Yorick General Guide by Athan

Skill Sequence

Skill Sequence? Nananannanana, Batman!
... uh... Nevermind.

NORMALLY the Skill sequence is pretty straightforward.

What you do is: > > > .
However, you skill like this at first:

because of Unholy Covenant
After that you just follow the priorisation above.

There are some matchups where you want to do it differently, but i will get back to that in theMatchups Section.

Summoner Spells

Summoner spells can actually vary guide a bit on Yorick, ESPECIALLY since the patch.

is now much more viable. This makes Yorick more or less unescapable, however, it can be difficult to get used to not having Flash when you get ganked, although Ghost + Omen of War makes you crazy fast (Especially with Enchantment: Furor).

Good summoner spell on basically everyone, and Yorick is no different.
Sometimes you HAVE to take flash versus certain JUNGLE MATCHUPS. ( Maokai or Lee Sin are good examples)

It's good to have on Yorick (or any other champion), and you need teleport when you're doing 2v1 bottom lane. It's not that reccommenable if you're Top, although it can give you a lot of dragon control, but it can also lose your tower easily.

Never bad for top. I often go for Ignite when i just want to dominate my opponent. Also good for picking up those First-bloods when you get an early-gank from your jungler.

The above 4 are without a doubt the most useful on Yorick. Combine how you please, it all works.

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What else to consider:
Situationable at best. If you REALLY need an extra Exhaust, it CAN be used on Yorick, but i wouldn't reccommend using it over ignite.

Everything else is a no-go.
None of it is of any use to you.

Matchups!

I'm going to do this from the top, in alphabetic order.
I'm only taking into to consideration the champions that i see CONSISTENTLY IN TOP IN RANKED!
No Alistar or Hecarim or any of that sort. I am a competitive player, i play for ranked, normals and how they end is of little concern to me.

My Matchups are colorcoded by the way:

• Blue - Easy matchup
• Green - Average matchup
• Orange - "Can be Difficult" matchup
• Red - "Hard/Has counter mechanics" matchups

NOTE: ALL MATCHUPS ASSUME EQUALLY SKILLED PLAYERS ON BOTH SIDES UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.
Also: Yorick has no "counters" per se, but some champions can sustain through his harass and then return with a better lategame.

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Akali Is a fairly easy matchup. 6/10, she will have to be exponentially better than you if you have to lose.

How to handle her:Take note of her Twilight Shroud cooldown. TWENTY seconds! You can use your Ghouls TWICE before she can cast her shroud again.
If she jumps you, simply stand there and fight her; You are stronger, especially 1v1 with Ignite and Ult up. If she shrouds, simply use W in the shroud and leave the shroud.

What start items?
Faerie Charm/Rejuvenation Bead
Buy 2x Null-Magic Mantle

What setup to use: Heavy MR runepage and "The Stonewall" masteries (0-30-0). Akali simply needs to be kept down earlygame, and you have to NOT feed her, then you automatically win the lane.

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Cho'Gath - 9/10.
This guy is a pain the butt... much like ourself. Yorick and Cho'Gath is a complete stalemate.

How to handle him: Focus on farming. Try to harass him Pre-level 6, where you will be strongest. YOU CANNOT 1V1 CHO'GATH. His true damage is too much for you to handle, and you will gimp your build if you try to build too much early health.

What startup items?
Boots, you need to be able to dodge his Q, otherwise you will get ganked.
Get a Null-Magic Mantle in there at some point. Get Philosopher's Stone as well.

What setup to use: Farmville Runepage FTW - If you got an aggressive jungler, just go with go with HighArmor/MR.
Use the "GP10 Masteries" or the "The Unimaginative".

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Corki - 3/10.
Corki is a bro. His relatively short range and skillshot harass makes him really easy to deal with. Also he has no sustain.

How to handle him: Omen of Pestilence> Omen of Famine. You simply don't need the sustain and you just want to push/harass him as much as possible.
Corki is really,really easy for Yorick. He has no slows, only a long-cd gapcloser Valkyrie and you can ghoul block his ultimate's "Big One" Missile Barrage.
NOTE: COUNT THE MISSILES! The small ones you can shrug off, but the "Big One" actually hurts! GhoulBlock it with your Omen of Pestilence and you neutralize most of his harrass.

What startup Items: Boots, you won't need anything else for dominance.

What setup to use: Pretty much whatever you feel like. I reccommend Flat AD just to throw him out of the lane before 5 minute. Twice.

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Darius - 5/10.
Darius' hardest counter is easily Yorick. You NEVER need to get in range for Apprehend. Ever.

