Hello fellow summoner! I have been playing LoL for about a year now and I believe it is time to give something back to the community :) I can finally say that I have played every champ(the only 2 I hadnt tried was Urgot and Sejuani) =P, but none have been able to match the level of enjoyment i got from playing . I wanted a tanky mofo that could deal a nice bit of damage and have plenty of sustain espically during teamfights. After experimenting a lot with champs such as , , and many more, I found that Yorick was the only champ I could play at the level I wanted. Yorick can completly dominate his lane (Which should almost always be solo top) and control the flow of battle. He can be built many ways and by no means do I claim that mine is the best way, it is simply the way I enjoy playing my favorite champ. I do hope though that in this guide I explain these ideas a bit better. Please leave a comment even if u dont vote so if u find anything wrong with the guide or see somewhere I can make improvements :) OH ANDDDD listen to this if u really wanna get the most from this guide goes with Yorick's lore pretty well ^_^ here ill post below so u can see for yourself =P


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Yorick, the Gravedigger
The work of gravediggers is essential amongst the living, but invaluable in the Shadow Isles. There are many shades of death there, and each is embraced rather than feared or reviled. One can only ascend from one state to the next with the magical aid of a skilled professional. At the end of the first Rune War, Yorick Mori made his living as a gravedigger. His family owned and maintained the Final Rest Memorial, one of the oldest cemeteries in Valoran. The shovel he employed for his work had been passed down for generations. Each gravedigger taught his son that this shovel was imbued with the spirit of every forefather, and that those spirits would protect him during the long lonely nights amongst the tombstones. To his eternal regret, Yorick died without an heir, bringing the proud Mori line to a close. His body was interred with his shovel in the family mausoleum, and the Final Rest Memorial soon fell to ruin. Death, however, was not the end Yorick had expected.

Yorick emerged on the haunted shores of the Shadow Isles - not quite dead, definitely not alive - still clutching his beloved shovel. He soon learned that with it he could act as a ferryman for the Isles' undead denizens, helping them climb death's many-tiered ladder. This proved a curse, as a gravedigger must ''bury his quota'' before he too can ascend, or so the legend goes. No one knows what ''his quota'' is. Yorick dug tirelessly, waiting in vain for the day when he would be freed of his burden. As decades turned to centuries, the shame of his failures came to a head. He returned to Valoran to find his corpse, convinced that salvation might be buried with it. When he arrived, no trace remained of either the mausoleum or the memorial. Hope nearly lost, he discovered the League of Legends, and there saw an opportunity to immortalize the family name he allowed to be forgotten ages ago.

''Die first, then we'll talk.''
-Yorick

Pros:

-Great at taking damage (his passive really helps!)
-Constant harass
-One of the best self sustaining champs in the game
-You can easily 1v1 anyone
-Deals good damage with very few offensive items
-Pentakill skin is sick! (looks a lot like Slash haha)

Cons:

-Mana hungry early game
-No gap closer unless you have flash
-Ultimate can be hard to master/control and time properly
-Weak escape

Every champ has his weakness and the only one that Yorick really has all game is his ability to get REALLY CLOSE REALLY FAST other than that he is a very solid champion and should have very few deaths if played properly :)

This is my prefered way to spend my mastery points and I will give a little info why I took each point.
-Offense-
-Summoner's Wrath: I take this for 5 extra attack damage when ignite is on cooldown, the 5 extra ability power is ehhh

-Defense-
-Resistance: More magic resistance is always needed
-Hardiness: Extra armor is always good!
-Durability: Get this for more health per level, works like Greater Quintessence of Vitality
-Vigor: for more health regen, which is good combined with Warmog's Armor
-Indomitable: take less damage? yes please! =P 1 point isnt much but hey it helps!
-Veteran's scars: nice health increase, great for tanky champs like Yorick
-Initiator: extra movement speed is always nice, you will probably be pretty high on health unless in a team fight
-Honor guard: the best mastery point to spend in the game for effectivly reducing damage
-Juggernaut: Gives you a tenacity like bonus, and also increase your health a little bit. if you had 3000 hp without this point, with it u would now have 3090 not much but hey its something!

