b-b-b-but nightblue said the buffs to hecarim were negligible and he was still garbage
the w changes make him a bit safer early, the mana changes on his q are definitely fairly negligible. but it's mainly the chilling smite change that make him stronger.
all that in conjunction with the previous buffs a few months ago to his passive and q mana cost make him quite a bit stronger i guess.. he definitely feels a lot better to play now, but i'd have been happier with him being a bit more underground but a bit weaker, i was still able to win most games with him like that.
here's hoping he doesn't gain much popularity.