Welcome to my guide on Hecarim, the Shadow of War. Some background on me: I have no background. I am a relatively new player and I am making these recommendations based upon my experience thus far. If you have any suggestions or pointers they are welcome. This is my first guide so I do apologize for any errors in coding or any lacking segments.

Hecarim is considered a melee fighter. Given his natural defensive abilities it is best to play him as an offtank. He is an excellent ganker and initiator. Due to my lack of expertise with jungling I will not be presenting a jungle build in this guide.

The first build I present I consider to be the most viable, it is a pretty standard build.

The second, hybrid build is the one I have the most fun playing as it gives you a large damage bonus with both Spirit of Dread and Onslaught of Shadows.

I will not be including a section on warding, jungling, farming or zoning as great guides already exist for those specifically and I have not acquired permission from the makers of any of those guides to use or reference them here.

As this is my first guide I will be tweaking as time goes on. Any feedback on what needs tweaking is more than welcome. I will primarily be focusing on fleshing out some of the sections and improving the aesthetics as my proficiency with the code increases.

LaneRim Pros

Very durable, with decent sustain
High and sustainable damage output
A well rounded mid-cost build
Very good at disrupting enemy team


LaneRim Cons

With what a strong ganker he is taking solo lane can leave you out of a lot of ganking opportunities
The lack of stun abilites can leave you vulnerable



Hyrbrid Hec Pros

Very high damage
Life steal+Spell Vamp+ Spirit of Dread = free hps, ftw


Hybrid Hec Cons

Very vulnerable, will probably get focused down
Expensive build

As I almost exclusively play tanky dps ad characters the runes selected for this build are largely chosen for economic reasons. They are all solid runes though and I usually take greater quintessence of desolation instead of Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed.

greater mark of desolation gives you some needed arpen - a very common choice

gives you a decent armor boost early game - also a typical choice

will give you scaling magic resist which will be a great help if you're stuck laning with the enemy AP champion.

will give you a slight speed boost and work with Hecarim's passive ability to give you some bonus AD.

Now the fun part.

Recommended build For LaneRim:

Starting Items

a great starting item made greater by Warpath
pick up three of these for some early sustain
or
a solid starting item, but no building opportunities

Early Game Items

should be your top priority as it works wonderfully with Rampage once you have your stacks.
and
dat tenacity.
or
only if they brought AD heavy composition.

Mid Game Items

for mid game allows you to build up its bonus and give you some pretty awesome sustain.
and
couldn't hurt.
and
an uncommon item, I really like its shield and damage bonus off missing health, combined with your healing powers you can become very dangerous near death.

Late Game Items

great item, and don't forget the speed bonus
and
turn all that tankyness into some raw power!
and
zeke's herald lifesteal and a nice little aura for your friends

Other viable items

grants you some MR while increasing your speed and therefore AD.
is another decent choice as it makes 's healing more effective.

Looking to stack some flat AD? I only really recommend this if your carries are not putting out enough damage or getting focused down too quickly, but it's hard to go wrong with Bloodthirster or an Infinity Edge.

If your team is short on support you can easily swap in a Aegis of the Legion, Frozen Heart, Randuin's Omen or Shurelya's Battlesong.

Recommended Items for Hybric Hecarim:

Starting Items

a great starting item made greater my Warpath
pick up three of these for some early sustain
or
a solid starting item, but no building opportunities

Early Game Items

should be your top priority as it works wonderfully with Rampage once you have your stacks.
and
dat tenacity.
or
only if they brought AD heavy composition.
and
get that farm going. The armor and extra AD are very helpful at lower levels, you may want to rush this as your second item.

Mid Game Items

every hybrids friend
and
steal you some hps
and
steal you some more hps, I wait to build Hextech Gunblade until after Trinity Force once I have the utility from the Vampiric Scepter and Hextech Revolver
and
another must for hybrids

Late Game Items

finish it off for that tasty active (which I always forget to use)
and
boost that attack speed, mobility and damage, courtesy of Warpath
and
great for shredding tanky enemies and farming/jungling.

Other viable items
For some more attack speed, arpen, AD, CDR, crit chance and an active speed (thus damage) boost go for Youmuu's Ghostblade
Wit's End is also a great choice, giving you some bonus damage and basic attacks and buffing your MR
Given the frailty of this build a Guardian Angel could turn a team fight around.
If you are getting caught in cc too much a Banshee's Veil will suffice, plus some much needed MR.
This armor-starved build could certainly benefit from a Sunfire Aegis, Warpath will allow you to stay right on top of running enemies.
I don't add some common hybrid items such as Abyssal Mask and Rylai's Crystal Scepter, I feel Hecarim's true power comes from AD and those item slots would be put to better use with sustaining or more AD focused items.

As Rampage is your primary source of damage and Spirit of Dread keeps you in lane I strongly recommend maxing these asap.

My only other suggestion would be to work on leveling Spirit of Dread faster with the Hybrid Hec build.

After investing my first point into Devastating Charge I leave it. I primarily use this skill as utility and find the increases per level of the other skills to be more useful.

I consider Flash to be indispensable. A well placed Flash can change the outcome of a team fight or deny the enemy team a kill.

Ignite and Exhaust are both great spells, especially for the hybrid hec build.

I really love Teleport on this champion. Many a time have I ported onto a turret and used Onslaught of Shadows to send the enemy straight into the tower, thinking they could tank it.

Ghost is a great choice as well, it allows you to get into position faster and increased your passive damage bonus.

Hecarim's skills are primarily AOE and can be absolutely game changing in a team fight. You just need to know when to use them.

is a sexy, sexy passive. Ignoring unit collision is great for chasing or running. A word of caution, minions will not stop you. This may sound stupid and obvious but I learned quickly that I use minions to control my champions movement in small ways. Such are taking down a turret - being directly behind the first minion is great as it allows you the most time to hit the turret for that minion wave. Trying to run behind the first minion on Hecarim may leave you tanking unexpected turret shots as the minions will not keep you in check.

a powerful melee aoe attack. It can gain stacks which reduce its cooldown time. This ability synergizes beautifully with Sheen, allowing you to proc with every strike. This is your primary source of damage and should be maxed first.

is what keeps you in lane. There is no cap on how much you can heal from this ability on champions. You can use this ability with Rampage to harass effectively or secure a kill. If using the hybrid build this ability can clear out minions very quickly, granting you health in the process. I max this ability second.

is similar in function to Headbutt, serving as a great initiating move. The boost in speed will increase your AD. Timing this move to get the most damage out of it can be tricky. All I can say is practice. The speed bonus also allows you to chase or flee quickly. Be sure to run just past your enemy before striking to knock them away from their allied turrets.

this is a freaking awesome ult. I fully expect a nerf to come soon. AOE fear ability that does significant damage over a large area. You can use it to dash just beyond fleeing enemies to cause them to run away from their base or use it to change the entire flow of a team fight. The hybrid build adds significant damage to this ability.


C-c-c-combo breaker!

Hecarim can harass very easily. since you can ignore unit collision with Warpath you can easily stack up and charge in. Pop Spirit of Dread just before using your stacked Rampage this will heal you from the rampage strikes, spirit of dread damage, and any basic attacks you make. Once done you can use Devastating Charge to knock the opponent back or speed away.

If committing to a kill instead use Devastating Charge to knock the enemy into an advantageous position for you and your allies, whether that be away from a turret or into an ulting Nunu & Willump or Galio.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my guide! If you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve (both as a guide maker and player) please let me know!

A huge thanks to jhoijhoi for creating the guide to creating guides, :)