Hecarim/Strategy

Lanes and Roles

 * is a champion with strong defensive stats, good base damage, and average AD ratios, which means he doesn't benefit very much from items that provide raw AD. Because of this, he is most of time played as an off-tank, with armor penetration and Spellblade items as his offensive options.
 * Hecarim can be played as a full-tank, but this is usually not recommended, as he doesn't have enough disruption on his kit. Also, it wastes the damage potential from his skills, mainly.
 * Hecarim is most of time played at the jungle, due to his ganking potential with, which increases dramatically after he obtains . Also, Hecarim has the sustain and mobility needed to effectively clear jungle camps and gank when needed. Because Hecarim is somewhat mana hungry, having easy access to the blue buff is an amazing asset for him.
 * That does not mean can't used at other lanes. He is also played at top lane, although this is very rare. Hecarim should be conservative until he obtains items like  and/or, otherwise he is at risk of being out of mana quickly. Still, the main reasons why Hecarim can be used at top lane, is because of the better gold influx, and the fact that Hecarim counters some popular top laners. While he loses some of his ganking potential by going top lane, he can still make surprise ganks at mid lane. Also, thanks to his , Hecarim isn't easy to gank (he can even use his  to escape if necessary). His late-game is mostly the same as his jungler counterpart.
 * It is important to not that independent from whether Hecarim chooses to go top or jungle, he is one of the few bruisers that doesn't fall off late game. In fact, Hecarim has amazing teamfighting potential.

Skill Usage

 * benefits from all movement speed bonuses, including those provided by boots (Movement speed 1 provides +25, 2 is +45, 3 is +60, 5 is +105), (+27%),,  and  (up to +75%).
 * deals more damage based on the distance traveled. Try using or summoner spells such as  or  to maximize this damage.
 * There are also Nimble and Wanderer masteries and Swiftness runes
 * HOWEVER, raw movement speed in the range of 415–490 suffers an 80% multiplier, and raw movement speed beyond 490 suffers a 50% multiplier. See Movement speed for further information.
 * Therefore, it is probably better to simply build AD instead of getting movement speed buffs, simply for the better AD per gold ratio(s).
 * As a rule of thumb, having at least one movement speed item would be very efficient, two is optional and any above is considered cost inefficient.
 * can cast while moving, making it good for harassing melee champions, chasing enemies, and hit-and-run tactics.
 * Be sure to use at least once before ending, since the bonus movement speed gives you more damage.
 * restores health when nearby enemies take damage, including damage dealt by allies. Cast this during a large fight to maximize survivability.
 * When jungling as Hecarim, be sure to use while  is active to gain a small burst of healing.
 * Slow effects significantly reduce damage output if you build him with high movement speed.  and tenacity help to combat this.
 * applies on-hit effects and also damages turrets, try to combine it with or  to maximize its damage.
 * Be sure to activate just before using  whenever possible:
 * gains bonus damage from the distance traveled during.
 * can use knockback immediately after the forced flee from  to knock an enemy even closer to or farther away from his team.
 * can be used for avoiding many skillshots with disables, like, with the right timing.
 * You should do this carefully as has a high cooldown.
 * In team fights, try to use when your teammates use their high-damage abilities on enemy champions. In this case,  can be almost unkillable during the 4 second duration.
 * Note that the trick cannot be applied on team pushes as the healing is capped against minions.

