Yorick, the Gravedigger (Champion Rework)

Hello everyone. I decided to try a rework on everyone's favorite graveyard caretaker, as Riot is currently in the midst of fleshing out ideas for him. I think he needs to keep his overall tankiness, love for ghouls, and constant sustain both in lane and in team fights. Here's what I came up with:

Health: 650 – 2100 Health Regen: 8.0 -21.0 Mana: 305 - 845 (+30 per level) Mana Regen: 6.5 – 14.5 (+0.44 per level) **Range: **130 **Attack Damage: **60 – 130 (+3.89 per level) Attack Speed: 0.71 (+0.06 per level) Armor: 30 – 93 (+3.5 per level) Magic Res.: 25 – 65 (+2.22 per level) Mov. Speed: 340

Passive: Eternal Unrest -Upon death, a ghostly apparition of Yorick appears from his body at full health. Yorick cannot deal direct damage in this form, but all of his abilities will be active and all cooldowns (excluding his ultimate) are reset.

Q: Dig Up Their Bones _ (Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12) (Mana: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60)_ -Yorick marks an allied minion, neutral monster, or champion (excluding himself) within range 500. Upon this unit’s death, it revives as a ghostly apparition with full health that decays over 4 / 4.5 / 5 / 5.5 / 6 seconds. The apparition deals its base attack (+30% AP magic damage) (+2% / 4% / 6% / 8% / 10% of target’s current health) as magic damage and can be moved and controlled by Yorick.

W: Spectral Tether (Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14) (Mana: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70) -Yorick creates a tether with an allied champion, neutral monster, or enemy within casting range of 500. If the tethered units exceed 500 range from each other, the tether will break. The tether lasts for 5 seconds.

Tether with ally: If a tethered ally is damaged, Yorick will transfer 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+1% of his maximum health) to that ally per second from his own health pool. This ability will stop transferring health if it would kill Yorick.

Tether with enemy/neutral mob: If Yorick damages a tethered enemy or neutral monster, he will restore 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+1% maximum health) every time he damages that enemy. If Yorick’s tether remains unbroken after 5 seconds, the enemy/neutral monster will become rooted for 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 seconds.

E: Spade Swipe (Cooldown: 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6) (Mana: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50) -Yorick swipes his spade in a crescent in front of him and deals 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+60% AP) magic damage to all enemies hit, slowing them for 20 / 25 / 30% for 2 seconds.

R: Summoning Ritual (Cooldown: 120 / 110 / 100) (Mana: 100 at all ranks) -A circle of radius 700 units around Yorick will cause the ground to temporarily lose all vegetation and wailing souls will begin to swirl in the air around him for 6 / 8 / 10 seconds. Inside this area, enemies are slowed for 40% / 55% / 70% and take an increased 6% / 8% / 10% magic damage from all sources. Yorick gains an additional 20 / 30 / 40 (+1% maximum health) armor and magic resist during this time.

Champion Design The goal here was to keep Yorick’s core design intact: ghouls, sustain, ghouls, shovel, and more ghouls. To keep Yorick interesting, his Q was designed to allow players to use the death of a unit to Yorick’s advantage. In lane, Yorick can bully an opponent by marking key minions (cannon minion) to force them to decide between farming (getting the gold from last-hitting) or giving Yorick constant harass (the revived unit). In team fights, Yorick can utilize the death of AD carries or fed opponents by focusing them down and using their damage against their own team.

Yorick’s Spectral Tether gives him sustain in lane, in the jungle, and in large team fights. Spade Swipe allows him to clear minion waves without too much trouble (along with his little ghost buddy), as well as to focus down pesky carries in team fights. Yorick’s ultimate will lock down key targets in team fights and increase his survivability. It also promotes a more AP-heavy team as he amplifies magic damage.

His passive makes him what everyone wishes Karthus would be: still viable in team fights after death. He can peel for his team, heal key allies (note that he cannot damage enemies after death), and, if he dies before getting off his ultimate, he can use it after death. Active items and summoner spells that utilize CC are also options for Yorick to use after death to influence combat. This also makes Yorick ideal for tower dives, as dying provides more options for him.

Possible Roles

**Top: ** Yorick retains his sustain and bruiser-like appeal by having abilities that scale well with health. Yorick has very reliable slows (his ultimate and E) and AP-scaling abilities, so Rylai’s is right up his alley (even more slow, more health, and more AP!).

Yorick will be able to farm with his Q, as well as harass. He can Spectral Tether his opponent in lane to regain lost health, forcing the opponent to remain a good distance from Yorick and his apparitions if they don’t want to undo any harass they’ve done to Yorick. Spade Swipe provides good wave clear and gank potential as well.

Jungle: Yorick is now jungle viable! He can use jungle minions to help him clear jungle camps. This comes in handy when getting red or blue buff by killing a smaller minion to deal damage to the larger ones. He can Spectral Tether to regain lost health as his basic attacks are few and far between.

His ganking potential is rather good. If he rushes in with his ultimate, he can cause a near perma slow for 2 seconds combined with E, allowing him to potentially get off his Spectral Tether to root his target and allow for the kill. In a 2v2 scenario, he can heal his ally or drain off his enemy and turn it into a 3v1 if he marks an enemy kill.

Support: Support Yorick is possible, but not highly recommended, as he can set up jungler ganks fairly well by flashing in and slowing his enemies. He can heal his AD Carry with Spectral Tether, however he uses his own health to do so, so he will need to try and heal up when it comes off cooldown on an enemy or have some red pots handy.