Yorick Build Guide by Blowfeld

Digging Graves- One At A Time

What is this pocket guide about- and what not?

This pocket guide is my attempt to give you a brief overview about a fringe jungler called Yorick;

This is not an elaborate guide where I totally go "in- depth" to explain every tiny bit, but rather a guide for somebody who wants to go right into the action and have all the important things in a quick overview.
It should help you gather information while in loading screen or quickly before a match in order to give you a general idea of different options that work.

If you can read the whole guide in less then 5 minutes then I have done well :)

Why use Yorick as a jungler?

Yorick brings a lot to the table that you have to like as a jungler:


- you are a wild- card as people are not used to jungle Yorick ( element of surprise)
- crazy strong early ganks
- Some soft CC in form of a slow and a movement speed buff for himself
- good sustain due to Omen of Famine
- strong early AE for clearing jungle
- strong ultimate that makes getting counter jungeled post level 6 nearly impossible
- your ultimate is quite versatile
- tankiness
- clears jungle in average time

Pros / Cons

• Your passive grants you natural tankiness and a dmg steroid
• You can hold lanes easily if your mates die / return to base
• Got great sustain with omen of the famine
• You farm the jungle quickly due to ghouls
• You can gank really early
• Great pusher if needed
• Strong 1 vs 1
• Pentakill skin

• If enemy denies you blue in the beginning you got a problem
• No real escape ability other than Omen of War
• Ghoul timing can be difficult in the beginning
• Need to make good decisions about Ultimate

Runes

Marks

Greater Mark of Attack Damage:
Yorick scales well with AD, so it is a good choice to give him a healthy start ( also increases your life steal in the beginning);
greater mark of desolation:
Pushing your auto attacks, deal true damage to minions;


Seals & Glyphs

Greater Seal of Armor & Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist:
The former keeps you alive well in the jungle and when you gank top or bot, the latter helps you to endure the punishment they call their AP carry.


Quints:

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed:
Let's you jungle and gank more quickly as you have no real gap closer;
Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage:
If you feel comfortable with your movement speed then these are the strongest quints to take;
Greater Quintessence of Health:
If you are afraid that your early health pool is not big enough, feel free to take those, but I do not see them necessary.

Masteries & Summoner Spells

Choose your masteries dependant to your play style:

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You jungle- take smite! it is that easy...

Use it to gank, to chase over walls or to escape.

Great for ganking, chasing, escaping or minimizing travelling time.

If you feel mobile and smart enough to make a gank happen, then this can assist you well.

great in 1 vs 1 or to shut somebody down.

If the enemy team is very cc heavy consider this an option

Skills and their usage

- Up to 20% more damage output (dependant on how many ghouls are summoned);
- Up to 20% more damage reduction (dependant on how many ghouls are summoned);





- If pressed, your Q button will activate a ghoul when hitting a target within the next 10 seconds;
- Resets your auto attack timer for a powered auto attack;
- Use directly after auto attack for maximum burst;
- Whatever you hit, the ghoul directly attacks the next champion;
- Use to move in/ out quickly;
- Combine with omen of pestilence for chasing/ escaping;
- helps with crazy strong level 3 ganks





- deals area damage first and then single target damage by ghoul;
- great slow against one or more enemies;
- make surprising mid lane level 2 ganks that are deadly most times;
- helps you to slow while chasing or to slow enemies while escaping;
- combine with Omen of War for more awesomeness;
- use it cleverly in between yourself and a skill shot to nullify its effect on you;
- can be used to check bushes or destroy traps;
- cast it through a wall to last hit a fleeing champ;





- helps keeping you alive while jungeling;
- helps keeping you alive while fighting enemies;
- scales great with AD;





- use this in a 1 vs. 1 fight to gain the upper hand by casting it on yourself early for maximum effect;
- cast it on a fed AD carry early to turn a 5 vs. 5 to a 6 vs. 5;
- use it on a fed AD carry last short before his death to make a surprising comeback;
- use it to push tower / to take tower shots for you;
- use it to safely tower dive;
- cast in moments of certain death to confuse the enemy team and to escape
- cast it to make them waste skills if they are not prepared;

Items

The item build on top is just a snapshot of one viable build where you want a little bit of everything. Feel free to roam the items below to reflect the enemy setup and counter it hard.

Solves mana problems. Gives quite some AD combined with Frozen Heart;
Build Sheen first for proc, then upgrade it; Gives you something of everything you need to destroy and keep up;

Some burst damage, an extra slow and sustain; Even after the nerf still viable for Yorick



Shuts down AD carries by armor and auto attack slow; Great cooldown reduction; synergizes well with Manamune; no more out of mana;

If you need even more tankiness; Also you can have your Heart of Gold early for extra money to spend.


Even without a really big health pool this is a versatile item that gives you proper defence and offence at the same time.

Movement speed and magic resistance will keep you mobile and alive longer; health regeneration is a nice bonus;

If their AP carry is not that strong this is a viable item; more health, more cooldown reduction, and buffed regeneration effects synergize well;

Great choice if you face surpression/ crowd control heavy teams;


I only buy this if I am considered a threat. Together with your ult you will stay in fight long...who said undying?


They will throw CC at you when you initiate or help doing so. This nullifies the first spell thrown at you. Also helps with mana / health;


Combine this with Atma's Impaler und you will live a long and happy life. Even after nerf a viable option for Yorick;

Is good to get before early teamfights if your support is non existant or does not take it


Helps you chase down stuff/ escape more well; Also the cooldown reduction and regeneration are nice. Also it builds from Philosopher's Stone which gives you early gold per 10 seconds.


If you feel like your Omen of Pestilence does not offer enough and reliable slow, then this item gives you good amount of health, a great slow and some damage. Just do not combine it with Trinity Force;


AD / auto attack heavy enemy team;


AP / CC heavy enemy team;


You fear nothing and want skills to be ready to crush stuff!

Jungling

First: Either pick a point in Omen of Pestilence (a little faster) or Omen of Famine (more health overall-> safer ganks) - they both work fine.
My jungle clear time without ganking and leashes is around 3:33 best time I had...


1. Regrowth Pendant + Health Potion
Use when: Nearly always. Will help you to rush Philosopher's Stone to solve mana problems early and get extra income.

2. Cloth Armor + 3x Health Potion (save the extra money for later)
Use when: the enemy has a strong AD counter jungler or you want to rush Frozen Heart early;

3. Boots of Speed + 3 Health Potion
Use when: You feel totally confident and want to gain exp. or gank fast;

1. Start with golem / 2 lizards -> "Blue Buff" (level 2!) Get a leash if offered, it helps being quick;

If you get your blue stolen/denied I recommend going Philosopher's Stone build as it does not slow you down that much as it keeps your mana up.

NOTE: If you got a competent team then start wolves with their help, just ensure that they get out of xp range when it comes to the kill. Then proceed to golem.

Now either gank closest outer lane for a surprise early appearance or continue jungeling;

2. Wolves

Now make a choice:

a.) mid seems gankable very soon-> 3. wraiths -> gank mid!

b.) mid and outer lane look promising in the near future ->3. lizard "red buff" (level3) and then choose if you walk mid (take wraiths if you got the time) or outer lane (take golems if the time is given)-> gank hard!


From now on you can roam your jungle while looking out for good ganking opportunities or even invade their jungle if you know they have a jungler with a weak early game.

Feel free to give second and oncoming buffs to your mid AP carry as your mana problems should be non existent later ( nothing a mana pot can not solve);


No enemy jungler?
Chew some bubblegum, be buffed red and blue all day long and kick some serious *** ;)

1.Activate Omen of War directly before ganking. Either hit champ to gain speed or hit the next minion as it grants you speed and the ghoul attacks the enemy champ anyway.

2.Use Omen of Pestilence just next to the enemy champ in their predicted escape route;

3. Feel free to pop Ghost or Flash if needed to surprisingly initiate if their escape summoner is down;

4. Keep Ghost or Flash if they have theirs still up and hunt them down once they use it;

5. Kill them. Early. Again and again... they will hate you for killing their mid champ before 5 minute mark or devastating an outer lane at level 2 :)

6. Rinse and repeat No. 5

Golden Rule: Wards are your friends!

Stonewall's Jungle Yorick

As I received some requests about jungle routes and clearing times I will put up Stonewall's recent jungle video.
All credit is due to him, as he is the owner of the video.
Also check out his jungeling blog, it is always very informative.

We have a slightly different approach to Yorick, but that's ok. His approach is focussed on the most efficient clearing time, mine is focussed on a safe but still efficient route that keeps your life always in regions where you can easily gank.

Enjoy.

Endgame

Feedback

Feel free to leave me any feedback regarding this guide as I am open minded to changes.
If you think it would be interesting to release some "fringe science" pocket guides some times tell me and if you think it is a waste of time your opinion is welcome, too.

Just don't forget: This is about fun, not about having the "non plus ultra jungeling machine" - even though results with jungle Yorick are better then my average :)

Cheers, have a good time& thanks for reading!

Sincerely

Your Blowfeld

Screens of proof

A friend noted that I should put in a view pics of my recent matches, as people always believe I was a troll :)

So, here they are. I do not give much about that but he is convinced that a lot of people believe this would be important...