Build Usage

 * Buying an will save another option for your boots.The 25% bonus size will increase your auto attack range in 43,and giving bonus range for your  too,totaling 406 attack range,this will make you a bigger threat in team fights,as you can jump in your enemies from afar,as well making easier for you to jump walls.
 * Because is weak against high sustained damage, consider a  against sustained autoattack damage or a  against sustained magic damage.
 * While defensive boots may be necessary for in most games, being a melee AD character, in games where  can afford to build more offensively, his  passive makes  an offensive alternative to  or.
 * has more limited usefulness because can use  to effectively traverse the map without them and entering combat nullifies their bonus movement speed; however, they can still provide an extra burst of damage on your first attack.
 * can be all the speed increase Hecarim needs to nearly maximize by increasing his base speed from 345 to 405, 10 points under the first soft cap. They also reduce the effectiveness of slows and allow for a more versatile itemization. A single Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed can be used to bring it to 411 movement speed, without using masteries.
 * is very useful for when defending the base because he can surprise his opponents by activating  at the spawning pool and dash to the pushing enemies. If you can time your  just before the enhanced autoattack, you can deal a high burst of damage even when you build a few offensive items because  converts your bonus movement speed into bonus AD.
 * Your AD can reach over 350 in a short time by using the method shown above.
 * Note that taking any damage will remove Homeguard's bonus movement speed.
 * synergizes with and  burst damage tendencies in general.
 * provides many useful stats for : health, attack damage, cooldown reduction and armor penetration.
 * Additionally, 's passive synergizes well with 's . With its short cooldown, it allows to apply the armor reduction stacks in quick succession.
 * Despite the virtues of building bonus movement speed on, it isn't necessary to stack movement speed on him. Even with only a couple bonus movement speed items, can get a large  bonus from runes, masteries, , and support champions with haste abilities such as  or anyone holding.
 * heals based on all damage dealt to enemies from any source.
 * boosts this healing. It is also a very useful item for in general, granting magic resist, health, health regen/5 seconds, and cooldown reduction, all of which are useful for 's common role as a tank.
 * Since returns health from ANY damage done to enemies while it is active,  makes a better-than-usual item, essentially granting up to a bonus 52.5 health regen/5 seconds for each nearby enemy champion (with enemy minion health drained being capped) for 4 seconds, in addition to the bonus armor and health.
 * and synergize particularly well with, as its low cooldown allows you to proc the bonus damage and slow approximately every other autoattack.
 * Alternatively, and especially since the rework to, can be a useful offensive item for . The bonus movement speed from  helps his roaming and gives bonus damage due to , and  grants bonus movement speed on-hit, improving his already potent chasing ability. However, unlike , it does not provide armor, cooldown reduction, or the slow, all of which are very useful for.
 * is an excellent mid game item for Hecarim, as all the stats it provides are greatly beneficial to him, making it very cost effective.
 * Getting an early is a common build path on Hecarim.
 * This is particularly useful if you are building instead of, as  fills in the cooldown reduction, mana, and armor you would be missing from the Gauntlet.
 * is somewhat of an underdog item to purchase for and in situations be a very good choice. The cleave and the massive AD bonus Helps Hecarim very much with additional AOE and waveclear, and Hecarim can perform a massive burst combo by implementing Crescent into the attacks. For example, Attack-Q-Attack-Crescent; this can create quick damage through animation cancelling and raw damage.
 * is an amazing item for Hecarim, as it gives him health, the mana sustain he desperatly needs and most importantly it gives him a strong speedboost for deadly initiations and ganks.

Countering

 * is a powerful AoE threat, especially in the later stages of the game. Try to prevent him from itemizing. In addition, spreading out will reduce his effectiveness by preventing him from terrifying your team with, mitigating the constant AoE damage Hecarim can deal with , and decreasing the amount of sustain he can gain from.
 * grants very high sustainability, but has a fairly lengthy cooldown and a short duration. Consider using burst damage or waiting for  to time out before targeting him.
 * may attempt to land behind you with and/or  to push you towards the rest of his team. Try to  away or position yourself so that this is not a possibility.
 * Powerful slows, such as, , or  can completely nullify the damage bonus from  and prevent Hecarim from engaging with.
 * is exceptionally weak at dueling against most champions early game, so he is susceptible to early invades from the opposing jungler. He is also incredibly reliant on, which can especially hinder his clear times should he lose the buff.
 * While Hecarim seems to be oppressive during early game when laning against certain champions, he is actually easy to counter on top lane. Most ranged champions will give him a hard time; examples include, who has his own movement speed boost and can harass Hecarim from a safe distance. , who has powerful slows and can prevent Hecarim from ever being able to engage; and , which has a slow on his to slow Hecarim and has powerful sustained damage.
 * Other champions who can beat Hecarim on laning are duelists, as Hecarim is a poor duelist by himself., , and AD are examples of duelists who are capable of beating Hecarim during laning phase and are able to 1x1 him at most stages of the game.
 * can beat Hecarim fairly well due to his which is a powerful slow. Malphite also stacks a lot of armor, which will give Hecarim a very hard time. Malphite also has his own engage ultimate to counter Hecarim.
 * can both slow Hecarim with his and has better 1x1 potential with his isolated . He can also dodge  by using.