...

I'm Pants are Dragon, a CHALLENGER solo queue player, substitute jungler for team Reality Check Gaming in the MOBAFire Challenger Series and I'm the Jungler for Falafel Gaming. I've been playing since the release of Nocturne, my first champion was Teemo and I grew in love with his champion select quote ("Captain Teemo on duty!") and ultimately the game. I actually didn't make my name it was given to me by Riot! My old name was jlzzdragon and then Riot changed my name to this and I feel like I was trolled to oblivion, but at the same time I grew with great power, and from that day I knew I would be the very best!

For those interested, here's my summoner profile:



Hecarim is a really mobile champion with a lot of early game pressure and mid game to late game becomes a beast at taking down, once he gets ahead early game it's gonna be hard to come back if your on the other team.

12/7/2013 - updated to S4

11/21/2013 - ITEMS AND MASTERIES UPDATED only cheatsheet.

Pros

1. Very strong ganks
2. Can build tank or damage
3. Fairly tanky
4. Strong base damage

Cons

1. Sometimes your ultimate could be bad for your teammates
2. Not the best tank
3. Medium Skill cap (E-Q combo)

9x 9x 4x 5x 3x

...

Greater Mark of Attack Damage Greater Seal of Armor Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed

Hecarim farms with his Rampage attack instead of auto attacks, so since it has a high base damage, we'll get armor penetration which also pierces jungle creeps's armor.

I like to take a bit of both scaling magic resist and flat magic resist as it kind of balances out between early game and late game.

Movement speed is really good on hecarim, as he can roam more while getting more damage out of these quints, essentially giving him some bonus AD.

We'll go a bunch in defense tree, Hecarim doesn't need 9 in offense anymore as there is no more armor penetration for him to benefit off of. Ever since season 4, there is a lot of great skills to take in the defense tree and the only one I see that's good for a tank jungler is double-edged sword since it gives 2% damage for melee.

This is the standard jungle start for pretty much all junglers. Machete builds into one of your core items and the potions give you good sustain at the start. No need to change this for Hecarim, also start warding totem and get sweeping lens mid game.


We don't get a sword yet since we want to be mobile around the map and basically boots will give you a free long sword for hecarim, so we get boots and if you can get a sight ward. This helps get around the map faster from camp to camp and from lane to lane. Map presence! The ward is great because vision will help your allies from enemies.

After you get boots, get a Spirit of the Elder Lizard and your gank potential will increase A LOT as your damage will be considered op and you can chase hard too with Hecarim.


When you have achieved your mid game items, your damage sort of falls off but you'll be an beast to take down and the longer you stay in a fight the more Rampage stacks you get.

Hecarim is better with resists as his Spirit of Dread will give him some life steal when hes around enemies that have been damaged by his allies.

Also get Sweeping Lens as you are going to try to clear wards around objectives.


Spirit Visage is really good with Hecarim as it applies to his skill Spirit of Dread and makes him regen more HP, also the cooldown reduction will make his Rampage being used more as it's his main source of damage.

Randuin's Omen we get because the enemy ADC probably has Bloodthirster/ Infinity Edge + Phantom Dancer by now and will shred us. Randuin's Omen is the best Anti ADC item since it reduces their attack speed.

We can finally get Guardian Angel as I think it's probably the best 6th item anyone could have, but once the active is down SELL IT and buy something cooler like I dunno, Warmog's Armor

Alternative Items:

Sunfire Aegis : This item synergizes with his skill Spirit of Dread as it deals damage and you gain HP from it dealing damage. Also gives health and armor which is nice.

Trinity Force : Trinity force, the god tier item right now if you need some damage get this.

Frozen Heart : Gives a lot of armor and the attack speed reduction is nice, the cooldown is nice as our skills are on a long cooldown.

Iceborn Gauntlet : I personally have never got this as I only think it's good on Ezreal but I've seen other junglers get this and have had good success with it.

Hexdrinker : I'd get this when the enemy team has high magic damage, it builds into the buffed maw of malmortis, I like it's upgrade version now so yippie!

