I started playing Yorick day one like many other players, and like most everyone I thought he was fairly weak. Unique, yes, but still subpar in any area you rated him. Well I started playing around and learned his mechanics quickly to maximize what little he could do before setting him aside for a bit. Once the buffs came 'round I picked him back up to see what was different.

Holy **** those number changes helped a ton. He became a great jungler and a force that's pretty tough to push out of the lane. Innate survivability and strong ganks lend him more to a jungle style to me, so that's how I play him. This is more to show a build that I've found works, and to maybe help players pick up this once thought useless champion.

Please try it before you vote, and leave some comments on any improvements you can suggest. :)

Pros:

• Naturally quite beefy
• Great innate survivability with Omen of Famine and Unholy Covenant
• Lots of minions means lots of missed enemy skill-shots
• Ghouls have some good utility
• Can clear the jungle as quick as many high-tier jungle champions
• Powerful slow from the jungle for ganks
• Teammates like coming back to exact revenge
• Good bit of magic damage to top off his mostly physical set
• Has a shovel

Cons:

• Can be kited easily due to short range on abilites and melee reliance
• Extremely vulnerable to CC
• Ghouls are easily killed if hit once or twice
• No hard CC
• Ultimate can be wasted if the ally doesn't realize what's happening
• His shovel is cracked :(

Yorick's selling point is that he is the first minion based champion and I fully believe Riot got this formula right. He is based entirely around his ghouls, but our shovel-wielding friend isn't useless without them. They supplement his natural bulkiness with utility such as speed boosts, slows, and heath regeneration.

Omen of War: The Omen of War is an auto-attack reset that does a small amount of extra damage on contact. It will also summon a blue ghoul that moves faster than the others. While the ghoul exists, Yorick also moves faster. This is the beginning skill in the jungle due to the auto-attack reset. The speed buff will also help a small amount in moving from camp to camp in the beginning. Late game, you'll haul *** after hitting a minion or, more likely, a champion. It makes Yorick a pretty hard zombie to run from.

Omen of Pestilence: The Omen of Pestilence is my favorite ghoul. As a skill, it deals moderate AoE magic damage and slows enemies in the immediate vicinity. The ghoul itself slows nearby enemies by a smaller percentage as long as it is in existence. Early game ganks with this skill are incredibly powerful. While not as good as an Ice Blast from Nunu & Willump, it allows Yorick to close the gap on a target in the lane fairly quickly. When chasing down a target it can allow you enough time to land an Omen of War and continue the chase even after the Omen of Pestilence is dead and gone. The best part has got to be the fact that it requires no target to cast. That means it can be used to check for a Jack In The Box or Noxious Trap hiding in a bush. Trust me, this saves lives.

Omen of Famine: While I feel The Omen of Famine is still incredibly useful, when jungling only one or two ranks are needed. Survivability comes from the lifesteal on Wriggle's Lantern and the damage it deals doesn't compare to attack reset procs from Sheen/ Trinity Force. However, it is another source of magic damage and can help against enemies stacking armor against you or your teammates.

Omen of Death: Yorick's ultimate calls upon an Omen of Death to make a Revenant-clone of a targeted allied champion. Should that champion die, they get another 10 seconds of glory to stay in the fight with only summoner spells being disabled. This ultimate is actually incredibly powerful. It brings a sixth team member into the fight with 100% of that champion's AD added to the Revenant. That's a hell of a lot of damage added. It can also be used at the last second on a team mate that was just caught out of position to allow them to exact revenge while your team finishes the offenders(with freshly blown cooldowns) off. It can also be used to tank towers and help push through a lane.

Unholy Covenant: Alright, while not technically a ghoul, Unholy Covenant is Yorick's passive which is what makes his ghouls a part of him. Each summon uses 35% of Yorick's attack damage and health as their base stats. On top of this, each summon in existence causes Yorick to deal and take 5% less damage, with a maximum of 20% for all four summons. That's a lot of extra damage.
Note: This does not apply to all of his abilities. ONLY auto-attacks.

I haven't tried straight AD runes quite yet on Yorick as I don't have that many AD marks, but this is what I do use and it works. If someone can tell me how much faster it is I'd be much appreciative.

Greater Mark of Desolation x6 - These will give you enough armor pen for most of the jungle mobs and a decent amount for starting ganks.
Greater Mark of Attack Damage x3 - AD fuels your damage and speeds up your jungle.

Greater Seal of Armor x9 - Armor for jungling.

