Hecarim Build Guide by Zarthalian
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Starting
Armor Options
Ability Sequence
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Not Updated For Current Season
The masteries shown here are not yet updated for the current season, the guide author needs to set up the new masteries. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Lore and Introduction
"Since his first sighting on the northwestern shores of Valoran, the towering, armored specter known as Hecarim struck a chilling fear into the hearts of all who laid eyes upon him. No one had ever seen anything like his titanic, ethereal form before, and the mystery of his sudden arrival was deeply unnerving. When Hecarim began to march eastwards, leaving a trail of desolate, lifeless ground behind him, the villagers of the plains fled their homes for the safety of nearby Demacia. In the city's now-overcrowded taverns, rumors about this inhuman phantom spread in hushed whispers. Some claimed that he was the vengeful shade of an ancient warrior, intent on destroying all living beings; one man insisted that they had seen him leading an entire legion of spectral cavalrymen; others still believed him to be the creation of some hateful necromancer. One Demacian commander, seeking to dispel the terror that had gripped the city, assembled a few of his finest soldiers and rode out to turn back or destroy Hecarim.
The commander led his soldiers to stand in Hecarim's path and braced for his assault. As the apparition bore down on them, an overwhelming sensation of dread gripped the warriors. The men, frozen in fear, could only scream as the ghostly titan ran them down, tearing them apart and trampling them beneath his iron hooves. Hecarim turned to the crippled, cowering commander and uttered a chilling statement: "This is merely the beginning. No mortal army can withstand the might of the Shadow Isles." With that, Hecarim departed, resuming his grim march. Driven to insanity by his nightmarish experience, the commander stumbled back to Demacia, where his dire warnings were dismissed as the ravings of a madman. While Hecarim's origin and intent were still a mystery, his destination became clear when he reached the Institute of War and, in a voice both ominous and commanding, demanded entry into the League of Legends."
Hecarim is a tank jungler with great initiation and damage. He scales amazingly into late game and can easily carry teams to victory. In teamfights he is an absolute monster, dishing out tons of AoE damage and healing off any damage he takes. Even after the nerfs, Hecarim is still an amazing jungler that provides a lot to a team. He's currently my favorite champion because after playing many games I still enjoy playing him due to how much he can impact any game.
Why you should play Hecarim (Pros and Cons)
| PROS | CONS |
| Pretty good clear Has sustain Deals good damage with few damage items Amazing initiation Great late game Extremely hard to kill in teamfights Great mobility Easy Baron steals Has CC |
Weak early Melee Easy to shut down early Needs a lot of farm Mana intensive if you spam Q First clear can be bad Slows will reduce his damage, but not by much AD ratios aren't good |
Runes
The runes you'll be using for most of your games
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Seal of Armor 9 |
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist 9 |
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed 3 |
Greater Mark of Lethality 9 |
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Greater Mark of Armor Penetration - Due to Hecarim's low AD scalings, I have realized that armor pen runes are actually the better choice. You'll be doing more damage with these, especially in the late game.
Greater Seal of Armor - These give you the durability you need to survive the jungle, they also give you a slight edge in tanking vs. any physical damage. Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - These glyphs give you magic resist (duh) for tanking magic damage, which you'll probably be doing sooner or later. You could either take flat or scaling. Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - Since movespeed is practically what Hecarim is known for (outside of insane self heals and pro initiation), you should get these. If you're starved for IP, you can get armor pen or attack damage.
Masteries
These are the masteries you will be using for most of your games.
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1/5
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3/1
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4/1
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1/1
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1/5
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4/1
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2/1
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2/1
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1/5
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2/1
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1/1
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1/5
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3/1
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2/1
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1/
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1/
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You can do something like 0/21/9, 0/9/21, 21/9, etc, but it depends on the situation. For the purpose of the guide, I recommend these masteries. I have tried other setups, but for me they were all undesirable due to lack of early damage or lack of early defense.
Summoner Spells
OPTIONS
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This may look like a lot to choose from, but the choices are pretty clear. You're going to definitely want Smite so you can secure jungle objectives, so that only leave you one thing left. Typically, this will be Ghost which is great with Devastating Charge for chasing or fleeing, but there are other spells you might want to consider.
Exhaust will help your ganks out a ton. If there are a lot of high damage people on the enemy team, you could take this.
Ignite will help you secure kills, or its something to take if you're playing top lane Hecarim.
Teleport can help you come in from surprise locations, and if you have homeguard, the result can be hilarious. A spell to consider for top lane or jungle Hecarim.
Smite so you can secure jungle objectives, so that only leave you one thing left. Typically, this will be Ghost which is great with Devastating Charge for chasing or fleeing, but there are other spells you might want to consider. Exhaust will help your ganks out a ton. If there are a lot of high damage people on the enemy team, you could take this. Ignite will help you secure kills, or its something to take if you're playing top lane Hecarim. Teleport can help you come in from surprise locations, and if you have homeguard, the result can be hilarious. A spell to consider for top lane or jungle Hecarim.
Skill Explanation and Skill Sequence
WARPATH
Hecarim's passive. It gives you a little bit of AD from your items and potential movespeed runes and masteries. This passive is not worth building around (unless you're trolling), as the AD you will get from it after you have your "OP Movespeed build" will be barely noticable. It's not the best passive in the world, but it is still good because it allows you to ignore unit collision and gain a little bit more AD during Devastating Charge. RAMPAGE
Hecarim's main damaging ability. This is what gives Hecarim a lot of his AoE damage, and this is also what makes 
Iceborn Gauntlet an amazing item, as it allows you to activate it very frequently. During your early jungle clears and some team fights, you should be cautious about the overuse of this ability. While the mana cost is low, the low CD can trick you into spamming it, which will eat away all of your mana pool. I recommend maxing this ability first for its damage output. SPIRIT OF DREAD
Hecarim's sustain ability. This makes Hecarim extremely hard to kill in teamfights depending on how much damage you and your team can do. After its nerfs, you wont be healing for as much, but it is still a wonderful ability. You probably wont be noticing the damage this spell deals (unless you are playing AP Hecarim, it's got an 80% AP ratio!), the heal can be gamebreaking in teamfights. If you can position yourself to where the enemies that are taking the most damage are in the aura of Spirit of Dread, then your enemies will have an extremely hard time trying to take you down. I take a point in this ability at level one, but I max it second, after Rampage. DEVASTATING CHARGE
One of
Hecarim's mobility abilities. This allows Hecarim to chase, flee, and gank extremely well. Devastating Charge has synergy with itself, because the more you move during the charge, the more damage you are likely to do, combined with the extra AD you get from the bonus movespeed. Since you will be trying to position yourself to where you can knock your target into your team, you will have to move more, and therefore you will end up doing more damage. Combined with your ultimate, this makes an excellent tool for initiation. ONSLAUGHT OF SHADOWS
One of the greatest initiation spells in the game. This allows
Hecarim to charge an INSANELY long distance into the enemy team, and fear everyone around him, splitting them up and allowing your allies to pick them off. This spell also comes in handy for pulling off drive-by buff/dragon or even baron steals. Onslaught of Shadows in, Smite, and then if you can, Ghost and Devastating Charge right on out of there. Of course, if escape is not an option (it probably isn't if it was a Baron steal), then you shouldn't use Ghost, and instead just die for the good of the team like the true (horse-)man you are. If you use this for ganking, then the ideal combo would be to start Devastating Charge, Onslaught of Shadows in behind the target, knock your intended target into your team, and then finish them off. This also has a pretty good AP ratio if you're interested in AP Hecarim.My recommended skill build is as follows
| Ability Sequence | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
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I start with a point into
Spirit of Dread, and then I will put a point into Rampage at levels 2, and if I don't plan on ganking right away, then I will delay a point into Devastating Charge to level 4 so I can put another point into Rampage. Obviously, with such an amazing ultimate, you will want to put points into it at 6, 11, and 16. I max Rampage first, Spirit of Dread second, and Devastating Charge third. I have tried maxing Devastating Charge second over Spirit of Dread, and I have to say it can work because of the decreased CD and increased damage, but I'm not entirely a fan, because you give up sustain due to the fact you are stuck with 60 HP heal from minions per Spirit of Dread while jungling.
Item Builds
On Hecarim, it's critical to build the right items so that you can maximize your effectiveness throughout the game.
CORE ITEMS
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| This item has become probably the most popular jungling item. If you look at the stats, its clear why. CDR, Health, Tenacity, and then spirit stone bonuses are all good things for a tank jungler. The tenacity is amazing because it allows you to safely buy boots other than Mercury Treads, expanding your boot options. It's also very gold efficient, similar to it's other spirit stone item counterparts. You want this for most of your games. | Before this item,  Trinity Force was the thing to build on Hecarim. This is because, with Rampage, you can activate Sheen very easily and maximize your damage output. However, Iceborn Gauntlet has become a more favorable alternative, due to the fact that it makes you tanky, provides an AoE slow and gives you CDR and mana. This makes Hecarim's already high AoE damage output get even stronger. Also, after the mana cost increase on Q, you're probably going to want the mana. You can still buy Trinity Force, as it is by no means bad, but you should be opting for Iceborn Gauntlet most of your games. |
This is more of stating that you will need some sort of upgraded boots. You will probably buy  Boots of Swiftness or  Ninja Tabi for most of your games, but there are other options seen below.
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WHICH HORSESHOES TO BUY
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| These boots go very well with the tenacity from Spirit of the Ancient Golem. You will be able to further ignore CC effects (okay, just slows with these, but still). Also, the less you are slowed, the less AD you lose. I'd suggest getting these in most of your games. |
These boots are for when you end up skipping Spirit of the Ancient Golem. You don't want to waste gold buying TWO tenacity passives, so if you did get ancient golem, you shouldn't be picking these up. Of course, you still can, its not just optimal. If you're going for the more carry-oriented lizard elder + other stuff build, then you're gonna want these, but other wise, pass them up. |
If you're not picking up Boots of Swiftness, you're probably gonna be picking up these. If you want to be tanky and dont feel like the movement speed bonuses from Boots of Swiftness, then these are the boots for you. AD Carry's are pretty pesky in the current meta, so the damage reduction and armor can be very helpful. |
A real man's ganking boots. These are better now that you're not missing the tenacity from Mercury treads. Pick them up if you want to gank a lot. I don't buy these boots much, just because I don't like buying Boots of Mobility in general due to the lack of any sort of defense you get (the same could be said for swiftness, but they give you slow reduction!) If you buy these and the game goes on long enough for you to complete your build and have money left over, sell these and either buy Boots of Swiftness or Ninja Tabi.
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OPTIONS FOR ARMOR
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You are probably going to encounter some sort of AD damage on the enemy team, so you are more than likely going to end up buying at least one of these items. Randuin's Omen is the best option in my opinion, it grants you a large sum of health and armor, which are both great. The passive and active slows can be crippling to any autoattacker such as the enemy ADC. Sunfire Cape can be very useful, and it will even slightly boost your AoE damage, but I will always go for Randuin's Omen first and then buy this later. Frozen Heart is a great item, but the CDR will be wasted if you have your other important items. It also provides no health, which is very important in the current state of the game. Thornmail is very cheap armor that doesn't really give you anything else. The passive is nice, but anyone that is going to take significant damage from autoattacking you will probably have lifesteal. Like Frozen Heart, it provides no health.
Randuin's Omen is the best option in my opinion, it grants you a large sum of health and armor, which are both great. The passive and active slows can be crippling to any autoattacker such as the enemy ADC. Sunfire Cape can be very useful, and it will even slightly boost your AoE damage, but I will always go for Randuin's Omen first and then buy this later. Frozen Heart is a great item, but the CDR will be wasted if you have your other important items. It also provides no health, which is very important in the current state of the game. Thornmail is very cheap armor that doesn't really give you anything else. The passive is nice, but anyone that is going to take significant damage from autoattacking you will probably have lifesteal. Like Frozen Heart, it provides no health.
OPTIONS FOR MAGIC RESIST
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Odds are, you're going to be against at least one source of magic damage. Even if you aren't, you will probably want to buy a Spirit Visage because it will give you incredible Spirit of Dread heals and it will also get you CDR capped so you can have Onslaught of Shadows on a 60 second cooldown. Runic Bulwark is a fantastic item that I will buy if no one else is currently building it or has said that they are going to build it. Maw of Malmortius is an item I used in Season 2, but have given it up in favor of other things. It's still a good item that provides you with an okay amount of MR and gives you good AD, as well as a nice magic damage shield. Mercurial Scimitar is... well, not the best choice. It's expensive, and I doubt you will ever need to cleanse, but if you really want it, then go for it. It will give you a lot of damage and MR, similar to Maw of Malmortius.
Spirit Visage because it will give you incredible Spirit of Dread heals and it will also get you CDR capped so you can have Onslaught of Shadows on a 60 second cooldown. Runic Bulwark is a fantastic item that I will buy if no one else is currently building it or has said that they are going to build it. Maw of Malmortius is an item I used in Season 2, but have given it up in favor of other things. It's still a good item that provides you with an okay amount of MR and gives you good AD, as well as a nice magic damage shield. Mercurial Scimitar is... well, not the best choice. It's expensive, and I doubt you will ever need to cleanse, but if you really want it, then go for it. It will give you a lot of damage and MR, similar to Maw of Malmortius.
OTHER CHOICES (OBSURDLY NICHE)
| Shurelya's Reverie |
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| This item will take you over 40% CDR, but it allows you to speed boost your team for chasing/escapes and even for intiating a teamfight. It has the added bonus of building out of Philosopher's Stone, which will increase your gold income early. I don't get this much, but it is in no way a bad choice. | Twin Shadows I never buy this. However, it does give you AP (you have good scalings!) and magic resist. It also lets you catch targets off guard, and it can increase your ganking potential. I'd imagine its very upsetting when you realize you got killed by a Hecarim with Twin Shadows, so that's a plus. I've never actually tried this item, but I've heard word of it and considered it. |
Hextech Gunblade is an item that will give you even more sustain as well as damage. It also has a ranged slow, which can help you keep up with fast moving targets. I have never bought this, but if you really have to carry your team in damage, then it could be beneficial. |
Warmog's Armor is a fantastic item if you think your resistances are fine and you need the straight health. It's strength is also a weakness, because a lot of health just causes % of health damage from champions like  Elise,  Amumu and  Zac. As previously mentioned, this item's downfall is that it's PURE HEALTH. Nothing else. (ok, health regen. you got me.)
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Jungling and Ganking
Your initial jungle route should look something like this. After your first clear, you should either gank if there is a good opportunity and you aren't too low on health, or go back and buy 
Spirit Stone and 
Boots of Speed.
Spirit Stone and Boots of Speed.
As an alternative route, which might be slower, you will probably have more health by the end of it, would look like this. This route involves taking Wolves and Wraiths multiple times as well as ignoring Double Golems, so you will probably have to wait a tiny bit for each camp of Wolves and Wraiths to spawn when you get there. This leaves Double Golems for your bot or top laner, and lets you stay at a higher health during your clear, so ganking would be easier.
Another route you could do if your teammates are willing to give you smiteless would be as follows,
Wolves -> Smiteless Blue Buff -> Wraiths (optional) -> Red Buff -> Gank
This route allows you to clear fast, but Hecarim's true ganking power comes from the Onslaught of Shadows + Devastating Charge combo, so I normally don't do this.
As far as early game jungling goes after your first clear, you should go Double Golems (smite) -> Wraiths -> Wolves. This is the most effective way to farm the jungle, and it should keep you at good health. Just remember while jungling, don't spam Rampage, you need mana for any potential ganks or duels. After each clear, you can either gank or go back. I believe that Hecarim should really focus on clearing his jungle early in the game until he has Onslaught of Shadows and Spirit of the Ancient Golem, in which case you should start ganking when your ultimate is up. If you gank too much, then you will starve yourself of experience and even gold if the ganks are not successful. It is beneficial to your team in the late game to farm so you can keep up with everyone, and remain relevant lategame. However, if a golden ganking opportunity presents itself, then you should always take it.
Another route you could do if your teammates are willing to give you smiteless would be as follows,
Wolves -> Smiteless Blue Buff -> Wraiths (optional) -> Red Buff -> Gank
This route allows you to clear fast, but Hecarim's true ganking power comes from the
Onslaught of Shadows + Devastating Charge combo, so I normally don't do this.As far as early game jungling goes after your first clear, you should go Double Golems (smite) -> Wraiths -> Wolves. This is the most effective way to farm the jungle, and it should keep you at good health. Just remember while jungling, don't spam Rampage, you need mana for any potential ganks or duels. After each clear, you can either gank or go back. I believe that
Hecarim should really focus on clearing his jungle early in the game until he has Onslaught of Shadows and Spirit of the Ancient Golem, in which case you should start ganking when your ultimate is up. If you gank too much, then you will starve yourself of experience and even gold if the ganks are not successful. It is beneficial to your team in the late game to farm so you can keep up with everyone, and remain relevant lategame. However, if a golden ganking opportunity presents itself, then you should always take it.
Teamfighting and the Late Game
This is where Hecarim shines. When your team is ready, begin Devastating Charge and then Onslaught of Shadows into a group of enemies, ideally slightly behind them so they are feared into your team. After this happens, you can either try to zone out the enemy carries, which can be risky but rewarding, or you can stay near the targets that are taking a lot of damage so you can heal from it. Don't spam Rampage too much, and always keep Spirit of Dread up when possible. Save Devastating Charge for chasing down fleeing enemies. If all went well, then you won the fight, and you are ready to take objectives such as Towers, Inhibitors, Dragon (if early/midgame), or even the Nexus.
