Preseason 5 along with the beginning of season 5 have brought a handful of changes to League of Legends. Along with a brand new aspect of Summoner's Rift, they have also brought major gameplay changes. One of the most influenced part of this major update was the jungle. Summoner Spell Smite received 2 stacks which can be used at 15 seconds interval, a stack recharging after 75 seconds.

The jungler got 4 brand new jungle items to choose from as well, which upgrade the Smite in different ways. What is more, 4 new jungle item enchantments have been added in order to increase the utility of the item. Jungle camps have received an update so as to be harder to kill, but they also give buffs upon being used Smite upon. The Dragon and Baron Nashor have had their utility changed, thus objective priority has been changed. This update has made it harder for most junglers to do their work in the jungle, whileas opening a spot for other junglers.

Yorick is one champion who has made its way into the new jungle with his high built-in sustain and objective control. It is widely known that Yorick was pretty hard to fight against on the top lane and while not losing the possibility of being picked on top lane as being one tough lane-bully, he has also gained the ability and utility to fight his way into the new jungle. He is able to fight some of the most popular junglers nowadays with his sustain and insane damage. With his starting items, he is able to do both buffs, a camp between them, the dragon at level 3, while also having mana for one gank or for more jungle camps so as to be level 4 by the time he first recalls. There are some known issues about Yorick though which are going to be presented, but I assure you that they can be minimized.

This guide's purpose is to promote Yorick as a viable jungle option by presenting his usefulness along with a build which will enhance it. Without further delay, I present to you a comprehensible jungle guide for Yorick.

This guide will contain:

• Pros & Cons for Yorick;
• Ability Description & Skill Sequence;
• Mastery Description;
• Item Description & Choice;
• Yorick in the Jungle - dragon hunting (+ an experiment);
• Conclusion - Is Yorick useful or not?.
• Guns'N'Roses - Civil War video;

There are many characteristics which could define Yorick. The first would be his built-in sustain and high damage output. The next would be what some would call mana-hunger. Yorick can be a problematic champion to play with if not built some mana items. He lacks mobility as well as he lacks strong crowd control. He is susceptible to crowd control as well, but once he gets his hands on his target, there will be no escape for it. His usefulness increases at the point in which he kills the first dragon for his team enabling enhanced team planning for further dragon-kills. Last but not least, he is one of the 5 champions who have received a pentakill skin, one that resembles Slash.

Pros: + High sustain both in jungle and lane; + Level 3 solo dragon kill; + Hard to counter in jungle; + Can block many skill-shots with W; + Pentakill Yorick resembles Slash;

Cons: - Mana hungry; - Item-dependent; - Little or no mobility; - Unable to initiate team-fights; - Little or no crowd-control.

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Ghouls receive 35% of your Attack Damage and HP, thus building an AD off-tank Yorick is recommended. What is more, you will receive 5% damage increase and 5% reduced damage done yo you for each summon active. Omen of Death counts as a summon for your passive as well, therefore it will give you the 5% damage/damage reduction bonus. This is your main sustain ability. As the tooltip states, you summon a ghoul, deal damage and also heal yourself for that ammount. What is more, when the ghoul deals damage, it will heal you for the damage dealt, half heal against minions and monsters. Because the jungle is hard enough, the low cool-down and high health gain makes this ability a must-max-first. This ability increase the next auto-attack damage and when it hits the target will summon a ghoul which moves faster than the others while also giving you increased movement speed. This ability works well with Iceborn Gauntlet as it applies the slowing effect on the item on-hit while also increasing damage dealt. This ability summons a ghoul that deals damage around it when summoned while also slowing the targets hit. The ghoul is surrounded with a slowing aura which will slow nearby enemies while it's alive. It is used for chasing down your targets while also being able to block some enemy skill-shots like Rocket Grab, Death Sentence or Sonic Wave. This ability will summon a copy of your targeted ally that gains a percentage of its AD and HP. If the target dies, while his copy is active, he will be able to control his copy for 10 seconds, enabling him to use any ability but summoner spells. Recommended to be used on your team's ADC for maximum damage output.

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Note

In the aggro system the nearest target to a neutral monster (including Nashor and Dragon) will be targeted by the monster's basic attacks. Ghouls abide to this rule, thus making them able to take incoming damage for you. What is more, the ghouls will be able to tank some turret hits as the turrets prioritise pets/summons over players when attacking.

