Hecarim Build Guide by KaerX

UPDATE BOARD

- 5/6/2012 - Unfortunately this update does not contain the new written guide, I talk about that below. As requested by several of you I have added my old 3v3 "Glass Cannon" build back. This build doesn't suit EVERYONE and you have to make situational changes when your using it. I personally still use this sometimes because it works very well for me. When I use that my win percentage in the NON-Ranked 3v3 category was probably close to 85-90%. That is also the only category it is meant for. So for any of you who try it be sure your team is suitable for you to take that role!! Also as far as news in the written guide UPDATE, It IS completed I am currently reviewing it and making some changes. I do have to add a couple sections due to changes that I made but all of you can expect to see it released before 5/9/12. Thank you for all the support! I am glad the new builds are working for you! Make sure to check back for the updated guide!!

- 5/3/2012 - Also when I said please hold your votes I meant BOTH upvotes and downvotes. I am glad a few of you like the improved builds but unless your happy with just the build and are one of the people that just use builds from moba and not really the guides then an upvote/downvote is fine with me, but if your a person whos vote is influenced by BOTH the build and written portion of my guide then I ask you to PLEASE hold your vote until having he chance to look over the new written portion. Although I really encourage ALL of you to check out the new updated written portion of my guide when I release it either later tonight or tomorrow evening!! Thanks.
-KaerX-

- 5/3/2012 - I have now released ALL of the improved/revised build although I am still completing the revised/recoded written portion to go with it. I expect the written portion to be complete and posted either late tonight, or tomorrow evening. I ask all of you to please hold your vote until the written portion is released because it goes hand in hand and contains a specific section for each build. I still encourage you to try out the item builds, and now I also made it more clear that the builds on the left are 3v3 builds and the ones on the right are 5v5 builds but NONE of them are RANKED BUILDS, although in a future update, there will be a ranked 3v3/5v5 ranked build and guide added, the reason why I am releasing that in a distant update is to gain more ranked experience on Hecarim and to colaborate and gather suggestions and feedback from my ranked team. Thanks to everyone and the Mobafire community for helping me improve my guide with your feedback and suggestions, and I will continue to do so FREQUENTLY as long as I have gathered enough for a decent update, or if theres a patch. Once again THANK YOU.
-KaerX-

- 5/2/2012 - I am currently mid-transition to the improved guide. So far I have only introduced my revised preferred build, AD builds, and Sustain/Jungle, the Tanky vs AD and Tanky vs AP options will be finalized shortly. The transition of the written portion is nearly complete, including much better readability, coding, and organization + added content. The changes happening are inspired by A LOT of feedback and suggestions as well as simply having much more time gaining experience playing Hecarim in all game types and vs ANY enemy scenario. I look forward to all of your future suggestions and feedback allowing me to continue to improve. Thanks to the Mobafire community for all the support thus far. :)

-KaerX-

- 4/29/2012 - After gathering information from feedback from all of you, and more experience using the material I am sharing in my guide I have now almost completed an overhaul on some of the build options and writing a section for the guide that separates each build variation for more specifics for play and item options. Thank you all for everything so far.
-KaerX-

Introduction

(Let me first mention that the written portion of the guide is mostly based on "My Preferred Build" much of it can apply to all of my variations.)
When I bought Hecarim on the first day and designed this build, I didnt see any other Hecarim using the same or similar build and I always out performed them which is why I decided to make my build into my FIRST attempt at a guide on Mobafire! Keep in mind that before I wrote this, I playes A LOT of games on Hecarim and I makes changes/updates on almost a daily basis. This Hecarim build takes advantage of Hecarim's passive, which gives him VERY high mobility, and turns him into a high damage carry machine. Don't be hesitant to vary the build per match, you are most likely playing with different team mates and always against a different team so make adjustments according to that, I talk about some possible adjustments later on in the guide. I usually do something a little different each match but use this as the base of my builds.

