Hello everyone it's Kuni here. Many of you propably consider Hecarim as a jungler (YOU SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF PHREAK!!!), but he's also very viable character on solo top. Its possible, that i like to play him that way, cause im a terrible jungler ;) but that's not the case. Hope you gonna like playing him as much as i do (even if it's only few days now).

Of course im gratefull to Jhoijhoi, for allowing me to use her lane separators :) her guide to making guide helped me alot - you ROCK!

So you want to harness the power of our newly announced Ghost Rider? Well read about pros and cons i found out about him first.

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Pro's + Relatively high damage ouput early game + Great cc's with Onslaught of Shadows and Devastating Charge + Spamable skill ( Rampage) + Skills like Spirit Bond and items like Boots of Swiftness increases his damage output + High sustain in teamfight + Along with high damage, due to aoe's + Hard to catch up to + Good to chase fleeing opponent

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Con's - Vulnerable to early game bursters like Akali and a good Jax - Low magic resist - Slows lower also his damage output - Wulnerable to slows - Item dependant - His cc's have really long cooldown ( Onslaught of Shadows = 100 secs without CDR)

Expecting something original? WRONG :) Actually my runes for Hecarim are almost not diffrent from other solo toppers. My advice is (like on champion spotlight - yes i know):

You still ask why? Okay then:


Greater Mark of DesolationBecause the majority of your damage comes from autoattacks and your q (which is physical ofc). Althou your mian goal is making enemy panic so your carry's can kill them easily, you still want to be a force, to be reckoned with. With those marks, they surely won't ignore you


- You're supposed to get into enemy team, rape 'em and not die in the process :) Also very helpfull early game against melee ad on top (Tryndamere is easy-peasy).


- Same reason as above. I prefer those rather than flat ones, as it scales of better lategame, as the damage of casters significantly raises.


- Not only buffs your passive, by alot but also makes your job as a chaser/initiator so much easier! The more movement speed, the longer you can stick to the retreating enemy and spam with your q, keep range for your w skill DoT and knock him back with your e AND (yes, there's more) the more damage you deal, due to passive. In my opinion these are a MUST for any Hecarim player.

I assume, by looking at your face with big "WTF?" on it, that this seems kinda weird masteries - not going 21 in tanky, dps nor even utility tree, but believe me - there IS a good reason behind this!



And here comes the explanation:


Brute Force , Alacrity and Weapon Expertise give you that edge, you need at the begining to harass and eventually kill your opponent, as well as increased dps lategame with your AA and Q spam, making you a real killing machine.


Resistance , Hardiness , Durability and Veteran's Scars gives you great early game sustain, aswell as some bonus hp at late game - you have to admit, that it happened few times that you survived teamfight at around 30 or less hp :)


Due to Hecarim's small mana pool, if you're spamminq his q, you may find yourself OOM. Expanded Mind and Sheen solve this problem and give you extra ~ 16 swings.


Now the question - why the hell do I put 1 point into Vigor , 1 into initator and 4 into Swiftness ? why not go 21 in def? Well, the answer is pretty simple - Hecarim has to be fastest. Why not 3 points in Initiator then? Well, at teamfights, you propably gonna (and should be) in the middle of this madness. Do you think you can keep your hp over 70%? i think NO - you gonna loose this bonus at the begining of most of tf's. 4 points in Swiftness and 1 into Initiator gives you extra 3% (that's still 2 quintessences) to initiate and 2% during teamfight.


Also keep in mind, that if you're running away with low health, you dont have this 3% bonus movement speed, which may save your life (even if it seems not much). So you need all of possible movement bonuses both to chase and run away.

I believe Hecarim is the first champion, for which i do NOT take Flash as one of summoner spells. Reasone behind this is that ghost not only gives you movement speed (which with Greater quint of Swiftness and masteries is sick), but also increases your damage output due to Warpath. Combined with Devastating Charge makes Hecarim faster Than Master Yi! That's an achievment ;) So my propositions are:


and


Why Exhaust instead of Ignite when going top? Because you're so fast, that during exhaust, you propably will do 2 times more damage, than Ignite would. On early levels its usefull to slow and push enemy away from his turret Also in my opinion it is better in teamfights, because it shuts down carries for few seconds.






