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Introduction

Hello Mobafire,

This guide will be SoloQ orientated. I am currently D1.
So lets begin:
Who is Hecarim?
Hecarim is a champion in League of Legends (orly?) and is a Melee Tank who is often played in the Jungle or Solo Top. Hecarim is one of the fastest and mobile champions within the League with heavy sustain, damage and reasonable crowd control. He is, in my opinion, one of the most fun champions to play and can turn loss games into a win very easily.
Pros / Cons
Pros

- Fast Jungler
- Great at harass vs melee champions
- Near un-killable late game (explanation on this later)
- Can interrupt annoying champions like Yi's meditate
- Can steal baron in a 1v5 situation (if you have smite - more explanation on this later)
- Has decent CC
- Great tank
- Great initiator
- Can make a Loss game a Won game in just one move
- Has great movement and mobility
- Near ungankable if you're playing solo top
- So versitile in the way you build him
- Hes a pony
Cons

- Hard to learn
- Considered a risky pick
- Easy to counter jungle
- Build is expensive
Greater Mark of Armor penetration Pretty self explanatory. for jungling these runes help clear it faster and also armor penetration is useful for most AD type champions, especially if you're going to solo top or mid since most players have the




Notes:
Same runes applie (as of Season 4.10)

These masteries help provide hecarim a distinct edge in the jungle, good sustain and decent damage from the offensive tree. For tank, 9/21/0 is usually the main approach, this particular tree focuses mainly on surviving assaults, and counterjungling. I'll advise this for beginners'.
Offensive Hecarim masteries:


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.

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)

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.

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.
Notes:
Hecarims skillset was nerfed, however since this nerf the skill combination order remains the same.




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 is the core build for Hecarim. Sheen is really useful for Hecarim as the passive works well with the fact you can spam your Rampage (Q) and then proceed to activate the passive afterwards. Spirit Visage, which is a particular item most people forget to get on Hecarim, is core because, it gives you great sustain with your Spirit of Dread (W) and not only that but the magic resist and health, including the CDR is very useful for Hecarim. UPDATE: Now added randiun's omen as a core item, this item helps you enable to chase down enemies easier, save your carries from being chased, and with the engage of your ultimate, and casting the active, can enforce the enemy to get to your team slower. The extra hp and armor is beneficial since hecarim is more tank orientated since preseason


Both Iceborn and TF have their positives and negatives, but now since the preseason, i've became more fond of the trinity force, mainly because i feel it gives more beneficial presence to hecarim in the game. However if I feel like the enemy have hard to gank champions like nidalee, vayne etc. I may get iceborn to enable me to gank for efficiently and slow them. Also iceborn is a must have item if you're vs a heavy AD team.


These are the two Core items vs. a Heavy AD / Mix team. The sunfire cape is an item i usually get in most my games anyway, generally because the passive works a treat for your overall AOE damage and the health and armor is a treat. The randiun's omen which follows makes you an unkillable beast vs most AD champs, and the active on randiun's makes sure you can chase those pesky escape champions down, such as




Pretty self explanatory, but Maw of Malmortius gives of an amazing passive and also heavy damage and sustain vs AP teams. I usually rush this item vs heavy AP teams as it can be the difference of surviving an onslaught of a burst, or if i'm facing a Karthus. Warmogs Armor is a great item vs AP, why? well its tanky and also makes burst ap champs pretty mad when you survive their combo's. Since the changes with aegis of legion, and runic, this is the only good applicable item that works well with Hecarim to go forth with..
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)








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

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)
_________________________________________________________________________
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
_________________________________________________________________________
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.
_________________________________________________________________________
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 (


Notes: if you start on the other-side from the images above, the same routes apply.
UPDATE: the new jungle route and where to gank still applies, but where necessary you can kill the extra jungle mob near blue buff for extra income.
HARD DIFFICULTY vs
Going Jungle:



Reasoning: All 3 can counter jungling you with ease, and xin zhao is a monster, you cant 1v1 him. Nunu also slows you constantly so can countergank, counterjungle and totally mess up your lane game.
MEDIUM DIFFICULTY vs
Going Jungle:


Reasoning: Both hurt in 1v1 and also have decent counter jungling capabilities.
BE CAREFUL DIFFICULTY vs
Going Jungle:


Reasoning:


UPDATE on Hecarim top: with the recent changes in both jungle and items, and also the introduction of newer champions such as Aatrox, also the fact that people are becoming more experienced within the game, Hecarim top isn't as strong as he used to be, there are more counters than before this guide was updated. I used to pick Hecarim top in a lot of my games, but now I've found myself deterring from it.
Notes:
- This guide may inherit some mistakes and will be fixed shortly after revision
- The overall look of the guide will eventually be improved and become more visually appealing
- More content will be added and various chapters improved
- Please comment and express why you think this guide deserves a downvote before doing so
UPDATE 23/06/2014
- Revamped masteries
- New itemizations
- New build
UPDATE 26/12/2013
-Removed top hecarim, not viable anymore
-Added new masteries page
-Runes and skill still remain same
-Added randiun's omen as a core
-Changed itemization
-Ancient golem, trinity force and mobility boots now optional and more efficiently viable
UPDATE 21/09/2013
- Improved when to pick hecarim
- Changed jungle routes
- Improved analyse on items
- Changed masteries
- Updated on the idea of picking Hecarim top
- Updated masteries
- Runes remained same
UPDATE 11/04/2013
-

-

- highlighted importance of spirit of elder lizard
- added a few notes about the recent change of Hecarim's W
UPDATE 13/02/2013
-

- Added an experienced jungle and top build
- Added what champions to not pick hecarim vs, and difficulty of certain champions when picking Hecarim
-

- 9/0/21 considered a more optimum mastery page for Hecarim jungle
- Removed QA chapter
- Added notes to various builds
IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT THE PATCH NOTES 01/03/2013
"These changes make Hecarim’s durability more consistent by smoothing out his early game jungle clear while reducing his late game survivability in team fights."
This is basically what has happened tbh, since his W has been nerfed, even cool-down are longer early, he'll suffer sustain. However, his ganks early will be stronger in terms of damage, jungle clearance also faster. Here's a rundown of whats happened:
Positive effects
1. His jungle clearance will be faster and balanced
2. His extra damage from rampage makes up for the loss in damage from S.Elder Lizard.
3. Ganks will seemingly be stronger since Q does more damage
Negative effects
1. Less sustain in jungle
2. Less sustain in teamfights (not by much though)
As for the item changes in the patch:
Elder Lizard: "Incinerate damage reduced to 14-50 over 3 seconds from 15-66"
This is a small change, but an important change for Hecarim. Basically in my opinion, since Q has been buffed slightly in damage, the damage reduction for the incinerate will counter this, so really you'll only notice a very minor change in damage, something that'll make maybe 50 damage in total difference in a team-fight. Now you could argue this is a lot early game, or even late...and could change a team-fight, but typically speaking...this really isn't a problem and you shouldn't be concerned. I'll still rush spirit of the elder lizard.
So to clarify, Hecarim still viable, and still one of the strongest junglers. Just be careful when jungling as you definitely want to start W now, occasionally I've started Q, but now since sustain nerfed it's better to get W first so you can keep 1~2 pots. Another thing is, since cooldown is longer early game for your W, again, be careful and understand the limits.
Notes: I've also noticed Vi been nerfed harder than expected, The same applies for Xin - I think now Hecarim is more of a threat than Vi, and now is easily in the Top 3 junglers. I also think rushing 6 is more beneficial than ganking lanes that are a complete waste of time and effort. Unless you believe you can burn a summoner or kill them, or even help your team-mate sustain better.
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