Yorick is the first pet themed based Champion to be brought into League of Legends. He is a fun character if you enjoy the use of pets in your attacks. While he is a bit underpowered, he can be useful to his team and keeping lanes pushed/held.

I highly recommend reading everything before judging so that you may have a better understanding for the reasoning of these choices. Since Yorick is still relatively new, expect changes and updates overtime to his build.

Build 1
This build is for more AD Lifesteal. I used this before Yorick's patch.

Build 2
With the recent update to Yorick, this tanky DPS build could prove very good. It is still in testing.


v1.0.0.121
Omen of War
Fixed a bug where the Spectral Ghoul would not spawn if Yorick was silenced.

Omen of Pestilence
Increased the cast range by 50
Improved the consistency of the AoE slow by increasing the radius and rate of application.
Mana cost reduced to 40/45/50/55//60 from 50/55/60/65/70

Omen of Famine
Mana cost reduced to 55/60/65/70/75 from 60/65/70/75/80

Omen of Death
Updated the visual of Reanimated Champions to better show when a Champion has revived.
Removed the health decay on the Revenant and Reanimated pets
Fixed a bug with the interaction between Chronoshift and Revenants
Fixed a bug with Heimerdinger's turrets and the Reanimated state

Unholy Symbiosis
Yorick now takes 5% reduced damage for each summon that is active.
Increased the Attack Damage and Health of ghouls to 35% from 30% of Yorick's Attack Damage and Health

Ghouls
Ghouls are now immune to slows.
Ghouls take 50% reduced damage from AoE abilities

General
Mana per level increased to 35 from 30
Health per level increased to 85 from 80
Armor per level increased to 3.6 from 3
Base Movement speed increased to 320 from 315
Slightly increased his base Attack Speed

Pros:
Pet ghouls!
Great chaser
Good farmer
Aoe slow
Life steal
Ult essentially makes fights a 6v5

Cons:
Needs to farm a while
Ghouls have low hp especially early game making their harass laughable, they tend to hesitate upon summoning as well
A bit UP
Ulting requires smart timing to take advantage of a 6th member while also reviving

(Innate): Yorick’s attacks deal more damage for each summon that is active. Meanwhile, Yorick’s ghouls deal some percent of Yorick’s Attack Damage and have some percent of his total health.

This passive is the reason you must go as much AD as possible in this build. Having pets that reach 70-100+ (let alone 3 of them at once) will be quite fantastic in fights.



Yorick’s next attack will deal bonus physical damage and summon a Spectral Ghoul that deals additional damage and moves faster than Yorick’s other ghouls. While the Spectral Ghoul is alive, Yorick moves faster as well.

Your strongest ghoul (+40 attack at 5), Nasus-like Q (1 to 1 AD ratio), and your chasing ability (35% movement speed increase). This skill is maxed out first for the reason of farming (when safe) and in fights. Be sure to use this on a minion if the opponent is out of range first to get the speed boost. Also, this can be used for escaping fights by hitting the enemy and running or a minion.



Yorick summons a Decaying Ghoul that arrives with a violent explosion, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies for 1.5 second. While the Decaying Ghoul remains alive, nearby enemies continue to be slowed.

Your aoe slow, mostly used for chasing with your Q or for escaping fights. The long cooldown and high mana costs would have this not be recommended for harassing. This skill is maxed last after putting a point in at level 4 for safety. Also, this can give sight to bushes but be weary of the short range of the cast.



Yorick deals magic damage and heals for up to 50% of the damage dealt. A Ravenous Ghoul is summoned behind his target, which heals Yorick for the damage it deals and lasts up to 5 seconds.

A very useful ability especially in your early farming phase. Your first point will be put into this and another at level 3 so you can last hit minions with. Because Yorick requires to be in close range to last hit with his melee, this allows to safely last hit and give the enemy a small scare from the ghoul that pops out. Also, this allows you to have some life steal upon hitting a minion with this skill similarly to Vladamir Transfusion. This skill is maxed second for sustaining your laning and farming. Useful in fights when coupled with Bloodthirster and Spirit Visage.



Yorick conjures a revenant in the image of one of his allies. If his ally dies while its revenant is alive, the revenant sacrifices itself to reanimate them and give them time to enact vengeance.

On paper this looks like Zilean Chronoshift but many don't know it is also essentially a free clone of your ally before they fall in battle. This means you can have a 6v5 in team fights since at level 3 this skill grants 100% of the ally's AD on the clone. Be weary of using this on yourself or others if they have no hope of killing an enemy upon use especially when in a 2v5 situation. If you know your opponent is targeting your AD carry, throw this on them to get the 6v5 followed by a 5v5. They will be able to use all their abilities just as if they were alive.

You can substitute for your needs and availability

Greater Mark of Desolation 9x Greater Mark of Desolation (Armor Penetration, nothing unusual here)
9x Greater Seal of Clarity (Yorick has a tiny mana pool)
9x Greater Glyph of Focus (CDR for Yorick's skills and spam his ghouls in fights)
3x Greater Quintessence of Fortitude (I can not express how many times I have survived on all champions because of these)

Mix and match as you please to your tastes. These are just my recommended that work for me.

Masteries on Yorick can vary so feel free to choose what you feel is best. I wouldn't recommended going 21 in Offense however. This route (Nasus-like) or a more defensive route work best.

0/9/21

3/3 Hardiness
3/3 Resistance
3/3 Strength of the Spirit (HP regen, each little bit counts with this life steal AD build)

1/1 Spatial Accuracy
3/3 Good Hands
4/4 Awareness
1/1 Greed
3/3 Meditation
1/2 Utility Mastery
3/3 Quickness
1/1 Blink of an Eye
3/3 Intelligence
1/1 Presence of the Master

Teleport

You'll be farming quite a lot so it will be good to get back to the lane asap. Useful for pushing as well.

Flash

Incredibly versatile, saves lives like none other.

Alternative spells can be used over Teleport if you feel the need to such as Ignite or Ghost

~Build 1~ (AD -- see tanky dps in build 2 below)

With the way Yorick is, going a straight AD route (pre-patch) works best for his abilities to get their buffs asap due to their high AD ratio and for your passive Unholy Covenant

Let's begin with the core:

Core Items


Quite a bit of core items though Tear of the Goddess and Manamune are essentially one item. This build focuses on getting as much AD possible while sustaining lifesteal from Bloodthirster and Omen of Famine which now works with Spirit Visage


Now, for the recommended order:



I start with these two items. Mana regen which we'll turn into Tear of the Goddess shortly.


Try to get 950 gold before going back to get both of these items. If you can hold on a little longer, get to 1025 so you can grab a Sight Ward as well.

B.F. Sword
Before upgrading our Boots we will grab this so we can greatly enhance our abilities. +45 on this weapon not only adds to our AD but our Omen of War and Omen of Famine which are 1 to 1 AD ratio and our Omen of Pestilence which is 0.8 AD ratio. A massive bonus indeed. Remember this also affects your ghouls melee due to Unholy Covenant


These are chosen for the reason of more CDR to go with your future Spirit Visage, Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, and 3/3 Intelligence mastery. Throwing out ghouls quickly in fights will cause more damage, chase, and buff Yorick himself from his Unholy Covenant passive.


This amazing item will further enhance our ghouls melee, abilities, and grant lifesteal to work well with Omen of Famine and Spirit Visage


Stronger lifesteal from Bloodthirster and Omen of Famine. Gives more CDR for our abilities (puts us near 37% CDR). The hp it gives will assist a little with ghoul's hp from Unholy Covenant. Some magic resistance as well never hurts.


Now is the time to turn our Tear of the Goddess into this at last. The reason we delayed on getting this weapon was so we can benefit from getting as close to the bonus mana cap of +1000 beforehand (for the +attack on the passive) without delaying on getting other gear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At this point, we have some choices to make based on the situation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In normal situations I'd grab this for the bonus HP for Yorick's survivability and further boost his ghoul's hp from Unholy Covenant which should be nearly 800 by this time at level 18. Couples well with Omen of War and Omen of Pestilence when chasing. Have had Nidalee players who could not escape even in cougar form without the use of Flash.


We can essentially get another one of these to further boost our AD and lifesteal.


There will be times when you're facing a fairly armor heavy team. This will help out in the long run and give a bit of attack speed too. I am feeling contemplated to test this out more after Manamune now...


Getting pounded by CC? Typical item for these situations.


While I feel Frozen Hammer is more beneficial than this for the HP and more reliable slow (and only a little less AD), xannic had me reevaluate this item and I can see it working on squishier teams when Frozen Hammer's slowness isn't as necessary. Choose this wisely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Build 2~

With the recent buffs to Yorick, it reminded me of a build idea that I used on Urgot. While it is still in testing, it looks to be good. While the damage output isn't as high as Build 1, it gives more survivability. The Urgot-style build is inspired from Searz Urgot build found here http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/crabgot-the-crabpeoples-pride-67894


I start with these two items. Mana regen which we'll turn into Tear of the Goddess shortly.


Try to get 950 gold before going back to get both of these items. If you can hold on a little longer, get to 1025 so you can grab a Sight Ward as well.


Now is the time to turn our Tear of the Goddess into this at last. The reason we delayed on getting this weapon was so we can benefit from getting as close to the bonus mana cap of +1000 beforehand (for the +attack on the passive) without delaying on getting other gear.


These are chosen for the reason of more CDR to go with your future Spirit Visage, Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, and 3/3 Intelligence mastery. Throwing out ghouls quickly in fights will cause more damage, chase, and buff Yorick himself from his Unholy Covenant passive.


Not only is this weapon cheap at a low low price of 1337, but it gives armor penetration with its AD. There is no need to upgrade this yet to [[Youmuu's Ghostblade" as the benefits aren't that huge. If you are ahead of the game however and want that extra speed then feel free to.


Since this is a tanky DPS build, we need some anti-CC on Yorick. Why this over Force of Nature? This gives HP for Unholy Covenant and mana for Strength of Spirit along with negating one possible CC.


More tanky items that give CDR, armor, and more mana. Very useful and I suggest withholding on upgrading to Frozen Heart unless the enemy AD team is giving you all a hard time. Your CDR will just about be 40% with runes.


While the Urgot build focuses on Last Whisper for his Acid Hunter I feel Black Cleaver is more beneficial for Yorick as he is more melee based. This will help out in the long run and give a bit of attack speed too. Armor shredding for yourself, your ghouls, and teammates is very good.


Upgrading Glacial Shroud will give you a large amount of armor and mana for your Unholy Covenant and the reduction in attack speed on enemy champs.


The upgrade to The Brutalizer which gives you the bonus attack speed and movement speed. This is normally upgraded much later as the benefits may not always be needed for its price early on. However, feel free to upgrade it earlier if you think it is necessary in the situation.

Situational Items


In normal situations I'd grab this for the bonus HP for Yorick's survivability and further boost his ghoul's hp from Unholy Covenant which should be nearly 800 by this time at level 18. Couples well with Omen of War and Omen of Pestilence when chasing.


While I feel Frozen Hammer is more beneficial than this for the HP and more reliable slow (and only a little less AD), xannic had me reevaluate this item and I can see it working on squishier teams when Frozen Hammer's slowness isn't as necessary. Choose this wisely.

Yorick does well with another lane partner provided they are not a support type. The reason is because Yorick is not the best harasser but he can sustain in the lane for a good time especially after Tear of the Goddess and his Omen of Famine. Bottom lane will let you keep an eye on dragon because of your sustainability. Try to grab Sight Ward when possible.

Having your Omen of Famine as your first skill choice then raised at level 3 will allow you to last hit minions safely and give you some health back. Continue doing this as you max out your Omen of War next and last hit with that when safe. The stronger ghoul will harass the enemy but don't expect it to do much damage.
You'll be farming most of the game in some ways similar to Kayle for your items and buffing your Bloodthirster.

If your laning partner is capable of attacking an overextended enemy or you have a jungler about to gank, throw out an Omen of Pestilence for the slow then run in to hit with your Omen of War to give chase.

As far as team fights are concerned, keep an eye out on who the enemy will likely target first. If it is an AD carry, throw out your Omen of Death quickly so you can turn the fight into a 6v5 before he goes down (if he does) and turn it back into a 5v5. If they instead target an AP carry, use Omen of Death just as they are about to fall as you would with Zilean Chronoshift. Your revived teammate will get a second chance to use their abilities and get revenge.

Outside of your ult, attempt to target the squishy on the enemy team and give chase if they try to escape. You should more likely than not always catch up to them when using Omen of War and Omen of Pestilence provided they don't Flash/abilities through walls. Having all your ghouls out will not only make Yorick stronger because of his Unholy Covenant but do more damage from all the ghouls being out. Your strongest ghoul should have well over 110+ AD and the rest at least 70+ AD by late game.

Yorick is still a new character so feel free to give constructive comments and suggestions. I'll be sure to try them out and, if it goes well, I'll make the needed changes and give credit. He is a strange champion but a fun one.