The most frequently used summoner spell. It can be used to flash away or to the enemy - briliant gap closer/maker and good juking skill, but Hecarim is so fast, that doesnt need this. If it's really bad he can use Onslaught of Shadows through wall


very good summoner spell, which gives you that little extra damage you need to finish your opponents, that are low on health. Also reduces the healing effects, so its pretty good against solo toppers with build in heal like Irelia

opposite of Ignite gives you that little extra health, to sustain in lane, or win low lvl exchange :) Also known by some game abusers as "LOL NOOB HEAL ***"

always good to take off that slow from you and chase down that running bastard :)

if you need to go back to base frequently, or want to have map presence, althou due to Hecarim's outstanding movement speed, its not really THAT good.

- passive ability. It converts % of your BONUS movement speed into AD. The higher your lvl, the more is converted, strating at 10%, up to 25%. Also makes hecarim ignore unit collision.


Pretty unique passive, which makes many people wanting to stack 6 atma's on Hecarim - believe me, that melee ad glass cannon is not an option :). With this build only items, which give you movement speed are obviously Mercury's Treads and Trinity Force, but still with your runes and masteries, at lvl 18 you gain around 30-35 bonus ad, which is pretty good (not counting active items and your e skill). Thing to mention: every haste buff also procs with your passive - skills like Spirit Bond with Mantra boost and Time Warp give you TONS OF DAMAGE


The second part is even more important - no unit collision! What does it mean? Imagine you're chasing an opponent - he is close to running into his turret range, so you activate your e, run THROUGH him and knock him away from his turret, while dealing damage from autoattacks and spamming q. Another example - imagine how many times u died, because friendly/hostile minion was blocking you under turret. Guess what? no more things like that! you can just run through them and whats more - your enemy cannot (unless its fizz). Pretty self explanatory.

• While escaping an enemy try to run through minions - it will slow them down, because they have to run around them

- Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealing flat (50/85/120/155/190) + 0,6 of bonus AD damage. This skill deals 50% damage to minions and monsters. If Hecarim manages to hit at least 1 oponent, he gains stack, which reduces cooldown of this skill by 1 second. Stacks up to 2 times.


This skill, is what makes Hecarim so powerfull. A spamable aoe skill, with pretty decent range, dealing lot of damage. As it is your main source of damage (together with autoattacks, with Sheen proc) you should max is as soon as possible. If you manage to hit enemies 2 times in a row with this skill, cooldown is reduced to 2 seconds (without any cdr items)!Another great thig about this skill is that it doesn't stop your autoattacks - you can land normal attack and your q at the same time! w00t! This skill is so powerfull at lane - like doubles your damage output, and costs only 25 mana. Althou i do NOT recommend using it for last hitting creeps. First of all it does aoe damage, so everytime you use it, you push your lane (what you dont want to do at solotop) and it does only 50% damage to minions (at level 1 its like 25-30 dmg). last hit with your autoattacks, and use normal attack and this at the same time, when enemy gets close, to last hit minion. The only downside of this skill, is that it requies you to use it 2 times, on 4 and 3 sec cooldown, before unleashing its full potential. That's why Hecarim can have problems with bursters like Akali or (early) Jax. To all those who want t o build cdr on hecarim to "spam his q even more" - passive from sheen is availble every 2 seconds - same goes with his q. No reason to build lot of cdr items because with 40% cdr u get only 0.8 sec cooldown reduction. It may be good on AD Hecarim but not with my build.

This skill has also another use - you can run, while using it, so even if enemy is SOMEHOW as fast as you ( Master Yi with Highlander still can be faster thou) you can just stick close to him and spam q every second, waiting for your e to go off cooldown.

• Use this while chasing, as you dont have to stop to cast
• Spam this like a madman during 1v1, 2v3, 5v8 or teamfights - it doesn't stop you from autoattacking
• Dont use it on minions early game, as it does little to no damage, wasting your low mana pool
• if you're going for heavy exchange with your lane enemy, try to gain stacks, by attacking 1 minion with this skill 2 times, so you reduce the cd of skill

- Hecarim creates an aura around himself, which lasts for 4 seconds, dealing magic gamage (20/31,25/42,5/53,75/65 + 20% of ability power) up to set value (80/125/170/215/260 + 80% of ability power). Hecarim regenerates health, equal to 10/15/20/25/30% of damage, the enemies inside his aura suffer, from any source. Healing from minions is capped at 60/90/120/150/180.


