent. In lane, when you're looking to trade with your opponent, consider using Turtle form, since the health shield will help nullify a significant amount of damage which can mean the difference between being down 300 health and being up 300 health. Also look to use the knockup feature of Turtle form to interrupt certain abilities if and when possible, such as Bellona's Bludgeon and Nike's Rend. Like most gods with mobility tools, be wary of your surroundings when using 72 Transformations ES aggressively as there is the risk of being ganked which can result in either losing a significant amount of health or dying. One last thing is about Turtle form is that when you are being chased or are looking to get away, take a step back and then use Turtle form. If done right, you will hit your opponent with Turtle form, knocking them up, which allows you to cover more ground since you are still moving when they are knocked up and they need to recover from the knock up before they are able to move again. |
This ultimate is a very versatile ability. From being able to use it in a teamfight for increased tankiness, for the setup it provides, to being able to use it in solo lane to survive a gank or trade or simply for the heal so that you can stay in lane for longer. Even though it is a self-healing ability, you want to use it wisely not greedily. It is very risky to save 9 Turns Blessing when you are at a critically low health status as you are very likely to flat out die before the heal comes through. There is also the fact that anti-healing debuffs may be present which can be applied onto you, greatly reducing the effectiveness of your ultimate's healing. Do not be afraid to use 9 Turns Blessing for the crowd control. With this ultimate, Turtle form from 72 Transformations ES, and Pin, will allow you to keep an enemy in place for a long time. You could even force out the Purification Beads of your opponent simply by activating your ultimate as your enemies will know that they risk being chained by crowd control if they do not become crowd control immune. |
This section will show all potential ability combos for Erlang Shen.
As a warrior, Erlang Shen's itemization is very flexible and he is most effective when he builds items according to the situation. More experienced players should always build him situationally instead of relying on "cookie cutter builds" or static builds, but newer players should feel free to use the two example builds I have shown at the beginning of the guide.
When playing Erlang Shen as a tank, be it in the solo lane or the jungle or even support, prioritize building into protections and also try to fit in some health into your build. As you can see in my two example builds, there is a nice blend of high protections and health too, which makes Erlang Shen very tanky. Attack speed isn't a necessary stat for a tank build but can be nice if you come across it such as by building Shogun's Kusari. Cooldown reduction is a nice stat but is more of a luxury stat. Erlang Shen has powerful abilities but he is not super reliant on abilities to function. I cannot stress this enough but always look to see what items will you need for this situation: is there a strong healing presence on the enemy team? Build Pestilence or Toxic Blade. Is there plenty of strong gods dependent on basic attacks? Build Midgardian Mail or Frostbound Hammer.
However as an offensive jungler, you can more reliably build into offensive stats and items. Attack speed is a vital stat as is penetration/armor reduction, and physical power. Avoid lifesteal items and critical strike chance items since he won't benefit too much from them as he would from items such as Qin's Sais and The Executioner. You can also consider some defensive items in your build since Erlang Shen doesn't have the insane single target damage nor sustainability in fights as Kali does, and also defensive items will help you provide more to your team in terms of utility and damage to the enemy team.
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I do have a question about your jungle build though. I noticed you haven't built any offense in it. Are you able to effectively gank even with the lack of offense, I guess are you bursty enough? I play him in the jungle and generally build about 40% defense and 60% offense. I am definitely going to give you solo build a try though. Thats a lot more defense than I generally build in solo. So interested to see how it goes.
HOWEVER... Qin's Sais' passive is separate from this (at least as far as I understand it). So you get 2 procs of Qin's passive each time he hits, and that passive is not subject to the same 15% of total damage. Qin's is significantly more effective than crit, and, when considered further with his attack progression (0.75 / 0.75 / 0.75 / 1.1 / 0.9x speed but only 0.65 / 0.65 / 0.65 / 1 / 0.8x damage), those crits become even less appealing, while making Qin's even MORE appealing.