Spirit of the Ancient Golem : This item is probably the best jungling item there is, as when the spirit items got nerfed, this was the only one that stayed relevantly the same and is superior to the other spirit items. The reason I say go elder lizard is because it's how Hecarim's power spikes when he gets this item, giving a lot more damage when ganking.
Consider this item if you're behind or if you really need to be the team tank.

Warpath Bonus movement speed is converted into AD, with season 3 out and the boots of speed changes Hecarim got sort of nerfed on this passive, but it's nothing big as its like 2 AD or so. It's a good passive once you get your boots and it synergizes with his charge skill so thats pretty nice! By that I mean it gives you bonus AD when you start to charge.

Rampage This skill is Hecarim's bread and butter, this is what makes him a good tank as it's base damage is huge and once you get 2 of these landed in a team fight your DPS goes crazy. Rampage stacks reduce the ability's base cooldown. I found this quote from the wikia on Hecarim, "This means cooldown reduction from items, runes or masteries is calculated after the base reduction from the Rampage stacks."

Spirit of Dread This skill makes Hecarim a good tank, it's like 20% life steal except that the life steal is applied from any damage your team mates do to the enemy. A burst of damage will give back Hecarim a lot of HP. Always use it when you need some life back instead of using it at the beginning of fights where your full HP.

Devastating Charge This skill is why Hecarim has a lot of mobility around the map and good ganks. This knocks back the target when hit and also since it increases your movement speed your AD goes up which makes this skill's damage go up too having more damage than the tooltip states. When ganking always try to get behind your opponent to knock back the enemy to your allies. Also you can still activate Rampage while using this skill, so make sure to use Rampage when you are hitting the enemy as the bonus AD will make it hit harder.

Onslaught of Shadows Hecarim's initiating skill, fearing people for 1 second at the end of his ultimate. This is used for getting in the enemy team's backline and wrecking havoc. Also this can be used to get out of sticky situation which makes Hecarim a good champion to get out of self mistakes one made. Also since you get into there backline you can combo this with your Devastating Charge to knock someone back into your team.

Obviously always try to max your ultimate first, then you would max Rampage first, as it's our most DPS ability and will be our damage in ganks and in team fights and doing damage to the jungle. Then we can either max Spirit of Dread or Devastating Charge, I've been contemplating on maxing Spirit of Dread now since the healing doesn't scale and the only thing that goes up is the damage and the cooldown goes down by 1 second and also the mana cost increases. I'll have to do more testing but I think maxing this is still better as it does give more AoE damage. And then you would max out charge after.

I feel that Hecarim is one of the great junglers who excel at early game, because of the mobility he has around the map and the amount of damage he can output is extremely high.

Usually when I jungle Hecarim, I always have the mentality of ganking crazy and going to where over extent lanes are and following the enemy jungler (counter ganks), and it's really easy to get a kill when you have double buffs as this gives him sticking power and more DPS from his Rampage.

Always keep tabs on your blue buff/red buff and do them immediately or have some ward coverage so the enemy jungler doesn't steal it, he will steal your red buff (blue side) if you're ganking top and he notices you started there and it's 7:15 minutes. I may not counter jungle a whole lot but I do like to protect my own jungle.

Basically, a gank early game is easy to pull off. You just run behind them and make sure to have your Devastating Charge on and to knock them back to your team mates. Also you can use your Rampage during the run for more damage, and if your going super ham and want blood and you feel like he can escape. Activate ghost, as this will give you chasing power and an increase in DPS.

Once Hecarim gets even one kill, his ganking power sky rockets as the kills he'll be trying to get will be much easier to obtain as he has more items and levels than usual increasing his daamge.

Once Hecarim has reached level 6, he can even run down lanes and do lane ganks now. You just have to make sure to use your Onslaught of Shadows and make it land right behind the enemy (this takes some practice) they will be feared towards your allies and you can knock them back more with Devastating Charge

If you are doing the casual gank, just make sure to use Onslaught of Shadows as a 2nd gap closer. Say if they blow a flash to escape your melee range then you'll use it to catch up to them.

Also, if you see an ally in trouble and getting ganked by a enemy, get to that action and save his ***! Your mobility and damage will surely overcome the enemy jungler and maybe you'll get a kill or 2.

