In League of Legends, new champions are regularly released. Many of them are very strong right at launch. Some of these champions receive a rework after some time to adjust abilities and playstyle, but this champ simply wasn’t played despite his strength.
Which champion is being talked about? Yorick the Gravedigger was released in 2011. He was a Juggernaut and could deal a lot of damage while also taking hits. With his abilities, he could summon multiple ghouls. The Ultimate created a clone of an allied champion and revived them for a few seconds after death.
Why was the old Yorick so strong? With the help of his ghouls and the Ultimate to create a clone, many 1v1 matches against Yorick felt like an unfair fight. With each ghoul, he received additional attack damage and damage reduction.
His ghouls could slow down opponents, speed up Yorick, and heal him. If the cloned champion died, they would be revived for 10 seconds and could continue to use all abilities.
The simple abilities meant that Yorick only had to run towards opponents while his army did the rest. Very few champions could match him in a 1v1, and they were easily defeated in the lane by Yorick’s ghoul army.
A popular joke in the community about the old Yorick was:
- “A Yorick walks into a bar, there is no counter.”
The word “Counter” is translated into English as counter or bar, depending on the context.
Yorick’s playstyle was boring
So why did no one want to play him? The old Yorick was what is called a “Stat-Checker”. This type of champion has simple and not very complex abilities and relies on their high stats. Many players find this playstyle boring and outdated.
His abilities felt poorly designed and not cohesive. The playstyle revolving around his ghouls was frustrating for beginners due to the automated attack behavior. If a ghoul attacked the wrong opponent, the player couldn’t redirect them.
The popularity (via leagueofgraphs.com) was about 1%. It is determined by the pick, ban, and win rate. Some players suspected that Riot didn’t know how to balance Yorick, so they banned him from the free rotation of champions.
Yorick appeared at a time when Riot was regularly releasing new champions. Due to the large amount of new champs, some could not be properly developed and later received a significant rework.
What happened to Yorick? With the major rework of Yorick in 2016, his abilities and appearance were completely overhauled. He was allowed to keep his ghouls; however, Yorick was no longer buffed by them. With one of the new abilities, the ghouls can attack selected opponents. Yorick is protected by the Mistress of the Mists through his Ultimate and became one of the best split-pushers in the game.
Yorick is still a good 1v1 champion, but he is easier to defeat and has to use his abilities wisely. His new unique playstyle has slightly increased his popularity.
Nowadays, Riot releases new champions less frequently. These are often interestingly designed and offer unique playstyles. However, the latest mage Mel faced some criticism at launch: LoL brings new champion Mel, but players are mocking the “mage for babies”
