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Erlang Shen - Your technique is flawed! (Season 4, Patch 4.21)

4 0 109,169
by xXDannTheMannXx updated November 15, 2017

Smite God: Erlang Shen

Build Guide Discussion 7 More Guides
Choose a Build: Solo
Solo Jungle Support
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Erlang Shen Build

Starting Build

Build Item Death's Toll Death's Toll
Build Item Boots Boots
Build Item Chalice of Healing Chalice of Healing
Build Item Multi Potion Multi Potion
2

Relics (Level 1)

Build Item Heavenly Wings Heavenly Wings
Build Item Horrific Emblem Horrific Emblem
Build Item Magic Shell Magic Shell

Example Build #1

Build Item Warrior Tabi Warrior Tabi
Build Item Gladiator's Shield Gladiator's Shield
Build Item Mystical Mail Mystical Mail
Build Item Hide of the Urchin Hide of the Urchin
Build Item Midgardian Mail Midgardian Mail
Build Item Pestilence Pestilence

Example Build #2

Build Item Warrior Tabi Warrior Tabi
Build Item Gladiator's Shield Gladiator's Shield
Build Item Hide of the Urchin Hide of the Urchin
Build Item Midgardian Mail Midgardian Mail
Build Item Shogun's Kusari Shogun's Kusari
Build Item Mantle of Discord Mantle of Discord

Relics (Level 12)

Build Item Belt of Frenzy Belt of Frenzy
Build Item Blink Rune Blink Rune
Build Item Cursed Ankh Cursed Ankh
Build Item Heavenly Wings Heavenly Wings
Build Item Horrific Emblem Horrific Emblem
Build Item Magic Shell Magic Shell
Build Item Shield of Thorns Shield of Thorns

Erlang Shen's Skill Order

Spot Weakness

1 X Y
Spot Weakness
2 10 11 12 13

Pin

2 A B
Pin
3 15 16 17 18

72 Transformations ES

3 B A
72 Transformations ES
1 4 6 7 8

9 Turns Blessing

4 Y X
9 Turns Blessing
5 9 14 19 20
Spot Weakness
2 10 11 12 13

Spot Weakness

1 X
Erlang Shen opens his third eye and analyzes the enemy's strengths and weaknesses. When activated, Erlang Shen gains additional Physical Damage and Lifesteal on each strike. He also applies a stacking debuff to enemy gods, reducing their damage dealt to all sources. Stacks last 3s.

If the buff effect has ended and the ability is on Cooldown, successful Basic Attacks reduce the Cooldown of this ability by 1s.

Ability Type: Buff, Damage
Physical Damage: 12 / 22 / 32 / 42 / 52 (+5% of your Physical Power)
Lifesteal: 4.5 / 9 / 13.5 / 18 / 22.5%
Damage Reduction: 5 / 5.5 / 6 / 6.6 / 7%
Max Stacks: 3
Duration: 5s
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 14s
Pin
3 15 16 17 18

Pin

2 A
Erlang Shen launches a spear that damages enemies on impact. Enemies in the dead center of the effect when it lands are Rooted in place.

Ability Type: Circle, Root, Damage
Damage: 85 / 130 / 175 / 220 / 265 (+55% of your Physical Power)
Root Duration: 1.5s
Radius: 20
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Cooldown: 16s
72 Transformations ES
1 4 6 7 8

72 Transformations ES

3 B
Erlang Shen transforms into an Mink or Turtle and charges forward, becoming immune to knockups and slows.

Mink: Damages all enemies, stopping on first god hit and increasing Attack Speed and Movement Speed for 4s.
Turtle: Gains a health shield that is boosted by 75% of your protections from items for 12s.

Ability Type: Line, Buff, Damage
Turtle Damage: 55 / 100 / 145 / 190 / 235 (+40% of your Physical Power)
Shield Health: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250
Mink Damage: 70 / 130 / 190 / 250 / 310 (+70% of your Physical Power)
Mink Attack Speed: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35%
Mink Movement Speed: 15%
Cost: 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85
Cooldown: 18 / 17.5 / 17 / 16.5 / 16s
9 Turns Blessing
5 9 14 19 20

9 Turns Blessing

4 Y
Erlang Shen Taunts nearby Enemy gods, gaining Damage Mitigation for the next 4s. Afterwards, if Erlang Shen is still alive he is Healed for a flat amount plus 12% of his Maximum Health.

Ability Type: Cone, Taunt
Heal: 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+12% of your Maximum Health)
Damage Mitigation: 35%
Taunt Duration: 1.5s
Cost: 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 / 100
Cooldown: 85s

God Introduction

Erlang Shen is a powerful warrior, able to keep his opponents in place for an extended period while inflicting damage high for a warrior. In the solo lane, he is a dominant foe and in the jungle, he can be a tanky force for his team or a pseudo-assassin god based on his itemization. Regardless, he can be a very dangerous opponent to go up against.

Ability Overview

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.

Ability Combos

This section will show all potential ability combos for Erlang Shen.


Combo #1 - Standard


Combo #2 - Lockdown


Combo #3 - Total Lockdown

Itemization

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.

Starter Builds (Solo Lane, Jungle, Support)


Tank Itemization (Solo Lane, Jungle, Support)


Offensive Itemization (Jungle)


Relics (Solo Lane, Jungle, Support

Conclusion

Erlang Shen is one of my favorite warriors in Smite. I hope that this guide has helped you to succeed!

Check out my other god guides!

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1
Ben24 | November 29, 2017 5:16pm
Great guide man! I have been playing Erlang since day one and he is my most played god. Glad to see that someone finally made a good guide for him.

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.
1
Tlaloc1050 (17) | October 18, 2017 10:15am
Thanks for pointing out that crit and obow are bad on Erlang, I've seen far too many building both
1
boogiebass (46) | October 18, 2017 2:38pm
Why is crit bad? Can't his dog crit also? If you build rage+deathbringer and utilize his mink form for the fatalis efect, wouldn't you have a viable crit build?
3
Branmuffin17 (394) | October 18, 2017 4:32pm
Yes, puppy can crit. That said, the puppy basics are separate attacks...so each attack Erlang hits, and puppy hits...but only at 15% of Erlang's damage, and at 15% of item effects' normal damage. So a crit that's only 15% as effective is not all that impressive.

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.
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1
DV-8 (35) | September 24, 2017 7:52am
I feel that Witchblade is a viable option in Solo against heavy auto-attack teams, or against a lane opponent such as Osiris or Bellona.
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League of Legends Build Guide Author xXDannTheMannXx
Erlang Shen - Your technique is flawed! (Season 4, Patch 4.21)
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