Shyvana
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Poor (4/10)
High Investment Required
Epic Relics
Shyvana is widely considered one of the weakest Demacia champions, often described as clunky, slow, and lacking in tempo. While her dragon-slaying fantasy is appealing, she suffers from a 'feast or famine' playstyle that struggles significantly in high-difficulty content like Nightmares. Her early game is fragile, her starting deck is diluted with non-Dragon units, and her scaling mechanics often come online too late to matter. She requires significant investment (often cited as needing 5 or 6 stars) to feel functional, and even then, she is frequently outperformed by other champions.
Dragon Queen Scaling
Essential for providing Overwhelm to Shyvana and her dragons, allowing her large stats to actually close out games. The +1|+1 subtype buff is a nice bonus.
Crucial for consistency. It allows you to find Shyvana early and, more importantly, floods your deck with her 'Confront' champion spell. This spell provides Barrier and stats, essential for her survival and scaling.
Doubles down on the stat buffs granted by her champion spell and other sources, accelerating her scaling significantly.
Strategy
This build focuses on maximizing the value of Shyvana's champion spell, 'Confront'. By using Echoing Spirit, you ensure a steady supply of protection (Barrier) and stats, while The Beast Within ensures those stats translate into Nexus damage.
Fury Starter
Her signature relic. Grants early stats (+4|+0 and Overwhelm) which allows her to secure kills immediately upon summoning, triggering her Fury and snowballing the board.
Synergizes perfectly with Draconic Runes. The immediate strike on summon uses her boosted attack to kill a unit, triggering Fury and generating a dragon in hand.- Provides global Overwhelm to ensuring her scaling translates to victory. Can be swapped for 'Death's Foil' if survivability is a major concern.
Strategy
Designed to fix her weak early game by giving her enough raw stats to kill units immediately. This jumpstarts her Fury engine, which is otherwise difficult to activate in high-level adventures.
F2P Scaling
Generates a fleeting 'Confront' every turn. Since the bug fix to her spell, the stats granted are now permanent, making this a powerful scaling tool.- Provides an immediate Fury trigger on summon and helps control the board.
Allows Shyvana to scale rapidly when she survives damage, turning her into a massive unit over a few turns.
Strategy
A reliable setup for players without Epic relics. Use the fleeting champion spell every turn to protect Shyvana with Barrier and grow her stats permanently.
Other Relic Options
A strong alternative to Draconic Runes. It buffs all your dragons, helping the entire board scale and secure kills.
Offers safety when attacking, which is valuable against high-power enemies where Shyvana might otherwise die before striking.
Provides a second Shyvana and protection, though it can sometimes clutter the hand.
Can be used to fix her mana curve (reaching 4 mana start), but requires specific setups (like Luminous Orb or Strength of Stone) to hit the 8-attack requirement, as Draconic Runes alone does not trigger it.
Constellation
Shyvana's constellation is heavily criticized for feeling disjointed. While her C5 and C6 offer power, they don't fully solve her core issues of deck consistency and early tempo. She is considered a champion that demands high investment to feel 'complete'.
Dragon Breath
When you summon a Dragon, it deals 3 to the weakest enemy.
Fury of the Brood
+1 Starting Mana. All allied dragons have Fury. Your Fury buffs are granted to all Dragon allies in play and in hand.Review
Grants Fury to dragons in hand and play. This is often criticized for being too conditional and susceptible to removal; if your board is wiped, your scaling resets. It also notably fails to buff dragons in your deck.
Dragon Breath II
When you summon a Dragon, it strikes the weakest enemy.Review
Dragons strike on summon. A strong effect, but it relies entirely on you actually having dragons to play. Since her starting deck is diluted with non-dragons, this can be inconsistent without good drafts.
Fortifications
Your Nexus is Tough.Review
Tough Nexus. Widely viewed as a 'bandaid' power that compensates for her slow start rather than fixing it. It helps you survive while you try to stabilize.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.Review
Manaflow (and typically a Dragon cost reduction node). This is often cited as the most critical breakpoint for Shyvana, significantly smoothing out her clunky mana curve.
Call of the Brood
When allies attack, draw a unit, if it's a Dragon summon it attacking.Review
Attack: Summon an attacking Dragon from your deck. While powerful on paper, it is inconsistent ('gamba'). It can whiff if you haven't drafted enough dragons, pulling weak units or nothing at all. It also pulls units without the buffs from her 2-star power (which only affects hand/play), meaning the summoned unit is often smaller than expected.
Gameplay Tips
Drafting is Critical
Shyvana's starting deck is notoriously poor, containing several non-dragon units that dilute her synergy. You must aggressively draft Dragon units and cut non-dragon cards (like the 2-mana Challenger or Egghead Researcher) to make her Star Powers consistent.
Confront is Key
Her champion spell, Confront (or Dragon's Rage), is one of her best tools. It grants Barrier and stats. Use it defensively to keep Shyvana alive against larger units, or offensively to safely challenge high-priority targets. The stats it grants are now permanent, making it a primary scaling tool.
The C6 Interaction
If you have her 6-star power, note that it does not trigger with the adventure power 'Dragon's Fang' (Regen), but it does work with the 'Dragon's Tooth' item. Also, be aware that the summoned dragon comes from your deck, so it will not have the Fury buffs you've been stacking on units in your hand.
Stall to Scale
Shyvana is not an aggro champion. You often need to take some Nexus damage early (aided by her Tough Nexus power) to establish your board. Don't throw away units chump-blocking if they are needed to trigger Fury chains later.