League of Legends Patch 12.17: Hecarim Receives Kit Updates and More
The upcoming League of Legends Patch 12.17 is set to bring changes to 20 different champions, including buffs, nerfs, and adjustments. Additionally, item changes such as Stopwatch and Zhonya’s Hourglass will impact many more champions in the game.
Champion Focus: Hecarim
Hecarim is one champion who will undergo significant updates to nearly his entire kit in Patch 12.17.
In a recent announcement, Riot Games revealed that the aim of these changes is to shift Hecarim’s playstyle from an assassin/full tank to that of a fighter/bruiser.
Hecarim’s Abilities
In Patch 12.17, Hecarim will see changes to all four of his active abilities. The only ability that will remain untouched is Warpath (P), which will continue to grant Hecarim bonus Attack Damage based on his bonus movement speed.
These changes serve to provide more incentives for Hecarim to be played as a fighter/bruiser rather than an assassin or tank, according to Tim Jiang, associate designer at Riot Games.
Ability Changes
Rampage (Q), Hecarim’s strongest jungle-clearing ability, will receive slight nerfs to its base damage while getting a five percent increase in the scaling bonus AD. The number of stacks Hecarim can accumulate on Rampage will also be increased from two to three, and the ability’s cooldown will be reduced by an additional 0.25 seconds per stack.
The mana cost of Rampage will be significantly reduced to a fixed 30 mana throughout the game.
Spirit of Dread (W) will introduce a new passive that grants Hecarim bonus Armor and Magic Resist when the ability is active. These additional tank stats will make Hecarim tougher to deal with in teamfights.
Devastating Charge (E) will have less knockback but a lower cooldown at all ranks to compensate. Additionally, the enhanced auto-attack linked to the ability will deal less damage overall. These changes aim to reduce Hecarim’s susceptibility to ganks, as his primary crowd-control ability will see a significant power decrease.
The ultimate ability, Onslaught of Shadows (R), will have its Fear duration reduced from two seconds to 1.5 seconds, based on the distance traveled by Hecarim during the ability’s activation.
Hecarim’s Presence in the Meta
Hecarim has been relatively absent from the professional League of Legends meta since the Spring Split. However, with the World Championship approaching, these updates could potentially bring him back into the jungle landscape. Currently, Hecarim holds a low pick/ban rate of only one percent in major regions for this split, showing a decline from his 44 percent presence rate in the Spring Split, based on statistics from Gol.gg, a League stats site.
Patch Release and Tuning
These changes to Hecarim are already live on the League of Legends PBE (Public Beta Environment) and will be fine-tuned throughout the week, as mentioned by Tim Jiang.
Patch 12.17 is scheduled to go live on September 8, according to the official patch schedule provided by Riot Games.