Construction In Progress

Welcome to my guide on how I think Yorick should be built. I have been waiting for a necromancer-style champion are my prayers have been answered!! After 2 weeks of waiting he is finally here and you too can master the undead! Luckily I was here in time to make the second Yorick build on Mobafire! =D

I am currently playing him more and more, and thus so will my build grow!

I have found Yorick to be a very weak champion to play if you go for a DPS build, so I am trying to discover the best compromised between staying alive, doing some damage and helping your ghouls.

I have spent a fair amount of time making this build, researching the damage of each Ghoul because no-one had the stats when I made this build and I'm adding to it every day, so please comment if you think I can improve in any way!

- Omen of War

Fixed a bug where the Spectral Ghoul would not spawn if Yorick was silenced.

- Omen of Pestilence

Increased the cast range by 50
Improved the consistency of the AoE slow by increasing the radius and rate of application.
Mana cost reduced to 40/45/50/55//60 from 50/55/60/65/70

Omen of Famine

Mana cost reduced to 55/60/65/70/75 from 60/65/70/75/80

Omen of Death

Updated the visual of Reanimated Champions to better show when a Champion has revived.
Removed the health decay on the Revenant and Reanimated pets
Fixed a bug with the interaction between Chronoshift and Revenants
Fixed a bug with Heimerdinger's turrets and the Reanimated state

Unholy Symbiosis

Yorick now takes 5% reduced damage for each summon that is active.
Increased the Attack Damage and Health of ghouls to 35% from 30% of Yorick's Attack Damage and Health

Ghouls

Ghouls are now immune to slows.
Ghouls take 50% reduced damage from AoE abilities

General

Mana per level increased to 35 from 30
Health per level increased to 85 from 80
Armor per level increased to 3.6 from 3
Base Movement speed increased to 320 from 315
Slightly increased his base Attack Speed

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

Necromancers and pets are awesome
Your Ghouls are named after the Four Horsemen!
Can do a lot of damage late game while staying tanky
All of his ghouls can be doing a lot of things at the same time
Late game he can become a machine with more than 3 minions up at once
Your ulimate is as good at Shaco's clone, as well as a mini Zilean ult on top!
You can make others do your work for you

Cons

A DPS build can pub stomp, which provides a false sense of power
THE GLITCHES! OH GOD!
Can be a grinding early game
Has mana problems early game
Can be very squishy
Ghouls deal magic damage, yet scale with AD
Is hard to find the line between doing damage and dying or being tanky and ignored
His ghouls can last a very small amount of time and stand around before they attack
His pets can have a mind of their own, wasting precious time for damage

These are the spells I like to take, but you can take whatever you feel makes you play better.

For me, it is a toss up between
This is either if the enemy team has a lot of mobility or your team lacks it. It is very good for map control, but takes away a lot of power in teamfights.

I like ignite because sometimes Yorick will be out DPS'd by a lot of Auto Attckers/Life Stealers. this levels the playing field a bit and sops them pesky Warwicks.

I love Exhaust because, as Ignite does, it levels the playing field against DPS champions. It also makes up for the fact he has very little in terms of Cround-Control (albeit a low slow)

This is what makes Yorick Unique, every ability will summon a pet of some sort! Each of them will aide Yorick in his time of need! Each of them activate in different ways and each give Yorick something different.

Unholy ovenanCt (Passive)
Yorick takes 5% reduced damage for each summon that is active. Yorick's basic attacks deal 5% more damage for each summon that is active. Meanwhile, Yorick's Ghouls have 35% of Yorick's Attacks Damange and Health.

This passive really comes into play late game when are have all three Ghouls up at once. This use your standard Ghouls and the Revenant from your Ultimate!

Omen of War (Q): The last Hitter, Speed Buff/Suataoned Damage
Yorick's next attack will deal 30/60/90/120/150 (+100% Attack Damage) physical damage and summons a Spectral Ghoul for up to 5 seconds. The Spectral Ghoul deals 8/16/24/32/40 (+?AD%) additional damage per hit and moves 15%/20%/25%/30%/35% faster. While the ghoul is active, Yorick moves 15%/20%/25%/30%/35% faster as well.

