Welcome to my Shard guide. This is one variation of how you could play Shard and this is my best variation.
Skills and Abilities
Q: Splintering Rush
Range: Self Radius:Self Casting Time: Instant Cost: 55 mana Cooldown: 14 seconds (-2 with talents) Damage: 12/24/36/48/60 (+2/4/6/10/12 with talents) Physical Speed: 12/15/18/21/24 (+2 with talents) Duration: 7 seconds.
This ability has been designed very well, with you either getting more damage or more speed depending on what you do with it. It can be used both offensively to deal more damage or chase someone down or defensively for the extra speed to get away from those nasty enemy immortals when health is low.
W: Stalagmite Smash
Radius: 120 Casting Time: 0.25 seconds Cost: 70 (-10 with talents) mana Cooldown: 13/12/11/10/9 seconds Damage: 50/90/130/170/210 Physical damage Stun: 0.25 (+0.25 with talents) Seconds Other: All enemies in the radius get knocked up in the air. An AoE Stun that also deals damage, cool. This ability is great for stunning enemies when you catch up to them so your team mates can join into the fight, its also amazing for stunning enemies near you tower for those extra hits in the tower.
E: Refraction
Radius: 175 Casting Time: Instant Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 Mana Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14 seconds Damage: 9/18/27/36/45 (+1/2/3/4/5 per charge with talents) Physical Damage Shield: 8/14/20/26/32 (+1/2/3/4/5 per charge with talents) damage absorbed.
This is shards main damaging ability, and a very strong one at that, 500 physical damage at level 5 with talents before armor is amazingly high, plus its AoE so could potentially deal 2500 damage at once across 5 immortals, the party starts when I get there, this ability all depends how much damage you take as you’re getting into position aswell however, if they see you popping shield on they will most probably target you to not take the massive amount of damage, however this works well for your team aswell because they will potentially be using their abilities on your shield and not them. Very strong if can learn how to use it properly.
R: Stalactite Storm
Radius: 225 Casting Time: Instant Cost: 100/125/150 mana Cooldown: 110 (-16 with talents) seconds Damage: 240/360/480 Physical damage Other: If the target is an enemy immortal it deals 25% (+10% with talents) splash damage to nearby enemies.
D: Crystal Backlash
Not Yet Known. Sorry! (will edit once i know more about the ability!) :)
Itemization
I open the game with windrunner boots and midas potion with the opening 600 using the potion immediately, try and get last hits of as many creeps as possible. Later on i get rid of the wildrunner boots as I prefer the extra health over the slight speed boost and the 10% cooldown reduction, i dont find it as useful anymore since they reduced it from 20% to 10%, i like to get all my items before properly starting to max any out, if 3 of 5 players are magic i'll upgrade berek's parchment once for the extra reduction.
Lytle Locket: This is the go to item for shard, keeps her mana at a healthy amount while laning and useful for the health regen if you use with a pot, using her Q with this gives you your mana fully back plus the 60 health from the regen, very useful. I always get this first when ive got my 1200 to buy it and upgrade it straight away.
Belt Of Power: This item is perfect for shard, a hefty health increase, armor and that all important armor penetration to make your abilities do max damage. If the enemy team is mostly physical damage buy this after the Lytle Locket.
Berek's Parchment: This item gives amazing magic resistance and it also gives health with a reduced lifesteal and spirit vamp. If the enemy team is mostly magical damage buy this after the Lytle Locket.
Amulet Of Duality: I like this as it has all of the stats we're trying to increase so i find it perfect, if you prefer other items then try it, this is just my preference.
Bloodstone Pendant: This boosts health massively, armor, health regen.
Bear Skin Boots: I get these when I start to get matched for speed ingame so I can’t catch up to people. the health on these is a hefty load and the health regen is nice, sell your windrunners and get these maxed out.
Other Items
If the enemy team is 4/5 physical I like to replace the Berek’s Parchment with the
Penman Reflector. Other items you could possibly use are the Orchid Stone, Ring Of Shielding and the Guardians Seal, just make sure you’re getting the best resistances for what your against.
Champion Masteries
I tend to build Shard solely tanky as her abilities already do so much damage on their own, the talents we are going into are the extra armor and magic resistance through the champion tree and the defense tree.
Champion tree first:
Shard Magic Resist Boost: 2 points, 1.65 more magic resistance, a great start to the talent tree!
Shard Weapon Damage Boost: 2 points, 6 more damage.
Shard Movement Speed Boost: 1 point for 1.5 movement speed, since it rounds 0.5 movement speed up to 1 it basically gives you an extra 2 movement speed, nice.
Upgrade Splintering Rush I: 2 points for 2 second cooldown, very nice for using this to get your health back with the Lytle Trinket.
Shard Max Health Boost: 1 point, 20 extra base starting health is nice.
Upgrade Stalagmite Smash I: 2 points, more stun more kills fool!
Shard Armor Boost: 4 points, more armor in her champion tree?! Wooo gotta have it all!
Upgrade Refraction I: 2 points, more shield to protect you from those nasty abilities or true damage towers!
Upgrade Refraction II: 2 points, this adds a huge amount of damage to a 10/10 refraction at level 5, 50 more damage for 2 points? Give me more!
Shard Armor and Magic Resist Boost: 2 points, they just keep chucking resistances into this champion tree! Also leads onto Crystal Backlash.
Shard Unlock: Crystal Backlash: 1 point for a new ability, fair enough.
Upgrade Stalactite Storm I: 2 points for 16 seconds less cooldown on your ulti, pew pew.
Upgrade Stalactite Storm II: 2 points, this increases splash damage of your already high damage ultimate, 10% is an extra 48 points of damage before resistances, definitely worth it!
Defence Tree:
Max Health Boost: 2 points for 6% more health. The more health you have early game, the longer you last in lane.
Max Mana Boost: 2 points, 6% more mana. The more mana the better.
Dodge Boost: 2 points, 3% dodge could cause you to dodge that crucial last hit they are trying to get on you, every little bit helps, plus it leads directly onto the Speed Boost Talent.
Mana Regen Boost: 2 points, 0.4 mana regeneration increase, shard has a low mana regen rate so this will help early game a little, but we are only going into this with 2 points so we can increase our speed.
Armor Boost: 3 points, More armor, less damage taken, enough said really.
Magic Resist Boost: 3 points, More magic resistance, who doesn’t want more?
Resistance Boost: 2 points for 1.5 armor and 1.5 Magic Resist. It's awesome.
Speed Boost: 2 points for 2% more speed, this effect even works with splintering rush to increase it that little bit more.
Midas Boost: 2 points, More money more problems? Not in this case, you can build your items a lot faster and get your kill on.
Ironhide Boost: 1 point, 4% global damage reduction. Hell yeah!
From here you have 4 points free to use as you prefer, I personally go for Shard Cooldown Reduction Boost for a whopping 8% cooldown reduction, I see it being better than other talents but go into what you feel is more useful.
Artifacts
Shard is probably best served with max armor, magic resistance, movement speed, just all the general good stuff. These are the artifacts I recommend with my build:
Talismans: Gilded Ivory Talismans. Magic Resistance is the best talisman here out of them all.
Totems: Ancestral Totems of the Leopard. With all 5, you'll obtain a whopping base 15.5% cooldown reduction, That’s pretty impressive.
Seals: Here I will be taking 3 Grand Seals of Dexterity, 4.5% extra movement speed? Yes please!
Symbols: Primal Symbols of Life. More armor, more magic resistance, what more could you want?
Relics: Relic of Trueheart. Armor, magic resist, and gold. Perfect!