Hello everyone, and welcome to the first ever Hecarim Mid guide on Mobafire.

My name is Doaenel and I am a multi season Hecarim OTP who currently hovers around Grandmaster rank, primarily playing Hecarim mid and jungle.

I will be going as in depth as possible as to everything you need to know on how to play Hecarim mid at a high level, however if you still have inquiries, be sure to check out my stream and ask anything you may need clarity on.

MONTAGE

Play Video

In the current meta, there are two viable rune setups for Hecarim mid, the first being Conqueror and the second being Phase Rush





For the Conqueror setup, the one I personally use, you need to run the following.

Conqueror This rune allows for Hecarim to just jump straight into fights and kill everybody. With the damage amplification and healing it offers at full stacks, you can easily take on ganks during lane phase and double kill, while also being able to destroy everyone during teamfights.

Triumph This rune is a necessity. Hecarim is somewhat of a drain-tank, which means he gets low during his fights and relies on healing in order to stay alive, Triumph comes in clutch a lot of the time and allows you to keep fighting and killing everyone.

Legend: Tenacity This rune is the most optimal Legend rune because Hecarim is a champion with very low cooldowns which means any form of CC used against him stops him from doing a good amount of damage output, no matter how long the fight has been dragging for, so Tenacity is a good stat to have.

Last Stand Of all the three runes, this one is the best. Since Hecarim is a champion that gets in the thick of things while fighting and is usually targeted, he gets pretty low. Last Stand allows your damage to come in big since you're usually hovering on the edge of death most teamfights.

Nimbus Cloak This rune is insanely good since Hecarim gains attack damage equal to his bonus movement speed, which allows you to easily gain 20-30 AD level 3 in lane if you pop double summoners for an all in.

Celerity This rune just synergizes very well with Hecarim since he gains bonus damage equal to his movement speed. More speed = more damage output.

For the three adaptive, go double damage and then take the defensive rune which helps versus your lane opponent. If you are laning Lucian take armor, if you are laning Cass go magic resist.





For the Phase Rush setup, you need to run the following

Phase Rush This rune allows you to go for small, quick burst trades and run away before the enemy has time to react. It also allows you to all in the opponent and have the movement speed to run them down through flash at earlier stages.

Nimbus Cloak This rune is insanely good since Hecarim gains attack damage equal to his bonus movement speed, which allows you to easily gain 20-30 AD level 3 in lane if you pop double summoners for an all in.

Celerity This rune just synergizes very well with Hecarim since he gains bonus damage equal to his movement speed. More speed = more damage output. It also synergizes very well with phase rush, and makes it so no one can run from you nor catch you.

Scorch With the PR setup, you're often going in for small trades, so hitting the enemy with tip of Rampage and applying scorch damage adds up a lot over time and makes the enemy laner more susceptible to all ins.

Time Warp Tonic Since you always buy corrupting potion start on Hecarim, TWT allows you to have increased movement speed every time you use a potion which allows for more trades to occur since you are faster than the opponent

Biscuit Delivery Biscuit works very well with Time Warp Tonic so these two pretty much always go hand in hand together.

For the three adaptive go double damage and then take the defensive rune which helps versus your lane opponent. If you are laning Lucian take armor, if you are laning Cass go magic resist.

When it comes to summoners, Hecarim always wants to take Ghost and Ignite, especially for mid lane since these are the best offensive summoner spells.

Another alternative is to go Teleport with Ignite. This setup is more for high elo toplane than anything, and there would never be a scenario where I would take it as a mid laner, however it still allows for map control with cross map teleport plays and mid-late game splitting sidelanes with Teleport available.

Ignite is a very good choice for Hecarim because it is on a relatively low cooldown (3 minutes) which means you can always have at least one summoner up when you go for all ins during lane phase. Another food thing about Ignite is when you're going for the 1v1 / 1v2, it increases the amount of burst you can get onto one of the enemy champions, which means you can kill one person, get Triumph, and secure the double kill.

Ghost is an insanely good summoner for hecarim. It gives Hecarim many things such as: Increased movement speed which allows you to run people down better, also, when ghost is combined with Devastating Charge, you can pretty much outrun everyone if you're trying to escape, or run down anyone if you're trying to get onto them Increased damage since Hecarim gains bonus AD equal to his bonus MS Also, with recent Ghost buffs that prolong it on a takedown, it makes teamfighting much smoother.

When it comes to leveling, start Rampage, and then take Spirit of Dread level 2. The reason you go W instead of E level 2 is so if the enemy goes for an all in early on, you can just pop Ghost Ignite and Spirit of Dread and win every fight. Level 3, take Devastating Charge.

Max Rampage first since it's your primary source of damage, then max Devastating Charge, then Spirit of Dread.

The reason you don't want to max W second is because the healing is only slightly increased per level, whereas maxing E second allows for more all ins to take place since it's on lower CD and is your primary method of starting fights.

Hecarim's Passive means 15-30% of his bonus movement speed converts to bonus attack damage, which means the more movement speed you have, the more damage you do.

ACTIVE: Hecarim cleaves nearby enemies, dealing Attack damage physical damage, reduced against minions. If Hecarim damages at least one enemy with Rampage, he gains a buff for 8 seconds, stacking up to two times, with the duration refreshing on subsequent damaging hits. The buff increases the damage of Rampage by 5% and reduces their base cooldown by 1 second, up to a 10% damage increase and a reduction in 2 seconds of the base cooldown at two stacks.

