Yorick actually has some nice Lore behind him which I found pretty interesting. Feel free to read up if you want to know some more information about our friendly neighbourhood ghoul pimp.

The work of gravediggers is essential amongst the living, but invaluable in the Shadow Isles. There are many shades of death there, and each is embraced rather than feared or reviled. One can only ascend from one state to the next with the magical aid of a skilled professional. At the end of the first Rune War, Yorick Mori made his living as a gravedigger. His family owned and maintained the Final Rest Memorial, one of the oldest cemeteries in Valoran. The shovel he employed for his work had been passed down for generations. Each gravedigger taught his son that this shovel was imbued with the spirit of every forefather, and that those spirits would protect him during the long lonely nights amongst the tombstones. To his eternal regret, Yorick died without an heir, bringing the proud Mori line to a close. His body was interred with his shovel in the family mausoleum, and the Final Rest Memorial soon fell to ruin. Death, however, was not the end Yorick had expected.
Yorick emerged on the haunted shores of the Shadow Isles – not quite dead, definitely not alive – still clutching his beloved shovel. He soon learned that with it he could act as a ferryman for the Isles’ undead denizens, helping them climb death’s many-tiered ladder. This proved a curse, as a gravedigger must “bury his quota” before he too can ascend, or so the legend goes. No one knows what “his quota” is. Yorick dug tirelessly, waiting in vain for the day when he would be freed of his burden. As decades turned to centuries, the shame of his failures came to a head. He returned to Valoran to find his corpse, convinced that salvation might be buried with it. When he arrived, no trace remained of either the mausoleum or the memorial. Hope nearly lost, he discovered the League of Legends, and there saw an opportunity to immortalize the family name he allowed to be forgotten ages ago.


“Die first, then we’ll talk.” -Yorick

Pros:

- Can be an amazing farmer with ghouls and nice AD.
- Great pusher.
- Ultimate can change the outcome of a fight.
- Great 1v1 champ
- Amazing sustain in lane.
- Can be built pretty tanky with only a couple items.
- AMAZING harass.
- Passive makes him super tanky in team fights.

Cons:

- Can be Mana starved if you do not build tears/Manamune.
- No escape abilities (besides slow ghoul).
- W ghoul scales with AP and will basically only be used for the slow late game.
- Q is great but only gives movement speed when you hit them.
- Ultimate can be buggy and wasted if not used wisely

Early game Yorick:

I choose AOE ghoul first because you can bush check with it early game to reveal those cheeky enemies waiting to gank you. As most champs you should be focusing on last hitting as much as you can which shouldn't be such a problem considering the AD runes you chose. Once you get your E ghoul you can start harassing the enemy champions really hard and even zoning them out. You should start with a W slow ghoul on them then chuck your E ghoul on them. This should so some nice damage as well as heal up most if not all the damage you received in return. You can keep rinse and repeating this until they are low hp and even get a Q ghoul in there when you can but do not forget to farm minions as well in case you cannot get early kills. Once you feel you can finish off the enemy/enemies let your teammate and go for the gank with your ignite and flash if you need them you can probably get first blood or at least a kill before you B to shop.

Mid Game Yorick:

By this point of the game you should be very strong due to Manamune and sustain in your lane. If towers are not pushed by now you can push you're tower or help other lanes with your ghouls and ultimate at tower to help with extra damage. You are also very helpful in team fights with your slow ghoul and ultimate so help out you're team members when you can and start dominating this game!. You should still focus up on farming as much as you can to afford you're more expensive build so you can start becoming an unkillable monster.

Late Game Yorick:

Lots of team fights should be popping up all over the map and you should be grabbing blue and red buffs if you're team doesn't mind. During big team fights you should let the main tank initiate while you slow ghoul the enemy team to cut down their mobility during the fight. You should then focus on their squishy using you're Q and other ghouls and even use the ultimate in the fight to take the carry/squishes down quicker. If the team fight does not go in your favor and you and some others need to run you should get some distance by using Q on something for a speed boost and then keep dropping W slow ghouls behind you to slow the enemy team (this has saved me and teammates many times). Once you get your mallet and Atmas impler and possibly other items you will be VERY strong and even capable to off tank many fights while putting out some great damage. You should be able to push lanes very easy so if the enemy team is distracted do not hesitate to ghoul push a lane and tower as it will become very easy just be careful if they come and gank you. Always remember to be a team player as you can provide some nice utility and definitely turn the tides of a match!!

Items

Starting items:
Meki Pendant + Health Potion x2

This is honestly the best choice of starter items as it gives great mana regen from meki pendant that stacks nicely with utility masteries. You also have 2 health pots that you can use any way you please.

