Phase Rush makes it so you can catch up to enemies quicker and everything in the sorcery tree pretty much, you can either catch up to enemies faster or you can run away from them faster. This also means, if you’re in a good matchup you can snowball it harder and if you’re in a bad matchup you can escape it easier.

Now, things get a bit trickier when we dive into item choices. Hecarim’s got a few different build paths that you can do depending on the enemy team composition.

The first recall is pretty much always the same. When facing a comp that uses split damage (ad/ap), your goal should always be to get Ionian Boots of Lucidity into a Long Sword on the first back and begin building Spear of Shojin components.

As a standard option, Opportunity is ideal for capitalizing on an early lead and snowballing your advantage.

Against a mainly physical damage team, Death's Dance offers survivability and sustain. On the other hand, when facing heavy magic damage champs, Maw of Malmortius is great. Serpent's Fang becomes a priority against teams relying heavily on shields, while Chempunk Chainsword is essential for countering champs that heal a lot. Against burst-heavy compositions, Sterak's Gage offers a defensive shield that counters, while Serylda's Grudge is crucial for penetrating armor against tanky champs.

Let’s go over the main thing that made Dantes Challenger in Korea, whereas most Hecarim one tricks have trouble making it out of diamond in EUW or NA nowadays. Pathing is the biggest key thing for Hecarim, it’s the reason Dantes is able to out-jungle LCK pros every game and why he’s able to take a champion like Hecarim and make him unpredictable and just 1v9 games.

There are 5 potential pathing options that you can choose every game. Dantes recommends to full clear for lower elo players, because: you can’t trust your teammates and as a result you don’t want to take any pathing options that would put reliance on your team and it’s also the most consistent way to get a lead. But, once you start getting into higher elos (Emerald, Diamond+) you can start exploring the other options.

Option A: Full clear top to bot. This is Dantes’ go-to 90% of the time. It allows him to reach bot lane at level 4 and potentially initiate a bot lane gank. If no gank opportunities arise, this pathing puts him on the same side of the map as Dragon. If the enemy jungler chooses Option B, you can secure a free dragon after your second full clear.
Option B: Three-camp clear of your red side with a raptor start. Ideal for early impact, especially with a support offering strong CC like Thresh or Nautilus.
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