Alright guys, firstly, this is my first ever guide so don't hold back on the reviews!

Hecarim, the newest champion out (When this guide was written). You'll see a few guides out there that have range from a similar build to mine, to some crazy build like full Attack and Movement Speed, I've tried, tested and compared builds and without a doubt I can say that this is the build that has best worked for me, and has worked for any other Hecarim out there.

I played Hecarim once, and I just fell in love with him, his model, his attack animations, mostly the character himself, this is my guide to how I play Hecarim, effectively, enjoy.

Pro's:

Extremely Fun
Amazing Ultimate
Great Movement Speed (Gets you where you need to be)
Great ganks
Amazing in all-out team-fights with his W


Con's:

Rather weak at early game
Ganks won't work without team communication early game

Runes can be used on Hecarim a number of different ways, but I usually stay with the all around helpful one's, these are:

9x Greater Mark of Desolation
9x Greater Seal of Armor
9x Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
3x Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed

Your Jungle Route!

Cloth armor and 5 potions people! (Boots + 3 Pots can work too, although I have yet to be so risqué about it ;D) Which is also helpful.

Start at blue, don't start at red and leave yourself out of mana and having to recall halfway because your Q and W are necessities for jungling as Hecarim.

Ask someone to leash for you and ask for a protect if you're worried about a gank at blue. The amount of times I've been full-team ganked as Hecarim is unebelievable, and it always helps if you're ready to defend it so A) You don't die, or B) You can pick up a kill (Double Kill in one of my cases :D) Or even an assist or two, every bit of gold helps, especially when jungling!

Or if you're feeling cheeky, invade, take their blue, proceed to wraiths, golems, red, wolves then back to your blue and find out either A) Its been taken, so you know to check back LATER, and the enemy jungler (If there is one) Is in tie with you, if not a bit below, or B) Take it, and laugh as your jungler is useless against you.

From Blue Golem, take Wolves, Hit your W and spam your Q, Once this is done, run merrily to wraiths, W and Q again, you should have E by now, and smite should be about 20-25 seconds from cooldown, run yourself to golems and quickly take them out, before going back to initiate on Red, using E if you have it to get there quicker, to check if it might have been stolen, though rarely it has, and smite should be up just in time for Red to hit half health, efficient jungling for that gold you so heartily need.

Another tip for jungling, is your Spirit Of The Dread has a long-ish cooldown, long enough that if you use it at the start of a camp, it won't come off till you start walking to the next camp, so, a friendly tip, try to keep your Rampage on a short cooldown with its stacks by getting the last hit on a camp with your Rampage ability, so you can jungle faster, also, it might be worth getting your Rampage stacks up first before you hit your Spirit Of The Dread which will maximize the healing you get as Rampage will hit multiple targets.

Next, if your top lane really needs it, throw a gank or a scare if you can to let them know you're watching, and you're not afraid to jump in! In those tight situations where you know you'll just end up securing them a double kill, by all means, apologize if your top is slightly annoyed and keep moving, do what you can if you think can do anything, and then recall to buy Madred's Razors

By now you should be at the 05:30 mark, Your wolves are up, wraiths too, blue won't be for a while, you have gold, proceed to gank if you can to scare them, Middle lane and bottom lane will need help, bottom lane mostly as iv'e been through games where Bottom lane never gets a gank, and counter jungling just to piss them off! :D Cuz who doesn't love that? :3

SKILL SEQUENCE, Here we go guys!



Hecarim's passive! Warpath Don't we just love it! It lets you run through units so you don't get caught running around those pesky minions, so you can get into the fight quicker, and out if it's going pear-shaped.

I know at the top it might seem a little absurd, that's all my fault as I forget which ranks it stops and makes you rank something else up before maxing it. (I think its 4*)



What Trinity Force is to your item build, Rampage is to your skill sequence, It spins your weapon in a circle, Damaging everybody around Hecarim, and the best part is, as long as you hit someone, the cooldown is reduced every hit, down to a cap. Max this FIRST! I play Hecarim Jungle, so take this at Level 1. Try to get at least 2 stacks before you try to trade with someone if you're holding lane or solo top, and the best part is, your Sheen or Trinity Force is refreshed after every rampage, even when its on its lowest cooldown, so always auto attack after you use Rampage to be sure you maximize your damage, at 2 stacks, your damage is doubled if not more because of your Sheen / Trinity Force Procs too!



Another lovely spell of Hecarims, in quite a generous radius around Hecarim, magic damage is dealt to everybody inside it, and everybody who is damaged inside this circle whilst the skill is active, by Spirit Dread or any other sources of damage (Yes, Smite counts), a percentage of that damage will be healed back to Hecarim, I take this at level 2.