Baron is a good option for when your team is ready to fight but the enemy is making it difficult to fight. If you begin a baron, the enemy will more than likely try to stop you, and then you turn around and fight them. This can be risky, as is you fail, you will give up a free baron. If it succeeds, you can win a teamfight, take baron, and take towers.
Stealing baron can be easy for Hecarim as long as you have your ultimate up and smite. All you have to do is wait for it to get low (1500-3000 health, depending on how fast the enemy is killing it), Onslaught of Shadows in, Smite, and try to get out of there. Hopefully, you didn't failsmite, so you secured Baron for your team. Also you could end up killing a low health member of the enemy team, to equalize the fact that you're probably going to die unless your team is nearby to follow up.
Hecarim shines. When your team is ready, begin Devastating Charge and then Onslaught of Shadows into a group of enemies, ideally slightly behind them so they are feared into your team. After this happens, you can either try to zone out the enemy carries, which can be risky but rewarding, or you can stay near the targets that are taking a lot of damage so you can heal from it. Don't spam Rampage too much, and always keep Spirit of Dread up when possible. Save Devastating Charge for chasing down fleeing enemies. If all went well, then you won the fight, and you are ready to take objectives such as Towers, Inhibitors, Dragon (if early/midgame), or even the Nexus.Baron is a good option for when your team is ready to fight but the enemy is making it difficult to fight. If you begin a baron, the enemy will more than likely try to stop you, and then you turn around and fight them. This can be risky, as is you fail, you will give up a free baron. If it succeeds, you can win a teamfight, take baron, and take towers.
Stealing baron can be easy for
Hecarim as long as you have your ultimate up and smite. All you have to do is wait for it to get low (1500-3000 health, depending on how fast the enemy is killing it), Onslaught of Shadows in, Smite, and try to get out of there. Hopefully, you didn't failsmite, so you secured Baron for your team. Also you could end up killing a low health member of the enemy team, to equalize the fact that you're probably going to die unless your team is nearby to follow up.
Summary and Closing
To summarize this guide, Hecarim is a tanky jungler with very strong teamfighting and initiation. He is almost always worth picking, as he brings a lot to a team. While he has a weak early game, as long as he keeps farming you can become an unstoppable force in the late game. Building the right items is key on Hecarim, and you should focus on a little bit of damage as well as a lot of tankiness. Don't let recent nerfs discourage you, Hecarim is currently one of the strongest jungle picks in the game.
If you liked this guide and found it helpful, please upvote it to support me. If you have any suggestions on improving this guide, please tell me in the comments. Also, if you spot any misspellings or bbcode errors, please tell me so that I may fix them. Any questions you have I will be happy to answer in the comment section. If you didn't like this guide, please tell me why so I can improve. This is my first guide on Mobafire, so it is very much a learning experience for me. I hope you found this guide useful, and if you did, get out onto the Fields of Justice and start carrying your team in Season 3!
Hecarim is a tanky jungler with very strong teamfighting and initiation. He is almost always worth picking, as he brings a lot to a team. While he has a weak early game, as long as he keeps farming you can become an unstoppable force in the late game. Building the right items is key on Hecarim, and you should focus on a little bit of damage as well as a lot of tankiness. Don't let recent nerfs discourage you, Hecarim is currently one of the strongest jungle picks in the game.If you liked this guide and found it helpful, please upvote it to support me. If you have any suggestions on improving this guide, please tell me in the comments. Also, if you spot any misspellings or bbcode errors, please tell me so that I may fix them. Any questions you have I will be happy to answer in the comment section. If you didn't like this guide, please tell me why so I can improve. This is my first guide on Mobafire, so it is very much a learning experience for me. I hope you found this guide useful, and if you did, get out onto the Fields of Justice and start carrying your team in Season 3!
By the way everyone, thanks so much for supporting my guide. We're at 74% right now, the 2nd highest rated Hecarim guide. I truly appreciate the support, keep up the constructive feedback because I am always open to suggestions. Thank you again, and good luck in your future battles in the Fields of Justice!
Hecarim guide. I truly appreciate the support, keep up the constructive feedback because I am always open to suggestions. Thank you again, and good luck in your future battles in the Fields of Justice!
ONE MORE THING! If you spot outdated information that doesn't seem to fit with the guide, please make a mention of it in the comments.
Changelog/Guide History
3 March 2013 - Released!
15 May 2013 - Changed the recommended marks to armor penetration from attack damage. Added this section as well as patch history section.
24 July 2013 - Got rid of patch history section, didn't like it, updated build
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Guide Discussion (31)
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