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Start with Omen of Famine because of its low cool-down and high ratings both in damage and in sustain. The next ability must be Omen of War because it has the lowest cool-down, enables efficient target, increases the damage dealt and minimises incoming damage as you will stay the least time possible without ghouls at level 2. All 3 ghouls are needed in order to kill the dragon solo, therefore taking Omen of Pestilence next is a must.

The maxing order goes the same as the first 3 levels priorities: Omen of Famine should be maxed first because of the low cool-down and the sustain offered. Next, I prefer Omen of War because it has the lowest cool-down, adds a lot of damage to your next auto-attack, applies on-hit effects while also forming a synergy with Iceborn Gauntlet or Trinity Force. It also gives the movement speed bonus required to chase down targets. The last ability to max is the only one left, Omen of Pestilence.

There are some players who prefer maxing Omen of Pestilence after Omen of Famine, enhancing both the damage dealt and the slow. I found it natural to present that option as well.

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Tier 1 Double-Edged Sword will provide you with 2% increased damage dealt and 1% increased damage taken. The latter can be covered by Yorick's sustain. This build is about dealing damage instantly with abilities, not about auto-attack sustained damage. For this very reason I have chosen Sorcery over Fury . Butcher is for increased damage against neutral monsters. Tier 2 & 3 Brute Force and Martial Mastery are for increased AD, helpful in clearing the jungle and ability scaling. Expose Weakness is for the times you are ganking or during teamfights, providing more damage to your teammates. Spell Weaving and Blade Weaving (Tier 4) increase damage to one-another, both from whom you benefit. Executioner provides more damage on low HP targets. Tier 4, 5 & 6 Warlord doesn't fit the build, because other masteries increase the damage output and utility by a higher amount than the stats this mastery will provide. Dangerous Game provides some more sustain in teamfights. Devastating Strikes is a useful mastery for both armor and magic penetration provided. As Yorick deals both physical and magic damage this mastery suits him well. Havoc is for more damage.

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Tier 1 Meditation is for increased mana regeneration, useful for dampening mana-hunger. Scout is for placing wards from a safer distance, there is the possibility of switching this to Phasewalker . Tier 2 Summoner's Insight is for reducing Smite's cool-down from 75 seconds to 67.5 seconds. Alchemist is used to provide more health/mana from potions and for elixirs to last longer. Tier 3 Runic Affinity is the sole purpose for choosing a 21/0/9 build. As Yorick is blue-buff dependent, he should profit from it for as much as he can.

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Patch 5.1 made possible to switch the unenchanted jungle items between them so buying this item before enchanting Stalker's Blade would facilitate more sustain in jungle, increased efficiency and clearance. This is an option on Yorick but it's not mandatory as this champion has a lot of built-in sustain.

Patch 5.1 changed the active part of this item so that it will not give your target 50% movement speed reduction but 20% movement speed steal to you instead. Because of that, this item enters the core-item zone as it will become your second most efficient gap-closer ( Flash being your most efficient one).

This is the core enchant, used on Stalker's Blade as it will increase the damage you, your ghouls, Omen of Famine, Omen of Death and Omen of War will deal. What is more, this enchantment offers cool-down reduction as well as armor penetration.

This enchantment can be used on Stalker's Blade in case your team or the situation you are in request that you go for a tank build. It offers the tenacity required in order not to be caught from behind easily by your enemies.

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This is the first item on the buy list. It provides mana, mana regeneration, mana over time and mana on spell usage. It will dampen Yorick's mana hunger while also giving him more freedom to ability-spam. After upgrading the jungle item, buying Sheen, finishing your boots and maybe even upgrading Sheen to Iceborn Gauntlet, this item should be next on your list. It increases AD by 2% of your maximum mana as well, further increasing damage dealt. After Muramana reaches 750 stacks it will upgrade into this item providing you with an active which will enable you to consume mana in order to increase damage dealt. This item provides 20% increased self-healing effects on Yorick while also increasing his HP, magic resistance and cool-down reduction, thus increasing his survivability. Do not build in case the opposing team is formed of entirely AD champions. This item provides you with mana, armor, AP and cool-down reduction. Its passive enhances your next basic attack so it will deal more damage after using a spell. It works well with your Omen of War, further enhancing your chasing capabilities while also providing you with some resistance. Your build can be usually ended with this item. It provides you with tons of AD while increasing your sustain with some built-in life-steal. It also provides you with an active which will help you burst down targets more easily. Post full-build, if Yorick can afford some resistance loss, Iceborn Gauntlet can be switched for this item. It will enhance Yorick's damage and many other stats but it will provide no resistance whatsoever. It is situational, but it may work in a standard build.

