Michael Jackson is still alive. Extraterrestrial life visited our planet. River Shen.

Some created by conspiracy theorists, others cold hard reality. Most League of Legends players might not have seen this unique playstyle thus far, but it has been around for years and occasionally been put to good use.

The man behind the myth

First of all should be pointed out that River Shen's playstyle is characterized by the fact he does not belong in a lane and keeps the possibility to utilize a Jungler open. The river flowing through Summoners Rift is his private lane, although frequently paying a visit to the lanes or battling it out with the opposing Jungler somewhere on the map happens more often than not.

River Shen's playstyle is unique in the way that you have to sacrifice one of the roles on your team in order to create this constant threat, this mostly being either Support or occasionally Jungle. Using a high-risk high-reward playstyle, River Shen excels at creating map pressure and putting the enemy team in continues disadvantages. As a result of him not being in a lane or roaming the jungle, there is no real way to keep track of River Shen's movements, creating a risk of getting caught every single time you are overextending. However, there will always be a possibility of River Shen falling behind due to the lack of a steady experience and gold income, eventually diminishing his role to that of a mobile ward, causing River Shen to be highly dependent on his first few ganks or ability to track the pathing of the opposing Jungler.

Even though the playstyle has been named after the rebuilder of the Kinkou Order, Shen, more champions come to mind when reflecting on it. Aatrox, Elise and Rek'Sai are a few amongst others that are able to have a constant healing as well as being able to apply a decent amount of crowd control on the opponents, while using little to no mana. Hence the key components of a River Shen playstyle: The ability to self-heal, decent movement speed and having a skillset with some kind of crowd control.

The birth of River Shen

There is no real consent on how River Shen came into the game. Two theories have been created over the course of years , both of them being equally probable.

The oldest one goes out from a pure technical point of view:

Long before the days of organized team play and well thought through team compositions, there was a time of chaos and entropy. Where jungle camps were considered redundant or a way to increase your gold income, at best.

Back in season 0 and the early stages of season 1, Junglers were non-existent due to major bugs and simply too high base stats on the camps. Jungle camps would reset without any clear indication of how or when. They just did. Furthermore doing a camp was nearly impossible for most champions at level 1 because of their base stats being inferior compared to those of jungle camps. In order to create some kind of pressure for overextending laners and punish their lack of map awareness, an unknown hero came up with an idea. River Shen.

The second theory claims that it is just a joke put in the game by Riot Games developers. With the release of Patch 4.20, Riot Games made this theory more credible with the introduction of Rift Scuttler as the Rift Scuttler is a huge boost to River Shen’s potential. Not only does the speed boost significantly help his playstyle, but it also opened up a new chance to regain his health with the use of his Vorpal Blade and catch up on experience.

Furthermore, the observant League of Legends player might have noticed that Shen’s Shadow Dash animation is exactly the same as the Rift Scuttler’s dash. It remains debatable whether she was given this animation on purpose.

Pros and cons

Playing with a River Shen brings some opportunities as well as disadvantages to the table. Choices have to be made in order to play River Shen to its full potential, which will not always turn out for the best. Most likely, your AD carry will end up in a one versus two matchup, being doomed to hug the turret until help arrives or getting zoned out as a result of smart wave management by the opposing duo. On top of that, there is the risk, as mentioned above, to fall behind in experience and gold and thus paving the way for an inevitable loss. On the other hand, when the Jungler is substituted for River Shen, his team will lose a lot of pressure on neutral objectives as a result of not having Smite.

Although there are some serious risks that come along with River Shen, advantages can be created all over Summoners Rift in a similar way. One of the biggest strength of a River Shen composition is the ability to outnumber the opponent quite easily. Strength in numbers is extremely important in MOBA games, and League of Legends is no exception. Giving opponents a one way ticket back to the Fountain before they are able to hit level two can have a devastating effect on the lane and can leave him trailing behind the entire game. In addition to that, River Shen creates an immense map pressure. Even when the Jungler is spotted on the other side of the map, there is still no guarantee that overextending will go unpunished. Going aggressive on your lane opponent with the odds of two enemies showing up is just a big risk that very few people are willing to take, hence making the lane a lot more comfortable for your ally.

Conclusion

At first sight, River Shen might seem a viable option in some scenarios. With the rise of Sated Junglers it might be a good way to allow your Jungler to farm up properly without losing much map pressure. However, all the former should be taken with a grain of salt. Chances are that the early game will not go as smooth as hoped and there is a lot of room for counter play. In any kind of organized team play wards will be put up early and communication will be of a higher quality than in a regular matchmade game. Impeding River Shen's ability to move freely is the biggest counter possible and doing so will force him back to either a lane or jungle.

The odds of ever witnessing a River Shen in pro play are very small, due to the fact that coordinated team play is the biggest counter possible. Add to that the fact that River Shen takes on half of the tasks of a Jungler and the reason why becomes very clear. Both will only have half the impact they are expected to have and the downsides of playing the River Shen style vastly overshadows the upsides.

Final Fun Fact

The legend goes that River Shen only answers when being addressed properly. Whenever not being addressed with the words "River Shen,..." there will be no reaction.

Thank you for reading and best of luck on Summoners Rift!