rly game is the term we will use for the first 14 min of the game (tower plates dissapears at 14 min).
There are so many variables that dictate how you should play the lane, all depending on what champ you are playing vs on top and what junglers the teams have. Therefore I am gonna stick some very basic notes on what the goal for each stage of the game should be.


The weakest point in the game for Yorick is probably at level one, in order to spawn cats you need to walk up and lasthit minions with your Q Last Rites. Most of the bruisers and ranged champions that you will lane against will get to push the first wave (unless you start in lane before them, because they have to leash). If you cannot dictate the lane, simply lasthit and avoid to take unnecessary damage. If you play vs a tank, you will usually get the push level one.
Note that it is not the end of the world if you have to give up some CS early. Even if you are somewhat behind in farm, you will catch up as soon as the midgame arrives!
At level two (if you have 3-4 graves ready) you can look for a trade vs most champs. Throw your E Mourning Mist towards the enemy champ and if it hits, spawn the cats and watch them claw your foe.
You can repeat this everytime you have graves ready to spawn and you hit E.

I tend to look for a base as soon as I have a good spot to recall after I've collected a minimum of 700 gold (for Sheen).
The wave is now hopefully pushing towards you now, so do not waste your Teleport unless the wave is in a bad spot.

I generally do not focus much on getting plates early, you can maybe get one Demolish proc here or there but you should not focus too much on it. Most of the times it is better to get a good base off instead of staying and greeding for 160 gold (unless you need for gold for an important item). You will be able to get plates fairly easy once you finished ur Trinity Force!

As soon as we hit level 6, we have 2 options:
a) Spawn the Maiden right away and permashove the wave (you can get the push vs most champs after level 6) and go look for scuttlecrab/jungle camps before next wave arrives.
b) Do not spawn the Maiden, keep the lane in a spot near your tower so you can safely farm and be safe from ganks.
It is really hard to say which option is the best without seeing the game, it all depends on where the junglers are and where they are pathing.

If you have been able to kill most of the minions you should have enough gold for Trinity Force (which should be the first item in pretty much every game) around 8-12 min. Once the Trinity Force is completed we have a new goal!

The new goal is to get as many tower plates as possible before they disappear at the 14 min mark. It is also around the 10-14 min time where the toplaners usually decides to Teleport or run to secure the Dragon .
If the enemy laner decides to join the Dragon fight and you have a cannon wave (with R ready) on toplane you can simply take 5 plates in one wave.
Enemy got one drake, but you just got yourself 3-5 plates worth of gold and are now ready for the next stage of the game..

Mid game is the term we will use for the 14-20 min in the game.

Hopefully you managed to farm fairly well in the early game, but things will only get easier from now on!
At this stage some towers are hopefully destroyed or atleast very low, once top tower is gone and you are sitting on your Trinity Force, Magical Footwear and are now building towards your 2nd item it is time to really get going with the farming!
If you do not feel you need the extra tankiness from a Dead Man's Plate (my favorite tank item vs AD champs) or Spirit Visage(vs AP champs) the best item you can get will be Ravenous Hydra in order to get plenty of sustain and to clear minions/monsters faster.

What you want to do now is to farm, farm and farm!
Summon your Maiden and let her spawn cats in the lane so that the cats will push it. Once you have 3-4 cats that are attacking the wave, simply run towards nearest available jungle camp.
Each cat has to hit the wave atleast once in order to stay in the lane.
You should be able at this point (with the help of your Maiden and cats) to win most 1v1 skirmishes so if the enemy laner sits on the lane there should not be any issue to force the enemy away and let the cats attack the minions. If you for some reason do not win the 1v1 even with Maiden and cats then you should head towards the jungle and farm the closest camp and let the enemy push the wave towards your tower before you go and collect it.

Push wave, kill closest camp, push wave, kill closest camp..
At this point your 4 cats can kill the Gromp without you, you can simply have the cats following you towards the Gromp and you throw your E Mourning Mist which will make the cats leap to the Gromp and kill it while you are running back to the lane.

Another imporant thing is to keep track on where your jungler is moving, lets look at this scenario:
"You are playing Meowrick on blueside and just pushed the out the wave on top and will now look to farm the closest camp. Enemy krugs are gone so the closest (and safest) camp would be the Gromp, we head there and we kill it.
What we didnt notice is that our jungler went base and was heading towards the Gromp to do a clear towards bot. As soon as he arrives he sees his weird looking teammate in a cat costume (that would be you) killing "his" Gromp.
He now types "x9 Yorick stealing my camps" and goes afk.."
After all it is soloq that we are mainly playing, so by taking your junglers camps when he is heading there will upset alot of junglers, so you have to be cautious about when you can take the camps (try and do it while your jungler is fighting on the other side of the map for example).

The most important aspect of the midgame is probably the drakes.
If you need to join your team for a crucial Dragon (if enemy already has 2 drakes or more).
This also depends on game to game on what kind of comp your team and the enemy team has, but unless the enemy has a really tanky comp which your R Eulogy of the Isles will help shread, it is often better to release the Maiden in the lane furthest away from the Dragon (top). If they have a comp where the Maiden will actually make a big difference in a fight (once again vs a really tanky comp) atleast try and have some cats pushing the wave furthest away.
In the best scenario will look something like this:
"The Drake is about to spawn in 60-90 sec and you need to be there since it is a crucial drake.
Summon the Maiden and release her in your base (near top inhib tower so she goes top) , then head straight towards the botlane and spawn some cats there to make sure it will push.
It is now 20-50 sec before drake spawns and you go group with your team and have a 5v5 staredown in midlane or drake area."

Since both top and bot will push due to your cats and R Eulogy of the Isles all you want to do now is to buy time, sure the drake is important but if you can just make sure the enemy cannot start it and you juggle with them, the enemy will lose towers while you still get all the gold/exp in the side (you get 100% of all the gold/exp from minions/monsters which the cats or Maiden kill).

Remember that the mindset on Yorick should always be "farm, farm and farm". Always try to make sure that you will have cats that can push lanes far away from the objectives that you will have to group for.
The more waves you push and camps you take (without making your jungle too angry), the bigger the exp and gold difference between you and the enemy top will grow.
Now we're heading towards the last stage of the game..
Late game is the term we will use for the +20 min in the game.

The difference from mid to lategame is not that big, but now we have TWO big objectives on the map ( Dragon and Baron Nashor ) so we have the same idea on how we set up for crucial objectives as before (Put cats/Maiden in lanes furthest away from the objective 60-90 sec in advance).

It is not very likely that the teams just try and take Nashor as soon as the 20 min mark hits. It is more important after 25-35 min (depending on how the games goes).

Remember that we also play with Teleport. Therefore, it is not needed to run and group with the team for an objective. Generally your soloq teammates will tend to get caught in 4v5 situations, thus sometimes it is better to just let the cats push the sidewaves while you stick with your team and keep them safe.


In this video I am gonna set up cats in sidelane (50sec before) for an crucial objective and I then group with my team and finally Teleport towards the wave my cats pushed.
Play Video
Our comp is gonna have a really hard time winning that drake fight (we managed to steal it but it is still very unlikely).
What you can do is to set up the cats prior to the objective. Then as soon as the Dragon / Baron Nashor fight will break out, you can Teleport on your pushing cats, if they are attacking the enemy base or are close to do so..

The enemy then have to find a way to base and stop me from ending the game, which they did in this clip but in other games the Teleport play will be successful.

WEELL, this is the end! If you enjoyed this guide leave a +1 and drop a comment!