I first bought Yorick simply because he was something different, no other champ really works the way he does and so that makes him really fun to play.

He is a great burst champion and can do an insane amount of damage, however if you constantly spam his ghouls, you'll very quickly have no mana.

For this reason Yorick NEEDS blue buff. The build gives him a ton of mana, but to do max damage blue buff is absolutely necessary, and the CDR is a great thing for him to have as well.

But now i'll go into specifics below.

Passive: the more ghouls you have out at once makes you hit harder, and when you ult an ally, both the ally and the ghoul count towards that, so you have max 5 ghouls at once.

Q- Deals quite a bit of damage, but has to hit the target at close range, which can be risky. however since it stacks from AD and actually hits for far more than your AD it is effective, and when used it gives you a speed boost and a ghoul that attacks for you

W- This ghoul is great for face-checking bushes as its an AoE, and can be casted inside a bush, revealing everything inside and doing damage, while you remain at a safe distance. It also slows every enemy it hits, and continues to slow them for every second its around them, and it attacks for you just like every other ghoul

E- This little ghoul is, in my opinion, Yoricks pride and joy (other than his ult of course). It does damage when its casted, and gives Yorick alot of health every time it attacks, Very VERY useful to have around. It also helps with ganks if you need to run, but gain quick HP.

R- This move is like a toned down version of Zileans. though it does make a difference. it is !0 seconds of extra life to anyone on your team, but you have to select them as they die. so pick the person that can do damage, otherwise its a waste (in other words don't ult supports, or karthus for that matter, he has his passive for that) This ult lets you not care at all about your life (after all, you're dead already) and therefore you can spam and do as much damage as possible before dying again once your 10 seconds of glory is up.

Sometimes you'll get a stupid teammate that doesnt quite get what your ult does, and once you ult him and he dies, he uses his 10 seconds to run away..... thats an INCREDIBLE waste of 10 seconds.... and you need to sit that guy down and explain to him that he just screwed you over. But if your teammate is on point and gets it, your ult can change a fight entirely, or even distract the enemy so they attack the ghoul rather than your teammate.




if you're fast enough, any of Yoricks ghouls can be used to block skill-shots. if morg happened to fling her stun at you and you used your W just in time, she hits the ghoul and not you.
that being said... its really not that easy and this will happen more from sheer luck than anything else.

Pro's
- incredibly durable, but with great damage to match.
- 10 seconds of life for any teammate if they die while your ghoul is up (and if you ult the right teammate)
- Can use his abilities at a distance, and still do damage to minions and champions alike while his ghouls go on rampage
- gets lifesteal even without lifesteal items from his E

Cons

-He's more 1 on 1 in my opinion, thougb thats not to say he couldn't 2 v 1, its just harder, hes great in teamfights though.
- Heavily mana dependent if you bring his ghouls to full use

I went fully into the AD tree simply because despite being tanky, Yorick is also one of the frontliners for damage, and the AD masteries Aid this effectively. and he gets plenty tanky off of his items, the masteries simply aren't needed.

As always though, this is a GUIDE, and therefore is how i play my champion, there is nothing wrong at all with being original and changing a few things around, in fact i encourage it, do whatever makes you feel comfortable with who you're playing as.


As for the spells i chose the best spells for offensive combat.
yorick's abilities give him speed, a slow, lifesteal, and a second chance respectively.

sometimes however the speed and slow arent quite good enough and exaust is required, and ignite is always great for finishing the job and cutting healing.

Thoughts on some other spells:
Smite- If you wanna try jungling you have my full support, ive never done it at level 1, but at about level 4 jungling is not at all difficult due to his lifesteal wraith, so if you try it please let me know.

Flash- Quite a few people use flash, and i understand that it is certainly useful and can be the difference between life and death. That being said i don't use it, exausting the enemy and then using your lifesteal ghoul works well too unless you have to go over a wall. but again, use what you're comfortable with.

Ghost- Can be used to catch up, or run away faster, however that's really all it does. use it if you'd like but its not a very practical move.

Clarity- i did mention mana troubles for Yorick, this is true. However blue buff solves that problem and taking clarity isn't as preferred as taking something a little more useful in combat.

Heal- Same as clarity, yes it gives health, but your Omen of Famine gives you quite a bit of lifesteal, so its not required, but if you're not comfortable without it, then take it.

Teleport- Nah.... good to go places faster, but you dont need it. just walk like a normal person.

As for the rest... id say dont bother with them, but its your call.

YES.
use smartcast.
i use it with every champion simply because it makes everything so much faster, but for yorick it means using his ghouls incredibly quickly, and that makes a huge difference.

if you're not used to smartcast.... work at it, seriously.

if you dont even know what it is: go to your in game options, and go to key bindings and scroll down. thats what they are, all it means is it instantly casts the ability you're trying to use.

Yorick is typically a bruiser, he survives, thats his job. and this build is helpful to the team, and makes you incredibly difficult to kill.

The Atma's and Manamune together give him roughly 300 attack, and when you have blue buff, and spam ghouls, that hurts. that hurts quite a bit.

yes his auto-attacks are slow, but his ghouls are also attacking which make up for it, and the more ghouls you have out the harder he hits, so attack speed really does nothing for him.

Because of the Frozen Heart the enemies all have reduced attack speed, which is helpful to the team, and because of the damage Yorick does, its almost in their favor to focus you despite being a tank. and if they try to kill anyone else just ult that person and make them come back to life. simple, easy, and VERY effective.

The rundown for the items is as such:
every item there (other than the boots) works with Manamune, Atma's, or both. that was their whole purpose.

BUT, no build is ever set in stone. ever.
and as such you may find these other items useful.

Atmas and Manamune should stay in my opinion, and the boots are really the only opton for a Champion like him, except MAYBE Ninja Tabi, which i dont consider to be anywhere near as good.

Frozen Mallet- Gives health which works well with Atma's, and also has its own little attack and free slow. Viable, works, your call.

Trinity Force- Gives minor boosts in both health and mana, gives an attack boost after every ability, and also slows. its a good item, just because i dont use it doesnt mean it shouldn't be under consideration.

Rylai's- Health bonus isnt bad, and it gives AP, though Yorick only has 1 AP scaling move, and although it stacks at 1 to 1 i just dont believe its worth it. but feel free to try it and give feedback, id appreciate that.

Thornmail: doesnt work with Atma's OR Manamune, but if you're going against a strong AD carry and don't feel protected enough by the main items i listed then go for it.

Feedback is appreciated, please write and tel me what you feel i need to fix or explain better and i'll certainly take it under consideration.