Hello There!

This is a build for one of my rising favorite characters, Yorick. Although upon release he was about as useful as everyone's favorite breeze of summer air, Pantheon, thanks to recent buffs Yorick is now quite viable - and one of my favorite champions to play as well.

Desolation Marks are an Easy Choice on any AD Champion. The Magic Penetration Glyphs are mainly for his two magic damage spells, the Omens of Pestilence and Famine. Flat Health seals are good early game for survivability, and also provide attack damage with Atma's later in the game

For masteries, I take a 9/21/0 leading up to Archaic Knowledge in Offense for magic penetration. This gives Yorick good survivability in tight situations, and also gives extra magic penetration for his ghouls.

- This item is a great start for Yorick, because it takes his already low mana costs and gives him a large pool to utilize so he can stay in lane longer.

- Magic resistance is a great stat for a tanky DPS like Yorick, and the stun reduction is great as well.

- The bread and butter of Yorick. Combining health, mana, attack damage, attack speed, critical strike chance, and the wonderful affects of sheen and phage make this item a must-have.

- Combined with the next item in the build, Warmog's not only provides great survivability, but also a nice bit of attack damage.

- Building the Tear into Manamune not only gives more mana regen to Yorick, it also converts mana into attack damage as well!

- Armor and critical strike chance are nice, but combined with the 3500+ health you'll have at this point, this item will give a lot of attack damage.

- With all the items before this one, you will be tanky enough to survive, yet strong enough to kill. The Bloodthirster will just help to increase that strength to incredible levels (approximately 400 AD with potions at 18), and also heal you for the damage you'll deal.

Although I highly recommend every item in this build, if you feel an item needs a change, there are some good alternatives.

- although you lose some magic resistance and tenacity, the cooldown reduction can be attractive to some people who like their Yorick a little more on the DPS side.

- If the bloodthirster or manamune aren't doing it for you, Madred's can be a nice alternative. The magic damage can help against an armor stacking team to shred them to pieces.

- Like madred's this item is good for getting through armor and has some attack damage to boot. Because your ghouls will scale with this more than madred's, I would choose black cleaver.

- Although it provides less AD than the bloodthirster, the increased critical strike chance AND damage can be very useful later on.

philosopher's stone - This item is another great starting piece for Yorick, but won't build into anything in the core. If you want to build it up, a would be a good alternative item in the build.

Ghost is a great chasing spell for Yorick in case you decide to go after an escaping foe that's quicker than you, or if you have to escape from a faster opponent. Getting into melee range quickly for an omen of war or a pestilence to slow can change the tides in a 1v1.
Flash is like ghost, but for faster, more off-gaurd situations. If you get ganked while picking up a buff in the jungle, flash over a wall to easily escape. If you're looking to close the gap between a champion hitting minions in a lane and yourself, flash in range and use your massive burst damage to take them down.
Other good spells would be Ignite and Exhaust. Although the damage from ignite can be nice, your damage should be enough to get the kills without it. Exhaust is great for its slowing effect, but with your omen of pestilence and flash, the additional slow shouldn't be necessary.

- This passive is great for a number of reasons. It reduces the damage you take, increases the damage you deal, and scales your ghouls with the attack damage and health you have. The only needless part is the health scaling, for your ghouls die in 5s anyways. Perhaps it will take one more turret hit before dying?

- This will be your main nuke, scaling the highest with your attack damage, and moving the fastest (so it might actually get a few hits in!) Also, increasing your speed while alive will help with keeping in range for melee attacks and additional omen of war hits. Level this first.

- Although less damaging than your omen of war, its secondary affect - AoE slowing champions - is great for getting into melee range for your q and melee attacks. Level this second.

- This is probably the least useful of your ghouls. The lifesteal it gives can be good for long-term laning so you do want a point in it early, but it should still be leveled last.

- This ultimate is excellent in both teamfight and 1v1 or 1v2 situations. usually you want to use this on your AD Carry, so when they are focused down, they can return and still dish out some payback. However, with your high AD, using it on yourself can also be quite useful from a DPS standpoint. Make sure to judge its use based on the situation. Priority level this when available. Read This!! Omen of Death copies not only the AD of the champion you use it on, but also their attack speed. A nice AD Kog Maw, Nocturne, or Corki will be you friend forever in teamfights.

For 1v1s, you'll want to start by using omen of death on yourself, then activating omen of war if you can close melee range fast enough. If not, try to land a pestilence and famine and have war ready when you get into melee range. Once close, you want to keep the enemy near you as long as possible so you can continue to use omen of war. This means using ghost flash, or pestilence when it's off cooldown. If you are later in the game and have warmog's already, you should be able to turret dive for kills without much trouble.

In Teamfights, omen of death's usage will be a little more situational. You may want to start out using it on the AD carry, or wait to use it until they lose some health. Try to hit as many people with pestilence as possible, and focus down carries and other squishy champions with war and famine.

The main way I have played Yorick is as a lane character (testing on jungle Yorick underway). With that being said, both team and solo lane Yorick are quite viable at this point. Because of his ghouls, last hitting multiple minions is easy to do, and harassing champions can be done with moderate ease as well. Most solo lanes are against ranged champions, so do not flash into range unless you are sure the kill will occur. (Which it probably will with your omen of war)

Team lane Yorick depends on the other person you are laning with for how to play. If your partner is ranged, you'll be the one taking the brunt of the damage and initiating. If you lane with a tank or other melee DPS, you should be able to be a bit more passive and wait for them to initiate. In either instance, make sure to harass with ranged ghouls whenever prudent to keep the enemy zoned.

As my first guide on the site, and comments/constructive criticism is welcome. I hope you have as much fun playing Yorick as I do! I'll try to update this as often as he changes/if someone recommends something better in the comments. Any pictures of scores using this guide would rock!

Squadala,

Shadoxalon