Hecarim Jungle Wild Rift overview and best build snapshot
Best Build
Quick snapshot of the default setup for this guide.
Boots
Items
Summoner Spells
Spell 1
Ghost
Spell 2
Smite
How to play
Keep clearing between ganks Use your movement speed to reach lanes quickly without leaving your camps untouched.
Get behind the enemy before hitting them Activate your 3rd ability to speed up, then move behind the enemy before attacking to push them toward your team.
Approach teamfights from the side Use your ultimate to fear important targets when your team is ready to follow.
Guide author
Royal
Royal has reached Rank 1 in EU and NA, and Legend and Sovereign on the Chinese server. Created by Royal with input from high elo and professional players and the WildRiftGuides Discord community.
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Strengths
- Mobility that snowballs: bonus speed becomes damage, so he closes gaps, chases kills, and reaches fights nobody else could arrive at in time.
- A long-range engage on Onslaught of Shadows (Ult) that fears a group, starts dives, and turns a far-off lane into a free gank.
- Strong sustain from Spirit of Dread (2nd) keeps him topped up through clears and wins the drawn-out brawls shorter-fused junglers lose.
Weaknesses
- He needs room to build speed before he engages, so hard crowd control, slows, and walls strand him mid-charge with nothing left.
- His ganks are easy to see with vision, and a team that wards his approach brush simply walks away before he arrives.
- His clear is steady but not the fastest, so early-game predators can beat him to scuttle and the first skirmish.
Hecarim Jungle Wild Rift best build, items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order
ITEM BUILD
Best Wild Rift build for Hecarim Jungle, including items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order.
STARTING ITEM
Simple early attack damage. His passive also converts move speed into attack damage, so both halves of his scaling start early.
BOOTS
Move speed is not a throwaway stat on him. His passive turns bonus move speed directly into attack damage.
CORE BUILD
Spellblade triggers on the empowered attack his E (3rd) gives him, which speeds up his clear. The move speed also becomes damage through his passive.
Turns his mana pool into attack damage, which matters because spamming his Q (1st) drains mana fast.
Transforms into Muramana once Tear is fully stacked
The slow keeps a target inside his Q (1st) radius, and the armor penetration keeps those repeated hits meaningful. The slow only applies below 60% target Health.
Ability haste means more Q (1st) casts, which is his clear speed and the empowered follow-up his damage needs.
Spreads burst damage out over a few seconds, which gives his W (2nd) time to heal it back while he keeps fighting.
SITUATIONAL ITEMS
Replace Serylda's Grudge when Hecarim can repeatedly hit armored opponents and his team has other physical carries. Health and haste support longer fights, while repeated physical damage reduces Armor for your whole team.
Replace Spear of Shojin when Hecarim can weave attacks into several melee opponents after his charge and needs extra recovery. The first attack against each champion delivers an empowered hit and a heal, with a separate cooldown per target.
Replace Spear of Shojin when Hecarim is the primary engage and needs to survive the first return burst. Health, permanent Tenacity, and a bonus-Health Lifeline shield help you survive the return damage. Choose this or Maw of Malmortius for your Lifeline slot.
Replace Death's Dance when an AP burst champion threatens to kill Hecarim before his healing takes effect. Magic Resistance and a magic-damage Lifeline shield preserve offensive pressure against AP burst. Choose this or Sterak's Gage for your Lifeline slot.
Replace Death's Dance against repeated magic damage; the movement speed also helps Hecarim chase and benefits his passive. Repeated champion magic damage stacks extra Magic Resistance and movement speed, making it a sustained-magic-damage answer.
Replace Death's Dance when crit carries are the main threat during Hecarim's backline dive. Reduces physical critical-strike damage, so prioritize it against fed crit carries rather than purely on-hit damage.
Replace Spear of Shojin when enemy healing wins the brawl; Hecarim's repeated area damage can keep anti-heal on several champions. Physical damage applies Grievous Wounds while Health and haste suit a bruiser. Buy Executioner's Calling first if healing is urgent, then finish after your early core.
Replace Immortal Treads when physical attackers punish Hecarim's engage before he can heal. Use the defensive boot line against physical attacks so you survive the entry and keep fighting.
Replace Immortal Treads when magic damage or repeated disables prevent Hecarim from staying beside his target. Use the defensive boot line against magic damage and reducible crowd control that interrupts your follow-up.
Situational choices
The main build spends heavily on damage, so move defensive boots or a resistance component earlier if Hecarim is the only engage. Choose Black Cleaver instead of Serylda's Grudge for teamwide Armor reduction, or replace Spear of Shojin with Sundered Sky, Sterak's Gage, or Chempunk Chainsword for the specific problem in front of you. Pick one alternative per slot. Use Maw of Malmortius for magic burst, Force of Nature for repeated magic damage, and Randuin's Omen for crit attackers. These replace Death's Dance rather than adding a sixth completed item. If choosing Maw, do not also select Sterak's for the Lifeline slot.
RUNES
KEYSTONE
Move speed is damage on him, so this feeds his passive as well as giving him an escape.
PRIMARY
His ultimate is the engage his whole game is built around, so amplifying it specifically is worth more to him than to most.
Ability haste means more Q (1st) casts, and his E (3rd) and ultimate both come back sooner.
Move speed after a summoner spell is straight damage on him, not just mobility.
SECONDARY
Sustain suits a jungler whose W (2nd) already rewards him for staying in the middle of a fight.
SITUATIONAL RUNES
Take this over Legend: Bloodline when your team needs Hecarim to absorb focus after diving rather than out-sustain a long fight.
Take this over Legend: Bloodline for sustained skirmishes against teams that cannot immediately disengage. More frequent Rampage (1st) and Spirit of Dread (2nd) casts support Hecarim's repeated damage and sustain while he stays beside a target.
SUMMONER SPELLS
MAIN SPELLS
Ghost
His charge builds damage as he moves and his ultimate is a long charge, so raw move speed is his damage and his gap closer at once. This is the spell his entire kit is built around.
Smite
You are playing Jungle, you always take Smite. Monster damage upgrades from 600 to 1000 after 8 consumed Eco-system Protection stacks and to 1400 after 20 total.
SKILL ORDER
Skill Priority Order
- 11st Ability
Q - 22nd Ability
W - 33rd Ability
E
Hecarim Jungle Wild Rift matchups and counters
Wild Rift matchup guide for Hecarim Jungle, covering favorable lanes and difficult counters to prepare for in ranked.
Good Matchups
These champions are favorable matchups for this pick in Wild Rift. You have advantages against them and can play more aggressively.
Talon
Talon blinks in to burst and roll out, but Devastating Charge (3rd) runs him down before his escape resets and Spirit of Dread (2nd) heals through whatever he commits. A squishy assassin cannot kite your speed.
Kha'Zix
Kha'Zix needs a clean burst and reset, but he cannot kill a healthy bruiser who heals through his leap, and he cannot escape Devastating Charge (3rd) afterward.
Warwick
Warwick wants the long drain duel, but your Spirit of Dread (2nd) out-heals his bite while your speed denies the chase his ultimate needs. You match his healing and beat his mobility.
Hecarim Counters
These champions counter this pick in Wild Rift and can be difficult matchups. Learn how to play against them or consider banning them.
Jarvan Iv
Jarvan's flag-and-drag and his ult arena are built to trap a momentum champion. He pins you mid-charge and walls you in, and your speed means nothing inside that box.
Nunu & Willump
Nunu's snowball catches you mid-charge and stops the momentum your whole kit rides on, while his percent-health bite chunks you through the brawl. His body also blocks the angles you want to engage from.
Amumu
Amumu's Bandage Toss (1st) and Curse of the Sad Mummy (Ult) lock down the charge your whole game depends on, and his percent-health aura chips you through the brawl. The stun lands the moment you commit.
Hecarim Jungle Wild Rift game strategy and teamfighting guide
Wild Rift game strategy for Hecarim Jungle, from early lane control through mid and late game map play to final teamfights.