I believe that Yorick is, in fact, workable, and have found a measure of success with him. He scales insanely hard into the late game, following up on what is actually a pretty good early game. With the right build, it's possible to shore up his weaknesses and be a great addition to your team.

July 08, 2011 v1.0.0.121

Patch Notes:

Omen of War

- Fixed a bug where 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 Revevants.
- Fixed a bug with Heimerdinger's turrets and the Reanimated state.

Unholy Covenant

- 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.


July 26,2011 v1.0.0.122

Patch Notes:

General:
- Base armor of ghouls reduced to 10 from 20.

Omen of Death

- Damage percent reduced to 45/60/75% from 50/75/100%.

Omen of Pestilence

- New scales off of ability power at a 1.0 instead of a 0.8 bonus attack damage ratio.

Omen of Famine

- Heals for 40% of the damage dealt, down from 50%.
- Range reduced to 550 from 650.



August 09, 2011, v1.0.0.123

Patch Notes:

Omen of War

- Attack damage ratio increased to 1.2 from 1

Take flat AD reds because all of his skills but his W scale with AD. If we choose penetration, we have to pick between increasing spell damage or basic attack damage, but with AD runes we get the best of both worlds. Also, the AD will allow you to heal more with the lifesteal minion.

For seals, get a mix of flat armor to reduce the damage you take from Ranged AD harass, and mana regeneration per levels, to facilitate spamming in lane.

For blues, take scaling magic resist to make up for the lack of early magic resist items, and a couple of mana regeneration per levels. By mixing up our regeneration runes, we do not take away too much from either armor or magic resist.

The two flat health quints make up for Yorick's awful base health, while the one movement speed quint compensates for his low base movement speed.

9/0/21 is the optimal mastery build for Yorick. The 9 in offense gets you archaic knowledge, which makes the initial hits from your W and E hit harder, which is essential for lane dominance. 21 in utility allows Yorick to get maximum CDR, along with getting all the perks of the utility tree.

Alternatively, 0/9/21 is a good pick as well, grabbing armor and MR along with strength of spirit in the defensive tree.

Starting Items:
or
or ] x2

First Trip Back: Sight Ward (1070g, 1460g or 1110g)

Then Build a defensive item:

Against AP Carry - Sight Ward (1625g)
Against AD Carry - Sight Ward (1750g)

Finish up your .

Core Items:

Final Items:

Alternative Items:
or instead of

or instead of

Last slot options: or or or or Last Whisperer

OR you can drop one defensive item and you can take 2 offensive items from above.

Passive: Unholy Covenant

Yorick's basic attacks deal 5% more damage for each summon that is active. Meanwhile, Yorick's ghouls have 35% of Yorick's Attack Damage and Health.

Explanation:
This passive is great at all stages of the game. Early game, they give Yorick tankiness for early teamfights, and late, they give him a lot more damage during teamfights.

Q: Omen of War
Yorick's next attack will deal 30/35/40/45/50 (+100% of attack damage) physical damage and summon a Spectral Ghoul for up to 5 seconds.

The Spectral Ghoul deals 8/16/24/32/40 additional damage per hit and moves 15/20/25/30/35% faster. While the ghoul is active, Yorick moves 15/20/25/30/35% faster as well.
Cooldown 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 seconds
Cost 40 mana

Explanation:
This skill isn't so useful early game. It requires you to be up in their faces, and your ranged skills are much better for harassing and last hitting. However, late game the skill is good for chasing when combined with ghost, which is why it is maxed last. We still get a point in it at level 4, because it resets your auto attack timer, which is nice for getting last hits you would otherwise miss.

W: Omen of Pestilence

Yorick summons a Decaying Ghoul that arrives with a violent explosion, dealing 60/95/130/165/200 (+80% of attack damage) magic damage and slowing nearby enemies by 20/25/30/35/40% for 1.5 seconds. While the Decaying Ghoul remains alive, nearby enemies continue to be slowed by 10/12.5/15/17.5/20% for up to 5 seconds.

Cooldown 12 seconds
Cost 50/55/60/65/70 mana
Range 450

Explanation:
This skill is very good, but not the one to max first. It doesn't provide the lane sustain that his Omen of Famine offers, and also pushes the lane because it is an AoE, making you vulnerable to ganks. Late game, this skill keeps enemies slowed, letting you chase better and possibly buy you a few precious seconds to escape.

E: Omen of Famine
Yorick deals 55/85/115/145/175 (+100% of attack damage) 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.

Cooldown 10/9/8/7/6 seconds
Cost 60/65/70/75/80 mana
Range 500

Explanation:
This skill is Yorick's bread and butter, and undeniably his best skill early game. It becomes a decent version of transfusion very, very early on. It allows Yorick to sustain himself in lane, and offers up his best form of harass. Later, it helps you stay alive in fights, and finish off enemies that are trying to run away.

R: Omen of Death
Yorick conjures a revenant in the image of a target allied champion. Revenants deal 50/75/100% of target ally's Attack Damage. If his ally dies while its revenant is alive, the revenant sacrifices itself to reanimate them.

Revenants and reanimated allies lose 10% of their maximum Health per second.

Cooldown 120/105/90 seconds
Cost 100 mana
Range 700

Explanation:
With the recent patch, his ultimate is simply amazing. It creates a minion of the allied champion that you cast it on, and at rank 3 will essentially double their damage output for a short time. In teamfights, a copy of your AD carry will wreck the enemy team, and the chances of it surviving are much higher now since the health decay is gone. In 1v1 situations, use it to create a clone of yourself and basically make it a 2v1, which is really nice.

The reason W is taken first is for level one fights in the jungle, since the AoE slow is very useful. If there is no level one fight, take E instead. E is maxed first because of the lane sustain it provides, and the great combination of harass and healing it offers. Q is maxed last because it doesn't have much use early game. Obviously, get your ultimate whenever you can.

or

Explanation:
Ghost is essential for Yorick. It allows him to stick to his target when he chasing, and gives him a much needed escape. For the second spell, ignite is preferred for that extra oomph you need to add on to your burst, but judge based on the situation and take exhaust if no one else on your team can take it.


Why not Flash?
Ghost is better than flash by a longshot on Yorick. While flash provides a useful gap closer, any champion with a movespeed boost will outstrip you right after, and you'll have no way to catch back up.