Talk:Shen/@comment-70.240.204.175-20110914235414/@comment-3473553-20110916164149

I've always used the heal/regen on vorpal blade to help heal allies. If they're ranged, it's pretty easy to safely get a poke or two in for a little bit of free hp. With a 3 second cooldown, you don't need to get as much out of every mark as possible, just one or two hits is enough. Also keep in mind that the heal is over 3 seconds, so really if you're poking continuously it doesn't help that much more than just one poke every few seconds. In addition to that, if you're in lane with a ranged carry or even a caster who's not dumb and using auto attacks to harass as well, marking enemy champions makes it so your lane partner gains hp while harassing. It's still not a huge clutch heal, but over time, it's a noticeable boost to hp.

For Shen personally, I've always run him with hp regen early, so I don't have to worry about actively trying to heal from Vorpal Blade. (By early, I mean I start games with a Regrowth Pendant)