-Utility-
-Summoner's insight: reduced cooldown on flash is useful.
-Expanded Mind: More mana per level, scales well with Manamune for even more damage
-Meditation: More mana regen is great. at lv 1 with Meki Pendant you will have +10 mana regen per 5 seconds. meaning every 20 seconds you can use Omen of Pestilence and get the mana back from it for example! =D

Yorick is a physical attacking champ first and foremost so I pick up this extra attack damage
Greater Seal of DefenseGreater Quintessence of Vitality My favorite runes for any tank I play. Some might argue that flat runes are better but please let me explain why they are NOT! =P I'll just use magic resistance as an example since I already figured out the exact level it is better. At level one with Greater Glyph of Magic Resist you total 12.06 and you will have that exact same number all match. Now with the increase per level runes at level one you will only have 1.35 magic resistance, BUT every level this number will rise, and at [level 9 you will have 12.15 resistance which is already higher compared to the flat runes (You should easily get to level 9 every match so therefore the benefit should be seen every game:) ). By the time you are level 18 you will have a total of 24.3 magic resistance almost double the amount given by the flat runes. Yorick should almost always be solo top and therefore you will level faster to quickly maxamize the increase from per level runes.

Your Starting items:
Meki Pendant Health Potionx2
This is probably the best way to go because you really need that mana regen early game. You could go boots and 3 health pots but I prefer having that mana regen.

Your next purchase:
Tear of the Goddess+ Boots
tear of the goddess is a great item for yorick, you get a little bit more mana regen meaning more ghouls flying around ^^ boots make u go fast not much I need to explain about these =P

Manamune and You:
Manamune
probably my favorite item I build on yorick up until late late game at which point you should probably sell to get Bloodthirster which gives you more damage but costs a lot more than manamune. Anways back to manamune, the best thing about this item is that every time you auto attack you gain 1 maximum mana, and after every spell cast you gain 4 maximum mana, pretty cool huh?(the total amount of mana you can gain from attacking and casting spells is 1000!) But this nifty little item also converts 2% of your maximum mana into attack damage! meaning you will be hitting a lot harder just by auto attacking and casting spells!

Upgrade your boots:
Ninja Tabi Mercury's Treads
This can be situational depending on who you lane vs but I usually get ninja tabi because they are cheap and if anything late game you can sell them if you really want mercury thread.

Start building your core items:
Giant's Belt turns into Warmog's Armor =D
Warmog is something you should get every game because that extra health is really nice and its give a ton.

Too sheen or not to sheen? that is the quesiton:
Phage Sheen
There are options and thats for you to decide whatever works best for you experiment and see if you like the proc from sheen or the slow from phage. If anything just buy phage and decide after if u want to build it into frozen mallet or trinity force, because it is used for both of them.

Trinty force vs Frozen mallet which is better?:
Trinity Force Frozen Mallet
Yes Yes I know I did not put Trinity force in my build but that doesnt mean I dont use it. Its proc is amazing and is pretty good for yorick because he can almost always have the effect from it. I take trinity force if I want a more damaging item, but frozen mallet in my mind is the more defensive because it gives so much more health. And because most games I am the tank. With Warmog's Armor Frozen Mallet and Atma's Impaler overall I get more out of the extra health.

Time to finish your build:
With this mastery spec you are already very tanky so IF you want you can build another offesnive item but that is completly up to you and what type of team you facing.

What I reccomend:
Force of Nature Atma's Impaler
very solid to finish up your build for the 5th and 6th slots. Force of nature gives super high amounts of magic resistance which really help to balance out this build, crazy health regen with warmog and frozen mallet. Atma also scales great the more health that you have, and gives a decent amount of defense.

Other options:
-Instead of Force of Nature here are some other defensive items that go well with yorick

1. Frozen Heart great item to counter any ad champ, its does a nice little aoe debuff that slows all enemy champs attack speeed, gives you more mana which=more ghouls causing trouble!, but it also gives you cooldown reduction meaning you can cast your spells more often.
2. Randuin's Omen nice amount of armor from this item, some more health and health regen, and the effect is pretty dang good because the more tanky that u are the longer the slow that you activate lasts!
3. Banshee's Veil gives everything that yorick needs, but I dont buy this item very often because your a tank, and stupid spells can cause your bubble to go away. Only get this if they have a fed leblanc or karthus. Other than that there are much better options.

