Guide · Jungle

Hecarim Guide

the Shadow of War

Fighter

Tank

Tier C Jungle

Hecarim, the Shadow of War, is a fighter and tank champion of medium difficulty. Across our 858 analysed ranked games, Hecarim is mostly played in the Jungle (100% of its games), with a 49.2% win rate in that role: tier C among Jungle champions (#32 of 48, ranked by win rate). Hecarim's damage is mostly physical (82%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 55.4% in short games (under 25 min, 325 games) versus 43.0% in long games (over 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.21

Averages measured over 858 Jungle games played with Hecarim, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Hecarim is a speed jungler: his attack damage rises by a percentage of his bonus movement speed. Rampage increases his damage and reduces its cooldown with each hit, Devastating Charge knocks back and deals damage based on the distance traveled, and Onslaught of Shadows charges in a line before terrifying on arrival.

The charge engage

E › AA AA › Q › W

When: An enemy is far away.

Devastating Charge increases your speed and lets you pass through units; your next attack knocks back and deals more damage the farther you have traveled.

The team fight

R › Q › W

When: Enemies are grouped.

Onslaught of Shadows charges in a line and terrifies nearby enemies on arrival; follow with Rampage and Spirit of Dread.

See all 3 Hecarim combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Rampage damages nearby enemies; if it hits at least one, the next ones become faster and stronger. Spirit of Dread heals you for a percentage of the damage taken by nearby enemies.

Common mistakes

• Attacking without bonus movement speed: your damage depends on it.
• Using Devastating Charge at too short a distance: its damage depends on the distance traveled.
• Casting the ultimate while forgetting it charges in front of you.

Riot's official tips for playing Hecarim

• Spirit of Dread restores Health when nearby enemies take damage, including damage dealt by allies. Cast this during a large fight to maximize Hecarim's survivability.
• Devastating Charge deals more damage based on the distance traveled. Try using Onslaught of Shadows or Summoner Spells such as Ghost or Flash to maximize this damage.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Endless Hunger, Spear of Shojin, and Death's Dance (219 games, 58.9% win rate).

Endless Hunger+Spear of Shojin+Death's Dance

219 games · 58.9%

Black Cleaver+Spear of Shojin+Death's Dance

162 games · 55.6%

Endless Hunger+Black Cleaver+Death's Dance

116 games · 56.0%

Skill order

Max order : Q > W > E47.7% · 88 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q	●		●		●		●		●
W		●						●		●		●	●
E				●										●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 109 games).

Starting items

Gustwalker Hatchling46.8% · 77 games

Gustwalker HatchlingHealth Potion36.7% · 30 games

First completed items, in order

Spear of Shojin›Death's Dance›Endless Hunger

17 games · 29.4%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 4178 gold, 76 CS, 4204 XP. At 15 min: 6550 gold, 116 CS, 7073 XP.

Summoner spells

Ghost + Smite49.3% · 848 games

Most-played runes

Stormraider's Surge + Precision

49.0% · 708 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Nimbus Cloak99%

Celerity91%

Waterwalking99%

Secondary tree · Precision

Legend: Haste99%

Triumph98%

Shards

Adaptive force90%

Adaptive force98%

Health scaling64%

Conqueror + Sorcery

49.6% · 125 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Haste100%

Last Stand93%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Celerity85%

Nimbus Cloak80%

Shards

Attack speed66%

Adaptive force96%

Health scaling74%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Hecarim's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team52.2% · 232 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Spear of Shojin 52.5% ▲

Death's Dance 56.0% ▲

Endless Hunger 58.6% ▲

Black Cleaver 57.7% ▲

Maw of Malmortius 56.7% ▲

Hubris 50.0%

The item that stands out most is Black Cleaver: 57.7% win rate, +7 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team51.6% · 244 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Spear of Shojin 50.8%

Death's Dance 51.7%

Endless Hunger 52.1%

Black Cleaver 51.1%

Axiom Arc 45.0%

Maw of Malmortius 62.5%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team45.8% · 382 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Spear of Shojin 46.8%

Death's Dance 51.5%

Black Cleaver 45.3% ▼

Endless Hunger 53.8%

Maw of Malmortius 44.6% ▼

Hubris 38.7% ▼

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Hecarim in the Jungle

Talon Hecarim: 26.7%15 games

Talon has the edge in 73% of the 15 Jungle duels against Hecarim. See the Talon guide.

Rengar Hecarim: 38.9%18 games

Rengar has the edge in 61% of the 18 Jungle duels against Hecarim. See the Rengar guide.

Sylas Hecarim: 39.1%23 games

Sylas has the edge in 61% of the 23 Jungle duels against Hecarim. See the Sylas guide.

Viego Hecarim: 40.9%22 games

Viego has the edge in 59% of the 22 Jungle duels against Hecarim. See the Viego guide.

Lee Sin Hecarim: 43.8%32 games

Lee Sin has the edge in 56% of the 32 Jungle duels against Hecarim. See the Lee Sin guide.

Who Hecarim is strong against

Kha'Zix64.7% · 17 games

Graves60.9% · 23 games

Nidalee55.6% · 18 games

Lee Sin43.8% · 32 games

Viego40.9% · 22 games

How to play against Hecarim

• Hecarim gains life from nearby enemies with Spirit of Dread but lacks durability, use burst damage.
• Hecarim's ultimate causes opponents to flee in terror. Spread out to reduce his power in fights.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Hecarim's matchups.

Hecarim Jungle: what our games say

Laning phase against the Jungle average

Measured over 109 Hecarim games with a timeline; the average covers 69 champions played Jungle in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

Best result: short (under 25 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Abilities

PassiveWarpath

Hecarim gains Attack Damage equal to a percentage of his bonus Move Speed.

QRampage

Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies dealing physical damage. If Hecarim damages at least one enemy, he increases the damage and lowers the cooldown of subsequent Rampages.

WSpirit of Dread

Hecarim gains Armor and Magic Resist. Hecarim deals magic damage to nearby enemies, and gains Health equal to a percentage of any damage those enemies suffer.

EDevastating Charge

Hecarim gains increasing Move Speed and can move through units for a short duration. His next attack knocks the target back and deals additional physical damage based on the distance he has traveled since activating the ability.

ROnslaught of Shadows

Hecarim summons spectral riders and charges forward, dealing magic damage in a line. Hecarim creates a shockwave when he finishes his charge, causing nearby enemies to flee in terror.

Other Jungle champions to know

Most played

Lee Sin50.1 %Graves49.2 %Qiyana51.4 %Viego47.2 %Jarvan IV50.4 %Talon51.2 %Sylas50.2 %Kha'Zix50.9 %

Strongest (at least 100 games)

Rek'Sai58.7 %Quinn56.9 %Briar55.4 %Kayn54.3 %Shaco53.4 %Nidalee53.3 %Vi53.0 %Rammus52.9 %

Frequently asked questions

Full Hecarim page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides