Why the Yorick rework sucks. (and why it doesn't)

Quick disclaimer. Yes, the new Yorick has counter play and requires a lot more skill. However, they completely tossed the niche pick he was in favor of the fantasy of raising an army of ghouls (which he doesn't do very well anymore either.)

's visual update hasn't been a sight for sore eyes. Good job art team!

Now... Design team. Lets have a chat. You had some really interesting ideas for Yorick. Truly. Interesting but lack luster and underwhelming.

First of all, lets talk about overall capabilities of Old and New Yoricks. Old : Good

1. Decent Mid-range harass.
2. Sustain.
3. Built in damage reduction.
4. Reliable movement speed boost.
5. Strong duelist.
6. Low skill ceiling.
7. GOOD built in slow.
8. 6v5 or 10sec GA for your ADC mah dudes.
9. Block skill shots with ghosts.

Bad

1. Yorick walks into a bar, there is no counter.
2. Low-Mid skill cap.
3. Easily kited.
4. No counter play.
5. Falls off late game.
6. Walking nuisance in team fights.
7. No counter play.
8. Anti-fun. (unless you're sadistic like me)

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New : Good

1. Can push towers like Trick2g and SirhcEz had a love child.
2. Cool Design.
3. Ghouls and Maiden are coded to be much smarter.
4. Can create temporary terrain.
5. Theoretically good harass.
6. New Model
7. Spam taunt to t-bag.
8. On paper can do more damage than Old Yorick

Bad

1. Negligible sustain.
2. No built in.
3. Q/passive is janky AF.
4. W is easy for any champion (besides Kled without Skarl) to dodge even without boots.... Seriously, it has low range, doesn't stun/stop dashes like Veigar, and Yorick is melee. Why give it such a delay?
5. Easier to kite than old Yorick.
6. E is too easy to dodge.
7. Literally countered by people knowing what his kit is.
8. Ghouls are slow.
9. More frustrating to play as than it was to play against old yorick.
10. I'm pretty sure with W could sidestep his E and escape his Dark Procession.

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Now that I've highlighted the pros and cons of the New and Old Shepherd of Souls, let's talk about his role and niches as a top lane pick.

Old Yorick was to top lane as that crazy uncle you or someone you know has. You know, that uncle that got WAY too into prepping for the zombie apocalypse. No one is comfortable around him and he knows it, but as he's drinking moonshine straight out of an unlabeled mason jar; you feel some solace in knowing hes got your back.

You used to be able to pick against champions you weren't comfortable facing with your normal top picks. Yorick could play safe, win trades, harass, chase, disengage, dive, bully, and most importantly sustain.

That was honestly way too strong for how simple he was to play.

New Yorick can't play safe because he needs to last hit with Q to get ghouls to harass or trade. He has to land his E and W to engage or disengage; both are easy to dodge and have a high cooldown.

Old Yorick was able to trade effectively because he had 5% damage reduction for every ghoul he had (up to 20%) and direct healing from Omen of Famine.

New Yorick has a harder time getting ghouls out and doesn't even get damage reduction for it. Nor does he have any substantial sustain.

Old Yorick had better CC. I'd take an instant 50% slow (that could be killed easily) over an easy to dodge, 30% slow + weak passive any day.

I could go on but it's pretty late. I would like to see some of Yorick's new power be shifted from mindlessly pushing lanes to having more impact in team fights and dueling power. Everything the reworked Yorick does, the old one did better. Except mindlessly pushing and damage to towers. has that in spades now.

Seriously though, his W doesn't stun, and it has the counter play of being destructible, able to dash through it, and low range. It doesn't need such a god damn delay

-A very salty Yorick main.