Yorick Build Guide by CellOne

Introduction

Hi guys and welcome to my next guide!
It's - obviously - for the awesome new champion Yorick. Well, I tried a lot of builds with him and saw a lot of builds and most of them failing. Just to make one thing sure: Yorick is an offtank. No, he's THE offtank.
He got everything an offtank needs:

• good CC ( Omen of Pestilence)
• massive "pressure" damage, you can call it DPS (by himself, Omen of Death and his ghouls - don't make the mistake to underestimate them!)
• massive burst damage ( Omen of War)
• good harassment and lane survivability options ( Omen of Pestilence, Omen of Famine)
• a bit of support ( Omen of War)

What Yorick doesn't have: teamfight survivability. That's why you want to build him as an offtank with some armor/MR/HP and stuff like that. Details later on :)

Now let's learn something about this new champ, the mysterious gravedigger! Have fun!

Runes

As I said, Yorick is an offtank. We need some HP!
Greater Mark of Desolation
More or less everything of our damage is physical ones. Remember: ArP works on skills dealing physical damage, too!

I'm still not sure about the seals. This is what works pretty ok (for me), but actually it wouldn't matter if you use CDR or manareg seals.

Without manareg Yorick runs out of mana pretty fast. That's all. :)

Alternative runes:

As I said, you can switch the seals for something else. You could, e.g., take MP5 on the seals and CDR or MR on the glyphs. Try out, what you find working the best for your playstyle.

Masteries

Following the only and true Yorick Champion Spotlight and the Master of Tactics, Phreak, we go 11-0-19.
There are four things you really want out of the masteries:

1. 9% CDR. We want to use our omens as often as possible.
2. 6 bonus ArP.
3. 3 MP5 due to the mana problems.
4. The experience boost.

You can also go for the defensive path 0-21-9. You should maybe use these masteries, when you got no defense runes.

Summoner Spells

Such a underrated and underused, but great skill... :)
Use this skill to get the early Philosopher's Stone, defend and push all over the map and to avoid any kind of loosing XP when you recall. Also useful to join upcoming teamfights and sometimes to save mates. Or you port to a ward (you should always have some wards! Especially when using Teleport) to gank.
Since Yorick is not that bad at towerpushing (was a joke, he's really good), you can also backdoor with this.


You may say: "Hey Cell, but Yorick has a MS-Boost and slow, why should I go for some kinda movement skill?"
It's simple: your MS-Boost is just to chase down and you slow won't save you in every case. Flash is also perfect to get close to the enemy. Yorick has one big weakness: he is fairly good at chasing down, but not at getting close to a champion. Ok, you can use your Omen of War on a minion and run to the enemy with the boost, but then your damage skill is on cd. Actually Flash solves a lot of problems you can have with Yorick.

Other viable skills:


I prefer Flash, but Ghost is ok, too. Take what you feel the best with.


A pretty standard melee skill. Also fine, but in case you kick Flash for this, you will lack on survivability.

Skills

Wow, the passive is so amazing!
In the lategame your damage will increase rapidly. Also your ghouls are very strong. Think about this: in case all three ghouls are summoned, it's a bit like if you would to twice the damage (3*30% = 90% of your original AD).


In Lategame your main damage skill (except the ultimate). This is the primary reason why you want to go for Trinity Force. Don't expect too much from the bonus speed, first you have to get to the enemy :)
Omen of War won't trigger on towers! You can summon this ghoul only by hitting a champion or minion.


Uh, I love this skill. Use it to...

• ... check bushes.
• ... prepare a gank.
• ... escape by placing it behind you - chasing enemies will get slowed.
• ... harass - remember that the ghoul will attack the enemies even if the explosion didn't hit them.
• ... farm minions.
• ... block skillshots by summoning the ghoul between the skillshot and you (needs some practice).

This is obviously your main skill you want to max out first and your main damage skill in the laning phase.


This skill will let you stand any harassment due to the very good heal it provides. You want to get one early point in this, more is not necessary (up to level 9). It's your second harassment and primary survival skill and very important.


