Yorick rework proposal

Here is a rework I want to propose for one of my favorite characters Yorick. When he came out he was so cool to me, I loved that he was a Death Knight with a shovel! His voice is dark and moody and everything I want in a lumbering character. I was sad however when he kept seeing nerfs. Now I know he needed them, he was too easy to use for how strong he was. I just wish he wouldn't have been gutted the way he was. Some will claim he is still good because of how his ultimate can turn a fight around, but how often does that work? It is best with Tryndamere or similar characters who fill the same slot as Yorick and thus will rarely be on his team to begin with. So my proposal which is a complete rework is intended to get Yorick into a state where he could be balanced and played more regularly. Hopefully some people like what they see here. My goal is to someday work for Riot or another company to help make and improve games that I love. This will be the first rework proposal I have done in a long time, and I plan to keep them coming over the next few days.

So here it is my rework concept for Yorick.

Yorick - The Grave Digger may have dug his own grave early on in his league career being either a feast or famine type character. Whn his stats have been tuned high he just bullys off any oposition without counterplay, and when his numbers are tuned low he doesnt feel meaningful except for an ultimate every now and then which is super situational. Yorick is defined by a few key things, he wields a shovel, he is the definition of an AD caster or attack damage based caster, and summons ghoul minions. As of right now he can summon 3 differnt ghouls and a copy of himself or another champion creating a mini army, however the short duration and ease of killing this army makes him fall short in team fights.

My rework concept hopes to acomplish a few things,

Make him more about using the shovel as opposed to it simply being his weapon of choice.

Keep him as an AD caster with ghoul summoning.

Create obvious strengths as opposed to hidden ones, and shift his power curve to make him less oppresive. This is almost a total rework, much like Sion. However unlike in Sions case Yorick wont need too many new animations he has most of them and his model shouldnt need any real changes. He will need new spell FX though.....like alot of them...

Skills - Passive - Death's Memento - Yorick remembers how he died, and even within the league he remembers each death. Upon dying Yorick places a Memento at his location if the Momento is destroyed he gains bonus attack damage and health that will be lost upon his next death, he may also travel a large distance to his Momento consuming it and appearing from the ground with renewed vigor granting him a temporary movementspeed boost and shield.

His current passive gives him lots of hidden power, while also being part of what makes him hard to balance. The bonus defense on it with 3 ghouls is so high he has to have lower base defense which can cripple him. This new utility based passive is meant to give a clear strength to him, he can make it back to his lane or jungle very fast if his Memento is left or he comes back permanently stronger (at least for his current life) if he is denied.

This offers a choice to his opponents that is both hard and meaningful, however it can be an easy decision if poor Yorick died in an out of the way position.

Q - Gravel Fissure - Yorick uses his shovel to churn the ground and create a fissure, channeling for up to 3 seconds then unleashing it to upturn the ground. The fissure sends dirt and rock debri flying blinding any enemy unit caught in it. Channeling increases the size and causes it to deal bonus damage, works very much like Sions Q. The new skill give Yorick a nice bit of utility to work with. A full channel can swing the lane in his favor while shorter ones can at least poke most of his opposition.

W - Raise / Command the Dead - Yorick uses his shovel to dig up a corpse and turn it into a ghoul to fight for him. The ghoul summoned is then treated as his pet and can be controlled by his command. The type of ghoul raised is based off his last ability used, if none has been used in the past 6 seconds summons the ghoul for W. Passive - Whenever he digs up a corpse he also digs up either a small amount of gold or a health and mana restoring bicuit/potato/fruit/item that he or an ally may pick up by walking over, enemies may walk over it and destroy it by stamping it back into the ground.

Works like Zac's blobs, but to deny them it takes 1 second to stamp them down.

Q - summmons a ghoul that is fast and will slow enemies it attacks.

W - summons a ghoul that is slow, and will shred the armor and magic resist of enemies with each hit.

E - summons a ghoul that is normal speed and uses a ranged attack.

The new w takes all of his ghoul summoning and puts it into one place. This allows Yorick to do a few new things,

He becomes the first true "Pet" class champion,

He can use his ghoul to tank the jungle, allowing for a very steady jungle,

His ghouls no longer are weaker against aoe champions.

This ability is the cornerstone of the new Yorick. In lane he can even help a team mate by providing slightly more gold or health sustain. Solo it will help keep him ahead, while the minion itself does grant his opponents a chance at an advantage through bonus gold.

E - Shovel Sling - Yorick uses his shovel to sling dirt in target direction, the dirt will deal damage to the first unit it hits and splash dealing reduced damage to enemies behind the first. (works like bards upgraded meep passive or vi's punch or Graves ult.)

This one gives Yorick a basic skillshot which is a simple way to make him more caster like, and increase his skill gap. His previous skills are all targetable or just auto attack buffs so they were very binary which tends to lead to the feast of famine design.

R - Your Grave, and Tomb! - Yorick creates a massive area which causes enemies within it to be slowed and take bonus damage. If Yorick kills an enemy champion within this zone he creates a Tombstone for them. This Tombstone can be broken to put a short term debuff on his opponent after they respawn, otherwise if left it will increase the death timers duration.

This new ultimate is meant to give Yorick a nice team buff, while also allowing him to shut out his opponent for longer if he can kill them. This helps him to maintain his lane pushing dominance without being overly oppresive in the early game.

This new kit for Yorick is meant to keep him very thematic, however it does vastly change him. That being said I feel balancing this kit compared to his current live one would be much more manageable. Currently like stated before he is very feast or famine, and held back by lowish stats and high mana costs. He is also held back currently because of his sustain, and simple play pattern.

Adding a skillshot, a long channel, and an ultimate that favors good positioning and team set up over a gamble ultimate like he currently has I feel adds depth to his play. He can easily make mistakes, miss skillshots, totally miss position his ultimate, or he can land them all and change a fight rather quickly.

Soften up the front line as they appraoch with his E, and Ghoul, discourage a long fight in the current location with his ult, and possibly shut down melee fighters with a large blind that takes positioning and timing to land. He has alot of possible ways to contribute in a fight.

I didnt add stats, or numbers for the skills because that is a balancing act that can change all the time. But like I said earlier I feel this new proposed kit can have its numbers balanced more easily than his current kit.