Champion Update: Yorick, the Shepard of Lost Souls

Sharjo·Aug 23, 2016·53 votes·30,870 views

Behold Yorick in his new found glory, along with his horde of absolutely TERRIFYING lost souls!

200 Comments

ShínyAug 23, 201620 votes

I think it's kinda a dick move to say no one wanted to be a gravedigger,feels a bit insulting to those that did care about old yorick. Pretty interesting gameplay though, minion-mancers are always fun.

SharjoAug 23, 20169 votes

To be fair, the idea of being a gravedigger isn't something with widespread appeal, or even any degree of like. I can imagine most people looked at Yorick initially and were like "ew gross and creepy guy". Those people are bastards but where Riot's coming from there makes sense, and given League's global appeal the direction to embrace the concepts of other cultures in how they dealt with the dead, to enhance and reinforce Yorick's theme was probably at least a decent idea; a Shepard of lost souls is a concept anyone can get behind from anywhere in the world, where as gravedigger's very culturally oriented.

Long winded way of saying I getcha and I feel for ya, but I also see where Riot's coming from.

WheatloafAug 23, 201619 votes

Probably would have been more accurate to say nobody wants to be just a gravedigger.

DeathBurstAug 23, 20162 votes

^ This

NúllAug 23, 201614 votes

[deleted]

RiotReav3Aug 23, 201612 votes

Those are iterations on the Maiden of the Mist, not the ghouls

SharjoAug 23, 20167 votes

WHO IS SHE REAV3. WHO IS SHE.

RiotReav3Aug 23, 201626 votes

Well it's technically "Them" rather then "She." The Maiden is the culmination of thousands of undead souls that makes up the black mist cape on his back. "They" have there own VO and talk to Yorick quite frequently. His ultimate causes them to manifest into the Maiden which is just the personification of the Black Mist which clings to him.

TomekszAug 23, 20162 votes

Reav3, can I know when the Champion Update DevBlog will be released? :)

RiotReav3Aug 23, 201611 votes

Hopefully later this week

SuperLuigiLXIVAug 23, 20161 votes

Does Kalista have some respect for Yorick? The Walkers and Maiden seem to be built along the same lines as Kalista herself, an amalgamation of souls, but Yorick is doing all he can to help them find peace. Kalista works along the same lines, though hers is less noble.

Perhaps she's waiting for Yorick to help her too?

While I have your attention (hopefully), can you tell us whether Riot Draggles is doing Yorick's new voicework? I have no idea if he's the original VA or not, but he absolutely killed the original Yorick's voice when he participated in This is War 3 Volume 2.

RiotReav3Aug 23, 201610 votes

Kalista and Yorick don't have beef with each other, so I guess you can say they respect each other? Yorick doesn't have many "Friends" but he does have people he doesn't really mind, like Kalista and Maokai for example.

redfeenixAug 23, 20162 votes

Yeh Yorick seems like the netural guy in this picture. He has a responsibility to death proceedings, sort of like Charon of the Styx. He doesnt have any agenda besides continuing the death procedures / ceromonies (as he is a monk).

I like this angle a lot. I'm sure he would have a lot of beef with those that are undead OR those that create unholy undeads. He is fighting a losing war against the undeath.

Thats really cool, but lets see if his playstyle/kit is any fun.

I really like his ultimate it reminds me a lot of the Warden's ultimate from wc3

http://classic.battle.net/war3/nightelf/units/warden.shtml.

This guy sort of has a Heroes Necromancer or even Arthas vibe. Heres hoping he is as fun as those characters

RiotReav3Aug 23, 201612 votes

He does have a agenda. He wants to end the curse and restore the blessed isles.

redfeenixAug 23, 20161 votes

But this lore update is making me very hungry to learn more about the other Shadow Realm creatures like Morde ^^

My theory is that he is actually a haunter/gengar type sprite entity who just happened to possess this random suit of armour he stumbled across. His true power is revealed when he sheds this random chunk of metal he decided to possess for fun.

I know your team only handles lores for updated champions, but I would still be interested in getting some stories about champions that arnt updated (ninjas for example, or more shadow isles). Also animated shorts (*cough overwatch) .

Beyond LegendsAug 23, 20163 votes

You do realize that the shadow isle lore has been updated already.

ChaosThiefAug 23, 20162 votes

Can you provide a link?

Beyond LegendsAug 23, 20162 votes

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/site/shadow-and-fortune/ It's was there since halloween. How did you misd this?

Photos of GhostsAug 23, 201610 votes

He just did, he just mist it.

Beyond LegendsAug 29, 20162 votes

damn it it took my five day to get the pun. I'm ashamed my famiky. π_π

TrollasAug 23, 20162 votes

@REAV3 any idea who might get a rework after warwick who might get listed ?

