With Yorick's rework, he is stronger and better than ever. In the top lane, your goal is to bully the enemy champion out of the lane. To accomplish this, you'll need your spooky ghouls. Here’s the dig on Yorick:

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Lane bully
• Very easy to play
• Last hits easily with Last Rites and ghouls
• Excels in teamfights

Cons:

• No escapes
• Ganked easily
• Relies on Last Rites to produce consistent Mist Walkers
• Ultimate doesn't go on cooldown until the Maiden dies
  
  

Abilities

When leveling up Yorick’s abilities, always follow this order R>Q>E>W. Q is going to be your main damage ability, as well as a quick way to summon graves. Taking 1 point in W is required, since it will help you escape ganks and trap enemies. E is going to help you fight enemy champions.

Passive: Shepherd of Souls

This ability allows Yorick to raise Mist Walkers from graves. When enemies die near Yorick, there is a chance that they will leave a grave. The graves will stay active on the map, unless activated by Awakening or Yorick moves too far away from the graves. This passive is great because the Mist Walkers do a lot of damage. Mist Walkers will travel down the lane and act as minions. Yorick can only have 4 Mist Walkers active at one time. When you cast your E, the Mist Walkers will target the enemy champion you targeted.

Q: Last Rites/Awakening

Yorick's Q has two parts, "Last Rites" and “Awakening”. With Last Rites, Yorick gains an empowered auto that also heals him for a small amount. If Yorick is below half Health, the healing is doubled. If Yorick kills an enemy using Last Rites, they will leave a grave. This ability can also be used with items such a Trinity Force, to cause massive damage. The second cast of Q is called Awakening. When there are 3 or more graves, you can cast Awakening to summon the Mist Walkers from the graves.

W: Dark Procession

This ability creates a destructible wall that can block enemy movement and lasts for 4 seconds. Yorick and his Allies can pass through Dark Procession. This is an ability like Jarvan IV's ultimate, only that Yorick's can be destroyed. This is a great tool to use when chasing down a kill, escaping a gank, or helping a teammate escape.

E: Mourning Mist

This ability throws Black Mist that inflicts damage, marks the target, and slows them by 30% for 2 seconds. The damage is equal to 15% of the enemy’s current Health. Yorick also gains a movement speed bonus when moving towards a marked target. When enemies are marked by Mourning Mist, Yorick's ghouls will pounce on the target. This combo deals a bunch of damage and creates tons of pressure.

R: Eulogy of the Isles

This ultimate ability summons the Maiden of the Mist. When the Maiden targets a champion, Yorick's attacks deal bonus damage. The Maiden of the Mist will also summon some Mist Walkers based on the level of your ultimate (2/3/4). Mourning Mist will also change the Maiden’s target if inflicted on a champion. Enemies that dies near the Maiden will become Mist Walkers, which is why she is a great split pushing tool. A thing to note is that Eulogy of the Isles will not go on cooldown until the Maiden of the Mist dies.

Summoner Spells

Since Yorick does not have any gap closers, Flash is a must have. Not only will Flash help you secure a kill, but it can also save you from impending death.

Teleport is currently a meta choice for the top lane. This summoner spell allows you to transport yourself to any ally ward or turret in game. This is useful for teamfights, as well as securing Barons and Dragons. Teleport can also be used for split-pushing. While your team is bot, you can farm top and just Teleport down if the situation calls for it.

Runes and Masteries

For runes, you want to take 9 Attack Damage Marks, 9 Magic Resists Glyphs, 9 Armor Seals and 3 Attack Damage Quintessences. These runes will help Yorick survive early game, as well as help him damage his opponent. With the extra Attack Damage, last hitting will be a breeze. With the Magic Resist Glyphs, you’ll be able to lane against champions whose skills deal Magic Damage. As for Seals, Armor is the best option. Every champion auto attacks, so these Seals are good even against Ability Power champions.

