Hecarim is a fast paced, strong ganking jungler.

Hec boasts extreme range on his gank initiation, while he also brings 2 CCs to a fight.
Hec's ultimate allows him to use ganking paths that are normally unaccessable while his ganks a fairly difficult to thwart if performed correctly.

First off: Why start rush philo stone over wriggles?

This is likely going to be the first thing people notice. So why do I do it?

The most obvious reason for this route is that Hec has zero auto attack steroids. This makes an early investment into life steal a rather lack luster. The second reason is that this route is safer, cheaper, and works better past the first clear.

Safer: This route allows you to start anywhere. While I recommend starting wolf camp and going blue, you can just as easily start any other camp. This is nice as it allows you to react to invasions and even counter jungle if need be.

Cheaper: A philosopher's Stone costs a total of 800g to a Wriggle's Lanterns 1600g. That's half the price to jungle just as effectively (if not more effectively).

Better: Unlike a wriggle's, philo stone provides mana regeneration. This regen is enough to allow Hec to freely spam q indefinitely. That makes him able to give away blue after the first clear and still keep high jungle times. That's a huge advantage over the wriggle's route. The independence from blue also allows Hec to more free spec. You can drop utility entirely for more potent masteries.

Second concept: CDR IS KING!

A lot of people are building MS on Hec...but CDR by far surpasses MS in use.

Rampage has a 4 second CD. Therefore, all CDR you get will lower the CD by a percentage of 4 seconds. IF you hit a target with rampage, the CD is reduced by 1 and then 2 seconds. With max CDR you can get make the base CD of the ability reduced by 40%. 60% of 4 seconds is 2.4 seconds. 2.4 seconds- 2 seconds = .4 seconds. That's right. With max CDR rampage has a CD of .4 seconds if you hit with 2 stacks of rampage. In addition, your ramp time is significantly improved as well.

As you can see, this is why we stack CDR...THIS IS WHAT DEFINES HEC...NOT HIS MS PASSIVE!

Hec's summoners are perhaps just too easy to figure out.

Ghost allows Hec to gank, chase, position, counter jungle, ect more easily and provides a substantial amount of AD through his passive.

Smite is necessary for jungling...nuff said.

I enjoy 19/11 masteries on Hec.

It is possible to jungle with 21/9 as well, but it's much less safe...if an invasion leaves you damaged or you use your hp potion, clear red before first return isn't possible.

I grab the physical damage related skills in offense and anything that reduces damage taken or improves health regen in defense. Vigor is amazing with the regrowth pendent as between the two you basically don't take damage from creeps.

Nothing too fancy or unique here. Follow Phreak's instructions in the spotlight.

Max q first followed by w.

q is your main damage source while w is your tankyness in team fights and jungle sustain.

get one point in e for the extra cc on the gank.

Keep R max level possible!

I enjoy armor penetration marks
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.

I run AS quints
AS Quints will improve your initial clear and also hastens your AS enough to get one auto attack in between each rampage with 2 stacks of rampage and full CDR.

I run Flat CDR

These help the pain train of q's get rolling faster from camp to camp. Improving jungle speed. These will also provide the last 5% CDR needed to hit the 40% cap not covered in items.

Armor seals:

These are your typical jungling seals. Pretty much a requirement for full clearing on the first run with a regrowth pendent.

As stated several times now, I start with a Regrowth Pendant and a hp potion.

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 Boots

As soon as possible upgrade the to tier 2 boots. ALWAYS get Ionian Boots of Lucidity. These boots are the cheapest CDR items in the game...and you want to make CDR ASAP.

Your next item will be a Kindlegem that will eventually build into a Shurelya's Battlesong. This is another very cheap way to boost your CDR.

Now you can freely spam your abilities since you have full CDR and mana regen to support it. It is time to build some spell vamp to sustain off this. Even though rampage deals physical damage, spell vamp still works with it. Hence we are going to now build a Hextech Revolver.

I next buff my damage with a Sheen with your current CDR you can being rampage down to under 1 second. That means lots and lots of sheen procs. Don't worry about getting a trinity force...it isn't needed at all. The sheen by it self does the trick and is a third of the price.

I now buy a Giant's Belt to further protect myself from being burst down.

I next finish my Shurelya's Battlesong this gets me to the CDR cap. The extra mana regen is very nice for jungling without the blue while the active provides some bonus AD and mobility.

I now up grade the Hextech Revolver to a Hextech Gunblade. This provides a lot of additional sustaining power but is a expensive item to build. It also provides a ranged slow to help keep a target in range after initiating. The active on the item can be used for an additional 100 healing during w's duration.

I next build a Frozen Mallet.
The FM gives a nice health boost and will help you keep your target in range for the pain train of rampages. It makes you even more disruptive to their team during team fights as there is no chance of a carry kiting with this debuff spammed on them.

I next build a Randuin's Omen. This item is guaranteed to be effective since Hec has great mobility and can position so well with his ultimate. This item can really hurt the enemies AD carry and fighter.


I finish the build by upgrading Sheen to a Trinity Force. Very rarely will a game last long enough to do this...Some will scoff because this and FM both have on hit slows...it really doesn't matter though. The stats on the item are strong for the cost even without the slow.

Youmuu's Ghostblade or The Brutalizer these are acceptable substitutions for Ionian Boots of Lucidity if you decide that Ninja Tabi or mercury treads are the best for a particular game.

I will run a brutalizer and merc treds if my first ganks net me a couple early kills. This route a slower, more expensive way to hit the CDR cap, but if you are head the extra offensive power may snowball you effectively.

I hope you've enjoyed your read of my Hecarim guide and that I've inspired you to try philo jungling with him.

If you've enjoyed this guide, check out my others.

Feel free to vote and comment.

+reps are always appreciated.