small hecarim rework to make him a better jungler early
lazy version: Give hecarim's W bonus healing for his damage only (no change to allied damage healing) based on additional non minion enemies nearby. e.g. 2×10% healing bonus on Wolf camp. Maybe reduce allied damage healing slightly to make total healing in teamfights unchanged.
full version: I think the main reason hecarim is not chosen very often to jungle (I.e. Not Tier 1 or 2) is because of his weak early game. He's a weak duelist, is shut down if you steal his first blue (needs mana), and doesn't have sustain for a good first clear (needs all 4 health pots to clear even if left unchecked) and doesn't have much health left to gank with (admittedly I'm only 22 so maybe with more runes and masteries this won't be a problem).
my first thought was to change hecarim's W to gain bonus healing based on hecarim's damage only (and maintain same healing based on allies damage) but then I realized this would probably make his top Lane overpowered. so instead, I propose to add bonus healing on hecarim's damage only (regular on allies damage) based on the number of non minion enemies within range. Basically, in a solo top Lane nothing changes. At Wolf camp, hecarim would get say (3-1)×10% bonus healing for his damage. Fighting a 5v5 at Dragon or Baron, his w would increase his own damages healing by (6-1)×10%. If needed for balance late game his w's healing based on allied damage could be reduced by 5% or 10%.
This would make him less vulnerable to counter jungling as he would get healed more when fighting another jungler at a buff, but leaves meaningful weaknesses such as being very mana dependent (needs first and sometimes second blue), having a very expensive build path, and having very long cooldowns on his w, e, and early game r.
The LAST thing I want to do is make hecarim a permanent pick/ban or make him less of a late game monster, I just think he needs a little help to survive early game against the duelist junglers that are dominating right now.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome here!