HoK Shi Best Build, Items, Arcanas, and Counters

Shi serves as a mid lane mage with consistent wave clear capabilities. Her second skill provides reliable poke damage on a manageable cooldown, making her effective in lane control. While she performs adequately in most team compositions, her effectiveness depends significantly on proper positioning and build adaptation.

HoK Shi Build and Items

Build Path 1: Pure Damage Focus

Item	Cost	Stats	Passive/Active
Savant’s Wrath	2230	+240 MA	Doom: +30% Magical Attack
Scepter of Reverberation	2100	+240 MA, +7% Movement Speed	Echo: Triggers an explosion when landing a skill hit, dealing 120 (+40% MA) magical damage.
Tome of Wisdom	2810	+400 MA, +10% CDR	Enlightenment: +0.8% damage per 100 MA (max 12%)
Void Staff	2110	+240 MA, +500 Max Health	Devestation: Magical Pierce +45%
Splendor	1990	+160 MA, +10% CDR	Moonguard: 1.5s immunity effect (90s CD)
Boots of Tranquility	710	+60 Movement Speed	+100 Magic penetration

Arcana Setup for Build 1:

Type	Quantity	Value
Hunt	10	Movement Speed +1% Attack Speed +1%
Mind’s Eye	10	Attack Speed +0.6% Magical Pierce +6.4
Nightmare	10	Magical Attack +4.2 Magical Pierce +2.4

Note: Compassion can be used as an alternative to Mind’s Eye.

When to use: This build path excels in matches where the enemy team composition lacks a heavy frontline presence. When facing teams with one tanky hero, the pure damage focus allows for significant burst potential in team fights. The build particularly shines during mid-game objective contests, where proper positioning behind a frontline can allow for maximum damage output.

However, the build requires exceptional positioning awareness, as even minor positioning errors can result in quick elimination due to the absence of defensive items. If you fall behind in the early game, transitioning to Build Path 3 provides a more forgiving alternative while maintaining reasonable damage output.

Build Path 2: Tank Counter Build

Item	Cost	Stats	Passive/Active
Holy Grail	1900	+180 MA, +15% CDR, +500 HP	Mana Spring: Restores 1.5% max mana/s; 1% HP/s at full mana
Frozen Breath	2100	+160 MA, +5% CDR, +600 HP	Deep Froze: 20% slow for 2s on skill hit, Frostbite: 120-400 bonus damage to slowed targets
Mask of Agony	2040	+120 MA, +5% CDR, +800 Max Health	Torment: When a skill hits a target, deals magical damage equal to 3% of their current health 4 times over 3s.
Tome of Wisdom	2810	+400 MA, +10% CDR	Enlightenment: +0.8% damage per 100 MA (max 12%)
Void Staff	2110	+240 MA, +500 Max Health	Devestation: Magical Pierce +45%
Boots of Arcane	710	+60 Movement Speed	+15% CDR

Arcana Setup for Build 2:

Type	Quantity	Value
Hunt	10	Movement Speed +1% Attack Speed +1%
Mind’s Eye	10	Attack Speed +0.6% Magical Pierce +6.4
Nightmare	10	Magical Attack +4.2 Magical Pierce +2.4

When to use: The tank counter build proves most effective when facing team compositions featuring two or more tanks. This build particularly excels in extended teamfights where the combination of consistent damage output and sustain comes into effect. The increased survivability from Holy Grail and slow from Frozen Breath allows for more aggressive positioning compared to Build Path 1.

This build path becomes particularly valuable when your team lacks consistent crowd control abilities, as the slow effect from Frozen Breath helps control enemy movement in teamfights. It performs exceptionally well against common frontline heroes who typically stack magic resistance. The sustained damage output and penetration prove more valuable than burst damage when dealing with these tankier compositions.

