Shenlong, the Teacher

[HomelessOne]

Credit to A Wyrd Place. I can't speak to competitive value but I think he's conceptually really neat.

[Assdex]

Concept sweet , but not competitive.

In some way shen 2 make whole keyword less effective.

 

[Eclipse]

I like how Shenlong comes back to his roots after (SPOILER!) the Dragon's influence subsides and takes on a more active teacher role. In fact, I would be curious how useful he would be as a secondary Master with one or two more monks hired into the main crew and wielding different styles

On another note, thanks for the spoiler ; but would it be possible to see the back of his card as well?

[HomelessOne]

Whoops. Was posting so many things last night I must've overlooked it. It's in the first post now.

[Eclipse]

So to summarize StaffLong, he is more of a control piece than a support piece now. The support is instead spread around via Style upgrades on friedly Monk models, giving them some flexibility in terms of what they can accomplish when they next activate. This also means that probably you should always keep a Style upgrade or two free at hand, to avoid being too predictable and to keep the opponent guessing.
On first glance, Stafflong appears to be a short-range bubble support and tarpit model based on his ranges, but that is deceptive. He has a lot of board presence and reach through the combination of Shifting Form and Great Teacher; in fact, I would love to use the latter with a Samurai or two as it does -not- specify whether the Minions in that aura must be Monk or not. Years of Practice gives additional (fair!) board control and favors using it on Monks. Finally The River's Wrath adds more offensive control with potentially board-wide reach via it's novel Monk Pillars (TM) concept. The triggers on this action are both great and as a whole it really incentivizes the player to use some otherwise uninspiring Monk models.
In terms of combat abilities, he is not that great unless you use an aggressive combat style with him. However, he is not meant to be a combat beast - his 2" range provides board control just like his other abilities and the Academic superiority aura can be a great counter to crews reliant on passing around upgrades (Jack Daw, McCabe, Von Schill, etc). I'm not sure yet how he would impact summoning upgrades, though, if at all.
Overall, I like this new version. It allows him to capitalize on thematic models more while still keeping some level of independence from them, if necessary. Additionally, StaffLong is different in the sense that while he does not dial up key models to 11 or 12. He instead allows other models to shine more while avoiding the danger of putting all his eggs in one basket. He has power, but it is less domineering, more subtle. How much? I guess time will tell.

As far as the Four Winds Golem is concerned, what are your thoughts? I can't really wrap my head around the model, but it definitely feels more like a model I would take in a Sandeep crew.

[Assdex]

2 hours ago, Eclipse said:

So to summarize StaffLong, he is more of a control piece than a support piece now. The support is instead spread around via Style upgrades on friedly Monk models, giving them some flexibility in terms of what they can accomplish when they next activate. This also means that probably you should always keep a Style upgrade or two free at hand, to avoid being too predictable and to keep the opponent guessing.
On first glance, Stafflong appears to be a short-range bubble support and tarpit model based on his ranges, but that is deceptive. He has a lot of board presence and reach through the combination of Shifting Form and Great Teacher; in fact, I would love to use the latter with a Samurai or two as it does -not- specify whether the Minions in that aura must be Monk or not. Years of Practice gives additional (fair!) board control and favors using it on Monks. Finally The River's Wrath adds more offensive control with potentially board-wide reach via it's novel Monk Pillars (TM) concept. The triggers on this action are both great and as a whole it really incentivizes the player to use some otherwise uninspiring Monk models.
In terms of combat abilities, he is not that great unless you use an aggressive combat style with him. However, he is not meant to be a combat beast - his 2" range provides board control just like his other abilities and the Academic superiority aura can be a great counter to crews reliant on passing around upgrades (Jack Daw, McCabe, Von Schill, etc). I'm not sure yet how he would impact summoning upgrades, though, if at all.
Overall, I like this new version. It allows him to capitalize on thematic models more while still keeping some level of independence from them, if necessary. Additionally, StaffLong is different in the sense that while he does not dial up key models to 11 or 12. He instead allows other models to shine more while avoiding the danger of putting all his eggs in one basket. He has power, but it is less domineering, more subtle. How much? I guess time will tell.