Dragon is an important objective in the game as it gives your team 900 more gold, which can contribute to more items and an early advantage.

1. Bot Lane is dead. Reason: When doing dragon, it would be a 4v2 if they try to contest it.
2. You see bot lane recall and your mid and bot lane help do dragon.
3. Mid laner died. Reason: Mid is basically worth 1.5x of an ADC early game, because of the level advantage. So you have a clear advantage at dragon.
4. You feel confident on doing it. You feel that the enemy team won't contest, feeling more powerful, etc.
5. I'm pretty sure when you have blue buff and Spirit of the Elder Lizard you can solo it, just have to be level 9 maybe. But I never solo it with these type of junglers so I usually ask for help as it would take a long time to do.
6. If you ever plan on doing dragon, make sure to always buy a Vision Ward as this will give you more safety while doing it.

Clearly if they come, then that means they want to fight. Either they are stupid or they are hiding some more people as the last time you checked there was a numbers advantage. Fight them or kill dragon your choice.

Mid game you should have Spirit of the Elder Lizard and Ninja Tabi and Aegis of the Legion, you shouldn't die instantly in team fights as you should have some resists to negate damage and you'll be healing off your Spirit of Dread. While also being really tanky you'll be doing a lot of damage once you get those Rampage stacks in team fights.

Time for you to lead your team to push towers, maintain control over dragon/baron and win. So always have a Vision Ward on dragon. And if you feel real confident, do it on baron and try to secure it and estimate whether you should do baron or not (some of enemy team is around bot side, your grouped 5) etc.

Hecarim can probably tank baron for awhile, but don't rely on his damage as baron has had it's changes and to reduce damage on the person tanking him by 50%, so I say only do baron when you have a clear advantage, like say 5v3 or even 5v4 when enemy jungler is down.

This is where also the best team fights come alive, since everyone is around level 13 and multiple variables happen instead of late game where it's peel for carries.


Hecarim is an initiator with tons of damage, if he can and knows that his team will follow up after he initiates then that is a good sign.

1. Initiate and try and get in the backline with Onslaught of Shadows
2. Use Devastating Charge and knock back your target to your team mates.
3. Ask if you are going for the ADC or APC, and maybe if you have some assistance ( Orianna, Diana) hopefully you'll be killing some people.
4. Wreck havoc with your Rampage and keep attacking the carries.
5. Once you go below 50% health, back up or unless you can get some kills keep going forward.

Do this when your carries are ahead of enemy carries or if they initiate on you.

1. Anyone who is on your carry, use all necessary cooldowns to assist in killing the anti-carry even using Onslaught of Shadows to keep them off them.
2. Since not everyone is a diver, if the enemy team initiates on you use the Onslaught of Shadows to disrupt the enemy back line (i.e don't let that Orianna ultimate your whole team).
3. Do not dive straight into there back line, stay as a meat shield for your carries and be in front of them and even Devastating Charge to get them off your carries
4. Although if you see one of your assassins go in like Diana on there carries, I think it's time you and her shred their back line so go forth and charge into there back lines.

1. Wait until other team throws (baron attempt, tower dive)
2. Pick off any over extending enemies, using Hecarim's mobility he should be at action faster than other enemy junglers.
3. Fight fights where you have a number advantage (5v4)

1. Keeping timers on dragon, baron and when they are up. Always getting them for the global gold.
2. Group and push mid.
3. Pink baron, and try to do it with your team mates, mainly need a lot of DPS (ADC).
4. My cheese tactic, send top lane bot and make him push really hard so the enemy team tries to kill him and let your team stick around baron so you can get it.

Hecarim is one of the best tanks late game, survival rate to be fair as his Spirit of Dread gives him a lot of durability. But of course lacks some crowd control but has a lot of durability.

So what should your prime objectives be late game?

Baron is essential this game, so always have a ward on it or pink it whatever you can do and have some security over it, this is also where 1 team fight or baron can game change everything. If played wrong you could lose the game.