How to handle him: Max Omen of Pestilence first. IF he is a bad Darius, then he will push with Decimate - If so, call for your jungler and kill the idiot because your slow is massive.
If he is a good Darius, he will try to stay back and farm.
NOTE: DON'T PUSH ON A "GOOD" DARIUS!! This will allow him to free-farm at tower (Something Darius is damn good at. Just last hit and watch the magic happend. If he comes too close, punish him.

Alternatively: Max Omen of Famine if you feel Omen of Pestilence pushes too much. The more skilled you become, the better you will become at not pushing with Omen of Pestilence.

What startup Items: Boots to stay out of his Apprehend range.

What setup to use: Anything with Flat AD.

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Elise...

I do not have enough experience versus Elise top to make a proper assessment.

A bit of theory, however: Elise has very VERY low built-in sustain, and it's a melee/push mechanic.
Her AA range is low, and her stun is a skill-shot that can be GhoulBlocked.
She does %-Damage, but we do NOT stack HP, and we like magic resistance from varius sources.
You should easily be able to 1v1 her, frankly.

I'd rush Spirit Visage against Elise.
I'd get Mercury's Treads as well.

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Gangplank - 6/10.

Gangplank isn't *that* hard. BUT! A well-played Gangplank will not be outplayed by you.
He will poke back when you Ghoul him, and he is going to build some armor + HP10 to stay in lane.

How to handle him:Max Omen of Famine. Simply harass him as often as possible; While Yorick is mana hungry earlygame, Gangplank is possibly one of the few who are worse! He can exhaust his mana pool within mere minutes.
Your poke is stronger than his, but not much, especially not early on.
Build a Chain Vest + Ninja Tabi and you should be able to win every trade, since you do hybrid damage.
Gangplank is VERY countered by Armor.

What startup Items: Cloth armor. You NEED this versus Gangplank.
IF you are forced to do boots because of their jungler, play safe until you can buy some armor.

What setup to use: Tons of armor!. I go with "The Stonewall" masteries simply because i love being tanky versus Gangplank.
SHRUG OFF THAT HARASS, *****ES! Also because you can't defend yourself against Yorick as easily as you can versus Gangplank.

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Garen - 7/10.
Garen is not the "Might of Demacia" for no reason. He's the third most annoying prick in top. ever.
(Only ourselves and Cho'Gath rates higher)

How to handle him: Well... First of all, you must know his cooldowns. Here they are:
Decisive Strike has 8 seconds at all ranks.
Judgment has 9 seconds if maxed.
Courage will have 24 during laning. No one maxes Courage for obvious reasons.
Demacian Justice has 160/120 seconds CD during laning.

Now, in relation to our own cooldowns, this goes pretty even to both of you.
His speed boost will up more often than Omen of Pestilence! Remember this when you go! Don't go back in for a second round until you W is up, because his Q WILL BE UP!
Your Omen of War has 9 sec CD, so you should be able to use that in line with his Decisive Strike, and i even reccommend getting 2 points Omen of War just to line them up perfectly.

You will find most effect from maxing Omen of Famine, simply because Omen of Pestilence doesn't get reduced CD when skilling up.
Use Omen of Famine to keep his passive Perseverance down AT ALL TIMES! This is one of the most difficult things to do versus a good Garen.

How to do it: Go in with E, then WAIT FOR HIM TO USE Q - THEN slow him! Otherwise you slow will be much less effective/completely wasted. Then gain distance. Rinse repeat.
When he manages to get in melee range, Q him. Your Q animation is FASTER than his.

MAKE SURE YOU GET ALL YOUR SKILLS OFF BEFORE YOU ARE SILENCED!!! If you don't, then draw out!

In a 1v1 scenario, you SHOULD win, if you are EVEN and you have bought a Chain Vest and Ninja Tabi. ALWAYS ULT "EARLY"!

What startup Items: CLOTH ARMOR! No contest. Get it.

What setup to use: Get the High armor/Arpen or the High Arpen/Armor. Flat AD is NOT worth it versus Garen, due to Courage.
Get Chain Vest and Ninja Tabi after Tear of the Godess. No exceptions. Philosopher's Stone ONLY if you farmed really well. REALLY WELL.

I'd go with "The Stonewall" mastery or "The Unimaginative".

Remember: Garen is countered quite heavily by armor, but his ultimate still does MAGIC damage, and can be quite a threat. Stack ARMOR and not HEALTH to avoid going below the 1-shot threshold.

NOTE: Our main goal versus Garen is to keep him down, and to not feed him! Yorick is more valuable in teamfights than Garen - If Garen is not fed!

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Irelia - 6/10.
Irelia is not that prominent in the pre-patch (And i predict she won't be in S3 either)

How to handle him:

What startup Items:

What setup to use: