Yorick Rework Idea(s)
The idea of a crypt keeper in a game like League seems fundamentally hard to make successful. Due to the nature of giving a character pets tied in with the idea of death/resurrection, this can cause difficult balance issues. Should he/she be immortal? Yorick on his own sounds like an incredibly cool idea, yet in practice he ends up having very simplistic abilities that result in a very toxic play style. It would be difficult to preserve his champion identity while also removing this toxic gameplay. Thankfully, we now have Juggernauts. Yorick fits the description of a high damage, immovable wall incredibly well, and would be an ideal choice for the next batch of juggernauts. He's always been known as this massive lane bully that unfortunately just transitions into an adc ulting tank by late game without much innate cc. What could be done to "fix" Yorick could be adjusting his damage and utility balance to even out more, while still preserving his zoning and bullying nature. Also, the theme of gravedigger/cryptkeeper ties more with being an ally of the dead, rather than using them as servants which his current incarnation seems to lean towards. Through a group effort I have come up with a new set of skills for Yorick that would preserve his thematic and gameplay identity (minus the anti-fun playstyle) while also adding interesting mechanics and fair counterplay.
Passive: Unholy Covenant- Yorick deals 5% more damage with his basic attacks for every ghoul or revenant he has active, stacking up to 6 times for a maximum 30% modifier. Ghouls gain a 2.5% damage increase for every other active ghoul. (Overall functionality is similar to live, except no damage reduction)
Q: Unfriendly Ghoul: (40)Mana: (10/9/8/7/6)Cooldown. Active: Yoricks next basic attack deals (30/60/90/120/150)(+20% AD) bonus physical damage and summons a ghoul. Ghouls last 5 seconds and deal (20/25/30/35/40)(+20% AD) physical damage. (This ability is nearly identical to live, except the ghoul does not give Yorick a movement speed bonus)
W: Passive: Army of the Dead: Yorick gains a stack of Army of the Dead for each enemy he last hits and for each ghoul that dies near him. +2 stacks for champion assist. +5 stacks for champion kill. Stacks up to 20 times. Yorick gains (1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2) armor and magic resist for each stack. At maximum stacks Yorick's self-healing is increased by %30.
Active: Graveyard: cost: 10 stacks of Army of the Dead: (40/50/60/70/80)Mana. Spawns a graveyard with grave at target location that summons a ghoul every second. The graveyard has a larger area that increases the movespeed of Yorick and his ghouls by 40%. The grave can be stood on by enemy champions to destroy it (1 secs)(will not remove the graveyard). When destroyed or when expired, the grave fears all enemies standing on it (1 secs). The grave and graveyard lasts (1/2/3/4/5) seconds. (Only 1 grave may be active at a time, summoning another graveyard will destroy only the first grave)
This ability introduces a concept to Yorick that is somewhat present in league, zones of power (Skarner, Trundle). The graveyard is a zone where Yorick is not innately overpowered, but allows him to be overwhelming and depending on the use of the fear, spooky. Seeing as ghouls would emerge from the graveyard every second and at rank 1 the ability only lasts for one second, this allows Yorick to place the zone whereupon it would quickly expire and fear the enemies within allowing for some quick harass in lane. As he puts points into the ability later into the game, it transitions into a strength zone for Yorick and his allies to fight in due to the constant emergence of ghouls. If he can place it on top of his enemies it also thematically makes sense for a graveyard to fear them (due to stepping on the grave in the center). This results in an ability where Yorick can sacrifice innate resistances in lane for strong harass, while also placing himself at a disadvantage due to the cost of 10 stacks which would also remove the bonus healing passive. In late game, Yorick will also be able to sustain this zone well during teamfights due to an abundance of stacks (The cap does remain at 20). This also allows for a maximum of 7 ghouls when combining his abilities and after he has bought some cooldown reduction.
E: Curse: (40/50/60/70/80)Mana: (12/11/10/9/8)Cooldown. Active: Yorick curses a targeted enemy for 5 seconds dealing (60/90/120/150/180)(+100%AP)Magic Damage and slowing them by (20/25/30/35/40)% for 2 seconds. Auto attacks from yorick and his ghouls against a cursed champion deal +1% of yoricks maximum health as physical damage and heals yorick for the damage dealt. Ghouls will prioritize cursed targets.
This change increases Yorick's potential damage and bullying, but at the same time removes the toxicity of instant, point and click damage and healing. Assuming Yorick can get to the enemy (which would be helped by the W), he can Q them after they're cursed to combo his abilities in an interesting but also counter able way. This transitions Yorick from less of a point and click healing machine into a very kitable healing and damage machine, which fits the idea of a juggernaut perfectly.
R: Ghost Essence: (100)Mana: (120/100/80)Cooldown. Yorick conjures a controllable ghost of targetted allied champion or himself which lasts 10 seconds. If the target dies, it is re-animated into the ghost for 10 seconds. The ghost has (40/60/80)% of the targets HP, AP, and AD. The ghost deals 20% of its AP on hit.
Overall the goal with this update is to transform Yorick into an interesting champion that can be incredibly strong and damaging given the opportunity, but must also make sacrifices for these strengths. Juggernaut would be the perfect title for him, and this would help bring Yorick into the modern of age of League
 ~ You will remember Yorick Mori ~ 