You also will want to tell your team to group and push/defend and not to get picked off as Baron is easier to do late game with the amounts of items that everyone has, all you would have to do as Hecarim is to tank it while your ADC just damages it.

Alright, so your carries are now who do the real damage, and now you as a main tank HAVE NO damage since you didn't build damage. You now have to protect them if the enemy team initiates on you, this is where the PEELING mindset comes in where you stay with your ADC blocking all kinds of skill shots towards him and being a complete meat shield, of course if you have some diving partners like Karthus then of course you'll want to be up in the front lines assisting him with his AOE damage, it's all how the team fight goes like if you want to initiate or if they want to initiate first.

Just ask yourself if your on the offensive or the defensive of the team fight.

You should have a Randuin's Omen at this time as the enemy ADC should have a Bloodthirster/ Infinity Edge + Phantom Dancer and will do tons of damage. Attack Speed reduction will cut a ADC's DPS massively, although once he gets that last whisperer, he'll still be doing tons of damage. Just remember when your chunked and have 40% health, to run to your team mates and make sure you survive while just being there for morale support and when you can single out someone instead of taking all the damage of the enemy and dying.

REMEMBER IF YOU ACE THEM, TELL YOUR TEAM NOT TO RECALL AND END IT (Maybe?). Death timers are extremely long at late game point and gives a team an ability to end it. Or atleast push get towers more gold for yourself, get a lead and get stronger for the next team fight or just even to do Baron.

Basically, how to creep with Hecarim is fairly easy.

Optimally the 1st 3 levels will go something like this (number indicates auto attacks).

The optimal route is blue - red - gank, since you'll be level 3 and 1 level higher than everyone.

Always get a leash, and no smite. This means you save your smite for the 2nd buff holder, why? Because it opens up an opportunity for a fast gank where you are 1 level ahead of every laner, and having all 3 of your skills available with red buff also so that you're ganks will be true terror.


Well it's pretty plain and simple, if you want to save on mana I suggest you just use Rampage and auto attacks. Remember that Rampage doesn't stop auto attacks so you can just spam right click and Q all day and thats basically the most effective way of doing camps.

With blue buff, you'll want to use Devastating Charge into camps and right as you hit them use your Rampage as you'll have more movement speed with the charge and with more movement speed means more damage from your passive Warpath. And if you need to heal just activate Spirit of Dread.


Red(smite)-Wraiths-Blue(smite)-Gank. This route is the most efficient on this side for ganking top, since you do this route you will be 1 level ahead of every lane giving you all of your skills in your kit and also you get a faster clear since bot lane will help you.

Ok so 3 tips to analyze when your about to gank for top directly after your 2nd buff.

1. You will meet the enemy Jungler at top. So you can sit in your top lane's bush and wait for a counter gank (tell him to push) and go on the enemy Jungler or whoever is closest/most vulnerable and burst down, although in bronze-silver they usually do some other creeps beforehand.
2. Analyze the enemy top laner, did he start with a sight ward? Is it still in his pocket? If he did start with it and you see its gone, chances are he warded the baron pit. So what you want to do is go around through Tri-Bush.
3. If no ward, just walk straight from blue and gank him.

When ganking and how to gank:

1. If he flashes and has no other escapes, it's best to Ghost with him and go for blood as long as you have the distance to kill him (half a lane maybe?) as you have red buff.
2. The usual way to get someone is to start charging up with Devastating Charge and try to get behind them so you can knock him into your team mates. A smart person will flash out of your charge when it hits so that they won't die. Then of course you just wreck havoc with Rampage.

Reasons why I don't like starting blue golem on blue side / starting red lizard on purple side.

1. Bot lane is always warded when I'm done red. So the only other lane I can gank is mid, which at most I will make them burn a flash and since I can't ghost with them to their tower, they will basically hug there tower until they have some security. If I do go down this path I'll probably just do golems.

Blue(smite)-Wolves-Red(smite): Basically the mirror image of blue route, and going to top.