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This item provides armor, mana, cool-down reduction and a passive that reduces the enemy attack speed in range. It can be built instead of Iceborn Gauntlet if more resistance is needed. This item provides you with health and armor and a similar passive as Frozen Heart. It also provides you with an active which can help you escape or impede your enemies from escaping you. Made for a tank build. This item is a cheaper alternative for Randuin's Omen as if provides less health and armor than the latter while also losing the active. That is replaced with a damaging aura instead. This item provides the most health in-game while also providing a health-regeneration passive. Combining this item with Spirit Visage will result in higher health gain too. Made for a tank build as well. This is the cheapest armor-providing item. Along with the armor gain, this item comes with a passive which will return 30% of the basic-attack damage, before being reduced by your armor, as magic damage to the dealer. Another item made for a tank build. This item is not a replacement for Spirit Visage but it can be build in the case you need more magic resistance.

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Those boots provide you the most movement speed, though only out of combat. They can be used in case you need more map-presence. They will not help you chase targets.

Those boots provide you the most movement speed in combat. They enable you to chase down targets and to avoid some enemy skill-shots while reducing slowing effects on you.

Those boots provide you with magic resistance and tenacity. Tenacity reduces the duration of Crowd Control effects on you so they are useful if the enemy champions have abilities full of such effects.

Those boots provide you with armor and reduce the incoming basic-attack damage by 10%. They are useful in case you are receiving a lot of physical damage and you desperately need to reduce it.

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This is the most common boot enchantment. It enables you to move quickly in your base and towards defending inhibitor turrets or other objectives. If you do not need to defend your base in the near future, do not build. In other situation, this is recommended.

This is the best enchantment for chasing down your opponents or escaping. Build only if you don't need to defend your base in the near future and you need some boost towards chasing down your targets.

This is a viable option in the case you need some more flat movement speed and you do not want to depend on using abilities to maintain your crazy speed. Like the previous enchantment, do no build if you need to defend your base in the near future.

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This is a recommended trinket to start with for its ability to protect you from invades or unexpected events. If your team has to adopt a defensive formation, this must be upgraded to a Greater Stealth Totem or Greater Vision Totem, depending on the team's needs. This is an upgrade of Stealth Ward which will enable you place an 180 second Stealth Ward once every 60 seconds. Only 3 stealth wards can one player have placed on the map. Build only if vision is needed at any cost. This is an upgrade of Stealth Ward which will enable you to place a Vision Ward once every 120 seconds. It will last until destroyed or another Vision Ward has been placed by the player. Build in case of fighting stealth champions or if in need of ward clearing. On first recall, Stealth Ward can be switched to this item. This will enable ward clearing for ganking and objective taking and preventing some unexpected situations like enemies having vision on you or your teammates. This trinket must be bought in case you need to clear wards more often or you fight against champions that persistently use stealth (ex. Akali, Shaco, Teemo, etc). If not sooner, upon reaching full build this trinket must be bought.

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It is recommended to be bought in case you need further sustain and damage while going for a damage-sustain build.

In case you need increased survivability by building HP or to destroy towers faster, this would be your best option.

In case you are fighting against a high crowd-control team you may want to get this.

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They are important as they can, if positioned well, provide information about the enemy jungler's position along with the status of some camps, buffs or objectives (Dragon & Baron). Buy a ward, save a life! The team can own only 1 of those per teammate, but they will last until destroyed thus positioning one in a strategic point might help your lanes identify possible danger. Buying some of these before going in the jungle or ganking will ensure that you would be able to continue doing the jungle/ganking without recalling. Buying some of these is a must if you want to donate your blue buff to your mid-lane teammate. Also will help you stay in the jungle/ganking for a prolonged time.

Since preseason 5 and season 5, the Dragon has become an important objective. Its importance consists in the buffs it provides, buffs that will help the whole team throughout the entire game (for a full list of buffs provided, click here). Because of these buffs, killing as many Dragons in the shortest time possible is a must for the team.

