Good day everyone! This is my take on what a rework of Yorick could look like. This is my first time posting, so bare with me if formatting doesn't quite work out.

Yorick The Gravedigger

=========== Design Theme

The design for Yorick is based heavily around his known lore. He was once a human is now a Ghoul. During his human life he worked as a gravedigger in his families cemetery, using a shovel that was said to spiritually guard him during his time amoungst the graves. After dying and failing to have an heir to pass down the shovel to, he returned to the physical world as a Ghoul on the Shadow Isles. He helps the undead to ascend in death. However to ascend himself he must "bury his quota" but no one knows what his "quota" is.

• Aspects to Look For
  • We want him to have his own niche in the game.
  • We want to Play off of his personality and lore.
  • We want to avoid abilities that overlap too heavily with Azir, Orianna, Mordekaiser, Sion, Heimerdinger and Cassiopeia.

====== New Kit

Passive: Life of the Dead

• Guarding Forefathers

  • Yorick's Ghouls will guard him and follow his movements and basic attacks, unless provoked by effects of his abilities. He can have 3 ghouls at a time. If more than 3 ghouls are summoned all ghouls will lose health until 3 remain, and for each additional ghoul more than 3 all ghoul's damage to structures are reduced by 10% (max reduction of 60%).

• Ferryman of Ascension

  • Yorick's lantern beckons ghouls to him looking for help in ascension every 30 seconds. He can store 3 ghouls, that appear when using "Sacrifice of Life". Bonus Cooldown Reduction does not apply.

• Filling a Quota

  • Each minion/monster Yorick kills and each champion kill or assist reduces the cooldown of "Ferryman of Ascension" by 1 second.

Q Ability: Cursed Soil

• Yorick swings his shovel in an arc swiping enemies and his ghouls gain temporary movement and attack speed. When Yorick swings his shovel it also throws cursed soil in an arc, marking enemies with "Curse of the Dead" which ghouls will prioritize (champions over minions/monsters if marked).

• Passive Effect: When Cursed Soil is not on Cooldown, if Yorick enters the area of "Stench of Death" he gains a small movement speed bonus while in its area.

W Ability: Stench of Death

• Yorick orders the ghoul with the lowest health to rush to a location where it explodes. It does small explosive damage marking champions hit with "Remnants of the Dead" and creates a large AoE of nauseating fumes for 6 seconds that tick poison each second. Once out of fumes the poison ticks for 3 more seconds as the damage rapidly scales down.

• Passive Effect: Champions in the area of "Stench of Death" that are also marked with "Curse of the Dead" are slowed based on the remaining time of the fumes, scaling down over time. Additionally, for each full second an enemy champion is in the area of "Stench of Death" Yorick's Passive "Ferryman of Ascension" is accelerated by 1 seconds (Maxing at 30 second when all enemies are in the fumes for full 6 seconds).

E Ability: Sacrifice of Life

• Yorick sacrifices one of his own minions to summon a ghoul in its place using 1 stack of "Ferryman of Ascension". If the ghoul dies within 3 seconds of summoning, the ability is reset and Yorick is healed for a % of the ghouls health.

• "Sacrifice of Life" can be used to finish off small neutral monsters (small wolves, raptors, Krugs, etc) to summon a ghoul with the same health and damage of the monster. ("Guarding forefathers" still applies so only 3 at a time or they lose health and structure damage like normal ghouls)

R Ability: Return of the Dead

• Yorick briefly channels and sacrifices the closest 6 friendly minions to summon ghouls (number is reduced for each ghoul already summoned) in their place, as well as an additional ghoul for each stack of "Ferryman of Ascension" Yorick has. (Should max at 9 ghouls total)

• Passive Effect: Champions marked with "Remnants of the Dead" take additional damage from ghouls.

================== Reasoning in Kit Design

• Passive:

  • His passive breaks down into 3 pieces based on large points in his lore. His shovel should cause ghouls to guard him, his lantern lights his own path in the dark, and brings the ghouls looking for help to him. "Filling a Quota" needed a effect that would help him without overlapping with the unique abilities/passives of other champions. By this I mean Cassiopeia's stacking passive, Mordekaiser's Ultimate, etc. The cooldown helps his laning pressure and makes team fights more valuable to him. The health and structure damage reductions in "Guarding Forefathers" is keep Yorick from getting out of control in lane, and keeping him from wielding an unstoppable army.

• Q:

  • This gives him both melee and a bit of range damage, as well as refocusing his ghouls in battle. The passive only has effect if Yorick's Q isn't on cooldown, and slightly helps his escape or gap closing.

• W:

  • This gives Yorick some AoE damage and sets him up for either a Q+W, W+R, or Q+W+R combo.

• E:

  • This gives Yorick his ghouls but also gives him more safety if roaming through the jungle where there are no minions to sacrifice. It also provides him small sustain in lane, and a little jungle potential (he lacks a strong gap closer so ganks would be difficult if the enemy knows what wards are).

• R:

  • This ultimate is very strong but also very risky. It gives him great team fight/turning potential, but at a large cost. After his ultimate is done, he a lot less damage. He has no ghouls for at least 30 seconds and needs 1:30 before having three ghouls again. Using this ult can cost you if things don't work out.

========== Minor Details

• Yorick's ghouls should not be affected by Banner of Command or Baron Buff.

• When Yorick dies his shovel should fall just out of his reach. It is his most valuable possession so trying to reach it before death makes sense.

• For each stack of "Ferryman of Ascension" little souls should float around his lantern (kind of like Relic Shield stacks).

Ok well that is about it. Let me know what you think. I'm sure there are things to be worked on, and I don't really want to touch on what exact stats for him and his ghouls would be, but hopefully it gives someone new inspiration with Yorick.