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Runes: Main runes on Yorick TOP
+8 Ability Haste
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
Spells:
Flash
Teleport
Items
Ability Order Skill Order
Shepherd of Souls (PASSIVE)
Yorick Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Sett
Sett I consider to be one of the Yorick's counters in special if he manage to hit you and shield up. He will probably outdamage you and become a real threat if you decide to engage early and even up to mid-game. Late game is another story, with yorick you can win him late game. Farm and stay under the tower. Play defensive and if you push the lane, roam the map. Use teleport to get back in lane if you are afar and he is attacking your tower and farm your side of the jungle whenever possible if the jungler is kind enough to leave that for you (farm it only when you push the lane too much, and you have to wait for the minion wave to reach your tower, then return).
Rammus
Rammus not only has a very fast movement speed when is ganking your lane but also slow and taunt the enemy champion, which creates a perfect synergy with your "E" slow and your "W" cage. If the combo is right, there should not be a problem to secure the kill (of course, this also depends on the enemy champion).
Rammus
Rammus not only has a very fast movement speed when is ganking your lane but also slow and taunt the enemy champion, which creates a perfect synergy with your "E" slow and your "W" cage. If the combo is right, there should not be a problem to secure the kill (of course, this also depends on the enemy champion).
Champion Build Guide
Hello and welcome to this insane Yorick Carry Top Lane Guide. Despite being an obsessed human being of Yorick and I love to experiment with him, I am a content creator and Yorick is my absolute main and favorite character with the Meowrick pink skin. I love to troll the enemy team π I had a Yorick guide back in season 6 which was rated by the community one of the best Yorick guides on Mobafire, but after a huge nerf, I've decided to archive it. But now, not anymore! We start it from scratch! |
Believe me or not, Yorick is one of the very few champions which you don't have a real counter. All you have is champions with different threats level, and if mastered well, you can win with Yorick nearly every single game, at least the top lane.
I know that some people may have a total different opinion, but believe me, Yorick is a very strong pusher and very underestimated by other players.
Let's see the advantages and the disadvantages of this champion
Yorick's advantages:
- Very strong lane pusher
- Scales well with the game
- Has little to no real counters
- Can solo early rift (and baron if you have some kills secured and a few items)
- You can 1v1 most champions without any issues
- Your ghouls and maid can change the course of the game (and they can also push a lane for you)
- Yorick is extremely powerful and can easily carry on late game, even if you lost early lane.
Yorick Disadvantages
- Can be squishy and weak early game against multiple champions
- The idea of a successful Yorick match is to play defensive before offensive
- If you are behind with the level, you will have a hard time winning with Yorick.
Yorick does not require hundreds of games to learn and master him, but it does require a bit of studying and knowing your enemy champion if you want to have success with Yorick. He can be extremely powerful, take down enemies instant, easily 1vs2 if done right, you can give the enemy team a nightmare when they expect less. :)
Below is a full game I played with Yorick and ended with 23/0/4 KDA. Just for a general idea on how Yorick works. Of course, not every game could be the same, but Yorick has indeed good potential to carry the game.
- - Graves are raised not only when you last hit the minions with "Q" but when minions die near you (a specific number) or large monsters (instant grave). As the game progresses, the graves will be often and often near you. By end-game, even if you don't have the Eulogy of the Isles active, by a simple wave cleared either by you or a team member, enough graves would be left to summon your ghouls from the graves. Remember, there would be only a maximum of 4 graves active.
- - When farming in lane, keep your graves on and don't summon the ghouls unless you go offensive against the enemy champion. Play defensive if you don't have graves as the enemy champions may outdamage you in this case.
- - The passive range is quite big, therefore, if you have graves across the lane (within visual and passive range), you can summon them as they don't have to be really close to you to be able to do it.
- - Do not forget that your "Q" is the bread and butter of Yorick. You will deal so much damage late game that you will take out enemy champions is seconds or even fasters. If you are fed enough, you may even one-shot kill lower level ADC's or champions with lower total health.
- - If you last hit a minion with this ability, it leaves a grave behind. The ability uses very little mana and you should use it even when you farm, as often as possible.
- - If you already have 3 graves, you can press "Q" again while on normal cooldown, to summon the ghouls. If possible, don't do that and wait to "Q" and kill another minion for the 4th grave. The poke is stronger with 4 ghouls summoned than three.
- - There is a little global delay when you place your cage. Try to predict the enemy direction and place it ahead or you will miss it.
- - This ability should not be used only to try to catch an enemy champion but for escape as well. Do not forget that the circular wall is relatively big, therefore when you run from someone through the forest and you get via small passages, place it there as it will totally block the enemy champion to chase you. I can't say enough how many times I've escape because of this.
- - When you poke and damage enemy champions with your "E", your ghouls and even your "Q" and the enemy is inside the cage (only works for melee champs) between your Q and auto-attacks, roam outside the cage out of the enemy's ability or auto-attack range. It works amazingly when you want to poke Nasus on and off, or any other similar champions.
- - Try to land your "E" first on the enemy champion and then summon your ghouls or your maiden as they will still leap or attack the target. If you summon them first and you miss your "E", your ghouls will not attack the enemy champions. Think about the "E" ( Mourning Mist) as an attack command.
- - Same as with your "W", you can use this ability to escape as well and not only to catch an enemy champion.
- - This ability works amazingly well to target and damage the dragon, rift or Baron and re-command your ghouls and maid to attack the target. As for the enemy team doing the dragon or baron, if you synchronize your "E" and also command your ghouls to jump on it from over the wall, you may be able to steal it. I've done it quite a few times successfully.
- - Your maiden not only that will deal a nice amount of damage against an enemy champion, but will increase your damage against that target. Yorick becomes a more offensive and stronger champion when you have your maiden summoned. Don't engage in solo fights without it unless you are sure you can win that. [/colour]
- - You don't have to get into a fight to summon your maiden and ghouls, you can do anywhere at any time. What I usually do is that I keep it for the rift, drake, or baron, so when you summon your maiden, you have a bonus of 4 ghouls as well.
- - Remember, when minions die near you while the maiden is active, ghouls summons instantly. Keep your graveyards and don't summon the ghouls from them as enough will be summoned from the minions dying near you.
- - If the enemy team pushed multiple lanes and you know their actual position, release the maiden and your ghouls by pressing "R" again, so it can push the closest lane and farm for you, while you go and push other lanes. Yorick is the only champion in the game who can push two lanes at once.
- - "Q" will reset your auto-attack timer. The best damage in the shortest amount of time you can deal is to use auto-attack > Q > auto-attack, or auto-attack > "Q" rather than "Q" > auto-attack.
- - Land your "E" successfully on the enemy champion before you summon your ghouls. Try not to forget that
- - Don't fight enemy champion(s) without your ghouls and/or maiden unless you are ahead and confident you can kill the enemy even without. Would be the same as Heimendinger without his little turrets.
- - If you roam through the jungle with your maiden but you don't have your little ghouls anymore with you, kill the wolves or wraths to summon them back.
- - Remember, the best way to win the lane and the game against aggressive champions is to play defensive before playing offensive. Poking with your "E" and your ghouls the enemy champions will help you secure a kill if there's an opportunity for you or for your jungle to come at ganking. Yorick can also farm well under the turret and safe until later during the game when he will make the biggest difference rather than attempt to engage in many fights early level.
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FLASH |
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TELEPORT Keep in mind that with Teleport in rare cases, you can end the game if the enemy nexus is all its left to take it down and the fight is in your favor or there is no enemy presence there but a ward to teleport. There are endless useful applications for Teleport and I will strongly recommend it to take it whilst on top lane as Yorick alongside Flash |
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IGNITE |
Barrier, Exhaust, Ghost or any other summoner spells than the ones above I won't recommend that much. Frankly to be, neither I experimented with Ghost or Exhaust or any other summoner spells on Yorick, therefore, I can't say much about. I only know that Exhaust "may work" against a heavy top AD carry such as Vayne or Quinn, perfect for an all-in combo to slow and decrease the enemy champ damage. Good also to secure a kill in some ganks. But as I've said, I don't have enough data with Exhaust but feel free to experiment with it and I will be glad to hear some opinions.
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Favouring CDR
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Favouring Split Pushing
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I've tried and experimented with dozen and dozen of different builds in different games vs different champions. Not every game is going to be the same and for you to have the same standard build. The build may fluctuate depending on the enemy team and the synergy of your team.
As an instance, if the enemy team is running 4/5 AD champs, it would be logical that you focus on buying some defensive items with armor.
Keep in mind that Yorick is not main tank! He is a fighter with off-tank capabilities, therefore, you may not stack a lot of armor and magic resist, but you will stack a lot of damage and hp.
Yorick also benefits from a burst of movement speed. You will not have abilities which increase damage depending on your movement speed, but with your "E"'s burst, Trinity Force passive, Boots of Swiftness and some other secondary perks, Yorick can easily catch a running enemy champion or even better, escape from dangerous situations (unless you are in the middle of the fight)
Those are the standard items I start about 99% of the time. Rarely, you may want to pick Doran's Shield if you play against a heavy AD champion on top. But remember, Corrupting Potion will give you the early sustain on the lane you need. As for the totem, Stealth Ward is a standard you want to pick when you play on the top lane with Yorick or any other champs. |
Sheen is the most important item you may want to pick on your first recall (will cost you 1050g) because of the extra burst damage you start to do with your "Q", extra mana for longer sustains and the CDR which you start to stack it. Add a Control Ward which is necessary for vision, to disable enemy wards, and detect invisible champions such as Shaco. The Control Ward I also use it when I do the Rift Herald solo, to check if there are any enemy wards placed around. Oracle Lens may help you do that, but this you may want to pick it later during the game, or if you play against Teemo on top lane when he reaches level 6 (to disable the mushrooms). |
While you farm some more gold or secure a kill, depending on the amount of gold you have on the second recall, what I personally do is to buy the Boots and then start prioritizing to finish Trinity Force as soon as possible. Phage is what I normally get for some extra hp, damage and the passive which will help me a lot if I start to engage the enemy champion. |
The most important and core item on Yorick is Trinity Force. This item has everything you ever need and the burst and other passives from it are incredible. By now you should have level 10 (more or less) and with this and the runes (if you go into Sorcery as secondary) you already have around 36% CDR and your "Q"'s are becoming abundant of burst with a very low cooldown as you already maxed it out.! Boots of Swiftness is what I usually build as movement speed on Yorick on the top lane. You are probably more agile than most of the enemy champions, you can run or catch an enemy champion without any issues (depending on champ) |
You may ask why I left this item to now and why should you build in the first place, although you are not going to finish the item anytime soon? You build this item now because you already have some burst damage from your "Q" and you will start to have some healing. Also, having now Vampiric Scepter would be beneficial for the rest of the game giving you long-term sustainability while pushing lanes or fighting enemy champions. This is only a part of the Death's Dance item which although it is a very good item with a lot of lifesteal, you may want that to be as the 5th or 6th item. As you have some lifesteal now because of the Vampiric Scepter that item should not be prioritized anymore and something else should be instead. Also, I've waited only until now that two of the core items, Trinity Force and Boots of Swiftness are a much higher priority! |
Now is time for you to continue with your build. The next item would be Sterak's Gage which will give you a good amount of health, damage, and the legendary passive of a strong shield and tenacity. This item will make a great difference in a 1v1 fight against a bursty champ or even a team fight and should be prioritized. After this, I usually go for Frozen Mallet for extra tankiness and CC! The damage from that item is not very high but you already have some damage, so you need to resist a bit more. With the CC from that item and all your movement speed, rarely I can see any champions running away from you. |
The next step you may want to do is to finish building the Death's Dance for extra damage, armor and MR, bleed effect on you and the life steal. The last item would be Guardian Angel and this item should not be ignored because you will become a very high threath to your enemy team, despite your high damage/burst and your tankiness, you will revive yourself now. (Add a Zilean and a Yuumi with you and you may Pentakill blindfolded) |
This is a defensive item you may want to build on Yorick if the enemy team has very aggressive and maybe they have fed AD champions. The armor and health from the item are very useful to improve the Yorick's tankiness and not to forget the burst of damage. |
Iceborn gauntlet will be a Trinity Force replacement in the rare case where the enemy team has full AD champions. Will not work well if they have fed AD champions as you may already have trinity by the time they forward in score. Also, this can be an option when you go against a very aggressive AD champion on the top lane such as Jax. |
This item would be a replacement of Sterak's Gage if the enemy team are heavy AP based, because Maw of Malmortius has the same unique passive as Sterak's Gage |
In general, this is not I often build on Yorick because there are some other items you may want to prioritize, but this can be useful if the enemy team have a lot of tanks and you need some armor penetration ( Lethality ). Although this is not much, the item has also a shield that can block one ability. Good to avoid high bursts of damage when you go into combat with an enemy champion. |
You want to run as well Spirit Visage if the enemy team is heavy AP based. Only don't prioritize it over the core items unless is really necesarily. |
You may wonder why I left black cleaver only here and this item is not part of the core items? Although this item is Legendary, the fact that Black Cleaver has the same unique passive as Trinity Force, this does not stack and is a waste of a good passive. INSTEAD, if you get Iceborn Gauntlet THEN THIS Black Cleaver BECOMES A CORE ITEM. |
Ninja Tabi and Mercury's Treads can be prioritized instead of Boots of Swiftness for the same reason as above: if the enemy team is heavy AD or AP based, or if you are going to play against an aggressive AD or AP champion on the top lane and you need some early armor or magic resist. |
When you are playing defensive on Yorick and again, this is the way I recommend you to play in special if you play against aggressive champions, try to control the wave close to your turret but out of its range. If the enemy champion is very aggressive, then to farm under turret until level 6+ is okay.
Yorick does not have a lot of killing potential early level but it does have quite a good poking potential.
It is crucial to have your graveyards before advancing in lane and pushing the enemy champion a bit (e.g. going out of your safe zone). Beware if you do this as if the enemy champion is attacking you and you don't have the graveyards, they can out-trade you and you will probably die. Yorick is better as the game progresses and you really want to wait for level 6 before you start to play aggressive.
In some cases, when you really can take down the enemy top laner, do it, but beware of their jungle. Not only once I got ganked and killed. I've learned my lesson by hard way.
Whilst still on the early part of the game and because you play defensive, it is good that after your first recall to return to lane with your teleport. If higher ELO, you know, keep your teleport for a dragon fight, in case you need it.
After level 6, you have your maiden and your little ghouls. What I normally do, I wait for the rift herald to be first spawned. It is a good point if your jungle may help you to do the rift, not because you are not able to do it (in fact you can do it very well) but to avoid a teamfight or surprise herald gank.
Use your maiden and ghouls to tank herald. They will do it very well and you are able to take it down quite fast.
After level 6, you start to have as well some killing potential. Don't forget that altogether with your ghouls and maiden, you can deal a great amount of damage on the enemy champion. Then they can see your capability. But still, play safe and push their turret (or take it down) only if it's safe so.
Oh, one more thing. Early level if the enemy champion recalled into base (2nd time or does not have teleport) and you know their jungle position, try to quickly advance and take down a plate or two.
As you advance with your level, past level 10 when you already have your Trinity Force and your Sorcery runes, you already have nearly max CDR. Your "Q" will have a very little cooldown and burst a lot.
In team fights, if you have a jungle tank, let him or her engage the teamfight. You try to trap them with your cage or send your ghouls/maid to do so. Btw, in a teamfight you have two options with Yorick: fully engage into a single target with your "E", "Q", the same target as your ghouls and maiden are attacking because of the extra damage, or if you send them on the wrong target, let them attack it until your "E" is available again and attack the enemy champion you consider it has to be taken down first (their ADC, APC etc.)
Keep in mind that if you attack the same target as your ghouls and maiden are, you will have better chances to take that champion down and win the team fight. Try to land your "E" as good as you can, also, your "W" as well.
With the "W", I like (if I cannot reach a specific target), to land in the middle of them when you engage. The enemy champions probably won't prioritize their target into your wall only to break it and engage. They will simply get stuck.
The late game with Yorick can be game-changing for your team. If you had secured kills along the game and you are ahead with your level, you will clear the map of towers, enemy champions and other objectives. Of course, you should not do that by yourself and you should play as a team with your mates.
You can also push lanes by sending your ghouls and maiden one lane. Remember, you can do this at any stage of the game, but at level 16 after you have three points in your "R", this alongside with your HP would make your maiden to be a super-tank, pushing a lane for you.
If you engage a turret while you have your maiden active, after a few seconds, the enemy turret will attack your maiden, even if you have ghouls and there is a wave of your minions attacking the turret. Ensure you keep your maiden safe.
You are not able to control the maiden, and this will always follow you. Get afar from enemy champions if they target the maiden, so you can bring it back to you.
When you summon your ghouls, they will push the lane for you until they die, even if you get far away from them. Ghouls summoned when there is not a target to attack or from the jungle, will always follow you. Try to take advantage of Yorick's ghouls mechanics.
Now to summarize this, Yorick does not have real counters as some other champions, not as far as I've noticed by playing hundreds of games with it. It does have enemy champions with increased or decreased difficulty and will matter a lot the skill matchup, but once you get late game and you are ahead of them (which you can be most of the time with Yorick), you can basically slay anyone, as long as they don't escape.
This section I will try to keep it up to date and share with you games with Yorick against different champions and how to play against them.
Well. I love Yorick and is my main since Season 5 or 6. I think I have enough experience with him to sustain my guide and this is a champion you can easily boost your ELO ranks.
I will try to update this guide as often as possible, to experiment more with Yorick and share my insights with you.
I hope that I've been helpful and please take into consideration the amount of time I've worked on this guide to make it as best as possible. I would really appreciate a like to this guide, and if you have any questions or anything to share with me, please leave a comment and I will do my best to respond back to you.
Thank you again and I hope to see you around!.
Patch 10.14 - No changes for Yorick or any core items, however, now when you choose to go with Yorick jungle, the correct recommended jungle items will display.
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Patch 10.13 update (buffed) Yorick
R range for Maiden of the Mistβs leash decreased.
Making it so the Maiden leashes more responsively when Yorick exits a fight. We suspect this will be a small amount of power that skews towards the upper echelons of play where Yorick is currently weak.
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