Hecarim Build Guide by asiansnackfoods

Introduction

Hi guys, I'm an LoL player like you all, and Hecarim has become one of my favorite champions. I don't have high ELO and I can't be called a "pro", but I've played many games as Hecarim and I think I have the experience to help players out who are new to Hecarim.

Hecarim is one of the most terribly satisfying champions to play if you do it right. This build places huge emphasis on movement speed, making Hecarim extremely mobile and deadly as well, by means of his passive. It is far more satisfying to run down an enemy who thought they would get away, or to use the same movement speed to escape a whole team on your tail with one bar of health. Hecarim can consistently do these things.

Here I am showing my jungle Hecarim specifically. What you will see will make you lose all faith in this style, but with practice it works splendidly. I only ask that you keep an open mind while looking at my build.

Skill Sequence

Warpath: Ignores unit collision. Hecarim can more easily stick to an enemy or escape, and is simply one of the reasons why Hecarim is so mobile. The second part of this passive is the magic. You gain a percentage of your bonus movement speed as attack damage, this is why MS is so effective and fun to build on Hecarim.
Rampage: A simple ability. Hecarim hits all enemies around him in a small area. It scales badly, so in the late game the damage falls off pretty far. However, this ability does decent damage early-mid game if it is prioritized, not to mention it is spammable and does not interrupt your auto-attacks. It gains stacks when it hits enemies, max. 2 stacks, each stack lowers CD by 1 second. Last hit a neutral monster with this ability, then run to the next camp and hit it again, continuing the low CD.
Spirit of Dread: In my opinion, one of the greatest abilities in the game. Deals magic damage per second in a pretty good sized area, and heals Hecarim for a percentage of the damage dealt to all enemies within area from ANY source. This basically means that in teamfights, it will take 1,000,000,000 hits to kill you. Timing this ability in a teamfight is important. Wait until multiple enemy champions are in your AoE, or until they start focusing you and you're getting low.
Devastating Charge: Hecarim's multi-purpose tool. Always use this to open a gank, use it to chase, escape, traverse the map, and ram the kidneys out of enemy champions. This ability combined with all your speed augments will give you over 1000 movement speed, and with the effect from your passive, enemy carries are simply gone. The damage on this ability increases depending on distance travelled during its effect, not time spent in the movement speed increase. Use this ability right when you move from the fountain(base) to get extra speed, the mana will return immediately.
Onslaught of Shadows: This is an amazing ultimate. You can use it to escape, chase, and disorient an entire team. It applies a "flee" mechanic, not a "fear". Enemies always move away from Hecarim. Place your ultimate so as to force an enemy into your team, allowing them to finish the job. This ultimate will also interrupt channeled abilities such as Nunu's Absolute Zero, or Katarina's Death Lotus.

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Open with Rampage for jungling. Take Spirit of Dread at level 2, then your ganking tool, Devastating Charge, at level 3. Take another point in Spirit of Dread at level 4 for better healing, and leave it there for now.

After level 4, prioritize Rampage(Q), then Spirit of Dread(W), then Devastating Charge(E), and your ultimate whenever you can.

Summoner Spells

This is crucial for jungling. Hecarim will not be able to jungle without it. There are some champions such as Shaco who can kill buffs without Smite, but even so, Smite is very important for securing dragon and baron nashor kills.
One of Hecarim's nitro speed boosts. Movement speed is the funnest thing to build on a champion like Hecarim, who can use it to increase his damage by a ton. Ghost will allow you to chase, escape, and deal out your burst.
Very standard summoner spell on so many champions, but Hecarim doesn't need it. His ultimate, Onslaught of Shadows, is equivalent to Flash, except with a greater range. During Onslaught of Shadows, Hecarim is immune to all CC as well.
Hecarim can use this to slow an enemy he's trying to kill, or slow an enemy who's trying to kill him. Movement speed can do it better, though. An enemy cannot Cleanse themselves away from your movement speed, like they can out of your Exhaust. Don't trade Ghost for this. Movement speed does not just allow you to escape and chase, but is better in general for map traversing, and in Hecarim's case, damage as well.
Champions who need a ton of kills get this. It simply adds damage. Hecarim doesn't need a lot of kills, and his mobility will allow him to stay on targets anyway.

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Extra attack damage is necessary for clearing the jungle quickly and also for more powerful ganks early game

Greater Seal of Armor: Armor is needed both for making sure you do not lose too much health in the jungle and for dealing with AD carries

Greater Glyph of Armor: This is where things become unconventional. I know many of you are wondering why I don't take magic resist per level or something. You need more armor because Hecarim is very dependent on a good jungle, and he needs to worry more about DPS champs. Very early game, casters don't have much burst, so it's better to have an extra good jungle and defense against DPS champs. Not to mention, AP casters are very slow, with Lich Bane being the only significant AP item to give movement speed. We will rush a Negatron Cloak anyway. I will soon talk about items.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: Hecarim is the champion that can use the most of movement speed. Get these quints for more attack damage from your passive and mobility in general.

Masteries

For masteries, I take every possible movement speed augment.

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Put 1 point in Summoner's Wrath for improved ghost.

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21 points in defense:

Hardiness : needed for a good jungle and early game defense
Tough Skin : Jungle +1
Bladed Armor : Jungle +1
Durability + Veteran's Scars : Health! You need to be tanky.
Indomitable : This is better than Evasion because it applies to minion damage reduction, giving you a better jungle. Attacks from neutral monsters are considered "incoming" not AoE, so Indomitable rather than Evasion will help you better early game.
Initiator : Movement speed, the heart of this style.
Honor Guard : CDR and bonus gold is not needed since I build 2 GP10's and this complete build gives max. CDR(with Elixir of Brilliance), so take overall damage reduction instead of Enlightenment or Mercenary

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8 points in utility:

Expanded Mind : Hecarim is quite mana-hungry, and you will not be dying much so take mana per level( Expanded Mind ) instead of Good Hands :P.
Improved Recall : also better than Good Hands . Say you die 5 times in a game and the average respawn time is, say, 35 seconds. Then, 35x0.04x5 = 7 seconds saved. Improved Recall saves 1 second each time. You can usually recall more than 7 times in a game, so you will have saved more time.
Swiftness : Dat horse speed.

Yes, I have sacrificed buff duration for improved ghost. Increased buff duration gives an extra 30 seconds. Regular buff duration is 2:30. With that time, I am still able to gank every lane with red buff if I needed to, as this build gives 405 movement speed at level 1, opening with Boots of Speed. As well, oftentimes the entire duration of a buff is not used on ganking or counter-jungling anyway, as ganks/counter-jungles are not always possible. When you're holding buffs mid/late game, sometimes an extra 30 seconds can get you a kill, sometimes you can't do anything with it.

Items

Boots of Swiftness gives the greatest constant MS. Boots of Mobility can be considered if you want slightly more damage on your very first attack, in other words, it gives slightly more damage when you open your gank. However, this is very situational. If a single caster minion from the next enemy wave hits you as you charge from behind, or if a Soraka silences you, or anything, your extra burst is immediately gone. During mid-late game, as you enter combat, Boots of Mobility will not allow you to chase/escape as well.

Boots of Swiftness I believe is ultimately the best choice. You will not have the extra damage that you may or may not get anyway from Boots of Mobility, but you can follow through with gank better with +3 MS as opposed to +2. You can stick to enemy better and have more AD. Perhaps, even the extra AD from +3 can make up for the extra damage you might have gotten from first attack using Boots of Mobility, and Boots of Swiftness are better mid/late game.
It is awesome how 2 GP10's are a part of the recipes for these items. Get Avarice Blade and Philosopher's Stone extremely early, after Boots of Swiftness. If you really want gold coming in fast, get them before Boots of Swiftness. After getting Avarice Blade and Philosopher's Stone, let them sit there for a very long time. Allow them to help you earn gold for Trinity Force and Force of Nature. Then, complete Shurelya's Reverie and Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Every stat on Youmuu's Ghostblade is awesome for Hecarim. You probably know by now that I took it for its MS active, and the attack speed component is also great. Shurelya's Reverie gives twice the bonus percentage MS than Youmuu's Ghostblade's active. Aside from the active, it is a decent tanky item and also gives the MS to nearby allies.
Another item whose every stat is good on Hecarim. You know, it gives MS. Hecarim has a means to constantly proc the Sheen effect as well, with his Q ability Rampage. With max. CDR and 2 stacks, you will actually miss some Sheen procs if you simply spam this ability. Wait 2 seconds before each activation, as this is the cooldown for Sheen. The chance slow of Phage is also useful.
Movement speed. It is an extremely good tanky item in general, also giving a huge amount of magic resist and health regeneration. The Negatron Cloak component of Force of Nature should be purchased as the first item after your boots and GP10's. This will help you against casters early to mid game. Finish Force of Nature immediately after Trinity Force. By now, enemy AP casters should be pretty strong, so it is necessary.

The reason Force of Nature is my only defensive item, and that I don't build any armor, is that burst damage is the greater threat to Hecarim. Hecarim's movement speed won't help him if he is stunned and killed in 2 seconds by some fed AP champ. AD carries/DPS champs cannot burst me down, but have to stay on me for a while and auto-attack me to death. I usually don't let this happen. The movement speed emphasized in this build consistently allows me to escape DPS champs. This is why I don't go for so much armor, and focus on defending against burst damage.
Very good offensive and defensive item for Hecarim. This will make the Phage proc on Trinity Force pretty useless, but that's not a big deal. Frozen Mallet provides AD, a slowing effect, and a HUGE amount of health. The certain slow effect keeps your enemy in range for all your Rampage hits, and the health also increases your health regen through Force of Nature's unique passive.

