Hecarim Build Guide by Drathenfal

~Introduction~

Hecarim The Shadow Of War is a melee based champion who uses alot of speed and defence to his advantage. He is an exceptional jungler and laner with fairly good escape abilities and ways to engage his enamies. The way i build Hecarim is very defensive with some good attack items.

If you get used to playing Hecarim try having some fun and get a Leviathan and a Sword of the Occult if you manage to stack both you will be unstoppable and have almost 700 movment speed with E Devastating Charge and even more if you use Ghost.

It is also viable to start with a Regrowth Pendent and then rush philo stone then Heart of Gold then boots. Just depends on which suits you.

~Pros And Cons~

-Pros
[*] Great mobility
[*] Great teamfight initiater
[*] Good escape mechanics
[*] Can take and deal damage
[*] Good Chaser
[*] Does not need life steal

-Cons
[*] Has no good CC
[*] Has no range attacks
[*] Without Philo stone can go oom

~Runes, Masteries and Summoners~

Runes

The runes i take are
9x Greater Mark of Desolation This is because it maximises damage from your passive attacks and your Q which are your main damage dealers.

9x Greater Seal of Armor This greatly reduces incoming damage from players and from minions.

9x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist This greatly reduces incoming damage from Players from early game.

3x Greater Quintessences of Swiftness This increases your movment and thanks to your passive also increases your damage.

Masteries

Then Reason behind going 9/12/9 And not fully into one tree is because this gives an all round defence, utility and attack benefit. Since you are jungling you will need Runic Affinity And the movment from Swiftness Is extremely good for your attack damage as well as moving. The Defence from the defence tree is most benificial for mid/late game where you have no problem jungling which is why i dont take Bladed Armour Or Tough Skin As it is only usful in the jungle and i have no problem jungling. The 9 points in the Offence tree is very usful for the Weapon Expertise and extra damage.

Summoners

Smite This is for the jungling alot easier and increases gold income.
Ghost Works very well with hecarims Passive to chase along side enamies and make ganking/escaping easier.

~Item's Explained~

Mercury's Treads This is for the tenacity and bonus movment speed and improved magic resistance

Shurelya's Reverie This is for the bonus gold while you only have philo stone and the passive can sustain you for longer with the extra health and active making you more survivable.

Trinity Force This is your main item it gives you extra movment speed the effect of sheen bonus health and mana and the ability to slow people on auto attacks this should be your first major item if possible after boots.

Randuin's Omen This is a great item for defence and having heart of gold for a while increases your gold income. Its active is great against fast attacking opponents or people trying to escape, it also sustains you longer with health regen.

Maw of Malmortius This item is great for the extra magic resistance and for the amazing passive which has saved me many times it may only seem a small bonus but it will sustain you alot longer and can give the suprise upon an enemy.

Frozen Heart or Force of Nature (This depends on if the enemy has more AP or AD. The bonus armour and passive aura from Frozen heart is great for going against enemy AD's and slows there attacks and damage against you while the mana gives you alot more use of spamming your attacks. Force of nature is for enemy's with alot of AP and the movment and regen is great since it can sustain you alot longer.

~Skills Explained~

Rampage This is your primary damage dealer. Try to keep it stacked between jungle camps to increase the speed you kills jungle minions. Also try to keep it stacked before you engage a fight to increase the amount of damage you output.

Spirit of Dread This gives you a fair bit of life regen while active and a decent amount of aoe damage with a wide aoe range use this whenever you can to increase damage output and sustain your health.

Devastating Charge This is your main utility spell use it before you gank or when you need to chase or escape. A great use of this in a gank is if you come up behind an enemy when it is about to run out so it does increased damage for the distance traveled and knock them away from their tower towards your (top/bot or mid laner).

Onslaught of Shadows This is your ultimate it is on a fairly long cooldown but it has a nice fear effect to keep enemies stationary and stop them from running. Use this to chase down running enamies or engage in a group of enemies and keep them together. It can also be used to almost 100% escape combat.

~A few Previous Games~

( I know the items in the selected game are not on the guide but it was against a heavy AD team)

~Skill Sequence And Fight Overview~

Your skill sequence should look a little like this (May vary on situation)

The way you deal damage is to to chase them while spamming your q Rampage (which activates Sheen) Then auto attack then keep chasing between auto attacks makes sure you do not fall behind your target if you have ghost activated it can be very benficial to chase alongside your target while swinging your q Rampage to deal alot of damage and auto attack every now and again. Keep up your W Spirit of Dread whenever you can and if needed chase with e Devastating Charge Then knock them away or back towards you. You can use this to chase alongside just swinging q then auto attack when it is about to run out. Then say even if that doesn't work and they reach there turret (or another champion) use your ultimate Onslaught of Shadows to trap them under the turret (or just before) and finish them off then use e Devastating Charge to escape.

~Jungle Route And Ganks~

If you need to recall try to make sure you can afford either Philosopher's Stone or Heart of Gold and if you done a succusful gank Boots and some health Potions Your Jungle route will get fairly messy as the game continues as you constantly gank or initate team fights, chase down people ect. But try to get blue and red whenever up and steal the enemys if possible.

Dragon

Get dragon if both bot are missing or killed with the help of bot laners whenever possible It is possible to solo but will take some time so most likely the enemy will know and try to steal so if doing so make sure you can escape using either E Devastating Charge or worst case your Ultimate Onslaught of Shadows to go over the wall but this isnt advised.

~Team Fights~

When a team fight looks like it is about to happen for example in mid. Keep your Q Rampage Stacked on minions and try using your E Devastating Charge to chase one down and knock them to the side or to your team. Once all enemies are engaged and your team is with you try to focus down their AD or AP carry keeping up your W Spirit of Dread for constant Health regen or use your Ultimate Onslaught of Shadows to lock their team down with the fear.

It is very usful to use your E Devasting Charge or Ultimate Onslaught of Shadows to cancel enemy ultimates such as Infinite Duress Nether Grasp. When you are surrounded by enemys especially AD or running enemies it is IMPORTANT That you use the active from Randuin's Omen to reduce their damage or stop them from chasing. You can also save the active from Shurelya's Reverie to chase down enemies giving your whole team the speed buff.

~Ending~

Please try my guide before voting i will be adding pictures maybe a video or two to improve the guide, this is my first guide and i would like peoples postitive and negative feedback towards it and i will try my best to make it the best possible guide and give it the full respect and effort a guide should have. I hope you enjoy it so far.

I will be updating constantly and with constructive feedback i will include what is further needed.

Thanks Drathenfal