My name is AP WormMaW Mid and I am AP Kogmaw main since season 3. I was Master tier season 4 and season 5 in soloQ, ending up in Challenger in 5v5 bracket during these seasons as well. Last season I ended up in Diamond 1 on EUW and Master tier 160LP on EUNE.

My main account profiles can be found here: EUNE, EUW

Even though, my main role is midlane, there were times, when top was my main role instead and I still do actively play it, keeping my ability to play it close to my ability to play midlane.

In general, my motivation to play tank Yorick is, that you are able to deal quite a lot of % of max health damage through your ultimate while keeping yourself really tanky. Except for that, your base damages in general are quite good, so you are able to kill people even when building full tank. Difference between this and some sort of AD Yorick is, that as AD Yorick, you want to usually splitpush a lot, because in teamfight you will flop, when someone focuses you and as we know, it's not always good to play around splitpush in soloQ, when your team tends to get caught a lot. For that reason, if you wish to play it a bit more safe and group with your team, then tank Yorick is way better for this purpose and this guide is exactly for you!

Please be aware, that this guide is mainly focused on tank Yorick build. There are several viable builds, and most of people build Yorick as heavy-AD or possibly some sort of hybrid. Though, this guide will be mainly focused just on pretty much full-tank Yorick, which I think lacks on Mobafire in general and these pros/cons as well apply to that.

Pros + Can become really tanky + Pretty good teamfighting potential + Pretty versatile and hard to counter + Possibility to deal a lot of dmg even as full tank

Cons - Quite weak laning when behind - Relying on carries a bit like any other tank - Possibility to kite him quite a lot

Here, I will try to explain possible rune choices for Yorick, even though it feels like sometimes there might be multiple viable choices and the difference might be very low. I want to point out, that I will mention only those runes, that I somehow consider interesting for comparison, so there might not be all runes explained, because it would just result in incredible wall of text that nearly no one would ever read. So let's get started!

This is possibly the only viable choice for tank Yorick, if you weant to run Resolve tree, so there is not really much to choose from, but still it adds some pretty good damage output, together with sustain and permanent health, which is always good for any champion, who wants to go tanky.

Since Yorick doesn't really have greatest laning phase (even though he is not literally weak) and you want to mainly aim for mid-game, this is pretty good defensive choice to make, since it prevents high burst damage and allows you to stay in lane a bit longer.

Another possibility, especially later on when you have higher health pool and if you would decide to splitpush. In general though, even if you wouldn't splitpush, it's great for taking down towers as fast as possible with your team.

Even though Conditioning is really great investment in terms of stats to mid-game, usually I have certain problems to survive laning phase, especially against some champions, that are simply having better trades or that can poke you. For that purpose, I prefer to run Second Wind, which allows me to survive in lane way longer, than I normally would.

This is other defensive possibility, more oriented around investment into mid-game. As I mentioned previously, I don't prefer this rune in current state, since I have certain problems to survive laning phase, especially against certain matchups. So for quality-of-life reasons I wouldn't recommend this rune, even though you always have to consider the fact, that not each elo is same or player - so you can try it and if you feel like you are able to play with it, it's generally way better to mid/late game.

Overgrowth is pretty much my go-for rune in this row. The main reason is, that I already have a lot of health out of my items and it just increases potential of my build even more, by adding even like 500 hp later on, which is huge.

Yorick definitelly suffers, when he is being kited and CCed a lot. For that reason, it might be sometimes useful to run this rune, even though in general I don't find it useful enough to pick it over Overgrowth.

The reason, why I find Sorcery as the best option is, that simply it supports my specific build in the best possible way. It might be always decent to run other secondary trees as well, but I find this as the most beneficial right now. Why? Let's find out...

This is probably the biggest reason, why you want to run Sorcery tree as secondary. First benefit of this rune is, that it helps you to reach your CDR cap sooner, than you would normally do and generally, you want to have CDR cap as soon as possible, to have shorter CD on abilities, but most importantly - on your ultimate. Tank Yorick generally works only when you have your ultimate available, because otherwise, you don't really have much damage, so you need to have that cooldown as much as possible. Another reason is, that currently my most prefered build is - Iceborn Gauntlet + Spirit Visage + Warmog's Armor + Black Cleaver + last situational item. But only those 4 items have total of 60% CDR, which is a lot over cap. With this rune though, you can make transition from extra CDR to AD, being able to reach quite decent amount of AD, even though you are pretty much going tanky. And don't forget - depending on your last item, you can go even further with that!

Except for Transcendence, this is just another tool how to get free AD from mid-game to late-game. Allowing you to build tanky, while keeping decent amount of AD, which will allow you to deal reasonable amount of damage to your opponents, while being that beefy frontline.

Usually I was going for Corrupting Potion start, but since I started to use Second Wind, then combined with Doran's Shield you get really great early game sustain, allowing you to stay in lane for quite long time, if you utilize both of these things properly, which is mainly about going for short trades, instead of long ones.

I usually pick this item over Mercury's Treads to reduce damage of autoattacks, but it depends on team composition obviously. If they have a lot of magic damage or a lot of CC, then you should always aim for Mercury's Treads.

As I mentioned above, it's rather situational which boots you choose. Generally I usually run Ninja Tabi, but it just depends on teamcomps.

If you like to have a bit better early-game damage, you can as well try to go for this start item. If you use it properly during your fights, it will help you to deal way more damage. Generally though, I don't prefer this start anymore.

People are used to build Trinity Force on Yorick, but we aren't them... are we?? This item will give you required mana pool, to not run out of mana too fast, a lot of armor, CDR and whenever you proc your Sheen effect, you as well slow down your opponent, which might prove itself quite useful, especially when you are chasing someone.

Since your Last Rites heal you, and generally you have quite some sustain in your kit, it's decent to run Spirit Visage just to increase that healing potential even further. You also get bunch of CDR, HP and MR, which is always great.

Warmog's Armor is just another pretty much must-have item for Yorick, if you play him tank. Obviously, you can always play without it, but from my experience, it proved itself really useful, whenever I was tanking tower hits during push or dive, then I was just able to back off for a bit, wait for regeneration effect, just to heal myself to full health and continue with push together with my team. In addition, it's another CDR item, which will just provide you more AD from Transcendence later on.

It's not usual, to pick this item over Titanic Hydra for example, but let's look at it this way - you get a lot of health and some AD, which is not by itself too great. What makes it great is combination of CDR and armor reduction. Out of CDR, you get another AD from Transcendence and in addition - what is the point to have a lot of AD, if your opponents have a lot of armor? Armor reduction is just another great tool how to improve your damage output and since it works together with your ghouls, it just makes a lot of mess. In addition to all of that - remember, you are not reducing armor for yourself, but for your team as well, which improves their damage too, which is something, that Titanic Hydra will never provide.

Great defensive tool against physical damage, even though main purpose is to reduce healing effects. Generally you should aim for this item whenever sustain on enemy side is a real problem.

After you have Spirit Visage, you shouldn't usually run this item. The only situation, when you should aim for this item is, when enemy team has a lot of magic damage - especially when the magic damage is repetitive (like Cassiopeia, Malzahar, Brand, ...).

Really great defensive option against heavy-AD teams, that are based on crits ( Yasuo, Caitlyn, Tristana, ...). If you are not really facing any crit-based champs though, it's always better to run Dead Man's Plate or Thornmail.

Usually, I don't build this item, because I don't like it much in general, but it might be quite useful in certain situations, where you are forced to chase your opponents a lot.

Locket of the Iron Solari is great defensive tool into teamfights, where you expect a lot of AoE damage to happen. Generally, it might even help your carries to stay alive against assasins, so whenever you are trying to peel for someone, this might be viable option.

Last Rites is pretty much your primary damage ability, when you are fighting someone from melee range. In addition, it allows you to spawn graves, that you can turn into ghouls. Pretty much your basic ability, that you should rank-up first.

This is, where it starts getting interesting. It might not be always best to rank-up this as second. You should aim for this only if you expect your opponents to be able to get away from your Dark Procession. Though, if you are against things like Gangplank, you should rather make investment into at least rank 3 Dark Procession, to have 3 stacks on this cage, so you can make sure, that he doesn't get way too fast. Against thing like Fiora though, you might expect, that it's not too efficient.

Dark Procession is really great ability, mainly because you and your teammates can pass through it, so there aren't those awkward situations, where you kill one of your teammates. Except for that, if you use it smart, you can zone certain opponents from teamfight with it, buying your team a bit more time. Though, as I said it above, it's maxing is pretty much situational and you should mainly max it, when you feel like your opponents can't escape it too easily with jumps/dashes.

For this ability, the main important thing is to have it up for any kind of teamfight. If you attempt to fight without it, you will most likely fail. Main reason for that is, that you will simply hit like wet noodle, while going tank, so here you will have to coordinate your team a bit and warn them, that you don't want to fight whenever it's not up. It is pretty much the reason, why tank Yorick is any viable, because it is dealing % of max health as magic damage, which is not influenced by AD. Another benefit of being tanky is, that your ultimate gets additional health, making it tougher to kill, even though here, even as full-AD Yorick, it has enough health to survive, so it's not that great, but still it helps you a bit. I would like to add some important information regarding this ability too and that is attack priority, because sometimes it might look quite random. Unlike ghouls, your ultimate doesn't fully follow your Mourning Mist targets, but instead it goes for whoever you autoattack. After that it's important to mention, tower attack priority - in there, priority is as follows: Cannon minion > Ghouls > Eulogy of the isles > minions. So whenever you are trying to push tower, it's better to have cannon minion with you, which can take aggro, leaving your ultimate and ghouls untouched and deal damage to tower. In addition it takes some time until tower takes down cannon minion, so you have plenty of time to do whatever you want.

Here I will try to describe some main parts of gameplay and mention things, that are somehow important. It's maybe worth to say, that generally you don't really have weak phase in game, you can only become weak if you play it in wrong way and your opponents shut you down. Except for that, you are generally pretty strong in any moment.


I would like to point out here as well, that except for toplane, Yorick can be played on midlane as well, since he is able to sustain himself, farm enough or even set-up gank pretty well. So if your team lacks tank in general and you are midlane, you can give this a shot and possibly fill that tank role from mid.





During laning phase you need to be careful, that you don't fall behind too much, because especially in certain matchups it's really hard to get back in game.

Early as yorick is quite decent though, if you land your Mourning Mist, while having ghouls up, you can nearly always do successful trade (except for some champions). Though, be careful and don't get too agressive, since enemy jungler can always look for a gank and if you try to constantly trade, it might end up pretty badly.

Mainly you should focus for farming and fight if you feel confident, that you are in pretty safe spot, where you can escape. Except for that, Yorick has pretty good ability to zone opponents from farm, when you get some kind of lane dominance, unless you summon your Shepherd of Souls, while missing Mourning Mist, which will unnecessarily push your lane, putting you in a bit worse spot in lane most likely.




Mid-game is probably strongest game phase for Yorick. Main reason is, that you are mostly tanky enough to survive your opponents, that don't have their armor/magic penetration items, making you pretty strong in general.

Here, you should try to either way hard-split, if you feel like you can do it successfuly or possibly just group with your team and siege down objectives. Together with your Eulogy of the Isles, you should be able to win pretty much any kind of teamfight, unless your team is really behind.

If it's possible, try to end the game in this phase or get enough huge advantage, to be able to end the game, since the lategame is not greatest anymore.





As I mentioned before, late-game is not Yorick's strongest phase. It's not that he would be literally weak - you can still deal quite a lot of damage and you are still tanky. Problem is, that like any tank, you start relying on your carries, that they can deal enough dmg to win game. When everyone starts having penetration items, then no matter how tanky you are, you will just die in matter of seconds, which happens to any tank, but you know how it goes.

Even though you will most likely melt quite fast as frontliner, there is still space for making plays in teamfights by zoning some important targets and forcing them out of fight, or possibly blocking them with Dark Procession and so on.

In addition, when your Transcendence and Gathering Storm kicks in, you should have enough AD to even kill important things, if enemy team allows you to get on them, so it's not really like you would be too weak, it's just the role in the team, that makes you weak.

Here, I will try to point out worst matchups, that you want to avoid. I don't really want to point out good ones, because most of them are just about the fact, that you have to play it right. So if you play it right, you can beat most of the champions and it's just few of those, that you don't like to face at all if possible.

During early and mid-game, you should be able to beat this girl, unless you do some critical mistakes. She needs time to scale up, to become that ultimate splitpushing beast, that pretty much no one can stop - including you. There might be some possibilities to stop her with other builds, but sadly it's not going to work out with tank Yorick.

I don't know why, but recently this big croc became a real nightmare for me. Main reason is, that he can always escape your Dark Procession with jumps and then he can pull off really insane damage, especially in early or mid-game. When he runs Press the Attack, he can just save some rage for himself, jump on you, chunk you and then jump away. During that it's really hard to fight back, because most of the damage happens during his stun and even if you would want to fight back after it's over, he can always pop ult and most likely finnish you off. I just hate playing against him in general, so if you can avoid this matchup, just do it. Though, if you manage to survive early game, or even get some lead, you will start beating him slowly later on, while literally obliterating him late-game.

This guy with huge axe is real threat, if he knows how to juke your Mourning Mist. Generally early game, you will most likely lose, unless you play it really smart and kitei him around your ultimate. If you let him get his stacks off though, he will most likely chops your head off. Though, it's not really impossible to lane against him, it's just annoying.

This is more about the game, rather than lane. Really good Vayne player can juke your skillshots and tear you apart in teamfights, so if there is Vayne on the other side, you might want to consider picking something else, or possibly going different build.

Pretty much similar case like Vayne. The main problem is, that if he gets protection, it's really hard to deal with in teamfight, since you don't really have any hard engage or gap-closer. For that reason, you should try to reconsider this pick and maybe grab something, that can hard engage on him.

Making guide is continuous work and I am not sure, whether or not I will not add new parts into it. Right now I think, that I said probably the most important part, that should be always included here. But no matter what, you might still expect some updates, whenever I find something new or in case that I would figure out something, that I want to share with you guys.

Anyways, I wish you best of luck on summoner's rift with Yorick and hopefully, you will turn your opponents games into their funerals. But if not, don't worry, because...

If you have any additional questions, if I wouldn't explain something here properly, then feel free to visit me and ask me on my stream.

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