Click to open network menu
Join or Log In
Mobafire logo

Join the leading League of Legends community. Create and share Champion Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

This build has been archived and is for historical display only

This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.

We recommend you take a look at this author's other builds.


x
Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

x
Hecarim Build Guide by kadun

Hecarim The Shadow Jungler

Hecarim The Shadow Jungler

Updated on April 22, 2012
New Guide
Vote Vote
League of Legends Build Guide Author kadun Build Guide By kadun 3,913 Views 1 Comments
3,913 Views 1 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author kadun Hecarim Build Guide By kadun Updated on April 22, 2012
x
Did this guide help you? If so please give them a vote or leave a comment. You can even win prizes by doing so!
Vote
Comment

You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.

I liked this Guide
I didn't like this Guide
Commenting is required to vote!
Would you like to add a comment to your vote?

Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.

Introduction


Hello everybody, and welcome to another of my mobafire guides - I've worked hard to make this guide helpful, yet compact so please leave a rating, and your thoughts on my work - Hope you enjoy! ;)

Before you move on, I would like to ask you guys a favor, please please please... Don’t just downvote my guide, give me critics, or any source of reason why you downvote at least. There's nothing worse than getting random dislikes, when you can’t do anything about it.
- Thanks! ^^

Oh, and if you play on West, just add me.. My ingame name is Kadunz - See you ingame! ^^


Oh, and before you start reading on - I would like to say this thing, which you should always remember:
Don’t just play 100% like I say in this guide, adapt to Hecarim, find YOUR playstyle, and what you think is best for him! ;)

Future Updates:

In deth jungle section
Who can he 1v1 in the jungle
A Hecarim spotlight


Green = Positive that this will be done in a near future.
Orange = Not sure when it will be done, but it will come at some point!
Red = May not come at all, but i hope i'll be able to make it.
Back to Top

Pros / Cons

s
Pros


+ Deals great damage late game
+ Very tanky
+ Brilliant initiator
+ Lots of CC (knockbock, mass terrify, slow with items)
+ Very mobile
+ Decent ganks pre-6 and great ganks past-6
space
space
Cons


- Low sustain early
- Hard to pull of ganks before 6
- Mana problems, especially early on
- Really not that beneficial a passive (IMO)
Back to Top

Summoner Spells


Smite
THIS IS A MUST FOR JUNGLERS !!! NEVER TAKE ANYTHING ELSE!


Ghost
Ghost is better than Flash because of he's so mobile, and can just run away, in worst case scenario you can use your ultimate to get away


Exhaust
Exhaust can be a good spell, since you allows you to 1v1 anyone and allows you to get some better ganks


Flash
Flash is a pretty great summorner spell many people like, it can be used for both chasing and escaping. But with Ghost you would be able to catch up with even flashing players easily with you full build
Back to Top

Runes

Greater Mark of desolation Greater Mark of desolation
I get 6 of these for the attack damage build because it provides you with the needed armor pen to clear the jungle fast

Greater Mark of alacrity
I take 3 of these and combine them with my quints to maximize my damage

Greater Seal of resilience
You need some early survival and the armor is really needed when you gank a top lane since they are often attack damage based

Greater Glyph of shielding
Some magic resist are always good, and since it takes some time for my build to actually get a decent amount of magic resist these are really great

Greater glyph of shielding
These are usefull if you want to be tankier and i use them for my survival build

Greater Quintessence of desolation
You want some extra early game damage for faster jungle clearing

Greater Quintessence of swiftness
I know many people would pick these over Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage, but these are late game, yes late game, since the bonus early game are really small like 5 AD.
Back to Top

Masteries



I think a lot of people would actually run 21/0?/0?, with either 9 points i defense or utility. But i have always loved to be tanky and i think Hecarim really fits that role quite well

Summoner's Wrath: If you took Ghost like me, this are really great

Butcher: These are basically just for a faster clear time, and some extra damage on the creeps in the jungle, i take two points in this instead of Brute Force , since his scaling are really not that great

Weapon Expertise : 10% Armor penetration is one of the most point efficient masteries in the game, since it gives you some really great, it's one of the most important masteries for all AD's since it allows you to bypass some of the enemies armor

Summoner's Resolve: This point are only decent, since the only benefit you get are 10 golds when you use smite, but hey you use smite about one times every 70 seconds do why not get 10 gold for doing it anyway?

Veteran's Scars: You always want some early damage to keep you alive in the jungle, especially if you don't get that good of a leash, then you will drop low and maybe end up dying

Bladed Armor: Returns damage on creep, both in jungle and lane, but again, quicker jungle clearing and okay in teamfights, but beware you are actually able to steal the blue from your mid, when you're trying to give it to him (happened before)

Initiator: Extra movespeed when you're above 70% hp, which are really beneficial since Hecarim scales with movespeed, the bonus isn't really that big, but hey damage is damage right?

Juggernaut: This is your bread and butter, you always would want this, the bonuses it gives are just to great to skip, increased max hp (with 3%) but the most important 10% reduced disables, now you can hack and slash everybody all night long
Back to Top

Skill




Warpath

Tooltip


Hecarim ignores unit collision and gains attack damage equal to a percentage of his bonus movement speed

General about this


The bonus are really small and really not worth trying to aim for. But the unit collision allows you to juke in between minions to escape and activating Devastating Charge (E) you can make a clean escape



Rampage

Tooltip


Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealing physical damage.
Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealin physical damage. (50% damage to minions and monsters)

If Hecarim damages at least one enemy 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.

General about this


This is your spam ability, proc your trinity and deals a lot of damage if your able to stay in the middle of the enemy team and keep spamming your Q
Using Rampage can be hard, since you need to be very close and put yourself in danger all the time.
It does not give you the damage needed for clearing jungle fast due to "(50% damage to minions and monsters)"

Rampage + Spirit of Dread can be very good farm tools, probably some of the easiest and most secure farming tools. Practice what you like and you'll soon figure out when to farm or harass!

Effetive use


This ability are mostly used for proccing your trinity, which suddenly adds up, so stay in the middle of their team, Q-AA-Q-AA and so on. This will increase your damage by a big amount



Spirit of Dread

Tooltip


Hecarim deals magic damage to nearby enemies for a short duration. Hecarim gains health equal to a percentage of any damage those enemies suffer.
Hecarim deals magic damage over 4 seconds to all nearby enemies. Hecarim is healed for 10/15/20/25/30% of the damage these enemies take from any source.

Hecarim cannot heal more than 60/90/120/150/180 health from minions.

General about this


This is a life saver, it can and will save you from dots. It keeps you healthy in the jungle and healthy in teamfights.
The healing gained from minions are very small late game and can't really be used, but in team fights you can activate you W and suddenly have gained more than 500hp back in a second

Effetive use


The most effective use for Spirit of Dread is to use it combined with an AOE comb, (etc. fiddle, galio, mf, leona) you will get healed for a lot of damage and be able to sustain in the middle of the enemy team for a long amount of time



Devastating Charge

Tooltip


Hecarim gains increasing movement speed for a short duration. His next attack knocks the target back and deals additional physical damage based on the distance he has traveled since activating the ability.
Hecarim gains increasing movement speed for 4 seconds. His next attack knocks the target back dealing physical damage based on how far Hecarim has traveled during Devastating Charge.

General about this


This is your main engage, ganking tool before level 6 and after level 6 it can be used to escape dangerous situations, it deals an decent amount of damage and can be used to interrupt stuff like Karthus' Requim and Katarina's Death Lotus or just to simple knock someone back to save an teammate

Effetive use


Combine this with your ultimate and suddenly the damage is increased a lot and if you get behind the enemy team with your ultimate then try to knock their carry into your team.
This is also a mini interrupt don't forget that, so interrupt stuff you need to interrupt




Onslaught of Shadows

Tooltip


Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing magic damage in a line. Hecarim creates a shockwave when he finishes his charge dealing additional magic damage to nearby enemies causing them to flee in terror.
Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing magic damage to anyone they strike.

Hecarim releases a shockwave when he finishes his charge dealing an additional magic damage and causing neaby enemies to flee from Hecarim for 1 seconds.

