Talk:Hecarim/@comment-85.246.198.98-20130212005420/@comment-70.191.227.4-20130212035419

I won't comment on your spelling, but if you click the [ ] icon below your post, spell check will work in your comment, greatly improving your legibility.

As for your build, your core assumption "Hecarim really needs movement speed items" is incorrect. You will always build at least enhanced movement speed 2 boots (+ 45 MS) and get 3 MS quints (+4.5% of base MS). This totals to ~60 MS, putting you at 405 total. This puts Hecarim near the 415 MS soft cap. Any more MS will have 80% effectiveness, making it partially wasted. Most Hecarims also get Ghost, which adds 35% MS. When this is active, even with no non-boots speed items Hecarim will hit the 490 MS soft cap. Above this all MS bonuses are halved, making any extra bonuses basically completely wasted. Obviously using your E at any point will hit the highest cap.

With these factors in mind, it's quite clear that Hecarim DOESN'T need speed items, despite what his passive would seem to suggest. Shurelya's LOOKS good, but they severely reduced the regen on philo in s3, making it a sub-optimal pick up early, weakening Hecarim's already weak early game. Add that to the fact that Hecarim is one champion who, with E, R and Ghost, will NEVER have problems initiating a fight, and you see that Shurelya's also isn't all it's chalked up to be.

Zepher is similarly, overrated. Hecarim, simply put, doesn't need the attack speed that much. He uses his skills, particularly Q, to damage while moving. He certainly will attack, but his focus is on high mobility, AoE skill spam. As such, the best offensive stats are AD and CDR, not the large attack speed zepher grands (Zepher also grands AD, but only 20, and CDR can be obtained from much more efficient sources).

An example ideal build would be:

1: Mercury's treads. This gives you an early source of MR (Which your build will be lacking for a while) and Tenacity. Against very Physical heavy teams Ninja Tabi are also an option. I personally would only get boots of swiftness against Slow heavy teams, which many champions such as ashe, singed and rumble, who can chain perma-slows. Offering no tenacity and no MR makes me thing Merc. treads are usually superior.

2: Spirit of the Elder Lizard. Simply put, this is everything you ever wanted. 50 AD, 10% CDR, lots of Regen, Murder jungle mobs faster, and true damage on all of your skills (even W, trust me, it works). The sheer efficiency and damage this item grants is amazing, and you should aim to get it as your first finished item (unless you finish Merc. Treads first).

3: Frozen Fist. Hecarim without a slow sucks. Just getting that out there. He needs it to compliment his chase heavy playstyle. This item is similarly, everything Hecarim ever wanted. A slow, a sheen proc. (To use with your Qs, it's even AoE!), Armor, CDR, Mana (It's way more helpful than it looks, seeing as past the 1st or second one you'll never see blue again) and a splash of AP (not great, but the damage it adds to your W and R is not unnoticeable). Trinity Force just doesn't compare, with an unreliable slow, no AoE sheen proc, no CDR and no armor. TF + Frozen heart may be better than Iceborn gauntlet, but Iceborn gauntlet has the advantage of always slowing and costing half as much. Gold DOES matter, so practically speaking IBG is always better than TF.

4: Spirit Visage/Locket of the Iron Solari. This choice is simple. Are your enemies magical, mixed or physical. If they have 2+ AP attackers, or powerful hybrids, then Spirit visage is an obvious buy. If they have only 1, use your judgement. An Annie won't try to burst you, and if she does a Locket's health is good enough to survive easily. A super fed ryze might be an issue though, and Spirit visage not only reduces his damage, but increases your healing. Obviously never get SV against an all physical team, you're wasting 50 MR. Don't get both either, either item will put you at 35 (in Locket's case) or 40 (in SV's case) % CDR. As 40% CDR is the cap, getting both is wasteful (don't sweat the 5% missing CDR if you get locket, 5% doesn't matter much).

5: Sunfire Cape. Obviously only for if they have a fair amount of physical damage, but let's face it, all teams do nowadays, and you're lucky to see even one AP, let alone 2-3. This gives lots of Health and armor, making you even more immortal, while not gimping your damage output (40 DPS in a fair sized AoE is nothing to scoff at for an in-your-face bruiser like Hecarim). I consider this to be better than Warmogs because of the armor and damage passive, but different people may hold different opinions.

6th item is so situational it's almost pointless to even consider it in an ideal build (The whole build should be situational, except for SotEL and MAYBE Iceborn gauntlet), these are just overall strong items. Good ideas for a 6th item include:

Offensive: Last Whisper, Ravenous Hydra, Mercrial Scimitar/Maw of Malmortius (If facing heavy AP)

Defensive: Guardian Angel, Warmog's, Randuin's Omen, Runic Bulwark

Also, if jungling ALWAYS take smite and usually take ghost on Hecarim, though flash isn't terrible.

For runes, I advise Flat AD red, Flat armor yellow, MR per level blues and Movement speed quintessences. Masteries are 9/21/0, grabing both offensive and defensive summoner skill masteries (for ghost and smite), butcher (clearing jungle), CDR, AD/level and armor pen in the offensive tree. In defense, get all the Hp related masteries (durability, veteran's scars and Juggernaut), bladed armor, the armor masteries, tenacity, reinfoced armor and defender, and of course honor guard. Skip legendary armor though, it's a noob trap, as it only boosts bonus armor and magic resists.