ACTIVE: Hecarim surrounds himself with the spirit of dread for 4 seconds, dealing Magic damage magic damage per second to all enemies within its reach. While this ability is active, Hecarim heals for 30% of all the damage done to enemies within its area. He doesn't heal from tower damage done to enemies, and the healing against minions and monsters is capped.

ACTIVE: Hecarim becomes Ghost ghosted and gains Movement speed icon 25% − 85% (based on time active) bonus movement speed for 4 seconds. The next basic attack Hecarim uses has increased range, deals increased damage, and knocks the enemy back. Hecarim's E can also be used as an auto attack reset.

Hecarim dashes unstoppably and deals damage throughout the length of his ult. Enemies around the circle where Hecarim lands are also feared for 0.5 - 2 seconds

STARTING ITEMS

When laning as Hecarim, you always need to start Corrupting Potion. Hecarim uses a lot of mana in the early lane phase with his early trading and farming with Rampage, meaning that in order to be able to stay in lane for the first 3-5 waves, you need the mana that Corrupting Potion provides.

TRINITY FORCE

No mattter which build you decidie to go for depending on the game, one thing always remains the same, rushing Trinity Force. The reason triforce is so good with Hecarim is because it provides virtually every stat you will ever need. Movement speed, mana, damage, tankiness, and sheen proc on autos after using Rampage. With how low CD Hecarim's Q is, he can get a lot of empowered autos in, which makes Trinity Force such a staple item. When building Trinity Force, always prioritize Phage > Sheen > Stinger. Phage gives you early tankiness and damage which is perfect for surviving the lane phase, Sheen then gives more damage on trades as well as mana that allows you to stay in lane longer, and Stinger is more for the CDR than anything else. On every reset you have early game, you'll want to maximize the amount of gold you spend, even if you aren't necessarily following the specified build order. For example, if you back with 1000 gold, rather than buying Ruby Crystal and Long Sword, then just sitting on 250g, it would be better to buy Sapphire Crystal, Long Sword, and Boots.

CORE FULL AD BUILD

When you have a big lead in the earlier stage of the game and feel like no one on the enemy team would be enough of a threat to ever kill you, this is the build you go for.

Core item, refer to explanation above.

Most people seem to think that this item is very bad on Hecarim since you have more than enough waveclear with Rampage, however the reason this item is bought isn't for the waveclear, but rather the burst damage it provides. I will be linking a video with timestamp in the TIPS section of this guide to demonstrate how to use Tiamat properly in Hecarim's burst combo.

This item is very good since it provides Hecarim with CDR, healing, increased damage, and placebo tankiness with the bleed passive.

Next up is Sterak's. This item synergizes very well with Death's Dance since while the shield is active, Hecarim can heal up all the damage being done to him through the healing from DD.

A final build example can be seen at the top of the guide.

CORE TANK BUILD

This build is good for when you either get behind early game, or have a lead but the rest of the map is losing. It is safer to go for a tanky build if the enemy team has fed carries than going for a full AD build, since no one will be able to kill you.

Core item, refer to explanation above.

This item provides Hecarim with pretty good defensive stats as well as CDR, however the main reason it is bought is for the 30% increase on healing. In a typical fight, Hecarim will undergo a lot of healing from Spirit of Dread and Triumph. Amplifying this healing by an extra 30% makes him near unkillable in teamfights.

This item is insanely good for Hecarim since it provides mana and CDR. In most teamfights, Hecarim is diving into the backline as well, which means you'll be applying the AoE attack speed debuff to pretty much everyone on the enemy team.

A final build example can be seen at the top of the guide.

SITUATIONAL ITEMS

Build this item when you are versus a very heavy AD teamcomp and the enemy has 1 or more enemy champions that crit.

Build this item when it is hard for you to find an opening on the enemy team. If they have champions who just sit very far back and throw skillshots like Xerath or Ziggs, this item is perfect for just running straight into them with Devastating Charge, applying the slow, and then knocking them into your team.

Never build this item instead of Spirit Visage, the only time you will ever buy this is if the enemy team has a very heavy AP teamcomp and you need more magic resist.

The only time I ever buy this item is if the enemy team is full AD and I have already bought multiple armor items like Frozen Heart and Randuin's Omen. Stacking more armor beyond 250 is pointless since it doesn't really reduce the amount of damage you take, so getting flat HP is better in that scenario.

Only build this item if the enemy team's primary method of healing is through auto attacks. If it's through abilities like Sylas W, you'd be better off going Mortal Reminder for antiheal.

The only time this item is viable is if you are doing a full tank build and the enemy has 3 or more tanks who are stacking armor. At that point, you won't do much physical damage so you'd be better off going Liandry's for more impact.

The only time you buy this is if the game has gone on to 40+ minutes and you're in the end stages. At that point, Hecarim's damage output is minimal, and he becomes a standard tank. Diving the enemy backline and popping stoneplate will allow you to survive a lot longer than you would otherwise.

This item is good since it provides cdr, movespeed, and damage. Build it if you are very far ahead and are looking for one shots on enemy carries.

Since Devastating Charge already amplifies Hecarim's auto attack range, buying Rapid Firecannon makes it so that it's more like a Caitlyn autoattack range than anything else. Build this item if you are insanely far ahead and want to have fun instakilling squishies.

BOOTS

Ninja tabi is built in 90% of my games, the only time you ever don't build it is if you're going up against 4+ AP champions with a lot of CC

Build this if the enemy has a lot of CC abilities, never build it only for the magic resist since most of the time you will be going Spirit Visage anyways.

For all intents and purposes, I will be explaining how to lane with the Conqueror rune since it is the one I use in pretty much all my games.

Early on, you have two options: Shove or be shoved.