As far as the Four Winds Golem is concerned, what are your thoughts? I can't really wrap my head around the model, but it definitely feels more like a model I would take in a Sandeep crew.

Golem is great. Good bitter enough fast for scheme runner.

New shen got a lot of problems ( my English not good so sorry for that).

 

1st no more chi, monk can't concentrate more than once per activation , a lot of monk will be suffer from this. 

So hard get more chi for healing, not enough chi for attack and def. 

2 It go from 1st whole style ap need spent chi but u don't get enough of them.

Like joke shen got builded time for inner peace , but can't call it more than once. 

3 most of his models had good action already so they don't need need his style , mb some times but cost too much.

4 u can't transfer upgrades like shen can with trigger. 

And bonus 

Peasant can got whole 4 ability from style but can use style from shen.

[Thatguy]

2 hours ago, Eclipse said:

As far as the Four Winds Golem is concerned, what are your thoughts

Seems like a good candidate for Low River style. With leap and flying it makes the aura mobile. Guaranteed suits for Pouncing Strike is good too. It's not a huge amount of damage, but it is a lot of position disruption. With being able to put Four Winds Punch on friendly monks it should make scoring things that require getting enemy models to places much easier.

I think Shen2 will be more competitive than people give him credit for.

Being able to hand out upgrades means potentially any model in the crew can be a beater. Especially with added to both attack and defense while in When's aura.

He df 6 now, with chi tokens he can get up to an whopping DF 8. 

The Expert Educator and like the biggest shift though, making the crew very good at scheming. Between Remember your Training and Shifting Forms the crew can take 6+ out of activation engagement ignoring interact actions in a single turn. 

[LaevusLevusXIII]

Played a game with Shen2 last night. My thoughts so far:

He black jokered his bonus action, first action of turn 1, so his handing out style upgrades never really got online. Otherwise, his ability to move and concentrate models is actually really good. Because monks can't concentrate multiple times an activation now, chi stacking can be a lot harder. It also synergies really well with the golem who had a constant 3 chi each turn. Previously as well, we used to use 4 wind style to push models forward for engagement (we play in a highly aggressive meta), which cost an action and a chi, now you get a 4" move, and net 4 chi with the tomes trigger. He didn't really do anything other than hand out + flips, chi and move things. But he ended up with enough chi by the end of turn 2, there was always the threat of attaching high river style and going to town if something engaged him.

Turn 2 onwards, his +flip for minions put in some work with a thunder archer that had fast. You don't want to be running Shen and super friends anymore, but his archers, charm warders and maybe high river monks can beat incredibly well if you take 2 of them in his aura.

His biggest boon was being able to interact with don't mind me though, I think into break the line or symbols he's really good. The wind golem in particular was amazing. If you can burn your opponents hand and end up with masks for pouncing strike, the damage and repositioning is amazing. His threat range is awesome, he's big enough to contend with almost any other flanking scheme runners, and when he did get engaged on a strat, he interacted for a chi and then kept punching away. I think he's very good.

[regleant]

Stupid question - bonus action says to resolve "River's Conflux", but I don't see that ability called out anywhere. What am I missing?

[HomelessOne]

It's an ability on the four (River) Monk minions, which normally trigger when Shenlong attaches the associated style upgrade.

[KingCrow]

I'm looking to try out Shenlong2 soon and it seems that its best to bring maybe two Wandering River Monks because of their mobility. This way they can get into position to take advantage of the offensive upgrades that Shenlong2 can allow them to equip. This would also make it easier to trigger the River's Conflux easier.  What are people's thoughts on this or have they found it easier to take another type of monk or even a small number of multiple different monks? 

[Funinyourgame]

Does "Shifting form" switch Shelong's style upgrade everytime another monk activates or does it give the style upgrade to the activating unit, at the cost of discarding a style?

If its the former, you would gain 2 chi token easily without spending concentration.

[Adran]

The second half of shifting form is all about the activating model, and allows that model to discard a style upgrade to get a different style upgrade. ( but it's worth remembering shenlong is a friendly monk so can change his own. ). 

It's worth remembering that each style upgrade is unique,  so once he has all the styles out he can't switch any more.