Hecarim is one of the best junglers in League right now

Pick up Hecarim if you are looking to learn one of the best junglers in the game.

Every role is important in League of Legends, but games are often decided by the jungler.

Jungle is such an important role because it has the ability to snowball certain lanes, and it’s usually the role that focuses on objectives the most.

Since the position can be so impactful, it’s important to pick the right champions to help you climb whatever ladder you are in.

There are a lot of viable picks right now, and that can make things a bit tricky. Those picks are usually split into two categories — tanks and carries — but some champions are dynamic enough to do a bit of both.

The best champion in that category right now is Hecarim. The horse was recently discovered to be very powerful which led to some slight nerfs, but don’t let that scare you away — Hecarim is still incredibly strong.

How we got here

For starters, it’s important to realize how Hecarim got put into this position. After all, he was at the bottom of the win rates for ages after being ripped to shreds with nerfs and game changes.

The first piece to this puzzle happened in patch 6.10 when Riot gave Ghost a monster buff. They decreased its cooldown from 210 seconds to 180 seconds, and they also made it so that instead of getting only a 27 percent movement speed bonus, players got 28-45 percent (at levels 1-18) instead.

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Those are massive changes, and it was a no-brainer buff to Hecarim as the champion has always preferred to run Ghost over Flash.

The second change happened in the following patch when Trinity Force was changed.

Riot removed the critical strike chance from it completely, but they made up for that by increasing the attack speed from 15 percent to 40 percent, increasing the cooldown reduction from 10 percent to 20 percent and also taking the cost down from 3,800 gold to 3,733 gold.

Trinity Force was always a core item for Hecarim, but the changes made it more appealing to him than ever. It was another massive buff.

When you put these two buffs together, you get where Hecarim is today.

How to play him

You understand why Hecarim is strong, but now you need to learn how to make him work in an actual game.

His kit is very straightforward and everyone understands it (max Q-E-W), but what you do need to learn is how to build him correctly — because that’s where Hecarim is a bit tricky.

Unlike most junglers, do not rush to finish your jungle item first.

Instead, try to back for the first time so that you have enough gold for Stalker’s Blade (its effect is much more valuable to Hecarim than the other ones are) and a pair of basic boots.

After that, rush for your first full item — Trinity Force.

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Trinity Force is an expensive item to buy, so try to complete the three components in the order of Phage, Sheen and Stinger for maximum effectiveness.

There aren’t many champions who have as strong of a one-item power spike as Hecarim when he completes Trinity Force, and that’s why you want to get that as soon as possible. Ideally, you will complete the item before 20 minutes, and that will allow you to destroy everyone else on the map.

Once you complete Trinity Force, you will be able to run around the map looking for squishy champions to gank and one-shot.

After completing Trinity Force, upgrade your boots and finish your Stalker’s Blade with Cinderhulk. Then, simply go straight tank for the remainder of the game.

It will always be situational, but some good tank items for Hecarim are Dead Man’s Plate, Spirit Visage, and Guardian’s Angel.

This makes it so you are a massive late-game tank that can still dish out a lot of damage.

It will take a few games to become comfortable with Hecarim, but it is absolutely worth the time and effort as the horse could help you easily climb.

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