Image: Honor of Kings
The silky beauty graces Hero's Gorge with her crowd control. Learn how to master Shi on the Honor of Kings' global server.
Honor of Kings’ newest hero, Shi, has joined the Gorge's lineup of playable mages. With her prowess in controlling her opponents, Shi is a great asset on any team. While not the most impactful on the field, her damage can be enough to disrupt the enemy lineup, as long as she uses her Ultimate to enhance all of her other skills.
With her role as a control mage, she excels in both mid and roamer roles. However, for this build, we will focus on her as a mid so she can better control the game’s tempo. Here’s her skill breakdown, along with her equipment, arcana, and tips on how to play her effectively:
Skills breakdown
Passive: Maiden’s Trick
Shi’s skills deal more damage as the distance between herself and the enemy increases. For every 100 distance, the damage is increased by 5%, for up to 40%.
Skill 1: Silk Imprint
Shi throws an artefact to the target location, dealing (120 to 240 +18% Magical Attack) magical damage to enemies in the area. Enemies are pulled toward the artefact, and one enemy is wrapped in Silk Imprint. The skill can be used again within 5 seconds to pull that enemy a short distance while interrupting the enemy’s skill use.
They will not be affected if the enemy is too far from Shi. Silk Imprint deals double damage to non-hero units.
Skill 2: Silky Beauty
Shi releases an energy orb that stops if it hits a monster. The energy orb attacks nearby enemies every 0.5 seconds, dealing (150 to 300 + 50% Magical Attack) magical damage. The first hit slows enemies by 30% for 1.5 seconds. Subsequent hits on the same target only deal 25% damage.
The orb explodes after 2 seconds, dealing (150 to 300 + 33% Magical Attack) magical damage and double damage to enemies at the centre of the blast. The orb will move toward the target wrapped in Silk Imprint.
Ultimate: Sole Focus
Shi enhances herself for 8 seconds, gaining a greater field of vision and resetting Silky Beauty’s cooldown. While enhanced, hitting an enemy with Silk Imprint lets her manipulate their movements twice, and Silky Beauty’s cooldown is reduced by 50%. She gains 50% Movement Speed for 0.5 seconds when using this skill.
Arcana
This build uses three main arcana for Shi: ten Hunt, ten Nightmare, and ten Mind’s Eye. These Arcana focus on enhancing her damage-dealing potential by giving her Magical Attack and Magical Pierce bonuses. Sprinkles of Movement Speed allow her to kite her opponent using Silk Imprint and Sole Focus.
Equipment
1. Boots of Deftness
Boots of Deftness is Shi's choice of movement piece of equipment. Mobility is one of her weaknesses; she needs it to roam the map quickly and better position herself to land her CC.
Stats:
+300 Max Health.
Passive - Swift
Movement Speed +70.
Passive - Divine Wind
Increases Movement Speed by 50 while outside of combat.
2. Frozen Breath
It is one of the best items for Shi in the game as it makes it easier to land skills and crucial CC. With Frozen Breath, her second skill becomes an Area of Effect CC with high damage potential. Furthermore, it also boosts Shi’s damage-dealing potential and survivability by a sliver.
Stats:
+160 Magical Attack Damage.
+5% Cooldown Reduction.
+600 Max Health.
Passive - Deep Freeze
When a skill hits a target, it reduces their Movement Speed by 20% for 2 seconds.
Passive - Frostbite
Skills deal 120 to 400 extra magical damage to targets with reduced Movement Speed.
This passive has five seconds of cooldown.
3. Mask of Agony
The main damage-dealing piece of equipment for Shi. Mask of Agony delivers a constant percentage of HP-based magical damage to the enemy. Shi’s damage wasn’t the highest, but she can often spam her skills. With the Mask of Agony Cooldown Reduction, she can further pressure her opponent and limit their movement.
Stats:
+120 Magical Attack.
+5% Cooldown Reduction.
+800 Max Health.
Passive - Torment
When a skill hits a target, it deals magical damage equal to 3% of their current Health 4 times over 3 seconds (Up to 200 damage to monsters).
This passive has three seconds of cooldown.
4. Breakthrough Robe
This is one of the strongest hybrid pieces of equipment in the game. Breakthrough Robe gives Shi a lot of survivability through its Max Health addition. Besides that, it also gives her a moderate amount of Magical Attack and Magical Pierce bonuses, so she can deal more damage to Assassins and the opposition backline.
Stats:
+120 Magical Attack.
+1,000 Max Health.
Passive - Breakthrough
Grants Magical Attack equals 4% Extra Max Health, up to 100.
Passive - Purge
Grants Magical Pierce equal to 7% Max Health, up to 175.
5. Insatiable Tome
Insatiable Tome gives Shi a ton of Magical Lifesteal for her survivability in team fights. It also lets her stay on the map without returning to base, as she can leech off monsters and minions.
Stats:
+180 Magical Attack.
+10% Cooldown Reduction.
+1,000 Max Health.
Passive - Bloodthirst
Magical Lifesteal +25%.
6. Spledor
The last, but not the least, piece of essential equipment for Shi is Splendor. It enables her to avoid burst assassins, as she is very prone to them. Splendor also reduces her cooldown, and can be upgraded to Moon Goddess.
Stats:
+160 Magical Attack.
+10% Cooldown reduction.
Active - Moonguard
It grants immunity to all effects but renders the user unable to move, attack, or use skills for 1.5 seconds.
This item has 90 seconds of cooldown.
Situational: Sage's Sanctuary, Moon Goddess
These are essential situational items for the late game. Sage’s Sanctuary provides a second life, while Moon Goddess is an upgraded version of Splendor.
How to Play Shi
Shi can quickly clear the waves in the early game with her Silky Beauty, which deals high damage inside the inner circle. However, she needs to be careful of enemy ganks, as she has low mobility and needs to burn her Flash or Common Spells to survive.
Shi’s biggest power spike is when she gets Frozen Breath, which eases her difficulty in landing her CC. Her ultimate is her bread and butter, as it reduces her cooldown significantly and increases her line of vision. She can spam her skills more and disrupt the enemy movement in team fights, creating chances for her teammates to jump in.
Shi’s late-game damage falls off, as she isn’t designed to deal damage in late-game. However, her CC become a crucial part of her kit.
Shi is a control mage whose usefulness depends on how well she hits her CC. Positioning and careful use of Common Spells will be crucial for her impact in the game.