Shove

This option is good versus champs who don't really have early kill pressure and who you can outtrade at earlier levels. Examples include Zed Talon and Sylas, pretty much any melee matchup.

The idea here is every time the enemy goes for cs, you should always try for either a Q or a Q + AA trade. This will allow you to set the enemy up for an all in anywhere between level 2-5, and secure first blood.

Shoved in

Being shoved in is good versus champions who have early kill pressure. Examples are Lucian Cassiopeia Heimerdinger, pretty much anyone who can trade with you and force you off farm where you can't retaliate.

In these scenarios, what you do is you either farm with max range Rampage or concede all farm and leech xp. Once you hit level 3 in the majority of these matchups, you can just run these people down with ghost ignite and instakill them anyways, so losing farm isn't that bad.

Whether you attempt last hitting or concede all farm til level 3 will be discussed in the MATCHUPS section of this guide for every champion lane.


One thing that is very important about laning as Hecarim is resets. Hecarim uses a lot of mana, and even with Corrupting Potion, most of the time you will still run out of mana. This means that you will need to get constant resets in. Usually, you'll want to reset every 3-5 waves, and buy whichever Trinity Force components you can.

Since Trinity Force components are also very cheap, resetting often allows you to have consistent powerspikes throughout lane phase that make laning much easier.

Typically, the thing that separates a good Hecarim from a bad one is how they manage their Rampage stacks, and their usage of Spirit of Dread.

When it comes to using Rampage in lane, never just use it off cooldown. Since it has a relatively high mana cost for how low CD it is, you need to use it in one of two scenarios: Last hitting CS, or prepping Q stacks for an all in. When you all in the enemy laner, a fully stacked Rampage is a necessity. It's what makes or breaks fights since 2 stacks allow you to use it more often (2 sec reduced CD) and also makes it do increased damage (10% damage increase). Never try to force an all in on the enemy laner without 2 Q stacks unless you have an insane lead.

When it comes to W usage, you never want to use it for short trades. Since Spirit of Dread only lasts several seconds, you'll want to save it for when you or the enemy laner commits fully to a fight. Healing for 30% of the damage you deal is very pivotal for winning close fights, and in a typical game, Hecarim will have a lot of those.

IF YOU WIN LANE

If early laning goes well and you solokill the enemy a few times, you will want to look to spread your lead. In a typical game, the best thing to do is try to shove in the enemy laner and look for a roam bot when your Onslaught of Shadows and / or summoner spells are off cooldown.

Getting consistent double kills on the enemy bot lane will allow not only your lead to be further increased, but also allow your bot lane to win, meaning 2/3 lanes are guaranteed to win.

IF YOU LOSE LANE

If early laning goes poorly and you get ganked multiple times / solokilled, you need to look around for opportunities. Hecarim isn't a champion who can just sit back and farm under tower and scale if behind. You will need to still look for ways to get back into the game.

Something that I do personally is off my reset, I'll just walk straight bot with ult up and attempt a lane gank that hopefully ends in a double kill.

Worst case scenario, if there are no opportunities to get kills around the map, just play under your tower and wait for ultimate to be off cooldown with double summoners, and try to ult behind the enemy laner as they shove into you and fear them into tower and attempt to kill them.

After lane phase ends, splitting becomes Hecarim's biggest strength. The best thing to do is to either go top or bot lane (doesn't really matter) and just constantly shove out waves.

Essentially, you're just trying to keep waves pushed and trying to draw attention towards you. If the enemy sends people to you, you can always just use Devastating Charge and run away unscathed, allowing your team to get objectives or kills on the other side of the map.

If you are strong and the enemy team only sends 1-3 people to deal with you, instead of running you can attempt a 1v3 and completely dominate the game.

The best thing about Hecarim's splitpushing is that if the enemy team commits to a fight mid, you can always just use E and get there quickly enough to either turn the fight or clean up and pick up several kills.

Rule of thumb is to always split and look for rotations towards potential fights or major objectives (like dragon).

When it comes to teamfighting, Hecarim's main objective is to dive the enemy backline and kill everyone. Ideally, you should be looking to flank the enemy and just charge in with Devastating Charge then use Onslaught of Shadows, fearing everyone and applying your empowered auto on the enemy team's highest priority target, knocking them into your team.

Typically, if the enemy team is just sitting in a lane clumped, you can occasionally look to use Onslaught of Shadows over the wall and just surprise a clump of people with a max range 2 second fear, instantly winning any fight.

If you are insanely far behind and have a very fed hypercarry teammate like Caitlyn, focus on just using your ult to peel off anyone that tries to kill them. Instead of diving the backline, use Onslaught of Shadows as a CC ability to try and help carries survive.

Never just spam Rampage randomly in lane, you will just lose mana for no reason.

Stack Rampage before looking for an all in on the enemy laner.

Never use Spirit of Dread on short trades, save it for when the fight is fully committed.

Devastating Charge can make your empowered auto carry you over a wall, this can be useful for running over and killing an enemy who is harassing you from ''safety''

Onslaught of Shadows stalls Devastating Charge's duration. If E is about to run out and you ult, you can still get in the empowered auto at the tail end.

Sometimes it's better to just chase an enemy and get hits of Rampage off on them rather than instantly committing the Devastating Charge autoattack, in order to maximize the amount of movespeed you have, thus increasing damage.

As for how to use Tiamat properly, click on this video and skip to 7:55
Play Video

For all matchups, just type ctrl+f and highlight the name of the champion you are laning, I will leave as much detail as possible for you to win every lane.