RiotReav3Aug 23, 20166 votes

We are super close to locking that down! WE should be ready to talk about it super soon.

Malicious MetalAug 23, 201618 votes

http://www.dumpaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/soon-wolf-with-sheep.jpg

GarentheonAug 24, 20161 votes

Wait! If it hasn't been locked down yet.. what is the Yorick team (concept artists, 3d modelers, etc) currently working on?

Because I know a this point in a champ the team is usually working on the next champ

RiotReav3Aug 24, 20164 votes

Wait! If it hasn't been locked down yet.. what is the Yorick team (concept artists, 3d modelers, etc) currently working on?

Because I know a this point in a champ the team is usually working on the next champ

SolCrushed, LoneWingy, JohnODyin & I have been in "Open Ideation" for the last 3 months or so on whats next for the Yorick Team. The full production team won't roll onto the next project until Yorick hits live. We should have details on what that is before Yorick hits live though.

We usually don't talk about projects while they are in "Open Ideation" anymore since that's when they have the highest chance of being canceled if we don't find a solid direction. Getting people excited about a project that ends up being canceled kind of feelsbadman.

TerraRisingAug 23, 201613 votes

Reav3, you probably won't respond to this and I wouldn't blame you. Still, here goes my first impressions:

Let’s get one thing straight, first. Yorick was unpopular because:

Riot nerfed him soon after release.
Riot never gave him any buffs or attention except a range adjustment and four extra armor (when every champ got that buff).
Riot never bothered to make a skin for him (when he was eligible).
Riot intentionally kept him off of the free week rotation so no new players could have a chance to try him out for free.
Riot constantly dished out negative comments towards the champ (and some players).

Players will play a viable, well tuned champ regardless of what it’s occupation is. Saying “no one wants to be a gravedigger” was the biggest reason for his unpopularity was pretty dishonest, there.

That out of the way, some critiques:

The way his background is described, it feels like a combination of Varus and Lucian.
"Avenging angel corrupted by the very evil he’s fighting."
Wasn’t “Shepherd of Lost Souls” one of The Undertaker’s nicknames back in the day? If not, it sounds like something he'd have.
Those half-zombies look like they were plucked out of the first level of Diablo 3!
Those ability previews have so much layering of black on black, it’s like blacker than the blackest black, times infinity… (Karthus line for the win).

I’ll have to wait to get home to try it on the PBE, but I am willing to give it a shot. Gameplay is the thing I care the least about League, though.

I really wish the team bothered to make a Traditional skin, since this rework basically destroyed everything about the original character and replaced it with something that might be cooler, but isn’t the same. But, policies that reward laziness and punish player loyalties are what they are.

As a cosplayer, it irks me that I’ll have to create and drag another weapon to the next convention (if I don't give up on the game because of this, that is).

Is this a "cool necromancer?" Possibly. Is this what I would call "loyal to Yorick?" No, it isn't.

Gamer Girl KatieAug 23, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Reav3, you probably won't respond to this and I wouldn't blame you. Still, here goes my first impressions:

Let’s get one thing straight, first. Yorick was unpopular because:

Riot nerfed him soon after release.

Riot never gave him any buffs or attention except a range adjustment and four extra armor (when every champ got that buff).

Riot never bothered to make a skin for him (when he was eligible).

Riot intentionally kept him off of the free week rotation so no new players could have a chance to try him out for free.

Riot constantly dished out negative comments towards the champ (and some players).

Players will play a viable, well tuned champ regardless of what it’s occupation is. Saying “no one wants to be a gravedigger” was the biggest reason for his unpopularity was pretty dishonest, there.

That out of the way, some critiques:

The way his background is described, it feels like a combination of Varus and Lucian.

"Avenging angel corrupted by the very evil he’s fighting."

Wasn’t “Shepherd of Lost Souls” one of The Undertaker’s nicknames back in the day? If not, it sounds like something he'd have.

Those half-zombies look like they were plucked out of the first level of Diablo 3!

Those ability previews have so much layering of black on black, it’s like blacker than the blackest black, times infinity… (Karthus line for the win).

I’ll have to wait to get home to try it on the PBE, but I am willing to give it a shot. Gameplay is the thing I care the least about League, though.

I really wish the team bothered to make a Traditional skin, since this rework basically destroyed everything about the original character and replaced it with something that might be cooler, but isn’t the same. But, policies that reward laziness and punish player loyalties are what they are.

As a cosplayer, it irks me that I’ll have to create and drag another weapon to the next convention (if I don't give up on the game because of this, that is).

Is this a "cool necromancer?" Possibly. Is this what I would call "loyal to Yorick?" No, it isn't.

he'll probably suffer the same fate as he gets nerfed into the ground.