Hecarim himself will only move to the targeted location. The riders will always move the full distance.

General about this


After level 6 this is going to be your engage ability, it can be used both aggressive and defensive, it fears all enemies away from Hecarim so it can also be used as an interruption. Deals some nice damage too

Effetive use


Fear all the enemies and charge back their carry, escape over walls, this is almost a jack of all trades, if you don't travel your full distance your ghost riders will and they can finish an opponent for you, if you know there's a trap.
Back to Top

Items

Starting items



Regrowth Pendant
I start with and regrowth pendant to get that little bit of health regen in the jungle, but also so i can rush my Philosopher's Stone, your Spirit of Dread (W) and Regrowth Pendant will both help keep you healthy in the jungle.

Health Potion
A single health potion will help keep your health close to max, if you get a good leash.

Different Start


Boots of Speed
If you're against junglers who likes to counter jungle, like Dr. Mundo and Shyvana you will have to clear a jungle fast enough so they can't take your jungle (they will mostly aim for your wraiths)

Health Potion
Now instead of one potion you can get three, which allows you to "**** up" a bit more due to the high regen of Health Potion's

Core items


These are the items you always want to have
Philosopher's Stone
Philosopher's Stone
Philosopher's Stone is a pretty good items for you, since you will spam your abilities a lot you will need some mana regen, and later when your Spirit of Dread falls off, this item will help keep you healthy. The passive are probably the best, you will run around a lot between camps and you will always want to keep getting gold

Heart of Gold
A Heart of Gold increases your max hp and makes you more tanky, and allows you to survive dangerous missions, but it also gives you increased gold generation(just like Philosopher's Stone)

Mercury's Treads
You most likely will get focused when you are in the middle of the enemy team, and to actually be useful instead of getting permanent cc'd you want some tenacity and some decent magic resist. The extra movespeed also increases your damage by a tiny bit, but hey all damage counts

Trinity Force
This is the most important item for Hecarim it gives you everything you need, the Zeal gives you attack speed, crit and movespeed, the most important in the movespeed which means more damage thanks to Warpath, the Sheen gives you mana, ability power and increased damage proc each time you use an ability, well the ability power isn't that great, but both the mana (which he really needs) and the proc are great, the Phage which are the first item of the Trinity Force i build, gives you health, damage and an slow, i choose this over Sheen because Hecarim needs a slow when he ganks, and if he has to gank someone with high damage it also prevents him from getting instant bursted. The benefits of upgrading all these separate pieces is not only to save space, but a trinity force also each of the benefits from each piece, and the upgrade only costs 400gold

Preferred items


These items gives you the last bonuses you need

Maw of Malmortius
Maw of Malmortius is a pretty good item for Hecarim imo, since it gives you magic resist to survive in the middle of the enemy team and the more you get focussed the bigger threat you are, it also gives you an shield when you drop below 30%, thats the time your Spirit of Dread can heal you up a bit again.

Randuin's Omen
Now it's about time to upgrade your Heart of Gold if you not already did this earlier, the best choice for you are the upgrade called Randuin's Omen, it gives you some decent hp, tons of armor, and a really great active. What you want to do is to use Onslaught of Shadows then activate Randuin's Omen when the fears/terrify effect ends, this combo gives your team a good start on a fight and then you often win

Shurelya's Reverie
Now when your Heart of Gold are upgraded you want to upgrade your other gp/10 items know as Philosopher's Stone and this is the upgrade you get from it, the time to upgrade this are really situational, sometimes you need it after Phage and sometimes after Randuin's Omen, i often upgrade it either just before or just after Randuin's Omen.
If they got a lot of magic damage, upgrade it before Randuin's Omen if they got lot of fast people like Master Yi, Shyvana and Riven you might consider upgrading this after Phage so you catch up with people and use your Rampage

Youmuu's Ghostblade
Yearh i know Youmuu's Ghostblade is more know as a early game item, but i prefer to get more tanky before getting Youmuu's Ghostblade, you need almost everything from it, cdr(really important) damage (always good), armor (not % so it's decent), critical strike chance (really not needed), and the best from this item, the active, some great movespeed (remember more damage thansk to Warpath). There are other choices and i will talk about them later.