ANNIE

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 In this lane, you don't need to concede early farm since Annie will primarily be using Disintegrate to farm. Let her shove you in early on, and once you hit level 3 you will be under turret. Once she has you under tower, start stacking Rampage against minions and all in her with double summoners as soon as you get the opportunity. Post 6 After you have Onslaught of Shadows available, you can just stack Rampage against minions and instantly ult on top of her and beat her down. If she tries to burst and combo you, you can always just outheal and kill her regardless.

AKALI

Difficulty: 6/10 Pre 6 Early on, you do not want to walk up to the minions at all. Akali will just use Five Point Strike and combo it with her passive in order to get off big trades before you can even attack her. Concede all farm early on and let her shove you under tower. Once you hit level 4 / 5, your Rampage damage is enough to out trade her, so that's when you should start looking for fights. If she ever uses Twilight Shroud, just run around spamming Rampage to damage her with the AoE. Post 6 After level 6, the lane doesn't change too much. One piece of advice I would give though, is if you are trying to run down Akali, make sure you never path between her and her turret, or else she can just use Perfect Execution and escape.

AHRI

Difficulty: 10/10 Pre 6 Early on, Ahri will typically try to harass with auto attacks if you walk up for cs. Because of this, you will need to let her shove in in the earlier stages. At level 3, you can potentially attempt an all in, however if Ahri lands Charm, your movespeed will be significantly reduced, even with Ghost Nimbus Cloak and Devastating Charge active, making it risky. Post 6 After you get access to Onslaught of Shadows, if you attempt ulting on top of Ahri, she will just use Spirit Rush and make any attempt to kill her null. Because of this, you can only really get a lead through macro play and getting kills off jungle skirmishes or dives botlane.

ANIVIA

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 In this matchup, you can afford to walk up for farm early. If Anivia attempts to use Flash Frost for harass, you can just tank it or dodge it, and make any attempts she has at poking worthless. Let her shove you in, and then at level 3 pop double summoners and run in, bait out her Q, and knock her towards your turret and kill her. Post 6 After 6, the matchup becomes even easier. If she tries to wall you in with Crystallize and get damage off with Flash Frost, you can just use Onslaught of Shadows, get on top of her and just beat her down and kill her easily.

AURELION SOL

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Versus Aurelion, you need to play around the edges of the lane. Most of the time, he will try to use Breath of Light to clear wave as well as get damage off, so if you don't play near minions he has to choose one or the other. Similar to most mage matchups, if you let him shove you in, at level 3 you can pop double summoners and just run the enemy down and kill him. Post 6 Since Aurelion Sol's primary focus is to shove waves and roam, you'll need to match him. Try to keep wave as shoved as possible to prevent him from getting roams off. If he still attempts roams while being shoved in, you can always just take plates for free and get a huge lead.

AZIR

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 Usually Azir will try to harass you off minions level 1. Because of this, you need to let him shove you in early, and just play under your tower. Level 3 all ins can work versus him, but he needs to waste his Conquering Sands for harass, that way he can't Shifting Sands to safety. If he doesn't give you any opportunities, you need to just sit back and wait for either jungle assistance or level 6. Post 6 The Azir lane is slightly weird because if he uses Emperor's Divide, even if you ult on top of him, you will still get knocked back. Because of this, you need to just run at him with Devastating Charge and attempt to fight without using your ult until he uses his.

BRAND

Difficulty: 7/10 Pre 6 The issue with the Brand lane is how high his damage is. He has no mobility and very little CC however, so attempting all ins is easy to do if you have double summoners up. You will need to put a lot of spacing between you and Brand and make sure that if you walk up for cs you can still dodge his abilities. Post 6 Once you get ult, you can just use Onslaught of Shadows on top of Brand and beat him to death. He has no way of running unless he uses Flash, so this matchup becomes significantly easier.

CAMILLE

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 The main issue with the Camille matchup is that she has very good gank setup for her jungler. Because of this, you will want to play around the middle of your lane in order to make it as hard as possible for her to land her Hookshot on you. When it comes to straight up 1v1 though, Hecarim wins, making this matchup pretty easy at all stages of the game. I would recommend letting her shove you in, in order to minimize the amount of ganks you take on early. Post 6 One big issue with Camille is that if you use Onslaught of Shadows and she uses Hextech Ultimatum while you are flying in, she takes no damage or fear, since she is invulnerable. Because of this you will want to bait her ult out before using yours.

CASSIOPEIA

Difficulty: 1/10 Pre 6 This matchup is by far one of Hecarim's easiest lanes. If you concede early farm and let her shove you in until level 3, you can straight up just all in her with double summoners and Devastating Charge and just kill her. She has no mobility, and also no way of running if you fully commit. The only time this matchup becomes somewhat of a burden is if she takes Phase Rush with ignite, but if she doesn't, you will always outheal and outdamage her no matter what with Spirit of Dread, giving you a very easy ride. Post 6 When she gets her ult, the best thing to do is bait it out. Start running at Cassiopeia with Devastating Charge, and when you see her character model make a movement, turn around instantly and put Petrifying Gaze on cooldown. After baiting it out, you can just ult on top of her and kill her.

CHO'GATH

Difficulty: 7/10 Pre 6 Cho'Gath has a lot of sustain built into his kit with Carnivore, meaning small trades versus him are pretty much useless. In this matchup, let him shove you in and only commit if he has you under your tower and wastes his Rupture. This is the perfect opportunity since he can't cc you and you can just run behind him, knock him towards your tower, and beat him. Post 6 Similar to pre 6, you will want to not necessarily go for short trades, and more so just play for all ins with either double summoners or Onslaught of Shadows off cooldown. If the enemy team has someone besides him who heals (like Soraka), rush Executioner's Calling

CORKI

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 Let Corki shove you in early. If you walk up to the wave, he will just use Phosphorus Bomb and Gatling Gun to force you off cs and chunk your HP. Level 3 all ins don't work super well versus Corki since he has Valkyrie, which is why you will have to have him literally under your tower if you want to attempt to run him down and kill him. Post 6 Try to bait out his Valkyrie by running at him with Devastating Charge. If he wastes it, use Onslaught of Shadows and fear and kill him. You will also need to keep track of his package and be sure to hover around bot when he has it equipped, in order to counter his ganks.

DIANA

Difficulty: 8/10 Pre 6 Early on, you can either shove or be shoved in by Diana, it doesn't really make a difference. If your jungler is someone like Nunu & Willump who can gank easily, let her shove you in, however if you feel you won't be getting any early ganks, it's better to be shoved in. Diana is problematic because she can out trade Hecarim in short and extended trades, the best way to win is just to not fight her at all pre 6 unless she makes a very critical error (like trying to dive). Post 6 After 6, the lane doesn't get much easier. In order to actually win, you need to make sure you're trying to shove in as best you can and constantly roam bot. If you get an insane item lead from kills cross map, you can still win this matchup.

EKKO

Difficulty: 2/10 When it comes to the Ekko lane, it's all about positioning. Early on, Ekko will always try to shove as much as he can by using Timewinder on the wave. Standing off to the side instead of in the middle of the wave means Ekko has to choose between shoving the wave and getting damage off on you. Typically, you can all in Ekko at any stage of the game. If he gets 2 stacks of his passive on you and uses Phase Dive, just pop double summoners and all in him, killing him. He can't outrun you, even with the bonus movespeed he gets from Z-Drive Resonance. Post 6 After 6, Ekko will usually try to roam as much as possible. This means that you need to constantly keep the wave pressured so he isn't allowed to, and follow his roams if he does.

FIZZ

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 Early on, Fizz will usually start Playful / Trickster and try to harass you. Just try to farm minions, and if he uses Playful / Trickster aggressively, go in for a trade. This lane is all about spacing in a way that Fizz needs to overcommit in order to damage you, and then you can just retaliate with double summoners and kill him. You can either shove or be shoved in this lane, it should just be dependent on which team has a hard ganking jungler. Post 6 After level 6, this lane becomes a little more tricky. If Fizz uses Chum the Waters, wait until it's about to go off and then use Onslaught of Shadows. The unstoppable portion of Hecarim's ult will make you not take the knockup, making it harder for Fizz to instakill you. Whether you ult into Fizz to fear him and try to kill him, or whether you ult away from Fizz and try to escape, depends on whether you are behind or ahead.

GALIO

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 This matchup is one where it's more of a skill matchup than anything. Similar to the Ekko matchup, you will want to play off to the side of the lane. Galio will try to use Winds of War to shove the wave as well as poke, so if you stand off to the side you won't take damage. Typically, you just want to let Galio shove you in early, and wait for him to mess up. If he ever uses Justice Punch aggressively, just dodge it and commit double summoners and kill him. Post 6 After Galio gets Hero's Entrance, he will always try to use it to make somewhat game saving fights. Hecarim can cancel his ult with Devastating Charge and Onslaught of Shadows, so if you cant rotate to the fight in time, just try and cancel his ulti.

GRAGAS

Difficulty: 8/10 Pre 6 The main issue with the Gragas matchup is his Body Slam. If you ever try and trade with him, he will just use E and run away, leaving you unable to fight back. The only time you can ever kill him is if you can somehow bait out his Body Slam, dodge it, and wrap around and kill him. Post 6 Once you get ult, this matchup becomes much easier. If Gragas ever uses Body Slam, just use Onslaught of Shadows to get on top of him and beat him to death. If he uses Explosive Cask to knock you away, the movement speed you get from Ghost should be enough to position yourself in a way that his ult knocks you towards cutting off his escape.

HEIMERDINGER

Difficulty: 6/10 Pre 6 Heimerdinger is one of the matchups that will always shove you in. Let him, and when you hit level 3, try to bait out his CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade and kill him. Just run at him with Ghost and Devastating Charge active, and once he wastes his E, use your empowered auto to knock him towards your turret and run him down. Post 6 After you get ult, this matchup becomes super easy. Just stack Rampage and instantly ult onto him and kill him. He is very naturally squishy so you never have any issues with killing him. Most of the time, you can one shot him before he even gets the chance to use [[UPGRADE!!!].

IRELIA

Difficulty: 3/10 Early on, you need to know if Irelia starts Bladesurge or Flawless Duet. If she starts Q, let her shove you in, you will not be able to stack her if she has fully stacked Ionian Fervor. If she starts E, you can shove her in. Every time Irelia uses Bladesurge on a minion near you, try to get damage off with autoattacks and Rampage. Soon enough, you should put her in a position where you can just kill her. Unless she is super low HP, avoid diving her if she has Defiant Dance up since she will take reduced physical damage and survive. Post 6 Matchup doesn't really change. What I like doing is using my Devastating Charge coupled with Ghost to get the maximum amount of movespeed possible and bait out and dodge her Flawless Duet and Vanguard's Edge. If you dodge either of these abilities, she cannot kill you and will just die.

JAYCE

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 In the Jayce matchup, you will need to play inside your minion wave. Jayce will try to poke you with Shock Blast if you are on your own, so always keep minions between you and him. If you ever decide to all in him, run at him with Devastating Charge and bait out his Thundering Blow before using your auto, or else you won't have a gap closer to get onto him. Post 6 Matchup doesn't change too much, but you can now use Onslaught of Shadows as a gap closer to close in on him if he uses Thundering Blow to punt you away.

KARTHUS

Difficulty: 2/10 Pre 6 In this matchup, you can walk up for farm as long as you are confident in your ability to dodge Karthus' Lay Waste. If you can dodge his skillshots, you don't need to let him shove you in, since you can just walk up to him and trade with him. If you walk up for a short trade and he uses Defile, try to stay just out of range so you aren't taking unnecessary damage]]. From level 3 onwards you can all in and kill him. Post 6 After you get access to ult, you can kill Karthus on repeat. He will never be able to run away from you since you will have two gapclosers, and he will just die on repeat.

KASSADIN

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 Early on, you will want to let Kassadin shove into you. Even though you can kill him and trade with him very easily, if you keep him under his turret all game he will just hit level 6 and you will lose all kill pressure. Let him shove in and when you hit level 3+ you can attempt all ins, since he will never be able to outdamage you. Post 6 Once Kassadin hits 6 and gains access to Riftwalk, killing him becomes harder. You will need to wait for him to use his ult in lane before all inning, since at level 1 it is at a 5 second cooldown and that is more than enough time to finish him off from full.

KATARINA

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Early on, you can either shove in or be shoved in, depending on whichever team has a hard ganking jungler. Every time Katarina walks up for farm, just use Rampage coupled with an auto attack and deal damage to her. The thing about the Katarina lane is that all inning is very difficult since she can always just Shunpo away, so you will always want to take many small trades that eventually put her in kill range from one combo. Post 6 After 6, Katarina will always be looking to roam. Because of this, you will want to keep the wave shoved and constantly look for where she could be on the map in order to stop her roams from working. Even if she gets set behind early, if she picks up 2 double kills from your bot lane she can easily carry.

KENNEN

Difficulty: 7/10 Pre 6 Early, you will need to let Kennen shove you in. It is very rare that he you ever have kill pressure on him since his Lightning Rush allows him to move so quickly. Rush Mercury's Treads as soon as you can in order to benefit from as much tenacity as possible so his Mark of the Storm doesn't stun you for long, and then just wait until 6 to kill him. Post 6 Once you have Onslaught of Shadows, you can kill him just like any other ranged mage. Just simply stack Rampage and ult on top of him. If he tries ccing you with his passive to run away, your Mercury's Treads will reduce his stun timer so you're barely phased and you can run him down.

LEBLANC

Difficulty: 8/10 Pre 6 Early on, you will need to concede a lot. At level 1 you can walk up for cs and try to farm, but once she hits level 2 and has access to both Sigil of Malice and Distortion she will just nuke your entire HP bar. The only time you can ever kill her is if she wastes her Distortion and you can just run her down with double summoners. Unless she messes up you will just need to pray to survive lane phase. Post 6 After 6, the lane becomes even more difficult since she has access to two Distortions, so you will need to look for leads either bot or top and constantly be roaming. She is too slippery to kill.

LISSANDRA

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Early on, just stay away from your minion wave so when Lissandra uses Ice Shard to shove the wave, you aren't caught in the crossfire. Youre Devastating Charge's auto range outranges her Ring of Frost, meaning you will always be on top of her before she has the chance to cc you. Let her shove in early then all in her at level 3 onwards. If she uses Glacial Path to try and escape, follow the trail so you're able to keep damaging her once she recasts it. Post 6 Lane matchup doesn't change that much, one tip is if you see that she starts casting her [[Frozen Tomb] on you, if you react quickly enough you can ult away and be stunned wherever you ulted towards, since you're unstoppable for the duration.

LUCIAN

Difficulty: 7/10 Pre 6 Until level 3, you will need to let Lucian shove you in. Concede all farm, and if you need to, get out of exp range so he doesn't nuke your health bar with Piercing Light and Lightslinger. Once you hit 3, stack your Rampage against minions and just run him down, he cannot outrun you nor outdamage you, so you can pretty much instakill him as long as you don't take too much damage early on. Post 6 After 6, the lane becomes easier since you can just run him down with Devastating Charge, and if he uses The Culling, you can just Onslaught of Shadows behind him, cancel his ult, and kill him.

LUX

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Early on, let Lux shove you in. She has very good gank setup with Light Binding's snare, so you want to make sure nothing wonky happens. Once you hit 3, run at her with Devastating Charge and try to bait out Light Binding. If the snare hits, just back off and wait for your E to come off cooldown, if it misses run behind her and knock her towards your tower and just kill her. Post 6 After 6, the lane becomes even easier since you can just use Onslaught of Shadows if you see her binding coming towards you, which will allow you to get on top of her even through the snare and just beat her down.

MALZAHAR

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 When it comes to the Malzahar lane, you need to knock down his Void Shift before hitting into him with Devastating Charge. Let him shove you in, and then at level 3, run into him with Spirit of Dread active. The damage it does will knock down the shield, so you can just run behind him and knock him towards turret without wasting your E on his passive. Post 6 After you get ult, nothing changes too much. The only thing is you can never just directly use Onslaught of Shadows right on top of him or the fear will get cancelled because of his passive, so you will always need to run into him with Spirit of Dread active first.

NEEKO

Difficulty: 8/10 Pre 6 Early on, you should let Neeko shove into you and just focus on farming. If you ever try to kill her by all inning, she will just use Tangle-Barbs and root you. The issue is that even if it misses, she can always use Shapesplitter and you have to 50/50 which one is the real Neeko. If you're feeling risky, you can go for the 50/50, however I prefer to just wait until 6. Post 6 After 6, the matchup becomes a lot easier since if she uses Shapesplitter after you use Devastating Charge, you can just wait out to see which Neeko is the real one, ult on top of her, and kill her quite easily. The only issue is that she may use Pop Blossom, so you will need to ensure that you have enough HP to live through her combo.

NOCTURNE

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 Let Nocturne shove you in early, however you can still go for harass on him with Rampage + AA combos. Once you're above level 3, if he ever uses Unspeakable Horror on you, instantly pop Ghost and Devastating Charge, run out of range, then run into him and attempt an all in. Hecarim outdamages and outheals him so as long as you aren't feared, you win the fight. Post 6 After 6, just make sure that you're ready to rotate bot if he ever goes for roams, since his Paranoia is a super good roaming ability. Shove in waves and match his roams if he ever goes for any

ORIANNA

Difficulty: 2/10 Pre 6 In the Orianna matchup, you can go for farm, but be sure to be constantly on your guard since she will constantly be looking for Command: Attack + AA trades. Let her shove you in until level 3, then commit double summoners and run her down. It's better to wait for her to waste her Command: Dissonance]] before committing for the all in, since she wont be able to cast it on top of herself and get a movespeed boost. Post 6 After 6, Orianna just becomes another mage matchup. You can run her down with Onslaught of Shadows and Devastating Charge pretty easily, and since she has no mobility there's nothing she can do to prevent it.

PANTHEON

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 In the early levels, stay away from Pantheon so he doesn't just get free damage off with his Comet Spear. Let him shove you in early, but if he commits for a fight you can just pop Spirit of Dread and double summoners and kill him. One interesting thing about this matchup is if Hecarim is charging at Pantheon with Devastating Charge active, and Pantheon uses Shield Vault on him, Hecarim's E cancels the stun since he knocks into him midair. This is useful since it puts Pantheon W on a long cd and gives you a massive amount of kill pressure Post 6 After 6, if Pantheon ever goes for a trade on you and uses his Aegis Assault, ult behind him and kill him since he will not be blocking the damage that comes in from behind.

PYKE

Difficulty: 2/10 Pre 6 Early on, you can shove Pyke in pretty easily. If you stay in the middle of minions, his Bone Skewer can't damage you since it only damages the first person it hits. Keep going for constant trades, and all in him with double summoners when he wastes his Phantom Undertow. Post 6 Lane doesn't change too much, but you will want to constantly be looking to shove in and roam bot, since Pyke will always be looking to pick up kills botlane with his Death from Below.

QIYANA

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Try to shove in Qiyana early, and if she goes up for farm, just harass her with Rampage and AA. If she ever uses her W on brush, to get the green Edge of Ixtal, just spam Rampage in the area that she's invisible, to get damage off. If she ever uses Audacity aggressively, commit double summoners and kill her. Post 6 Stay away from the walls so she can't just use Audacity, knock you into a wall with Supreme Display of Talent, and oneshot you.

RENEKTON

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 The Renekton matchup is a true skill matchup. In this lane, you can either shove or be shoved, either works. Save Spirit of Dread for when he uses Slice and Dice aggressively, and then just beat him by committing everything. Post 6 After 6, lane matchup doesn't change too much, but the thing to keep in mind is Dominus is on a very low cooldown, so he will have it up for pretty much every fight, whereas your Onslaught of Shadows will likely be on cooldown.

RUMBLE

Difficulty: 6/10 Pre 6 Early on, stay away from the wave. If you walk up for farm, rumble will just use Flamespitter and chunk you. Farm passively until level 3, and if he walks up too far in lane, commit double summoners and run him down and kill him. Rumble wins the short trades, but not the extended ones. Post 6 Be wary for his roams. With The Equalizer, he can make plays bot work very well, so you need to be sure to keep the wave shoved in, and rotate if you ever see him moving from mid.

RYZE

Difficulty: 1/10 Pre 6 Similar to the Cassiopeia matchup, just sit back until level 3. Ryze will try to get poke off with Spell Flux and Overload, so play away from minions if you see him using it on them. After 3, wait for him to waste his Rune Prison and then you can just commit for a fight and easily kill him since he has no way to escape. Post 6 Matchup doesn't really change, Onslaught of Shadows just makes it easier to get on top of him and you don't have to worry about Rune Prison anymore since you are unstoppable.

SWAIN

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 You don't need to concede farm, but try not to always stay near him or he will just autoattack you and get harass off with his Death's Hand. You can all in him at level 3, but wait for him to waste his Nevermove beforehand, that way you can just run up to him and he will have no method of escape. Post 6 If you have Ignite up, wait until he uses Demonic Ascension before igniting him, that way he will not be healing from his ult.

SYLAS

Difficulty: 8/10 Pre 6 Even though you can shove Sylas in early, it's better to let him shove in since he won't be able to run away from your level 3 all in. In this lane, he heals for a lot with Kingslayer, so you will want to rush Executioner's Calling. Post 6 Lane doesn't change too much, but it's still very hard to kill him so you will want to look to get leads bot rather than mid since fighting him isn't a possibility after 1-2 items.

SYNDRA

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Let Syndra shove you in, and stay out of range of her Dark Sphere so she can't get free damage off. At level 3, go for an all in, but dont instantly commit Devastating Charge, try to run around her to bait out Scatter the Weak. If she wastes that ability, she has no way to prevent death. Post 6 At level 6, you can just use ult on top of her and beat her down. Scatter the Weak won't do anything since you are unstoppable, which means she just dies.

TALIYAH

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 Always keep minions between you and her so she can't get damage off with Threaded Volley. When you go for the all in level 3, make sure you don't use the Devastating Charge empowered autoattack while you're on top of her Unraveled Earth. Hecarim is considered airborne for the duration of the empowered auto, so you will take a lot of damage from the rocks on the ground. Try to maneuver yourself in a way that makes it so her Unraveled Earth isn't near you or is on cooldown before all inning. Post 6 Same concept as your Devastating Charge, your Onslaught of Shadows will make it so you proc her Unraveled Earth and take a lot of damage, so just avoid fighting her if she has it on the ground.

TWISTED FATE

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 Stay away from minions if Twisted Fate has his red card, since it does AoE damage. At level 3, wait for him to waste Pick A Card so he can't gold card you, and all in him. He has no mobility so it's very easy to kill him. Post 6 Twisted Fate will try to use Destiny to roam around for kills, so make sure that you're keeping an eye on the map in order to counter whatever play he tries making.

VEIGAR

Difficulty: 2/10 Pre 6 Early on, you can either shove or be shoved in. As long as you can dodge Baleful Strike and Dark Matter, you have a very easy time in thia lane. When you commit for the level 3 all in, try your best to bait out his Event Horizon beforehand so you don't get caged in. Post 6 Hecarim has a very interesting interaction with Veigar. If you use Onslaught of Shadows and go through Event Horizon, you can still get your Devastating Charge empowered auto off before you get stunned. Just ult through his cage with your E active and knock him towards you, he won't be able to get far enough away by the time the stun wears off.

VEL'KOZ

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Can either shove or be shoved in. Play near minions so he can't land Plasma Fission on you. If he ever gets two stacks of Organic Deconstruction on you early, just play back until it expires so you don't take the true damage from the third proc if he lands another ability. When committing for the all in level 3, be sure to run in a way that you can bait out his Tectonic Disruption, dodge it, and kill him. Post 6 If he uses Life Form Disintegration Ray, ult on top of him with Onslaught of Shadows, canceling his ult and giving you the ability to kill him.

VIKTOR

Difficulty: 6/10 Pre 6 Sit back early so he can't just poke you for free with Siphon Power and Hextech Ray. At level 3, you can just run straight at him through his Gravity Field since you will outrun the stun, and just butcher him. Post 6 Even easier than earlier, you can just ult on top of him whenever you want and kill him since he has no mobility and can't run away.

VLADIMIR

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 In this lane, you can either shove or be shoved in. Just go for short trades early on, since Transfusion doesn't heal him for much before he gets items. Before committing for the all in, try to bait out his Sanguine Pool since he is untargetable for the duration of it. Post 6 Matchup doesn't really change, but wait for his Sanguine Pool to be on cooldown before using Onslaught of Shadows, since he can just use W and get away for free.

XERATH

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 Early on, Xerath will shove hard with his Arcanopulse and Eye of Destruction. Try your best to dodge his abilities since you will want to remain healthy for the level 3 all in. Move in a jittery pattern when you proc Ghost and Devastating Charge in order to dodge his Shocking Orb. As long as you can dodge the stun, he is an easy kill. Post 6 Matchup doesn't change too much. If he walks up too far, just use Onslaught of Shadows and instakill him.

YASUO

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 Try to trade with Yasuo early on, but let him shove into you. He wins level 1, but from level 2 onwards you win. If he tries trading with you, just use Spirit of Dread and you will outheal and outdamage him. If he ever uses Sweeping Blade on you while there are no minions nearby, just instantly commit onto him since he will not be able to get away from you. Post 6 Save Onslaught of Shadows for when he uses his tornado. Since you become unstoppable, you won't get knocked up and you'll be able to kill him very easily.

YONE

Difficulty: 5/10 Pre 6 Very similar to the Yasuo matchup. Wait until level 2 before fighting him, concede early. If he ever uses Mortal Steel and dashes into you and misses, commit for an all in and kill him. If he tries to run away from you while he has Soul Unbound active, just wait at the original location so you can bash him on his return. Post 6 Save Onslaught of Shadows for when he uses Mortal Steel aggressively and ult into him and kill him.

ZED

Difficulty: 4/10 Pre 6 In this lane, you can either shove or be shoved. Stand behind minions so even if he ends up landing his Razor Shuriken, it does minimal damage. You can all in him at any point, but I'd suggest waiting for him to use Living Shadow before committing so that he has no way of escaping. Post 6 If he ever uses Death Mark while you're near tower, ult back into tower instantly and he will take a max range 2 second fear, tank tower aggro, and you can instakill him.

ZIGGS

Difficulty: 3/10 Pre 6 Let Ziggs shove you in early. He will try to poke you with Bouncing Bomb, but as long as you dodge it you should be completely fine. When going for the level 3 all in, just run at him until he wastes his Satchel Charge preemptively, and then you can just kill him since he has no way to get away from you. Post 6 If he ever tries poking you, just use Onslaught of Shadows aggressively and instakill him.

ZOE

Difficulty: 7/10 Pre 6 Early on, you can never really kill Zoe. If you walk up for farm she can just get free poke in with auto attacks and Paddle Star. Be sure to play behind minions or she will land Sleepy Trouble Bubble and nuke your entire health bar. If her Ignite is on cooldown and you are low HP when you decide to all in her, do not use your ignite or she will steal it with Spell Thief, ignite you, and kill you. Post 6 Try to bait her into using her Sleepy Trouble Bubble on you. If it lands, you can just wait until the sleep is about to go off, use your Onslaught of Shadows aggressively, cancel the sleep, and kill her.