Oh how I hate this skill, and how others despise it, I take this at level 3, it's so useful, inside and out of Jungle.
Inside Jungle, I use it to get from camp to camp faster, and if I get there fast enough, yay extra damage! And who doesn't like that? :P It's also amazing for ganks, together with Ghost (More Movement Speed, More AD) You can get quite far out of a brush, or into their lane, before they can react to start moving back, even then, you can generally catch them and deal a considerable chunk of damage, if not secure a kill for you or your lane.



Onslaught Of Shadows, this ultimate, oh this ultimate, leaves the enemy in shambles when you use it, For ganking, it's a last resort, if they're gonna get away and I think Me and/or whoevers in lane could deal enough damage to secure the kill, use it, it's not the shortest cooldown, but it's not the longest either, don't be afraid to use it to secure a kill, early kills matter for Hecarim, A lot.

It's a skillshot to some people, but its quite easy to use, you want your circle (Where you stop the charge and your shockwave carries on from) to be just infront of where the enemy champion will be when you hit him and fear him backwards, leaving you in radius to deal damage, and if he runs, you wont have to waste precious seconds moving before you can hit him.

Also, if you're in a tight spot, Or its crucial you survive, don't be afraid to use it as an escape mechanism, remember, it's not the longest cooldown out there!

Saying this, I use it to initiate teamfights, I use my E and Ghost to catch up to them, then ult through them leaving them all feared for your team to do quite a considerable amount of damage to them before they're back on their feet to react, Then your E is safe to knock someone back even further, keeping them out of the fight for a bit.

Your Skill Sequence from a Gank should be as follows:

Ghost (If its up, if its not, you'll still be able to scare them and maybe secure the kill, ghost just helps.

Ghost -> E -> Q -> Auto -> W -> Auto -> Q -> Auto Etc, with the occasional Ultimate to secure the kill.

Always remember, prior to a gank, tell your ally to let the enemy push a little for you, or if you're already there, ping to let them know to initiate when you start charging in, if not before, team communication is crucial guys!

Teamfights:

Ghost + E + W + Q (For short range initiations, and by short range, I mean you're already in melee distance, rare case as it is)

For the real deal, where the enemy is keeping their distance, as are you;

Ghost + E -> R -> W+Q, job done.

Well, I play Hecarim jungle, so I'll start off at Cloth Armor & 5 Health Potions, this is where you want to head to your blue buff.

And 8 out of 10 times I've suffered a blue buff gank at around 1:55 when it spawns, so you want to ask your team to help Protect you until it spawns, and for a leash, as always.

Hecarims item sequence can be somewhat situational, but you want to arrive at the same end-game items, although as Hecarim, I've usually won before I can go full build, if i'm having a good game.





First I'll start off with your core items, the definite ones you need. You want to try and get your sheen first, as its a major source of damage, your bread and butter, if you will, building into a trinity force later on, getting a phage before building into the full thing if you lack the required Gold.





Your Boots! The Boots, are situational, most people will say get the Boots of Swiftness, as your passive gives you AD from it, but personally, yes its useful, and it can help with a little extra AD, but sometimes its just not useful enough when you could be having tenacity and magic resist, or armor and reduced damage from those pesky carries. Buy whichever boots you feel necessary, if they have an AD carry like Fiora or Tristana Etc, get yourself a Ninja Tabi, If they have more AP, Mercury's Treads and swap out later for the movement speed Boots of Swiftness if the MR isn't showing a difference. Although if you feel you want the swiftness boots and you don't need the other effects, by all means buy them. Think for yourself folks!



Wriggles is a fairly obvious choice, lifesteal, chance to deal magic damage to minions, helps you farm, helps you jungle faster, helps with Dragon and Baron in some cases if you keep it that long, and a free ward! Who doesn't want a free ward? Especially if they have a jungler/ganker. Once you've finished the rest of your build, sell it and swap it out for something else, you can either do this and buy an items subset before the whole item, or depending on what I'm buying, I'll sometimes just wait and buy it outright.

After your boots and your Trinity Force, the rest of your build is situational, and below ill list some of the items which can really help you out in a given situation.



Now, I will not always buy a Frozen Mallet, people will say there's no point when you have a slow from Trinity Force, but, The slow from Frozen Mallet is higher, and lands/refreshes on every melee hit, whereas with Trinity Force the slow isn't as great, and sometimes you really won't notice it hit, and in my opinion, every slow is helpful, whether in a teamfight or not, it could be the difference between a Kill and an Assist (Which if you're in a lane with an ad carry, wouldn't be so bad if you got the assist to help feed them), or being killed, and getting away on that little scrap of health to taunt your enemies with.