Okay everyone lets make something clear - this skill is insane! Not because of damage dealing capabilities, but because of the massive heal you gain. You heal from EVERY source of damage, the enemies suffer, including stuff like heavy burst from your ap carry, ad carry attacks, turrets, smite, baron attacks (if managing to steal baron), items for example Deathfire Grasp and of course from your attacks. It lasts only 4 seconds, but believe me it's sometimes enough to regain about half hp, and its cd is only 10 seconds (without cdr) so after 6 seconds you can cast it again (but the teamfight will have propably ended by then ;) This skill also gives you pretty decent sustain at solotop, because when you cast it, standing close to melee creeps, your aura also covers the ranged ones - it pushes your lane, but you heal from your minions attacks and your own damage (if you need to heal fast then just q inside of wave). Also it's also viable 1st skill for jungling, because your Smite will also heal you, while fighting blue, and your q does only 50% damage to monsters and creeps. During teamfights this skill is your main sustain source and it works the best, when you're directly inside of enemy team (so your aura covers every enemy and your q hits as much targets as possible)

• Use this to heal on large creep wave, while spamming your q
• This skill gives you great sustain in teamfight, but lasts only 4 seconds - use it wisely
• Remember that it heals you from any source of damage done to the enemies - even from turrets

- Hecarim increases his movement speed every second, for 3 seconds up to some insane value of 75%. His next attack due this charge deals minimum of 40/75/110/145/180 + 0,5 per bonus AD and a maximum of 80/150/220/290/360 + 1 per bonus ad additional physical damage, based on the distance, he travelled since the activation of ability.


A very good skill, which also procs Sheen on attack, so it can be really "devastating" when used properly. I use it mostly as utility spell, due to its knockback and movement speed bonus (it doesn't go up with the rank). Despite it's 1:1 bonus ad ratio, it has a long cooldown (24 seconds at 1st rank and 16 at 5th). The thing you HAVE TO remember is that it pushes you and your target towards YOUR destination, so chasing an opponent and pushing him from the back may actually save his/her life (I myself failed, when accidentaly pushed enemy outside of our Morgana's ultimate :>). When chasing activate this ability and while still behind enemy, hit him with q, and if you manage to outdo him, immediately push him back. remember that the longer you run, the bigger the damage, so its really stupid to use this skill while fighting face to face with enemy, because of relatively low damage and high cd (you won't be able to catch enemy if he/she flashes away through wall). Sometimes its better not to use your e after activating, rather than helping enemy survive, pushing away from your teams skillshoot or sth like that. Another thing to mention is, that it also increases your Warpath damage bonus, until you hit your enemy with basic attack

• Try to use this skill in last second, to maximize the damage output
• Never push enemies in direction, they are running - run through them and push them away from their destination
• Don't forget to use your q, during charge

- Hecarim summons ghost riders (not those with burning skulls instead of heads, but i must admit, that Hecarim's face look similar) dealing 100/200/300 + 80% of ap magic damage to enemies in a line. Additionally, when Hecarim finishes his charge, he deals aoe damage 50/125/200 + 40% of ap magic damage and makes affected enemies flee in terror for 1 second.


I believe, wise usage of this ultimate splits player into good and bad Hecarim's. This ulti has such a devastating teamfight, utility and ganking possibilities, that i have no words for it. It deals damage, almost teleports you to targeted location, has great range, it's double AoE, fears enemies, disorganizing their team (feared enemies flee directly away from caster) and by combinig this skill with your Devastating Charge, you can focus 1 enemy and almost bring him/her to your team, for an easy kill. This ulti can travel through almost all wals that you want, but really - use it to escape ONLY when you know there is no other way for you to survive. This skill can also scare enemies away from focusing on your carry, let you secure kill on escaping enemy and so on. Also 1 more important info - if you use your ultimate in close range (like to get behind enemy you're 1v1'ing, the ghost riders will actually travel the full distance, dealing damage at maximum range, so you dont have to get into the middle of enemy team, but that's the funniest part ;) Althou im not sure if hecarim can be stopped during his ultimate (stun, knockup, knockback <yeah we all love Alistar> stuff like that).

