This is my first guide, so commenets and suggestions are always welcomed :) Hecarim is decent in early-mid game, and is unstoppable late game. His ult provides alot of utility and his E makes it very hard for junglers to gank you. He also has good burst damage during laning phase.

His E and movement speed late games lets you trollololol run around and burst squishies to half health during mid-late game.

Hecarim is played as a tank/burster and provides potent damage every 5 seconds (if played optimally). Focus on getting assists, and knockback enemies to feed your AD carry.

Hecarim is good against assassins like Talon and AD carries like Vayne.

So far, Riven is a hard counter to Hecarim

4/27/2012:
-Remade item build order.
-Added early/mid/late game and team fight section

4/28/2012:
-Revised skill order
-Added in depth explanation for masteries
-Revised Item Build
-"Item Build" is now known as Item Build Explanation
-Moved synopsis of items to "Item Build Explanation"
-Changed guide title to "In Depth Solo top lane"
-Revised item build
-Added counter picking section

4/29/2012:
-removed "y u no jungle!?"
-revised masteries

4/30/2012:
-revised "final comments"
-revised "pros/cons"
-revised and added info on "counterpicking for solo top lane"
-revised "skills"
-changed title to The Dark Knight: In Depth Solo top lane

5/1/2012:
-updated item build
-updated summoner spells
-made minor tweaks
-added "Hecarim's Combos"

Pros:

Strong late game: huehuehue never die
High movement speed late game
Ult provides a lot of utility
E helps keep enemies of your carry


Cons:

High skill cap
Needs tons of farm
Squishy during early game

9/10/11

• Offense tree gives armor pen. which helps with your burst damage early game, and also provides you some damage to help you last hit
• Defense tree gives you survivability. Hecarim is a squishy f*** early game. You will need this. Also helps you tank 1-2 tower shots.
• Utility tree gives you mana regen and speed boost, which makes your initial burst more potent and provides the mana you need to be able to burst-poke more frequently

These masteries allows you to poke-burst at lvl 3. Defense tree allows you to shrug off minions. Utility tree gives you the mana and speed to sustain your pokes. The speed also helps you run away before the enemy can retaliate after your poke

9/21/0

Also a viable choice. Makes you tankier, but he is a bit mana hungry on early levels.

Armor pen. makes your burst damage more potent. Magic resist, and Armor resist gives you survivability. Hecarim is best during late game, so I get (+2.7 magic/armor resist at lvl 18)

Runes are really up to you. What ever fits your play style.

Hecarim ignores unit collision and gains attack damage equal to 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20 / 22.5 / 25% of his bonus movement speed.


Meh passive, late game it gives you around 50 attk damage. Ignoring unit collision is what allows him to chase down enemies






Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies, dealing physical damage. (50% damage to minions and monsters)
If Hecarim damages at least one enemy unit with this attack, he gains a stack of Rampage, reducing the base cooldown of this skill by 1 second for a short duration. This effect can stack up to 2 times.


Damage isnt that great early game. His Q cool down reduction takes too long to become potent in small 1v1 skirmishes. Put one point in early, so you can get those Sheen procs. If you max this first, you might as well play Skarner instead. (hint, he's q is better)






Hecarim surrounds himself with the spirit of dread for 4 seconds, dealing magic damage per second to all enemies within its reach. Additionally, Hecarim is healed for a percentage of the damage enemies within the area take from any source. Healing from damage dealt to minions is capped per cast.


Max this last. Only good late game: when your team can do tons of damage, and you get tons of heal. :P






Hecarim gains 75% movement speed over the course of three seconds, ending one second afterward. His next attack knocks the target back, dealing physical damage based on how far Hecarim has traveled during Devastating Charge's duration.


Gives good burst damage and knockback. Provides utility to chase or runaway, and has good damage when fully charged. Max this skill first. This skill has a reallllllllyyyy lonnngg CD on early levels. Maxing this skill along with CDR items makes you extremely potent and allows you to trollololol away from ganks and such.

Maxing E first allows you to compete in a 1v1 or 2v2 situation. Q and W are better during team fights, which usually occur during mid-late game. Q also takes too long to get to its full potential during small skirmishes, and it also pushes your lane hard during early game if you choose to max Q first. E lets you poke your enemy hard, coupled with Q and sheen procs, the combo gives you nice burst damage, and your W helps you win trades. Maxing E also lets you roam or help an ally half a map away from you.

NOTE: This skill also stuns the enemy, if you look closely there is a [very] short stun animation after the knock back.





Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing magic damage to anyone they strike.
Hecarim releases a shockwave when he finishes his charge, dealing additional magic damage and causing nearby enemies to flee in terror away from Hecarim for 1 second.


Bread and butter. Lets you chase, run away, save allies, interrupt channeled ults. Overall a decent skill. Only initiate if you are the only one who can. Its better to let a tank or tanky DPS to go in first.

NOTE: You can get stuck if you ult or E into terrain. ie cliff, mountains, etc.

