Hecarim is a fast paced, strong ganking jungler.

Hec boasts extreme range on his gank initiation, while he also brings 2 CCs to a fight.
Hec's ultimate allows him to use ganking paths that are normally unaccessable while his ganks a fairly difficult to thwart if performed correctly.

A lot of people are building MS on Hec...but CDR by far surpasses MS in use.

Rampage has a 4 second CD. IF you hit a target with rampage, the CD is reduced by 1 and then 2 seconds. Without CDR you hit with your first skill and then wait 3 seconds for the second one and then all rampages after that point are 2 second CD.

With max CD you hit with your first and then only have to wait 1.8 seconds and all after that are 1.2 second CDs.

Laying it out, full CDR vrs NO CDR

1st Ramp- 0 sec vs 0sec
2nd Ramp- 1.8 sec vs 3 sec
3rd Ramp- 3 sec vs 5 sec

As you can see, with full CDR you get your 3rd rampage and get the full set of stacks in the same amount of time that it would take to get your only 2nd rampage without CDR.

In addition, CDR allows you to keep the train going more safely and easily. With CDR you refresh your stacks every 1.2 seconds. This leaves a 2.8 second window between your CD refresh and losing your stacks and gives 2 ramage attempts allowing a miss.

CDR effectively compounds to get you your rampage stacks faster! CDR also makes sheen procs more frequent and makes spell vamp more powerful.

CDR also helps Hec's survivability and his mobility.

Lets look at Hec's CD on W with full CDR verse no CDR.

With Full CDR the CD on the Ability is now 8.4 seconds. The ability still has a 4 second duration and the CD begins to reset on activation.

That means that Hec can have the self healing aura on him nearly half the time, only being vulnerable for 4.4 seconds between CDs. .

With no CDR Hec is vulnerable for 10 seconds between CDs.

As you can see, this is why we stack CDR...THIS IS WHAT DEFINES HEC...NOT HIS MS PASSIVE!

Hec's summoners are perhaps just too easy to figure out.

Ghost allows Hec to gank, chase, position, counter jungle, ect more easily and provides a substantial amount of AD through his passive.

Smite is necessary for jungling...nuff said.

I enjoy 19/11 masteries on Hec.

It is possible to jungle with 21/9 as well, but it's much less safe...if an invasion leaves you damaged or you use your hp potion, clear red before first return isn't possible.

I grab the physical damage related skills in offense and anything that reduces damage taken or improves health regen in defense. Vigor is amazing with the regrowth pendent as between the two you basically don't take damage from creeps.

Nothing too fancy or unique here. Follow Phreak's instructions in the spotlight.

Max q first followed by w.

q is your main damage source while w is your tankyness in team fights and jungle sustain.

get one point in e for the extra cc and movespeed on the gank.

Keep R max level possible!

I enjoy armor penetration marks
Reducing the opponents armor as much as possible make Hec's base skill damage count the most. Since you'll be abusing that base damage, these will really help.

I run AS quints
AS Quints will improve your initial clear and also hastens your AS enough to get one auto attack in between each rampage with 2 stacks of rampage and full CDR.

I run 7 MR/level glyphs. Since MR itemization is more rare and less rewarding to buy, I run these quints. I run 2 flat CDR glyphs to get me from 39% to 40% CDR. These also improve your early jungle speed very slightly.

Armor seals:

These are your typical jungling seals. Pretty much a requirement for full clearing on the first run with a regrowth pendent.

As stated several times now, I start with a Regrowth Pendant and a hp potion.

I do my first full clear (wolves then blue, then wraiths, then red, then golems, then wraiths, then wolves, then gank mid or top if either look potential, then return).

Once completing this initial clear I return and purchase both philosopher's stone AND Boots

As soon as possible upgrade the to tier 2 boots. ALWAYS get Ionian Boots of Lucidity. These boots are the cheapest CDR items in the game. They also improve you MS to help your ganking and give you some bonus AD.

I next buff my damage with a Sheen with your current CDR you can being rampage down to well under 2 seconds. That means lots and lots of sheen procs. Don't worry about getting a trinity force...it isn't needed at all. The sheen by it self does the trick and is a third of the price.

I now grab a Heart of Gold. This item will eventually build into Randuin's Omen but will buff your hp and pay for itself in the mean time.

Your next item will be a Kindlegem that will eventually build into a Shurelya's Battlesong. This is another very cheap way to boost your CDR.

I next finish my Shurelya's Battlesong this gets me to the CDR cap. The extra mana regen is very nice for jungling without the blue while the active provides some bonus AD and mobility.

You now have nearly full CDR. That means you can have w running on you almost half of the time. Since you now have mana regen and hp regen enough to sustain in the jungle in addition, you should build resists so that all the hp you regen has higher value.

I now buy a Warden's Mail and a Negatron Cloak these two items compliment all the self healing you are capable of by mitigating incoming damage by significant % so each regenerated hit point is worth more.

I next build a Randuin's Omen. This item is guaranteed to be effective since Hec has great mobility and can position so well with his ultimate. This item can really hurt the enemies AD carry and fighter.

I now buff my dps by upgrading the Sheen to a Trinity Force. This will improve mobility add slow procs, improve sheen procs and give a rounded melee stat boost.

To further buff my MR, I upgrade the Negatron to a Force of Nature. If you are having trouble with CC, another option is a Quicksilver Sash this item is also handy against champions that have healing reduction in their kit in addition to countering ignite. If they are igniting you, make sure to go QSS and build it earlier.

My last item is a Guardian Angel this item provides both armor and mr to further improve the benefit of your hp regeneration and also gives you a second chance if you are focused down in a team fight.

We build resists on Hec over offensive power and health because his kit is designed to ramp up damage and regenerate health.

Hec can do a surprising amount of damage if he is able to stay in an engagement for a long duration. To achieve this, offensive stating is needed. Since he regenerates HP naturally through his kit, we focus on improving the value of each hit point he regenerates. We do this by passively mitigating damage through resistances.

If we regenerate on hp with 50% resistance to incoming damage that 1 hp is now equivalent to 2 hp with 0% resistance. Similarly, if we get to 75% resistance each regenerated hp is now worth the equivalent of 4 hp with 0%.

I hope you've enjoyed your read of my Hecarim guide and that I've inspired you to try philo jungling with him.

If you've enjoyed this guide, check out my others.

Feel free to vote and comment.

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