Hecarim Build Guide by Riealone

* Titanic Hydra:
Colossus bonus AD: Equal to 1% maximum health ⇒ Equal to 2% bonus health
It is a nerf unless our bonus health is higher than our base health. Hecarim base health at lvl 18 is 2110. If we buy Titanic Hydra with my current build - Trinity Force + resist boots + Black Cleaver + Thornmail + Maw of Malmortius + Titanic Hydra + Overgrowth we get 1600 bonus health. Hecarim has a lot of good items which don't give HP - for example Maw of Malmortius, Death's Dance, Gargoyle Stoneplate

Lets compare - pre nerf 2110+1600 = 3710, 1% = 37.1 AD. After nerf - 2% from 1600 = 32 AD. We lose here 5 AD (175 gold)

To make this change a buff we can buy only HP items to make our bonus health higher than base health (2110) - like Divine Sunderer + resist boots + Black Cleaver + Thornmail + Force of Nature + Titanic Hydra + Overgrowth. More mobile tank build. 2000 from items + 150 Overgrowth = 2150, 2% = 43 AD. That is right - before nerf if we had same bonus health - 2110+2150=4260, 1% = 42.6 AD which is less

I guess item still remains a good build closer when you want it more aggressive, even with that slight nerf

* Trinity Force:
1. AD increased from 25 to 30
2. AS lowered from 35% to 30%
3. Mythic passive changed from 10 AS to 3 AD, 3 Ability Haste, 3 MS - 250 gold vs 221 gold. Even though we lose some gold efficiency it is still fine because new stats are more valuable on Hecarim. New passive is definitely better. But I like +5 AD and -5% AS change way more
Conclusion: I think this change will make Trinity Force my default option and Divine Sunderer will be into bruisers-tanks. Less AS on Trinity Force creates an opportunity for me to take Blade of the Ruined King into tanks or Wit's End into AP when needed as highly specialized items. Also I want to test Titanic Hydra as a build closer with Resolve runes

* Stridebreaker:
Health 300 >>> 200 - I don't know, just drop this for sure, it is never worth to build now. Item loses 267 gold efficiency here, which it a lot

* Ravenous Hunter:
Omnivamp lowered from [1% + 1.7% per BH stack] to [0% + 1.5% per BH stack] (9.5% to 7.5% at max stacks) - rune loses 21% of its power. Not only this, but we also lose that initial 1% which is the worst - it is almost the 1 stack. Right now I can't be sure how much will it hurt and would that rune remain the best option, but I have some solutions already for the worst case. Some people would possibly swap to Nimbus Cloak (I don't respect it after those massive nerfs) or Magical Footwear (we literally have nothing to take as second rune here), but I value stats more. So I have 2 experimental secondary runes options which I'm testing right now and it works fine:

1. Conditioning + Overgrowth - RIOT reduce our healing, but we can just compensate it in other way. All items that we buy give us HP and/or resists - that mean we have good synergy with these runes. Those stats are fine in terms of gold efficiency and really valuable for Hecarim
Revitalize mostly for Spirit of Dread is kind of a waste for me, since Conqueror and Divine Sunderer don't heal that much to try to play around and boost it. In my opinion it is better to just get extra 150 HP or 15/15 resists. Also there is a healing reduction, but no HP/resists reduction (armor reduce and penetration doesn't count). Revitalize can be viable with Sterak's Gage + Gargoyle Stoneplate build. On the other hand - both Conditioning and Overgrowth will perfectly synergize with that build as well in addition to raw stats. Conditioning - effective resists for Sterak's Gage health + self boost from Gargoyle Stoneplate. Revitalize - effective health for Gargoyle Stoneplate resists + Sterak's Gage and self boost
Also you stack Overgrowth in the most effective way with maximum profit since Hecarim is a farming jungler

2. Transcendence + Gathering Storm - 10 Ability Haste give you 5% CDR which is just an old Cosmic Insight rune which was really good. If we compare Gathering Storm with Eyeball Collection and Resolve runes that I mentioned above - it becomes better at 30+ minutes. 20+ minutes is kind of comparable, but a bit weaker (14 vs 18 AD with Eyeballs)

Right now I think if Ravenous Hunter will get too bad I will drop it and play with Conditioning + Overgrowth as default and swapping to Transcendence + Gathering Storm into easy matchups or when I want to scale. It will be also fine to swap to Nimbus Cloak, Celerity, Waterwalking, Magical Footwear - I just personally don't like it without saying it's bad

* Black Cleaver:
1. Cost 3300 >>> 3100
2. Health 300 >>> 400 - really good, +267 gold efficiency and HP is one of our main stats to take
3. Dealing physical damage to a champion grants 5 MS per stack of Carve (armor reduction) on them for 2 seconds - sweet, especially for builds that use only Ghost for MS amplifying (for example Divine Sunderer + Sterak's Gage + Gargoyle Stoneplate)
4. Butcher removed - that % missing health damage against enemies with 6 stacks of Carve didn't work good on Hecarim for me. It was about 500 damage in average or so, really not worth most of time. Only into heavy tanks, but normally we try to fight with backline or maximum bruisers. Well, for tanks we have Divine Sunderer
Conclusion: I'm glad to throw away Butcher passive and get more valuable stats for Hecarim, Black Cleaver will become a much better item to build

* Maw of Malmortius:
Cost 3100 >>> 2800
Conclusion: That buff may actually change my mind about this item and I move it from "Questionable items" to "Highly specialized items" into heavy AP matchups as a replacement of Sterak's Gage when I want to build differently. Not in 11.5 patch, but I definitely will test it out when there will be a good opportunity

* Serpent's Fang:
Shield Reaver: Dealing damage to an enemy champion reduces any shields they gain by (50% | 25% for Ranged Champions) for 3 seconds. When you damage an enemy who is unaffected by Shield Reaver, reduce all shields on them by (50% | 25% for Ranged Champions)
Conclusion: Just to a buff to Highly specialized item which I already build to counter shields, good news

* Stridebreaker:
Halting Slash passive - damage lowered from 100% AD to 75%AD, slow lowered from 60% to 40%, dash range increased by 100 units
Conclusion: What is dash range on that passive for Hecarim? Point of this item was about slowing enemies, and slow + damage are getting nerfed. We have Ghost and Devastating Charge to gap close, extra 100 units on dash will not matter. It is a straight up nerf for Stridebreaker on Hecarim, will see if anyone will still play this item next patch

* Udyr:
Health per lever 99 >>> 92, Phoenix Stance total aura damage 50-275 >>> 40-240
Conclusion: maybe this nerf will lower his pick rate and we will be able to ban something else

Hello everyone!
My name is Aleksei, I'm 24 years old. Peak elo - 570lp EUW. Discord Riealone#0070. I live in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Playing League since season 5 and main Hecarim from the same time. Feel free to add me in Discord and ask about anything - will gladly help you

I make educational Hecarim streams with full commentary about what I do and why (with saved Vods, so you can just watch and learn any time if you miss live). Want to teach as many people as I can to play my favorite champion. You can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/riealone

Ok, lets start now! I'm going to share everything I know about this champion

Pros:
1. Hecarim is easy to learn, doesn't have skillshots and has simple mechanics
2. Champion is strong in current meta and overall, especially in elo below D2. If you learn how to play him, some macro and game knowledge - it is for sure a really good way to climb
3. Fun to play
4. Good ganks and teamfights
5. Can snowball hard snowball in early and midgame
6. Engager / Initiator gameplay - you take the game in your hands by making a good call, pick and initiation. Which requires good macro and game knowledge, yes

Cons:
1. Vulnerable to pre-6 invades
2. Kind of falls off in the late game
3. Struggles vs current meta-junglers. You can see it in my mathups section - favorable ones mostly are out of meta

Right now I prefer banning Nidalee, Kindred or Shaco

Trinity Force - default mythic which has everything you need

Divine Sunderer - into beefy enemy champions with a lot of HP

Turbo Chemtank with Phase Rush - you build this mythic, Ionian Boots of Lucidity and then full tank with Dead Man's Plate and Force of Nature. You become an annoying tank like Udyr - running around, tank for teammates, throw low CD Onslaught of Shadows and snowball your lanes in the mid game. The main issue here - this build relies so much on your teammates. You need to understand who, where, when and how to snowball and your teammates need to understand how to use that lead you gave them. There is an option for that build - early Tear of the Goddess, then complete Turbo Chemtank, and then Manamune. Turbo Chemtank gives you a lot of tankiness and allows to build Manamune to compensate your tank mythic choice (with other mythics it is not an option since you have no resists and will just die)
Main rune page is Phase Rush + Nimbus Cloak + Celerity + Waterwalking (maybe Gathering Storm if you want to scale a bit or get extra AD somehow). Secondary page can be Conditioning + Overgrowth or Triumph + Legend: Tenacity/ Legend: Alacrity

Stridebreaker - I am the Spellblade slave and I can't play without Sheen. You can try it, but I don't see how its active AOE slow (which is really nice on ganks) + mythic MS passive can be better than Spellblade from Trinity Force or Divine Sunderer. Because most of the time you will have Mythic + Boots + 2 Legendaries for the whole midgame and then you start building third one when it's getting close to late game. Mythic passives are just too small to make your choice around them: 6-9% MS or 20-30% AS or 10-15% Penetration - all bonuses are good
Stridebreaker active can be used as a gap closer (like Nidalee Pounce, Kindred Dance of Arrows or Graves Quickdraw - keep in might that active's CD might be quite short since it can be reduced by Ability Haste) and an AOE slow to keep enemies within your autos + Rampage DPS range and deal free damage. It's the same what Darius does - he slows you with Crippling Strike or Apprehend and then lands empowered Decimate on you for free. Or when Kha'Zix slowes you with evolved Void Spike to just keep you close and kill. Another example is Mordekaiser Realm of Death to just make sure you cant run from him (of course his ultimate can be used for other purposes, disable a jungler with Smite or peel carries from an assassin for example). All of these strategies have the same idea with Stridebraker's active
Stridebreaker is also worse than Sheen in DPS-oriented fights, mostly 1v1 and 2v2. When enemy do not try to run from you and you just both stay and try to outdamage each other because you can't tell who will win this skirmish. Clearly Sheen will do way more here than 1 active proc from Stridebreaker when you don't need that AOE slow

Lets make a conclusion:

2 main mythics for Hecarim are Trinity Force and Divine Sunderer

Questionable options:
* Turbo Chemtank - utility tank for snowball playstyle. BUT this build is dying - RIOT will not allow people to abuse it on Hecarim who is a bruiser and not a tank. Hope they will nerf Q base damage even more and give higher AD scales to completely kill Turbo Chemtank build which is just not healthy for everyone. 68% ban rate speaks for itself

* Stridebreaker - into mobile and kite comps or jungle matchups. I was sceptical about this item before, but it was fine. Now it got hard nerfed for Hecarim as I said above in "11.5 and 11.6 PATCH ANALYSIS". Looks like just a trash to me

As I said above in patch analysis, I guess it is time for me to play Conqueror with Conditioning + Overgrowth. I don't delete info about previous core build Conqueror + Ravenous Hunter for now, lets see how it goes with Resolve first (looks good, guess I will delete info about old build and items soon)

Conqueror + Ravenous Hunter in my opinion is the best way to play Hecarim right now. Phase Rush is way better than Predator at this moment, but they both got worse than before because of Nimbus Cloak and Warpath nerfs. You still can play them, but personally I don't see in what situation it can be more useful. Only into squishes, but I would still take Conqueror. RIOT changed Hecarim playstyle and kit from some sort of assassin to more bruiser with all these changes and new items. And I take that with pleasure :)

I was testing different builds a lot, and this one is my main and favorite - high damage and sustain bruiser. The key is Conqueror with Ravenous Hunter. The heals that rune provides are just insane. And then we stack it with Sterak's Gage shield, Spirit Visage healing-shielding increase, Triumph, Elixir of Wrath and Death's Dance heals, MS and extra tankiness. Now we can just duel anyone, win any skirmishes and live in teamfight really long while providing insane amount of damage. You can decide what to do in game. Peel your teammates, deal with enemy bruisers and assassins, dive and destroy backline, reduce enemy healings, splitpush - this build is the most flexible as it possible can be and allows you to successfully do actually everything

Aftershock is never an option to be healthier. If you want more tank - you just play Zac, Nunu & Willump, Sejuani or Rammus, because Hecarim is not a tank for sure

Hecarim is an AD melee caster with bruiser-initiator gameplay. So, in general, we need to engage, deal damage, survive the burst, keep living and being useful. Based on this best stats for us are: AD, HP, Armor and MR, Ability Haste. MS is also good, but we simply get more than enough of it from Ghost, so it's not really worth to take items with that stat on purpose (especially after Warpath nerf)

Resolve synergy build with Black Cleaver and then resists - we lost some base damage on Rampage, that's why I want to build 2 AD items and support Resolve runes with a lot of HP, resists and Ability Haste. The idea here is simple - maximum value and synergy with runes and items. Early MS, Ability Haste, HP and AD >>> then we close it out with resists >>> and then just more tank

Be careful building shield items ( Gargoyle Stoneplate and Sterak's Gage) into assassins - they can simply counter you with cheap Serpent's Fang

Right now most of the time I build Mythic + resists boots + Black Cleaver >>> resists items + anti-heal when needed (normally I choose Thornmail into AD/heals, Maw of Malmortius into AP, Gargoyle Stoneplate into mixed damage) >>> more HP, AD, resists and utility

Outdated info about my previous build Death's Dance + Spirit Visage + Sterak's Gage, thinking about deleting it soon since I don't think I will play it ever again:

My previous build which still works good - Death's Dance + Spirit Visage + Sterak's Gage (with adding anti-heal somewhere here when you need it). Death's Dance as first item is good into 3 AD champs in enemy team. Sterak's Gage as first legendary item against well mixed AD and AP damage or into AP-heavy teams with Mercury's Treads. Mixed damage in enemy team - for example, Elise jungle and 2-3 AD laners - Sterak's Gage suits well here when you need to protect yourself from both AD and AP damage. Another way to protect yourself from mixed damage (doesn't matter what legendary item you buy first) - buying resist components Cloth Armor and Null-Magic Mantle. They provide you some cheap resists which stack pretty well with 400 HP from Divine Sunderer. Spirit Visage as first legendary item into AP-heavy - I don't know, Sterak's Gage + Null-Magic Mantle feels stronger. Also you can buy Gargoyle Stoneplate as second legendary item and later whenever you want, it suits Hecarim really good

So we have 2 main perfectly balanced builds:
1. Sterak's Gage + Death's Dance + Spirit Visage + anti-heal if needed - insane synergy (damage, HP, resists, MS, shield, sustain, Ability Haste) - all you need
2. Black Cleaver + Gargoyle Stoneplate + anti-heal if needed - more tank variation. You also get damage, HP, resists, shield and a lot of Ability Haste

IMPORTANT!
You should not build Death's Dance/ Spirit Visage into literally pure full AP/AD enemy team comps, even though these items is your core build. Stack Armor or MR with Sterak's Gage when these comps happen and just get your free win. Builds for example:
* Full AD - Trinity Force/ Divine Sunderer > Plated Steelcaps > Bramble Vest (sometimes it's worth to complete Thornmail instantly) + Sterak's Gage + Death's Dance > other items with Armor / HP / Damage
* Full AP - Trinity Force/ Divine Sunderer > Mercury's Treads > Sterak's Gage + Spirit Visage > other items with MR / HP / Damage

About defense options:
* Black Cleaver - I think right now this is a core item that just wins straight up against Sterak's Gage. For me it is way better to sacrifice shield for extra Ability Haste and MS. Armor reduction is always good, even into full squishy enemy team

* Sterak's Gage got multiple nerfs, so buffed Black Cleaver is better as default now. Sterak's Gage now moved to 4-6 item position as a good defensive build closer

* Titanic Hydra - when you need HP and AD. This item is a more aggressive replacement of Sterak's Gage. I think Titanic Hydra can be a good build closer as 5th or 6th item in Resolve synergy builds like Black Cleaver + Gargoyle Stoneplate + Titanic Hydra

* Gargoyle Stoneplate - Ability Haste, shield and +60/60 resists. Always good to take

* Randuin's Omen - works really good into crits

* Maw of Malmortius - main MR item for me at this moment. It is really good just because of -300g buff to its price

* Death's Dance - aggressive Armor item with extra sustain and MS

* Spirit Visage doesn't boost Ravenous Hunter anymore, Conqueror and Triumph are irrelevant. Building this item just for Spirit of Dread is definitely not worth. Also there is a lot of anti-heal in current meta, so I threw away healing oriented builds and started playing HP-resists-damage bruiser ones. But this item can still be viable into heavy AP enemy setups, no anti-heal or when you have healing support

* Force of Nature - good situational defensive MR option with extra MS

* Dead Man's Plate - good situational defensive Armor option with extra MS

When to build highly specialized items:
* Silvermere Dawn - into HEAVY CC setups and against Mordekaiser or Malzahar

* Serpent's Fang - mostly into double support botlane who just have limitless shields ( Lux, Seraphine, Sona, Lulu, Janna). Or when enemy has Ivern jungle and shielding support, why not

* Wit's End - more aggressive MR option than Maw of Malmortius which works fine and can be built when there is a good opportunity

* Blade of the Ruined King - good situational item into really beefy enemy comps. With Trinity Force it gives you %HP damage, and with Divine Sunderer - even more of that when mythic itself is not enough

* Serylda's Grudge - the ideal scenario for this item is mobile enemy comp with Armor. Lets just compare it with Black Cleaver - AOE slow vs HP, MS and armor reduction for your team. I think this item is just a second option for Hecarim to deal with armor and it possibly can shine in some situations. But right now Black Cleaver is just superior as early legendary, when Serylda's Grudge is more like for mid-late game option - HP is the only and biggest matter here. If you play as full AD team it is viable to build Divine Sunderer + Black Cleaver + Serylda's Grudge and finish it with some resists

All these items have sweet and useful stats for you, so now it's way easier and more rewarding to build them than before (yes, old Mercurial Scimitar, I'm looking at you)

P.S. Also you can just mix items from the guide beginning however you want - it will work good anyway. Maybe you will find another secret build like Black Cleaver + Gargoyle Stoneplate :)

Questionable items:
* Ravenous Hydra - in theory fun item to buy when you are ahead or when enemy team doesn't build anti-heal (they always do). But it makes you really squishy. With this item you need to deal damage to survive and pray that enemy team won't build anti-heal. For example when you buy Sterak's Gage - you just become straight up more tanky by default

As you can see there is just a grief to build healing items now - anti-heal is just way too effective at this moment. Death's Dance doesn't count - I use this item for MS passive mostly

* Guardian Angel - good item for carry champions like marksmans, Kha'Zix, Jayce and something like this. But for Hecarim who benefits hard from tank items I would just go for Gargoyle Stoneplate or items which give both HP and resists - my point here is to survive as long as you can to use stacked Conqueror instead of waiting 4 seconds for revival. But it is just my gameplay preference, Guardian Angel is a fine item to build if you like and have success with it

You can copy my items set which I use and paste it in League client "Items" section. It's just an ascetic and comfortable for me to use version of items from this guide:

1. Legend: Tenacity is always good. Legend: Alacrity is for really no CC games or for people who need some extra DPS and can dodge most of CC (mostly for advanced players). It just makes you more vulnerable to mistakes. I go Alacrity when enemy team doesn't have a lot of CC. For beginners I would recommend to go Tenacity and then try Alacrity when you are more confident with Hecarim. I have Alacrity in my rune page by default and then I change it to Tenacity when needed. Also Alacrity helps to get some attack speed when we build Divine Sunderer

2. Hecarim has 2 best boots options - Plated Steelcaps and Mercury's Treads. Choice here is always in defensive stats which he needs really hard - never buy Mercury's Treads for only extra tenacity since you can just take it with Legend: Tenacity

There is a pattern about boots and tenacity:
Look at enemy team and decide which type of damage will be dominant - physical or magical

*If enemy has mostly physical damage and none/a bit cc - go Plated Steelcaps + Legend: Alacrity
*If enemy has mostly physical damage and medium/huge amount of cc - go Plated Steelcaps + Legend: Tenacity
For example Morgana support doesn't count as huge amount of magical damage

*If enemy has mostly magical damage and none/a bit cc - go Legend: Alacrity + Mercury's Treads
*If enemy has mostly magical damage and medium/huge amount of cc - go Legend: Tenacity + Mercury's Treads. This is the only situation when you can take both tenacities

As you can see, boots in ALL your games should be use ONLY for resists. CC problem is for Legend: Tenacity rune. You might ask what to do if enemy team is mostly AD and has a lot of CC (only 30% from Legend: Tenacity rune will not be enough) - NEVER go Mercury's Treads in this situation only for extra tenacity (you get 51% with both rune + boots - not 60% as you could think, it doesn't stack well). You will just suffer. Only way here is learning and practicing how to dodge enemy CC spells

Few words about Tenacity and Slow Resistance:
*Slow resist decreases slow effectiveness
*Tenacity decreases slow duration
*For example you are slowed by 50% for 10 seconds
*30% tenacity gives 50% slow for 7 seconds
*30% slow resist gives 35% slow for 10 seconds

So this is why you shouldn't buy Boots of Swiftness as slows counter with 25% Slow Resist - Mercury's Treads with 30% Tenacity give you the same effect but in a different way. And 25 MR + 5% more Tenacity is obviously better for Hecarim than extra 15 MS and 200g cheaper. Even vs Zilean going Mercs is more worth - he can easily stun you with Time Bomb, and Swifties would be useless here. But I think (in theory) these boots can be viable sometimes into heavy slows or when you have exact money for that buy or some good early combo (for example when you have 1300g on second back and Boots + Long Sword in inventory you can go for early game ganking combo of Boots of Swiftness + Sheen, something like this). Although I wouldn't do it - my way is just buying resist boots

Ionian Boots of Lucidity is another questionable option. They give you 20 Ability Haste which is huge, but we can get enough of it with other items. I guess (in theory) it can be a viable option when you take first legendary item without Ability Haste (for example Thornmail) if you can afford yourself to sacrifice defensive stats for early Ability Haste aggression since mythic alone doesn't provide enough of it. Is it worth to do that or no - that's another good question. Not for me at least - Thornmail is the only one first legendary item with no Ability Haste that I buy sometimes when it's needed

3. I prefer Coup de Grace, in my games Last Stand will always deal less damage because of my playstyle. But I still would recommend you to test both and check in match history which one dealt more damage overall, this may vary from player to player

4. Triumph is the only option. Presence of Mind is just worse since we got buffed mana per level and mana restoration in jungle/river. Triumph just makes you live longer and provides insane outplay potential. That rune won so many skirmishes and whole games for me

5. Eyeball Collection is a bit better than Sudden Impact in my opinion and for my own gameplay. Eyeball gives you permanent power for clearing camps and fights, when Sudden Impact is better only in early game. I've tested Sudden Impact a lot and it just feels weaker overall for me. I sacrifice some power that Sudden Impact provides you in early game for extra 18 AD. For me and my playstyle it's better. I don't recommend you to take Zombie Ward for extra vision because you need to farm mostly and not play around river like other ganking junglers ( Elise and Kindred for example). I believe Eyeball Collection is the most consistent and reliable option for Hecarim

But a lot of people is going Sudden Impact for extra power since the game beginning, so I believe it's a personal preference. Play with both and decide for yourself what do you prefer more - early or mid/late power

6. What to take? Ghost vs Ignite and Red vs Blue smite?

At first, please always go Ghost, it has received 2 big buffs. Like literally in 100% of your games (since we don't buy Dead Man's Plate in this build as core item anymore) and you can buy Executioner's Calling right after completing Divine Sunderer/ Trinity Force

Ignite WAS a possible option earlier. If you need more power in early / early midgame (when we had Nimbus Cloak before nerfs and not buffed Ghost), but later on it falls off really hard in compare to Ghost. Right now Ignite is just dead for Conqueror Hecarim because you will never go Nimbus Cloak in its current state. Even with Phase Rush it is better to take Ghost now
Before nerfs Ignite also could help you really much in hard early game matchups (especially against healing champions like Xin Zhao, Rengar, Olaf and Trundle)
And one more thing - Flash is never an option

Blue and Red smite are both viable and good in specific matchups. You should buy Red smite vs hard dueling, healing and invading enemy junglers to just match them. If you want to catch Kindred, Graves or Nidalee you go Blue smite (and if enemy team has a lot of ranged champions), for dueling Xin Zhao you go Red smite. Red smite is also good into champs like Irelia, Yasuo, Jax and other melee bruiser. Also it helps with assassins by lowering their damage - Kha'Zix, Talon, Zed etc. Think about what will be better into current enemy setup

7. Elixir of Wrath I believe is the best option for Hecarim. Extra AD and healing is so good for you to get in the late game. Elixir of Iron is a good alternative when you need some extra HP

8. In small runes you go AS, AD and Armor (last small rune can be changed with scaling health or MR into AP-heavy enemy setups). +10% AS is more gold efficient, a bit stronger in early game (better clear and stronger skirmishes) and allows you to stack Conqueror faster. +6 AD makes Rampage to deal +4 more damage and it's really good since we spam Q so hard. I believe AS is better. Especially when we go Divine Sunderer it is must have
Right now when I take Legend: Alacrity I go AD + AD runes, and for Legend: Tenacity it is AS + AD - the idea here is to average the values

9. Executioner's Calling vs Bramble Vest. The 35 armor stats that Bramble Vest provides are straight up better than 15 AD from Executioner's Calling. But it is also hard to use against not autoattack based champions - for example Fiddlesticks or Vladimir just will not autoattack you. Bramble Vest is good when you need to lower enemy autoattackers healing and into AD heavy enemy setups. And again - enemy marksmans can just focus your teammates instead of you, the 150 armor 3000 HP bruiser. Executioner's Calling provides you with way easier and ultimate Grievous Wounds application - you decide who will not heal. And of course you need to upgrade these items into Chempunk Chainsword or Thornmail, they provide useful stats for Hecarim and mythic passive

10. I've heard that some gaming apps recommend you to build Trinity Force and Divine Sunderer in a weird order - for example Phage > Sheen
Remember! You always want to look for Sheen + Boots early for massive damage and clearing speed boost

The main rule - ALWAYS look where enemy jungler starts, track him over all game and give that info to your team. Doesn't matter if it's an easy or hard matchup - doing that is your key to victory

You can start both Blue or Red Buffs. The choice here depends on game setups - you want to gank specific lane, countergank, avoid enemy jungler, loop your camps for further pathings etc. Clear speed is the same, so you just choose where to start every game and where you want to be after clear. From my experience starting Blue Buff is a safer option (especially with QWQ clear), because enemy do lvl 1 cheese mostly on your Red Buff, and then enemy junglers more often invade you lvl 3 at your Blue Buff - in both cases when you start from Red Buff

You need to think in every game which pathing will be better in current situation. For example, you take 3 camps - Red Buff > Krugs > Raptors , then meet enemy Kindred on your Blue Buff. This should NEVER happen, because you completely lose your early game here. You can't fight a strong early game jungler with 2 Buffs when you have only 1 Buff

You should determine your route by keeping in mind lot of things - who you want to gank, jungle and lane matchups, prios, your game plan etc. Now I want to share with you some my analytics and thoughts about smart moving in jungle in different scenarios:

Fullclear in easy matchups
Red Buff full clear - used to be the best option, now it's even with Blue Buff full clear. Best time to do this route is when you are against farming or tank junglers - in other words champions who normally don't invade. Buff > Krugs / Gromp > Raptors + Greater Murk Wolf > Buff > Gromp / Krugs > gank / countergank / duel enemy jungler / Rift Scuttler > back. The best option is fullclear 6 camps before Rift Scuttler spawns at 3.15 with leveling Q again at level 3 (starting E lvl 3 is a safer option against strong early game junglers, but it takes a bit longer to clear). But be careful of enemy jungler invade and keep in mind the matchups. Then you should be on Krugs around 4.00 after base. Farm them, then gank somewhere or do the same clear again to get lvl 6

3 and 4 camps clears in hard matchups
If you play vs lvl 3 invading junglers ( Elise, Lee Sin, Olaf, Trundle, Rek'Sai, Kindred, Rengar, Graves etc) and/or when enemy laners have massive prio ( Talon vs Kassadin, Teemo vs Nasus) you should be really careful!!! In this situation you can't just do regular Krugs clear (and especially you can't take Q again at lvl 3). You should do this:

You clear 2 Buffs and 1-2 camps to get lvl 3 and then play situationally (another camp, gank, countergank, invade or something else). This option is the safest one. Normally you start Buff > Greater Murk Wolf + Raptors > Buff (sometimes vs aggro lvl 2 junglers like Lee Sin you can do Buff > 1st small camp > Buff > 2nd small camp or even Buff > Buff > 1 big / 2 small camps, depends on where you want to be and meet/not meet enemy jungler). Keep in mind that Gromp is the hardest camp for you. And now you can fight enemy jungler, take your other camps or counterjungle enemy (for example Raptors against Warwick), gank, countergank or something else situationally. Doesn't matter which Buff to start in terms of clear speed, it's about where you want to be at lvl 3. In this route we can choose what to clear with 2 Buffs - 1 big camp ( Gromp or Krugs ) or 2 small camps ( Raptors and Greater Murk Wolf ). Clearing 1 big camp is good when you expect lvl 2 Buff steal from you enemy, because you will get lvl 3 off 3 camps when you vertical jungling (your Buff, big camp, then when you see enemy invade you invade by yourself and steal his buff). Clearing 2 small camps is a bit faster, healthy, brings you more gold, but it's harder to vertical jungling, because you either need to steal 2 enemy camps or soak some lane xp to get lvl 3

You always need to flexible with your movements on map - when you should continue farming, gank, countergank, base, invade enemy jungler or fight him in your jungle. Always think about macro things - will enemy jungler invade you or not, his clear speed and paths, your lanes matchups and prios (especially when you are going to chase enemy jungler with Ghost). If, for example, enemy has Talon or LeBlanc vs your Kassadin, Draven, Kalista, Camille - you really need to think twice, because it turns up too risky to make some cheesy plays

About lvl 3 ganks. For your first clear you can lvl 3 gank a side lane where you started clearing. Red Buff > Raptors > Krugs > gank (also works with Blue Buff > Gromp > Greater Murk Wolf ). But be ready to lose you blue side jungle for that move. It's a dangerous strategy. After that, if you didn't kill enemy laners, they can prevent you from going vertical jungling. Or enemy jungler can just do Red Buff > your Blue Buff > his Blue Buff with help of enemy laners. And you just simply lose here. Safe option here is ganking midlane after 3 camps and then rotate to your other side camps and Rift Scuttler . Also another safe option is lvl 3 ganking lanes with 4 camps clear, because enemy will not be able to steal your camps

5 camps clear - something in between
Default clear when you skip Gromp or Krugs and get lvl 4 after killing Rift Scuttler . This path can be a next step in 4 camps clear route or a semi-farm-ganking route - when you are not really sure what do you want to do and where to gank around Rift Scuttler . Neutral risks, xp, gold, ganks - just an average route

Useful jungle tricks
You also need to ask your midlaner to cover you (or just be aware) from lvl 1 Red Buff invade (especially when enemy team has Galio with his Flash + Nimbus Cloak combo, Pantheon, Blitzcrank etc) if you start it and ward bushes (tribush, near river and Raptors / pixel brush on river). Just always be aware of that, tell your team and try to not miss your smite. Sometimes you should just leave it. Or vertically invade by yourself. Or start your other buff and then do something. Anyway, this cheese strategy is really hard to counter and I hope it will die really soon like funneling. I see only 1 good counter here - look at matchups and start opposite Buff. If enemy has Darius and Rengar - start botlane Buff with possible vertical jungling later, because they will lvl 1 invade you 100% on top. And if enemy bot has Kalista, Thresh and Graves - start topside Buff. Pattern is simple

If you play against lvl 2 dash junglers like Nidalee, Kindred, Graves and others (but dash is not necessary, sometimes people do that on any jungler and you can't really anticipate this, only warding pixel brush in river vs no dash junglers and warding opposite the Rift Herald and Dragon vs dash junglers will help) be aware of:
1. Their lvl 2 cheese (they take their Red Buff and cheese you on your Gromp if you take it right after Blue Buff). To counter it obviously just skip Gromp and do 4-5 camps clear or start other side and go for vertical jungling. 4-5 camps clear here can be for example Blue Buff > Greater Murk Wolf > Raptors > Red Buff > Krugs or Blue Buff > Greater Murk Wolf > Krugs > Red Buff > Raptors
2. Their lvl 2 Buff steal. You should ward it and go for vertical jungling if they come to steal it. To prevent this you need to do ward trick in ALL your games, because even no-dash junglers can and will lvl 2 steal your other Buff. At the start of the game go to you opposite Buff, start backing at 0:55 and place a ward into Buff bush at the last second or place it in river where they dash over wall (around Rift Herald and Dragon pits). Then buy Oracle Lens and it will be ready to use. This secures you from counter jungling and helps to clear enemy wards. Against no-dash junglers it's better to ward pixel brush on river or other possible entrances to your Buff. Keep in mind that enemy jungler can assume that and go long no vision way, but it's really high elo mind games which almost never happen
Also you can start your clear from enemy jungle Buff, but be even more aware about enemy laners, their covers and wards

About Dragon . You need to try to play around botlane and take every single dragon. But it's always situational. If your bot is hard losing, you should just give up first and second drakes, go gank mid/top and take Rift Herald (maybe even 2 times). Or you can try to help your losing lane, get shutdown gold and comeback. It is up to you and your game knowledge

A bit outdated videos, but idea is the same, I will make new ones later when I master the kiting again after long break from League. You can aggro Gromp with Smite or Spirit of Dread and do it together with Blue Buff at the same time

Recent update for first clearing - if you do 6 camps QWQ clear starting from Blue Buff you can:
1. Do leashless at 3.14, smite Gromp and Krugs
2. With leash you can smite only Gromp , save it on Krugs , finish around 3.15 and fight for Rift Scuttler with lvl 4 advantage and Smite up

Leashless 6 camps QWQ clear starting from Red Buff I finished at 3.13 with Legend: Alacrity and AD + AD small runes. Smite Red Buff and Gromp or Blue Buff
Play Video Play Video

Use your Rampage in the midair of Devastating Charge animation, because your damage scales with movement speed. But sometimes you should Q without jumping (but with E activated). For some reasons - kite enemy around, or cast Q two times and then jump (Q + midair Q) so he cant escape double Q and you finish him with one shot, or when you want to run behind him or change direction

Don't cast Rampage in midair of your autoattack animation - auto will be a bit cancelled because Q can't hit at the same time with autoattack, and you lose some DPS. The best way is to cast Q right after your autoattack deals damage or right before your autoattack. But not in midair. Hecarim Rampage doesn't work like Zed Shadow Slash and Skarner Crystal Slash which you can just spam non-stop without any cancels - they can hit spell and autoattack at the same time. That doesn't mean much or give you some big advantage, but sometimes that small DPS amount can matter in close fights. Just try to not spam Q thoughtlessly. You will get used to it fast, it's really not hard

Use your Spirit of Dread properly. Don't waste it at the start of combat. It's worth to instacast it for 2 Conqueror stacks when you gank 2v1 top and you are not going to die, but you need to ALWAYS keep it in head and use W for the most profit in teamfights

Advanced trick with Spirit of Dread. Sometimes it's better to wait until you have full stacked Conqueror, because it gives you extra AD -> you deal more DPS, so your W will heal more. That requires a lot of knowledge about how much damage you will deal/take with current items, matchups and game situations (can you afford yourself to hold W or you need to cast it earlier to start healing and get 2 Conqueror stacks). It will come with experience, start training that trick from time to time. It can for sure win you a lot of fights which you would lose normally (especially 1v1 and 2v2 in early/mid game). Also it's not a good idea to press Q and then W - you just miss healing. Should always be W > Q (if possible of course), keep that in mind also

Try to bait enemy's Flash with your Devastating Charge. So don't cast it from the far away. If you can't outrun it, better dash in the direction where enemy is gonna flash to follow him with the leap animation instead of knocking him away. Sometimes you even can not activate it at all and just walk up ( Ghost helps). Or activate it when enemy notices you and starts to run. You try to move behind him and knock back to your teammate. Even if he flashes away it's worth and you have done all you could
And when you are already in melee range hold your Devastating Charge and wait when enemy tries to escape with flash. For example when you sit in bush and enemy just walks into you - start damaging him with autos and Rampage, then use your E when he flashes out and get a free kill. Which is not possible if you waste your E in the beginning of fight, CD is too long
You can interrupt abilities like Tristana Rocket Jump, Rek'Sai Tunnel, Bard Magical Journey and Zac Elastic Slingshot with your E
You can use E as auto reset when you need to do it in close fights for instant burst. That works exactly like Camille Precision Protocol and Trundle Chomp

Your Onslaught of Shadows gives you displacement immunity - including Realm of Death and The Show Stopper, suspension, knockdown, airborne, sleep and stasis. The effects of other types of crowd control and Fate's Call are deferred until the unit is no longer unstoppable, where their remaining duration may still affect them.
Sometimes it's really good to keep your ult and use it to dodge some СС. Great example - you duel Yasuo and he gets 2 stacks of his Steel Tempest on you. When he presses his Q again you just use your ult to not let him use his ultimate. Your ult can be used almost like Fiora Riposte to dodge enemy CC, but you take damage. Same idea
Also aim you ult behind enemy to fear them back. Advanced trick - R more behind to counter their flash. Enemy flashes - still dead
You can ult through Azir Emperor's Divide when he casts it and when there is a wall already
If you use your Onslaught of Shadows during Mordekaiser Realm of Death animation, you will not be send into his realm and Realm of Death goes on CD. Also works with Sett The Show Stopper - he will just fly away without you
Also you can dodge sleep from Zoe Sleepy Trouble Bubble by pressing your Onslaught of Shadows after bubble already hit you. Same with Lillia Lilting Lullaby - simply doesn't work on you
You can also dodge Syndra Scatter the Weak and many other champions with their CC abilities
During R animation it is still possible to use Q, W, E and Smite. Really useful in some cases - for example you can cast R over enemy to just fly further (to another enemy champion or any other purpose) and kill him only with Q + R damage if you calculated it right

Advanced trick with Onslaught of Shadows and Devastating Charge combo. Your ultimate allows you to knock enemy with E even when you are stunned in R animation if enemy is in range of your E where you end your ultimate. Let me explain. You use your E, then R behind Twisted Fate and he uses his Yellow Card on you when you are flying in your ult. You get stunned, but if you right click on him right after ending your R - he will be knocked back with E even if you are stunned. Works with some other champions too. For example Cassiopeia Petrifying Gaze

There is another trick. Sometimes you want to use your Onslaught of Shadows right after you jump on enemy with Devastating Charge. R here is only for extra burst damage and/or CC immune. Your R is unavoidable this way - enemy gets CC'ed by your E

You can steal Baron Nashor and Dragon with your Devastating Charge, Onslaught of Shadows and Smite combo. You deal really big damage and can save the game if you are a bit lucky and time smite perfectly

One more thing about your Onslaught of Shadows and Devastating Charge combo. When you press E and then R behind enemy you can actually change direction of your E knockback by just moving around enemy while he is feared with your E activated to deliver enemy into your teammates

You can disturb enemies when they cast their key abilities with your Devastating Charge (and with your Onslaught of Shadows when it's worth to waste). For example Malzahar Nether Grasp, Ornn second part of Call of the Forge God, Karthus Requiem and other abilities. Also you can jump over walls with your E targeting creeps, neutral monsters, enemy champions and wards

The most important! Be a shotcaller!
Always talk to your team about your plan, what you want to do, where you will gank, when they should back, go side, track enemy jungler, everything. Be a leader in your team. Hecarim rewards that insanely

For example:
"care enemy jungler top, im bot"
"top you alone, just farm, I go take drake"
"lets get soul and baron right after, they cant contest"
"wait me red and gank bot"
And everything like this. If you have a decent score and your previous info/shotcalls were successful, your team will listen to you. That will actually help you to win more games

In general you need to farm up, take some kills, objectives and then kill 2-3 enemy players with a good engage. Repeat until you win. Lets consider in more detail:

Early game
Your goal here is getting Trinity Force/ Divine Sunderer. Focus on farm and ganking when it's free. Like this - farm, track enemy jungler, gank/countergank with Onslaught of Shadows or Ghost and try to take Dragon and Rift Herald . Then farm again while your R and Ghost are on cooldown. It is just a main pattern, I don't mean afk farming. It is always situational. Look at map and be smart!

Mid game
Only difference with early game - people start grouping. Engage with your Onslaught of Shadows to get a free pick or land it on 2-3 enemy players. Take objectives and back to farm

Late-mid/late game
This is your time to shine! All you have to do - track all 5 enemies using minimap and make a great shotcall pick with your Onslaught of Shadows and Ghost. All what we have done before was for this moment (getting yourself and your team stronger, taking Dragons, Heralds and Towers). Every good initiation from you now makes victory closer (with dead enemies you take Baron Nashor , Elder Dragon , Inhibitors and, eventually, Nexus). At this time of game making it 5v4 is your key to victory. You should also look for a good initiation on 1, 2, 3, 4 or even 5 enemies. Whenever they make a positioning mistake you catch them and win off that

The common thing for every state of the game - Hecarim is a flexible champion. You can engage and peel you carries really effectively. Here is just a one thing to mention - please hold your Spirit of Dread (we discussed it earlier) and Onslaught of Shadows. This ultimate is one of the most powerful in the game. If you can reach enemy with only your Devastating Charge - hold it. Wait for the perfect moment to use it. For example, when 3+ enemies can be hit, when they focus you or your allies really hard (to save a life), when all your allies dealing damage to enemy, when you engage on carry with Devastating Charge and he flashes out and more more possible scenarios. That's what defines a good Hecarim player - smart management of your abilities, macro and game knowledge

There are three things you HAVE TO do if you want to be a good player:

1. Use Target champions only as toggle. Everything is simple here - stops you from autoing creeps and towers. Also when you gank and use Devastating Charge on minion, attack tower on dives. I have it binded on ` key and on my mouse side button

2. Use Attack move on cursor. For me it's Shift + Rightclick. Saves you some milliseconds even with camps farming, when you entering a bush you autoattack enemy instantly, when enemy uses Zhonya's Hourglass or goes out of invis like Kha'Zix for example, when you stop enemy jumps with your Devastating Charge, when you move instead of attacking enemy and a lot more other situations. Just keep in mind that Attack move on cursor DOESN'T work with Target champions only - you still will autoattack creeps and towers. So use it cleverly

3. Always check minimap with peripheral vision. Every few seconds. And also disable minimap movements

4. I disabled the minimap movements to no click on it accidentally in fights

These 4 simple steps will make you play on a different level. Will be hard to get used to it, but it's absolutely worth

Hope my guide helped you to learn more about Hecarim. You can ask me ANY questions about this champion or anything else on my stream https://www.twitch.tv/riealone or in Discord Riealone#0070. Will be glad to help you! If you have a feedback about this guide (what can I add, change, edit) - leave a feedback here in comments

Also we have a Hecarim mains server in Discord where I'm coach. We chat and discuss Heca things and more. You can join it here: https://discord.gg/a3CDunF

Thanks for reading, have a nice day and good luck in League! :)