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed x9 - I use attack speed blues because I figured it could help speed things up and get to ganking faster.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage x3 - Huge boost to early game damage output. Lets you deal "tons of damage" to jungle monsters and clear the superior route fast.


Other runes:

Greater Mark of Attack Damage x9 - As I said, I don't have nine of these to try it out, but I'm sure they'd work. More AD, more damage, faster jungle. That's how these things work, right?

Greater Seal of Evasion x9 - I don't actually have dodge runes because they're expensive as hell, but if someone could tell me if they're worth using on Yorick I'll give you a cookie.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction x9 - CDR is nice for Yorick. His ghouls have some pretty long cooldowns at early ranks and these can help him spam them out a bit better. I prefer my AS Glyphs though.

Duh. If you're jungling, you need Smite. All junglers need smite. Even if they can do it without it(Yorick can't), they still need it. It secures buffs, dragon, Baron, and can help whittle down super minions should you start losing. Take Smite always.

I enjoy using Flash with Yorick. It helps him close in for a slow, pop over for a smack to the face with a shovel, or blink away should things get too dicey and you can't throw an Omen of Death on yourself to maybe bring someone down with you after you die.


Options:

I've only used Ghost one game, and it was a bit crazy. You move ungodly fast with Ghost on in the full build, but you lose the utility of wall hoping behind people for ganks and such. If you like Flash or just wanna move at warp speed, Ghost is a valid option.

An possible choice, but not one I recommend. Yorick needs some sort of movement enhancer in order to work his magic and get him near the target. If you can't do that, then Exhaust would be worthless anyway. If you think you can deal with a lack of movement options, Exhaust could work.

Oh man does Yorick get worked by CC. Cleanse can get you out of sticky situations fast and get you hobbling back into the fight where you can be useful. This is as opposed to being stunned/snared for a century off to the side watching helplessly because you only have one spell that doesn't require a target.

Yorick can actually take a couple of different paths but I just do the standard superior route. It's fast, usually clearing at roughly 5:10 with this setup, and allows for ganking at most any point after you have all three ghouls.

1. Buy a Longsword and Health Potion and start at wolves taking Omen of War as your first spell. Attack the big wolf, making sure to time Omen of War immediately after each auto-attack when it's off cooldown. Doing so will maximize your damage output.

2. Chug your potion on the way to wraiths. Smite big wraith which will get you to level 2. Place a point in Omen of Famine and cast it on a little wraith. Attack it, then cast Omen of War right away. Clear the camp.

3. Head down to twin golems, casting Omen of Famine, attacking once, casting Omen of War and then proceeding to whittle down the golems. This will put you at level 3 at which point you should place a rank in Omen of Pestilence. You should end up killing them with about 325 gold waiting for you. Recall and buy a Cloth Armor and Health Potion.

4. Now continue through the jungle starting at blue, or gank immediately after purchasing your items. If you go back into the camps, the rotation I use for killing off buffs is Omen of Pestilence, Omen of Famine, Omen of War. This will maximize the bonus damage you deal with Unholy Covenant when you strike the golem/elder lizard.

Don't forget that anytime you go back to buy items, always buy at least one ward. You should do this with any champion really, but people expect the jungler/support to buy most of them. Wards win games so do it regardless of what you want to do. Wriggle's Lantern will help with wards funding with its free ward, but one ward every three minutes isn't gonna be enough. :)

The idea of the itemization here is to build as off-tanky as possible while still adding some damage output. The items listed are things I get every game, with one slot open at the end which changes based on the enemy team. You'll pretty much always have a defensive item fill that sixth slot.

Offensive/Damage increasing items
Defensive items
Utility items

- Wriggle's Lantern is that core jungle item that so many champions love. It clears camps, gives you some armor and lifesteal, and gives you that oh so sweet free ward. Remember: Wards win games.

- There's a reason two boots are listed up there, and that is because both boots are awesomely useful on Yorick. If the enemy team has nothing but stuns, silences, and super slows, grab Mercury Treads. Yorick can be shut down pretty hard if he can't reach his prey. If there's not much in the way of movement impeding, Boots of Swiftness is the way to go.

- Other than the AP, this gives Yorick all the stats he needs. The biggest addition is the unique ability we all know and love. Due to our ghouls being quite spammable, Trinity Forces procs often and increases damage output tremendously. This is especially noticeable with Omen of War because of the attack-reset. Great item.

- Mana, health, magic resist for tankiness, and a life-saving passive all wrapped into a single item. Yorick will love you for buying this.

