Hecarim Build Guide by Sariondil

Introduction

Hi there! I am back and i came with my newest build into TT! I hope you will enjoy it. And i hope you won't underrate it... ;)

I have chosen Hecarim,because it's pretty funny and strong hero when played well. Somebody may say he's easly countered and can be killed if you have brain. But who is different??

I think Hecarim's power is hidden in his passive. But. You can see somebody with different playstyle then mine so i wish to show you how i understand him. Maybe i don't know him. Maybe it's true,maybe it's not.

Many players are going as much Move. speed as they can (once i saw guy with boots 3 and stacking only Zeals and then Phantom Dancers... This is... Pure passive using. Think about it) Think how would you like to play him. Try it. And then keep this way!

Lore

Since his first sighting on the northwestern shores of Valoran, the towering, armored specter known as Hecarim struck a chilling fear into the hearts of all who laid eyes upon him. No one had ever seen anything like his titanic, ethereal form before, and the mystery of his sudden arrival was deeply unnerving. When Hecarim began to march eastwards, leaving a trail of desolate, lifeless ground behind him, the villagers of the plains fled their homes for the safety of nearby Demacia. In the city's now-overcrowded taverns, rumors about this inhuman phantom spread in hushed whispers. Some claimed that he was the vengeful shade of an ancient warrior, intent on destroying all living beings; one man insisted that they had seen him leading an entire legion of spectral cavalrymen; others still believed him to be the creation of some hateful necromancer. One Demacian commander, seeking to dispel the terror that had gripped the city, assembled a few of his finest soldiers and rode out to turn back or destroy Hecarim.

The commander led his soldiers to stand in Hecarim's path and braced for his assault. As the apparition bore down on them, an overwhelming sensation of dread gripped the warriors. The men, frozen in fear, could only scream as the ghostly titan ran them down, tearing them apart and trampling them beneath his iron hooves. Hecarim turned to the crippled, cowering commander and uttered a chilling statement: "This is merely the beginning. No mortal army can withstand the might of the Shadow Isles." With that, Hecarim departed, resuming his grim march. Driven to insanity by his nightmarish experience, the commander stumbled back to Demacia, where his dire warnings were dismissed as the ravings of a madman. While Hecarim's origin and intent were still a mystery, his destination became clear when he reached the Institute of War and, in a voice both ominous and commanding, demanded entry into the League of Legends.

"You don't understand... the shadows will consume us all..."
Former Demacian Commander

Skills

-> Hecarim ignores unit collision and gains attack damage equal to 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20 / 22.5 / 25 % of his bonus movement speed.

So no creeps blocking your way to win. No more stupid collisions when you can't move and they deal toooooons of DMG. AD bonuses from Movespeed are just awesome. They will make you feel like "I NEED MOAR MOVE SPEED! GIVE ME YOUR BOOTS GUYS!"

-> Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealing 50 / 85 / 120 / 155 / 190 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage) physical damage. This ability deals 66% damage to minions and monsters.

If Hecarim damages at least one enemy unit with this attack, he gains a stack of Rampage, reducing the base cooldown of this skill by 1 second for a short duration. This effect can stack up to 2 times.

I don't think you have to know more. This should be one of your main dmg skills. It should have a little bit larger range then your melee attacks so try to run to your enemy,press Q and run back. Harass him to death!

-> Hecarim deals 20 / 31.25 / 42.5 / 53.75 / 65 (+20% of ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies every second for 4 seconds, up to a maximum of 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+80% of ability power) magic damage. Hecarim gains health equal to 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 % of any damage those enemies suffer. Healing from damage dealt to minions is capped to 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 health.

Healing,healing,healing.. It's bad because it just for 4 seconds. It's quite low,isn't it? However combo Spirit of Dread and Onslaught of Shadows is briliant attack,healing you minimaly 400 HP on that attack,so use it carefully.

-> Hecarim gains 75% movement speed over the course of 3 seconds. His next attack knocks the target back and deals a minimum of 40 / 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 (+0.5 per bonus attack damage) and a maximum of 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) additional physical damage based on the distance he has travelled since activating the ability.