Max E first. Gives you really good burst damage, coupled with your other skills. Your burst can get your enemy down to 3/4 to 2/3 of their health. Since you will be maxing E first, you will need to rush CDR items. After you get your Kindlegem and Glacial Shroud, you can start roaming around. The CDR also allows you to initiate with a burst and end the battle with another burst, which usually guarantees you a kill.

Note: Remember to charge up your E for maximum damage!

Hecarims Burst combo is as follows:

E > Q minions > W > (E's knockback) > Q

If you're just poking them then hide in bush, get behind them and charge up E

E > W > Q on enemy champion > (E's knockback) > Trollololol away as they are forced to use a health pot.

Teleport can help you push unguarded towers or a team mate who needs helps. It is important to WARD EVERYWHERE so you can tele to it.

Possible combos with Tele:

• Tele to minion or ward > R > Q > E > W > Q > (E's knock back)

Possible combos with Flash:

• E > Q > W > Flash > (E's knock back) > Q
• Flash > R > > Q > E > W > Q > (E's knockback)

Other viable choices:

Charge up (preferably when you are in a bush) > Run towards enemy > > (so you will get the heal from ) > +knock back > auto attack > > Run away



towards enemy > optional: flash (if the enemy has hard cc like a stun > to run away



> > > > >



> when you are near target > > knock back (it should be fully charged when you get to the target) > > autoattack > > to finish off target and get away from the turret OR OR OR any combination of the three skills.

-Since you are maxing E first, you will be able to go in a fight with , and use to escape.

You want to get g/10 as fast as possible. This helps you buy tons of wards and gives you sustainability. Upgrade your shoes and get a phage>sheen>trinity force. Then rush CDR items. At max CDR, lasts 4 secs with a 9 sec CD. This lets you run around and Q spam all day, then burst your enemy down with E at max charge or knock them back to your team.

Core:
+


Synopsis:
These items lets you run around and keep up with your enemies, while being able to support your team.


lets you chase down enemies, or slow them when you are trying to escape. Also a nice item to counter AD carries

Makes you a tower pushing demi-god, adds speed, mana regen, and tankiness

Provides damage, magic resist, and a shield.

Gives CDR and speed boost. At full CDR you can E > Reverie > E ensuring that your enemies will never escape ;) Also provides the mana regen you need for keeping up your Q

Helps you tank turret and gives nice armor and CDR

Hecarim is very vulnerable to CC

Play passively and farm until you are level 4. Farm in the mean time and poke when it is deemed safe. If your lane gets pushed then use your E to knockback the enemy into your tower. At level 4 you can start poke-burst your enemy to death. His E is godly early game. Be careful not to die, Hecarim drops out very fast if you die a couple times during laning phase. On the other hand, he snowballs really easily after your first and second kill/assist. Get gold/10 and upgrade your boots.

If all goes well, you should be pretty ahead during mid game. Get a early phage, this gives you some extra health, dmg, and slow. Your phage will help you follow up with your initial burst. You can usually get someone down to half health at this time, provided that you execute your combo perfectly. If you are up against someone who is really tanky or has a lot of cc, then your best bet is to farm and wait for a gank. Someone like Riven can out sustain your damage, and cancel out your burst with her stun. Build towards a Trinity Force and CDR items

By now, you should be able to farm really fast. Farm towards a Reverie, this item gives you a nice speed boost when your E is down and provides some nice CDR. Also get a Frozen heart, and you should have 35% CDR. By this time, you should be able to burst down AP/AD carries into a bloody pulp.

Always target squishies. Your ult and E allows you to do this. If you execute your combo perfectly, you can get a kill before the fear wears out.

R > Q > > W > E > Q > (E's knockback) > if you need to escape) > Q > W > E > ...etc etc..

Its better if you dont initiate a fight. Why you ask? after you ult in, you will most likely be cc'd to death and you wont be able to execute your full combo. Let someone else initiate, then ult in, and burst your enemy squishy down.

Only initiate a team fight if you are the only one who can.

Hecarim eats assassins for breakfast.


Um..yea..you can take out half his health at level 4 with your burst.


Cant really kill him, but you can easily out lane him.


Depends on how good the player is, but Hecarim is usually able to out poke him.


Dodge his skill shots and you should be fine.




She is able to trade, if not, deal more damage to you.


Riven is able to chase you down after your burst. Not only that, her shield also blocks out the majority of your burst damage.


His stun pretty much stops you from harassing him.




Rumble can block out some of the burst damage with his shield, and trade off the damage. Be careful if Rumble gets a early because his flamethrower will get some of his health back.


This matchup has a very high skill cap, but with practice, Hecarim could disrupt Nasus's Q farm with knock back.


Her polymorph and slow combo pretty much shuts down Hecarim's harass. Time your bursts so that her skills are on cool down.

Note: You are having a good game if you can get a + by 15:00.

Only turret dive if you can get a kill, because if you cant, your E will put you into a unfavorable position under the tower. You will probably die, unless you dove under the tower at full health, you may be able to escape, but at very very very very low health.

If your carry gets focused, E the enemy away, and hopefully the rest of your team mates will help protect your carry. If not, then save your ult to save your carry rather then to initiate a fight.