Hecarim does not work in the new jungle: Riot please help

DJ Polski·Dec 16, 2014·2 votes·1,376 views

I'm not sure how many people played Hecarim in the old jungle( before season 5 jungle) but I think that he does not work in the new jungle (pre season 5). Previously I played him with an attack damage build. However now it is very difficult to do this and taking camps has become nearly impossible, especially before level 9. I own the Arcade Hecarim skin and I used to enjoy playing the champion very much. However all the fun has been taken out of playing him. Has anyone else encountered these problems?

11 Comments

TeemoJenkinsDec 16, 20141 votes

Played him in both. Not having issues. What path are you taking? What's your rune / mastery setup?

Laughing FishDec 16, 20141 votes

He could certainly use some more jungle sustain, that's for sure.

1st HanarSpectreDec 16, 20141 votes

The only Hecarim game you have in your history you bought skirmisher saber which does not offer anything he wants. Get trailblazer for the health return if you feel like you need a bit more sustain.

L0reweaverDec 16, 20141 votes

Don't max 'q' first. I'm new but Hec is my favorite so far. Anytime i follow the 'guides' and max 'q' first i die from lack of mana/damage. focusing on lowering the cooldowns of 'w' and 'e' first gives plenty of mobility and sustain. Be sure to never smite unless you have aura of despair going. Also, i find he does better with a tanky build than with a AD build. He gets enough damage from his passive if you get the right items to work his speed.

Also he shepherds minions like it's his job. item 2137

causeimdabatmanDec 16, 20141 votes

{quoted}

Don't max 'q' first. I'm new but Hec is my favorite so far. Anytime i follow the 'guides' and max 'q' first i die from lack of mana/damage. focusing on lowering the cooldowns of 'w' and 'e' first gives plenty of mobility and sustain. Be sure to never smite unless you have aura of despair going. Also, i find he does better with a tanky build than with a AD build. He gets enough damage from his passive if you get the right items to work his speed.

Also he shepherds minions like it's his job.

no just no.

HateDaddyDec 16, 20141 votes

{quoted}

Don't max 'q' first. I'm new but Hec is my favorite so far. Anytime i follow the 'guides' and max 'q' first i die from lack of mana/damage. focusing on lowering the cooldowns of 'w' and 'e' first gives plenty of mobility and sustain. Be sure to never smite unless you have aura of despair going. Also, i find he does better with a tanky build than with a AD build. He gets enough damage from his passive if you get the right items to work his speed.

Also he shepherds minions like it's his job.

Maxing Q first is by far the best. Maxing W doesn't help your sustain, the cooldown is still long regardless and the healing is capped. It's better to max Q/E/W in that order. Q max increases the speed of your clear time and damage overall. E max second makes your ganks better overall while W does nothing for this.

Currently Hecarim gets beat up but can manage. He has some huge buffs on pbe to his W and Q, honestly he could become too tier with this. As for runes and masteries, I run 21/9, ad quints, armor pen reds, flat armor yellows and flat CDR blues with 2 points in sorcery in the offensive mastery tree to give me 2.5% CDR to bring me to 10% with runes (I like this a lot but I want to see how he does with scaling CDR blues). Don't run attack speed runes, it's a waste. His Q is his main clear tool and you will honestly AA as much as you Q. You could run movement speed but I just don't think it's necessary either. Flat armor quints or flat ad quints are much better honestly, one gives you more damage and better clearing, the other gives you more durability.

I also run trailblazer/warrior on him, after completing this, sustain just isn't really an issue. Then I pick up a trinity if I can but if I'm not doing too hot, I'll probably go gauntlet instead (but trinity + warrior enchantment makes you a god in terms of damage). After that it's all durability. Spirit visage, frozen heart, thornmail and potentially righteous glory (I haven't tried this yet and I want to).

Either way with incoming buffs, which will help his sustain quite a bit, I expect to see the pony once again.

L0reweaverDec 17, 20141 votes

Fair enough. It may just be my play style and i admit to being a manawhore but any time i've tried to max 'q' first i am oom unless i have the blue buff. I'm not necessarily talking about the clear speed. Honestly, after one or two clears i spend most of my time going from lane to lane and taking camps when it's convenient.