Oh,my God,chasing and escaping is easier then ever before. Who can catch you when you have around 700 move speed? What about race Rammus ?!

-> Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing 100 / 200 / 300 (+80% of ability power) magic damage in a line. Hecarim creates a shockwave when he finishes his charge, dealing 50 / 125 / 200 (+40% of ability power) additional magic damage to nearby enemies and causing them to flee in terror away from Hecarim for 1 second.

Ohhh,for this skill you have to pay. And you have to pay with experiences because it's terribly hard to use it well. You decide to charge hidden in grass or just crush them with your Devastating Charge and Rampage and then catch fools with Onslaught? Well,choice is yours....

Skill Sequention [OFF-TANK]

Maxing:

-> -> ->

I decided to max Spirit of Dread before Devastating Charge. Why? You will need that massive life gain. Devastating Charge will give you on higher ranks more DMG and Move speed. Well,you have enough move speed and even more DMG. So why would you need it more?

Using

-> -> -> -> ->

Why? Well,try it and ask yourself. I can't explain it,you have to choose your own skill sequence to make it best for you! Not best what I wrote here!

Skill Sequention [TANK]

Maxing:

-> -> ->

In this way is Devastating Charge more important then Spirit of Dread due to it's move speed bonus and knock back strike. Otherwise maxing Rampage is still same,because it's still your main DMG tool.

Using

-> -> ->

Now it's more important to knock your enemies back to your teammates (or away if they need it) to help them slay your enemies.

Runes [OFF-TANK]

Greater Mark of Desolation -> I take this because you might need some bigger dmg. You maybe think i am stupid with "...you might need..." I am trying to show you my own way how to play Hecarim. Do not break my opinion! This should boost your dmg to acceptable highs!

-> You will need some vitality to keep top lane (which i recommend) agaist hard AD heroes like AD Sion Tryndamere Shaco or any AD hero!

-> And again some defense! This tima agaist AP heroes or heroes like Jax. Jax is dealing mixed dmg of PHYS. and Magic dmg. Think about it!

-> This is what Hecarim really need! Boost his passive. But not by that crazy way with all move.speed items! Those Quints are everything what you will need in first 5 minutes of game. Probably. With Doran's Blade and those runes i wrote above you will have 79 AD. I think it's enough for earlygame until you take Bilgewater Cutlass and Trinity Force. Those Quints are good for offensive chasing or deffensive retreating. :)

Runes [TANK]

-> I changed only marks,because Seals and Glyphs are already deffensive and Quintessences is what Hecarim needs so only changes are armor marks for more Armor,which you will need to stay in game for longer time.

Masteries [OFF-TANK]

Here we go. On Hecarim I prefer 9/13/8,for more damage,vitality and Move speed. And there is deep explenation!

OFFENSE

-> This mastery is going to improve your Ghost and Ignite. Boosting your AD and AP ater using Ignite is good and in many situations really usefull. And another 8% for Ghost? Awesome. Just pure awesome! You won't get 27% bonus,but 35% bonus move speed and this is sooo much better.

-> I don't know what to say there about this. Only additional damage thet is going to improve you and your dmg output.

-> Additional Attack speed? Always good for AD hero. But... 4% won't give you awesome AS bonus. It's around 0.034 i guess... In early game,it's much better in ,mid/late game. But still this mastery is almost always getting just for Weapon Expertise

-> This is most important Offense mastery. Eh... I think you already know it. But i told i will explain it so here it is. 10% armor penetration! This is what we need... And now we have it. This build was not made for pure dmg dealing. I made it for a little off-tanking. With full build you should have over 4500 HP and around 275 AD. Oh and 100 AP. This is why we need some Armor penetration. And i hope you will enjoy it!

DEFENSE

-> Additional Magic Resist is necessary vs mages. Because we already have Greater Glyph of Magic Resist (yeah,we are shielded!) but moar MR is always good to decrease magic dmg dealt to you.

-> More and more armor for you! Yes,I know Greater Seal of Armor and it's already in Rune page,so this is what we need versus AD heroes. I have only 2 points,because we already have enough armor in build and from runes.

