I saved my Yorick impression post for late in the evening because I figured Riot would have to weigh in on his current status. Most everyone is claiming that he is horribly underpowered, and for the most part I have to agree. His early game is incredibly lacking and he is highly reliant on a strong team comp to maximize his potential. That said, late in the game with the right comp he does pump out some damage. Riot recognizes his relative weakness and has already stated that he’s going to receive a buff, but we all know that won’t stop me from sharing an opinion or three.
One of the biggest problems I’ve had with Yorick is his damage output from level one to eleven. The burst from his ghouls seems just barely too low, mostly because he doesn’t have the damage to improve them for quite some time. They also die fairly quickly, which isn’t a big problem when they don’t deal much damage but becomes a larger issue in the mid game. I think a mana cost reduction would also help a lot here, and I’m glad to see that Riot is considering that sort of adjustment.
The other major issue plaguing (yeah, I did it) Yorick is the design around his ultimate. Pet design that is based around champion clones feels misguided at the very least. The scaling gets really hard to manage late game and can even be overwhelming in the early game. When a jungler comes around for a gank and Yorick also ults, the 4v2 is frustrating. I haven’t felt outplayed by a Yorick yet, just outnumbered (only by his ult, the ghouls die too fast to really matter), which is pretty boring. Getting outplayed is a good thing – it teaches me how to play better. I wish he had something that felt more skill based.
One of the biggest problems facing Yorick, at least for me, is that he’s following Orianna. I’m starting to realize just how perfect a champion release Orianna was. She’s a blast to play, fairly difficult to pick up, and strong with a quality team around her. She takes more than one game to learn and a whole bunch of games to master, both of which are great things for a champion. Her design makes me want to get better with her, while Yorick’s design just makes me wish he was better. Hopefully the upcoming buff will give him a little boost in the early game.
It looks like I was wrong about the Yorick release schedule. We got the “champion approaches” post today, which usually means he’ll be out in the next week. While there certainly are a solid number of Rioters overseas, there are also quite a few on domestic soil, working to keep the game going. Hopefully that will translate into Yorick’s release on Tuesday.
Omen of War: Yorick’s next attack will deal bonus physical damage and summon a Spectral Ghoul that deals additional damage and moves faster than Yorick’s other ghouls. While the Spectral Ghoul is alive, Yorick moves faster as well.
Omen of Pestilence: Yorick summons a Decaying Ghoul that arrives with a violent explosion, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies. While the Decaying Ghoul remains alive, nearby enemies continue to be slowed.
Omen of Famine: Yorick steals life from his target and summons a Ravenous Ghoul that heals Yorick for the damage it deals.
Omen of Death (Ultimate): Yorick conjures a revenant in the image of one of his allies. If his ally dies while its revenant is alive, the revenant sacrifices itself to reanimate them and give them time to enact vengeance.
Unholy Covenant (Passive): Yorick’s attacks deal more damage for each summon that is active. Meanwhile, Yorick’s ghouls deal some percent of Yorick’s Attack Damage and have some percent of his total health.
I mentioned the other day that I wasn’t as worried about Yorick as I have been about Mordekaiser, but I am a bit worried that his passive will allow him to snowball in lane the way that Mordekaiser does. If his ghouls get too tanky, too quickly, he’ll be able to zone just about anyone out of lane while sustaining himself with a healing ghoul. I am glad to see that the collision ignore has been removed from Omen of War.
Morello dropped by the announcement forums today to give us a mini-preview of Yorick’s playstyle and ability set. Riot also released the art spotlight, which you can see above. I’m actually very excited to see Yorick on the Fields of Justice, much more so than the other Tanky DPS in the game, and mostly because I think he’ll be a bit different. Granted, I still think he’s going to be nasty in lane, but his ultimate sounds kinda cool without being the mess that is Mordekaiser’s Children of the Grave.
Yorick deals damage in lane by summoning minions that have both immediate and persistent effects. One minion deals damage in an AoE and slows nearby targets but also leaves behind a ghoul that slows nearby units. The ghouls have a limited life span that can be further shortened based on the damage they receive.
Yorick’s ultimate, Omen of Death, allows him to create a revenant of a still-living ally. If the ally dies while the revenant is up, that player is revived for a short period of undeath, during which I can only assume that player has control of his/her character again for a short time. It sounds less punitive than some deaths to Mordekaiser can be – often turning a fight into a 6v4 – while still being strong enough to warrant its use. I’ll be interested to see the different shenanigans people find for this ult.
Don’t forget, Yorick isn’t due out until Dreamhack is over, which I would assume means the Tuesday after next.
Several of the major news outlets have had a chance to take a look at Yorick at E3, bringing us a first glimpse of his skillset and artwork. The following information comes from PC Gamer, which should have a video of The Gravedigger later today.
Yorick’s skillset is based around summoning ghouls. The ghouls work sort of like Malzahar’s Voidlings, attacking the nearest champion, though they cannot be controlled by the Summoner. His three skills are as follows:
Necrotic Ritual: Summons a green ghast that explodes in a cloud of poison, slowing the enemy and dealing damage over time.
Devouring Ritual: Summons a red ghast that siphons life from his attacks and channels it to Yorick. It also empowers Yorick’s next attack with a hefty amount of lifesteal.
Spectral Ritual: Summons a blue ghast that embodies the powerful Summoner Spell Ghost, with increased movespeed and the ability to walk through units. Best of all, he bestows the same buffs to Yorick for the duration of his brief existence, ensuring that Yorick can chase down his target.
The ghouls currently last for roughly four seconds, though there is talk of increasing that number to six or eight. Yorick’s passive also grants him stat bonuses based on which ghouls are active. His ultimate sounds a bit like Rumble’s – a line skillshot that slows or possibly roots enemies caught in its path and either dealing nuke damage or damage over time.
Frankly, he sounds a lot like Rumble to me. Looking at his skillset I can only think one thing: lane presence. Yorick will have it in spades. A poison/slow, health regen, and a built in ghost for getting through minions – he’s going to be one bad dude to lane against. Hopefully I’ll be able to snag that video footage later today to share with you. Until then, check back soon for previews of the two champions set to follow Yorick – Leona and Skarner.
The latest champion sneak peek popped up last night, bringing us news of Yorick, the Gravedigger. It remains unclear what type of champion Yorick will be, but I like the direction his art is headed. I’m curious how much of his playstyle relies on minions. If too much of his damage comes from minions, I’m worried that we’ll be looking at another tanky DPS champ.
Here’s the blurb from the sneak peek:
The true sign of a master is when you’re able to impress everyone with your execution of a skill that might otherwise be considered mundane. So it’s probably quite safe to say that in order to dazzle anyone with your skillful shoveling, you’re going to have to be rather good at it.
With this in mind, allow me to introduce Yorick, the Gravedigger. In addition to being more adept in the art of entombment than any who have come before him, he makes a point of keeping good company… or at least ravenous undead company. One of those two.
As I mentioned, I like Yorick’s art direction. I’m looking forward to learning more about him this weekend.