Just as well, starting with the 4.20 patch, many significant jungle changes have been introduced. Fighters and Tanks have been brought back into the jungle while making the squishy-assassin life in jungle significantly harder. An early dragon has become nearly impossible to kill early-on without involving your teammates. Fortunately, Yorick is one of the few champions who can solo-kill the dragon at any point in the game, starting with level 3 without the need of teammates being involved and without it resulting in major experience losses.

I have presented above how Yorick's abilities work while also presenting some tips regarding how to reduce the amount of damage taken while fighting neutral monsters. In case you missed them, click here. Those tips also apply while killing the dragon at any point in the game, but before reaching level 3 and killing the dragon, there are 2 different jungle paths to take, depending on your team (Blue or Red). Below you will find the jungle paths for both teams along with the dragon-slaying technique.

Warning: The next section will sound a little bit crazy and it opens up with a story too. If you are not interested, you can jump on to The blue team jungle path section, but I recommend that you read it as it is about slaying Baron Nashor on first spawn.


Yesterday I've been trying different items on Yorick so as to test their viability in a custom game mode, me, Soraka bot, Shen bot against a full team of intermediate bots. Upon reaching my full standard build (I think that I've also replaced Iceborn Gauntlet for Trinity Force) I thought about going to kill the Baron solo. It went marvelous, full hp, full mana after killing it, so I thought: Can I do this in the 20th minute?

After questioning myself about that, I've tried to devise a build to kill Nashor on spawn and I've tried it in a co-op vs AI intermediate game. My thoughts included Ranger's Trailblazer, Enchantment: Warrior, Spirit Visage, Tear of the Goddess, Vampiric Scepter, 5X Health Potion and Ionian Boots of Lucidity. I also needed the blue and red buffs in order to do this. The experiment was a success, Nashor was ours by the 24th minute (I went there in the 23rd minute). Next, I've told my friend Shacazald about this crazy idea and he wanted to test it in a normal match. Had a noob in the team who locked in jungle after I locked, thus I dodged. Next, inspiration struck me: Ionian Boots of Lucidity are not needed because of the blue buff's 20% CDR. I can use my usual boots. If I can use my usual boots, can I use my usual build as well?

I've then entered a custom game with Shacazald so as to simulate a close-to-normal game, meaning that I was not to abuse killing the bots while not being allowed to take their jungle camps as well. By the time the game reached its 20th minute, I only had about 3/0/4, too much farm from jungle, I confess and as a matter of items: Stalker's Blade - Warrior
, Kindlegem, Tear of the Goddess, Boots of Swiftness (irrelevant) and Sheen, 5X Health Potion, red and blue buffs. Eureka, it works! We had Nashor in the 21st miunte. Marvelous, isn't it? I've also got to test this in a normal game had 4 dragons and 1 baron by the 25th minute, but we unfortunately lost.

The whole point of this story was to present the fact that Yorick can also solo-kill Baron Nashor on spawn, in the 20th minute. For him to do so, he requires the red and blue buffs, the second dragon buff and items around the ones presented in the previous paragraph, items which are components of the standard Yorick build. In case those items are not complete, or Yorick lacks the blue buff, a little help from the mid/top will do the trick, but, basically, Yorick can do this without many problems. The technique for slaying Nashor is similar to the one of killing the dragon which is explained below. In this case though you will need to use your Omen of Death to tank the Baron. In case you aren't ahead enough, having Muramana, Spirit Visage, Iceborn Gauntlet and boots will ensure you will be able to do solo-baron at any point in the game.

Why try this crazy strategy? The baron provides some cool buffs for your team and 300 gold for each teammate. Remember before trying this that this is experimental and is subject to change as more experiments will be done. I prefer if you would be giving some feedback about this strategy if you find it inquiring.

Now, back on Earth, to our business:


As a blue team player you should always start on the blue-buff side. Killing Gromp(the big toad) will give you level 2. Smiting it is a must because you need the buff it provides. Then off you go to your blue buff, then to the red buff (smiting the red buff is optional). This will make you level 3 and you can head off to the dragon.


The red team path is quite different from the blue one. Starting with the Krogs (golems) and smiting them is a must. Proceed then to your red and blue buffs (smiting the blue buff is optional but preferred) in this order. When you are level 3 you can head off to the dragon.