Mirage NightAug 23, 20164 votes

I agree, if this is what it takes to make a champion viable is Riot's eyes, then i am nervous for Evelynn.

ModAcademy KaynAug 23, 20169 votes

I'd argue some points. Yes he was made unpopular due to nerfs and hardly buffed, but that's because he was no fun to play against at all. This included him being on free week rotation. Weak or strong, no one liked laning against Yorick. Riot has dished out negative comments about him, but that's just because they viewed him as a mistake, like Vlad pre-rework.

I also argue about your claim on his occupation. Take a look at what people see in other Champs; Garen, an unrelenting servant of Justice, Viktor, a cyborg leader of The Evolution, Lucian, the hunter of Undead. Then we have Yorick the Gravedigger. What's he do? He digs graves and summons ghouls, for some reason. His 'I dig graves' theme is one that is of an extremely small niche. I'm sure the reason most played Yorick was for his necromancy-esk feel in gameplay, not "Oh man he digs graves"

Everything else you mention is valid to a point, though it can be compared to the Sion rework argument. Riot has kept the things that people asked. They've kept his shovel, his hunch, a sorrowful backstory, his cloak and ditched the small things that no one had talked about, aka the lantern.

But arguements aside, I'm curious. What would you say is "loyal to Yorick"? The idea with the rework was to make his niche a lot more accessible and not restrained to a very small niche of people, which in turn means they'll have to change things from the original to do so.

TerraRisingAug 23, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dr Mercy,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=JX00ydOm,comment-id=000b0002,timestamp=2016-08-23T20:49:09.116+0000)

But arguements aside, I'm curious. What would you say is "loyal to Yorick"? The idea with the rework was to make his niche a lot more accessible and not restrained to a very small niche of people, which in turn means they'll have to change things from the original to do so.

The idea of the rework was to remake the champion, not completely change it with something else.

Every other major rework kept as much of the original as possible, from Sion being a huge giant with an axe, to Poppy keeping her hammer to Taric being more like Fabio than ever. Yes, there were changes made, but they tried to keep everything

Outside of the shovel and the ghouls, what did Riot keep from the original champion? His story reads like a combination of Varus and Lucian, his VO sounds like Kindred 2.0, his outfit is straight out of the Undertaker, circa the Ministry of Darkness, and his shovel comes from Chinese kung-fu.

Now, maybe this New Yorick will appeal to more players and will allow for a healthier gameplay. That's fine and all, but Yorick was the champion that made me want to play League and financially support them five long years ago. Now, I'm left without a champion and the company has abandoned me since I'm not buying RP anymore.

Maybe I'm appealing to emotion, but that's where I am with this... thing.

ModAcademy KaynAug 24, 201610 votes

Poppy went from a diplomat for Demacia who saw her father got killed to the oblivious-to-the-fact-that-shes-the-True-Hero. Taric went from a Gem Knight from another dimension who ended up in Runeterra as a Celebrity (dont quote me on that) into an exiled demacian soldier who found purpose and meaning on Targon. Sion went from....whatever he was into an unstoppable machine of war, that even death couldn't put down.

My point is that Champion updates keep the things that are salvageable. Poppy's hammer, wall slam and hard to kill nature was kept. Taric's CD reducing autos, heal, and armor scaling were kept, and even enhanced with his doubling mechanic. Sion.... he kept his axe? The other champs changed a lot in appearance, lore and gameplay, though Poppy and Taric play arguably the same, while they kept the things that players liked.

Like i said in before, people liked the idea of a shovel weapon, so Riot found and designed a realistic shovel weapon that'd make sense fighting wise and lore wise. People liked Yorick's hunch, and now he's weighed down by thousands of souls. People liked his cloaked attire, and he still has it with his new cowl.

Now, i need to clarify something. A lot of people were not happy with the Sion rework or the Poppy rework. Their main arguement was "Omg rito they used to act like melee burst mages before but now they're fighter/tanks now wtf". First of all, those people need to fuck off. Second of all, it's a testament to what we give up to help a character, because what people liked about them wasn't what they should be thematic wise.

Poppy was originally meant to be a fighter but people played and enjoyed her as a literally unkillable burst mage. Sion was originally a fighter as well, but people used and abused his scalings as burst mage. Riot didn't think much of it then because they were still popping out characters every other week or something, but you can notice a trend. People were playing them in roles that clashed in their thematic.

Sion, thematic wise, was meant to an unkillable undead soldier. Thematically, that doesn't translate into burst mage. Poppy was meant to be a determined, my way or the highway, Diplomat. That doesn't translate into burst mage either. Yorick, is kinda the opposite in this approach. Yorick's theme was gravedigger who summoned ghosts for.... some reason. His gameplay matches that summoning aspect, but how did it match "I'm a gravedigger"? New Yorick has a reason to dig graves and summon creatures, and use them in a story format. Old Yorick did not.

Maybe you really like Gravediggers, I'm not to judge, but his theme was changed to match his gameplay in different fashion. He is no longer JUST a gravedigger, although he still digs graves for those who have passed. He uses those who have died, like he did before with his ghouls, as a weapon against his enemies, albeit in a slightly different but similar way.

In the end to sum it up, yes, Riot has moved his theme a bit to the left, but it's the same in spirit. Yorick is no longer JUST a gravedigger. He still buries the dead, but that isn't his sole thematic anymore. He has a reason now. Old Yorick did not have a reason other than "I bury the dead lol".

Jesus christ what did i write.

Edit: The female voice is the Ult's voice, The Maiden i believe.

Baron von JigglyAug 24, 20163 votes

Man this just feels like what i went through when they reworked Poppy. Aside from looks they completely got rid of everything that made me Love the champ.

she had an amazing lore. a awesome tough personality for a yordle that none of the other Yordle's had ( and with old poppy gone now none of them have it)

and than there's the voice it's like a nail on a chalkboard to me it's so annoying.

it feels like Riot just went and changed the entire champ without even asking the Fans and Mains what they wanted in the rework. it happened with Trundle, (karma i think), Poppy, And now Yorick.

And than when the fans of these characters ask why did they do such drastic changes that ruined the characters they just give really bad reasoning.

Ebonmaw DragonAug 23, 201610 votes

http://orig05.deviantart.net/90ab/f/2011/162/6/b/darkrai_v_3_by_xous54-d3inty9.png

The New ultimate summons Darkrai

SharjoAug 23, 20164 votes

WHO THE SOD IS SHE HBSAKCGHB DEGKHAS VGAS

Lady Darkrai not only gives me the creeps but also revs up my lore engine something FIERCE.

Starfish HAug 23, 20166 votes

YOU HEAR THAT GUYS? THATS SHARJO'S LORE ENGINE ROARING

Sahn UzalAug 23, 20163 votes

Sharjo I fucking love you for this.

SharjoAug 23, 20163 votes

Don't love me, love the rework team!

Sahn UzalAug 23, 20161 votes

Oh I sure LOVE the rework team for this, but I was not checking the OCE page so who knows how long I would've been waiting when I could've seen it now!

EROTIC RAID BOSSAug 23, 20163 votes

Just some feedback: Undertaker Yorick's splash art has him in an EXTREMELY similar posing to the base splash art (same grip on shovel leaning on it, shovel chimes blowing in the wind, etc). Like I almost wish he only had one hand on the shovel and was maybe using the other one to do a 'raise the dead' gesture, palm up.

I like how you guys made it part of the gothic horror set of skins though.

His kit overall looks pretty cool. Is he an AD juggernaut like most of them or is he kinda like Morde

RiotReav3Aug 23, 20168 votes

Thanks for the feedback! He is a AD juggernaut.

RalanrAug 23, 20163 votes

I look forward to smacking people in the face with a shovel.

Sahn UzalAug 23, 20161 votes

I LOVE the fact that you guys made him part of the gothic horror skins, Do untertaker and Pentakill Yorick have unique ghouls?

RiotReav3Aug 23, 20167 votes

Pentakill does. They are different color and have little spiky bracelets!

Malicious MetalAug 23, 20164 votes

Is that the Pentakill Logo on his back? Also, does he have additional voice lines? D:

RiotReav3Aug 23, 20167 votes

It is! He doesn't have additional VO but.....

He has a couple unique Audio FX Unique or re-colored fire VFX for all his abilities. Mistwalkers are recolored and have spiked bracelets!! The Maiden has a flaming red head instead of the green glowy head!

And also it plays pentakill music when he dances......its pretty epic.

Malicious MetalAug 23, 20169 votes

He actually plays Lightbringer on his dance.

That's f*cking Metal!

RiotReav3Aug 23, 201616 votes

It's funny, because as we were implementing it I was actually thinking "Man, MM is gonna love this."

Hopefully when we get to a Morde VGU we can make Pentakill Morde just as cool.

Malicious MetalAug 23, 20164 votes

I know you won't disappoint^^ You've been improving greatly and every new VGU just thrives with personality while truly delivering unique themes. Hell, I just love Yorick's relationship with the Mist, it gives a great spin to his character.

A suggestion though; Give Morde a pyrotechnic show to accompany his shredding or hell, an army of undead thralls to cheer for him!

RiotReav3Aug 23, 20168 votes

That sounds sweet! We added a mini little pyrotechnic show when Pentakill Yorick summons the Maiden. It's pretty cool.