-Instead of Atma's Impaler here are some other items that work well for that last spot!

1. Bloodthirster good stats all around, for a yorick with even more survivabilitly and this encourages you to stay in brawls longer to get off more attacks!

2. Infinity Edge kind of a troll item but hey if u got trinity force and with this bad boy you can do some serious damage with Omen of War

Health

Bonus Health from: Warmog's Armor = 1270 (when the item is fully charged)
+
Bonus health from: Frozen Mallet = 700
----
total bonus health: 1970

Health at lv 18: 4,067


Attack Damage

Bonus from Manamune = 70 (when the item is fully charged)
+
Bonus from Frozen Mallet = 20
+
Bonus from Atma's Impaler = 61
----

total bonus attack damage = 151

Attack damage at lv 18: 255


How much damage your Omen of Famine will deal

I really made this section to cover this spell, and how powerful it really is =P

This spell does 175 damage plus 1 damage for every point of attack damage you have.

175+255=430

So at the very max this spell will do 430 damage - every 6 seconds (at later levels you can nearly spam this). I am not going to factor in armor and magic resistance because this is going to be a breif and simple explanation of what this spell can do.

How much Omen of Famine will heal for

This is what makes you Yorick. This is what makes you have better sustain than probably any other champion in the game


The heal part of this spell is based from the damage it causes. At the very most this spell will deal 430 damage with this build. and you get healed for 40% of this damage sooo

430 x .4 = 172 <---- This is the absolute max you can get healed for by casting this spell

The ghoul summoned from Omen of Famine can attack 3 times before it dies. Your ghoul has 79 attack damage following my recommended build. You get healed for the exact amount of damage that your ghoul does. So what does all this mean? If your ghoul attacks 3 times the max you can get healed for is 237. For a grand total of 409! Not bad for a spell you can use every 6 seconds.

Ahh summoner spells an easily section to cover.
-I get this every match simply because it does a nice chunk of damage all game that can get you kills that without, you would never get. The best part about this spell is the true damage which some people might not realize it does, this means it is not effected by armor or magic resistance and always does the amount of damage is says it will do. The heal debuff is also great for champs like Dr. Mundo when he uses Maximum Dosage

-flash is a great summoner spell and is what i use almost every match. With it you get the ability to close gaps which is something that yorick lacks without. You can also jump over most walls in the game to escape certain death

this is a great passive and really makes yorick tanky. it also gives your ghouls 35% of your health and attack damage so its like a passive for both you and your ghouls, the stronger you get the same goes for them

Yorick's Q ability. I pick up a point for this at level 3 and dont level it again until 10. I level this along with Omen of Pestilence because both of these moves are very important, this ability makes your next auto attack deal more damage and summon a ghoul that increases your movement speed! Its damage also scales with how much attack damage you have so it will inflict some hurt

Yorick's W ability. I pick up a point for this at level 1 and level it along with omen of war, after i have maxed Omen of Famine. This is a great ability and does a nice bit of aoe damage and is quite effective at last hitting minions when you cannot get into melee range.This ability scales with ability power so with wont be as strong as Omen of War or Omen of Famine. But the slow provided from this spell is what I really look at though. It really helps for ganking when you have a jungler, causing a nice slow at first and the ghoul will chase your enemy and continue to slow them for slighty less than the initial amount. This spell can also be used to protect yourself when running from a fight, cast it behind you and the ghoul will chase your enemy slowing their advance.

Yorick's E ability. I pick a point for this a level 2 and is the first ability I max.This ability scales with your attack damage so it will do great damage. This is probably Yorick's best ability overall and really gives you the sustain that people hate ^_^ when maxed it only has a 6 second cooldown and the ghoul itself will last for 5 seconds unless it is killed by your enemy(which is kind of silly to do espically during a team fight). So that being said if you wanted to spam this ability it would really only be on cooldown for 1 second! pretty cool for a spell that heals you every time it attacks.

