Like to punch things while running really, really fast? Shyvana might be the dragon girl for you!

Shyvana's ultimate, Dragon's Descent (R), transforms her into a dragon. This ability propels her forward during the transformation, pushing enemies forward and dealing magic damage along her path. Additionally, each of Shyvana's other abilities take on bonus effects while she is in Dragon Form; Twin Bite becomes a frontal cleave, Burnout leaves behind a flame trail, similar to Corki's Valkyrie, and Flame Breath changes from a straight line skill shot to a frontal cone ability. Shyvana can also extend the duration of Dragon's Descent by auto attacking (she generates 2 Fury per attack), and she gets some great passive resistances (25 Armor and Magic Resistance at level 3) that double when she becomes a dragon.

Overall, Shyvana is a very strong champion - even with her lackluster Flame Breath ability! - and this is due to her strong overall damage potential. Twin Bite does great damage, especially with on-proc abilities like Wit's End, which is a very good item for her. I'm particularly fond of Burnout because it combines my two favorite skill mechanics in the game: AoE damage and a "burst" movement speed boost. If there's one thing I've gotten good at, it's escaping team fights with less than 5% of my health remaining, and this is best accomplished with a strong movement speed boosting ability (my other favorite champions happen to be Vayne, Garen, Skarner, Poppy, and Udyr).

In terms of team cohesion, Shyvana does require a more control-oriented team than a normal tanky DPS, and this is due to her lack of inherent crowd control abilities. Without a Frozen Mallet, Phage, or Lizard Buff, Shyvana has no slows or stuns, and her ultimate is borderline counterintuitive in terms of its control potential. If Shyvana uses Dragon's Descent to chase an enemy, she'll often push them away from her teammates, so she needs to position herself on the opposite side of her enemies in order to push them where she wants to. Unfortunately, it's very possible for Shyvana to literally overshoot her opponents, thereby leaving her a good few meters behind while her prey just turns around. The best use for Shyvana's ultimate is in the jungle, when she can use a treeline to stop her flight, but it's certainly an awkward mechanic at best.

Ultimately, however, Shyvana does offer some great tanky DPS capabilities, and this is further complimented by her inherent passive defensive bonuses. I fully expect her Burnout to take a movement speed nerf in the coming weeks, with a probable modification to her human form Dragon's Breath. Shyvana does excel in counter-jungling because of the speed in which she can take down creeps, and the jungle is where I would say she is the strongest, as she lacks sustainability to fight in the top lane metagame. Put some CC-heavy teammates together, like Alistar, Swain, Anivia, or Morgana, and throw on a disruptive ranged AD carry like Vayne, Graves, or Ashe, and I can guarantee you'll have a great deal of fun playing this punchy tanky dragon-girl.

Also, her custom skins are really cool.

Christopher "Pwyff" Tom, Editor-in-Chief.