Note: With the sustain Yorick provides and with a little practice, by the time you head off to the dragon pit you should be full mana and full hp without the need of recalling in order to be able to kill the dragon.

Note: With this technique you can solo-kill the Dragon at any levels or build stages.

First of all, positioning and warding is important. Place your Stealth Ward, if you haven't used it yet, place it in the most advantageous point in your opinion. Position yourself so that when the dragon knock-backs you and your ghouls, he wouldn't be throwing you or your ghouls out of his pit, into the river, possibly giving away your position. You must always stand at maximum melee range so that your ghouls will be tanking the dragon (keep in mind that the nearest target to the dragon will be attacked). Also keep in mind that you should always stand behind the dragon so its breath wouldn't hit you.

Start by using Omen of Pestilence behind the dragon. When that ghoul is about to die, use Omen of Famine. Try positioning the second ghoul in the same place where the other one was, while always keeping out of the dragon's front side. At some point before Omen of Famine expires, use Omen of War then switch your position so as to keep the dragon between you and the ghoul.

When cool-downs reset, use them. Keep in mind that you must not have more than 2 ghouls active at a time, but you must not have less than 1 active either. Having no ghouls to tank the dragon would result in it attacking you. At some point there will be a 1-2 second opening in which the dragon will attack you, but the damage received will be insignificant compared to the sustain received.

Repeat until you kill the dragon. As of the patch 5.1 your summoner spell Smite will probably come off cooldown before you kill the dragon and you may want to use it as a finisher.

Note: Instruct your other lanes to push until you finish the dragon, in hope that the enemy jungler will be distracted from the true problem (the dragon). It might earn the opposing team a kill, or your teammate uses Flash, but the first dragon will be yours.

Getting the dragon alone has its own risks as well but one must make sacrifices in order to gain something in return. One of the greatest problems of killing the dragon at level 3 is that it will take you some time while also using up your buffs, potions and smite. After killing it, it is expected to be at half HP although if done properly, you can be full HP as well, no mana and with blue buff almost expired. Note that the dragon, since preseason will be receiving half of the season 4 experience gain, which will end up in you falling behind a little bit. The remaining blue-buff time will enable you to do 1-2 more jungle camps, the Crab or even gank, but recalling after killing the dragon is recommended.

Killing the dragon at level 3 has its own benefits as well. It will earn your team an AD/AP buff which might help them through dominating their lanes. This is the first of the 4 buffs the dragon can provide your team. For a full list of dragon buffs, check the list in the notes below. What is more, the dragon respawn time will be known to you and your team, thus preparing you and your team for the next dragon encounter, which you may want to do it alone unless the enemy team will come and impede you in doing so.

Note: If everything goes well, by the 4th dragon will be yours by the 25th and the 5th by the 35th minute.

Note: Small jungle camps (Gromp, Krogs, Raptors, Wolves) respawn once every 100 seconds. The rest of the timers can be found in-game.

Buffs obtained by killing the Dragon

1. +6% AD & AP ;
2. +15% damage-to-turrets;
3. +5% movement speed;
4. +15% damage to minions & monsters;
5. Doubles all other buffs and attacks burn the target for 150 true damage over 2 seconds;

To put it all in a nutshell, Yorick is a good, strategic pick for your team for many reasons, all presented above. First of all, it can and will provide your team with the huge advantage of owning early-game dragon buffs while also getting hold of the re-spawn timer of it. What is more, Yorick has the ability of clearing jungle camps without using up much health, meaning that he will be able to survive in the jungle for a longer time. His high damage and sustain abilities, along with their ability to tank, are his tools for becoming a successful jungler.

Despite being mana hungry, once Tear of the Goddess along with Iceborn Gauntlet or Frozen Heart or even Trinity Force have been built on him, mana problems will be a thing of the past. In team-fights he is most useful for his ability to copy/resurrect for a brief time one team member turning 5 vs 5 fights into 6 vs 5 fights and if used optimally, the 6th member will be the second ADC. Last but not least, Yorick is a valuable team member for the damage provided to his team.

Having all the facts presented above in mind, I hope that I have, at some level persuaded you into thinking again about your jungle picks and maybe add Yorick on the list too. Who knows, maybe he will find a nice, cozy spot into the League's played champions lounge at some point.
I thank you for having the patience of reading my guide. If you have any suggestions I will be happy to read, analyse, comment and reply them :).
I wish you to have a nice day!
Rexy17