Cost: 40/40/40/40/40 mana.
Cooldown: 8.5/7.8/6.6/5.7/5.6


This Ghoul is summoned on an on hit effect, similar to that or Nasus' Q. This is the 'glass cannon' Ghoul that runs faster and hit's harder. When use right, it guarantees that last hit gold. It is your sustained DPS spell which gains extra damage every level on top of your passive. For a constant cost of 40, who can complain?
Target: The enemy hit with the spell then closest enemy/call to help.



Omen of Pestilence(W): The Nuke and Slow
Yorick summins a Decaying Ghoul that arrives with a violent explosion dealing 60/95/130/165/200(+0.8 of BONUS Attack Damage) magic damage and slowing nearby enemies by 20%/25%/30%35%/40% for 1.5 seconds. While the decaying ghoul remains alive, nearby enemies continue to be slowed by 10%/12.5%/15%/17.5%/20% for up to 5 seconds. Cost: 50/55/60/65/70

Cost: 40/45/50/55//60 mana.
Cooldown: 11.44/11.44/11.44/11.44/11.44


This Ghoul creates a blast when it spawns, it is similar to that or Tibbers. This means it can be used over walls and such. On it's explosive entryit damages an Are of effect and slows for a percentage. After this,it attacks with your passives damage and slows the enemmy for a lower percentage while it is nearby.
Target: Closest enemy/call to help.

Omen of Famine(E): The Lifestealer

Yorick deals 55/85/115/145/175 (+1.0 BONUS Attack Damage) magic damage and heals for up to 50% of the damage dealt. A Ravenous Ghoul is summoned behind his target, which heals Yorick for the damage it deals and lasts for up to 5 seconds.

Cost: 55/60/65/70/75 mana.
Cooldown: 9.44/8.5/7.4/6.39/5.44


This Ghoul is your 'lifesteal' Ghoul. It is used by targetting an enemy, the spell then steals a certain amount of health and summons your Ghoul. During it's lifetime it will attack with your passives damage and heal you for a percentage of it's damage. This can be many meters away so it is essentially remote lifesteal!
Target: The enemy targeted with the spell then closest enemy/call to help.


Omen of Death(R): The Morde/Zilean Ultimate combo
Yorick conjures a revenant is the image of a target allied champion. Revenants deal 50%/75%/100% of the target ally's Attack Damage. If his ally dies while the revenant is alive, the revenant sacrifices itself to reanimate them.

Revenants and reanimated allies lose 10% of theur maximum Health per second.

Cost: ?/?/? mana.
Cooldown: 110.62/96.79/81.53


This is what makes Yorick brilliant. On cast, it will create a Revenant (ghost) in the image of the ally you cast it on. (This can be you, or another ally) It then gains a percentage of the targets damage and can be controlled by you! Similar to Mordes ult eh?

But here's the beauty of it, if the target dies during it's lifetime, the target takes control of the revenant and heals itself. This could add that little extra damage needed to kill your low HP enemy. This can be used in any fight as a defensive or an offensive spell.
Target: The enemy you attack/Tell it to attack using ALT + Right Click

As I have said in the previous section, each Ghoul is useful for different things and good in different situations. The order I have given is a very basic one and should be modified to however your laning partner and your enemies play like.

I always choose my first spell based on who I'm up against. It will always be a choice between Famine and War.

Ranged DPS
<--
Always annoying to lane against for a melee champion, but fear not! Your omen of Famine is here to help! With a long range to hit, you can shrug off her auto attacks with the lifesteal and it's auto attacks. Nice. So try to level your Omen of Famine a bit more, but don't forget about your Omen or War!

---

Melee DPS
<--
You can easily farm with them being a fair distance away from you.

---

Where from here?
Generally I find lane dominance is found in levelling War and Famine first over Pestilence. Because they both have their awesome effect (More attack and lifesteal), whilst Pestilence only has a slow after his summon. I find it easy to handle a 2v1 lane with this. Remember, War never changes cost while your mana goes up, but you'll die faster without Famine. You need to play smart with Yorick to succeed.

Mid Game
Once you know it's safe to, I emplore you to get the blue buff. Once you get to around level 10, you can get it with 1 HP pot easily. With blue buff, I can handle 3v1 all day. It also assists very well during ganks, lowering your cooldowns and letting you summon constantly. It also means you can poke the enemy more and more.


Late game
Now this is where Yorick shines. You can have more than 3 Ghouls up at once with blue buff and you really start to hit hard and are beefy enough to do it. One technique if found is that Yorick can kite really well! Get your summons, run back to make them think you cant handle the fight while waiting for your cooldowns, and then hit him again with more Ghouls!

I have found the problem with Yorick is that with the wrong items, can become as squishy as any caster with a small percentage of the damage. As well as this you need to worry about the large issue of his mana.

I have found the core build will always be:

Doran's Shield, for that early game survivability. Always get this first regardless.
Later on, if you feel you aren't getting harassed too much, sell your shield and buy this. It will solve your mana problems early on.
Tear of the Goddess, to solve your mana problems. (Can swap with below)
Obvious. (Can swap with above)
You have to put your Tear somewhere, provides amazing AD
Magic resist and Tenacity, brilliant tanky boots

Because Yorick is a beefy DPS, you can either go more tanky if you feel you die fast, or get more DPS if you feel they can't handle your awesomeness!

Remember, after your core build adapt to the situation.

Extra damage on a spell based DPS? Yes please.
<Armor> CDR, and mana, excellent.
<Armor> More CDR and a DPS's nightmare
<Magic Resist> CDR and MR, as well as the new passive to help your lifesteal ghoul, awesome!
Banshees Veil <Magic Resist> More mana and a passive you should get on everyone.
Late game you need that extra DPS to be able to do any damage, this is perfect. Attack speed, Slow and you need that move speed due to Yorick's very slow innate speed.
This is amazing to counter AD carries late game

Questional Choices
Sure, you need HP and Armour.. But it's very expensive for what it does
You can get it if you need Health, but this IS at cost of mana. If you want this for Ghoul health, you're going down the wrong track.
You can get the CDR elsewhere, but it is hard to get the Tenacity and easy from your Mercs.

With my masteries, I like to go 9/21/0 because I may get 9 from Offence, but they are purely utility and Mag Pen mastery choices.

But Yorick is an AD champion! WHy get Mag Pen?

Well, your and deal magic damage with their effects. And with the new change to the way lifesteal works, you heal the amount of actual damage dealt rather than what you could have dealt. Therefore if your enemy stacks AP, you heal less and do less damage! And seeing as I get no Magic Penetration items this is the perfect place to get that extra lifesteal from.

I like the defence masteries because if you've played Yorick, you know that he is a horrible glass cannon DPS and fails horribly. This however adds to your early game sustainability.


However, I am still debating about the runes. What do you think? Stay more tanky or get more Magic/Ar Pen like Phreak does? Leave me a comment =D

Late game best tip: Faceroll = Win
Farm, Farm, Farm. Without a farm, Yorick becomes useless
Try not to use your Omens too much too soon, you will run out of mana fast

Omen of War:

USE THIS TO FARM.
Great for last hitting
Can be used to farm minions well
Creates decent sustained DPS
Good chaser buff

Omen of Pestilence:

Can be used to block skill shots
Brilliant slow to be use in synergy with other ghouls
Can be used over walls for unexpected kills

Omen of Famine:

Vital for a sustainable laning phase
Heals you for more than you think udring team fights

Omen of Death:

Can be controlled like Mordes ult, use it to take turret aggro to get that kill
Can be controlled using ALT + Right click