-> HP per level baby! More hp,longer life. Bonus 108 HP at lvl 18 is really helpful to survive teamfights or 1v1. I can't explain it more,you should know why you need more HP,when you CAN have it.

-> Reducing dmg. Yeah. Everything what will dmg you will be reduced by 2. Less dmg from creeps,from spells,attacks,just everything. Live longer!

-> Flat HP is really good for Early game. You should have around 709 Hp with Doran's Blade.

-> Bonus 1% move speed when you have above 70%HP. Hm... Wow,it's useless... Nooo,just kiddin,this should help you to get faster on lane,and when you will be there,it will be sometimes hard to stay above 70%... Versus heroes like Jax ...

UTILITY

-> More mana for you. Trust to me,Q spamming is mana hungry like hell,you will need mana. Hecarim is mana hungry hero,at most in early game. Once you get Sheen , you will be almost absolutely fine.

-> Get home faster! One second less! Yeah! Ok,well,you might need this to get out before then gang you. While you're low on HP. And you WANT get out.

-> MORE MOVE SPEED! Yey! Now you should have almost more move speed with Blade then without Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed and this skill BUT with boots. Worth it.

Masteries [TANK]

On Tank Hecarim I decided to take 1/21/8,upgrading Ghost and Exhaust,increasing your vitality and at last your mana,lowering your recall and boosting your Movement Speed..

OFFENSE

-> Taking this will improve your Ghost by 35% move speed and your Exhaust by lowering enemy magic resist and Armor by 10. This should help you and your allies in fights or in 1v1 you might go.

DEFENSE

-> In this build we have to concentrate on Magic Resist and Armor and this mastery is givnin us more magic resist,which can be helpful in early/mid game.

-> More Armor? We can use it,trust to me. Small Armor bonus is always helpful and this is quite decent boost to early game.

-> HP per level. This what we need for tank. And now we have it. And be sure it's usefull..

-> Health Regeneration is always hell nice. If health potion heals you 150 HP per 15 seconds (1sec=15 HP) then this is 1/5 of Health potion. So it's 7 gold per every health potion you will buy. Maybe you think it's nothin and worthless... But for 20 potions you have 140 gold difference.

-> There's not much to say about flat HP....

-> CDR is very usefull for Hecarim,due to lowering CD on your abilities and making you able to spam Rampage and Spirit of Dread and it's really gonna help you to survive fights or chase enemies with Devastating Charge.

-> This is one of strongest masteries. Lowering dmg you receive is strong as hell and 1,5% is quite good. You won't take 100 DMG. You will take 98,5. Not anymore 1000 dmg... It's 985 now. it's nice versus DoTs and huge AS champions because you lower every attack,every effect that cause you lose HP.

-> Incresing your max HP by 3% is thing that you will appreciate. CC reduction by 10% is awesome and it's makin from you true God. Believe in Tank Hecarim and you will win. If you will doubt,you're not gonna make it good.

UTILITY

Masteries in TANK section is completly same as in Off-tank section,check out Off-tank chapter for explanation.

Items explanation [OFF-TANK]

This will be hard. Hecarim is difficult to build well against many different heroes. I will write there some Items I use in almost every game,because they will make you little bit tanky,but with huge dmg output.

-> Starting item. Do not start with Boots of Speed. You already have enough Move speed to dodge gangs and chase your enemy. Doran's Blade will give you more HP to early game. And you will need it. Bonus 10 dmg will boost you to 79 AD,for early game it's not bad!

+ -> And finally some move.speed and more Armor! We are getting this always. Armor is better to stay on top lane and move speed will also increase your Attack Dmg. When enemy team is like Riven Vayne Ahri it's nice,because we already have some armor and we can easly buy Ninja Tabi. If they would have a lot of CC,you should get Mercury's Treads AND keep your Cloth Armor for Aegis of the Legion

X

-> Wrote above. Choosing Mercury's Treads is fine,even when they have 2 Ad heroes BUT a lot of CC. Ofc you won't take em if enemy team is Lee Sin , AD Sion and Caitlyn.
Ninja Tabi are for those situations when they have a lot of AD dmg but low CC. Scan enemy team and choose boots.