Runes

Here ill quickly mention why I made the rune choices that i did and other available options I agree with. The reason I go with 9x Greater Mark of Desolation 9x Greater Seal of Attack Speed 9x Greater Glyph of Attack Speed and 3x Greater Quintessence of Desolation is mainly for the early-mid game advantage, because Hecarim is powerful regardless late game, Since this build involves a high ammount of attack speed, it makes the % att speed runes more effective, as for the Armor Pen, this is just enough to cancel out any champs starting armor for the first few levels, it gives you a decent advantage damage wise, it isnt much if someone begins stacking armor mid-late game, but if that happens getting a Last Whisper more effective, Which I will talk about later in the item section as for what item to replace with it and when to pick it up. Many people have a different preference for runes, I dont disagree with these options but they are not my first choice, other options include going with an AD setup, Picking up 9x Greater Mark of Attack Damage 9x Greater Seal of Critical Damage 9x Greater Glyph of Attack Speed (Because I feel the AS is worth more than the low values for AD on Glyphs) and 3x Greater Quintessence of Desolation , A defensive rune build can also be viable if you are PLANNING on building the more tanky build, but an offensive based rune page still works very well with the tanky build. Here are some runes that I agree with being used on Hecarim. Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed (Remember the movement speed grants Hecarim an AD bonus) Greater Seal of Armor Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist (I personally woulndn't use those, but if your playing him more tanky and it fits your play style its still viable)

Masteries

When using either variations of this build, I find it most beneficial to take the offensive route to compliment the rune selection I recommend. Using these selections, I always pick up multiple early game kills and remain powerful through mid-late game. It is extremely important in my eyes to take 9 in the utility tree to pick up 4 pts in Swiftness and Runic Affinity because you get double bonuses from both of these things because of your passive, 4% movement speed gives you the AD bonus , for example when you pick up A speed buff in the jungle it ALSO increases your attack damage by a decent amount for that duration, It makes a big difference. I do not oppose other Mastery options other than the fact that I strongly believe that 9 in Utility for the 2 things I mentioned are a MUST on Hecarim.

Items

THE BELOW ITEM GUIDE IS OUTDATED, I AM IN THE MIDST OF IMPROVING MY GUIDE AND 4 OF THE BUILDS HAVE ALREADY CHANGED, AND THE OPTIONS FOR TANKY VS AD/AP ARE BEING FINALIZED. THE ENTIRE WRITTEN PORTION OF MY GUIDE IS BEING EDITED AND RECODED FOR BETTER READABILITY, THE TRANSITION WILL BE COMPLETE 5/2/2012. THANK YOU

Here I will explain the reasoning behind my item choices, and viable item alternatives for certain situations and certain enemies that your facing. The one thing you must keep in mind on Hecarim is that MOVEMENT SPEED IS ATTACK DAMAGE, This is why it is essential to start with Boots of Speed and 3x Health Potion because getting boots gives you AD as well. Thats also the reason I rush Berserker's Greaves and Zeal Because its more AD when you upgrade to zerks plus Attack Speed and same with zeal. More movement, More AD, more mobility and AS. If you are facing a CC heavy team, consider Mercury Treads or Quicksilver Sash. This is also the reason I get 2x Phantom Dancer Because by the time you have 2 of them, it is a tremendous boost to AD and you are hitting crits at a very high rate, plus your movement and Mobility is INSANE, The reason I build Frozen Mallet in between the phantoms is because 1, it gives you tankiness, and 2, the SLOW with your extremely HIGH mobility is deadly. If you need a little bit more damage earlier if your facing tankier enemies, get B. F. Sword right after Frozen Mallet before your second Zeal. I always take Phage right after my first Zeal and finish Frozen Mallet before the SECOND Phantom Dancer If you make it to your Infinity Edge it is probably already GG. If you are facing a team where Armor stacking becomes a problem, building a Last Whisper Will go great with your Armor Pen runes. I recommend getting it instead of Blood Thirster or Atma's (if using more tanky build]] BUT building it BEFORE Infinity Edge or Warmog's Armor (Tanky build). If you are facing an AD heavy team you could also us a Thornmail as your 5th item or earlier if needed, which works better on the more tanky build, When facing balanced teams that are damage heavy, a Guardian Angel Would be very beneficial as your 5th item for balanced damage reduction and the revive, once again more beneficial on the more tanky build but viable on the pure AD build, For AP heavy teams Force of Nature is no doubt the best item for extra survivability, I usually replace my second Phantom Dancer with it just for FoN because it adds movement and then you still have Infinity Edge as your 5th completed item, but you can buy Negatron Cloak earlier than that if you need earlier MR and are planning building Force of Nature, Also when using the tanky build, if you feel like you can manage without the slow until later consider switching the order of Frozen Mallet and Warmog's Armor getting Warmog's Armor first for more tankiness and survivability. Deciding if and when to do that is purely preference. Also if your just DOMINATING the game feel free to get Madred's Bloodrazor as your final item if you just want ridiculous damage. As far as items go, If you have different personal choices for any reason or any suggestions, I would love to hear via feedback. Please try out my build before your complete judgement on it.

