Introduction
Hello, and welcome to my Hecarim Jungle Guide. I hope you enjoy, and learn some new tricks with Hecarim. Please give me structured feedback on how I did, and how i can improve.
Pros/Cons
Pros
Very Tanky late game
Looks Epic
Many ways to escape
Very Fast
Deadly Ganks
Not Too Team Dependent
Cons
Must Time and Aim Spells Correctly To Do Well
Squishy Early Game
Hard To Master
Skills
Warpath: The passive will allow you to move through things, and convert a percentage of your base Movement Speed into Attack Damage, making it good to pick up items with movement speed.
Rampage: This skill is great for the jungle and in team fights. It will do area of effect damage and every time you cast it, you will get a buff that reduces the base cool down of it by 1 second, stacking twice. This spell should be spammed, and you should keep the buff up when jungling.
Spirit of Dread: This skill is amazing. It will deal damage to enemies around you, and heal you for a percentage of the damage dealt.
It will keep you alive and deal a lot of damage when jungling, and when in team fights.
Devastating Charge: This skill is really helpful. Think of it as Rammus's 
Powerball where your movement speed will become higher as it stays longer, except it hits the target you attack, and the more distance traveled increases the damage dealt, and it knocks the back the enemy targeted. If used correctly, it can knock an enemy into your allies, earning a kill.
Onslaught of Shadows: This skill is great for initiating and escaping. You will dash to an area in a straight line, and spectral riders will move with you, except they move the maximum distance, and if the spectral riders hit an enemy, they deal them, but if you pass through, you will fear them. If timed and aimed correctly, you can fear and dominate the enemy team unexpectedly.
Masteries
I took a 0/21/9 Defensive build, since it makes it very easy to reach late game dominance. With this build, you won't get killed in the jungle very quickly and will have more sustain, since you're going to be very squishy early game. The 9 points in Utility are mandatory, since it gives you the Mana from
Expanded Mind
to allow sustain in jungle, you will get 4% bonus Movement Speed which converts to extra Attack Damage from
Swiftness
, and especially the increased buff duration from
Runic Affinity
.
Items
The items chosen were decided to ensure the most Attack Damage, Movement Speed, and Defense.
Cloth Armor and Health Potions X5: This combo was chosen to allow sustain in the jungle early on.
Boots of Swiftness: I chose these boots since they give you the most movement speed during a fight, which will give you the most Attack Damage. If they have a lot of Crowd Control, 
Mercury's Treads can also be a good choice.
Aegis of The Legion: I chose this item since it will give you health, armor, magic resist, and an aura to help your allies early game. Late game, if you don't find it useful, you can trade it for a 
Randuin's Omen, a 
Banshee's Veil, a 
Thornmail, or a 
Guardian Angel, depending on what you need.
Trinity Force: I chose this item since it gives you Movement Speed which converts to Attack Damage, a slow on hit, and a buff where when you cast a spell, your next attack deals and extra 150% of your Attack Damage.
Phantom Dancer: I chose this item because it gives a lot of Movement Speed, Attack Speed, and Critical Strike.
Sunfire Cape: I chose this item since it gives a good amount of health, armor, and area of effect damage. Since you're such a big champion, it will cover more surface area, which will deal lots of damage. With how much area of effect skills you have, this will just make the enemies QQ more.
The Bloodthirster: I chose this item since it gives great damage, and will allow you to stay alive.
Other Viable Items
Maw of Malmortius: If you'd like to have a more tanky approach, you can take this instead of an 
Infinity Edge.
Guardian Angel: If you'd like to have a 2nd life, take this instead of a Sunfire Cape, or trade it with the Aegis of the Legion late game
Banshee's Veil: If you need magic resist, mana, and you'd like a shield to block 1 spell, take this instead of a Sunfire Cape, or trade it with the Aegis of the Legion late game.
Thornmail: If you are in desperate need of defense against physical damage, take this instead of the Sunfire Cap, or trade it with the Aegis of the Legion late game.
Infinity Edge: If you don't need any more sustain, and want straight out damage, take this instead of The Bloodthirster.
Ganking
Usually your first gank should be at lvl 3, after you kill Red Buff. When you gank, lead with Devastating Charge and try and hit the enemy to the wall or to your allies, just don't hit the enemy away from you and your allies. Then use Spirit of Dread to heal and deal damage, and spam Rampage. If you have your ultimate, lead with that, and follow with the rotation explained above.
Enemy Junglers
Nunu is my best and strongest jungler. If you are against him, make sure your team defends your jungle because he's a beast at counter jungling.
Lee Sin is a pretty strong jungler and will gank often. He doesn't counter jungle a lot, but will be a threat, so try and keep up with him.
Amumu is a scary jungler. If you can invade his blue because that will cripple him. If he does get his blue, try and keep up with him.
Warwick isn't too fast of a jungler. You can probably clear the camps faster and gank better than him early on. When he hits 6, he will start ganking often.
Shaco is the most annoying jungler to be against. Make sure your team watches the jungle because he will be throwing jack-in-the-boxes everywhere, and will invade your jungle.
Gangplank is pretty good. You're definetely stronger than him, and better than ganking then him, so use that as an advantage early on.
Jarvan IV has pretty dangerous ganks. Make sure your team is aware, and try to gank or counter-gank every time he does.
Udyr is deadly. He will go into your jungle and kill your creeps before you even notice. Make sure your jungle is protected, or you will have a lot of trouble.
Olaf is a very quick jungler. He will quick ganks as well. You will be about average with him, but if you both meet in a fight, he will win.
Rammus won't be much of a threat to you, but he will make your team suffer. He has insanely deadly ganks, so you will need to be ganking very often to keep the game even.
Shen is not too fast of a jungler, but he can gank well, so you will need to gank often, but you will probably be ahead of him for most of the game.
Shyvana is very strong. She will most likely counter-jungle you since that's what she is good at, so be cautious of your jungle.
Role
Your role in your team should be the tank/initiator, so when you see an open spot, don't feel shy to jump in with Onslaught of Shadows and start the fight. You should make sure you're in front of your team when you're grouped up, so they don't take all the skill shot hits.
Summary
Overall, Hecarim is a very unique and tanky jungler. He is a much different jungler, so if you ever decide to buy a jungler, think about him. I hope you enjoyed.
Build Guide
Discussion (16)
Greater Mark of Armor if you would like more armor.
I chose the Greater Seal of Resilience since it gives the necessary armor to easily survive the jungle with enough health to gank.
I chose the Greater Glyph of Shielding since it gives a good amount of magic resist late game. You can also pick up 
Greater Glyph of Armor if you would like more armor.
I chose the Greater Quintessence of Swiftness since it gives me Movement Speed which converts into extra attack damage. You can also pick up a Greater Quintessence of Defense if you would like some armor, but it is not recommended.
Flash, since your movement speed gives you bonus attack damage, so when you use 
Exhaust: This summoner spell isn't too good for jungling, but if you solo top, it will work well.
