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Spells:
Ghost
Smite
Ability Order
Warpath (PASSIVE)
Hecarim Passive Ability
A Note to the Reader:
I am a competitive player with a ton of ranked experience. I have played over 400 ranked games in season 2 and have reached a rating as high as 1625 ELO.
This IS the best build on MOBAFIRE. I'm not one to make outlandish claims, but I'm throwing that out there as fact (not opinion).
It's play tested and approved by multiple 1600+ ELO players.
They all agree that the build strategy outlined in this guide is the ONLY way to build Hecarim to compete in the competitive RANKED format.
The only reason the score isn't the highest is because the itemization doesn't reflect the initial impressions that players got when the champion was released and the fact that the guide has been trolled by other Hecarim guide creators trying to improve their guide's standings.
That said. READ THE WHOLE GUIDE. THEN TRY IT OUT. THEN VOTE!
Once you've got a general feel for the working of the champion and guide,
YOU WILL BE AMAZED BY THE RESULTS!
Read the whole guide before voting, especially if you see something you don't like and wish to down vote.
The guide does a good job of describing every decision made for the build, if you give it a chance and read it.
If you still wish to down vote after reading the whole thing, please leave me constructive feedback so that I can improve upon that aspect.
I highly recommend asking questions in the comments area. I plan to add an entire section of to guide dedicated to answering your questions. I've played since Beta and am highly opinionated...try me ^_^
Lastly, I love seeing that my guides have had an impact on people's game experiences. Vote! I highly encourage it. I also appreciate +reps!
Good mobility
Amazing Scaling!
Can position easily
Two CCs
One of the best sustain abilities in the game

Heavy damage without building offensively


Absolute beast level 9+
Strongest engager in the game!

Good clear times
Cons:
Ganks aren't the strongest until level 6
Not a strong duelist early game.
Can be mana hungry
Can be kited if without ult

This makes him interesting to play, but also challenging to build.
Many people fail to tailor their build specifically to


I present this build to the community because I've found it to be very promising and powerful. I feel this is the best way to build

I will walk the reader through each choice I made.

This is Hecarim's passive and probably the hugest NOOB trap Riot ever made. Hecarim gains AD based on a percentage of his movement speed. Many people will fall for the trap of running





This is Hecarim's damage staple. You'll use this to clear mobs and it will be your main damage source against players. The sad thing is that this skill deals only 50% damage to mobs. The good news is that mobs will huddle around you allowing you to spam them with rampage with 2 stacks so it still deals good dps, but the hindrance does set you back considerably in Hecarim's first clear.

This is the ability that defines Hecarim (as I will explain later. While active, all enemy targets within the area of effect heal Hecarim for a percentage of the damage they take. This includes damage they receive from other players, neutral mobs, minions, and yourself. Healing that you receive from damage dealt to minions is capped at a max for each rank but there is no cap against players.

This is Hecarim's gap closing ability. The best thing about it is that rank 1 still provides the full 75% move speed boost. It's not a rewarding skill to level, but it doesn't need to be leveled either.

This skill is what makes Hec really attractive (in my opinion) to a team. The ability allows for Hecarim to perform brutal and effective ganks, position himself in team fights, catch runners, initiate team fights, or escape a hopeless situation. The ability has an AoE predictable anti-taunt called "horrify."
First off, which stats are and are NOT promoted by Hecarim's kit (I.E. What should we build and what should we NOT build on Hecarim.)
Lets first look at Hecarim's kit (previous chapter).
One of the challenges to building Hec is that his kit is split. He has 2 AD ratios and 2 AP ratios, he has 2 magic damage abilities and 2 physical damage abilities. Most of

This makes building offensive stats on Hecarim unrewarding and about half as effective as on many other champions.
The one thing



CDR will drastically help all the spells in his kit.
CDR and


With max CD you hit with your first and then only have to wait 1.8 seconds and all after that are 1.2 second CDs.
Laying it out, full CDR vrs NO CDR
1st Ramp- 0 sec vs 0sec
2nd Ramp- 1.8 sec vs 3 sec
3rd Ramp- 3 sec vs 5 sec
CDR and

With Full CDR the CD on the Ability is now 8.4 seconds. The ability still has a 4 second duration and the CD begins to reset on activation.
That means that Hec can have the self healing aura on him nearly half the time, only being vulnerable for 4.4 seconds between CDs. .
With no CDR Hec is vulnerable for 10 seconds between CDs. You effectively reduce the duration that Hecarim is vulnerable by over 50% by maxing CDR on Hecarim.
CDR is obviously also good for


So, we know we want a

First off, we need some sustaining power. Hecarim uses mana and does not synergyze well with life steal or spell vamp. For these reasons, first building a philosopher's stone is the optimal choice. The mana and hp regen will allow Hec to jungle quickly and safely. Since philosopher's stone also builds into one of the most cost effective CDR items in the game (

Last key point:
Remember when I said that

Let's get back to that point. First off, as stated, we can get the effective CD of the ability down to 4.4 seconds (8.4 second CD with 4 second duration). So now nearly half the time we are nearly unkillable as long as we aren't horribly out numbered / out played. By building heavy resistances (armor and mr) we can make each health we regenerate through itemization and through

Let me explain:
If we have 0% resistance to a damage type, then for every 1 damage they toss at us, we take 1 damage, hence every hp we regen is worth 1 effective hp.
Now if we have 50% resistance to a damage type, then for every 1 damage they toss at us, we take .5 damage, hence every hp we regen is worth 2 effective hp.
Now lets stack 244 armor worth 70% resistance to physical damage on our Hecarim. For every 1 physical damage they toss at us, we actually only take .3. That means every hp we regen is worth 3.3 hp!
Using this strategy we can make the effective HP of Hecarim well over 10k over the duration of a team fight. All while dealing a considerable amount of damage and being disruptive.
THIS IS THE OPTIMAL WAY TO BUILD HECARIM FOR COMPETITIVE PLAY!


For our second option, I've tried many skills. But I've found

The reason for this is that counter ganking is where Hecarim really excels.
The enemy jungler will rush in and try to gank an ally. You can pop ghost, if your level six you can get there even faster with your ult, reverie too, and E is also handy for this. The enemy team will charge straight into yours thinking they have a numbers advantage. You can disrupt their damage, position them into your turret, peel for team mates and do crud-tons of AoE damage to them and have considerably more AD than normal while you do it.

The fact that ghost gives Hec improved benefit because of

Max




You'll want to max rampage over spirit of dread first for your ganks. Rampage deals considerably more damage to champions and even creeps than spirit of dread. The philosopher's stone and rank 1

Get one point in

Keep

I run armor penetration marks and 1 armor pen quint
Reducing the opponents armor as much as possible make Hec's base skill damage count the most. Since you'll be abusing that base damage, these will really help. Since

I run 2 AS quints
2 AS Quints will improve your initial clear and jungle speed along with your dps considerably in the early and mid game against stationary targets.
I run 7 MR/level glyphs. Since MR itemization is more rare and less rewarding to buy, I run these quints.
I run 2 flat CDR glyphs to get me from 39% to 40% CDR. These also improve your early jungle speed very slightly. While these put you slightly over cap, you don't reach cap until about 30 minutes typically. Being 0.3% over the cap for the last 10 minutes of the game isn't the end of the world...
Armor seals:
These are your typical jungling seals. Pretty much a requirement for full clearing on the first run with a regrowth pendent.

I do my first full clear (wolves then blue, then wraiths, then red, then golems, then wraiths, then wolves, then gank mid or top if either look potential, then return).
Once completing this initial clear I return and purchase both philosopher's stone AND

At this point, your build should be reactive to your income. If on your next return you can straight buy a





Value to you at this point in the game: (Get the item(s) with highest value)




As soon as possible upgrade the to tier 2 boots. ALWAYS get

I next buff my damage with a

If you are able to keep the blue buff for your self, you can now grab a


If you are giving away the blue buff, you should build a



Your next item will be a


I next finish my

You now have nearly full CDR. That means you can have w running on you almost half of the time. Since you now have mana regen and hp regen enough to sustain in the jungle in addition, you should build resists so that all the hp you regen has higher value.
If you have not yet bought any armor, it is now time to purchase

I now buy a

I next build a

To further buff my MR, I upgrade the Negatron to a


I now buff my dps by upgrading the


My last item is a




If they are AP heavy, or have a fed mage, it's an excellent idea to grab a




If you are looking for a way to be more solo effective, then



The last really good option is a sunfire cloak. This item was buffed back to 40 damage per second in the last patch. That's a pretty considerable amount of sustained damage if you are a champion that can stand in the middle of a team and roast everyone. My only issue with the item is that it gives health rather than more resists- which isn't as good for Hecarim- and the item gives the minimum amount of armor of any





Showing up at the right opportunities is the real trick.
First off, memorize jungle paths of the enemy junglers. Expect an Udyr to gank red side around 4 minutes. Expect Rammus to gank mid around 3:15. ECT
The key is predicting enemy jungler movements and keeping your movements invisible.
If one of your lanes is really pushed and prime for a gank, chances are that's where the enemy jungler is headed. If one of your teammates is huddled under his turret at low hp, chances are a dive is coming. Keep aware of these situations and show up on time.
THAT'S THE KEY!
Use your great mobility in





Make sure to have good team sight ward coverage (even if it means buying wards for your teammate's lanes) so that you can respond in time. Stay alert and predict enemy movement.
Also stay aware of their sight ward coverage and stay invisible. Make them think a bad dive or gank is a safe one.
Once you show up once or twice and spoil their day, they will become more timid and start missing plays that they could of made out of fear of you showing up.
Often they will start placing wards in your jungle to try and prevent you from being as effective at countering. An

BE THE GHOST IN THE JUNGLE. IT'S NOT JUST YOUR LORE, IT'S YOUR PLAY STYLE!
Avoid duels early on. While you are nearly unstoppable against equally geared enemies late game, you are severely disadvantaged in a duel early on. Do not fight an enemy jungler 1v1 pre-level 9. Farm your side of the map and only engage enemy players with help. If an enemy jungler is trying to counter jungle you, engage them after they begin fighting the minions. The minions will help twice by dpsing them and also by healing you through



Play smart, gank ideal targets and counter gank to really make Hec shine in the early levels.
Warding is of paramount importance to successfully counter ganking. Being able to identify a gank and position the counter is of utmost importance.
There are 4 ward locations that need to be covered early on to insure success if your Nexus is the one on the bottom side of the map. If your base is the top, just rotate this image 180 degree to get the optimal coverage. Obviously, if they get an oracles, things get interesting as you can't defend these ward positions easily.
I've numbered them 1-4 in regard to importance.
#1: Bot lane / dragon ward. This covers the path out of their blue. It will let you see a gank going bottom, especially if they go tri-bush bottom a long time in advance. It will also let you know if they are trying to counter-jungle your red or golems going from blue or if they head towards mid they could be going to gank mid or steal wraiths/red.
Usually the support will cover this location. But ward it if they don't.
#2: Top lane tri-bush. You can skimp on some coverage if you lower this ward slightly to see the river as well, but as long as ward #4 is in place, this location is optimal. It gives you the most time to see a gank top coming so that you can get into position to counter and gives your top time to retreat. Usually I make the deal that I place and maintain #4 if they do #2.
#3: This is the best location for a ward to protect middle and your wraith camp entrance. This location gives mid plenty of vision and reaction time for a gank coming from right side. I ually mek the deal that I place and maintain #4 if they do #3.
#4: This one is the final piece that makes everyone feel safe and happy. It protects left side of middle, the blue buff, and the top from a gank through the middle. It also will display middle heading top for a gank. I volunteer to keep this one in place.
If all four wards are in place, you can get to about any lane from anywhere in time to foil and counter a gank. This makes counter ganking effective and is paramount to a successful Hecarim. In addition, you can better keep track of where they are placing wards so that you can avoid them with this much vision.
One of the strongest things that

His ganking potential with



One of the best things about his ganks is tons of options. This should make their lanes spend more on wards and have to place them aggressively where your

He is one of the few junglers who is fast enough to run up a lane for a gank. This is especially easy post level 6 with a team member in the lane who has a hard CC. If you run up a lane with cc, have them use their targeted CC as you arrive (don't chance it with skill shots though) and onslaught of souls on them landing slightly behind them to fear them towards allies, then knock them farther up your lane with devestating charge. With focused dps rolling on them, the target should drop quickly.
Here's the biggest tip: Control bottom, control the game.
Bottom is one of the hardest to gank since it is constantly warded, but a couple good ganks puts TWO of your allies in a good spot. The support will feel free to grab

A bottom gank is often my first NON-COUNTER GANK.

A: While

Q: Why u no buy Mercury Treds?
A: The simple truth is that Hecarim doesn't need them. First off, there is a cost savings in going with any other choice of boots. Secondly tenacity isn't all that amazing for Hecarim. You have great mobility in (






Q: Why u no build

A: Cuz they bad for anyone cept AD carries. You are tanky dps who poops on AD carries, why would you want to be AD carry?
Q: Why u build


A: No,





Q: Why u no build attack speed?
Attack speed is not ideal for [Hecarim]] and anyone building it beyond a couple runes and

Attack speed is for auto attackers. That champions that naturally get auto attack steroids or build complete glass cannon (ranged). Hec builds too defensively and doesn't have any AS, crit, or AD steroids. Attack speed is not an ideal stat for past his initial clear.
Personally, I've found great success with the build and feel that with it, Hecarim is a viable and powerful champion.
If you've enjoyed this guide, check out my others.
Feel free to vote and comment.
+reps are always appreciated.
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