2012-12-26, 11:19 PM
Five Second Pose Wrote:You should have upgraded Machete into Spirit of the Ancient Golem eons before your other items.[COLOR="#cc8899"]
I usually do something like
Start: Machete + 5 pots
First back: Boots, either upgrade Machete or buy components for it
Second back: Finish Machete upgrade, work on Sheen or a defensive item depending on how ganks are going
After that, my build order depends on their team, but I tend to build him fairly tanky, similar to Skarner - Sheen provides most of my damage and eventually upgrades into the fist item for armor/AOE slow. For MR I usually build either Aegis (especially if there are other champs on my team that are likely to dive into the enemy team) or Maw. Everything else is situational. I prefer the Spirit of the Ancient Golem on Skarner and Hecarim, but the Lizard item works well for them too.
Boots I usually upgrade into Tabi (especially if I'm getting Ancient Golem) or Merc Treads with the Homeguard enchant. Hecarim's E + Homeguard buff gives you well over 1000 movespeed when charging out of the fountain, it cuts a LOT of your travel time down when you are b'ing.
I tend to start Q > W > W > E if ganking at level 4, Q > W > E for level 3 ganks, Q > E for level 2. I really don't like level 2 ganks on him, though - like most level 2 ganks, it hurts your jungling ability if you aren't successful. Once you have some armor runes you really shouldn't ever dip low in HP in the jungle after you finish blue golem and hit level 2. W provides quite a bit of sustain alongside the 5 pots you start with.
As an alternative to 5 pots, if you have enough points invested in the support tree (you shouldn't on Hecarim, but hey, it's an option) to get access to 20 bonus starting gold, you can start with boots + regen bead to allow earlier access to Machete's upgrade item. You'll dip a bit lower in health early on but otherwise won't have an issue.[/COLOR]