The ultimate is just amazing. Again you can do a lot of things with it:

• Use it on your AD ranged carry to get way more damage in a teamfight. In case they focus your carry, he will be able to continue with dealing massive damage.
• Use it to push towers. It's a bit equal to Shaco :)
• Use it to block skillshots, also some specific ones like the ultimate from Caitlyn (that's really cool actually).

Don't forget about your ultimate and don't wait for teammate to save - ok, sometimes you can do this, but remember: he will die anyway. Use it only when you (or the undead allie) can deal a lot of damage or get at least a kill.


General Skill Priority:

The ghouls

Maybe you are totally clear about these creepy minions, but I want to collect some facts about them here for those who are not.

1. Ghouls will attack enemy champions first(not minions). Use this to harass from far away.
2. 3 Ghouls deal together nearly the damage you deal with your autoattacks. Don't underestimate their damage!
3. Don't forget about the bonus damage they give to you! You should try to have always all of them summoned for a maximum of damage in a fight.
4. Ghouls can block skillshots and are treated as minions (e.g. you can use Smite on them). They will also cause Teemo's mushrooms to explode :)
5. If there is no enemy to attack, they will follow you. In general. Sometimes they won't and just idle around. Don't know if it is a bug...
6. A ghoul attacking an enemy while you being in tower range will cause tower aggro.

Remember: the ghouls are not just a unique mechanic, they are your damage source!

Items

+
These are you start items. They offer you a very good lane survivability and burst dmg resistance. Regrowth Pendant will get upgraded to Philosopher's Stone.

Other viable start items:
+ + Sight Ward


Philosopher's Stone
This will primary solve your mana problems. After ~27 minutes this item cost is like null and it will give you gold instead. That's why you should go for this pretty early with Teleport. Try to get Philosopher's Stone and Boots of Speed at one trip.
The healthreg is pretty nice to stand any harassment. And as a melee you will be harassed.


Nothing to say about this... just some speed for poor slow Yorick :)


Amazing (off)tank item. Very good in midgame and for midgame teamfights. This will solve our teamfight survivability problem due to his great armor and MR boosts. The damage is small, but nice to have. Simply an all-in-one item (for a tank of course). You can grab the Aegis before the Boots of Speed if you want.


Since you are a melee, you really need the high tenacity. Especially with Yorick, due to the fact we have no good movement skill (except our summoner skills maybe).
At least pretty standard on every melee and offtank.


Our main damage item. When you get this, your Omen of War should deal way more damage. Of course we want to upgrade to Trinity Force, the best offtank-item, next.
When you chase an enemy by using Omen of Pestilence first to slow him, try to hit him one and use Omen of War when the Sheen proc is ready again.

So this is your core:

Philosopher's Stone
Looks pretty similiar to the typical Nasus core, hm? :)
Cost in a sum: 5185 gold.


Continue your way to Trinity Force with this one. Zeal can wait.
Phage will offer you some more damage and HP, what is more needed than some aggressive stuff. You're an offtank, not a DPS.
The chance for a slow is nice to have, but you want recognize it that often. Especially when your enemys get Mercury's Treads.


Finish Trinity Force now. When you got this, you are awesome. You move fast, deal a ****ing lot of damage and have a fairly good defense.
Try to time your attacks and spells, but also try to get all 3 ghouls as well. Your priority depends a lot on the situation, but in general you want to get as much burst damage from "Sheen" as possible.


Yorick lacks a bit on HP, this should help a bit. Upgrade this to...


With this item you will be a nearly perfect offtank. I chose this item due to the fact, Yorick needs some more HP, but damage as well. But the main problem is, enemys can still escape too easy when they just escape the green ghoul. As soon as your green ghoul is down, there is nothing what would stop your victim from escaping. That's why we want to get this item, too.


Don't expect to get this far, but sometimes it happens. In that case your damage will be amazing due to the passive of Atma's Impaler and the now pretty good chance for a critical strike.