1. You will meet the enemy Jungler at top. So you can sit in your top lane's bush and wait for a counter gank (tell him to push) and go on the enemy Jungler or whoever is closest/most vulnerable and burst down.
2. Analyze the enemy top laner, did he start with a sight ward? Is it still in his pocket? If he did start with it and you see its gone, chances are he warded the baron pit. So what you want to do is go around through Tri-Bush.
3. If no ward, just walk straight from blue and gank him.

Hecarim is actually pretty good at ganking mid, well in my experience and on the early levels. If the enemy mid is smart they will flash your charge.

What I usually do is actually come behind their cliff instead of going through mid brush, and start charging once I know I can get the knock back on them, and when I'm there I get behind them and knock them back to my team so we can get an easy kill.

I'll only gank for mid most of the time if:

1. Enemy is over extended: It is easier to kill someone who is in your side of the map.
2. Flash is burnt: This means you can use everything on him and you and your mid can take him out.
3. Ally mid has some form of CC and is reliable: Kills are easier secured. Lissandra
4. Has a reliable burst combo: The faster we can kill him the better we can get out of there without the enemy team coming.
5. Enemy is low.

Example champions I like to gank for: Ahri Lissandra Twisted Fate
Reason: They provide reliable follow-up and crowd control so that I can rely on a for sure kill.

Example champions I don't like to gank for: Vladimir Nidalee Ziggs
These champions are a bit slow on the follow up and do not provide much crowd control or follow up damage or chase.

I'm not saying you shouldn't gank for these champions, but it's a tad hard, like what are they gonna do run and try to cast a spell?

But guess what? Even without there crowd control, you as Hecarim bring a ton of damage and kill potential by yourself as you have the chase and the mobility to stick to the enemy. So don't see if you and your teammate can get a kill, SEE IF YOU CAN GET A KILL. Yeah basically don't have to rely on your teammate to get you a kill, just feel confident on your mechanics to get one.

Champions I do not like ganking unless escape is burnt.

Ahri at Level 6, can spirit rush away.

Kassadin at Level 6, can Riftwalk away.

Kha'Zix can leap away.

Morgana is immune to CC.

Zed can warp backwards.

These ganks will simply not be kills unless they have fully committed to a fight and blown there escapes.

You can set up a counter gank easily if you see the enemy jungler going to gank mid, inform your mid laner that you are here and you want him to bait something so you can come in and kill the squishiest champ there, with Onslaught of Shadows and your DPS and your Spirit of Dread how can you lose?


The hardest lane to gank, this lane is probably the trickiest to pull off as everything is warded most of the time. I will be talking about this from blue side perspective.

So what do you do? Well, you can gank them at most by going through river at 4-5 minutes, and they are over extended. Sometimes this could happen, other times they see you and run so you decide to back off. It works only half the time, but remember when your coming down, try to charge in with Devastating Charge and then always try to corner them against the wall or even better getting behind them to knock them back into your team mates, once your in just spam Rampage and sticking to them.

You'll also have to ask your bot lane where wards are, if they don't know it's best not to waste your time with it as maybe the other team could bait a counter gank or they just go back, although not everyone's map awareness is god tier, so you could pass through a ward and they might not even know.

Another option is going for a lane gank where your support initiates and your about 5 champions back to follow up on a champion. This option is tricky to pull off but when experienced is really successful in a lot of situations so yeah, just ping in that your going for a lane gank and to let your lanes blow some crowd control. Then you come in charging in and you'll want to use Onslaught of Shadows and make it behind them so that they flee towards your team mates and you can even knock them back farther with Devastating Charge and then blow all your spells over their champions.

The final option is to wait for their Jungler to come in and you wait behind your team and for him to initiate, then you come in with all your crowd control and focus one target. You should win as you have your Spirit of Dread to heal from your allies damage so if they try to focus you it might be the end for them.

TIP: Aim the support, usually the ADC has some form of escape and will get away and sometimes have barrier which is even harder to kill. I mean if you can lock him down and you know you can kill him then go for it, otherwise the support is typically an easier kill.


Start with Spirit of Dread if your the one who face checking first and going for a 5v5 all out brawl. If your just going to pick someone off, Rampage so you can do your jungle.


Knowing when to dragon is key, remember its every 6 minutes.

Here is a checklist of when to dragon.