-> Here did MobaFire mistake. Last item will replace Aegis,not boots. 30 armor,29 magic resist,270HP and 8 AD. This is just awesome early item for off tank or tank. In cuz of aura (8 AD,12 armor, 15 magic resist of total stats) you will be a bit tanky and it will help you so much to survive fights.

-> I personaly recommend take Scepter before going to build Trinity Force . Your dmg should be good enough to make Vampiric Scepter worthfull.

-> As wrote in Intro i can again speak about stacking this item for Move speed. In fact it can give you Attack speed,Critical strike,Attack damage and Movement speed. For 1195 gold. Cool,isn't it? But what you won't have with stacking Zeals? Defence. It's nice to have Zeal with you to be even better and faster before we go straight for DMG.

-> This item will be taken as 5th item before Sheen or Phage. Trust to me it's almost needed. This item gives us Active slow + 150 magic dmg, 35 Attack Damage and 15% Lifesteal. Before we go to Trinity,you should have some viable items,that you know you will use. And you WILL use it. You will found this item very usefull in lot of situations and it might save you life.

-> Why take Sheen before Phage? Reason si simple. Mana. Do you really need slow? You should be faster then anyone against you. Health? You should have around 1800HP i guess,maybe more. Attack Damage? All your items you have gives you Attack Damage. Now is time for some Sheen.

-> Very,very good item for Hecarim. It's giving us everything we need. Slow,HP,AD,AP,Mana, Sheen's passive,AD,Move speed,CS rating and Attack speed. What else we need to shine and be even stronger? Own game or game will own you. This is easy rule and it always works.

-> Time for some higher AP bonuses and finally HP even from spamming Rampage . Bonuses to Spirit of Dread and Onslaught of Shadows are really awesome and their combo will many time save you. Why not take this item when we already have Bilgewater Cutlass?

and then -> This item is more situonal then really 100% needed. Versus 3 AD champs you wonť ever use it. Buy only when enemy team has 1 really strong AP damage dealer or 2 AP heroes. Actually when you forget on Magic resist and Shield it's still very good item. Attack damage bonus based on your missing HP and 55 flat Attack Damage bonus is usefull almost always. Or buy over it any other Magic Resist item like Wit's End

-> Again maybe little bit situonal item,because not always you will need a lot of HP. When you see enemies with Dr. Mundo and taking Madred's Bloodrazors go rather for some Damage like Phantom Dancer. Almost 1000 HP is really good quite often and you should buy it almost every game.

-> We have a lot of HP so now we need worth it more. A lot of HP is not enough,we need Attack Damage and more Armor! So now we have 200+ Attack Damage,lot of defence and we are able to go fight anyone!

Situonal items [OFF-TANK]

-> If you want go more tanky build over damage dealing buy this shield over Hextech Gunblade. Active slow,on enemy hit 20% to slow, lot of Armor,HP and mana regen. and 5% Cooldown reduction. Awesome item for offtank/tank.

-> This item is really hard to use on Hecarim. To good use for this item you will need change your build. If you want go Wit's End,you should buy it before you create Aegis of the Legion. Then follow build and just skip Hexdrinker and Maw of Malmortius.

-> If you think more Armor and damage dealing aura is better then plenty of HP from Warmog,take this. I don't say it's better,but it can help you to not just survive fight but even have some cool HP for Atma.

-> This is damn good deffensive item. In my opinion it's way more better item then Thornmail. And why? It gives you only 1 less armor then Thornmail. BUT. What about huge mana bonus? Big CDR? And (most important) aura slowing enemy attack speed. Wonderfull item against Jax or Tryndamere.

-> Very interesting item. I don't think it's bad idea to buy it but maybe it's just waste. Your mana is fine (and even better with Sheen) so why would you need more? Try and you will see but i don't have good experience with this....

-> This is favourite item of meny Hecarims. And you know why. Huge move speed bonus everywhere.. So in a fact you have bonus Attack Speed,CS chance,Move speed and big AD bonus. But i don't think it's really good item. Hecarim should be more off tanky,but take it as last item if you feel like "I need some speed,God dang it!" Not bad item,but there is a lot of better items... OK,not a lot of,but few maybe...

