How to Play Hecarim: 5 Essential Tips for Jungle Domination

Overview

How to play Hecarim effectively involves mastering his unique mobility-based playstyle through optimal jungle pathing, strategic ability usage, and proper itemization focused on movement speed conversion. The Shadow of War excels with a balanced bruiser build, purposeful ganking techniques that leverage his speed and crowd control, and tactical teamfight approaches where he can either serve as primary engage or backline disruptor.

Introduction to Hecarim

Learning how to play Hecarim effectively can transform your jungle performance in League of Legends. As the Shadow of War gallops through Summoner’s Rift, his unique combination of speed, damage, and crowd control makes him a formidable jungle champion in the right hands. This guide will provide you with five essential tips to master Hecarim and dominate the jungle with this centaur warrior.

Hecarim excels at rapid map movement, devastating ganks, and teamfight disruption. His passive ability, which converts movement speed into attack damage, creates a unique playstyle that rewards players who understand how to maximize his mobility. Whether you’re new to the champion or looking to refine your skills, these tips will help you unleash Hecarim’s full potential.

The jungle meta constantly evolves, but Hecarim’s core strengths remain relevant across patches. With the right approach to pathing, ganking, and itemization, you’ll learn how to play Hecarim at a level that will strike fear into your opponents and carry your team to victory.

Understanding Hecarim’s Abilities and Playstyle

Before diving into advanced strategies, it’s crucial to understand how to play Hecarim by mastering his abilities. His kit synergizes perfectly with his role as a high-mobility engage jungler:

Passive: Warpath – Hecarim gains attack damage equal to a percentage of his bonus movement speed. This passive is what makes movement speed items so valuable on him.

Q: Rampage – A quick slash that damages nearby enemies. Each cast reduces its cooldown for a short period, allowing for rapid spam during fights. This is your main clearing and damage tool.

W: Spirit of Dread – Creates an aura around Hecarim that damages enemies and heals him for a percentage of damage dealt to enemies within the area. Essential for sustain during clears and teamfights.

E: Devastating Charge – Hecarim gains movement speed, building up to a powerful charge that knocks back and damages an enemy. This is your primary ganking tool and engages mechanism.

R: Onslaught of Shadows – Hecarim charges forward, creating spectral riders that terrify enemies they pass through. He deals damage upon arrival at his destination. This ultimate is perfect for initiating teamfights or creating chaos in the enemy backline.

Hecarim’s playstyle centers around leveraging his mobility to apply pressure across the map. He thrives as a farming jungler who scales well with items, but can also succeed with early aggressive ganking. According to League of Graphs, successful Hecarim players balance efficient clearing with timely ganks to snowball advantages.

To truly master how to play Hecarim, you’ll need to develop instincts for when to farm and when to gank. His clear speed is excellent, but his ganking potential is too strong to ignore, especially when lanes offer easy engage opportunities.

Mastering the Early Game Jungle Path

A strong early game sets the foundation for how to play Hecarim successfully. Your initial jungle pathing is crucial for maintaining health, reaching level 3 efficiently, and setting up your first gank or counter-jungle opportunity.

For most games, start with a full clear to maximize Hecarim’s farming potential. Here’s an optimal path:

Red Buff Start:

• Begin at Red Buff (use Smite)
• Move to Krugs
• Clear Raptors (use Q effectively to hit multiple targets)
• Take Wolves
• Clear Blue Buff
• Finish with Gromp (use second Smite)

Blue Buff Start:

• Begin at Blue Buff (use Smite)
• Take Gromp
• Clear Wolves
• Take Raptors (use Q for multi-target damage)
• Clear Red Buff (use second Smite)
• Finish with Krugs

When clearing, prioritize using your Q on cooldown and position yourself to hit multiple monsters simultaneously. Your W should be activated when engaging a camp to maximize healing. Save your E for moving between camps more quickly.

After your first clear, assess the map for ganking opportunities. Hecarim’s level 3 ganks are strong, especially with red buff, but a full clear into Scuttle Crab control often provides better value. This approach aligns with what U.GG’s statistics show about successful Hecarim jungle pathing.

Remember, Hecarim’s clear speed improves dramatically once you have your first item, so don’t feel pressured to force early ganks if no obvious opportunities exist. Instead, focus on efficient pathing and tracking the enemy jungler to set up counter-ganks or objective control.

For a deeper understanding of jungle pathing and control, check out our article on how to play Fiddlesticks, which offers valuable insights into jungle control strategies.

Optimal Item Builds and Runes

Knowing how to play Hecarim effectively requires understanding his optimal builds and rune setups. Hecarim’s itemization should emphasize movement speed, durability, and ability haste.

Core Items:

• Divine Sunderer/Trinity Force (Mythic choice – Sunderer for tankier enemies, Trinity for squishier teams)
• Dead Man’s Plate (Movement speed + armor)
• Force of Nature (Magic resistance + movement speed)
• Sterak’s Gage (Survivability in teamfights)
• Black Cleaver (Armor penetration + health + ability haste)

Situational Items:

• Death’s Dance (Against heavy AD threats)
• Chempunk Chainsword (When facing healing-heavy teams)
• Randuin’s Omen (Against crit-heavy compositions)
• Spirit Visage (Enhances your W healing)
• Youmuu’s Ghostblade (For more movement speed and lethality)

For boots, Mercury Treads or Plated Steelcaps are your primary options, depending on the enemy team composition. The movement speed from boots is crucial for Hecarim’s passive, so complete them early.