Yorick's R ability and his Ultimate. Level it up whenever you can ( level 6,11,and 16 ). This ultimate is a game changer and has many uses I will try to explain a the most important and common ones now.

1.Revival: This is probably my favorite way to use Yorick's ult. In a 1v1 fight you can and should be able to kill your enemy, even if they get assistance from others. As long as they have low enough health pop your ult, get reanimated and go get your kill! even if your not sure if you will get the kill still use your ult, it doesnt hurt to try. Remember 1 for 1 is better than 0 for 1 :)

2. Give your team the advantage: Use your ultimate on your team's ad carry and you will turn a 5v5 into a 6v5. Sure your image will only do 75% damage but it will still be enough to do some serious hurt!

3. Tower Diving: This is a more advanced tactic but very effective. You have to be able to control your image that your Omen of Death will summon. You see someone hiding under a turret trying to recall and they are almost dead....well dont just stand there dive them! Use alt+r and send your image in. Follow it and use all of your spells im sure u wont be disapointed with the result ^_^

Ok so I have explained all of the spells and all that good stuff but now let me break it down even more for you.

What I should be doing early game:
Farm Farm and Farm some more. Those minions are there for you to get gold! more gold=more items which=Yorick with a power lv over 9000 and should almost be unkillable. Be cautious early game because with our runes until lv 9 you will be SOMEWHAT(i cant stress that enough) squishy but guess what? you will get stronger with time so just play it out. Continue to farm peacefully but if the champ you are laning against get to close give him a good old e-w-q combo using all of your spells (except for Ignite of course you want to save that for a kill) and he will back off.

Ok now how about Mid-game?
Ight so now you have some items and have farmed for little bit, team fights might start now so be aware of whats happening. If you see that mid is getting attack by the person that is supposed to be in your lane for gods sake go help your team mate! also be aware of the jungle you should have some wards to protect yourself from ganking. Here is a map of where they should be.


The green dots are the most important. Dont even bother with the yellow dots. These are the spots junglers will come from to gank you! You should have 2 wards up at all times to protect yourself. sight ward only costs 75 gold! so there is no reason not to have at least one of these =P

Finally late game lets get into the action!
You will find that people will not focus you very often because you are just so dang tanky. Well.... make them suffer for not focusing you! Yorick has great damage just focus their carry and really pressure them to have no other choice but to attack you. E-W-Q is your standard combo use it and inflict some serious hurt. You can also do something pretty sneaky, and that is stealing buffs from the enemy jungle. Blue buff will give you a nice increse to your mana regeneration and pretty much let you spam abilities. Red buff will cause all of your attack to apply a damage over time effect and to aslo slow your target! Both of these are great for Yorick.

Remember with this build you are NOT a full tank and if to many people focus you, YOU WILL DIE so always remember that please.

I hope this helped. Play Yorick, figure him out, and use this guide to help you! thats why I made it :)

Ok so I have seen so many videos on youtube with yorick in it but none of them show people what smart casting is or what it even looks like. Smart casting is great because it saves you clicks and allows for faster reaction times / give you ninja-like reflexes. If you master this I beleive you will become better at playing LoL, not just with yorick, but for many champs. It is simply amazing on champs like annie, ryze, and brand (also known as combo champs that require fast spell casting to be the most effective). I hope this video helps you out it was the same one I used to learn how to smart cast check it out if you are curious.

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thankyou nickstanovic for uploading this video it helped me a lot to better understand the game.

Well thats the end of this guide. I hope I taught you a little something about yorick even if you already play him. He is my favorite champ and hopefully he can be yours too! If you ever want to chat about the build please leave a comment so if you have a suggestion I can ponder it :) P.S. my LoL name is also Swizzbeatz so if u ever want to play a game just add me and we can wreck some fools =P

OHOH and thank you jhoijhoi for your template's and such with your good karthus/bad karthus guide, your a life saver haha no way I could of made this guide without your guidelines. Here is the link if you want to check it out and make a guide of your own :) making-a-guide by jhoijhoi <3