• Always try to aim your ultimate slightly behind your enemy - it will force them to run away from their destination point and will allow you to push them further away with your e
• Try to fear as many enemies as you can
• Remeber, that it is your last lifesaver, as it can take you through thick walls

Due to what i've said earlier my skill sequence looks like this:

As always max out your Onslaught of Shadows whenever you can. I think explanation is not needed :)


Im maxing Rampage first, because it's my main source of damage, along with autoattacks (with Trinity Force passive).


Secondary i take Spirit of Dread due to the great sustain it gives to me - the more enemies, the more health for hecarim!


lastly i max out Devastating Charge, because it's mostly utility spell for me and its cooldown is pretty long early game.


Remember then:


R>Q>W>E


Onslaught of Shadows> Rampage> Spirit of Dread> Devastating Charge

I prefer building Hecarim as an offtank as you can see, BUT as always remember - tiems are only my advice to you, because mostly it depends on enemy team composition - you won't win, following build mindlessly. Watch what enemies are building and counter them. Of course i have some core items in my build. These are:

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I like to start with boots and 3 health potions. From passive you gain around 6-7 bonus ad, which is nice and you're faster than opponent, can dodge skillshots (like Dr. Mundo's Infected Bonesaw) and have something to heal.


Next item is Phage - it gives you extra hp, bit of ad and on-hit slow effect, very helpfull while chasing enemy. Then you go Sheen for its awesome passive, and extra bit of mana (thats 10 extra swings with your Rampage).


After that i usually get Giant's Belt or Mercury's Treads - if you want to roam take Mercury's Treads, if staying on lane, or had a hard time Giant's Belt for survivability.


By now its possible that 1 turret is fallen and some players leave their lanes to gank. To give extra edge over ap casters i usually buy Hexdrinker - it gives you some more ad, magic resistance and temporary "lifesaving" shield. You dont have to upgrade it to Maw of Malmortus, as ap shouldn't be too powerfull yet.


And now i finally rush Trinity Force. I'm not big fan of this item, but it works so well on Hecarim! u take bonuses from everything, even movement speed bonus gives your extra ad, due to Warpath. If you're having problems with ad enemies i strongly suggest to buy Chain Vest before Trinity Force.


The time has come! to buy Chain Vest for extra survivability against ad carries (you can also swap and get Chain Vest instead of Hexdrinker if ad's are pain in your ***)


and now here's the hook. Many players would say - buy Warmog's Armor if you're going Atma's Impaler. Yeah warmog is pretty funny item, but lets be serious its not OHSOMUCHBETTER than other any item. Let's see - it gives you 1270hp with max stacks, and 40hp regen/5. Wow that's alot of hp but... thats all. In my opinion, Warmog's Armor is very good item BUT on characters, who benefit from large health pool like Shen or Dr. Mundo. Let's make some calculations about so called "effective health".


According to lol wikia every point of armor requires a unit to take 1% more of its maximum health in physical damage to be killed.


If that's so, then let's compare 3 items:

1270 health 40hp regen/5

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450 health 45 armor 35 magic dmg per second to nearby enemies

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350 health 75 armor 25 health regen/5 5% CDR 25% chance to slow enemy's attack and movement speed by 35% for 3 secs ACTIVE: slows the movement and attack speed of surrounding enemies by 35% for 2 secs +0,5s for every 100 combined def and magic def (60s. cooldown)

now let's say, thet you're lvl 18, have 3000HP and 150 armor


Warmog's Armor gives you +1270hp, so that gives us a whooping number of 4270hp and 150 armor. every 1% of armor is like 1% of effective health, so 2,5*4270 is 10675 effective health. That much damage is required to kill you.


Sunfire Aegis gives you +450hp, so now we have 3450hp and 45 armor, what gives us 195 armor. Now same mathematic: 2,95*3450 is 10177,5 effective health. But that's still lower than warmog.


Randuin's Omen gives you +350hp, so it's 3350 now and 75 armor , which gives us 225 armor in total. Same as above: 3,25*3350 is 10887,5 effective health. So we have a winner. What's more randuin's passive makes you even harder to kill (due to lowering dps of enemies).