Not to mention Frozen Mallet also gives you a little bit of AD, which turns into more when Trinity Force is applied, and gives you quite a big chunk of health too, we want that survivability, As Hecarim It is your job to initiate team-fights, unless you've got someone awesome like Shen Who can just dash in, mess up their whole team with a taunt, for you to then mess up even more with your Onslaught of Shadows, or a Rammus With his Roll and Taunt.



For if you're in one of those spots where youre sat at a turret and getting poked on (Which I know happens a lot, but you're Hecarim, the force of nature's health regen will really help you stay alive, and the movement speed buff contributes to Hecarim's passive, and every extra AD is another 2.5 when you have a Trinity Force. Or you can choose to just charge in (when your team's there of course) This can help, you'll take damage, but you'll get quite a bit back over time, given that you've got some common sense and can run around to avoid a few hits, and the bonus magic resist will help from most pokes, since most of them are AP. And if you have the Baron buff Too, you'll just see your health float up, I do love that myself :D.



Another super chunky piece of health which just keeps growing! Another item which really helps you stay alive if teamfights can last a while, keeps you alive longer, if you're building a tanky Hecarim which sometimes you might need to, you're a beefy offtank.



Maw of Mamlmortius I love this on AD's fullstop, and I love it even more for Hecarim if the enemy team has some AP on them it gives you an awesome shield to help keep you alive, some magic resist to help take some heat off, and if you plan on building a tanky and hurty Hecarim, this is for you, people don't think you're very strong, but you're way stronger than you look, they'll get your health low, and you'll just keep getting stronger and stronger, and you get a nice little shield which trust me, can and will save your life. if you get this early it helps for ganking ap lanes, although I wouldn't rush it, remember, Trinity Force! But that said, this is a great buy either way.





I'm putting this in here because I've seen others use it, and if you get a little spellvamp from the Hextech Revolver or the spellvamp AND lifesteal from Hextech Gunblade you'll live a little longer, combined with Spirit of Dread and the aoe AP damage, and if you have AP on your team, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a Will of the Ancients Aura to boost their damage and sustain up a little bit, but it can help you get through the jungle quicker.

Although I have never personally tried these out before, I'm putting them here just so I can say I've explored all options, if you don't like them, don't buy them, but if you notice a difference, by all means, get one of these bad boys.

Now Remember! Trinity Force! it is a MUST HAVE for your lovely Centaur of Doom Hecarim, whether you're jungling or not, with your Rampage

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Summoner Spells!




Summoner Spells are simple on Hecarim as you should be Jungling him, as I've said before, he doesn't belong in lane, you should be getting Smite And Ghost - Smite Is for obvious reasons, get down the Blue Golem / Red Buff , Dragon Later if you can (Around 6-8)

Some people may want to opt for Flash Rather than Ghost As it gets in you quicker so they can't react, and get you out faster too, but personally, with Hecarim passive Warpath And the additional AD when you have more Movement speed, I think Ghost is a better option, more damage during ganks if you use it on your way in combined with your E Devastating Charge

Your Summary!

Hecarim is strictly a jungle character as far as I'm concerned, people can argue and lane with him all they like, and I'm happy to let them. But for me, Hecarim doesn't belong in lane, there's not much he can do short of starting a lane fight.

Hecarim, as all new champs, will be called 'OP' And you might be heckled for it, take it on the chin, you're owning bro!

Use him well, and dont be afraid to gank, if you failed a gank and are at low health, run, you have E and an Ult, if he doesn't chase, and you think you can cheekily make a comeback and secure the kill to piss them off, go for it! We love seeing them rage!

Vote and Comment People!

This is my first ever champion guide, and it's with a champion I love, I'm also considering doing an Ezreal one as I also love this character, and maybe a few more, if I'm good at it that is!

Please vote up if you liked it, and if you didn't like it, please tell me why, I'm open to criticism, rather than 'Omg u suk nub' And other people who can't type properly.

Try before you buy! Please don't downvote it unless you've played it and had real problems that are because of my guide/build.

And remember, there's a comment section if you have any questions or feedback, I would love to hear if you have any problems, or if you found this guide worked, it did for me, and Id love to hear that I helped you out!

Thank you for your time, Enjoy Hecarim! <3

-Updated Items/Purchases
-Updated Situations