Of course, once you complete all 6 main items, start spamming elixirs with your gold ( Elixir of Fortitude, Elixir of Agility, Elixir of Brilliance). Now your build is complete. Get Oracle's Elixir if necessary.

Jungle Route

To be honest, Hecarim's early jungling is pretty bad. His clear speed is more on the slow side. This is why I take armor glyphs and seals, and jungling masteries.

Open with Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions. Boots are better than Cloth Armor because they create better ganks and also give you attack damage.

Start at the ancient golem , get a leash. Kill the wolves next, then go to the wraiths and kill them too. At this point you should be pretty low, use 1 Health Potion. Your next target is the lizard elder , but don't start it until your next Smite is at least 10 seconds from cooldown. Use this time to analyze which lanes can be ganked. Use your remaining 2 Health Potions while you slay the lizard elder , and remember to ALWAYS use Smite during an activation of Spirit of Dread to give you a quick burst of healing.

After killing the lizard elder , you should be level 3 and have taken Devastating Charge. Do not kill golems . Start ganking if possible. Use pings to signal your teammates, and activate Devastating Charge along with Ghost. Erupt from behind and ram the enemy into your teammate(s), and just kill them. Remember to use Rampage at the EXACT TIME as you charge into an enemy with Devastating Charge as the extra AD from the bonus movement speed will all be applied.

Your Role as Hecarim

Always know that you're not the carry on your team. You help out early game by ganking; you're the jungler. During a gank, it's okay if you take the kill yourself. After you gank, leave the lane and continue jungling or gank somewhere else. Don't stick around and kill minions.

Try not to kill steal. If it's mid game and your carry has built up some good items, and they've caught a low-health enemy and can clearly finish them off, don't charge in and take the kill.

In teamfights, ALWAYS FOCUS THE ENEMY CARRIES. You're Hecarim, you can stick on to them and occupy them completely. During late-game, you can kill these carries no problem. Don't worry about kill-stealing; there is no such thing as kill-stealing in a teamfight. The goal is simply to annihilate them all.

As Hecarim, your job is to destroy carries and provide utility for your team. Your ultimate can change the tides of a teamfight. Time it correctly. You are not the support either. You can kind of support by knocking back an enemy away from your carry with your Devastating Charge, or using your Onslaught of Shadows to likewise flee an enemy away from your allies. Only do this if its a situation where your allies are caught, though. In a teamfight, what you do is CC the whole team and melt the carries. Let the dedicated support on your team save your own carries.

You are also very tanky, for the most part in teamfights. You are a tank by means of 21 points in the defense tree, your W Spirit of Dread, the awesome item Force of Nature, and over 3900 health with complete build. You might even outshine the dedicated tank on your team.

Using Mechanics

Once in a while when you watch recorded games on Youtube or when you watch live streams, you will encounter a player that gets excited and clicks their right mouse button a hundred times on the same target. This is a bad habit to get into. It is very ineffective for gameplay, not to mention it develops carpal tunnel.

If you are repeatedly clicking the right mouse button, this will often cause you to lose your target. As the enemy champion moves through a wave of minions, you might accidentally target a minion instead, with all your furious clicking. Just don't abuse that right mouse button.

Hecarim will stay on his target after any spell activation. The absolute funnest part of this build is charging into an enemy with Devastating Charge along with your 3 other speed boosts, and killing them. When doing this, RIGHT CLICK ONCE and only once to select your target from afar. Activate Devastating Charge, wait 1 second before activating Youmuu's Ghostblade and Shurelya's Reverie as their actives will actually die out before you reach maximum speed from Devastating Charge if you use them too early. Use Ghost whenever you want during your charge.

You're going in. Do not click your right mouse button at any moment. BEFORE YOU CHARGE the enemy, use Onslaught of Shadows ahead of your target to push them back and place you further, cutting their escape. Using your ulti will also increase the distance traveled during Devastating Charge, maximizing the damage from it. Hecarim is still on target after his ulti, he will do all the work. As your enemy is fleeing back, you will now charge them and push them further back, don't forget to use Rampage at this exact moment. Now just admire your burst and kill the enemy.

Time this charge. You can be the initiator as Hecarim. Use this to start a teamfight. Ram right into the carry hiding at the back. You will not be stopped as you are immune to all forms of disables during Onslaught of Shadows.

If you are charging as some kind of ambush, save one speed active, ideally Shurelya's Reverie, to get out. Enemies can come out of nowhere and you're soon outnumbered.

End

Thanks for reading if you did. I'm obviously brand new here. I literally made an account just to make a Hecarim guide.

I know that my build here is very unconventional, but honestly, that's how you have fun. I also know that this guide is spot-on specific. I only show one way; my way. I don't talk about variations you can do with items/masteries/runes etc. For now, I just wanted to explain my certain playstyle. I do not claim my build to be the best or the only one. I find that it is extremely fun and works in many situations.

If you want to do something new, please try this build out. Try it a couple times. Don't give up after you do badly at first.

Here are some recent scores I produced with this build, to convince your souls.
A few more: