Rampage
Rampage is Hecarim's main tool of destruction. It's a helpful skill when last hitting minions or damaging your opponents, The short cooldown and AOE damage makes this skill a MUST to maximize as it transitions well on your core items.

How to use Rampage effectively
When using Rampage, especially early, its best not to spam it too much. This is because it can deplete your mana pool very fast and if you have no mana itll be hard for you to escape especially if someone comes to counter jungling or gank you when you're playing Solo Top.


Spirit of Dread
I max this skill second as the AOE damage and sustain is vital when jungling or playing solo top. It works wonders with your AOE damage from your Rampage as well. As on April 2013, there was a change which nerfed this particular spell. However, after much testing and games with Hecarim - i found that generally in the jungle you're still efficient and sustainable as before even if the cooldown has increased significantly, also in teamfights you do lack that general sustain over the long period of a fight, but in all, most fights only last 15 or so seconds. So again, it hasn't really effected the game-style of Hecarim at all. Another thing to note is that since the cooldown has increased, it encourages players to use this skill more appropriately throughout the game.

How to use Spirit of Dread effectively
When jungling if you smite whilst using this skill you will gain a lot of HP back. When Solo Top, its best not to use this skill unless you really have to, and when i said you have to, i mean when someone comes to gank or you're low and need to sustain. A great method when using Spirit of Dread is when in team fights ad you activate it when most opponents are around you become stupidly tanky as your health seems not to move. Thus so, its best to use this skill when there are a lot of enemies around to get the best out of it. This skill works most effectively if you have Spirit Visage. Also starting with W first when jungling is useful as you have better sustain when finishing wolves and also the damage is near identical to level 1 rampage (Q)


Devastating Charge
When play Jungle, this is your main ganking tool and works exceptional well in catching enemies up, or pushing them towards your team. It's also a great escape tool, especially when playing solo top, making you one pain in the butt to gank!

How to use Devastating Charge effectively
This is really hard skill to use effectively, its best in some scenario's to keep it, for instance when ganking Yi, try not to use it unless you really need to, because if he meditates you won't be able to cancel it as the cool-down on Devastating Charge is relatively high. Another way to use it effectively is when ganking or initiating activate this skill and then use Onslaught of Shadows in-front of the enemy and then knock (using devastating charge) the enemy towards your team.


Onslaught of Shadows
Your ultimate and main initiating tool. An incredibly useful spell that deals AOE damage and fears enemies in the end of the spell. The damage from the skill is exceptionally good after completing level 3.

How to use Onslaught of Shadows effectively
Using this skill effectively is vital in winning team-fights. As explained before, using this skill in conjunction with devastating charge can ensure an easy kill, especially if you've feared and knocked the carry towards your team. Another way of using this skill effectively is if the enemy team is doing Baron. I've had many games where i'm the last one alive, or I've re-spawned first and I've used Onslaught of Shadows right into the Baron pit, fearing the whole enemy team and then smiting it - stealing the Baron.

Which Shoes to buy

Ninja tabi vs heavy AD team, but if you're getting ninja tabi, remember to get ancient golem instead of spirit elder lizard for the tenacity.

I usually get these boots in most my Hecarim games where im rushing spirit elder lizard, the tenacity is a MUST vs CC teams and the given MR is useful when facing AP teams.

UPDATE: I found a new love for these boots now, when i'm playing safe, and team lacks a tank, ill get these boots to make my ganks more efficient with the trinket buff. If i get these boots i'll upgrade my spirit stone into ancient golem for the tenacity

For the enhancements of my boots I usually go for homeguard since its faster to get my hp/mana regen to get back into lanes and also the given movement speed makes sure I can just do that as well. Not only this but when defending turrets or inhibitors, the passive of this enhancement alongside your (E) gives you mass AD, so you can storm in and do heavy damage to the enemies hitting your turrets.

This item was one I overlooked. It gives great damage output for Hecarim's skill-set and also boosts his sustain. The active makes it easier to gank and chase enemies or to scout enemy champions.

A great item for Hecarim since he scales both AP and AD very well. The life steal and spell vamp is a treat for Hecarim and helps him sustain longer it team-fights whilst dishing out a lot more damage. I generally never get the chance to buy this item, as its usually my last item i bother getting.

Another great item for Hecarim, not only does his skill-set cause AOE havoc, but having this item on top of it all just puts the icing on the cake. I usually don't rush this item after Iceborn anymore since i usually build Hecarim tanky. However it's still a great item.

This item works wonders vs a Heavy AD team. The magic damage return works wonders with Sunfire and the additional AP you have. This is a must have item if you're facing a AD lineup such as Riven top, and Pantheon mid.

A self explanatory item. This is a must-have item if you're facing attack speed enemy champions such as Vayne, Tristana and Kogmaw and generally any other team with Nunu as support.

