diff --git a/packages/react-test-renderer/src/ReactShallowRenderer.js b/packages/react-test-renderer/src/ReactShallowRenderer.js
index 8f64bef8e0..28af0edb36 100644
--- a/packages/react-test-renderer/src/ReactShallowRenderer.js
+++ b/packages/react-test-renderer/src/ReactShallowRenderer.js
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ class ReactShallowRenderer {
             'it by passing it to React.createElement.'
         : '',
     );
+    // Show a special message for host elements since it's a common case.
     invariant(
       typeof element.type !== 'string',
       'ReactShallowRenderer render(): Shallow rendering works only with custom ' +
@@ -54,6 +55,14 @@ class ReactShallowRenderer {
         'inspecting the rendered output, look at `el.props` directly instead.',
       element.type,
     );
+    invariant(
+      typeof element.type === 'function',
+      'ReactShallowRenderer render(): Shallow rendering works only with custom ' +
+        'components, but the provided element type was `%s`.',
+      Array.isArray(element.type)
+        ? 'array'
+        : element.type === null ? 'null' : typeof element.type,
+    );
 
     if (this._rendering) {
       return;
@@ -144,12 +153,8 @@ class ReactShallowRenderer {
     ) {
       this._instance.componentWillReceiveProps(props, context);
     }
-
     // Read state after cWRP in case it calls setState
-    // Fallback to previous instance state to support rendering React.cloneElement()
-    // TODO: the cloneElement() use case is broken and should be removed
-    // https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/11441
-    const state = this._newState || this._instance.state || emptyObject;
+    const state = this._newState || oldState;
 
     let shouldUpdate = true;
     if (this._forcedUpdate) {
@@ -161,9 +166,7 @@ class ReactShallowRenderer {
         state,
         context,
       );
-    } else if (type && type.prototype && type.prototype.isPureReactComponent) {
-      // TODO: we can remove the type existence check when we fix this:
-      // https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/11441
+    } else if (type.prototype && type.prototype.isPureReactComponent) {
       shouldUpdate =
         !shallowEqual(oldProps, props) || !shallowEqual(oldState, state);
     }
diff --git a/packages/react-test-renderer/src/__tests__/ReactShallowRenderer-test.js b/packages/react-test-renderer/src/__tests__/ReactShallowRenderer-test.js
index 7bd5cf159c..f7aa3168f4 100644
--- a/packages/react-test-renderer/src/__tests__/ReactShallowRenderer-test.js
+++ b/packages/react-test-renderer/src/__tests__/ReactShallowRenderer-test.js
@@ -844,12 +844,44 @@ describe('ReactShallowRenderer', () => {
     }
 
     const shallowRenderer = createRenderer();
-    let result = shallowRenderer.render(<SimpleComponent foo="foo" />);
+    const el = <SimpleComponent foo="foo" />;
+    let result = shallowRenderer.render(el);
     expect(result).toEqual(<div>foo:bar</div>);
 
-    const instance = shallowRenderer.getMountedInstance();
-    const cloned = React.cloneElement(instance, {foo: 'baz'});
+    const cloned = React.cloneElement(el, {foo: 'baz'});
     result = shallowRenderer.render(cloned);
     expect(result).toEqual(<div>baz:bar</div>);
   });
+
+  it('throws usefully when rendering badly-typed elements', () => {
+    spyOn(console, 'error');
+    const shallowRenderer = createRenderer();
+
+    var Undef = undefined;
+    expect(() => shallowRenderer.render(<Undef />)).toThrowError(
+      'ReactShallowRenderer render(): Shallow rendering works only with custom ' +
+        'components, but the provided element type was `undefined`.',
+    );
+
+    var Null = null;
+    expect(() => shallowRenderer.render(<Null />)).toThrowError(
+      'ReactShallowRenderer render(): Shallow rendering works only with custom ' +
+        'components, but the provided element type was `null`.',
+    );
+
+    var Arr = [];
+    expect(() => shallowRenderer.render(<Arr />)).toThrowError(
+      'ReactShallowRenderer render(): Shallow rendering works only with custom ' +
+        'components, but the provided element type was `array`.',
+    );
+
+    var Obj = {};
+    expect(() => shallowRenderer.render(<Obj />)).toThrowError(
+      'ReactShallowRenderer render(): Shallow rendering works only with custom ' +
+        'components, but the provided element type was `object`.',
+    );
+
+    // One warning for each element creation
+    expectDev(console.error.calls.count()).toBe(4);
+  });
 });