Yorick's Rework : The guy that you will remember!
Hello everyone, I'm an occasional Yorick player, and I know (as many of us) that Yorick's rework will be comming someday. I've read a little bit about what Riot have been testing internaly for him. I have come with an idea that I think may make him a really fun and cool champion. I've written the entirety of my thoughts on him here, in hope that Riot (and Yorick players) sees this and give their thoughts on it.
Of course everyone is free to give their feedback and thoughts on this, both gameplay wise and lore wise. However, keep in mind that numbers can (and most probably would) get adjusted if too strong or no enough strong (Still, you can say where you think numbers are too high or too low). Feel free to discuss! ;)
Things that make Yorick Yorick
- Shovel is great
- Ghouls are really cool
- Minionmancer that fights along side his minions (compared to someone like
heimer) 4. The theme around his spell : disasters (War, Pestilience, Famine, Death) 5. Summoning multiple ghouls at the same time 6. Reviving allies with ult 7. Amazing sustain
Problems that Yorick has
- He either stomps in lane or get stomped
- Is unfun to play against
- If unfun to play as
- His ghouls doesn't feel really important after casting the spell
- Feels really one dimentionnal (always do the same thing)
- Little to no counterplay
Goals of this rework
- Improve Yorick's counterplay
- Improve Yorick's strenghs and give him some weakness to play against
- Emphasize on his theme of "Summon ghouls to help you"
- Make him feel more unique
- Make him less one dimensional by giving him more options
- Make him more fun to play
- Make him more fun to play agaisnt
- Emphasize the presence of his ghouls
Lore Yorick's family lived in a small village near the coast to the west. His father was the gravedigger of their village, so as his grandfather and his great grandfather and everyone before him. As so, Yorick, hhis father, his mother and his sibblings (3 brothers and 2 sisters) lived near the graveyard. Yorick was the oldest among his brothers and sisters. His father frequently asked him to help him for his job : burying corpses.
When he was 18 years old, at the beach, he heard a strange song, one that gave him chills to the spine. He looked around, but saw nothing. The song started to fill his mind with horifying images of the people from his villages, dying from hunger, diseases and being empalled by soldiers. Afraid, he ran away, hoping to forget theses sights forever.
During the summer of the next year, a terrible heatwave struck his village. Every crops, ranging from lettuce to wheat, died within a few days. The village, hoping to find food for the winter, turned towards fishing. They started building new fishing boats, as they only had 4 boats in the entire village. As winter came, only a few boats were built, and food was rare. Prices rose, and Yorick's family couldn't afford enough food for everyone. Yorick lost 1 brother and his 2 sisters to the famine.
Two years passed before the next disaster arrived. Everyone saw that traveler coming to the village. He was coughing adn seemed really sick. He died 2 days later, and the doctors discovered a terrible new : The guy had a the black plague. The doctors kept the new for themselves, as they didn't wanted to create panic in the village. However, corpses began to accumulate, and Yorick's family were announced that the plague had struck the village. Yorick's father did his best to burry the corpses, but the disease hit the family, one by one, they all started to die, one by one. First was his sister, then his brothers, his mother and finally his father. His father's last wishes were to continue the family's legacy and to not let the people of the world forget the work their family had done. Yorick wished he died, but he didn't. Only 10% of the village survived.
Yorick struggled to survive for three years, until the last disaster came. During the sunset of a cold day of fall, a misterious fog came from the sea, and, with the fog, came ghosts. An army of horsmens arrived, lead by one with the torso resembling the one of a man. They slaughtered everyone around Yorick, but strangely avoided him. Yorick was terrified, as memories of his visions came back to his head. He looked at everyone he knew getting brutally killed.
Disembowled, beheaded, dismembered corpes were around him. As he looked back towards the sea, he saw an horifying figure. A spectral man was standing in front of him, holding a staff and a book filled with strange runes. The spectre looked at him and saied with a voice that gave Yorick chills to his spine :
-Well well, look who I have found. You should be dead long ago, but it seems death doesn't want to come to you.
Yorick was too afraid to say anything.
-You know, said the ghost, you kinda remember me of myself, long ago. I was as miserable as you are. But I was able to improve my condition. I've tried to appease your suffering, but it looks like death does not want you. Since you, Yorick, survived these disaster caused by me, I shall give you the ultimate power : the power of the dead!
The spectral sang a couple of words. Yorick couldn't understand the meaning of thoses words, but he clearly felt that death itself was getting closer. He wasn't able to move. He suddently felt an immense pain, and then fainted.
When he woke up, he didn't felt the same. His body was way different, a lot stronger, and he felt... like strange, almost like he was now unnable to die or even feel pain. He saw a strange shovel beside him, and nothing else. No horsemen, no spectral mage, nothing except corpses. The shovel had the same kind of runes than the book of the ghost. When he took it, he felt a power rising from deep within him. He unleashed that power toward one of the corpses, and it transformed it to an undead, ready to follow his orders. He felt the powers of the disasters that happened around him in his previous life!
Abilities
Bring the dead back (Passive)
Whenever a unit dies near Yorick, a ghoul spawns after a brief delay (13/10/7/4 seconds cooldown at level 1/6/11/16) (large monsters and champions spawn more ghouls). This ghould gains a percentage of Yorick's health, armor, magic resist and attack damage and will follow Yorick until killed. Ghouls will always attack the lastest champion that yorick attacked in the last X seconds. If no target has been found, it will attack If a ghouls goes farther than 800/1000/1200 units away from Yorick, it will lose 25% of its maximum health each seconds. If Yorick has more than 3 ghouls following him, each one will lose X% of their maximum health each seconds until 3 remains.
Omen of War (Q)
Yorick empowers one ghoul, transforming it into an Enraged Ghoul. This ghoul has (10/20/30/40/50)% bonus movement speed and (10/15/20/25/30) bonus AD. Whenever it attacks an enemy champion, every other ghoul and Yorick will gain (5/10/15/20/25)% movement speed towards that champion (stacks with other Enraged Ghouls) and will deal X bonus AD as bonus physical damage while attacking that champion.
Omen of Pestilience (W)
Yorick empowers one of his ghouls, transforming it into a Pestilence Ghoul, giving it reduced movement speed and increased health, armor and magic resist. This ghoul slows every units around it and absorbs X% of damage dealt to nearby ghouls (This doesn't affect damage absorbed by other Pestilence Ghoul. When the Pestilence Ghoul dies, it explodes, dealing X (+Y AD) physical damage to all surrounding units.
Omen of Famine (E)
Yorick give an incredible hunger to one of his ghouls, transforming it into a Ravenous Ghoul. This ghoul will become uncontrolable, and will attack the closest enemy champion near Yorick. While it attacks it, it will give X% lifesteal to all ghouls around it (stacks with other Ravenous Ghouls). Additionaly, if Yorick is within 200 units of the ghoul, it will heal him for X (+Y bonus AD) health for every attack.
Something something (ult)
Yorick creates a fissure in the ground in front of him, dealing X (+Y Attack Damage) as physical damage and slowing all enemies hit. After 2 seconds, 4/7/10 Ghouls will come out of it. These ghouls can be ordered to attack and moved around as a single unit and can move through units. Passive : Yorick can have 1/2/3 aditionnal ghouls following him without them loosing health.
I believe that having him customize his little army of ghouls will help him being a fun and interesting champion. Did I hit the right spots? Would he still feel the same as a character?
Also, I am terribly sorry for my (possibly) bad english, as it isn't my primary language.