Optimal Rune Setup:

• Primary (Precision): Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Last Stand
• Secondary (Sorcery): Celerity, Waterwalking
• Stat Shards: Attack Speed, Adaptive Force, Armor/Magic Resist

Phase Rush is a viable alternative keystone in matchups where you need the extra burst of speed to engage or disengage. In this case, take Nimbus Cloak, Celerity, and Waterwalking in your primary tree.

Your rune choices should complement your playstyle and team composition. If you’re the primary engage, focus on durability. If your team already has strong frontliners, lean more toward damage-oriented options.

For summoner spells, Flash and Smite are standard. However, Ghost can replace Flash in some scenarios where extended mobility is more valuable than the instant repositioning Flash provides.

Effective Ganking Techniques

Mastering how to play Hecarim means perfecting your ganking approach. His speed and crowd control make him one of the most feared gankers in the game when executed correctly.

The key to successful Hecarim ganks lies in utilizing his E (Devastating Charge) effectively. Always activate it well before entering lane to build up maximum speed. The longer you charge, the further you’ll knock back your target, potentially pushing them deeper into your territory.

When ganking, consider these approaches:

Lane Ganks: Move through the lane brush when the enemy is pushed up. Activate E and burst out with maximum speed for a surprise engage.

River/Tri-brush Ganks: More conventional, but still effective with Hecarim’s speed. Time your approach with your laner’s engage or when the enemy has used key escape abilities.

Counter-ganks: Hecarim excels at counter-ganking due to his rapid map movement. Watch for the enemy jungler’s position and move to counter their plays.

Tower Dives: With your W providing healing and your E allowing for quick escapes, Hecarim can execute tower dives when enemies are low. Coordinate with your laner to ensure success.

When executing ganks, the sequence typically follows this pattern:

1. Activate E from fog of war
2. Rush in and knock the enemy into your team
3. Immediately use Q and activate W
4. Continue with Q spam while staying in range of your W
5. Save your ultimate for when they try to escape or if you need to engage from further away

Remember that Hecarim’s ultimate can be used to bypass wards entirely, making it particularly effective against cautious laners. As ProGuides suggests, using your ult from unexpected angles often yields the best results.

After a successful gank, help your laner push the wave to deny the enemy CS and experience, then consider invading the enemy jungle or securing objectives. This continued map pressure is key to playing Hecarim effectively.

Dominating Team Fights

As the game progresses, knowing how to play Hecarim in team fights becomes crucial. Your role shifts from ganking to initiating fights and disrupting enemy carries.

In team fights, Hecarim typically fills one of two roles:

Primary Engage: If you’re the main initiator, look for opportunities to use your ultimate to create chaos in the enemy backline. Aim to hit multiple targets with the fear effect, then follow up with E to isolate priority targets.

Follow-up Engage: If your team has other engage tools, wait for the initial engage then use your mobility to reach backline carries. Your E and R combination can bypass frontliners entirely.

Here are key techniques for team fight dominance:

• Use your ultimate to split the enemy team or to force key targets into unfavorable positions
• Activate W just before engaging to maximize healing during the initial burst exchange
• Keep spamming Q throughout the fight to maintain constant damage output
• Don’t be afraid to use Flash + E + R for unexpected engages from flanking positions
• Position yourself to hit multiple enemies with your Q and W abilities

Target prioritization is essential. While it’s tempting to charge straight for the enemy ADC, sometimes it’s better to peel for your own carries or focus on disrupting dangerous opponents like assassins or mages. Assess each fight based on which enemies pose the greatest threat to your team’s success.

Remember that Hecarim’s strength diminishes in extended fights, so aim to create decisive advantages early in the engagement. If the fight drags on, use your mobility to disengage and reset rather than dying unnecessarily.

Late-game Hecarim should focus on objective control around Baron and Elder Dragon. Your ability to engage or zone enemies makes you invaluable during these critical moments. Position yourself to either steal objectives or prevent enemy approaches.

To enhance your team fight strategies, you might find our guide on how to play Galio beneficial, as it covers effective initiation and crowd control techniques.

Conclusion

Mastering how to play Hecarim effectively transforms you into a terrifying jungle presence capable of influencing all lanes and objectives. By understanding his unique movement-based playstyle, optimizing your early clears, building appropriately, executing precision ganks, and controlling team fights, you’ll maximize Hecarim’s potential in any match.

Remember that Hecarim rewards proactive gameplay. Your ability to read the map, predict enemy movements, and arrive at the right place at the right time will determine your success. Practice these five essential tips consistently, and you’ll see your win rate with the Shadow of War climb steadily.

Whether you’re charging into the enemy backline or securing crucial objectives, Hecarim’s versatility makes him a valuable addition to any team composition. His balance of damage and disruption gives him staying power in the jungle meta, regardless of seasonal changes.

Now that you know how to play Hecarim at a higher level, take these strategies into your next ranked games and enjoy watching enemies flee before your unstoppable charge. The battlefield awaits, summoner!

Frequently Asked Questions