NOW another thing. Every good dps got at least 9 Greater Mark of Desolation, and can buy a Last Whisper, which can shred your armor horribly. So let's count again:


Warmog's Armor = 4270hp and 150 armor - 31 armor from quints, marks and full ad masteries (6 armor pen) = 129 armor -50% from Weapon Expertise and Last Whisper = 64,5 armor. Now we have 1,645*4270 = 7002HP


Sunfire Aegis 3450HP and 195 armor - 31 = 164 - 50% = 82 armor. 1,82*3450HP = 6279HP


Randuin's Omen 3350HP and 225 armor - 31 = 194 -50% = 92 armor. 1,92*3350HP = 6432HP

Conclusion? Of course damage done to you depends of many more stuff, but you have the general idea - if enemy got Last Whisper Health>Armor, if not then Armor>Health. For those who say "What about Atma's Impaler passive? the more health, the more dmg, well diffrence between Randuin's Omen and Warmog's Armor is around 10 AD, but count the dps lowering ability from Randuin's Omen, and you'll see, that its much better than 10 bonus AD. Whoever got here must be a serious maniac :)


Now that you've alredy choosen what to buy, we can continue our item section. After previous item i complete my Atma's Impaler for a insane ammount of damage, and also usefull critical rate. My next goal is to complete Maw of Malmortius. YES i'm completly for this item. It has nice flat and bonus AD (per health missing)(your abilities scale with BONUS ad), magic resisitacne (hecarim is pretty low on this) and a BRILLIANT passive, which saved my *** dozen of times. A must-have for me if enemy team got ANY caster.


Now we've got to the part, where you choose the last item. Don't be scared, i have some propositions for you:


Another brilliant item, against an heavy caster team. Not only gives you the hightest magic resistance in game, but also whooping 8% bonus movement speed, which works with your Warpath and extra health regen. Very viable choice in my opinion.


Classic counter for heavy dps team. If you gonna buy Thornmail i strongly advise you to build Warmog's Armor instead of Randuin's Omen or Sunfire Aegis. Buy only if there are 2 or more heave ad's.


Good item, against balanced enemy team. Provides both armor and magic resistance, as well as trolling passive (most of enemies will wait over your dead body for you to revive rather than chasing your teammates) which you can use also to escape with ulti if not on cd.


if your team is doing good, and you want some more damage output, this iten is what you're looking for. Totally underused, works great with hecarim (you just have to remember to use its active). 15% cdr allows you to spam your q every second, while 30 AD, 20 armor pen and 15% crit chance increase makes your attacks DEAL TONS OF DAMAGE. Count +50% attack speed and +20% movement speed (which increases your AD due to Warpath) and dont tell anything Riot, or they'll nerf it ;) It is builded from Avarice Blade, so you can buy it early game and be happy with increased income (it refunds itself at around 20 minutes) or build The Brutalizer and enjoy 10% CDR.


Gotta try this out before saying anything :) seems legit, but i think Youmuu's much better. You're offtank, so you propably will die most and stacking is iritating after a while.


For heavy casters or sons of a ******* like Veigar's Event Horizon. Together with passive from Maw of Malmortius you're almost unkillable, for busters like him or LeBlanc.


Zeke's Herald Bit of health and great aura for team. Everyone gains Attack speed and life steal. Let's see - the faster you attack, the faster you heal - okay. The faster allies attack, the faster you heal. W00t? Why u ask? U forgot about his Spirit of Dread? :) more hits land on enemies, more health you gain. Simple as that. Not best item but still viable, if you have like 2 strong AD apart fo\rom you ofc :)

So it's all for now :( i hope u want more thou :) if yes, then please say it. It is my first guide on mobafire and im not familiar with codes, althou i did what i could and learned alot (Thanks again to Jhoijhoi). If you'll like it im gonna add more sections, as Hecarim really suits me and may even be my main (bye bye Riven :O). If i did mistake ANYWHERE in this guide (like grammar spelling, wrong infos, calculations etc.), please leave a feedback, so i can correct it. I would also appreciate so called "constructive criticism" for i'm a newbie :) Hope u had as much fun reading this guide as i had writing all of this wall'o'text ;). If i'll recieve some positive voices, i'm going to add Early, Mid and Lategame sections soon. I also ticked require comment to vote, because i really want to know what's good/bad and what could be done better.


If you have any questions ask me and i'll try to answer as good as i can

21-04-2012 Guide Released! HORRAY! gonna party all night long to celebrate that! To tired after writing and counting and studying all day long to actually make some colors in last few parts, but gonna do that soon, so dont worry.