Gragas vs Yorick — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Gragas against Yorick · 45.91% win rate (930 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15

Verdict: Yorick is slightly favoured — Gragas wins 45.91% of 930 games, and Yorick pressures 4 of the 7 stage windows in the plan below. Play it patient and win your windows.

At a glance

Disengage his swarm — E-Q burst and R his ghouls away.

Track: Yorick's W — Dark Procession (20–12s cooldown). Traps you for the ghouls. Don’t get caged.

Do

  • Dodge his W cage
  • Land the E-Q burst
  • R to disrupt his ghouls

Don't

  • Fight into Maiden + ghouls
  • Get caged
  • Grind in his swarm

Runes & build vs Yorick

Start
Doran's Shield + Health Potion
First back
Executioner's Calling (≈800g) — cuts his healing
First item
Riftmaker (sustain + AP curve)
Then
Cosmic Drive
Boots
Plated Steelcaps
Runes
Grasp of the Undying (Resolve): Demolish, Second Wind, Overgrowth · Precision: Triumph, Legend: Haste · Shards: Health Scaling, Adaptive Force, Health

Favour timeline — the windows in Gragas's game plan

Read from Gragas's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Yorick.

StageFavouredWhy
Level 1YorickAt level 1 his E slow and ghoul harass chip you while you have one ability and no Happy Hour heal triggered yet.
Level 2YorickHis ghouls let him last-hit safe and punish any walk-up Barrel Roll, so the level-2 trade stays in his favor even as your Q+W comes online.
Level 3YorickHis ghouls plus your long Body Slam and Barrel Roll cooldowns mean he wins the level-3 trade before your combo is maxed.
Levels 4-5Even / skillW max, the empowered Drunken Rage auto and Happy Hour let you out-sustain his ghoul poke, pulling the extended trades back to even.
Level 6GragasE-W-Q into Explosive Cask is a real all-in: knock him off the wave or into tower and burst before Maiden snowballs.
First itemGragasRiftmaker or Rocketbelt keeps your E-W-Q burst lethal through his first item, your peak window to convert the lane.
Two+ itemsYorickMaiden, a full ghoul swarm and his W wall shred your HP and out-split you, reclaiming the side lane as it scales.

How to beat Yorick as Gragas: the early game

Respect his early. His E spawns ghouls and slows you, letting them chip you while he last-hits safe, and at level 1 you have one ability and no Happy Hour heal triggered yet, so don't walk up to throw a Barrel Roll he just side-steps behind his ghouls. At 2 take Q+W for a real sustain trade, but only step in once his ghouls are dead or pushed to the far side of the wave. At 3 his ghouls plus your long Body Slam and Barrel Roll cooldowns mean he wins the clumsy trade, so farm with the edge of your Q and use Drunken Rage to empower last-hits rather than forcing a fight.

Hardest and easiest matchups for Gragas in top lane

Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Gragas's side, sampled July 2026.

Hardest

Easiest

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Gragas vs Yorick report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.

Read the full guide — plans from $1.99/month →

🔒 Secure checkout · 💰 7-day money-back guarantee on your first payment · ✋ Cancel anytime
Lane Pass $1.99/mo · All Lanes $3.99/mo · Annual $24.99/yr. Renews automatically — cancel anytime.

Common questions

Who wins Gragas vs Yorick in top lane?

Yorick, slightly — Gragas wins 45.91% of 930 games; winnable with the right plan.

Is Gragas vs Yorick a skill matchup?

Mostly — Yorick has a small statistical edge (54.09% win rate), but execution decides this lane far more than the pick does.

Does Gragas counter Yorick?

No — if anything Yorick has the slight edge (Gragas wins 45.91%), though it stays close.

What runes does Gragas take vs Yorick?

Gragas takes Grasp of the Undying on the Resolve tree with Demolish, Second Wind and Overgrowth, and Precision secondary (Triumph and Legend: Haste) vs Yorick.

What should Gragas build vs Yorick?

Start Doran's Shield + Health Potion and back for Executioner's Calling (≈800g) — cuts his healing. Build Riftmaker (sustain + AP curve) first, then Cosmic Drive, with Plated Steelcaps.

Related guides

Playing the other side? Yorick vs Gragas guide →
All Gragas top lane matchups →

More Gragas top lane matchups: vs Wukong · vs Yasuo · vs Yone · vs Zaahen · vs Zac · vs Ziggs