In this build/guide I go over Yorick the Gravedigger.

Yorick is a dps champion, all of his abilities take attack damage, none of them take ability power.

Just because his abilities take attack damage, doesn't mean getting mana and cooldown reduction are bad things.

Pros
He recently got buffed
Has unique ghouls which gain power as Yorick does
Great harass and lifesteal - stays in lane for a long time
can be quite tanky
Omen of War can give huge speed increase to Yorick
Omen of Pestilence can slow enemies down a lot
Omen of Famine gives a lot of lifesteal
His ultimate means your Kill/Death ratio should stay neutral

Cons
His Omen of War has the most damage, but is very difficult to land on an enemy champion
His Omen of Pestilence doesn't slow a whole lot after initial slow
His Ghouls die fairly soon after being made, especially early game.
If you used his ultimate to save someone and didn't get any kills... Tough luck.

I grabbed Glyph of focus to help me spam my tear of the goddess as much as possible for more mana. In-fact, as soon as I get enough cash for this thing, I go back for it. Cooldown reduction is overall helpful for Yorick. Being able to spam his ultimate as much as possible late game will help your team.

I grabbed Seal of Evasion because that helps Yorick be overall tanky. In addition the masteries give him speed whenever you dodge something, which helps this.

I got Mark of Desolation to break through some armor, and to overall deal more damage. These could be exchanged for different runes without huge loss, so long as the runes replacing add to the offense in someway.

I grab quintessence of revival, evasion or avarice.

I get Avarice in case I'm worried of losing. This will help you get your build faster, and being tanky as you are you may not get much money from kills, as you won't be getting kills.

I get revival to help my ultimate. If I can use my ultimate and then me and an enemy die, I should come back faster. This can benefit the team.

I grab evasion to further increase my defense. This can be helpful if you are vsing a team with a lot of CC or powerful harass, like Karthus, Ezreal, Le Blanc or Malhazar.

I get 9 in offense, 12 in defense and 9 in utility.

9 in offense is to help my ghouls. the 15% magic penetration helps the Omen of Pestilence and Omen of War.
The point in Exhaust is to make it better.

12 in defense are for survivability. This way I have less a chance of death.
3 in strength of spirit is health regen for my Manamune
4 in dodge and 1 in swiftness add with my runes.

9 in Utility is to increase my teleport, make me revive faster on death and give me more experience and cash.

I usually start off the game with either of the items that build tear of goddess. I would then purchase a health and mana potion. However, buying no potions so you can rush your tear of goddess is acceptable as well.

After tear of goddess I grab two long swords. This makes my minions stronger in terms of damage, as well as the abilities. (2 returns to the base at this point)

Here I grab boots of swiftness. possibly grabbing a ruby crystal
(3 returns)

Around this point damage starts to build to the point where defense should be built. So I grab Phage. This gives me a slow chance, and further increases my damage.
(4 returns)

At some point when you decide, grab a manamune. This will increase your damage plenty.
(5 returns)

Before or after your manamune, Finish up your phage with Frozen Mallet.
(6 returns)

At this point more defense is usually needed. Your magic resist should be okay, but team-fights can be very dangerous, especially if you're near a turret. At this point you should grab a Atma's Impaler. This gives you more armor, so you can tank a turret, some crit chance, and some more damage.
(7 returns)

With all the enemies missing, attack damage and magic damage building up on both sides you need some more health. Grabbing a Catalyst the protector will increase your health making you more tanky and give you more attack damage, from both your manamune and atma's impaler.
(8 returns)

After you have your Catalyst, building it into a Banshee's veil should round of your defenses with around 100 magic resist and 100 armor. this leaves you fairly tanky with a spell block.
If your team is winning and you have plenty of cash then you could possibly return for the full Banshee's Veil
(8-9 returns)

After you have all these items you can build yourself with a more tanky item, or some damage. Some more suitable items are things like Force of Nature, Trinity Force or Thornmail.

An item that increases movement speed could be helpful at this point. Or something with Tenacity, to further increase your tank power.

I grab teleport to help me get to and from the battle. If they decide to move to this area, early on I can teleport there and harass them, possibly saving a tower. Teleport is an overall useful spell.

I also use Teleport for my early on rushing for Tear of Goddess.


I grab Exhaust for assists/kills/maybe first blood. I grab exhaust because it helps hold my foe in place. Ignite wouldn't help me here and neither would ghost. The main reason I grab exhaust though, is because it also helps my ghouls. With my enemy being slowed down so much my ghouls can attack them for longer. In addition to this exhaust helps me bait my opponent. The ghouls recently updated 5% armor for each one out helps Yorick. Enemies that are about half health, rushing you can die, even if you're at quarter health.
Exhaust will render them useless, then your ghouls will lay down some burst damage when used all at the same time, then your 5% armor and damage increase will destroy your opponent. If they're about to win, it won't matter, because you can then use your ultimate and crush them.

Yorick's ultimate is something best used on a full DPS character.

Someone like Tryndamere.

I personally find Tryndamere is the best partner for your ultimate because he is so damage heavy. After his ultimate is used for rushing it, you can use your ultimate on him, and make his rush twice as useful, especially if you get a couple of kills.

If your ally is being chased then you can slow your enemies without any fear of death/injury your Omen of Pestilence can slow them while keeping you at a distance. In addition against a character like Rammus, you can cancel his PowerBall by using Omen of Famine.

Don't worry about using your Ultimate on a character who is a caster or anything like that, your teammates can still use abilities when they're a ghost. Be careful about using this ability for something like Requiem(Karthus' Ultimate) because reviving someone who isn't near any battle is a waste.

Because your ultimate has such a short cooldown, you are able to use it on a teammate to help destroy a tower quickly.