As for play style i have so much fun w/ hec b/c i can be everywhere at once. I use him as a hit and run champion that can knock down a turret or harass a lane and then be in another lane before the enemy team gets to that lane. I'm not saying it'll work in high ELO but i've been doing ok in normal games. I don't get as many kills and i'm never carrying the team but i feel like i fill a pretty good role. At least i'm not being yelled at by my laners for not helping like i do with other champs i spend more time farming than ganking with. On that, i'm not really ganking so much as harassing. It's like a drive by with the 'e' 'w' 'q' combo and if the laner is prepared they get a kill and i get an assist. I usually have 30-40% cooldown by endgame (i use a mix of flat cooldown and scaling blues. starts at 6%ish and ends at 10% @18) so i can basically charge from lane to lane soaking up the damage while the other champs do the dps and heal me with my 'w.' I'm not the best Hec by far and i won't win all the 1v1's but i can also lead the enemy team on a wild goosechase through the woods when they're chasing for what they think is an easy kill. I dunno, like i said; i have an odd play style but i like the impact i have in a game and, so far, my team mates have seemed to appreciate it.

Masteries i've been doing defense tree mostly and i just don't have a problem with the first clear if i use the toad buff along with my 'w' and the mastery that makes attacking monsters take damage. With item 3800 item 3056 and item 2137 i can drop a turret pretty much every 2 minutes while flooding the lanes with minions. item 3078 and item 3272 finish the build along with trailblazer, of course. If by some chance we've not dropped the inhibitors by the time i've afforded that i get item 3060 for a joke and Baron Buff for winions.

idk, trailblazer kind of solves any sustain problems i had, honestly. All that being said, i certainly wouldn't mind him getting some buffs.

PS using 'e' on a turret when Hecarim has the golem buff from jungle and properly timing item 3800 and item 2053 does a stupid amount of burst damage in one hit. I feel like those two items were made for Hecarim.

ManwadDec 16, 20141 votes

Hec does not scale with AD, hits ratios are too few and are garbage, he instead scales with armour pen and spellblade, so a Black Cleaver/Last Whisper and a Tri will fit all his damage needs. 200 base damage on an ability that can have a 1.4 second CD, hell yeah.

Also, run utility and defense masteries in the new jungle. That's what I found that works for me.

Kowe The EwokDec 16, 20141 votes

I would suggest to support this topic: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/EtAfMEVe-why-hecarim-is-not-fine-even-though-he-performed-well-at-lcs-long

It explains why Hecarim was played at LCS - and performed well - this however is no indicator of his average performance. As long as Riot sees him being played at tournaments without considering the full background he most likely won't see any changes.

That's why I consider it important to make the linked topic popular so Riot sees it.

HateDaddyDec 17, 20141 votes

I understand your points but Hecarim with items might be the best late game team fighting jungler next to Amumu. Like a 4-5 item Hecarim can legit carry a game. I would focus more on that than looking for split push opportunities. As for ganks, it's all positioning, you usually want flanks from behind so you can knock them back with his E but keep in mind, Hecarim is pretty amazing at diving too. You are prone to counter jungling early because as a duelist, you're usually pretty subpar given you're likely not going to have W up since you use it as a clear tool and you get low early. But dealing with counter jungling now is easier since paths you take can be very unpredictable and trying to follow where the other jungler starts is usually how you can prepare yourself for an early invade.

But yeah, these buffs are huge man. I wouldn't consider myself a Hecarim main but I do play him in normals a lot and he's a jungler I really enjoy playing. I'll probably be playing him, Olaf and skarner as my main junglers once I hit ranked up again.

TwonsterDec 17, 20141 votes

I found a pretty good set up runes/masteries wise for getting hecarim through the early jungle.

Runes:

Armor Pen Reds Armor yellows 5% worth of CDR Blues, the rest armor Spell Vamp Quints

Masteries

5/13/12 (going up the utility tree for spell vamp)

With a leash you can easily do your first clear of the jungle and be around 75% Hp and healthy enough for a gank. Spell vamp works very well with his kit and smite. You might not hit quite as hard initially with this set up....but it ensures a smooth early game so you can start scaling quicker (waste a lot less gold on pots as well). All the spellvamp can be deceptive if you are ever counter jungled. You can sustain through an engagement very well and usually come out on top.

I go trailblazer into warrior....if I am doing well I finish trinity force next. if not, I still get the phage....but then either get thornmail or spirit visage based on who is doing well on the enemy team. (thornmail plus his W can be very strong sustaining through a teamfight with a lot of physical damage enemies).

Give the set up a shot and see if you like it.