- This is an item designed to work with other items, and luckily for you this build gives a good amount of bonus health to help out with Atma's Impailer's bonus damage effect. It's not Warmog's Armor quality health, but good nonetheless. Another reason for purchasing this item is the armor and critical strike elements to it. The armor should be fairly obvious, but the other reason is Trinity Force proc'd hits can crit. That is a LOT of damage in one strike. Those strikes come often with spammed ghouls and attack-resets.


Endgame items:

- What's better than moving with 514 movespeed? Going even faster, that's what! That's just the bonus effect of this anti-magic item you'll be buying super-late game when your main build is finished. It has great synergy with Yorick's hefty health pool and will increase your HP regen greatly.

- If there's a good amount of AD on the other team, but not enough to be super worried about getting wrecked, Sunfire Aegis is a fun choice. Once bought, you are now on fire, are harder to kill, and do more damage due to Atma's Impaler. Don't forget, your ghouls are affected by your max HP and AD. Anything you buy to help yourself, helps them.

- Sometimes one revive isn't enough. Grab this if you're getting super focused and just can't stick around to do any damage.

- This is a rather lulzy item for Yorick. Only buy this if they just can't do anything to you at all. It's a MASSIVE boost to your damage output. Not only does it increase the raw damage of your spells and shovel smacks, but your ghouls feel the love too. Pretty expensive, but worth it if they can't kill you anyway. Generally if you're debating getting Bloodthirster, the game has been won and you should be having a jolly good time. You should also count the seconds until surrender.

- I've found this to be rather good on Yorick if you want some more utility to your attacks. The added slow stacks nicely with Omen of Pestilence. I highly recommend this.

- I haven't tried this yet, but if you REALLY need more damage through ArP, this works. It grants no real survivability other than a movespeed increase(which is probably hilarious with the amount of movespeed you get already), and the armor pen is the biggest reason I'd see getting it for. If someone could test it for me I'd be thankful. Not exactly my favorite item for an off tank.

I've found that Yorick has a very "Balls to it" style of play. He can't do a whole lot sitting back casting spells. You need to be in the fight. Be a man! Hit something with a shovel! Throw a ghoul at someone! Yorick thrives in the middle of a brawl with his host of minions. Just remember these few things and you should be much better off in the living department and your team will love you.
Do not be afraid to get up in someone's face. The damage reduction from your passive Unholy Covenant and life regen from Omen of Famine will keep you safe in most small encounters. If you can't work up the courage to wield your family shovel with pride then you have disgraced the Mori name.
On that same note... It's upsetting, I know, but even Yorick Mori can't live forever. His ultimate will only do so much in keeping the target in a fight. Learn to use it properly. Don't cast it on yourself thinking that the enemy team won't focus down the hobbling zombie and his ghost clone running at them. They will, and they'll only need to deal with one of you once the clone sacrifices itself. Essentially, don't be stupid. Cast it on whoever has the most AD on your team to maximize its effectiveness. If that means you, then go for it. Just don't suicide when your team isn't around.

Yorick is at his peak when all four possible summons are out. We all know it isn't possible to have everything summoned constantly, but you can get damn close. Teamfights requires all of the Omens to make a surprise performance at least once, and most likely encore showings as well. They like to show off their stuff to the enemy team. Let them use those claws as often as they want.

Speaking of casting

Yorick eats mana like Cho'Gath eats minions. Blue is the easiest way to satiate his hunger, but eventually there will come a time when teammates want the glories of infinite mana. You'll be sad to part with your easy casting, but your AP carry needs it more. You can survive on low mana as most of your ghouls have a moderately low casting cost for things that are spammable. Once you build Sheen, ask to donate the blue buff. If no one takes it, be happy. If someone wishes to have it, happily part with it. Your team will be better off.


One of the greatest things about ghouls is they count as enemy units to the other team. This means that your ghouls will set off things such as Noxious Trap, Jack In The Box, and Bushwhack. If you suspect one of the above to be in an area, try casting Omen of Pestilence. It's the easiest way of getting rid of the above annoyances. Your ghouls will also block incoming skill-shots or block enemies coming your way. Powerball, Dark Binding, and Light Binding are the biggest offenders I can think of that can easily be stopped with a well placed ghoul.

Yorick has quickly become one of my favorite champions, and is currently my all time favorite jungler. He's quick in the jungle, has strong ganks, and has a fairly unique gameplay that I love.

Hopefully my guide has helped you somehow. Feel free to leave a comment for me so I can better my game or try something new.

7/10 - v1.0 published
7/11 - Added Frozen Mallet and Youmuu's Ghostblade to the item list; added note under Unholy Covenant after doing some Science!