For masteries, I recommend 12/0/18. Yorick benefits most from masteries in the Ferocity and Resolve trees. Ferocity will give Yorick the extra battle stats needed for lane dominance. The final point in this tree should go to Battle Trance. This mastery will maximize damage in a drawn-out fight, which works well with Yorick’s Passive and Ultimate. Grasp of the Undying is very strong and hands down the best mastery for Yorick. Every 4 seconds while in combat, you gain an empowered auto attack that deals 3% of your maximum health. This damage comes out as Magic Damage and heals you for half its value. This is a great Keystone Mastery for Yorick because it works well with Last Rites. Together, Grasp of the Undying can sustain you throughout your laning phase.

Starting Items

Starting off the game, Corrupting Potion is usually the best option. This item supplies Yorick with sustain and the Mist Walkers will proc the Touch of Corruption effect.

Almost every champion in the game requires boots, so buying the cheap Boots of Speed will be fine until you get into the mid-to-late game.

Sheen is going to be a staple item within Yorick's build. This strong item will proc off Q to deal bonus damage. The best part about this item is that it builds into two potential items for Yorick, Iceborn Gauntlet and Trinity Force!

Endgame Items

These are the items that you will typically need on Yorick late game, depending on your situation.

Iceborn Gauntlet is a staple for Yorick. Keeping enemies slowed and close to Yorick will help him deal more damage. If you are ahead early game, you can build Trinity Force instead. If you choose to build Trinity Force, I would recommend that you build a tank item to replace the lost stats from the Iceborn.

Guardian Angel is another great item for Yorick. This puts Yorick in teamfights longer, which means his ghouls have more fight time.

Mercury's Treads are the ideal boots for Yorick. These pair of boots grant Tenacity which helps Yorick act out of stuns, snares and slows faster.

Spirit Visage is a good tank item that also grants cooldown reduction. Spirit Visage will also increase healing done by Last Rites.

Sunfire Cape is a great Damage per Second item that gives tons of health and armor. This item will help win fights against melee champions.

Sterak's Gage is more of a situational item, but this item can help turn a 1v1 in your favor.

Titanic Hydra is another situational item that can help you clear a wave and bring extra damage to a fight.

Finally, Maw of Malmortius is a great item if you're in need of Magic Resist, but can't give up your damage item slot. The small Magic shield could save you from dying in certain cases.

Laning Phase

When in lane, you should never engage before level 2, since your Mist Walkers won’t have Mourning Mist to target a specific champion. You should always wait for at least 3 graves to begin a trade. Having your Mist Walkers almost always wins you the trade. Yorick’s main goal is to force his opponent out of lane to deny experience. Don’t worry too much on killing your opponent, since denying experience is devastating to most champions. Once you have your Ultimate, you can summon the Maiden to split push your lane, allowing you to roam and/or Teleport to help your teammates. Pay attention to your opponent's summoner spells. If you know that their Flash is down, call in the jungle to help secure an easy kill. On the other side of the coin, if your Flash is down, make sure you ward the surrounding area and play safe. Yorick doesn't have escapes, so play smart.

Teamfighting

Although Yorick can be tanky, he isn’t meant to dive the back lines. In teamfights, Yorick is a peeler. This means Yorick must control the area around the team. Protecting your team is your number one priority. You can use Dark Procession to trap opponents in a small area for your damage dealers to attack. Another way to control the area is to use Eulogy of the Isles. Although its best to leave your Maiden in a different lane to split push, sometimes throwing the Maiden in the middle of the enemy team can cause total chaos. Remember that you have Teleport, so this allows you to split push or head to base before joining a teamfight.

Conclusion

Now that Yorick has been reworked, his playstyle has changed a bit. He doesn't use 3 different ghouls with different abilities to attack you. Yorick is just a simple gravedigger now. He is a strong lane bully that can build very tanky items and still do damage. His ghouls are essential to his gameplay and make Yorick fun to play. When learning Yorick, take notes on cast ranges and cast delays. This is essential to land his W and E abilities. Always remember to use Yorick’s bread and butter combo, Awakening > (Eulogy of the Isles once level 6) > Mourning Mist > Dark Procession. If landed, the enemy will be in big trouble. His kit is very simple and can be very impactful throughout the game. With enough practice, you too, can be a gravedigger.

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