-> So you don't like Hextech Gunblade? You want more AD and lifesteal for less price? Well,you will miss AP and spellvamp really hard my friend!

Items Explanation [TANK]

As I wrote,building Hecarim is Damn hard but when you do it well,you're gonna win.

+3

-> Now we should have enough move speed to avoid any gangs and to be able do some DMG while we can stay on lane with Health Potion.

-> Early game Health and Gold per secs is damn good for tank Hecarim and we want get as many gold as fastest we can so now we have part of Randuin's Omen and we can take some dmg without having any bigger problems.

OR

-> This is almost same as making decision between Ninja Tabi and Mercury's Treads. If enemy team is AP heavy,take Negatron Cloak for eariler Force of Nature,if AD heavy,take Chain Vest for earlier Warden's Armor.

!!!

Now there's choosing between Ninja Tabi and Mercury's Treads. As i wrote above,take Ninja Tabi if enemy team is AD heavy and Mercury's Treads if they're AP heavy.

-> Again we have Trinity in Tank build. Even if you're tank,you need all stats Trinity gives. I recommend build Phage first for more HP and Slow,which you can find more then usefull.

Warden's Armor -> Taking this after Trinity is very clever thing. Your stats are boosted,now you have to use your Chain Vest and build one important item. I choose Chain Vest for it's HP regen,On enemy hit slow and bonus Armor.

-> Taking Glacial before Omen is one of most important things in this build. This allows you to have more gold from Heart of Gold,CDR,which you will use for spam Rampage and Spirit of Dread and also more Armor and very usefull mana.

-> This is your first big deffensive item in this build. Due to it's active it will give you massive slow,adding it's effect to passive slow,more Armor,health,Health Regen. and finally some additional CDR. Using this item well is very important for teamfights or ganging enemies.

-> Second deffensive item. Many players think Thornmail is best item against AD heroes such as Vayne or Tryndamere. I disagree. I think best item is Frozen Heart due to it's big armor (1 less then Thornmail),huge mana boost,CDR bonus and Aura slowing Enemy Attack speed,which is counter we need for these heroes.

-> Big magic resist item. If enemy team is AP heavy or has really strong AP champion,take this before Frozen Heart.Massive Magic resist and HP regen. is somethin they can't break and you can feel save even after teamfights (if you're still alive).

-> I just can't let this item go. It's one of your most awesome dmg dealing source. Providing you more Magic resist,AD and shield versus magic damage is just awesome. Passive increasing AD boosting with your missing HP is more then very usefull.

Situonal Items [TANK]

There's not many items I can write here,but I will try to find 'em all.

-> If enemy team has nuke heroes like Brand or LeBlanc take this item. More HP,Mana,Magic resist and Shield blocking spells is what we need to survive against heroes like those 2.

-> You have more deaths then kills/assists? Take Guardian Angel,providing you another life every 5 minutes. This should be primary item eighter (over Maw),but I decided to put it here.

-> Your enemy is CC heavy? Is there any annoying Malzahar? Take QSS,one of best early/mid game items you can find in shop! One click and all disables are gone. Magic resist can be nice bonus for Randuin's Omen

-> I wrote it to Off-Tank Situonal Items,but Sunfire should be in Tank's items too. Awesome AOE passive dmg dealing,monster Armor bonus and quite decent HP bonus? You want it,trust to me.

-> If you want concentrate more on HP,this item is briliand but i recommend keep this Armor/Magic resist way!

Score

OK,so this is my demonstrating game about this build.. :)

End of the Story

So,this is all what I had to tell you. I can't write about Gameplay,it's all about training and Experiences. Try him and I am sure you will be happy! Try this guide and I hope you will be happy too! And... Then I will be happy. I will try to add some Score screens with this build and I hope you will send me some of your score screens and I will post them! :) So I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you guys next time at another guide!

Credits

By the way I love love to say Big thanks to jhoijhoi's help about making guides! :)

And thanks to Guayabito for his help in almost all ways! :)

Change Log

11.8.2012 -> Build Released
18.8.2012 -> Added TANK build and CREDITS.