First Trip back:

Tear Of The Goddess + Boots Of Speed (if you can afford it)

Definitely try and farm up the 605g for the tear as your next trip to the lane will allow you to build up mana stacks with each ability used. If you can afford the boots this is a bonus and means next you can focus on saving that 1115g for Manamune which is a very important part of Yoricks build.

Next Trip:

Manamune

This item is amazing for Yorick as it builds from your tear and gives an initial 20 AD 1350 mana and 7 mana regen. But the main reason we want this item is for the passive which converts a % of our mana into AD which is what Yorick is all about. This works when you cast an ability you gain mana which then converts to more AD. Since we are yorick and should be spamming ghouls like crazy for harass and last hits this item will make us very strong.

Next:

Mercury's Treads

I absolutely love these boots and usually always choose them on Yorick due to the great stats and obviously increased movements.

Ionian Boots Of Lucidity

Another great option on Yorick, I sometimes use these over Merc treads as the CD reduction is very nice indeed.

Optional:

Sheen

I put this here as it is a cheap and very effective item to increase Yoricks damage output. Frozen Mallet is a great item but it is fairly expensive and it only gives 20AD so sheen will help with Yoricks burst until he gets his Atma's.

First major item:

Frozen Mallet or Warmog's Armor

It is up to you which one you prefer between Warmogs and Frozen mallet as they both work well with Yorick and compliment his Atmas which you will build next. Warmogs is great if you think the game is going to go for a long time and want some more regen and health as it will end up completely dominating frozen mallet health wise when it is build. Frozen mallet gives nice HP some AD and the passive is amazing for Yorick considering we do not take ghost and it will allow you to stick to your enemies easy with the slow + Q.

Trinity Force

is an AMAZING item for Yorick all the stats and active benefit him but I would only choose this as my third item if I knew we were going to win and basically roflstomping the other team. It is usually best saved for after you get your Atma's Impaler.

Next trip

Atma's Impaler

This item is great for Yorick it has armor crit (which isn't that great) and the passive which converts a % of his hp into health. Since you should have bought a tanky item with lots of health before this item your AD should skyrocket and continue to throughout the game.

You now have two options depending on how the game is going either building tanky or more dps

Luxury dps item possibilities after core build:

The Bloodthirster

I have been doing some testing with this item as yoricks final luxury item and it is AMAZING! great stats, great lifesteal and awesome passive. Give this a try if you do not believe me!

Hextech Gunblade

Pretty good item for Yorick even after nerfs but I not Prefer the bloodthirster.

Trinity Force

All the stats on this item benefit amazingly with Yorick especially the 150% increase on AD for one attack it hurts a lot with Q. This item is very expensive but each piece has a really nice benefit to Yorick besides zeal which isn't as great. Only Issue here is if you choose to get Frozen Mallet the slow effect on trinity is kind of a waste (great with warmogs though).

Youmuu's Ghostblade

Honestly not a fan of this item but i cannot deny it has some nice stats and an active that are suitable for Yorick.

If you decide to build more Tanky:

Frozen heart

This would probably be my number 1 defensive item against AD champs. It has a ****load of armor an amazing passive and most importantly CD reduction which is perfect for Yorick.

Force Of Nature

A very nice/underated MR and HP regen item. If you bought a warmogs armor this items hp regen combined with that will be absurd.

Randuin's Omen

Gives HP nice armor and HP regen. It also reduces ability cooldowns by a bit and has a slowing effect on hit. The active is also great for team fights in combination with the slow ghoul.

Banshee's Veil

A pretty good item on any champ as it can shut down many champs who rely on an initiating skill or a stun like annie and brand. I find there are better options but some like this item.

This is how I enjoy building Yorick and find it to bring the most potential out of him but I sure others have different preferences so feel free to change some around.

Flash is probably the best summoner spell in LoL and can help with escapes/initiates and many other things. This spell has saved me countless times and secured me many kills with a flash/ghouls/ignite combo on a low hp tower hugger.

Ignite has scored me first blood so many times and also kills on those annoying low hp runners. This in combination with your ghouls and auto attacks can provide some great damage. It also works well late game reducing healing on those annoying support champions.

Other possibilities:

Exhaust is an alternative to Ignite as it can help you 1v1 that heavy damage champ or can slow an enemy for a gank or even escape, I prefer ignite but some might like this.

You can choose Ghost over flash if you want as it is good for escapes and sticking to your enemy with Q/auto attack/ghoul spams. I still find flash to have more uses as we get a Phage and frozen mallet most the time to slow them.

Teleport is good all around spell that some enjoy using but I personally do not use it.