I've not shown much love to this item until now. This is a great item to upgrade spirit stone into when jungling. The passive works a treat vs tanky enemies since its true damage, and can cause havoc in situations where you're in the middle of the enemy team. (UPDATE: This item isn't as efficient as it once was, i still get it in 50% of my games where i'm rushing merc treads vs cc team, or i feel we lack damage)

Notes: It is important when choosing items to analyse their team and adjust by what their team is building or by how fed they're. The item builds are merely a guide and don't 100% reflect true builds that I use within the game. As you can see below, my items are constantly changing by whom i'm facing:



(print screen from lolking)



- I only get this item when their team is Heavy AD and CC. Since you'll be getting ninja tabi vs a heavy AD team - You'll like the tenacity to withstand a heavy CC team; So this item is perfect.


- Get this if your support is going more of a carry build than support build. Such as Fiddlesticks Zyra Lux and Morgana. I've got this item in a few of my hecarim games, the stats are really good and work well with Hecarim, such as the cooldown reduction for his Q and the added health and armor. The passive works nicely when you engage and protect your AD carries (which is usually your job if you're going tanky)


- Bit of testing, and also from various reviews. This item is useful and situation to Hecarim. I wouldn't advise it for every-game. But in games where you find you lack CC control (possibly you went for ninja tabi or boots of swiftness) and you also need damage or more gank presence - then this item is the best choice.


- I found that the damage output (from passive) is relatively good if you're facing a tanky team, and the health and added ap is just a bonus. I only rarely get this, or if im just playing a normal and having fun.

Can I still get Trinity Force vs a heavy ad / mix team?

Here's the deal with Trinity Force, I've had a lot of comments that it's actually better than Iceborn. Well, only in rare cases it is. Now these cases are where the heavy ad team or mix team don't really have much escape, and you also find that its actually more beneficial to get Trinity force in order to take advantage of the movement speed passive. Obviously it seems that the new Trinity Force will be IDEAL for Hecarim, but its not better than Iceborn, simple.
However, i have found i'm getting the Trinity force a lot more than I used to, so maybe if i can test a few more games with it, I may update this later on, but at the moment Iceborn > T.F

When jungling its important to analyse their team and expect the unexpected. For instance, if the enemy team has a Blitzcrank, expect a counter jungle, and sit around your red and ask your support to ward your blue.


Below is the new standard jungle route:



This is the new standard jungle route. The difference here between the old one was the changes in the jungle a while back where the wraiths/wolves/golems wouldn't spawn till 1:55 (same time as the main golems) making it not very efficient to start them anymore. Not only this but a wide majority of players are becoming accustomed to counter-ganking their enemy jungler at top. So, if you start on blue side (the bottom side of the map) it's vital you start RED GOLEM in order to go from red->blue->top to help your top-laner countergank the enemy (since 95% of enemy junglers go top after level 3 and doublebuff). If you start red/purple side, which is the top side of the map, you will want to start BLUE GOLEM then go to your Red, then proceed to top.



Below is an image of the old standard jungle route:


This is the old route, which is still applicable, except you want to be starting your main golem buffs rather than wraiths or wolves. However this is a route I don't general do anymore, unless I know I'm going to get counterjungled / invaded (i.e they have a blitzcrank, nunu thresh, shen or shaco)

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Counter-jungling route (Route #2)


Now as you can clearly see, there are 3 possible directions after completing your red buff (blue buff if you start top side). You can either take your blue golem, or take theirs, or even take their red. This can be complicated to explain why I've included these 3 directions after (1), And I'll advise only the experienced players try this as it takes a lot of analysing the game, awareness and understanding of the map / enemy in order to do so. More explanation on this will be given later on in this chapter

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When ganking its important to understand where to come in from and what are the best routes to do so. Below is a illustration on the standard ganking routes for Hecarim:


As you can see there are many ways to gank the opponent. The ganking area of jungling takes a lot of practice and experience, especially with Hecarim - as you want to position yourself in a way that you can knock back your opponent into the enemy, or even tower.

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Now we move onto the hard stuff (if you know what I mean *wink*)


**** As you can see it looks complicated already. First of all this is for the advanced Hecarim players out there and the ganks shown should only be done if you're level 6 or above to ensure you can escape or deal as much damage as possible.

**** This is where the analyzing of the game and awareness comes into play. This is also what separates the good and bad players apart. The cyan dots represent movement from the opponent, primarily at this given illustration, mid lanes opponent. Now if the opponent in mid comes in from route 1. Then it means that the enemy jungler has started Blue buff, if he comes in from 2. It most likely means hes started at your red buff. If hes came from 3. Then the enemy jungler has started Red (usually in Lee sin games). Now from this we can build a picture and understand where the enemy jungler is at this time. Usually you can predict whether the enemy had a smiteless pull or not by the time it takes mid to get into their lane. However top lane can also help pull for the enemy and the same goes for bot lane, therefore its important to watch them as well.

**** This denotes the enemy jungler. If the enemy ganks bot after his blue buff (so hes ganking around 1:57~2:05) then its clear his red buff can be taken with ease as hes going to be no threat to you spotting you as hes bot lane. However its very rare that a jungler ganks bot straight after blue, but its always good to keep an eye out. Nevertheless for those starting at red buff ( Lee Sin and Shyvana mainly) then usually they gank top as soon as possible, so if you see them top with just a red buff at around 2:00 mark, then quickly run to their blue after your smiteless pull and steal it!. UPDATE: please be aware most junglers now counter-gank top at level 3, thus so, lee sin and shyvana for example may start blue.