Optional Items


Sometimes these items are actually better than the core build.

Aegis of the Legion
If you need some early tankiness, this is one of the best items to get it from, it helps your entire team, but most supports are going for it, so ask the support if he/she is going to build it. Get this item after Phage

Banshee's Veil
If you're against combo based mages like Le'Blanc or people with one really game turning effect like Blitzcrank. This should be last item and an replacement for Youmuu's Ghostblade If you keep getting grabbed, you might need it after Trinity Force but don't this should always be replacement for Youmuu's Ghostblade

Frozen Heart
If you find yourself in need for mana all the time, and you really want more mana, get this and replace it with your Randuin's Omen but then don't get a Youmuu's Ghostblade either, since you will have an overflow of cooldown reduction

Force of Nature
Sometimes the magic resist from Maw of Malmortius is not enough, etc. if they have a sustain damage caster like Cassiopeia, then you need to replace your maw with this item. If you decide to replace your Maw of Malmortius with Force of Nature you need some damage and you should either go with Youmuu's Ghostblade or Bloodthirster

Guardian Angel
This item is always a good last item, it gives you some decent defensive stats and also a extra hp to do things over if you got focused too hard or if you messed up

Spirit Visage
I've heard a lot of bad comments for this item, but it really is not that bad, you just need the right composition. If you got an AOE(area of effect) combo like fiddle, galio, mf, leona, you will suddenly restore an crazy amount of hp in teamfights and almost be unkillable. This is a early-mid item and you will have to get it between 6-11 thats where most of the aoe spell deals a lot of damage. Aim to get this just before or just after your Phage

Soul Shroud
If you are against a slow team, or you need to get some more hp, this is actually an optimal replacement for Shurelya's Battlesong, it gives some of the same stats etc, cooldown reduction, mana regen and health

The Bloodthirster
If you need raw damage and some nice lifesteal this is the way to go, but you can really only afford to get this as a late game item, and as an replacement for Youmuu's Ghostblade

Thornmail
When you suddenly realize that the enemy Tryndamere are fed and reducing his attack speed just are not enough, then you need a Thornmail this should always be an replacement for Randuin's Omen
Back to Top

Items - continued


Warmog's Armor
If you really need some hp, because you are getting instant bursted, this item provides you with an crazy amount of hp and health regen (scales well with your Randuin's Omen's Health Regen), replace your Shurelya's Battlesong with this item, if you decide to get a Warmog you will need an Atma's Impaler instead of your Youmuu's Ghostblade
Zeke's Herald
Zeke's Herald
Yet another replacement for Shurelya's Battlesong, if your ad carry needs some extra lifesteal to survive you might want this.

Optional Boots



Boots of Swiftness
Fastest boots ingame when you are in combat, and since movespeed = damage you can consider these, but only if you're not getting focused hard, else you will die to fast

Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Sometimes you need some early cooldown reduction to get things going, i would replace these late game for Mercury's Treads


Ninja Tabi
If they got a lot of auto attackers and like no cc you might want these instead of Mercury's Treads
Back to Top

Why not these items?

I've decided to make a "Why not these items" list, since i've seeb many people buy the following items



Phantom Dancer
If you look at the item, it seems to give you some really great stats for Hecarim, but imo these stats are really not that great.
The movespeed scaling on him is not that good 10-25% of your bonus which in most cases wont increase your damage by more than 30-40. My guide don't focus on auto attacking that much, all the attacks he needs to do is one each 2 second to damage with his Trinity Force proc.
My guide does not focus on crit either, and if it did i would place a Infinity Edge somewhere in my build

Wriggle's Lantern
Don't get me wrong i love this item on many junglers like Nocturne and Shyvana, but hecarims damage comes from his abilities so the lantern wont proc that often, since i got low attack speed also. I know you need to offer 75g on a ward each 3 minute instead of having on build-in your wriggle

Wit's End
I seen more often junglers who go the classic Phage + Wit's End build, but the reason for picking Maw of Malmortius over Wit's End is that my Hecarim just need damage and don't focus on attack speed, so the damage and stacking magic resist won't be applied that fast.
Back to Top

Jungling

What is jungling?



Normally players will gain gold and experience by moving along one of the three lanes and killing enemy creeps. Jungling is the term used when a player instead tries to gain gold and experience by killing the neutral creeps in one of the many camps littering the forested “jungle” area of the map.


Advantages to jungling



-Junglers will generally get less more quickly than other players. This is because a jungler often get fewer creeps and the jungle creeps are not worth that much.

-A jungler’s teammates will generally get experience more quickly than the other team if they don't have a jungler. This is because experience is split among two heroes sharing a lane, such that a hero who is alone in a lane (commonly referred to as a ‘solo’ or ‘solo lane’) levels up faster than either of two heroes sharing a lane. Normally there are five heroes splitting the experience from three lanes (2-2-1), however if one hero jungles there are now effectively four heroes splitting the same experience (2-1-1). Just remember that solo lanes mean faster leveling, and a team with a jungler has two solo lanes.

-A jungler’s moves are harder to predict. Because a jungler spends most of his time outside of the enemies field of vision, it is harder for the enemy team to guess where he is or what he is doing at any given time. This makes it easier for a jungler to assist one of his teammates in a surprise attack, or ‘gank’, on an enemy player.


Disadvantages to jungling



-Junglers will generally level up more slowly than other players. This is because those who fight in lanes are frequently nearby dying enemy creeps, and every player near a dying creep gets the experience for that creep. Note, however, that the more experienced the jungler the faster they kill neutral creeps, to the point that some very skilled and efficient junglers have little or no experience disadvantage.

-A jungler’s teammates may find it harder to ‘push’ early on. Remember that a jungler’s team effectively has two ‘solo’ lanes? Well, this can create a situation where there is only one allied hero in a lane with two enemy heroes. While this can be advantageous in that the lone hero levels up faster than the two enemy heroes, the disadvantage is that a lone hero finds it very hard to gain ground, or ‘push’ into enemy territory. Very often in such 1v2 matchups the solo hero will be forced to play defensively, missing out on potential player or tower kills.

-A jungler is less able to help friends in danger. If you have a teammate that is in the same lane as you, they are actively watching your back in case enemy players try to sneak around, push, or attack you. If you are attacked, a jungler teammate will often times be too distracted to notice or too far away to help until it is too late. Experienced junglers try to keep an eye on what is going on in the three lanes while they are killing neutral creeps so they can still help their allies as much as they can to mitigate this weakness.


Jungle Route



Stonewalls Jungle Hecarim


My Jungle Hecarim - soon to come


I will upload it whenever i can get Lol recorder to work when i play lol

Main route (Text)

Wolves

- Activate your Spirit or Dread when the fight begins

Blue Golem

- Use Spirit or Dread when the golem focuses you (hopefully you get a leash), Smite around 450 -> Level up Q

Wraiths

- Activate Spirit or Dread when you engage and use Q to skip the casting animation of your Spirit or Dread, Spam Q

Wolves

- Same tactic as Wraiths, Spam Q -> Level Up -> W

Lizard

- Activate Spirit or Dread when you engage and use Q to skip the casting animation of your Spirit or Dread, Spam your Q Smite around 495 hp

Wraiths

- Activate Spirit or Dread when you engage and use Q to skip the casting animation of your Spirit or Dread, Spam Q -> Level Up -> Devastating Charge

Now gank or recall




Always remember to gang as soon as you get close to a lane where your opponents are overextending (ganging with red buff will makes things 10 times easier).

When to stop jungling ?


As soon as you realize mid-game has started you should stop jungling and go for the regular push & back game. You can grab some creep kills, but always be sure to be close enough to some of your partners, in order to help or to be helped (use a lot of wards at that time). To sum up: stop jungling when your allies can't stay/hold their lanes anymore with the regular 1/1/2/+1 jungler composition.


Counter Jungling - Coming Soon

Download the Porofessor App for Windows

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide