Talk:Shyvana/@comment-173.225.56.62-20120416201026/@comment-2124153-20120417165557

Well, I only rarely play Shyvana in top lane; I will 95% of the time play her out of the jungle, because I feel that plays to heer strengths. My usual top lane is Irelia. But that being said, the only difference is that top lane has a higher salary than a jungler, and you have someone to build against.

I like 21/9/0 masteries, flat AD Marks, lifesteal Quints, flat Armor Seals, and scaling/flat MR Glyphs (scaling against an AD, flat against an AP). Build Armor against AD, MR against AP, health against everyone. Some people like Wriggle's, I am not a huge fan of it anymore. I run with double Doran's Blades, which gives 15% lifesteal when combined with runes/masteries, a nice health/AD boost, and it's cheaper than Lantern.

Core items for Shyvana are Phage/Mallet and Wit's End. You almost always want Merc Treads (I consider Ninja Tabi and Swiftness boots to be noob traps). The rest is situational. An early Heart of Gold is a good buy if you are going to get Randuin's later (which is a really good item on Shyvana, btw, so definitely consider it). Atma's is an option for lategame, Bloodthirster is really good as well, and Force of Nature is a great defensive item if you are facing double mages. Guardian Angel if the best defensive item if the next team fight will be the decisive one.