Abilities

Warpath - Aside from ignoring unit collision, Hecarim gains AD based on percentage, from the amount of his movement speed, Which is why this guide has a good amount of move speed built in, and recommends picking up the speed buff as a main priority, green buff is useful as well but the speed buff is a double bonus for Hecarim.

Rampage - Rampage is a BIG skill for Hecarim. I recommend to max it first, as well as most people out there. One important feature that I recommend taking advantage of is the fact that with 2 stacks from using it, your CD goes down by half, so having this prepared when you know you are going to be in a fight/team fight, is very useful.

Spirit of Dread - This ability is a very useful survival tool, and is useful for a couple other things as well. For laneing, this ability allows you to stay in the lane for a longer period of time by healing off of minions and champs when its up, and in early game its usefulness is complimented by potions, and has a fairly low CD, Also when you find yourself in a situation when you have an enemy running away with a sliver of health, this ability may just have enough range and damage to take him down if your Devastating Charge isn't up yet, although with the speed on this build, you should be able to get them in range. The other useful benefit to this ability, is for jungling. On this build I usually lane early game for the easy early kills and farming and start clearing out the jungle early-mid game and throughout the end and this ability makes it very easy to do so.

Devastating Charge - This ability is great for several things, One being escaping. If you pop this and Ghost when being ganked, you will run way more than regular speed even with Exhaust on you. Also when chasing down an enemy with low health it is the perfect ability for catching up to them AND delivering the final blow. It can also be useful when a team mate is being chased and you knock the enemy back to save them, assuming your not walking into a death trap, it is only useful that way when they are being chased by 1-2 enemies. With this ability, it has a longer CD (starts at 24 goes down to 16) so try to use it when it counts most. You can also use it for quick travel to maybe defend a turret or get to a team fight faster.

Onslaught of Shadows - His ultimate is a very useful ability. The main part of the ability that demands skill, is using the fear on it correctly. The fear happens not to enemies you hit, but enemies that are near where you land, from the shockwave, And also they run AWAY from your direction so it is key to land in the right spot but close enough to hit them with the fear. Thats why when you aim your ultimate, its like a ball on a slider, dont just point and shoot, make sure to position it correctly so you get the full advantage of your ult. Unless of course you've come into a desperate situation and are using it as an escape tactic. Big uses for this ability are the following..
- It allows you to travel through walls, for either popping through to surprise the enemy team in a gank, or escaping.
- If enemies are turret diving, or trying to fight you on your turret, use it to fear them and walk them into your turret while it is locked on someone.
- If a team fight goes bad you can use it to avoid losing the team fight by fearing them away from your team and escaping.
- If the enemy team is losing the team fight, you can use it to prevent their retreat, and walk them into your teammates.
- It is a great ability for INITIATING a team fight by fearing the champions that your team wants to focus and taking them out before they have a real chance of making a dent in the fight.
- Chasing the last kill down.
- Be creative with it, there are more scenarios with/against specific champions that compliment its usefulness.