Build Path 3: Balanced Damage and Sustain

Item	Cost	Stats	Passive/Active
Holy Grail	1900	+180 MA, +15% CDR, +500 HP	Mana Spring: Restores 1.5% max mana/s; 1% HP/s at full mana
Frozen Breath	2100	+160 MA, +5% CDR, +600 HP	Deep Froze: 20% slow for 2s on skill hit, Frostbite: 120-400 bonus damage to slowed targets
Savant’s Wrath	2230	+240 MA	Doom: +30% Magical Attack
Void Staff	2110	+240 MA, +500 Max Health	Devestation: Magical Pierce +45%
Splendor	1990	+160 MA, +10% CDR	Moonguard: 1.5s immunity effect (90s CD)
Boots of Tranquility	710	+60 Movement Speed	100 Magic penetration

Arcana Setup for Build 3:

Type	Quantity	Value
Hunt	10	Movement Speed +1% Attack Speed +1%
Mind’s Eye	10	Attack Speed +0.6% Magical Pierce +6.4
Nightmare	10	Magical Attack +4.2 Magical Pierce +2.4

Note: Compassion can be used as an alternative to Mind’s Eye.

When to use: The balanced build path provides adaptability across various match scenarios through its combination of damage output and survivability. The early completion of Holy Grail addresses mana sustainability issues while providing essential health points for surviving burst damage attempts. This build particularly excels in situations when playing from behind.

The build’s balance of offensive and defensive stats allows for more flexible positioning in teamfights, particularly valuable when facing teams with mixed damage threats.

The penetration from Void Staff and Boots of Tranquility ensures damage relevance against targets building moderate magic resistance, while the added health pool from multiple items provides sufficient durability to survive initial engagement attempts.

Also Read: Honor of Kings Mid Lane Tier List: All HoK Mages Ranked

Shi Counters in HoK

Heino	Xiao Qiao	Angela	Shangguan

Mid Lane Matchups:

• In the mid lane, Shi faces varying degrees of challenge depending on the opponent’s hero selection. Heino presents a particularly difficult matchup due to his innate sustain and scaling potential. The matchup becomes increasingly challenging as the game progresses, as Heino’s ability to survive Shi’s burst while outscaling her damage output in extended fights creates a significant disadvantage.
• Xiao Qiao poses another challenging matchup due to her superior range and teamfight impact. Her ability to clear waves from a safer distance while providing more team-wide utility in late game scenarios often forces Shi into a defensive playstyle. The lane typically becomes a farm-focused affair, with Xiao Qiao holding the advantage in roaming potential.
• Angela’s superior wave clear speed creates pressure through map mobility. While Shi can maintain relatively safe farming, Angela’s ability to impact side lanes more frequently often creates advantages elsewhere on the map. This matchup requires careful wave management and communication with side lanes to track Angela’s movements.
• Shangguan’s pre-level 4 phase offers opportunities for Shi to establish an advantage, but the dynamic shifts significantly once Shangguan reaches level 4. The invulnerability from Shangguan’s ultimate ability creates windows where Shi’s damage becomes ineffective, requiring careful timing and ultimate tracking to maintain effectiveness.

Lane and Team Counters:

Wukong	Prince of Lanling	Lian Po	Dun	Nezha

From the jungle position, heroes with strong burst damage potential such as Wukong and Prince of Lanling create significant pressure on Shi. Their ability to quickly close distance and execute their damage combo often forces defensive item purchases or summoner spell usage, potentially delaying core build progression.

Top lane threats manifest primarily through heroes with strong gap-closing abilities and crowd control. Nezha’s ability to lock down targets while maintaining consistent damage output makes him particularly threatening. Similarly, Lian Po and Dun present challenges through their combination of tankiness and ability to stick to targets, often forcing Shi to play far back in teamfights or risk quick elimination.

When considering team compositions, Shi performs well against poke-oriented teams where she can match their range while providing consistent damage output. However, compositions featuring multiple dive threats or two or more tanky frontliners create significant challenges. Such compositions often force Shi to delay damage items in favor of defensive options, reducing her overall impact. Success against these compositions heavily depends on proper positioning and team coordination to maintain protection while outputting damage.