How to win lane as Swain against Yorick · 50.54% win rate over 186 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Level 1 Yorick auto-attacks and ghoul-stacks freely — your Q bolts poke back but neither side can kill; identify his ghoul count before you commit your E. |
| Level 2 | Swain | E-root into W-pull at Level 2 is your best kill window of the lane — land it here before he has Maiden or a four-ghoul escort. |
| Level 3 | Swain | Full W-E-Q combo at Level 3 chunks him hard if he walks up for free Mist Walker stacks; the threat alone should deny him two or three stacks this phase. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Four-ghoul swarms plus his E mist-cage slow make aggressive plays risky at Levels 4-5 — trade only on W-bait into E, never lead with a raw E into his pack. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | Yorick's Maiden arrives at 6 and splits his damage across two sources; your R drain is real sustain but not infinite against Maiden DPS on top of his own, so do not all-in blindly. |
| First item | Swain | Shadowflame or Luden's first item spikes your W poke enough to zone him off Maiden summons — force the item advantage before he completes his first bruiser item. |
| Two+ items | Yorick | Maiden plus two-item Yorick in a side lane outpaces your drain-tank kit entirely; stop split-fighting and leverage your Demonflare AOE in team fights instead. |
Level 1 is a wash — Yorick walks up to auto and stack Mist Walkers while you poke with Q bolts; neither of you has a kill threat yet, so last-hit cleanly and map where his ghouls are before you step aggressively. At Level 2 your E-root changes everything: the moment you land Nevermove, drag him into your W eye and burst with Q bolts — he has no meaningful escape and no ghoul army yet, so this is your cleanest punish window of the entire game. By Level 3 your full W-into-E-root-pull combo can delete half his health bar if he walks up to stack ghouls carelessly; keep threatening that pattern to deny him free Mist Walker stacks, because letting him reach four stacks for free hands him the trade advantage back.
The full Swain 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.
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Playing the other side? Yorick vs Swain guide →
All Swain top lane matchups →