1. Bot Lane went back?
2. Enemy Jungler is top?
3. Killed enemy ADC
4. Killed Mid?
5. Vision ward on dragon, and pressure on bot/mid.

Here is when not to do dragon.

1. You don't have smite and enemy jungler is around.
2. Any time it could be an even fight. 4v4/5v5
3. Soloing it, unless you are level 7 and have Spirit of the Elder Lizard.

If you attempt this you probably want to attempt this when you have some armor and are at least level 11 and its 25+ minutes, and depending on how far ahead you are.

Alright I have a trick for doing Baron Nashor and saying it will probably be exploited and people will probably never fall for it.

If I'm ahead, I'll tell our top to push bot really hard to make the other team chase him, even if he has to die for it. once we see the enemy team heading for him we will start Baron and get a free baron, I'll also have a Vision Ward on baron too.

The reason this works is because in solo queue most of peoples' priorities are set on kills, and I play for team objectives. So since an opportunity to get an advantage by killing an over extender, this opens us to do Baron.

Other than my cheese tactic, your going to want to do Baron when:

1. The enemy team does not know
2. 2+ members are at bottom
3. Won a team fight.
4. ADC has Bloodthirster/Infinity Edge + Zeal
5. Alternative for an ADC is like someone else with a lot of DPS, ( Jax Ryze Karthus) could probably 3 man it with Hecarim Ryze and I guess a support for measure.

Yeah I never really counter jungle, I just don't like its high risk high reward play as you could die in there jungle unless you play smart.

Unless you have a kill over him, I don't think Hecarim should be dueling anyone unless he's ahead. There are better duelists then the pony and you don't want to throw the game by dying to Udyr.

The only time I counter jungle is if I'm far ahead, or I know I can take there buffs with team coordination.

Other times I take their blue/red if I see the enemy Jungler far away from his blue/red buff at 7:05 (Which ever he started at.)


Find your enemy jungler, then set up in a place where he will come and you can come kill the enemy jungler or whoever is squishier with your allied laner, make sure to pick a target that you can burst and your ally knows it, or else the disperse damage could cause you to die.

Hecarim is probably a great counter ganker as he has a lot of mobility to get to places faster than most junglers, using this strength a pro-longed gank for the enemy could mean the big giant pony will come and destroy all whose around.


Not much to say except combine your Rampage + auto attack + Smite for like a 300 + Smite damage.

The Tank, is the one who soaks in all the damage and still survives it all.

The Disrupter, is the one who causes a lot of havoc in team fights and can displace people and be an annoyance when in the middle of the enemy team.

The Bruiser, is the one who is tanky and can deal tons of damage.

The Diver, is the one who will try and take out the back line with his skill set.


Rampage is used to basically just do damage and constant damage, over time it will be spammable and Hecarim will be doing more DPS over time.

Spirit of Dread is used to heal up when Hecarim has taken some damage, don't use it at the start of fights as you should be full HP and should be used just to heal some HP.

Devastating Charge is used to initiate team fights, and once you used Onslaught of Shadows, try to knock a target back to your team mates so they can try to kill him. Once up again use it to chase people or to get behind people and knock them into your team mates or away from your team mates.

Onslaught of Shadows is used to initate the team fight, unless the enemy team has initiated on you then you'll want to use it to peel off anyone being mutilated by the enemy. If you are initiating try to use your ultimate behind the enemy so they run towards your team and knock them back with Devastating Charge.


You can be with your assassin and trying to kill there carry if your going to initiate.

You can be in the middle of all the enemy's team so you can hit them all with your Rampage.

You can be the one guarding your ADC and keeping him alive, killing anyone who dares to go through you as you will knock them back or just soak up any skill shots coming to him.

Once your HP is low, stick around the team fight and once your cool downs are up, use it to heal off of and crowd control people and to burst an enemy if the situation says you can.

Hecarim is a really mobile champion, one of the biggest and is a real pain to deal with once he gets some kills and excels at early game with his damage. Then later he becomes one of the best tanks late game with his healing ability.

Check me out on youtube, I make challenger guides on champions and there will be stream highlights along with montages and random other stuff!