Summoner Spells

The 2 summoner spells that I ALWAYS recommend on Hecarim are Ghost and Exhaust and ill tell you why, many people may want flash instead of ghost on Hecarim because hes so fast already but heres why ghost is better, The speed bonus from ghost gives you a VERY nice boost to attack damage when you activate it, so on Hecarim, it is a utility to use for going into a team fight or 1v1/chasing someone down. It makes a BIG difference. When you have 2 Phantom Dancer and boots/speed buff and pop ghost, you will have a BIG damage boost with ghost being by percentage. Exhaust is useful when chasing an enemy down, especially with your speed and Frozen Mallet it is impossible for most enemies to escape you. If you think Frozen Mallet Provides enough slow or if your team mates have Exhaust taken care of, then you could use Flash or Ignite or Heal in place of it depending on your preference and which build variation you are using.

3v3 and 5v5 Jungling

3v3 and 5v5 Warding

1) Green represents the highest priority for warding. Having a ward in these spots at all times will give your team a great advantage.

2) Yellow represents medium priority for warding, having these areas warded is still beneficial, but the green areas need to be warded before these.

3) Red represents lowest priority for warding. Its beneficial to have these areas warded if ganking is a problem, specifically from a jungler, or if you have the higher priority wards already in place.



1)This area prevents incoming gangs from enemy junglers or top lane heroes.

2)This spot works like the first one. Prevents enemy gangs from jungler or bottom lane.

3)This may be one of the critical wards in the game. It keeps dragon safe.

4)This brush is usually warded early on by the support champion or later on by the jungler. It prevents your blue buff from getting killed by the enemy.

5)This location, like the 4th, is warded in order to protect and check on the red buff lizard.

6)This area spots incoming gangs from top or mid and keeps an eye on baron nashor.

7)This ward is a must for the bottom lane. If you don't have dragon ward it can keep you safe as long as you see the enemies coming.

8)Like the 7th ward this one is a must for top lane. Keeps you safe from incoming gangs.

Thanks to HoLyHiraKo and darkgen2 for the 5v5 warding portion.

A couple tips

I wanted to add a couple tips for now as I am working on a very large project to create a guide with video and pictures and a very detailed guide on how to play and what you can do in certain situations. Including things you can try when your team is behind in a game.

- On this build I usually lane for minion spawn after gank, for easy early kills and farming and then start clearing out the jungle early-mid game and through the end which is easy with Spirit of Dread
- You dont need wriggles to jungle on Hecarim, his W is enough after zeal/phage
- ALWAYS get the movement speed buff (This is damage for you!!)
- Remember that Hecarim ignores unit collision, with your movement speed this is very helpful when chasing down retreating enemies and a lot of the time you can charge them towards your team
- You can use your Onslaught of Shadows to separate a retreating enemy from his group, Remember they run away from your direction
- Hecarim isn't extremely mana hungry, so anytime your down a little, remember to use your "W" Spirit of Dread to heal up ANY time you can, and you can use minions to keep your Rampage stacks at 2 so it is a 2 second CD at the beginning of a fight.
- If you are going to help a team mate who is being chased by 1 or 2 champions, remember that you can use Devastating Charge To knock them away or to the side to save your team mate, just dont rush in if its 3 of them or 2 that have an advantage on you.
- Onslaught of Shadows is a great tool for ganking/team fights and when enemies are trying to fight you on your turret, remember that they run AWAY from your direction upon being feared, and also that this ability allows you to go through walls. When your setting up a gank, if you can get a spot where you can hit Onslaught of Shadows through a wall, it can make for a quick and surprising ace.

Results

Here are some of the results of my first set of games on Hecarim using both variations of this build.

I used this game result because it was a loss and with my improved build, I still was able to pull a 19/3/4 regardless of the fact that my team mates were 4/7 and 6/10 and despite the loss. This was a 3v3 with 2 heavy AD champs and 1 AP so I used my 3v3 AD vs AD build. I did this well because Tiamat allowed me to farm a lot faster and clear jungle quick mid-late game and the 2 AD did no damage with my Armor/HP. So it was a matter of taking out a Brand then Olaf + Xin Zhao went down everytime even in a 1v2 sprawl. If my team was doing well it would be an easy win. Also the reason I ended with Thornmail instead of Atma's Impaler was because they werent stacking any armor and my damage was more than sufficient because of that.




Most of these games ended with a surrender.