Shurelya's Reverie
If they feed you or it is a long game, you maybe get to this as well. I like to go for this in a lategame since it provides this short speed boost and some more CDR. But in case you want some more defense, sell Philosopher's Stone and get Guardian Angel.


Remember your items should always be situational!
You should go for Trinity Force in every case, but after this the build I show you here is just one what works in a lot of situations. But there are always games you need something else, e.g. a Banshee's Veil or a Quicksilver Sash. Feel free to get them! Wouldn't it be stupid to go every time for a lot of armor, even when the enemies don't have a single AD-champion? What I wanna say: you can go for Frozen Mallet in like 80% of your games. But in the other 20% of your games you maybe should think about getting another item fitting way better with the situation.

Jungling

You can also jungle with Yorick. You start with the blue buff and for your items with a Cloath Armor and 5x Health Potion.
To get the golem down on your own (without pull), you will need 21 points in defense, so your masteries will be 0-21-9. If you get some help (pull + some damage), it can go without. If you are not level 30 so far, you will need help for sure.

Your summoner spells are obviously Smite and then Flash or Ghost.

Your skill order up to level 6 should look like this:


You can get the second rank of Omen of Pestilence instead of the directly following second rank on Omen of Famine as well.

The build you play is the same as for lane Yorick.

When you finished blue buff, just follow the way down and clear everything.
Yorick is a fairly slow jungler at the beginning, but get's faster and faster soon. I'm still not convinced that jungling Yorick is the right way to play him, but it's definitely possible. I will let you know if earned some more experience with it :)

Laning Phase

You won't be able to face your enemys right away in a melee fight in every game. Don't expect to be able to use Omen of War on your enemys. Just farm and harass with Omen of Pestilence and Omen of Famine. You can also lasthit with Omen of War and Omen of Famine pretty well.

As soon as you earned 715 gold you can port back and get your early Philosopher's Stone and Boots of Speed and port to your lane with Teleport again.
Your range to harass is quite huge since the ghouls will attack the enemys even if they get summoned not directly beside the enemys. Know and use that.
Always keep your HP up with Omen of Famine.

As soon as you reached level 6, don't be afraid to use your ultimate. It will turn the 2v2 into a 3v2 and is like a guarantee for one or two kills. In case your enemys are dead or back to base or ganking somewhere you can push their tower with your ultimate easily. Don't forget to control your revenant by holding SHIFT and then clicking somewhere.

Teamfights

Block enemys movement with your Omen of Pestilence. Get their HP down with Omen of Pestilence and Omen of Famine even before the fight begins.

As soon as a teamfight is engaged, use your ultimate...

• a) on your AD ranged carry OR
• b) on one of your teammates who got focused instantly.

Then summon all of your three ghouls immediatly. Try to focus your enemys AD carry, it will fall to your massive burst damage. In best case the enemy is not standing beside any other so all of your ghouls will immediatly attack one target.
Make sure all your ghouls are all the time available.

Why no Manamune?

It seems like 90% of the guides on mobafire for Yorick advise this item.
I don't see anything in it.
Philosopher's Stone is enough to solve your mana problems and also offers gold and healthreg.
With just Manamune and Trinity Force you will leck hard on defense and be very vulnerable to CC and maybe get focused right away. Remember: a dead Yorick won't deal any damage.
Side note: could it be some people are going that crazy for aggressive DPS stuff to abuse the ultimate? Could it be a genious strategy? I'll try to find out...
I really recommend not to get that item. If you want damage, take a B.F. sword. But not Manamune. Yorick doesn't have that many mana on his own, he will get all from this item. But your damage should come from Sheen and your ghouls and not from your high mana pool.

Summary

Credits go again to me. Could it be narcissm?

I hope you enjoyed my guide :) Please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts about it. Some votes would be nice as well :)

Don't forget to look for my other guides! (ok, actually there is just one other guide from me at the time, but you should make sure to read it! I read it and I like it a lot!)

Greetings

CellOne

Changelog

06252011
Guide published.