Hecarim is the strongest he's been in YEARS
I've finally figured out the setup on this champ and idk why it's taken me so long
The three item core of Cleaver / Death's Dance / Endless Hunger is OP
Any AD champion that can use DD + Endless Hunger, must be building it every game
The only way to reliably slot in Endless Hunger on item 3 on Heca is by having Cleaver + DD before it
BUILD ORDER:
1st item: Cleaver, unless vs AD Assassins, then opt or Death's Dance first
2nd item: Cleaver or DD (whichever you didn't buy)
note: if vs heavy AP, can replace DD for Maw
3rd item: Endless Hunger
4th+: anything lol, but likely MAW
Don't go Lucidity boots, get Steelcaps/Mercs/Gluttonous instead
What about Shojin?
You don't need it when cleaver is a better alternative + scales better
Cleaver rush feels great, don't forget you are getting +20 ms as long as you are dealing physical damage
Runes:
Conq and stormraider both work amazing
Conqueror in about 30% of games (vs primarily melee, or low mobility champs)
SRS in about 70% of games (vs squishier targets/heavy slow)
ALWAYS TAKE: AH/AD/HPS
can swap out 2nd adaptive for Movement speed shard, which is better, but makes your early game slightly harder to pilot (you lose about 10 seconds on first clear by replacing both adaptive shards, only 5-6 sec by replacing 1 for AH)
Transcendence or Celerity?
Both are fine, I slightly prefer trans because Hecarim benefits so much from extra haste, Celerity definitely feels better, but Transcendence is better overall 100%
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The beauty of this build is you check off every box Heca needs at item 3, allowing you to slot in ANY situational item after your 3 item core
Maw, Shojin, Voltaic, Edge at night, Zeke's, Knight's Vow
Pretty much any item can be slotted at item 4, which makes building around both comps so much easier
This is undoubtedly the best Hecarim setup as of 16.16, it will 100% become meta
Melee Graves
Play this if you’re going towards Nova Master Yi or Fiora, but hit Graves early.
Items:
Giant Slayer, Titans, Steraks, Bloodthirster, Quicksilver, Guardbreaker, Edge of Night
Upgrades:
Assault Frame → Meltthrough → Grav Booster → Emergency Shielding → Heavy Plating → any tank upgrade (Reactive Armor or Sheer Mass)