Yorick Mori, The Gravedigger Redesign
Hello all! Making tabletop games and all manner of stuff like this is a hobby of mine, so I thought I'd share my ideas to help resurrect (get it? get it?!) old Yorick. There's a lot of text, so I apologize for that. Any C/C would be lovely, but keep in mind all ratios and numerical values are just guesses for the moment. Onwards, into death...
Visuals A thickset hunchback draped in cloth with his trusty lantern and shovel; Yorick offers lots of great motifs to play off of and expand. With the recent Shadow Isles expansion, League of Legends has given players a fantastic look and feel of this island: glowing greenish mist, black shadows, and very sharp stone/iron edges. Yorick would retain his relative body type and figure, but brought up-to-date. His cloaks could remain patchworks of earthen colors, but suitably darkened to fit the Shadow Isles. Flesh could be the sickly grey of Karthus, representing Mori as something that has not yet chosen a side between life and death. Most notable changes would be to his lantern and shovel. The lantern’s stick would be replaced with a piece of metal fencepost, perhaps a bit gothic in design. Instead of a skull, the lamp would become a literal lantern, with narrow slits from which the spirit-mist of the Shadow Isles could emerge. The lantern would also serve as a physical indicator for the number of Ghouls currently in Yorick’s employ- 1-2 would have a burnt out lantern, 3-4 would have a slightly lit lantern, and 5+ would cause it to burn bright as the Shadow Isles themselves!
Most importantly would be representing Yorick’s Ghoul command range. This could easily be done by miscoloring the earth beneath him to look darker, deader, and even with subtle hints of mist- the Gravedigger has literally stepped from the Isles to complete his work. The Ghouls would all be of mostly uniform design, with small heads and thin bodies made of the same greyish flesh (perhaps infused with some witchfires). These would give agency to Yorick being an actual master of the undead and their corpses, separating him from Karthus, Hecarim, and even Kalista.
Role Yorick’s design is based around him being a powerful, sturdy AP tank. Unlike other AP tanks, it is crucial for Yorick to survive encounters with enemies- each death he suffers weakens his power, as he must rebuild his Ghoul force before he can truly be combat efficient. None of his ratios exceed .30% of his AP- most of his values hover around the .1-.20% range. This forces Yorick to build AP if he wishes to deal damage, as AP will directly buff his Ghouls. These Ghouls serve as Yorick’s main attacking force, with Mori himself being more of a supportive, director of death. By attacking and applying Sign of the Grave, Yorick can directly control where his Ghouls attack, or he can choose to focus on wading into combat and letting his Ghouls attack at random. Yorick would become a powerful tank with a unique, power-over-time mechanic that forces a player to wage a potentially devastating victory with the right combination of abilities with the risks of entering a battle late or underprepared. Yorick could serve well as a top laner, bringing AoE-style damage and solid healing to a team. He could also potentially jungle, as his Ghouls would be safe and sound, immune from any jungle creature attacks (unlike Elise’s Spiderlings). It would even be possible for Yorick to play mid, countering assassins by forcing them to come to him…directly into his zone of control.
Designer’s Notes Yorick has many fun elements to both his lore and kit- his iconic shovel, hunched back, and lantern, his solitary and creepy career, and, of course, his ghouls. But after playing Yorick recently, I saw there were lots of fun gameplay elements that all came together to create a confusing, repetitive, and one-dimensional character. What I’ve tried to do is create a kit that embodies Yorick’s ghouls, his control over summoning and undeath, and the essence of the Shadow Isles that he has been lacking. His passive serves as a general overview for how Ghouls work- they are no longer summonable and temporary (as such), but are instead slowly generated over time. While similar to Bard’s Meeps, Yorick’s Ghouls differ in two key areas: much slower regeneration time, and active untargetability. Yorick himself is the knot holding all the strings together- if he dies, his Ghouls die with him and he must begin to rebuild his piles of corpses once more. To aid with this is his Q, Graveman’s Shovel.
Like Yorick’s current Q, it grants that satisfying speed boost on a successful hit, but also supports him in two ways: first, if he kills a champion/minion/monster, he immediately gains another Ghoul. Secondly, it plants Sign of the Grave on his foes, which serves as a beacon for his Ghouls (like Malzahar’s Malefic Visions to his Voidlings). These elements give Yorick control over where his Ghouls attack, and allow him to scoop up any stray ones that have left his area of control.
His W also helps with this, allowing him to immediately summon another Ghoul if his total is less than 5 and bring all wayward Ghouls back into his control area. This ability gives the player the feeling that while these Ghouls may be independent (as they are in his current kit), Yorick still can exert some control over them. His W also passively grants his Ghouls a small amount of true damage on each attack they make. Thematically, the wandering nature of an overzealous Ghoul could represent the individual vulture or carrion creature scrounging around a battlefield in ruins- a constant reminder that death is just around the corner.
E is a typical steroid to help Yorick’s normally sluggish Ghouls with some well-needed attack speed. While his Ghouls attack, Yorick gains a significant amount of Life Steal and Spell Vamp- like his current E, this steroid allows Yorick to maintain his feeling of being a potent healer, while not being overpowering.
Finally, Yorick’s ultimate has been changed. League has many death-defying abilities and passives already, and Yorick’s old ultimate doesn’t really have anything to do with Ghouls. It is clunky and a bit awkward to use, and doesn’t actually save anyone from death. The goal with From The Graveyard was to give Yorick a solid damage spell he could directly control that would greatly extend his area of influence for his Ghouls and mark all enemies with Sign of the Grave, making them targets for the Ghouls. Yorick also summons additional Ghouls from the graveyard, greatly amplifying his power for a period of time. This new ultimate grants a small amount of damage, great Ghoul utility, and the feeling that the Gravekeeper has truly come for the bodies of other champions!
Outward Criticisms In this new iteration, Yorick has a tremendous amount of hidden power in his untargetable Ghouls. All other champions that can summon minions (Annie, Malzahar, Elise, Heimerdinger, etc.) that are targetable and damageable, thereby reducing the immense power of a champion. However, we do see a common theme: by killing the champion him/herself, the player sees a drastic failure from the minions. Yorick takes this trope and amps it up greatly. A Heimerdinger player knows he can build a full stock of turrets in around 30 seconds- a Yorick player must wait nearly as long for a single Ghoul, or waste precious abilities to summon more. Power is also considered; Yorick’s Ghouls and abilities are strong, but not overly so. A steady stream of damage from a number of smaller sources can add up over time, but the Ghouls simply cannot match the damage output of other champions without a) help from Yorick directly, b) garnering a large horde of Ghouls over a long period of time. The Ghouls are also freely mobile, but will a) attack random targets unless specified otherwise by Yorick, and b) have a chance to leave Yorick’s control area, rendering them temporarily useless.
Who Would Want To Play Him? This kit offers players a chance to feel extremely powerful for accomplishing several different goals, ranging from resource management (Ghouls), target priority (Sign of the Grave application), self-preservation, and the feeling of bringing a horde of untargetable little minions to do your dirty work. Yorick players must be patient and smart with their high cooldown and high cost abilities, but with the right combination, your foes will fall beneath a mountain of spectral Ghoul-flesh.
Passive: Revenant Master- Yorick summons Ghouls to do his bidding. A Ghoul will join Yorick’s side once every 25 seconds, building to a maximum of 5 Ghouls. Ghouls cannot be targeted by enemy attacks, spells, or crowd control effects, but will be affected by terrain as normal. Yorick loses all of his Ghouls upon death. Ghouls will randomly attack enemies within a set distance from Yorick, and can become separated from him if their master wanders too far. They will remain immobile until they re-enter Yorick’s control range or they are summoned back by Ghoulfire Lantern.
Ghouls deal 12 +(.15 AP) magic damage, with an attack speed of 1.25. A Ghoul will automatically attack an enemy champion marked with Sign of the Grave and will continue to do so until out of Yorick’s control range (approx. 500-700 units).
Additionally, Yorick receives 2.5% Tenacity for every Ghoul he has in play.
Q: Graveman’s Shovel- 7/7/7/7/7 second cooldown Yorick swings his shovel, dealing 50/60/70/80/90 +(.30 AP) +(.10 AD) to a single enemy and marking them with Sign of the Grave. If he kills a large enemy minion, large monster, or enemy champion with this ability, he immediately gains a Ghoul and +15%/20%/25%/35%/40% Movement Speed for 2 seconds.
W: Ghoulfire Lantern- 20/18/17/16/15 second cooldown Passive: When attacking enemies with Sign of the Grave, Ghouls deals 1/2/3/4/5 additional true damage against champion targets.
Active: Yorick calls all of his Ghouls back to him. If he has less than 5 Ghouls, he will also immediately summon 1 Ghoul.
E: Grave Feastlings- 15/14/13/12/11 second cooldown Yorick’s Ghouls run madly about, their attack speed increasing by 10%/20%/30%/40%/50% +(.05% AP) for four seconds. Yorick gains 20% +(.15% AP) Life Steal and Spell Vamp during this time.
R: From The Graveyard- 130/120/110 second cooldown Passive: Yorick’s Ghoul limit is increased by 1.
Active: Yorick smashes the ground with his shovel, bringing part of the Shadow Isles’ graveyards forth, increasing his Ghoul control range from 700 to 1400 units. All enemies in this radius take 150/200/250 +(.25 AP) Damage, are Slowed by 60% for 3 Seconds, and are marked with Sign of the Grave. Yorick immediately gains his full allowance of Ghouls, and summons a further 2/4/5 +(.01 AP) Ghouls. These additional Ghouls last 10/20/30 seconds and will then disappear.
So that's it! Thanks to anyone who read all the way through :D
